|
|
Post by cassiechase on Sept 16, 2016 18:17:21 GMT
Sorry that I'm a bit late to the party!
- Leadership Behavior #1: Understanding that every individual is unique and motivated by something different, I am committed to figuring out what motivates people. Why are they here? What do they care about? What drives and excites them? When interacting with my colleagues, I will ask myself these questions. The answers to these questions will help me communicate more effectively and gain a deeper understanding of each one of my colleagues.
- Leadership Behavior #2: I am committed to doing a better job at saying "no" and/or letting my colleagues know when I have too much on my plate. As concluded in the DISC, I am a strong "S" and as part of my personality, I like being accommodating and supportive. I realized that because I am an "S", I tend to take on a lot more work than I actually can do, because I want to be helpful and supportive to my colleagues. I am also a strong "C", so I'm a big deadline-focused person (although, you probably wouldn't think that after submitting this assignment a week late!). The result? I find myself too often in stressful situations where I'm staying late to get things done in order to fulfill the commitment I made and meet the deadline. So, over the next couple weeks I will be more mindful of this and am committed to practicing saying "no" to tasks that I simply do not have time for, in an effective, but not dismissive way.
|
|
alan
New Member
Posts: 8 
|
Post by alan on Sept 16, 2016 23:12:42 GMT
No problem about being late. I'm in the same boat.
Both very good behaviors to pursue. I may have to borrow these to work on myself. I'm very interested in knowing how the saying "no" goes. Once again I believe I'm in the same boat, if this thing time stamps entries you'll see how late this was entered.
|
|
alan
New Member
Posts: 8
|
Post by alan on Sept 17, 2016 0:02:48 GMT
At first I was a bit worried about your 2nd leadership practice. I wondered, are we allowed to say "no?" Will saying "no" hurt us in the long run? However, as I was looking for an article for assignment #2 I came across a video on Forbes website titled, "How to be a Leader: 4 Essential Tips." Hopefully it shows up on the bottom of this web-page: www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2013/04/09/what-is-leadership/2/#659c57a1e825Anyway the last tip is to be accountable. Part of what they advise is "Don't make promises you can't keep." In this light I feel better about your goal. Good luck! |
|
jeff
New Member
Posts: 29
|
Post by jeff on Sept 17, 2016 0:05:09 GMT
I love the motivation focus, Cassie! How will you validate your conclusions about what drives each of these different people? How many people will you target for this effort? And good luck with saying "no" when necessary. Tough one but very important for an S. How will you measure your success with this challenge? Best wishes!
|
|
|
|
Post by Michael Caliendo on Sept 23, 2016 14:26:46 GMT
I agree knowing what motivated folks can be a might powerful tool. However, I believe motivations change frequently, so the key could be to ask lots of questions to get at peoples motivations.
Good Job, Michael
|
|
|
|
Post by cassiechase on Sept 27, 2016 20:41:28 GMT
Thanks for the feedback, Mike, Jeff and Alan!
Over the past several weeks, as I was trying to better figure out what motivates different people, I began by asking my co-workers questions like: "Why did you decide you wanted to work for FHWA? Why did you decide you wanted to be an engineer/planner/etc.?" I also asked some questions about their personal life and what they did for hobbies, etc. These were conversations that I had at lunch with one co-worker and in the GOV on our way to a site visit with another. I learned a whole heck of a lot more about my co-workers than I thought! I learned that one of my co-workers used to be in the army. Now, how did I not know that until now? That made me feel terrible. I not only learned more about what potentially was motivating my co-workers, but I was also building a stronger relationship with them. I also found a copy of everyone's Myer's Briggs styles in one of our office's server folders (our office took the Myer's Briggs 3-4 years ago or so). After reviewing it, it did give me a better insight into my co-worker's needs and how they operate or like to receive information.
I pretty much have failed at my LB#2 so far. I'm still working on it, but not there yet. The main reason being, I've made multiple prior commitments and I still need to fulfill my obligations to those. The main one being, I committed to being a co-author ona programmatic biological opinion (on behalf of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) because it was our Division's #1 risk for multiple consecutive years. The heavy work load is all coming to a head now, and with an extremely aggressive schedule. Anyway, although this is a heavy load (more so than I thought), I still have other commitments that I made too, and I have been struggling with juggling them all. I did, however, voice to many of my colleagues that they should not expect me to be as responsive as I usually am throughout the next several weeks because of everything on my plate. Boy, did that feel good to say. And people were generally good with that, surprisingly.
|
|
