"Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves." --Stephen Covey, _The 8th Habit_ (2005), p98.
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I seem to need to get this out before I go to the warm oblivion of my morning swim and exercise. You lack all context so the following may be even less readable than usual, or just as, but in a different way.
But here: I worked yesterday on the challenge course at the navy base primarily with 12 (seniors were they?) from a larger group of about 66 students from grades 6-12 of the Public Safety Academy in San Bernardino (www.psasb.us.com (?)).
I have a mild ache in my left head (diesel? neck/eye/back strain?) but a memory I've been reviewing (savoring?) of those kids' eyes (well it's more than that--their presences? Their manifestation of Covey's definition of leadership in that short time?). From the beginning, following Brandwein (see below), I met them with a good handshake, welcomed them, and asked them to look me in the eye. They began with a low opinion of their ability and poor focus on any group task. Though my speech, organization, and presentation were often lacking (I'm very out of practice), they came to demonstrate (1) focus and (2) appreciation for themselves and the others in the group and perhaps for some basic life principles and skills.
The 12 skills, by the way (from Brandwein, _Learning Leadership_), are:
Teamwork
Resposibility
Respect
Motivation
Listening
Planning
Initiative
Creativity
Persistence
Presenting
Problem Solving
Observation
Each skill has a card (an 8.5x11 piece of paper) with lists of Leader Actions, such as, from Problem Solving: "identifies and weighs options"; and corresponding Leader Lingo: "What are my/our options?"
In speaking and behavior, as in writing, providing practice with a template helps people get new ways of being and doing. We often lack the words and practices which would let us act and interact in more beneficial ways.
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Subject: Fwd: Re: DTA 12/10
Brent, Steve:
Some of the following approaches helped make the day go well overall with the group I had--I got to mention these in the post-program eval, and wrote the email below to give more detail, and thought it would be good to send it to you too.
Background: From Brandwein's book (below), I used cards about 12 leadership skills: I laid the cards down (after some intoductory activities from Brandwein to get them to think about what leadership could be before feeding them B's skills) and let participants choose which skill they would represent.
Other background: the "I appreciate. . ." debrief: (1st go-around) each participant says one thing s/he appreciates that s/he did during the initiative; (2nd go-around) each participant says one thing s/he appreciates that one specific other person did during the initiative (or switch the order!). We did this at least three times, including in the final debrief, where it was applied to the whole day.
Also: the simple definition of leadership I gave them was: Leaders develop other leaders. The fancier one is below. In writing this I see that the simple definition comes more directly from John C. Maxwell's chart of "Leaders who develop followers vs. Leaders who develop leaders" (p 210, _The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. . ._).
peace,
Colin
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I'm glad I got to work with you all today!
Here's the source for the leadership definition I was using:
"Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves" (Covey, _The 8th Habit_, p98).
Michael Brandwein wrote _Learning Leadership_, _Super Staff Supervision_. www.michaelbrandwein.com.
The "I appreciate . . ." debrief comes from QuailSprings.org's thanksgiving practice (every one says something s/he's thankful for before a meal. . . I was never at ease with it, but the "I appreciate . . . ." phrasing I could work with.
I hope we're out there again soon!
Peace,
Colin
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Not sure if I'll send the following. Brent started the company (but did not work this program). I've worked with him from before that. He's somewhat used to this:
Subject: Toxic Fumes
[Brent, thanks ahead of time (I am hoping)for your patience with this--sometimes I like to write to help move on from things. No need to read this carefully.]
You may have seen the headlines in yesterday's _USA Today_ about someone vowing to test the air near schools for toxins.
It seems important to mention that due to machinery used in resurfacing the pool area there were, nearly constantly, loud noise and fumes blowing over the program area (especially intense for me when belaying close to pool fence).
I can't think of anything you could do about it (if it was due to a generator, could the generator have been moved? Maybe--; Provide respirators?), but in both recovering from and appreciating yesterday, it seems important to mention this. One participant in my group was very affected by the air quality until someone brought her Claritin--she had been there last year and noted that her allergies are a problem there more than elsewhere.
We had a great day weather- and wind direction-wise on 12/4. But as you know there is often air pollution from their notorious sewage plant (as there was yesterday, though the diesel fumes dominated it).
Definitely disregard this as a complaint (although it is!)--I'm glad to be able to work there. But if the opportunity ever comes up for you or I to affect air quality issues around the course, perhaps this note will help make our action more likely.
There's a history of neglect of environmental health in this country/world, and later regret about it (usually by those who paid the most with their health, but also by those who care and who come to be aware of the costs).
Thanks for listening--
The story of much of our urban lives is that wherever we go we're breathing someone's air pollution. Things may slowly be getting better (smoking bans, stricter emissions control on diesel, etc).
Peace,
Colin
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and that's the end of work for 2008? I got to see my friend again after writing that last post/email. She helped me by emailing back somewhat quick (we never--well, rarely--interact that way).
After an exciting week--the paper says it's Thursday--maybe I can let you rest a while and sew my pants, read, work on essay, app, getting character refs. . . My dad is coming to visit on New Year's Eve.
Peace,
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