Self Reflection #1

After completing the self assessment, I would say I understand the Relational Leadership model pretty well, and I embody the values and parts of the model. Although, I feel as though I fall short in a few of the areas on the model. I would define my weakest component, purposeful, as making sure what you do has a true purpose. To elaborate, making sure those you work with through the process are included in the goals and have a say in what the vision of the mission is. On the model, I showed that I was about halfway through the “being.” I feel as though I certainly know how to show purpose and fulfill that part of the model, although sometimes I can be selfish in my ways and forget to bring my peers in on what exactly I am thinking and doing. This is not only due to my own shortcomings, but also due to my inexperience as a leader. Although I was the Business President of my high school’s Robotics team, that was my first real leadership experience and I had to learn how to become not just a natural leader, but a stronger, skilled leader. With more experience and development, I’m sure I can go beyond doing. 

My next section up was inclusive. In the assessment, I was able to shade in almost all of being, but I felt as though I was not fully there. I define inclusive as making sure everyone who is helping you in your project has a place and something to do. Helping everyone to feel involved and making sure everyone is on the same page. Inclusive is more of the technical version of purposeful. Inclusive being literally including everyone and keeping communication up, and purposeful being metaphorical inclusion with values, goals, and mission statement. The reasoning for my lack of inclusion is similar to my reason for purposeful. I can sometimes be selfish, and to add on to that, I can also be forgetful. Depending on the size of the group you are working with, inclusion can be difficult (as I learned as President when we had 60-70 members). Making sure everyone has something to do and keeping up with communication can be difficult in large numbers; similarly, smaller groups can be just as difficult. You may be so into what you are doing and what your part is to do objective-wise, that you forget to keep others in the loop and that connection with the group gets lost. At that point, recovery is fairly easy, but recognizing your own faults may be difficult. 

Empowerment is where I feel I break through the stage of being, and can finally say I am doing. Empowerment is allowing others who are included in what you are trying to accomplish to feel like they have a say, and feel like they truly are a part of something. Understanding the power that you have, and doing your best to share that power with others. I don’t feel as though I am the best at empowerment as I can be, so I refrained from shading that section all the way, but looking back on my experience last year I feel confident in shading in a little bit of it. Although I did not necessarily succeed in inclusiveness, in who I did include I made sure they had all the tools and the ability to do anything. I made sure to distribute my power to my peers and other team members. 

Going past empowerment, being ethical was one step up. I felt I was able to almost fill in that whole section. Being ethical to me means to not only make decisions that are morally right and just, but also to keep in mind the feelings of others and make decisions as so not to demean another person. In my opinion, I embody this component very well. I am compassionate and kind hearted, and always keep in mind how others feel. But, I am typically a very blunt person when it comes to feedback and cutting out the unnecessary fluff. Due to this bluntness, I often disregard how others may feel and give them straight feedback and unfiltered thoughts as opposed to constructive criticism. Blunt feedback is commonly what is needed (at least how I see it), and the best way to convey what I am thinking. If I am being completely honest, I am not very confident in that my ethical section will grow much by the end of the year, and that is okay with me. 

My best component of the RLM is process-oriented. Process-oriented is not just following a plan throughout what you are doing, but also reflecting after the fact on your own performance and faults. I was able to shade in this section fully because I can recognize the importance of a strong plan and to make sure everything gets completed thoroughly and on time, along with self reflection. In times of reflection to myself and others, I apologize and improve upon my imperfections, and review the project as a whole to see what went well and what could be bettered.

Overall, I feel as though I am able to speak of the RLM fairly well. I have a strong idea of what each of the components mean and hold value-wise. As I work on improving myself more and more throughout this year I hope to understand it better and be better able to teach others about it. Through using my resources in SLC and the ILV, I hope not only to better my chances of accomplishing my goals here at NCSU and beyond, but also to better myself as a leader and to make new connections through the opportunities provided by the Village. I am very much looking forward to the rest of this year and growing as a whole with the help of my CLs and community.