Week Six—Ken's RW Introduction

Hi all,

Please see my introduction below. Notice ...

1) the hook at the beginning

2) the use of examples, an interesting detail, a question, a quotation/definition, citations—all devices for making an introduction interesting.

3) the gradual narrowing of the topic to the thesis (in bold).

4) the purpose (in blue)

5) the writing plan (in red)

Emergent Leadership as a Learnable Skill

Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Shigeru Yoshida—these figures instantly come to mind when one thinks of leadership. They all led nations through times of great crisis. The truth is, however, that leadership can come in many forms. One such form is “emergent leadership.” Emergent leaders are those that develop organically over time, or present themselves periodically in groups and teams when new ideas or direction are needed. Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), and Anita Roddick (Body Shop) are all considered self-emerged leaders. However, emergent leadership can occur within any workgroup or team, and can be essential for the success of that team. So important is the concept of emergent leadership that Laszlo Bock, head of personnel at Google, has famously listed it as the second most important criteria in Google’s hiring and promotional decisions (cited in Friedman).

But what exactly is emergent leadership? According to Bock, emergent leadership involves the ability to, “at the appropriate time, step in and lead … to try and solve any problem … and just as critically, [to] step back and stop leading … [to have] the humility to step back and embrace the better ideas of others” (qtd. in Friedman). As such, this is a practical skill that can and should be learned by everyone. For university students in particular, learning the behaviors and language of emergent leadership will likely lead to much greater success, both in college and in the working world.

The purpose of this paper will be to identify the behaviors and language of emergent leadership and the extent to which it can be taught and learned in college. It will begin with an overview of the concept of emergent leadership—how it is defined, how it is used, and how it is valued by organizations. It will then identify the specific behaviors and language of emergent leadership as it is used in the working world. Finally, it will propose ways in which emergent leadership can be both taught and assessed in the university classroom.

Week Six—Chapter Nine, "Risk"

Chapter 9 "Risk" features Shackleton's epic sailing adventure from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island, some 1400 kilometers in a tiny, open boat across the most dangerous (and cold) seas in the world. It is very difficult for us to imagine the difficulty, danger, and misery of such a journey. Because of this, I found this chapter a little difficult to relate to my own life, especially as I have never had to take a huge "necessary" risk such as he took. I have, however, taken many, many risks: as a climber, as a kayaker and rafter, as a driver, as a traveler. But the risks have always been of my own choosing, and many of them were careless, thoughtless risks, and it has been only because I have enjoyed a certain amount of luck that I have survived.

One of such risks for me, I will recount in my Personal Narrative, which I will post shortly. A Personal Narrative is simply a story from your life in which you learned something. I encourage you to consider writing a Personal Narrative as one of your non-text posts, should you wish.

Week 5—Comments on Chapter 6, "Conflict"

For this week, I will focus on Chapter 7 "Conflict" as I already briefly mentioned Chapter 6 in last week's post.

Conflict was a very relevant topic for me personally when serving as Assistant Director of the ELA, which I did for four years.

This is because the ELA experienced a great deal of conflict over several years due to differing views on how we should conduct a curricular reform.

While the majority of the instructors supported a particular set of curricular reforms, a minority of senior instructors were against the reforms. Due to feelings of not feeling respected, of accusations that have been made against them, and due to a considerable amount of "groupness" (a sense of "us" vs. "them" that has magnified the importance of the issues), this group has had great difficulty accepting the reform.

So, what can I "take away" from this chapter on Shackleton?

First, we should have "Deal[t] with Anger in Small Doses" better than we did. Legitimate concerns were expressed by the dissenting group early on that were not addressed. Efforts should have been made to have had extensive discussion and debate over these concerns, and perhaps some compromises needed to have been made. Better yet, we needed more of a conflict positive environment in which open discussion might have led to some "win-win" negotiations. Instead, the minority group felt marginalized and disenfranchised which subsequently led to feelings of intense frustration and ultimately aggression.

Secondly, we needed to have "Engage[d] Dissidents." The reform dissidents were essentially ignored. What we needed to have done is brought the dissenting voices and members "into the tent." I have always loved this notion from Shackleton, that he took the members that might pose the greatest threat to his leadership and made them members of his tent. This way he could consult with them and keep them feeling listened to and wanted, and prevent them from joining forces with others. There is an expression in English, "Keep your enemies closer and your enemies closer" which is attributed to the great Chinese military commander Sun Tsu which expresses a similar concept. We needed to have done something like this by better including our dissidents in the reform process so that they could have more of a say and be part of the reform. Not doing so has led to a lot of problems.

My efforts while Assistant Director were to try and "make up" for the past. Giving the opposition an opportunity to express themselves was one approach. We had several open meetings in which opposition views could be presented and discussed. Opposing members were given roles in which they could contribute in ways they were uniquely suited. These efforts were at least partially successful, and much of the division and distrust and anger of the past appeared to have significantly lessened by the end of my term.

Week 5—Final Project Outline

Hi all,

For you to see my outline, I have posted it below. Please know that this is a rough draft and highly likely to change as I do more research. Feel free to post your own outlines if you wish as your optional blog entry for this week. Of course, also blog about either Ch. 6 or 7 as well.

Ken Enochs

Ken Enochs

Research Writing

20 Jan 2014

Emergent Leadership as a Learnable Skill

Thesis (working): The emergent leadership behavior and language so valued by fast growing corporations can and should be learned by university students for a more successful life, both in college and in the working world.

1. Introduction
1. Opening
1. Hook
2. Topic identification/narrowing
3. Brief definition
4. Thesis
2. Writing Plan

1. Purpose of paper
2. Plan of development

2. Emergent Leadership
1. History and background
2. Definition(s) of emergent leadership
3. Value within the working world

3. Behaviours and Language
1. Goal setting
2. Idea communication
1. Initiating
2. Participating
1. Acknowledging
2. Soliciting
3. Building upon
4. Constructively pushing back
5. Following
3. Implementing
4. Rejecting

4. Classroom Applications
1. Task design
2. Group selection
3. Skills teaching
1. Behavior
2. Language
4. Evaluating effectiveness

5. Conclusion
1. Restatement of thesis
2. Summary of main points
3. Closing

Week 4—Thoughts related to Chapter 5 (and 6)

This week's Chapter 5 and next week's chapter 6 are both "team" focused chapters.

There is much in these chapters that resonates with me and applies to my workplace, the ELA.

The ELA is a fairly big team, with a great deal of diversity. We have native and non-native speakers of English. We have Japanese instructors, and non-Japanese. We have among the non-Japanese a wide range of nationalities: British, Australian, Scottish, Finnish, and many Americans. We are divided by contract status: some instructors are on short-term contracts, others longer, and some on permanent contracts. We are also differentiated by gender.

While, for the most part, we do a wonderful job of working together to create a great program for all of you, the differences between us,  especially "rank" differences, cause a lot of subtle problems. I say subtle because in general, we are very equality focused. We all teach the same courses, teach the same amount as one another, share in all the non-teaching responsibilities that come with a program like this, and we each have a vote in decision-making. It would seem that we are equal.

In reality, however, there are differences. Someone with a permanent contract can, in many ways, do as they like. They can speak up at meetings, choose to be against the directors, not show up at a retreat, etc. Someone for whom English is their native language has an advantage over a non-native speaker when debating issues. Someone from a more debate-oriented culture (e.g. British) has an advantage over someone from a harmony-focused culture (e.g. Japanese). Males, in general, have advantages over females. Those who go home to a family have advantages over those who go home to an apartment alone. People who drink alcohol and socialize after work with others have advantages over those who do not. Etc.

In psychology these differences are known as "rank." And what you need to know about rank is that those in a lower rank are much more aware of and sensitive to rank differences than those in a higher rank. So... the take-away point that I want you to remember is to be very sensitive and considerate of rank differences, especially those of lower rank than you. You will naturally be somewhat blind to these differences, but those below you will not be.

I work with several people in the ELA of similar rank to me, that have little or no sensitivity to the advantage that they have over others, and this causes a lot of unnecessary resentment. Don't let this be you.

Week 4—Ken's Research Proposal

Hi all,

I hope you had a nice long weekend. For the many of you who turn 20 this year, welcome to the adult world!

This week, as usual, please make two blog posts. One should be about our text, either Chapter 4 or 5.

For the other, however, I suggest you just use your research proposal as your post. That will probably save you some time, and it will be great for everyone to see each other's research proposal. Please also print out your proposal and bring it to class tomorrow so you can present it to others and turn it in.

As I will be writing a paper, the same as you, please find my research proposal below. I look forward to seeing yours.

Emergent Leadership as a Learnable Skill

When thinking of leadership, images come to mind of great historical figures such as Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, and Nelson Mandela. These are charismatic figures who led nations through times of great need. Leadership, however, can come in many forms. One such form is “emergent leadership.” Emergent leaders are those that develop organically over time, or present themselves periodically in groups and teams when new ideas or direction are needed. According to Laszlo Bock, head of personnel at Google, “emergent leadership” is particularly important in Google’s hiring and promotional decisions. The purpose of this paper will be to identify the language and behaviors of emergent leadership and the extent to which it can be taught and learned. It would seem that acquiring the skills of emergent leadership will greatly facilitate student success, both during their time at university and later in the working world. Research done so far has shown that there are several key interactive elements that contribute to the emergence of leaders within a group. These include initiating new ideas and actively seeking the opinion of others (Fisher 1974), participating early and often (Regula & Julian, 1973; Sorrentino & Boutillier, 1975; and Mullen, Salas, & Driskell 1989), and helping to build a cohesive unit (Hackman & Johnson, 2000).

Week Three—What Makes Us Happy?

Related to optimism and the need for gratifications in our life (in Chapter 3, and which I hope we will talk about next week), I found this on one of my friend's Facebook page (he is an executive coach)  about what makes us happy. It's just an article he found elsewhere, but it is a quick and easy read and provides a nice list of simple ways to be happier. See the article here and for those really without the time to check it out, the ten easy ways are these:

1. Exercise more
2. Sleep more
3. Shorten your commute
4. Spend time with friends and family
5. Go outside
6. Help others
7. Practice smiling
8. Plan a trip
9. Meditate
10. Practice gratitude

So ... not so hard. Most of those are easy to do.

I would like to add to the list this item: "Doing something that you love." For me at the moment this includes photography. This is something I have always had some interest in but over the last year or so I have gotten seriously back into it. Lately, in fact, I have started shooting film again, which is really fun as it makes one really think about what you are shooting because each shot costs money. But the quality of film is different from digital too, which I also really appreciate.

Week Three—Thoughts on Chapter 3, "Optimism and Reality"

For this week, given that I have already mentioned my thoughts on Chapter 2 in class yesterday, I will focus on Chapter Three, "Optimism and Reality." I am hoping that tomorrow or next Wednesday we will have a chance to focus on this chapter in class. 

My response: 

Chapter 3, “Optimism and Reality” is an important one as optimism was one of Shackleton’s most noted characteristics. In addition to “You’ve damn well got to be optimistic” quoted in the text, Shackleton also once said, “Optimism is true moral courage.”

This second quotation is one that for years I have carried around in my head and try to live by. The word “moral” in this quotation suggests we have an obligation to be optimistic for the sake of those around us. This is true for me—as a teacher to my students, as a colleague to my peers, as a father to my family, as a friend to my friends. We have to believe that what we are doing is leading to something good, and, of course, such an attitude helps ensure that positive things happen. Perkins quotes Henry Ford (a famous American industrialist who started Ford Motor Company and many modern manufacturing techniques such as the assembly line): “Whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t, you’re right” (qtd. in Perkins 43). The idea here is that our attitude (optimistic or pessimistic) directly affects what actually will happen.

It is also said that optimists, on average, live approximately seven years longer than pessimists.

So being an optimist is fundamental to my approach to life.

But it takes “courage” to be optimistic, and sometimes I struggle to find this courage. There are times—in my marriage, in my work (there are a lot of politics in the ELA), in the direction my life is taking—in which I lose my sunny optimism and find myself instead in a very dark place. Getting myself from the dark place back to the light takes some work. One thing I tell myself is that bad times are always followed by good times, and being older I have plenty of experiences that have proven this true. Another thing that helps me is a quotation from Lance Armstrong, the once great but now deposed bicycle racer, “Turn every negative into a positive.” The idea here is that negative experiences have to be viewed as opportunities, specifically opportunities to learn—about why you might be in conflict with someone else, about what caused you to fail in some activity and what you can do to improve, about how not to repeat the same mistake, etc. Because of our text, I am also interested in Martin Seligman (cited in Perkins 43), who founded the field of “Positive psychology” and is an expert on helping people become happier. To see more about him, please check out his bio-sketch, related links, and video at TED. I am currently reading a book of his called Authentic Happiness, which I have found enormously enlightening.

So that is me, and I look forward to you sharing your thoughts on how to deal with difficult situations in your life.