Michaela Crawley

LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO

Table of Contents

• First Flying Lesson• Seekers• Chasers• Bludgers• Beaters• Keeper• Quaffle• Snitch• Conclusion

First Experience- The first flying lesson

• They’ve never really been on a broom before and they don’t know much about the game. But they know they want to be a part of it.

• They start with this “How hard can it be attitude” but soon realize there’s

more to the game than meets the eye.

• So, they pretend they know what to do. – But all the acting in the world wont

help them. It’s obvious to “seasoned vets” that they are lost.

– They have the skills (strengths) and the potential to be a great leader and player, they just need to tap into them

My “first experience” • My journey started with the

Leadership Institute. • Similar to the first year, I didn’t

know much about what I was getting into. I just knew it’s what I wanted to be a part of.

• In my mind I thought that the leader was the sole person in charge. The institute opened my eyes to the philosophy of bringing out the leader in everyone.

• I had the potential and I had the strengths to be a great leader. I just needed help bringing it to the surface.

What do we do with this willingness to learn?

The first year• The first year will study the game.• They will attend matches

throughout the year, practice during free periods

• Read Quidditch Throughout The Ages

Me • FLITE was my Quidditch Through

The Ages.• It provided with what I needed to

know to start my leadership journey.

• I discovered my strengths, values and abilities

• I uncovered different theories and models

Seekers• Seekers are patient and

determined• They battle through the

pressure while trying to achieve their goal

• A snitch catch is not guaranteed

• In other terms, at the end of the process (the game), you either achieve the desired goal (snitch catch), or you don’t.

• In my leadership journey, there have been times when goals and objectives both have and have not been achieved.

• Like a seeker relies on their inwardly qualities to catch the snitch, I have relied on my strengths and values, in attempts to reach my objectives and goals.

How my some of strengths and values helped be achieve objectives

Strengths • Strategic- gave me the ability to determine

the most efficient route to achieve a goal• Achiever- I had that “internal fire” that

pushed me achieve an objective• Belief- I valued responsibility and was

congruent with my values throughout the journey. I didn’t let obstacles change who I was

• Learner- I was drawn to the process of learning, and used what I learned along the way or in the past, to help me achieve a goal.

• Competition- I was determined to perform to the best of my ability, and bring out the best of myself and my teammates

Values• Bravery- I accepted my weaknesses, and

continued to go for a goal even when success was not guaranteed

• Honesty-I was authentic, genuine, and trustworthy. My teammates could depend on me

• Humor- I always tried to maintain a positive atmosphere, especially when an outcome was not achieved

• Perseverance- I valued the importance of finishing what I started, despite any and all obstacles

• Spirituality- I kept a sense of purpose, remembering that good things can still occur even when a team loses

Outcome 12: Student will show evidence of goals and objectives that were planned and achieved

In outcome 12, I highlighted a few objectives that were planned during my second semester here at URI.The objectives included, becoming a URI 101 mentor, taking HDF 413 and becoming and being an active member in SOLC, and lastly gaining early entry in URI’s Speech Pathology Masters Program. I achieved the first two goals, but did not achieve the third. Although I didn’t achieve my desired outcome with the accelerated program, I still benefited from it. During the process of achieving my objectives, I utilized my strengths and values as listed in the previous slide. Although some objectives were not completed, positive things still resulted throughout my attempt to achieve the goal. Examples like this, helped me understand that the process is just as important as the outcome

Chasers • Chasers are fighters, they have to be mentally

and physically tough • They are your goal scorers. They get things

done• They encounter numerous obstacles on their

quest to score– They have bludgers flying at the left and right and

people trying to knock them down– Sometimes they win the fight, sometimes they lose

• They aren’t afraid of what stands in their way. They have a job and they set out to do it.

Persistence

The Bad• Not all of my planned objectives

have been met. One of these was getting into grad school early.

• Unforeseen bludgers killed my GPA, thus my ability to get an internship though my department here at URI

• There was no way I was going to achieve my planned goals, but I didn’t let that stop me. – I fought back

The Good

• Because of my accelerated schedule, I entered my junior year ahead of the game.– Because of this, I had the room to

complete two minors, which otherwise may not have been possible.

• I used my perseverance value to not give up. I got an internship on my own. I called various placements before I found one what was willing to let me on.– I was able to intern with an early

intervention clinic and become a reading/writing coach in a Providence school.

Bludgers

• The bludgers are the rough and physical balls that try to hurt everyone in their path

• Their destructive tendencies make the tasks of everyone else much harder

• The problem with bludgers is that they are always there. You can escape them for a little while, but you never really get rid of them

• You need to trust that your beaters will protect you from this obstacle.

Overcoming Obstacles

• In my leadership story, my anxiety took on the role of the bludger.

• My own insecurities were preventing me from being a leader

• I was effectively sent to the hospital wing– The injuries dealt from

bludgers temporarily took me out of the game

Self Leadership through Managing Emotions (Outcomes 3, 4)

• I needed to make sure that I could manage my emotions while at college; to help me prevent me from constantly bothered things that have happened in the past. My ability to manage my emotions has made it possible for me to stop dwelling about what happened and focus on what is and what will happen. Having an ability to manage my emotions has prevented useless anxiety and helped make college more tolerable.

Outcome 4: Student will demonstrate knowledge of stress management methods Target class: HDF 190 Additional experience : PSY 103, Counseling Center

In HDF 190 (an then again in PSY 103) we talked about the different stress management methods. We went over the fact that there

are numerous methods utilized in stress management and the effectiveness of a method varies from person to person. Everybody

chooses a few of the methods and applies them to their everyday life. One method that is growing in popularity is meditation. I went

to see the Counseling Center here at URI as a means of helping alleviate the stress and anxiety that was bothering me. To help me

effectively manage my stress, they gave me a packet teaching me how to mediate and calm my nerves. I made it a point to meditate

before the days where I felt particularly stressed. By mediating, I was able to free my mind of the useless worries, enabling myself to

have a better focus. I began to see a difference in my studying habits, mood and work ethic. I was more relaxed and focused. With

my enhanced mood, I found it easier to retain information and interact with those around me. I was also more confident for my finals

than I was for my midterms, (I didn’t mediate for my midterms) proving meditation helps manage my stress. A second method that

is commonly used are using self-affirmations. Self-affirmations help maintain the integrity of the self. I utilize self-affirmations to

help maintain a sense of self-worth when I feel like my integrity is threated. A third method used to manage stress, is to alter the

situation. While there is not much you can do about the past or the present, you can change the future. For example, if you decided

to wait last minute to study for an exam, chances are that you are going to be stressed. You can’t go back in time and study earlier,

but you can plan on changing your procrastination habits come next exam. What you want to do is prevent a situation from

happening again. When you change how you do something, you are preventing a future stressful situation. When you know that

something will not happen again, you begin to feel better. And when you feel better, you have managed your stress level. I will

continue to use these techniques throughout my life to free myself of useless anxiety and stress

My Journey to becoming a beater• Beaters are fighters.

– They fight back and protect their teammates from bludger injuries.

• They recognize the fact that bludgers are potential threats, and they clear the path so everyone else can get their job done

• They need to have considerable strength, for as long as their team is on the field, their job is never done.

Becoming an Advocate • As a student with anxiety who struggled during the

assimilation process, I was motivated to advocate for others who are in similar situations. – I wanted to find ways to prevent others from sustaining the

same “injuries” I endured.• In HDF 414, research and interviews were conducted with

the intent of gaining insight on the prevalence of anxiety disorders in college students, the accompanying interpersonal obstacles and pressures and the resources and services available on the campus.

• My research showed that a lack of support for the social and interpersonal pressures/issues one may face, can result in higher feelings of loneliness and isolation. A resolution to this problem would be the creation and utilization of a peer guidance network, that had a goal of promoting campus involvement.

Outcomes obtained

• 10: Student will demonstrate the ability to lead a project from start to finish (follow-through)

• 11: Student will describe goals and objective statements regarding personal issues, career issues, and community issues

• 81: Student will show knowledge of effective leadership as it relates to change agency

• 87: Student will demonstrate personal application of the Action Continuum by Griffen & Harro

Building an inclusive and diverse environment

• Each team consists of 2 beaters, because it’s too big of a job for just one person to handle– In a similar way, I was not only challenged to become an ally, but find

others willing to be allies as well.

Outcomes 87: Student will demonstrate personal application of the Action Continuum by Griffin and HarroIn HDF 412 we were introduced to the action continuum (Griffin & Harro). The point of this continuum is to teach one how to be an ally (as stated in outcome 86). In my HDF 414 advocacy project I chose to be an ally for college freshman with mental health conditions (specifically those with anxiety disorders). Before diving into this project, I was probably in the supporting oppression range. Although I knew about the target group and the obstacles and oppression faced, I never did anything about it (recognizing without acting). In order to make a difference and develop a credible project I had to research this. To do this I utilized online blogs and scholarly articles to find out the effects of and the types of oppression my target group faced. In doing so I found that the target group was usually subjected to preconceived judgment and misrepresentation (educating self). Keeping this in mind, I started to discover ways to educate others. To do this, I found that I would have to align my project with other services supporting my target group (including the counseling center and early alert). In order to help end oppression, I realized that an awareness needs to be spread amongst the students here at URI. That is why part of my project consisted of collaboration with student organizations. Since I discovered that the oppression faced is usually due to a misinterpretation of behavior (thinking that someone is anti-social or weird when in reality they are just shy and timid), I figured that others needed to know what anxiety is and the effects it can have. My idea was that if someone knew the reasoning behind someone’s nonverbal behaviors they would be more willing to give them a shot and/or help them out. This piece correlates to the initiating and preventing stage of confronting awareness along with the educating others aspect ( changing the system from within by enlisting the help of others).

Keepers• The keepers are the backbone of the

team• People are dependent on them– The team can’t win if a keeper doesn’t do

their job• They are very determined and powered

by willpower– They know how to bounce back, when they

let a quaffle slip through their hands every now and then

My favorite keeper• Oliver Wood is prime example

of how a keeper exemplifies leadership

• He’s loyal and committed to the sport– As is shown by the time and effort

he puts into captaining• He’s the strategist behind the

team– He trains the team, plans

practices, manages conflict, develops a game plan etc.

How I’m a keeper • I have found that being a keeper running

retreats for SOLC– Facilitators need to plan agendas, adapt to

unforeseen changes and promote self-leadership skills amongst everyone they are working with

• Nothing gets done, and the group won’t accomplish their goals unless you do your job

• Like Oliver Wood, I was challenged to create a game plan, setting the precedent for what I expected to happen at every retreat I planned.

Highlighted Outcome• 110: Student will describe personal examples of organizing meetings/setting agendas/leading

meetings Target class: HDF 413, Additional Experience: Memorial Union Board Duties

• In HDF 413, I was challenged to make agendas for the retreats I ran. The first step involved meeting with a representative from the student org asking for the retreat. In this meeting I would ask a series of questions. These questions were geared towards finding out how many people would be at the retreat, previous retreat experience (what they liked, didn’t like) and goals/objectives (what are they looking for at the retreat?). After gathering all this information I would meet with my peers and together we would create a schedule of events. For example, I ran a retreat for the IEP house. The goal for this retreat was team bonding. At this retreat we had a name game, an ice breaker (scavenger hunt in which they were given a list of qualities and had to find a peer who exemplified it [i.e. find someone who was born in RI]), an energizer (ninja) and an initiative (calculator) followed by a debrief. In this debrief we went over what the students wanted and expected from living in the IEP house. I have noticed that my abilities to run meeting have improved since taking HDF 413. In this class we reviewed ways of creating and organizing agendas. I was challenged to create an individualized agenda, for each and every retreat. This knowledge has helped me improve my skills.

Outcomes obtained • 44: Student will demonstrate knowledge of experimental learning in

leadership• 92:Student will show knowledge of at least five decision making methods• 93: Student will describe examples of having used five decision making

methods• 94: Student will show knowledge of at least five problem solving/conflict

management methods, as well as understanding the roots of conflict• 110: Student will describe personal examples of organizing

meetings/setting agendas/leading meetings• 114: Student will show knowledge of the stages of group development • 116: Student will show knowledge of group dynamics and group roles• 117: Student will describe personal examples of group dynamics and

group roles

The quaffle• Throughout the game, the quaffle is

what teams use to score points• The quaffle never belongs to just one

team• It’s constantly fought over

Torn in half• There have times in my life when I have felt like the qauffle; torn in half, so to

say.– I felt like I was playing both sides.

– The identity groups I was born in to, predisposed me to unequal roles regarding power and privilege, within the system of oppression. I was socialized to perceive and interpret things in certain ways. As a member of the dominant group, I was reaping the benefits, and therefore did not notice the oppression faced by those surrounding me. I was unwittingly supporting the system of oppression, which was invisible to me. As I grew as a leader, my perspective began to change. I was coming to a critical level of understanding of oppression and how socialization, power and privilege factor into it. My changing perspective caused feelings of being torn in half. I wasn’t sure if I should remain congruent with how I was socialized, or if I should shift over to the Cycle of Liberation (Harro,2000). Ultimately I decided to start to seek out new paths for creating social change and take myself toward empowerment or liberation

Outcomes obtained • 70: Student will demonstrate knowledge of the “Cycles of Socialization” (Harro)

theory and it uses in leadership• 71: Student will demonstrate personal application of the “Cycles of Socialization”

(Harro)• 72: Student will demonstrate knowledge of the “Cycles of Liberation” (Harro)

theory and it uses in leadership• 73: Student will demonstrate personal application of the “Cycles of Liberation”

(Harro)• 74: Student will demonstrate knowledge of the “Configuration of Power”

(Franklin) and its relation to leadership• 78: Student will demonstrate knowledge of McIntosh’s theory of privilege and its

relation to leadership• 79: Student will demonstrate personal application of McIntosh’s theory• 80: Student will describe the differences and similarities of individual and

institutional oppression and relationships to leadership

Synthesizing a definition of inclusive leadershipOutcome 83: Student will create a personal code of inclusive leadership

HDF 190Prior to liberation process

An inclusive leader is someone who recognizes that there is no one “type” that defines a leader. Everyone within a group, despite their background and strengths, plays an important role. In any leadership role that I have and will have in the future, I will make sure that I recognize and appreciate everyone’s unique talents. Rather than play favorites and utilize only the people that I have a good connection with, I promise to use every group member. I will take the time out to get to know everyone individually. By doing this, I will get to know about their background, what makes them different and what their strengths are. To go about getting to know them I will have to listen and use empathy to understand where they are coming from. When I take the time out to get to know the members within my group, I am giving myself a chance to see how they can develop into future leaders. I am not going to try to make them more myself. Instead, I am going to take what makes them unique, and use that as I develop them into future leaders. I realize that the differences in people are important, and that they can all grow into their own definition of a leader without changing. I recently read a book that helped me discover how to develop my own personal code of inclusive leadership. The book I read was called “Inclusive Leadership The essential Leader-Follower Relationship” by Edwin Hollander. By reading this book, I was able to formulate a code of inclusive leadership. The code that I developed is as follows “As an inclusive leader I will use my own personal strengths to develop others into a leader by playing to their unique differences and cultural background”.

HDF 412After liberation process

In HDF 412, I was formally introduced to the concept of inclusive leadership. In a nutshell, inclusive leadership is involves the intentional and deliberate process of valuing, engaging, and leveraging the diversity of those around you. Differences in diversity can be on an organizational (seniority, management status etc.), external (religion, income, appearance etc.) or internal dimension (age, race, gender, orientation etc.). These differences correlate to differing socialization patterns, privileges and identity development patterns. Inclusive leader recognizes individual talents. Keeping this information in mind, my personal code of inclusive leadership aims to recognize the individual talents and differences of everyone in a group as a means of expansion of leadership opportunities for the group as a whole. To do this, I have to be aware of forms of oppression that may hinder one’s confidence in their leadership abilities. Awareness alone does nothing. I need to act when I when see systematic oppression affecting those around me. For me, the most important concept of inclusive involves treating others the way the want to be treated. I always used to keep in mind the golden rule (treating others the way I would want to be treated), but that assumes that everyone I see is like me. Acting this way negated the personal code of inclusive leadership I created in HDF 190. The golden rule avoids the recognition of differences, and focuses in on what ways we are similar. My new and improved personal code of inclusive leadership, involves noticing these differences, valuing them and using them to judge how someone would to be treated.

The Golden Snitch• It’s different. It’s smaller, one of a kind and very hard to find.

– It poses a challenge. If you want to find it, you have to be willing to fight for it.

• It represents the end of the game. The outcome, or the desired goal. – The highlight of a game is on the discovery snitch – Everyone knows it’s out there. The challenge is to be clever and

skillful enough to spot it first

Finding my snitch • For me the snitch represented my journey to finding

meaning • Out of all the leadership theories and models presented in class, I was

challenged to find which one I exemplified.

• In quidditch only one teammate is assigned the task of finding the snitch.– In my leadership journey, I was the only one capable of

finding and determining which model/theory I used in action.

Relational Leadership In ActionOutcome 41: Student will describe personal application of the above theory

As part of an assignment in HDF 412, I was asked to incorporate a leadership model into my current leadership practices. After thinking things through, I came to the conclusion that I utilize the relational leadership model as a guideline to my personal leadership style (most notably in my time as a student organization president). I have found that as a student org president, I practice the five components of relational leadership; inclusive, empowering, purposeful, ethical, and process orientated (Komives, McMahon & Lucas, 1998). As an inclusive and empowering leader I realize that everyone in my group has something to offer, whether it be an opinion, idea or just a different perspective on things. In order to encourage group members to get involved I utilize active listening techniques and gatekeeping (getting other involved while toning done the overly involved). I try to make sure the meetings are a safe space in which all members (not just exec) are encouraged to talk

As an ethical leader, I make sure that we are being congruent with our values. We should all be able to trust one another when it comes to achieving goals. If I notice someone lacks trust I try to get to root of the problem, and solve it. I don’t just let unethical behavior go by unnoticed. As a purposeful and process-orientated leader I have a desire to see a growth in not only what the group does, but a personal growth in each and every member. Every year I review the group’s mission, vision and values with other members. Keeping that in mind we create goals for the year. Throughout the year we check in on these goals and see what, if any progress has been made. At the end of the year, I sit down with the group and reflect on the goals we set. We see what did right, and where we need to improve. We give each other constructive criticism regarding our roles in the group (IE what should I work on to become a better president? Operations Chair? Treasurer? Etc.). The purpose of this reflection is to strive for group development and maintenance of our mission, vision and values. I always make sure to stress that even if we didn’t achieve goal, it does not mean that we failed. Rather we need to focus in on where we grew and what we did accomplish (Komives et al, 1998).

Conclusion

By looking at quidditch metaphorically. I was able to see how I grew as a leader. Each position and gameplay ball has certain skills, attributes and jobs. In isolation it might seem as if one aspect is mundane and unimportant. But all the pieces working together is what creates the game. Throughout my four years here at URI there have been times I felt like I wasn’t doing something that mattered. What I was failing to realize is that every outcome completed, every skill developed played an important role in the grand scheme of things.