My leadership journey
Being a leader has always been something of importance to me. Growing up, I was on a competitive club volleyball team for 8 years. During most of those years, I was the captain and felt a great sense of responsibility to lead my team through effort, encouragement, and a positive attitude. I took pride in leading my teams throughout the years and leadership was obviously a quality that I demonstrated often.
As my club days came to an end, I began to coach. Over the course of my years coaching, I saw my leadership attitudes and beliefs develop from competitive and encouraging into leadership that emphasized support, guidance, and teaching. I demonstrated my leadership with great patience and hoped that as a positive leader and role model, I could help my girls love and appreciate the game.
My leadership has taken an interesting turn the last year. I was given the great opportunity to be a research assistant on a undergraduate research team on campus. Beginning my research experience, I was unsure and a bit overwhelmed with the work we were doing. Therefore, I tended to sit back and keep to myself. However, as the year went on and I recognized my potential, I began to show leadership in more subtle ways. For example, I suggested extra lab meetings for the research assistants to get together when we needed extra time or would assist other research assistants with things like editing posters. As I began to feel more comfortable in this lab, I started to utilize stronger leadership skills with a focus on organization, giving and receiving feedback in a positive manner, and providing support to others in our lab.
As the year went on and I attended various leadership workshops and mentor sessions, I began to see myself develop into a more confident leader that conveyed leadership in our lab. For example, after attending the Leadership 101 workshop, I was reassured that not all leaders have to be the "top dog". I was encouraged to be a leader in any role, on any team. This was an aspect that was difficult for me to adhere to because earlier in my life, I was the main leader and the one that everyone looked up to when playing and coaching volleyball.
After completing my project by presenting my research at the Western Psychological Association conference, I felt as though my leadership was the strongest it has ever been. I valued my leadership and the attitudes that I associated with it. I believe that through the process of completing my final project, I learned how important collaboration is between your own team and with other teams. The help and support that was exchanged between various research teams was a form of leadership within all of us. I learned that teams work better with more than one leader. Instead of having one highly involved leader, I had an excellent experience while each one of us were involved as leaders with different qualities.
I have found throughout my leadership journey, that I am capable of being a leader in both large and small roles. More importantly, I have began to understand that leadership comes in all shapes and sizes. Leaders are those who are able to demonstrate leadership in any environment regardless of whether or not they are the main person on that team.
As my club days came to an end, I began to coach. Over the course of my years coaching, I saw my leadership attitudes and beliefs develop from competitive and encouraging into leadership that emphasized support, guidance, and teaching. I demonstrated my leadership with great patience and hoped that as a positive leader and role model, I could help my girls love and appreciate the game.
My leadership has taken an interesting turn the last year. I was given the great opportunity to be a research assistant on a undergraduate research team on campus. Beginning my research experience, I was unsure and a bit overwhelmed with the work we were doing. Therefore, I tended to sit back and keep to myself. However, as the year went on and I recognized my potential, I began to show leadership in more subtle ways. For example, I suggested extra lab meetings for the research assistants to get together when we needed extra time or would assist other research assistants with things like editing posters. As I began to feel more comfortable in this lab, I started to utilize stronger leadership skills with a focus on organization, giving and receiving feedback in a positive manner, and providing support to others in our lab.
As the year went on and I attended various leadership workshops and mentor sessions, I began to see myself develop into a more confident leader that conveyed leadership in our lab. For example, after attending the Leadership 101 workshop, I was reassured that not all leaders have to be the "top dog". I was encouraged to be a leader in any role, on any team. This was an aspect that was difficult for me to adhere to because earlier in my life, I was the main leader and the one that everyone looked up to when playing and coaching volleyball.
After completing my project by presenting my research at the Western Psychological Association conference, I felt as though my leadership was the strongest it has ever been. I valued my leadership and the attitudes that I associated with it. I believe that through the process of completing my final project, I learned how important collaboration is between your own team and with other teams. The help and support that was exchanged between various research teams was a form of leadership within all of us. I learned that teams work better with more than one leader. Instead of having one highly involved leader, I had an excellent experience while each one of us were involved as leaders with different qualities.
I have found throughout my leadership journey, that I am capable of being a leader in both large and small roles. More importantly, I have began to understand that leadership comes in all shapes and sizes. Leaders are those who are able to demonstrate leadership in any environment regardless of whether or not they are the main person on that team.