I have some reservations about this model, but overall I really like it. The main thing that I do not like about it is the fact that it is hard for people to be honest with themselves about where they are on this model. By looking at the model, we can clearly see that it is better to be towards the right. So we trick ourselves and others and say that we are a few stages past where we really are.
I first saw this model in a workshop Shelly taught my Sophomore year. the next year I used this model with a group of freshmen I worked with in Emerging Leaders. I asked them where they saw themselves on this model and they all said stage four or five. I observed them closely and knew that they were clearly all in stage two or three. Liars. They were still very focused on positional leadership and such. So my first question is, do you think we can ever be truly honest with ourselves on what stage we are really in?
With that aside, what I love about this model is the idea of positional leadership. I hate seeing people on campus who bogart all of the "top positions" on campus. That may seem hypocritical coming from me, who is serving in what many see as the top leadership role on campus for a student. But the truth is that it's not. Every position is what you make out of it. But it's clear to me that there are many people on campus who feel the need to define themselves by their position.
The main reason why I see a need to educate people on the fact that positional leadership is BS is the fact that you can be a leader in social situations. For example, Mike Fabrizio kicked ass at the talent show tonight singing as Danny Zuco from Grease. There was no position there, he was just being a leader on campus as himself. I'm sure we all have examples of how we have served as leaders without a position, or served a position without being a good leader.
For me, I feel that I have been the best leader that I have been when I have reached out to other younger students as a mentor. I have helped a few freshmen work on issues with alcohol and grades and helped a lot of kids find their own leadership abilities. I never did any of that because of a position, it was always just because I thought I could help. I feel like that made more of an impact on campus than anything I've done as SGA President.
I wish a lot of people would realize that they don't need positions to be leaders. That way, you can be a leader amongst your friends, when you obviously don't have a position over them. this would help in social situations a lot.
Second Question, how have you served as a leader without holding a position for it?
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I can definitely relate to your opposition to the model. Instead of feeling things like, "Wow, I am progressing really well, " I think the LID model tends to make people think along the lines of "I'm a sucky leader if that's where I am on the time line." In my opinion, we would be more honest with ourselves if it didn't seem so negative to be "baby leaders" so-to-speak. If the model were more dimensional, people may feel that while they're still exhibiting highly positional leadership qualities, they may be able to find solace in knowing that they are developing in other areas.
ReplyDeleteI will be honest - My work with NRHH started out as being positional. I was like, "Oh hey, I'm the executive assistant of National Residence Hall Honorary." As that year went on, however, I really started to see that the organization needed some help. I started thinking about sustainability and what I could do to help, so I ran for president. I won that year and again for this year. Initially, there was still some pride in being able to say, "Yeah, I'm president!" But now, it is about me building something back to be something that we could be proud of again. An now I know that president or not, helping NRHH is something that I would WANT to do.
As far as being a leader without having a position for it, I think I (we) do it everyday. We have people in our lives who respect us, and what we do has a profound impact on them. So as I (we) am living my life, values, and beliefs, I'm (we're) leading many different people in many different ways.
I agree with Angela, I think that daily we are leaders without even meaning to be. I see this living with roommates when taking care of household chores. Making sure the garbage goes out or the dishes are clean. Many times in group projects a person is not a designated "leader" but at some point one student may act as more of a leader than the other students in the group.
DeleteAlso being a leader while knowing that you are is very important as well. Being a volunteer at the YMCA for a group of little girls I learned that being a leader is more than giving directions or teaching the girls new things. Being a leader is also about setting good examples.
I believe that the older and more educated one gets, the more honest one can be with themselves. I do not think the kids were lying and saying that they were in stage 4 or 5 for show, but I honestly believe that that is how they feel. Once they have truly accomplished stage 3, they will have more knowledge about leadership through their past experiences and will be more aware of the six stages and the details of each. I also believe that some people might never know what stage they are in until they fail because failing could bring awareness to the individual that they do not contain all of the skills to cover the six stages. This could create a goal for an individual to work on until they accomplish the next stage; if they ever achieve it.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Joe that anyone can be a leader; not just those holding positions. I am a CNA and have certain job duties in which I am ordered to follow, such as taking patients to the bathroom, bathing them, feeding them, and doing other daily cares which they cannot perform by themselves. I am obligated to work the 8 and 1/2 hours I am assigned; no more. It is not my duty to care for my residents off the clock.
I consider myself to be a leader off the clock because I do continue to take care of my patients whether I am working or not. I buy supplies they need, visit them when I can, and make daily phone calls to remind them that they are loved. I consider this to be a leader because it gains their trust and we work together to help them fulfill as much as they can before it is their time to go. By showing them I care for them outside of work, they respect me and are willing to talk to me about things they need. They can open up to me and tell me anything. This way they know that I work as a CNA but do not consider it to be JUST a job. I love taking care of them and show them off the clock so that they do not consider themselves a task. They are amazing people. I am their leader because they can open up to me and I can get things done that they need my help with; it would be impossible for them to do alone. I will make sure that they get what they need.
I think it is very easy to misinterpret the identity development model just as Joe stated. I think by being educated on leadership helps be truer to where you are on the model. The more you learn about it the easier it is to place yourself. I think it would be nice if there was some sort of a test or series of questions (maybe there is) that would place you on the model so there wouldn't be this sort of problem.
ReplyDeleteI do think I serve as a leader in my job as a marketing associate. Although I do not hold the management title because I am only part time, I am the go to person when it comes to anything marketing related. I think the rest of the managers and employees look up to me when it comes to advice and ideas on marketing and content related. I even go out of my way when I am off the clock, by checking my emails and keeping up to date with the needs of others.
The identity development model is a model that I believe is a great placeholder or model that does a good job of defining the different stages of leadership. Yes I agree that most people are probably not honest with themselves if they are self rating it for someone else, but this can be said about many aspects of life. I think it does a great job of giving us a sense on an individual basis of where we are really at and find it out for ourselves.
DeleteIt also does a good job of comparison to other people or other leaders. You can match up your stage with other similar people of similar age. I see in group projects for school or at work that people who are not identified as the leader step into leadership positions by possibly taking the lead on the smaller group projects or helping out a less experienced leaders with tips or advice.
The Leadership Identity model has its pros and cons, as stated in previous posts. As Joe said, as human beings it is easy to talk ourselves into thinking we are farther along this model than what we are in actuality. This is potentially a major problem. I believe human beings are naturally leaders, even if they aren't in a "position" of leadership. This is evident in my work experiences (a subordinate co-worker takes initiative on a project), family life (younger siblings does chores around the house), and in many other aspects of life. In the end, although this model of leadership has its flaws, I see this as a useful model that helps define the stages of leadership.
ReplyDeleteI believe that anybody can be a leader as well and it should not be a "role" that somebody has to be assigned. I agree with the previous comments that the students that you have worked with may have thought that they were at stage four or five because they were college students and college is interpreted as independent. In my opinion I think that this model is fairly accurate in explaining the stages and I also agree with how it shows that once you have finished all of the stages you go back to stage one and start again and "recycle". This I believe is true because we can never stop developing and learning new things in life. So even when a person is in stage six doesn't mean that they are the best leader of all time because they can still develop and grow into a different kind of leader or keep learning in the position they are currently in.
ReplyDeleteAs Jessica stated I am not sure if the kids were lying but it was where they may have thought they were. Like she said, as we get older and experience more leadership we gain a better understanding of ourselves. I feel this is true because I think of my journey as a student at SNC. I feel from my freshman year to today I am a totally different person and understand what it takes to be a leader. I feel I am a different person for the better because of all the experiences: good and bad I have had. I feel like if you ask those same students there Senior year they will have a better understanding where they are on the model.
ReplyDeleteI also think that there a plenty of leaders who act without holding a specific position. I reflect on my football experience at SNC and I can think of plenty of people I played with that were leaders in my eyes but maybe were labeled "team captain". There are guys who came to practice every day and maybe did not play a down in the game. I think those guys are just as good as leaders as the players that have a title of leadership.I learned a lot from guys like that and it helped me understand that we can be leaders even if we do not hold a position of leadership.
I believe we can be honest with ourselves when determining what stage we are in. Yes some tend to reach as far as they can and maybe push up a stage to claim they are a more “mature” leader. This by no means makes you a better leader. When being true to yourself when using the model where are able to look at it and find out where we need to go next in order to expand ourselves in our leadership role. You need to be honest with yourself when determining where you are. It is pointless to lie about where you are. Like we talked about in class you may be in basketball since you were in 1st grade until you were and senior in high school and you may have went through a few of those stages. When you don’t play basketball in college you stop and begin at stage 1 again with your new leadership role so you need to be true with where you stand because it serves no purpose to lie about where you stand.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to be the captain of the football team. I wanted to be in charge of the team and mentor the younger players. I wanted that because during my junior year I took it upon myself to mentor the young player because I felt the captains and the upper classmen were not doing as good of a job as I thought they should. I took it upon myself to lead some of the players. I did not want to do it at first because I did not want any of the captains or upperclassmen to think I was trying to offend them in any way. I sat back for a while and kept my mouth shut but then I knew I needed to step up. I didn’t care what anyone thought anymore, I knew I needed to help the younger player. I wanted the role of captain this year because I wanted to show the younger players how to become a leader. I knew I could lead without being in the captain position but I felt being in that position made the underclassmen look up to me slightly more than if I would not have been a captain.
I like the LID Model overall because I like the way it describes different stages of leadership.. Many people think of themselves as a leader in some way, so I see how people would easily think they are a few stages above what they actually are. They may not realize that it is a long journey to stage 6. These people may not have the opportunity to study leadership the way we do. We can be honest with ourselves about our stage by learning about the model and thinking of ways we can improve to move up.
ReplyDeleteI feel that right now, I am a leader to a few of my friends and my brothers. Close to that bachelor's degree, I have set a good example and helped them. I have two brothers who are freshman at SNC who see me in my last semester planning for the future. I've helped them schedule their classes and have answered questions they had. Most of all, I have a few friends back home who did not attend college and have not really done anything with their lives since high school. Over the years, they have all come to visit me to see what college was like. I always urge them to go themselves. One of these friends just had a baby. I talked to her about college and how glad I am I went. She said she was considering going to a community college in the fall and asked me for advice. I said I would help her and pushed her to get an education. Although helping my brothers and pushing my friends to go to school did not give me a "titled position" for my resume, I still consider them acts of leadership. If I had not been there for my friend, I am not sure if she would have went.
Acts of leadership, title or no title, help us become better leaders and continue on the timeline.
Answering Joe's questions, I do believe we can be truly honest with ourselves with what stage we are in however, depending on certain people or situations there may be someone who may not be so honest. I think someone who is completely honest with themselves as a person and to others around them will be honest about their stage. Someone who is insecure with themselves will not be so honest and try to make themselves feel better or look better to others by saying they are in a higher stage.
ReplyDeleteI have served as a leader without holding a position for it, for example, volunteering for those less fortunate, working in group projects, and just supporting my friends in decisions they are trying to make. I feel like volunteering is a good example because even though I am just another person helping someone else out, that person who I am helping looks up to me and admires my help. Group work is also a good example because like others have said, you can work within a group and have leadership qualities without even noticing.
I would have to agree that positional titles do not give us the ability to officially own our leadership progression. The model is helpful for someone who would like to identify landmarks in their leadership progression, but not necessarily the overall leadership development. By that I mean it does not address the skills and abilities a person is developing but rather how they are achieve certain goals and objectives.
ReplyDeleteThis model would therefore would appeal to someone who is organized or would like to give proof and sustainability to their leadership progression, while their actual leadership development, mentally, would be and entirely different entity.
I have many instances where I have displayed leadership by doing what others have never done, starting new projects, or having a supportive group of followers to aid me in new ventures. In many of these cases my leadership was not necessarily recognized, while in some cases I was awarded. I believe that some of my leadership experience could fit the model as they serve as landmarks in goals I reached and was given recognition. Other types of experiences would be more so leadership development that still play a valuable part, but wouldn't necessarily fit the model.
I agree with you as well. When I was looking at the model in class trying to figure out when i really discovered leadership, it was honestly hard for me. Because I feel that like you said leaders can emerge out of social situations. So maybe when we thought we were aware of leadership for the first time may not be entirely correct.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to holding a position to be a leader I also agree with you Joe. There are many circumstances where one doesn't hold a position but displays leadership. For example when someone volenteers isn't that showing leadership? You dont have to hold a position to do that. Or stating your concerns for a group your involved in. Doesn't that display leadership? Once again you do not have to hold a position for that either. Leaders can hold a position but leaders can also emerge from situations.
Honestly I dont think I could place myself on this model either. Because like you said where I would place myself is not actually where I should be on this model.
I agree with what has been said, we definitely lead in everyday life without any formal leadership position. And like Susan pointed out, living with others and taking care of everyday household chores makes you a leader.
ReplyDeleteI feel that even though I am the oldest girl in my family I took it upon myself to set a good example for my younger sisters without being told what to do. Unlike my brothers maybe did for me, I lead my sisters in the right direction by showing them what you should do or how one should behave/act. This then has also spilled over to my life away from home as well, I feel that I am sometimes looked at as a leader within different groups of friends because my actions sometimes speak louder than words.