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Ella Dahlin
Andrew Miller
EXPL 390
21 February 2017
Leadership Reflection

In order to truly understand the type of leader I am and the goals I hope to achieve, I must

reflect on who I am as a person and the experiences that have led me to where I am today. Given

my experiences as an intern, daughter of boss, and leader in various organizations, I have

discovered the values I find most important in leadership. Similar to Caldwell, I find love,

forgiveness, and humility essential values for an impactful leaders success. In times of busyness

and chaos, it becomes easy to lose these values, which is why it is so important to find personal

time for reflection to ensure that I am a consistent leader.

In order to understand myself as a leader, my learning style must be considered. My

approach to new experiences is best described in the phrase learning as I go. In every position

that I have ever held, whether it be a food runner at a restaurant or a tutor for immigrant children,

experience has always been the best teacher. I am a person that shows up, dives in, and starts

working. This trial and error approach exemplifies my excited, rash, and involved demeanor,

which leads to quick learning (and doing some jobs twice). I have made my fair share of

mistakes, but I have never made the same one twice. In fact, these errors have been great

learning moments that have motivated me become more involved in the organization.

Fortunately, Madonna House is a perfect placement for an impulsive person because the staff is

loving, patient, and forgiving. This atmosphere encourages me to become more involved and ask

questions. The learn as you go approach to new jobs has helped me assimilate quickly, learn

from my mistakes, and become an active, involved member of whatever organization I join.
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As a leader, I try to hold certain ideals and principles consistent, but life presents

challenges that can prevent me from operating at my fullest. To put my current leadership style in

context, it is important to understand my commitments as a second semester senior. I am

currently enrolled in 17 credit hours, employed at two jobs to pay for my bills, working about

twenty hours a week at my internship, and trying to figure out post-graduation employment, so

my life can be described as organized chaos. Fortunately, some of those credit hours are

internship courses and I like my jobs, so I do not mind juggling my responsibilities. However,

instead of relaxing in my free moments, I decided my time would be better spent planning

practices, games, and events for the womens lacrosse team, attending chapter for my service

fraternity, and meeting with the students for worker justice group on campus. I am a person that

enjoys busyness and does not know what to do with free time, but I have to admit this semester

feels like a marathon.

The benefits of a stressful life is that I feel more than prepared to work only forty hours a

week at a real job after I graduate and I have learned how to effectively balance my personal and

work lives. The downside is the possibility of burning out and becoming tired, which can create

barriers to being a present, effective leader. To combat some of this burn out, I ensure that I find

time for friends and for myself. My social life can be something as easy as dinner with my best

friend, facetiming my boyfriend, or a call to my mom. Time for myself can be journaling and

reflecting on my day or spending some time at the gym. I find it important to balance the

personal aspects of my life or it takes away from my happiness, which prevents me from being

an effective worker, student, intern, etc. Fortunately, I can handle this rather chaotic time because

I have wonderful support systems in my life. I have a family that encourages me to follow my

passions. I have friends that understand my schedule and always go out of their way to spend
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time with me. I have an amazing partner who is patient and tells me everything I need to hear. I

have peers and supervisors that encourage me and appreciate the things I do. My support systems

have taught me that as a leader, it is essential that you ask others for help and encouragement.

Due to the many experiences I have had in my life, I have developed a leadership style

that is a unique blend of love, trust, high expectations, and respect. In many ways, I related to the

Caldwell reading, which states that the virtues of love, forgiveness, and trust are critical

foundation values of leaders (Caldwell 91). This emphasis on treating people as ends and not

means resonates with me because I want people to enjoy their work. I strive to be a leader that

cares for people and motivates them through my own actions, instead of forcing or manipulating

them to do what I want. A very recent example of this actually happened on my lacrosse team

when we did not have a goalie for game. Even though I loathed the idea of playing goalie, I

volunteered because as an executive board member, I did not believe it was fair to ask other

players to do it if I was not willing to do it myself. As talked about in the Five Practices of

Leadership reading, it is important for even the highest leaders in an organization to show that

they are never too good for any job. Instead of acting superior and manipulating people, it is

much more effective to lead by example and encouragement.

As Caldwell emphasizes, this caring approach to leadership requires authenticity and

patience. It requires trying to understand other peoples perspectives, which may explain their

shortcomings. In many ways, I agree with this approach, and I do think it is important to love

what I do and the people I am working with, but love must be balanced with expectations and

responsibilities. My mother, who has run her own construction company for over ten years, has

greatly influenced me in the balance between love and addressing shortcomings. I have watched

my mom pay her employees early, take them on vacations, and worry about them as people, not
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just employees. However, I have also witnessed that loving your employees does not mean

lowering standards or expectations. She has fired incompetent employees, even though it was

difficult, and respectfully warned those who were not completing their responsibilities. From my

perspective, there is a balance between genuine care for others, while also challenging them. As

Caldwell explains, a leaders responsibility is to serve others, but compassion and forgiveness

does not mean excusing followers from being accountable (93).

The leadership style at Madonna is definitely one of love, forgiveness, and understanding.

All seven resident assistants are completely different people, which means they all bring their

unique traits to Madonna House. Although they all technically hold the same position, some of

them are great with the kids, while the others one are very organized and handle the paperwork.

At Catholic Charities, I have seen how my supervisors, Miss Soraida and Miss Sharita, have both

encouraged the employees to use their strengths to help the organization. Although there are

basic expectations for all of them, my supervisors encourage each person to play into their

strengths. I remember one time, there were three workers all sitting in the office, and nobody was

really doing anything, even though there was work that could be done. Instead of becoming

angry and yelling at them, Miss Sharita respected them as people and reminded them of their

responsibilities that needed to be finished. She did not harbor any negative feelings and the group

moved on in a friendly and positive manner.

Analyzing myself is a leader is a difficult task because I can see myself changing in

certain situations and contexts. I have realized that in every setting, I find the values of love,

forgiveness, and respect essential to create an atmosphere that is positive and effective.