Sara Mathavich

What's the Point?

2009-04-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

As I was going to write my final blog, I was looking through the notes I took in class, my blogs, and things that happened in class to try and figure out what the point of the class for me was. I have a lot of information for what seems to be a pretty easy question, so it is hard to pick out just a few things that shaped what I thought the point of the class was. The following are a few of the main points I am taking away from my semester long journey in 309.

Be GREAT! Be the best person I can be! This will help me be a better leader and inspire my followers to be the best they can be too! - (Funeral/Pain Exercises)
I don't think I will ever forget doing these two exercises in class; they changed my life. I had never done anything like them before in any of my classes. These two exercises really got me thinking. With the funeral exercise, it made me think about am I being the best person I can be NOW (not tomorrow or next week, but right this second and every second!) I never thought about how I wanted to be remembered or what I would want someone to say about me after I was gone. It's a pretty morbid thought, but one that puts things in perspective. I took what I wrote down in class and really have tried to make a conscience effort of changing my actions and behavior. Just since that exercise I have been put in a few situations that I reacted differently in after thinking about what I had written down. When I was put in these situations, I was not only thinking about how it was going to make me look, but also how it would affect the others around me. The pain exercise really made me think twice about what I say in front of someone. You never know what someone has gone through or is going through, unless they tell you or you ask. But even then you will never fully understand because you are not in their shoes. I have always grown up with the golden rule, "treat others how you would want to be treated", and I have tried to stick by that. But sometimes you need a wake up call and the pain exercise was just that. From these two exercises I have become more cautious about how I act and how I want to be remembered, which will help me to grow to be a GREAT leader.

How could I make a difference? - (Stephen Covey Clip)
All semester I have used the leadership position I am in now to relate topics from class to the real world. Thinking back, I wish I would have had the opportunity to take this class earlier because I feel it would have given me the tools I need to succeed even more in my position. When I first started in my leadership position I thought I needed to make huge changes to be noticed that I was making a difference. Now I know that is not true and looking back it probably just hindered me more than helped me. After this semester I have tried to make smaller changes and I think it has made a bigger impact than I ever thought it would have. Just like the Stephen Covey clip said, "Small changes can make a huge impact." I have made small changes by thanking or congratulating someone in person as well as writing them a little note. Having something down on paper means so much more than just the words. Along the same lines, I made an icebreaker game for one of our meetings that I think really gave the instructors that little boost of confidence they needed. I printed out half sheets of paper with every instructors name at the top, so everyone would have their own piece of paper to take home. We passed the paper around the room and everyone wrote something positive on their paper. At the end they had a paper full of compliments that they could take home and look at everyday. Hopefully, at the end of the day they will know they are appreciated and this will inspire them to be the best instructor (and person) they can be. I know this lesson changed my life, and hopefully it will change the lives of others I come in contact with!

"You have two ears and one mouth for a reason!"-(Listening & Communicating)
This is probably one of the most important lessons that I took away from 309. Great leadership can only come from great listening and great communicating. Listen to your followers and they will continue to follow you. By listening to them, they will know you have a concern for their well being and a respectable relationship will begin to form. Great relationships are also key in great leadership, so by actively listening to your followers you will succeed as a leader. I have tried to improve my listening skills, not only in my leadership position, but in my personal life as well. I am one of those cell phone freaks that ALWAYS has to have their cell phone within an arms length of them or they freak out. So usually when I'm listening to one of my friends or co-workers I have my phone in my hand or close by and am not fully listening 100%. I have really tried to keep my cell phone put away if I'm having a conversation with someone. I can always call someone back, but I can't take back being rude and a bad leader to one of friends or co-workers. By showing that I have respect for the person who is talking and a concern for what they are talking about my relationships have improved over the past few months.

Like Professor Feinberg said, communication is a very difficult thing. You need to be fully engaged in the communication process to be a great leader. Professor Feinberg's 5 secrets to leadership are all about communicating. The first secret to leadership is "Tell them what you expect." You need to communicate clearly what you expect of them so they can perform it to the best of their abilities. If they don't know what to do, how do you expect them to do it? I took this lesson to my leadership position. We had some girls go through a full day of training so they could teach their own class of that particular format. After 10 hours of training, they knew what was going on but did not yet have the confidence to go out there and teach their own class right away. So we came up with a "plan" that would include them teaching with an instructor that had already been certified and slowly easing in to the process of having their own class. We typed out their schedule, asked them if they thought it was doable, e-mailed it to them, gave them a hard copy, and printed out one for the gym where they teach so they would see it everyday. By doing this I think it really helped them stay on track and set goals for themselves. We rewarded them after each goal they accomplished and gave them feedback constantly. And after it was all over they were rewarded by having their own class for the rest of the semester. Along the way there were some bumps, but actively listening to their concerns and issues made the communication process a lot easier.

These are not the only lessons I learned, but just a few that stuck out and really made a difference in my life. So whats the point? I think the main point of the class for me was to grow and change as a leader as well as a person. And through the experiences I've had just this semester I believe I have done just that. (But there is a lot more room to grow, so its not over yet!)

Thank you Professor Feinberg, you really did change my life. You made me a better leader in the short time I had you as a professor. Sure at times I wondered what was going on, but in the end everything makes sense. You are great at what you do - keep it up!

So I guess this is the end of my 309 journey, but I'm getting ready to start a journey that I will be able use the tools I have been taught and they will help make me a better person and leader in the future.

Last Week of 309

2009-04-17T14:14:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe the semester is only a few weeks from being over. Time flies when you're having fun and learning about leadership! :)

I took what Prof. Feinberg said about writing hand written thank you notes and put it to good use. Last weekend was Easter and I was way excited to go home and see my family. That was until I figured out I scheduled myself to teach on Saturday at noon, so I would not be able to leave until after that. I was so disappointed and on a whim decided to e-mail out our instructors Friday morning to see if anyone was going to be around and was willing to teach it for me. (On a side note over the past year, mostly due to our new awesome leader, the Group X program has become a more tightly knit family and everyone is always willing to step up and help out when needed!)Thinking that everyone had probably already gone home, I had just made my plans to leave Saturday afternoon, when I get a phone call from one of our instructors. As soon as she picked up the phone she said "Go home and see your family, I'll be there to teach your class tomorrow!" I was so happy and told her I would help her out whenever just name that time, but I knew I had to do something else for her last minute help. I obviously had thanked her on the phone but I knew if I wrote her a little thank you card it would mean much more and she would understand what she did for me. And what good is a thank you card without a Starbucks gift card? :)

Pain. That lecture got to me (in a good way though!) It was a much different experience hearing Prof. Feinberg reading the pain statements out loud and knowing that someone in that room was going through that rather than reading them from my office by myself. "Treat others how you want to be treated." This is a perfect quote to go along with this lecture in my opinion. You never know what someone else has gone through until they tell you and even then you probably will not be able to comprehend all the pain it has caused them because you were not in their shoes. Being cautious about what you say in front of others and how you word what you say is so important.

I am guilty sometimes of just shooting my mouth off not even thinking about what is coming out, I'm sure most of us are. Just today, I was on the phone with a girl that I consider to be one of my best friends. We were talking about a subject that has caused me a great deal of pain lately and she made a comment that really just made the pain worse. I'm sure she did not think at the time it would have caused me pain because she is not the type of person to intentionally try to hurt someone. She probably thought it would help the situation but instead it just added to my pain. Maybe I have done something similar to her in the past? I hope not, I would never want to cause anyone more pain than they are already suffering.

After hearing something of the pain statements and knowing that they could have come from someone I have come in contact with I am defiantly going to be more cautious about what I'm saying. As a leader, you cannot afford to cause your employees pain. Employees in pain will not work to their full potential, especially for someone who caused them more pain and they will always remember who caused them the extra pain. The same goes for personal relationships; if you cause a loved one pain they may forgive you, but they defiantly will not forget it.

I really enjoyed this class and I'm surprisingly sad that its over 2 weeks early! :)

Change

2009-04-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasant surprise of walking into my OLS class yesterday morning and finding Professor Feinberg there. He was asked by one of my fellow students to come in and talk about change..(WHY didn't I think of that?!) Anyway, he talked about a few things he did at the beginning of the semester in class but it seemed to hit me a little harder this time. Maybe it was because in January graduation seemed to be so far away and now its in a month! As most of Professor Feinbergs lectures do..it got me thinking.

I wish I would have taken this class LAST spring. He gives so many good tips when interviewing that I would have never thought of. In my OLS class he talked about bringing up the fact that you love change and that you can handle anything that is thrown at you. That would have been a powerful statement to say in an interview and really WOW them. I will definantly know for my next interview what I want to say though :)

So many changes are going to be happening over the next month its unreal. Seeing how I deal with these changes will be the true test to see if I can really handle anything that is thrown at me. Lets see..I'll be graduating from college, moving somewhere (not really sure yet), be in the real world, being a REAL adult, leaving a job I LOVE, leaving all my friends I've made over the past 4 years..way to much to handle at one time.

Another change I'm going through now is with my job. I'm a lead instructor which basically means we have office hours and help our GA with anything she might need help with. Well after Spring Break we chose the new lead instructors for next semester and they have started taking over our duties already. This was another wake up call that its almost the end and the new beginning is near (whatever that may be.) We have a bulletin board that I usually decorate for our "Instructor of the Month", but my boss told me she wanted to have the new leads do it so that way if they had questions we could help them out. So, I'm going into work last night and notice the board had been changed. I walked by and saw pictures of Michelle (the other lead instructor) and I all over it with 'thank you's' from the instructors for all our hard work and help over the past year. It was so nice to see that we actually made a difference and were thought of as great leaders. Once we get to take it down I want to put one of the thank you's on here..it almost made me shed a tear (and I'm not one to cry over anything!) So this is my note to remind myself :)

I guess Professor Feinberg is right..."The greatest reward is making a difference."

Another Aspect of Leadership

2009-04-04T07:18:00.000-07:00

This week has been crazy busy. I have a feeling this is what the rest of the year is going to be like. (BUT there is always time for great leadership stories!) :)

In my current job, I feel like I have one of the best leaders I have come in counter with in the workplace. She is full of energy and gets the rest of us excited about her ideas (encourage the heart.) Most of her ideas are new to the program and not traditional to the rec center here at Purdue (challenge the process.) She is constantly talking about our goals and vision for the program and getting us excited about making these things happen (inspire a shared vision.) One of the most important things she does is model the way; she does what she tells us to do and follows her own rules. Lastly, one of her main objectives as our leader is to help us be the best instructors we can be and make our program the best it can be (enable others to act.) She does this by constantly letting us know she is available to help out in any way she can. She is always giving us class ideas and she conducts her own fitness instructor workshop. All great qualities to have in a leader! I'm very lucky! :)

The one aspect that I have come in counter with most recently was her ability to enable others to act. I am new to teaching a new format of class this semester and was pretty unsure of myself before the semester started. She met with me several times and helped empower me to do the best I could in the class. The other night around 10:30pm, I was looking over new choreography to teach in the class and as pretty confused. I had class all day the next day and needed some questions answered then so I would be ready to teach the next day. I knew I could call her and she would help me out. I did not worry that I was going to bug her or anything because she made it very clear that we could call her anytime (that is why she gave us her cell number!) She cleared several things up for me and I was able to teach the class the next day without any problems!

With any other leader I have had in that position I might have not felt as comfortable calling so late, but since she made it clear that we could I knew it would be ok. She is there for us and wants to make the program the best! So she is doing anything she needs to to make that happen. I'm going to be sad to leave in May..hopefully my next leader is just as great! :)

Real Life Leadership

2009-03-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

Leadership is not a piece of cake.

I'm in a leadership position now at my current job. I would like to say that we do a pretty good job of being leaders to our instructors. We are consistent, rewarding them for a job well done, recognize outstanding instructors, constantly communicating with them, and are always there to help out when they need it. We know not everyone is perfect and we don't expect anyone on our staff to be. All three of us leaders are students, just like our instructors, and we know how crazy everything can get. But a recent incident has made me think that there is more we could be doing. Without going into details the bottom line is...we need to be doing MORE communicating, being MORE consistent, sticking to the rules no matter what, and being there MORE so they can come and talk to us about problems they are having. Is there such a thing as being TOO understanding?

So I was trying to think of some ways that we could solve the problem with this instructor and make sure it does not happen in the future with other instructors. One option I thought of was just forget about it, let it go, I'll be gone in a few months anyway and it will be someone else's problem (BAD LEADERSHIP). But that kind of attitude is what got us into this situation last year and I do not want to leave that kind of mark. I want to be remembered as someone who solved the problem for the better, not just put a band aide over the problem. A second (and better) option I came up with (with a little help from Feinberg) was to make little cards with important information on it and give them out to the instructors. This could have information on it like our cell number and e-mail address and just a little note that if they ever need help to never hesitate to get a hold of us. It could also have important things we want them to remember, for example procedures or the goals/visions we set for that semester. I think the goals and vision of our divison would be the most important. This way they have a constant reminder of why they are there and it will hopefully motiviate them to do their best work.

I'm going to bring it up with my boss at our next meeting to see what she thinks of the idea! Thanks Feinberg!

Vision/Goals

2009-03-13T08:57:00.001-07:00

Class...

Monday night in class we talked about having a common vision/goals for our groups. I thought it was going to be difficult for a bunch of different people with different goals to come up with a smaller, concise list that we could achieve. Sarah did a great job of getting everyone who wanted to have an opinion a chance to have their goals heard. The final list we came up with is defiantly something that we can achieve as a group if we all put in the effort. Lets go team! (I think we could use a team name..get a little sense of community going on!) :)

Thinking about my goal for the team...

As I was making my 4 hour drive to Columbus for an interview I was trying to think of a goal that could work for our team. After listening to about 543 songs on my iPod I was still stuck. Then after I got cozy in my hotel I thought of one I thought we could accomplish. Sent it to my group leader and was done. No more thinking about goals and values, yes! Then the next morning at my interviews the first thing my interviewers started talking about was their company's values and goals. They wanted to know what MY goals were and how I was planning on accomplishing them..(I thought I was DONE thinking about goals!) SO I guess Professor Feinberg is right about this stuff being important!! I was able to give my thoughts on values and goals, and I think I may have even got some brownie points :) :) We'll keep our fingers crossed!

Funeral Exercise

2009-03-07T06:40:00.000-08:00

Even though it was really morbid to think about what we would want people to say about us at our funeral, I think it was a really good exercise and it got me thinking. (Mostly about areas I need to improve on!) I put a lot of "good ___", but I want to be "GREAT ____". :)

One thing I wrote down is that I wanted my friends to say I was a good listener. After class I decided I wanted them to say I was a GREAT listener. Yes I listen to their stories, but do I REALLY listen? Since I am a sales major listening actively is going to be key my profession, so I need to to start improving NOW! Now they probably have my 95% attention, but I want to give them my 110% undivided attention. I am going to improve on this by putting away my cell phone; its constantly in my hand and I'm really not THAT important. :) I am going to really focus on actively listening to my friends, so instead of just saying I was a good listener they can say I was a GREAT one!

A little detour...

I went to a recreational sports leadership conference this past October. We had a speaker come in and talk about being a leader (I don't remember his name, I'm sure if I dug through my office I could find it but that could take forever! But I'm sure it will bug me enough to go find it later.) He had us write down what we thought 5 characteristics of a leader were...this is what I wrote:

1. Trustworthy
2. Responsible
3. Personable
4. Knowledgeable
5. Good Communicator

GOOD communicator? How about GREAT! I need to start using GREAT in my daily vocabulary. Hopefully if I start using GREAT in my vocabulary I will work harder towards being GREAT!

He also talked about 5 keys to a successful leader:

1. Model the Way
2. Inspire a Shared Vision
3. Challenge the Process
4. Enable Others to Act
5. Encourage the Heart

This sounds VERY familiar...

GREAT!

Group Memo

2009-02-28T16:14:00.001-08:00

Even though Professor Feinberg said our group leaders failed the class, I don't think Sarah is when it comes to our group. Since everyone knows how the exam was, I want to analyze how my group leader is doing so far. Sarah is thinking ahead and organizing our group great! We have two times set to work on our group memo and she is including everyone in the process. Sarah is asking for our thoughts and opinions and not trying to push what she wants on us. She is constantly communicating with us and giving us a heads up on important info for class (ie extra credit!) Sarah does an excellent job of clarifying expectiations as well. Hopefully this keeps up the rest of the semester!

These are all qualities that a great leader needs. I am really glad to be in a group where I feel included and there is lots of communication. I bet our group will be the best in the class :)

Tower Building

2009-02-20T07:20:00.000-08:00

So this week we got our team leaders. I got lucky with a good group and leader! My team leader Sarah has been very helpful and has established a open communication system. Which is very important for a leader, so this is a good sign :) During the tower building exercise, when we first went out in the hall she asked us if we had any ideas for the tower. After we discussed ideas for minute she then delegated responsibilities to the group members so we could get the tower built in the time we had.

Since I just read the "It's Your Ship" book, I'll relate her leadership style to that. Our first e-mail we received she put her phone number in it and made sure if we had any questions at all to e-mail her. Sarah has established an open-communication system which is going to be very important in this class. Sarah was also acting like the Captain when she asked what we thought should be done to build the tower. When the Captain first took over the ship he interviewed each member to get to know them and see what they thought should be done on the ship. Sarah did this on a smaller scale, but with the same principles. She wanted to get our input so we could build the best tower our group could, and we did :)

Even though we did not win the overall competition, I think we won our first battle as a group. :)

Leadership Workshop

2009-02-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed listening to Kirk Weisler Monday night. I learned a lot from him in that short amount of time. A lot of the things he talked about was "common sense" but yet a lot of us do not take the opportunities he was talking about.

The thing that stuck with me the most from what he said was "readers are leaders - leaders are readers." I am not a big reader at all but Kirk got me excited about wanting to read several of the books he talked out. They seemed to have topics in them that I could apply to real life. I would have probably never heard about most of those books if he had not come to talk to us. I wanted The Dog Poop Initiative book to read at our next staff meeting and was so excited when we each received a copy. We have not really had any major issues on this topic, but I still think it would be a good idea to read it just as a different way of doing the meetings. I want to be like Kirk and inspire my employees to want to keep learning, not only about fitness but being leaders too. They are all leaders in their own areas and like Kirk said leaders need to keep learning.

Kirk was a great example of a leader. He inspired me (the non-reader) to want to go actually buy some of the books he was talking about. He was able to capture our attention and keep us engaged for a long time. Kirk also gave us several lessons that we will be able to take with us on our leadership journey. He wanted to give us examples of how he applied these lessons in real life, which was easier for us to pick up the concept of.

Hopefully the leaders in our class were at the workshop and listening to what Kirk had to say. This way they can be contagious and inspire us!

Choosing Leaders

2009-02-06T11:25:00.001-08:00

This week in class was pretty interesting and a lot more fun. I really applaud the people in class who got up and spoke in front of the rest of us. They are all leaders of some form in my opinion. But I could defiantly tell who I would want to be a leader from the beginning just from their 20 second speeches. What I look for in a leader is someone who is outgoing and personable. Someone who has some experience leading others and who has clear goals. Also, someone who can work well with all different types of people. If you could get up there, answer a random very open question, and make us laugh at the same time you are pretty good. There were a few that still stick out in my mind, while the others I probably could not even pick out again or tell you something they said.

On Wednesday it was so interesting to see that each team that came in did the exact same thing. They got their assignment then huddled together. Even the last team huddled, but they took their assignment a completely different way. It was obvious who the leader was in that team, but they all were brought out to be great leaders in the end. They all participated in doing their assignment and was enthusiastic and outgoing. I would like to have any of them as my leader for the class.

It will be interesting to see who the leaders of the class will end up being...

What Does a Good Leader Do?

2009-01-28T14:29:00.000-08:00

"What does a good leader do?"

This is one of the questions that was posed to us in Monday's class. This got me thinking about my position as a leader and what I could do to be a better leader. I want to be able to add value to the instructors experience that I supervise. I could do this by not "spoon feeding" them all the information that they need. Like in class, where we were not handed out a syllabus and told in person when assignments were due; we were expected to look for ourselves. All of the information was there and we knew what was expected of us, we just had to be leaders ourselves and find it. The people who were concerned about the class did the necessary research. I believe if I left it up the instructors to find information I could find out who really was interested in their job. Not only would it do that, but it would also make them better leaders themselves.

Another thing I could do to be a better leader is to let the instructors know how much I appreciate them. Just like the exercise we did in class where we called someone just to let them know we were thinking of them. It would not take much, just a quick hand written note or even attending one of their classes. This would make the instructors feel appreciated and and happier which makes a better work environment.

I want to be a leader who is looking out for others and making a difference. I want to make a positive impact and leave a good impression on the instructors that will still be here after I graduate. They will be the ones who will be taking my place next year and I want to make sure they are ready and effective leaders themselves.

Hopefully when I start implementing some of these easy changes it will be contagious and caught on by other leaders in the work place. It would definitely make working there even better!

Day 3

2009-01-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

When I got to class tonight there was a girl standing in front of the room. I had never seen her before but I got the feeling she was not "one of us". She said she was the TA for the class and that our professor was out of the country and that we were to watch a movie. In most of our eyes, she had authority therefore she was our leader for the day. Although she did not have that much authority according to some of the class since a large part of them got up and left after about five minutes of the movie. For the rest of the class that stayed we must have thought she was a good enough leader for the time being. She gave us a few tasks and kept the class organized; which is what a lot of us had been looking for since day one.

I had no clue what this movie had to do with leadership until about 30 minutes into it. So I am glad I stayed so I do not have to take five hours to download it and watch it at home (and mostly for the fear that the professor really was not out of the country).

Leadership. We Need It.

2009-01-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

The second day of class was just as hectic as the first. It is very apparent that 300 students need a leader. (And not all students are cut out for it, even though I applaud them for getting up and trying!) Having the professor stand up and tell us what we need to do is what we expect and what is normal to us and this is why we are freaking out. I personally need structure and organization in the classroom and this class is driving me crazy so far.

Leadership is important an any organization; without it everything is chaos. Even though the professor has a different way of approaching leadership and has not really "shown his face" I am still learning a lot (through all the disorganization and chaos).

It has obviously been shown in the first few days of class that it just can't be leadership from anyone. It has to be someone that can grab our attention and keep it. Someone that can point us in the right direction and that is looking out for all of us, not just what he or she wants to do. A good leader could get us to do what he or she wants to do, without us knowing it.

Very interesting week and I'm excited to see whats going to happen this week!

First 309 Class

2009-01-12T20:26:00.000-08:00

As I was going to class with a few of my friends we figured it would be like any other class we had taken in the past seven semesters at Purdue. We would get there get to know the professor and go over the syllabus and be out in twenty minutes. But we were in for a surprise.

We found our seats in Physics 114 and noticed the professor for the class was not there. We thought it had to be some kind of joke or mistake. What kind of leader was this guy? Instead of going over the syllabus and hearing about our professors life story we watched what seemed to be an infomercial for a guy named Anthony Robbins who wanted us to change our lives in a week. After we wrote why we thought we had to watch it and turned it in most of us were baffled at what to do next. The professor that was there filling in for our professor never said we could leave; just to turn in our paper. Some students hit the door as soon as they turned in their paper. The rest of us just sat and talked for a while wondering if we were going to get extra credit for staying.

After catching up with my friends for about ten minutes we wondered what was going to happen. We heard talk of a syllabus on the professors website that said a paper was due that night. We also heard talk that someone in the class needed to be a leader and direct the class so we could know what to do next. There was also talk that the professor was in the room watching to see what was going on. By that time we had a pretty good idea of what we thought was going on.

Seeing as the name of the course is Leadership Strategies we knew this had to be our first test to see what kind of leaders we were. It definitely grabbed my attention. Being leaders we should have looked harder for the syllabus, rather than just blaming Blackboard. Also someone should have been an even better leader and taken control of the situation given to us. I was sitting there thinking someone else will get up and do it, probably like most of my classmates.

I am in a leadership position now at my current job at the recreational center. I am a fitness instructor and help lead the Group Exercise and Learn to Play programs at the Purdue rec center. I lead fitness classes with 30-50 participants five times a week and supervise 30 instructors. Why was it so hard to get up and lead my peers? Hopefully this class will help me develop skills that will make me a better leader and help me be able to answer that question.

Lesson learned from class: You can not rely or wait for someone else to do something; be a leader and do it yourself!

Already the first day and I have learned something! (And I have never even seen the professor!)