Reflecting on the Journey - Part III

“ Great leaders develop through a never ending process of self- study, self- reflection, education, training and experience” – Tony Buon

As I reflected on my journey through my better world project I looked at the impact the project has on my community, myself and my leadership skills.

This project came at a time where people were in crisis and news overload from COVID, inflation and uncertainty of the future. This project positively impacted its virtual community of members by being a safe haven of encouragement and calmness in the present moment. No judging, no critics, just positivity. It impacted me with humility and gratitude.

When you are focused on serving others you realize you are a small grain in this infinite Universe. It’s very humbling and allows you to focus on your well-being. This project truly sharpened my leadership skills because I was exposed to every aspect from start to finish. I became very self- aware of the big picture, the end goal. This allowed me to take my emotions out of the picture if things didn’t seem to always go my way. I learned when to let others lead in areas they thrived in, I learned positive conflict resolution and always remembering my intent of the project to stay motivated.

More discoveries….

“The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice”- Brain Herbert

While we were creating and implementing goals, milestones, and requirements. We were also simultaneously utilizing a SWOT analysis to keep us engaged and foreword thinking.

We first looked at what went well and what were the greatest success of the project, the Strengths…

· The collaboration between like-minded individuals with diverse backgrounds.

· Being a cooperative component in a something bigger than myself to drive positivity.

· Creating a virtual space of positivity to share with the community.

· Collaborating with a focus group to learn what was going well and ways to improve.

· Creating and actioning goals, milestones, and requirements within the project.

· Creating positive videos to share with the group.

We then looked at, what areas of the project could use some improvement, the Weaknesses.

· Understanding the admin vs member functionality of the virtual space to help ensure the safe and positive intent for the group was adhered to.

· Initially, not removing member functionality to post material prior to admin review.

Next we looked at, what we would have done differently, and how my leadership skills could have been used, the Opportunities..

· I would have integrated my SWOT Analysis in the beginning of the project as we were creating goals and moving through the milestones.

· I would have had a pre-launch of the virtual space only open to a small group of people to get feedback before it was launched to the masses.

Lastly, we reviewed what issues were out of our direct control, the Threats.

· Slow response of the server or technical issues on the member’s side.

· The ability to see if a member was hacked when double invitations to enter the group were sent by the same person.

A deeper dive into self-reflection…

“Learn continually- there’s always “one more thing” to learn!” -Steve Jobs

As I reflect on my leadership skills during this journey to my better world project, I chose to take a deeper dive of an experience that was challenging from a leadership perspective using the Kolb Model exercise I learned from the actual executive leadership course.

The concrete experience I chose to focus on was how the team helped me drill down to the most effective route to create a virtual space for a community.

My reflective observation was that in the beginning, I wasn’t clear on the end-result I was going for in the project (who was my target audience, what problem am I specifically solving for, and etc) which got us off on a rocky start. As my amazing team along with myself got clear and started chipping away at these questions, we finished strong.

My abstract conceptualization of this experience is that in the future I will ensure the intention and the end-result I want to achieve is well thought out and clearly communicated in the beginning. This will ensure the team is focused on realistic goal- oriented tasks.

My active experimentation of this lesson will be to improve by practicing and steering more goal-oriented tasks to keep any group I work with on task.

The reality of it…

“It always seems impossible, until it’s done.”- Nelson Mandela

In a deeper more personal reflection, this process took profound mental strength and dedication. It wasn’t a walk in the park. Sometimes it was an emotional rollercoaster. Some days I thought I nailed everything, just to sometimes be back at square one.

I learned humility and grace. I also learned that sometimes a leader must be strong and confident enough to follow. I developed an innate ability to be in sync with knowing when I should step in the forefront or gracefully stay on the sideline.

If I had to do it all over again I wouldn’t change not one part of this process, which is also my growth.

I would like to take this time to commend The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS) for developing this program which is carving out and growing positive leaders that are so desperately needed by humanity.

This isn’t the end of the road.. it’s the beginning of a new journey.

“Create the highest, grandest vison possible for your life, because you become what you believe.”- Oprah Winfrey

Thank you for following me along my journey!