A520.7.3.RB - Importance of Having a Coach and Mentor

I have always been more of a shy student in school.  I was always interested in art growing up, but because of my shyness, I often found myself not wanting to share it with others because I didn’t know whether or not I was any good.  When I was accepted to Savannah College of Art and Design, my fears and anxiety about my abilities and talents grew.  I was so nervous, I didn’t think I belonged and I definitely felt that I was not prepared to be immersed in art training.  

Once I started school, I ended up meeting my best friend on the bus heading to our first class.  We ended up being in the same class and since then, we have been each other’s ear and support throughout the years.  She was always honest and open about my ideas and work and I was with her as well.  It was a great experience to have, however, I still had a lot of self-doubt about my artistic abilities and whether or not SCAD was the right choice of school for me.  It was not until I had my first class with my professor, Pam, that I started to listen to my voice and view my work differently.  She was able to touch so many students, but for me, she was the first person to really make an impact on what I perceived my value to be.  

Dr. Matt Starcevich discussed what it is that a mentor can do for an individual, noting that “mentors are facilitators and teachers allowing the partners to discover their own direction”, and that is exactly what my professor did for me.  (Starcevich, 2009)  In our class discussions this week, we discussed the differences between a coach and mentor.  At first, I was unsure what really signified a difference between the two, but after our readings and reflecting upon my own experiences, I realize that my professor at that time was a mentor for me.  A lot of what made my professor more of a mentor than a coach was discussed in our class discussion.  Some of the notable differences where that she never told me what to do or how to do something differently, instead, when I was stuck, she posed a question that got me to think about an alternative for myself.  I always found this incredibly helpful for me, as it is a habit that I still try to work in today.  Whenever I am stuck, instead of looking for an easy answer or easy way out, I pose a question for myself to try and get my to think differently.  Viewing things from a new perspective can be very useful, especially when brainstorming or coming up with new ideas. As a mentor, she was able to "foster insight, indentify areas of required knowledge, and expand areas of growth." ( Ilesanmi, 2011)  Overall, our class discussions this week also pointed out that mentors foster individual learning, as well as creates an environment for learning.

My experience with my professor started when I enrolled in her first class that she offered, which was the Art Quilt course.  I consider myself to be very passionate about textiles, but it was in this class where I discovered why I was so passionate about textiles.  I recently read an article titled "7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose" by writer and entrepreneur Mark Manson.  In this article he discusses several interesting questions that help you rethink the way you think about life and your interests.  There was one question in particular that stuck out to me because it reminded me a lot of what I learned from my professor.  He posed the question "gun to your head, if you had to leave the house all day everyday, where would you go and what would you do?"  As I was reading his expansion on the question, he pointed out an interesting concept.  He said "what most people don't understand is that passion is the result of action, not the cause of it." (Manson, 2014)  After reading that, and now reflecting on my time spent at SCAD and my professor who I considered to be one of my mentors, I realize that she, as a mentor, did not help me find my passion, but instead helped me stop being complacent and take action without fear of being judged or making a mistake.  She had this unbelievable ability to inspire you to become more than you are currently and that is what sparked curiosity to learn and grow.  

Following the Art Quilt class, I had several more classes with her throughout my time at SCAD and each class she began with a slideshow of inspirational messages and images.  They were simple images and the messages that she spoke about with each image resonated with me because they felt so real.  She had this ability to make you excited about your work instead of anxious about whether or not you would be good enough to do it.  In all of her classes, she made a point to make sure it wasn’t about whether or not you were any good, but if you were growing and learning from yourself.  Because of her lessons that she shared, I was able to gain a lot more confidence in my abilities and grow as a student and individual.  She helped me come out of my shell, which allowed me to become a better communicator.  Because of her energy that she was able to share with her students, I felt confidence to do many things I normally would have just thought about instead of acted upon.  I took up many leadership roles during my time at SCAD, serving as a VP for a Fibers program through my department, heading up a charity auction for department quit that I helped organize, and really find my voice that I felt I could share with others about my journey.  While these are small achievements, they were significant barriers that I was able to overcome.  

This has helped my professional journey significantly.   I was able to land a job in my field, the recognize that it wasn’t for me, question what I really want from life, and then make a decision to seek that out without any fear.  I realize now that worrying about the “what if’s” is only going to hold you back from achieving what you want to.  My professor was a true mentor for me during my time at SCAD and helped me grow intellectually and emotionally as a better individual.   While I still struggle with finding my direction and feeling confident in my abilities, I feel I have grown significantly because of my professor’s source of influence. 

Ilesanmi, O. (2011). Workplace mentoring: Learning and developmental approaches. Mentoring: A Key Issue in Human Resource Management, 1, 169-179.

Manson, M. (n.d.). 7 Strange Questions That Help You Find Your Life Purpose. Mark Manson. Retrieved September 27, 2014, from http://markmanson.net/life-purpose/

Starcevich, M. (n.d.). Coaching,Mentoring:  Is there a difference?. Coaching,Mentoring: Is there a difference?. Retrieved September 26, 2014, from http://www.coachingandmentoring.com/Articles/mentoring

A520.6.5.RB - Team Roles

Both task facilitating and relationship building roles play a huge part in managing a team.  As a supervisor, I find that I lean more toward relationship building, than task facilitating.  I am generally someone who tries to understand others emotions and respond based on what I am gathering from them, so I feel that I naturally lean more toward relationship building roles.  Whetton and Cameron note that relationship-building roles emphasize support, harmony, tension relief, confrontation, energizing, developmental, consensus building, and empathizing characteristics.  I always try to bring harmony into a situation by using support and understanding.  I find that a lot of problems occur in a team when people do not respect the leader.  For me, I find that respect is usually earned when you show relationship building characteristics to the other individuals.  Once I have established a relationship, task-facilitating roles seem to become easier and provide a better result. 

As we discussed this week in our class discussion, high performance teams are often built on a variety of individuals with differing backgrounds.  Tossing out tasks immediately may not go over well because people are still getting to know one another and understand what they have to offer.  While high-performance teams generally move fairly fast, the relationship-building segment of the team is crucial to the success.  When the team is getting along it makes it a lot easier to be success and I believe that implementing the characteristics noted in the reading this week would aid in that success. 

I feel that as a team member, I generally look at how the team structure is doing – is everyone happy, is there anything I can do, what is missing, what is and is not working – once I’ve determined those issues, I can then build off relationships to implement tasks with.  I feel that the roles work off of each other to help make a stronger team, but for me personally, I find that starting with relationship building is easiest when working on the dynamics of a team structure. 

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011).Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

A520.5.3.RB - Forrester's Empowerment

The concepts discussed in both the article by Russ Forrester and in our text take differing approaches to empowering others.  There are several similarities and differences within the texts.  Some of the similarities discussed in both were related to the ideas of how to empower workers.  The differences were found in the reasons for empowering them and the affects that empowering can have on the individual. 

We discussed this week in our class discussion examples of delegation and how that can aid in developing empowerment amongst others.  I think this brings up an important topic that both Forrester and Whetten & Cameron discuss, which is letting go of control.  Forrester notes that in order for empowerment to actually work and be beneficial, there are several points that needed to be confirmed.  One of the points discussed is to understand that a shift in power will happen and that some control will be lost when attempting to empower others.  Being able to recognize this and accept it is part delegating authority responsibility, and trust amongst each other.  Whetton and Cameron both note that giving people more responsibility, while providing all necessary information and resources can help build confidence, trust, and empowerment.  While Forrester agrees that all of these characteristics are needed to support empowerment, Forrester points out that it needs to be individualized and specific to each person and area.  Changing one section of a company will not make any dramatic differences in empowerment, and may even cause a negative reaction.  Forrester mentions that you cannot create a false sense of empowerment – you have to actually give up power to others. 

My previous job did exactly what Forrester mentioned not to do, which was plaster “meaningful” slogans and ideals up on walls and send out emails reinforcing our abilities.  They would do this after large lay offs.  Instead of addressing the problems and being truthful, as both Whetton/Cameron and Forrester mention, my previous job would just try and cover it up and ignore the issues while instilling a false sense of security in us.  This in turn, created a hostile working environment that was filled with negativity.

A better option for situations like that would be to incorporate the ideas discussed in both texts, which in turn will actually instill real power and trust in each other.  Whetton and Cameron note that there are 9 methods for fostering empowerment.  They include “articulating a clear vision and set of goals, fostering personal mastery experiences, modeling, providing support, creating emotional arousal, providing necessary information and resources, connecting to outcomes, and creating confidence.” (Whetton & Cameron, 2011)  Forrester notes some very similar methods of reaching empowerment as well, stating that managers need to “invest in building their knowledge, expand access and control, extend personal discretion, and let them be more connected to customers.”  (Forrester, 2000)  Both texts discuss similar methods of creating empowerment. 

I find that providing employees with adequate knowledge and confidence, allowing them to make decisions (extending discretion), and connecting to outcomes are adequate methods of giving real power to others.  These methods let go of control, which in turn help build trust and confidence, and also address personal motivation and individualized empowerment. 

References

Forrester, R. (2000). Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea.. Academy of Management Executive, 14(3), 67-80. Retrieved September 13, 2014, from the JSTOR database.

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing management skills (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

A520.4.3.RB - Motivation Beyond Money

What motivates us in our work is understandably not money when you’ve experienced working in an environment where the 3 motivators that Andy Mulholland discussed are lacking.  Mulholland noted that there are 3 specific points that we, as employees, work for.  They are having interesting work, being able to expand on your skill sets, and being recognized for your ability. 

I found these points to be incredibly accurate and true.  As discussed in the class discussion this week, having motivated and happy employees can make a company perform at a much higher level.  From my own personal experience, I have worked for a company that provided none of the 3 points that Mulholland discussed.  It’s interesting because, at the time, I knew I was unhappy at my job, but I couldn’t necessarily pinpoint why.  Thinking back, after reviewing this module, it’s clear now that I was so unhappy because I didn’t find my work that interesting after the initial honeymoon period wore off.  I was unable to expand upon my skill set because the company didn’t recognize my abilities and skills sets.  I came from a background that had a wide variety of skills that I could offer; yet I was not allowed to expand upon these abilities.  That was probably the most difficult part of my job was knowing I had more to offer, but not being able to do anything about it.  I felt like I was taking steps backwards, which made me feel stuck.  I knew if I didn’t leave that job, I would be miserable. 

There were several other areas that impacted my unhappiness at my previous job as well.  The work relationships within the company were poorly handled, which made it feel as if we were all children.  People would talk about other people and their lack of abilities, it made it feel like you were unable to trust anyone.  Another area that bothered me was their attempt at rewarding us.  The methods they used were not to reward the workers; they were to make up temporarily happy after they laid off several hundred people every couple of months.  It felt like they were rewarding us for making it through the last round of “cuts”.  It was very disheartening and belittling.  I felt like a no body in the company and that my skills were being ignored. 

After quitting after one year, I have never felt better.  I now have a new job, while not as initially inspiring as my first, I find that it offers a much better work-life balance and the rewards match much of what is needed as an employee at the company.  Most importantly, as discussed in the readings this week, I feel that I more motivated to do a better job.  While I always try to be a hard worker, it's easy to lose motivation when basic goal setting traits are not even being met.  I feel like my skills are now being recognized as they hired me for a position that I lack experience in, but have gained knowledge in the area.  Knowing that they believed in me to succeed in a position I had little experience in made me feel that they saw my full potential, which in turn, allowed me to expand my skills sets and gain more experience.  While it pays less than my previous job, I am so much happier in this new place in my life.