INTRODUCTION

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I have deep gratitude for the opportunity I’ve had to take the Imagine, Create, Lead (ORGL 605) course at the beginning of my journey into studying organizational leadership. Looking back over my original philosophy of leadership I expected that things would change, however, I appreciate that the core of what I believe still remains. Love must be at the center of leadership in order to be just, fair, and good. Leadership without love of self, love of the people you are serving, and love of the organization will be missing the passion that breeds creativity, ingenuity, and perseverance.

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As opposed to a change in my introductory philosophy, what has happened for me instead is a building upon. This makes sense given the nature of education, I suppose. The intent isn’t to change the core of the person, but to build upon it. The question to me morphs from what is my guiding force behind my leadership (love), to how to practice loving leadership.

 

LOVING AND LISTENING

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In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire writes that in order to truly love a person, we must know them (2017). So how do we begin to know people? Freire writes that only through comradeship can we understand others and that the method to accomplishing comradeship is through dialogue (Freire, 2017).

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One of the best ways I get to know people is by listening to them. I am just beginning to practice going beyond hearing people and truly listening, but in the newest iteration of my philosophy behind strong and effective leadership, listening to people is an integral part of leading them. This can even be applied to yourself, listening to your body’s needs, your mind, and your heart.

One of the most difficult challenges I face when listening to people is when I know their message contradicts my own thinking. During the pandemic, a swarm of bees landed on my property. I choose to keep them and began dabbling in beekeeping. I found a mentor that comes and helps me learn more about beekeeping every month. Politically, we differ vastly, but through tentative conversation, we have a shared understanding of each other’s ideas. This takes listening, patience, and dialogue. The role of love is important to mention here as well. The will to listen came from a desire to operate out of love. In a cyclical fashion, love reemerged from listening.

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In my original paper, I noted the necessity of staying grounded in love to set a premise for standards in positive communication. I wrote that I would refuse to accept disrespectful communication. In looking at that paper now, I feel torn with my former self. In my old iteration, I imagined overhearing someone being berated, and me rushing in with vigilante justice, ready to tell off whoever had dared to be disrespectful in my presence. Now, when I look at this, I think about paying attention to heart and meaning first. Secondly, I think about remembering that we never know all of the story, and creating a space for asking questions and listening can create opportunities for resolution. During Negotiation and Conflict Resolution (ORGL 520) I shared an incident that occurred in high school that transformed my thoughts about how to engage in conflict. Growing up as a Pentecostal child, it was often said in my home, “God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.” I parroted this through high school, with as much thought as you might expect from someone with their prefrontal cortex being underdeveloped. One day, I spouted this to a friend. She looked at me and said, “I think that is really hurtful. I’m gay and I don’t think you should tell me that I don’t belong to God because of it.” I felt so ashamed. I never meant to intentionally hurt someone. We are, however, all a result of our backgrounds, and sometimes parts of our backgrounds need to be challenged to shake loose from our mindset. Because of her honesty and patience, I listened to her from that moment on and it changed how I communicated about a group of people.

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In the first iteration of my personal philosophy of leadership, I did passively write that actively listening was important. Kouzes and Posner highlight active listening as an action that builds empathy and understanding (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). Previously, I struggled with what I saw as the paradox of being both a good listener and clear in articulating. I directly correlated my ability to listen with an inability to communicate. For now, I see these two as less causational than I previously thought. For one, through the study of mindfulness, I recognize that a piece of my inability to articulate clearly in moments is more related to nerves and anxiousness. Secondly, through more active listening, I now believe I can strengthen, not weaken my communication skills. The emphasis has to be on truly listening, not just hearing.

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To uphold my lifelong practice of love and listening, I need to create space in my own mind. Practicing mindfulness and mediation plays a significant role in building up my skillsets to increase my patience, slow down, and pay attention, all qualities that lead to better leadership (Reitz and Chaskalson, 2016).

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One note in regards to the last assessment of the SLPI. I wonder if I were to take the SLPI again now, at the end of this process - what new information would be gleaned? Over the last few years, I have grown exponentially. The path that I have chosen to focus on in my Organizational Leadership curriculum I would phrase as “the work of you.” I imaging that intentionality in self-work allows for growth in leadership values, so I think that retaking the test would be purposeful.

 

CONCLUSION

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My goals are to engage in communication (even with adversaries) and to work on being willing to listen. I can reflect on times when I have walked into a conversation upset, having drawn a conclusion based on pieces of erroneous information that I had gathered. Far less often, I can recall times that I have slowed my thinking down to pause and ask questions. How many times have I made a poor judgment on a person, because I didn’t know their side of the story? I imagine how many people dislike me because they haven’t heard my side of the story. My goal going forward is to create space for patience, dialogue, questions, and listening in my life.

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In summary, I still hold the belief that I need to operate out of love in order to best serve myself, my community, and my organization. Through my process at Gonzaga, what I recognize is a need to clarify how that love will be exhibited, and the first way to do that is to listen to the people and situations around you.

 

 

REFERENCES
 

Freire, P. (2017). Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th Anniversary Edition ed.). New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.

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Kouzes, J.M. and Posner B.Z. (2017). The leadership challenge (Sixth Ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Reitz, M., & Chaskalson, M. (2018, June 29). Why your mindfulness efforts aren't working. Retrieved February 04, 2021, from https://hbr.org/2016/11/mindfulness-works-but-only-if-you-work-at-it

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Posner, J. M. (2019). Student leadership practices inventory® 360 - Individual feedback report. The Leadership Challenge. https://www.lpileadershippracticesinventory.com/