Heart Mind Purpose
My educational journey at Gonzaga University profoundly shaped me, instilling in me the belief that true leadership stems from authenticity, compassion, and a commitment to serving others. Through reflective exploration of values, purpose, and passion, I discovered the transformative power of leading from the heart, a guiding principle that continues to inspire my approach to leadership today.
Each class in my organizational leadership journey has provided insights and opportunities. Insights that revealed new perspectives and opportunities to explore theories, concepts, and ideas through discussion, practice, and self-reflection. It has been a journey of mind and heart. A journey where I have gained knowledge that has whispered its messages to my heart. Pausing to listen to those
whispers has been metanoia (metanoia, an Ancient Greek word (μετάνοια) meaning "changing one's mind").
ORGL 600 - Foundations of Leadership
Dr. Michael Carey & Dr. Dung Tran - Fall 2021
Foundations of Leadership explores many facets of leadership by introducing Freire, Palmer, Northouse, Kouzes, and Posner. A section in The Leadership Challenge that profoundly resonates with me is “Encourage the Heart” (Kouzes J., Posner B., 2017, p. 245). Building relationships and deep connections has always been essential to my leadership style. Kouzes and Posner write, “Exemplary leaders bring others to life, figuratively speaking. They bring out the best in their constituents, and if the potential exists within someone, they always find a way to release it. These leaders dramatically improve others’ performance because they care deeply for them and have an abiding faith in their capabilities” (p.251). Seeing the potential in others and helping them on their journey towards success because you care speaks directly to my heart and mind. I have used many concepts from The Leadership Challenge when developing our company’s leadership development program. First, concern for people ties in with our company values and has been important for our leaders to explore. Another critical area has been feedback. Kouzes and Posner say, “Learning doesn’t happen without feedback – it’s the only way for you to know whether you are getting close to your goal and whether you are executing properly” (p.257). Participants in my program have reported success in giving and receiving to direct reports. “Encourage from the Heart” celebrates the human side of leadership, where we lead from our hearts.
ORGL 518 - Transforming Leadership
Dr. Michael Carey - Fall 2021
Transforming leadership was a micro-to-macro experience. This class started with heart work examining the self, then transitioned into thought-provoking mind work as we explored transforming leaders worldwide and then transforming organizations. I struggled with the concept of a transformational leader. Is it possible to be a transformational leader in a non-self-serving way? This led me to Palmer, who writes, “…we act in ways that honor the soul because the soul is worthy of honor. When we act from motivation, we may or may not change the world. But we will always change ourselves for the better by practicing reverence and respect” (Palmer, 2004, p.172). Ultimately, I believe we aspire towards transforming leadership for two reasons. We are worthy of transcending individual growth, and the people we lead deserve transformational leaders who will help them achieve personal growth. Transforming leaders are not driven by their success and recognition; instead, they delight in developing individuals’ and teams’ successes. Each of us sends ripples out into the world, like a pebble tossed into a still pool of water. We don’t know how our ripple effect will change someone and influence them throughout their lives. Transformational leaders undergo a series of self-transformations, which Palmer calls “the journey towards an undivided life.” He says, “The soul is generous: It takes in the needs of the world. The soul is wise: it suffers without shutting down. The soul is hopeful: it engages the world in ways that keep opening our hearts…All we need to do is to bring down the wall that separates us from our own souls and deprives the world of the soul’s regenerative powers” (p. 184). By doing the work and transforming ourselves, we offer the world something more significant than an individual and ultimately send more ripples for good into the world. This whispering around transformational leadership from my heart was a true moment of change. Understanding that the gifts I bring can have a tremendous impact on others gives me joy and anchors me to make choices that honor those around me.
ORGL 515 - Leadership & Human Potential
Dr. Debbie Hedderly - Spring 2022
Innovation and improvement were themes when learning about leadership and human potential. We explored growth mindset, dialogic organizational development, design thinking, and appreciative inquiry. Much of the class information was tactical and process-focused, except for appreciative inquiry. Stavros and Torres write, “Appreciative inquiry consists of the cooperative search for the best in people, their organizations, and the world around them and that solving tough problems from that perspective results in creative solutions, which is life-giving for people” (2018, p. 67). Appreciative inquiry shifted from processes and outcomes to people who create outcomes, which I found very exciting! Stavros and Torres state, “Research shows that the best results for teams and relationships stem from a 6:1 relationship (six positives to one negative). Over time, if critical conversations dominate the conversational landscape, they will eventually weaken the relationship, limit potential, and eclipse generativity” (p. 38). Helping leaders think about their conversations with employees has been a critical component of our leadership development program. When we understand the nature of communication and its powerful influence on teams, we can use tools like appreciative inquiry to boost morale and performance. Appreciative inquiry doesn’t erase the need for corrective conversations; it helps reframe a problem with a focus on the outcome we want, which can help us arrive at more innovative solutions. Creating win-win scenarios where processes and people benefit is possible using a straightforward, powerful tool like appreciative inquiry.
ORGL 605 - Imagine. Create. Lead
ORGL Faculty - Fall 2022
Imagine. Create. Lead. As part of our on-campus experience, we explored leadership through the lens of “Pentimento” (to see and see again). This helped us connect with peers, faculty, community members, Spokane, campus, and the ORGL program. The class is intended to be taken at the beginning of the program to provide a framework as we advance. This was my fourth class and my first on-campus experience. Being together in person greatly enhanced the learning experience and led to deeper and more meaningful connections with my peers. Dr. Carey shared a quote: “…that one must avoid placing limits on how God works.” This was another heart-and-mind moment for me. As humans, I believe we fall into a limitation trap quite often, not just regarding how God works but also regarding our potential and the potential of others. Exploring “Pentimento” allowed me to see myself differently. As a class, we participated in the Johari Window activity, exploring which characteristics were known only to ourselves, which were available for others to see, and which were blind spots. I was surprised that people I had only met a few days before saw things like courage, determination, curiosity, kindness, compassion, and resolve in me. It was a humbling and motivating moment. Great leaders recognize potential in themselves and others and strive to unlock it! I have an incredible opportunity to help unlock the potential of those around me through my work, and recognizing that it has to start within me was an ah-ha moment.
ORGL 610 - Leadership Ethics
Dr. Kristine Hoover - Spring 2023
Communication and leadership ethics was a journey of discovery, exploring conscious and unconscious assumptions, biases, and social conditioning. It requires looking deeply at beliefs, values, principles, and purpose, then questioning their origins and if they still serve us. To help us become more informed decision-makers as we move through life. We built a community of trust where we explored complex topics from an ethical viewpoint, like hate crimes, immigration, and business-related crimes and missteps. Exploring this topic led me back to a belief I have long held: we are all trying to do our best with what we have (time, resources, knowledge, experience). When we look at people and recognize that all humans are striving just like me, wanting just like me, and hoping just like me, many barriers are removed. That vantage point allows us to extend grace to others and ourselves in difficult moments. We are at a historically divisive time in the U.S. and worldwide. It feels easier to see our differences than to find commonalities. Brené Brown wrote, “Once we see people on “the other side” of a conflict as morally inferior or even dangerous, the conflict starts to be framed as good versus evil” (Brown, 2021, p. 234). This is where ethical leadership guides us to find common ground and “see” the person behind the rhetoric. This difficult task requires integrity, courage, perseverance, and dedication to make a difference.
ORGL 615- Organizational Theory
and Behavior
Dr. Justin Marquis - Summer 2022
Sometimes, the best lessons are uncomfortable ones. Organizational theory and behavior is primarily based on team assignments. My team’s first assignment was a Mt. Everest simulation, and our first meet-up went terribly wrong. We skipped team-forming essentials and jumped straight into execution. The result was mistakes in the simulation and a lot of frustration felt by everyone. Assumptions were made, conclusions jumped to, and judgments formed. We talked as a team and decided meeting two had to be different if we wanted to climb Everest and if we wanted to navigate the class together successfully. We started our second meeting with permission slips. Each person wrote what they needed permission to do as a team member to show up successfully as their best self. One team member wrote that she needed permission to ask questions until she was comfortable moving forward. Another team member needed less pressure around solo decision-making. As we talked through permission slips, we began to see what unique contributions and gifts we each brought to the team. Investing time to get to know each other was an important lesson I will carry with me from now on. It can be tempting to rush toward the work, content, or activities because we all have so much to do and don’t want to waste anyone’s time. Time spent on relationship building pays back huge dividends in building effective teams who trust each other, ultimately leading to better efficiency and overall success.
ORGL 550 & 551 - Team Building and Leadership & Advanced Team Building
Dr. Josh Armstrong - Summer 2023
Sometimes, people come together with a common purpose, and magic seems to happen. Team building and leadership are connected directly to my heart, mind, and purpose. During a five-day on-campus immersion, a group of strangers became a high-trust team. Daniel Coyle shares three key components to building culture in The Culture Code. Build safety, share vulnerability, and establish purpose. Coyle says, “The three skills work together from the bottom up, first building group connection and then channeling it into action… While successful cultures can look and feel like magic, the truth is that it’s not. Culture is a set of living relationships working towards a shared goal. It’s not something you are. It’s something you do” (2018, pp. xvii-xviii). Team building and leadership was perfectly timed for me because I had just finished my first cohort of our company’s leadership development program. I had some ideas for improving it. Team building and leadership provided a foundation for building a team culture with trust-building activities like developing a team charter and experiential learning activities. Advanced team building and leadership was the tactical approach for workshop planning. It helped me create a solid plan for assessing the needs of my participants and our organization, planning learning activities to meet those needs, preparing and sequencing events, leading the workshop, and evaluating outcomes. The modifications I implemented changed the way the second cohort felt. Devoting time to building a safe space where we could be vulnerable around a shared purpose changed the class atmosphere. Participants were more invested in each other, and the content we were learning together was a lot more fun. Win-Win!
COML 510 - Communication Teaching
and Pedagogy
Bryan Rufener - Fall 2023
My initial impression of communication teaching and pedagogy was that it was way outside of my comfort zone. Although I have been teaching in a business environment for a few years, I have no experience in a college setting. The energy, excitement, potential, and desire to learn thrilled me whenever I was on a college campus. This course helped me gain functional how-to skills for leading a college-level course. As part of COML 510, I shadowed several professors at George Fox University and taught a 55-minute session on giving and receiving feedback to a business communications class. It was exhilarating, and one of those moments is when you realize you are on the right path. Teaching students and adults brings me a lot of joy. Sparking curiosity and witnessing those ah-ha moments are incredibly special, and I will passionately pursue growth and development in this area for many years to come!
References
(2010). I will be a hummingbird [Film]. Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow. Brown, B. (2021). Atlas of the heart. Random House. Coyle D., (2018). The culture code. The secret of highly successful groups. Random House Business. Kouzes J., Posner B., (2017). The leadership challenge. How to make extraordinary things happen in organizations. Sixth edition. Wiley. Palmer P., (2017). The courage to teach. Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. 20th edition. Wiley. Senge P., (2006). The fifth discipline. The art and practice of the learning organization. Currency. Stavros J., Torres C., (2018). Conversations worth having. Using appreciative inquiry to fuel productive and meaningful engagement. Berrett Koehler.