Examination 4 Nasim AmiriArshad ID Number: 19890518-T668

The leadership development program is based on the sessions we had, categorized into 11
parts in my mind:
Part 1: Self- Leadership
This incredible journey was initiated by learning about self-leadership, and before starting this
program, pre-reading this book prepared me to be an effective leader since I need to be able to
lead myself first. So, in the first reflection based on the self-leadership book (Christopher P.
Neck, Charles C. Manz, Jeffery D. Houghton, 2019), I realized Self-leadership is an essential
skill that empowers individuals to take charge of their lives, make effective decisions, and
achieve personal and professional goals. According to my reflection, I have already been
working with my self-leadership skills in various ways. I have been practicing goal setting, time
management, decision-making, self-motivation, and self-reflection as fundamental aspects of
self-leadership. Acquainting theories I learned in this book, like self-leadership, social cognitive
theory, self-determination theory, self-regulation theory, self-management, and positive
psychology, will enable me to become a confident, proactive, and booming individual. Self-
leadership strategies, including cueing strategies, self-observation, self-goal setting, self-reward,
and self-punishment, help me to Keep exploring and developing my self-leadership abilities, as
they will guide me toward achieving my dreams and becoming the best version of myself.
My lesson learned: Negative Self-talk and Mental practices were two precious exercises from
the self-leadership book (Christopher P. Neck, Charles C. Manz, Jeffery D. Houghton, 2019)that
impacted my mindset after several weeks; by doing the exercise, I understood how I changed my
self-talk from when I woke up in the morning to when I back to sleep, and it showed me how to
change my sapper self-talk to self-talk that can help me achieve maximum performance. Mental
practice also allows me to make a positive direction in my mind to imagine achieving successful
results before beginning that. So, doing and repeating the exercise makes it an efficient habit for
me.
Part 2: Group Dynamic Workshop
However, I wasn’t present in this workshop; during the interview with my classmate and
discussing the activities and exercises, I found the role of collaboration, teamwork, and
leadership skills. For example, when she observed activities like knot-tying or bridge-building.
On one side, I recognized the role of communication and strategizing as critical self-leadership
skills; on the other, it reminded me of the style of leadership that I learned in the next sessions:
servant and autocratic were deemed necessary in certain situations.
The workshop emphasizes group dynamics and diversity within the cohorts. The deliberate
grouping of participants based on nationality and age, followed by further categorization into
more focused subgroups, allowed for nuanced interactions and the exchange of diverse
perspectives.
Examination 4 Nasim AmiriArshad ID Number: 19890518-T668

My lesson learned: at the end of the interview and based on a self-leadership book that I read
Christopher P. Neck, Charles C. Manz, Jeffery D. Houghton, 2019), I imagine how the
leadership journey will continue and these activities are the cornerstone of this journey. Also, I
learned about documenting self-reflection through the logbook framework that personally works
for me in all program sessions.
Part 3: Learning to listen.
This extraordinary session emphasized how we can be good listeners and the role of listening in
productive communication. The lecture concentrates on psychological safety and some tips for
building in the workplace environment. How can we create a thinking environment, what
feedback is, and how can we positively use feedback?
In this session, we had two precious exercises. The first was great practice with the subject of
Coach and Coachee, and the other was Johari's window.
My lesson learned: Although I know myself as an active listener, I recognized the critical role
of a good listener when I was a coach in a team exercise. In that situation, I should trust, show
the coachee my engagement, be self-aware, and be open to their feedback. Based on SEP theory,
I understand for perfect communication, my mental picture of the sender and receiver should be
the same. That is another essential option for good listeners to avoid getting into the bias trap or
prejudging. Also, during this exercise, a significant learning for me was that there is no right or
wrong answer; they are just based on my perspective. Based on the questionnaire and the number
of my scores in the Johari window, I realized how I can increase my self-awareness and
understanding of others by concentrating on some unknown or hidden areas.
Part 4: Self-leadership in the VUCA Model
In this part, we have a super productive presentation from Atiqul; firstly, we become familiar
with Arla company: their owners, their staff, their competitors, their products, and their revenues.
Atiqul discusses how we live in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world and how
leaders can manage the impact of these criteria and continue. He mentioned how changing
leadership style causes adapting and responding immediately in the VUCA world. He focused on
three indispensable solutions to changing organizational structure: agile methodology and
transformational leadership based on competency and ethics.
My lesson learned: At the end of this session, I can answer my questions; my challenge was
whether or not agile methodology is a solution for all types of companies. The answer was that
the outcome would not be successful if all departments weren’t involved in the methodology.
Another challenge based on my generation of millennials is how I can lead to this current
context. I got my answers based on three solutions.
Part 5: Crises Leadership
Based on six articles about crises, our team chose Cognitive shifts within leader and Follower
Teams: Where consensus develops in mental models during an organizational crisis (David J.
Carringtona, Ian A. Combea, Michael D. Mumfordb, 2018). Our topic discusses the challenges
leaders face during corporate crises and the critical role of mental models in addressing such
situations.
Examination 4 Nasim AmiriArshad ID Number: 19890518-T668

My lesson learned: in this seminar, I learned the definition of organizational crisis, what
competencies are needed to respond to the crisis, the role of the CEO and executive in this
situation, resilience theory, and educational leadership from other teams present. An essential
point of our article is developing a mental model to address crisis conditions. We discussed the
article's methodology and relied on cognitive mapping, interviews, and statistical analysis to
investigate shifts in mental models within the organization's leaders and followers during an
organizational crisis.
Part 6: a classical, contemporary, critical, and normative approach to leadership
In this exciting part of our first exam based on literature, we chose 3 "polarized pairs." We
mentioned why they are important and the consequences of leadership, and we discussed three
questions in the seminar literature. In the seminar lecture, first, we discussed our queries, and
then Pia identified four leaders for each group and asked them to talk about their leadership style.
These days, companies use what kind of leadership?
My lesson learned: Based on my report, I learned several styles of leadership, Autocratic vs.
Democratic Leadership, Charismatic Leadership vs. Servant Leadership, and Transactional vs.
Transformational, which helped me to distinguish and correspond with these features in leading
an organization on a small scale or governing on a big scale. For instance, based on Burnes's
theory (Burns, 1978), "transformational Leadership is concerned with end values such as liberty,
justice, and equality, not just focused on product and process," and this is what exactly we need
in uncertain situations to restructure the organization based on new ethics or competence. Based
on the literature, I realized the critical leadership style based on my character and previous work
experience is servant leadership since this type is people oriented as Greenleaf's new business
ethic: "The work exists for the person as much as the person exists for the work."
The group work was exceptional, and we learned numerous lessons based on brainstorming and
ideas that piqued our minds during the group conversation. At the end of the seminar, I got the
answer to my question.

Part 7: Digital Transformation

In this part, I experienced three fascinating sections: the first introduction of digital
transformation and gamification by Sandra and Adam, then 2 group work role-playing with
different roles based on the Belbin team role with changing the role two times, and the final
game.

My lesson learned: based on Sandra's presentation and explanation about cognitive processes
and the SKR Model, I learned how the technologies(automation technologies, AI, robotics, and
the internet of things)are reshaping industries, businesses, and daily life.in the first group work
based on access to the energy dashboard at Scania company, we were responsible as a team for
finding a solution to develop the dashboard and implement it in another place. I experienced two
roles, first as a leader and second as a maintenance specialist. In each role, my concerns about
Examination 4 Nasim AmiriArshad ID Number: 19890518-T668

the company and products differed; as an implementer, I concentrated on doing properly and
embracing innovation and types of change. However, as a specialist, I am an issue solver. This
part broadened my horizons about our characters in different roles. When leaders, we follow the
know–what–why- and are specialists. We follow know-how and know–how. In the final game,
each team had to calculate the ancient construction with the help of different cards distributed
between members, and we tried to share our card information to receive the number; I learned
how much communication and collaboration could be.

Part 8: Traits and behaviors

In this part of the second examination, we read the literature about lousy leadership and toxic
leaders. We reflected on the role of leaders and followers and the distinction between trait and
behavior. We discussed our questions in a beautiful seminar lecture, and I experienced very
precious participation while answering the question.

My lesson learned:

Based on the literature by Kellerman (2004), I learned that future leaders should focus on ethical
leadership, so ethical decision-making, transparency, integrity, and accountability in their actions
are significant. Also, they have an essential role in empowering followers to speak up against
toxic behaviors and leadership. I learned how acceptance and validation from followers about
toxic leaders have so many negative consequences. I also learned about the distinction between
behavior and traits and how these behaviors manifest in leaders' interactions with their followers
and the organizational impact they generate. I also got my questions about rebuilding trust and
recovering the effect of toxic leadership by restructuring and building a new corporate culture
answered in the seminar lecture.

Part 9: Authentic Leadership

In this section, after the seminar lecture, I experienced another productive lecture by Jackson
about authentic leadership.
My lesson learned: I realized authentic means original, and genuine leadership is a form where
the leader aims to provide effective leadership. This form includes all leadership theories like
servant, transformational, and situational leadership. Based on Bill George's (2003) main idea,
being a successful leader is being yourself and the authentic paradox when you are stuck on your
beliefs. So, changing or updating plays an important role; I learned about the authentic leadership
component during the lecture. Finally, a consequence of this subject for me is backing self-
leadership.

Part 10: Gender mainstreaming and intersectionality and group work

In this lecture session, we discussed the exact definition of mainstreaming, gender
mainstreaming, the history of mainstreaming, internal and external barriers, challenges in
Examination 4 Nasim AmiriArshad ID Number: 19890518-T668

different industries, and what the fuzzy front-end means. In the second part of the lecture, I
learned the meaning of intersectionality and the role of women. In this part, we had helpful group
work. Our group shared our previous experiences about how age, race, and culture impact our
performance, salary, and future career paths. We discussed some discrimination experienced in
the concept of discrimination. We analyze the role of women and the impact of gender in that
restriction and compare them based on our country and cultures (Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Sweden, and Nepal)

My Lesson Learned: A big lesson learned was above and beyond understanding the definition
of mainstreaming and intersectionality for me, deep thinking about how I should be aware of
others who don’t consider women as whole beings and how I can integrate the woman
experience in different contexts to equity in each society I entered (Samuels & Ross-Sheriff,
2008, p. 6)

Part 11: Seminar Exam 3

The last presentation was another wonderful part of this journey; my team and I presented "How
does team leadership work when the working group has different DISC personalities or styles?
"Other teams discussed leadership in Remote Work Environments, imposter syndrome, and
overcoming resistance to change in organizational leadership.
My Lesson Learned:
Most of the learning in this session was about imposter syndrome for me, the definition of
imposter syndrome is when we sabotage ourselves or underestimate because we believe we don’t
deserve it or we don’t have enough potential.
We had some great discussions on this topic about some of our experiences and how we deal
with them in certain situations; in the end, the role of effective leaders understand that good
mental and physical health is crucial to performance, and they empower their teams to tend to
their well-being. Employees need to feel that they are valued as whole people with unique talents
and goals.
Ultimately, the feedback I received about our presentation was so precious about managing my
time and maintaining eye contact with the team constantly.
Examination 4 Nasim AmiriArshad ID Number: 19890518-T668

Resources:

• Burns, (1978). Leadership. New York, Harper and Row

• Christopher P. Neck, Charles C. Manz, Jeffery D. Houghton, (2019), self-leadership
book, Second Edition. (pp.128-140)
• David J. Carringtona, Ian A. Combea, Michael D. Mumford, (2018), Cognitive shifts
within leader and follower teams: Where consensus develops in mental models during an
organizational crisis
• George, B. (2003). Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting
Value. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
• Kellerman, B. (2004). Bad leadership: what it is, how it happens, why it matters. Boston:
Harvard Business School Publishing.
Examination 4 Nasim AmiriArshad ID Number: 19890518-T668