Stefan Kells

EDUC 5373: Innovative

Leadership for the Digital Age
Dr. Moore
2/2/18

Leadership Exercise – Week 3

Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 7-6: My Leadership Portfolio

For this insert into your leadership portfolio, think through all the recent opportunities you might have had to use
political tactics. How did you deal with the situation? Did you capitalize on any opportunities? Did you use an
ethical approach? Did you use any unethical tactics? Did you commit any political blunders?

After college graduation, I joined the millions searching for a job. I felt like I had applied
for every position that I was qualified for in a 60-mile radius and even a few further off. I
received a few initial interviews, but I never heard anything back. The conversation came
up with one of my family friends and she suggested that I send a “thank you” note in the
mail the day after my next interview. She said that future employers looking for
candidates, like receiving a handwritten “thank you” note. I thought this was a strange
etiquette, but I did it! Turns out, my next interview was for the Admissions and
Recruitment Specialist position at SE. That interview was absolutely wonderful. I
connected with several members on the interview committee. This interview felt completely
different from the previous ones I had experienced. Like my friend had suggested, I
emailed the Director later that evening and dropped a “thank you” in the mail the next day.
A few weeks later I received an offer for the job. Since then, I have served on several
interview panels and noticed a positive vibe from other members of the committee when a
“thank you” was received after an interview. I think the “thank you” note served two
purposes for me. First, that I was humble and that I respected the time it took out of their
schedule to visit with me. Second, it reinforced the idea that I would be able to send “thank
you” notes to prospective students after their visit to campus. Which was one of my duties
in that position. I’ve learned that a handwritten “thank you” goes a long way and carries a
lot of weight in a decision making process.
 Stefan Kells
EDUC 5373: Innovative
Leadership for the Digital Age
Dr. Moore
2/2/18
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 8-5: My Leadership Portfolio

Influence is necessary for leaders, so you need to practice your influence tactics to enhance your leadership
effectiveness. In this chapter’s entry to your leadership journal, describe any influence tactic you implemented
recently. Describe what you did and how the influence target reacted. Comment on how you might use the tactic
differently in your next influence attempt. Also describe which influence tactic or combination of tactics you plan to
use in the upcoming week.

When I was in the Office of Admissions and Recruitment I held two formal positions and
one informal. I somehow became the office “Tech Guru”. I was the go-to person before a
work order was submitted to the Help Desk and if I could not fix the issue, then I submitted
a Help Desk ticket. Since I exceled at office technology, I was over the initial
implementation of the Jenzabar Recruitment Manager (JRM) system and the Admissions
side of our Docubase imaging system. This informal title helped me develop a reputation as
a Subject Matter Expert (SME). My duty as the Admissions Counselor was to review
applications for admission to the University. We had a letter for every type of
admittance/rejection category per student situation. That’s a lot of letters! I asked if these
letters could be combined by similarities or automatically generated based on the
information we updated in the system. I never really got an answer. So, I took it upon
myself to create a generic PDF form letter that combined multiple situations together. I
tried to make the letter as dynamic as possible, even though it was still a manual process
(see example below). I presented the letter to my supervisors and they loved it. Of course,
minor adjustments were made to the document over time to satisfy concepts not thought
about. It saved us time and headache to use one letter instead of multiple.

Check boxes to
indicate what applies
to the student.

These drop down boxes allow that

Admissions Counselor to select
what subject area the student
needs to complete their College
Placement Testing (CPT) in.
 Stefan Kells
EDUC 5373: Innovative
Leadership for the Digital Age
Dr. Moore
2/2/18

Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 9-4: My Leadership Portfolio

Now that you have studied a basketful of ideas about enhancing teamwork, you can add to your skill repertoire by
implementing a few of these tactics. The next time you are involved in group activity, either as the leader or as a
group member; attempt to enhance cooperation and teamwork within the group. Make specific use of at least two of
the recommended tactics for improving teamwork. Make an entry in your journal after your first attempts to
enhance teamwork.

As I’ve already implied, we have a strong cross-departmental cooperation here at

Southeastern. I truly believe that everyone has the same common goal at heart and that is
to make sure our students are successful. This week, I had a discussion with one of my
colleagues about creating visual aid to build better communications from the department
that will enhance student satisfaction and expectations at the Center Locations. Our plan is
to compile all program requirements and dates into a visual timeline to hand out to our
students during our advising sessions. The information is already being provided, but not
in the same location. Which forces the student to have to know where to look on the
website.