All entries for December 2008

End of LE

As the module has come to an end and i am trying to be reflective about what took place over these past two weeks, i realise that i dont know much about leadership...

I mean...

Yes, i can talk about its meaning, analyse the features a leader ought to have, debate whether leader is born or made, and all sorts of other interesting things but does this subject close here, and can anyone honestly say that he or she has leaned everything there is to know about leadership...?

I dont think so, and i feel that the beauty of this subject lies in exactly that....you cant learn everything in 2 weeks..that's not the point...

In a way, it is impossible to truly learn what leadership is even throuout a lifetime...As u move on u taste a piece, and then another...and so on..

For me an urge to learn more about leadership has been created...And not just read, but actively experience what is leadership and what leaders have to do...At least we experienced some of that in the module

Having the opportunity to lead and most importatbly experiecing what a good follower is, mihght be the most important elements of this module...

What I got out of it...is hundreds of thoughts about values, skills and behaviours that define the person u will be in your team.. 

: 06 Dec 2008 01:34 |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

CSR and Leadership

I must admit that one of the most important features of this module was the opportunity I had to find out more about Corporate Social Responsibity. The truth is that i followed 2 modules on Csr and Business Ethics in my undergraduate course but it seems that i cant get enough of it...

Probably because I have a personal interest in this area....

At this point I would like to share a personal experience i had recently connected to CSR...A few weeks ago at a careers fair here at Warwick I asked a representative of one of the high and mighty enterprises what are the perspectives of working in the Csr field of their business...The answer was shattering...to begin with she had no idea what i was talking about...then after i expained to her what is the concept of CSR she thought for a while and told me that IF something like that exists in their company, it will probably be run by the PR department...

Disappointment....

Considering what Paul mentioned this morning about convincing businesses to engage with the idea of csr, I feel that there is no other way but to present it as an indirect way of boosting brand image...

Afrer all Strategic Csr is Csr...Is it the why that matters..?I mean as long as they are doing it (no matter the reasons) that is good enough...Of course the idea of dong something is that u truly support what it stands for but is that always an option...It goes without saying that adopting a true CSR approach is far better...but how do u prove it...

In a way I wish that CEOs thought the way that guy from Xerox John Seeley thinks, who said that:

The job of leadership today is not about making money, its about making meaning

If u think about it the world is not lacking in money...but in meaning....

So maybe a more meaningfull approach can make the difference...

Because i fell that at the end of the day that's what counts...Making a difference

: 06 Dec 2008 00:05 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Coaching

Two days ago,with Grahamwe explored what coaching is.

It was quite revealing,

Let me start from the learning outcomes,for example how important it is to focus on the person coached and eliminate any sighn of ego that might be struggling to appear...So once again the ffundamental feuture about leadership shines out...its not about you...!!!its about empowering other people...giving them space and opportunities to develop and achieve...and also helping when there are issues that need confrontation.

Also, when things are not going as expected and this needs to be pointed out during a coaching session it is critical not to personalise the problem...no fingerprinting blaming, but to detect the reasons of such a result and then create an environment that will minimise it ...

All this seems so conected to phycology...I guess it makes sence if we think how much time of their life people spend working...

Another thing quite impressive was a comment that came out that afternoon, about using coaching as a mean to ipmove. I think it was Paul who mentioned that every month or so he meets with his manager for a coaching session where they discuss about his performance and what can the company and the manager personally do, in order to improve that in the future...

Another comment came from Luis, who mentioned that in a company he worked in Venezuela had established the mentality of coaches instead of managers....

Isn't that promising...?

The fact that gradually the business world is understanding that employees dont need control systems but development and emancipation..

: 05 Dec 2008 00:50 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem