Yeah Yeah Lead!

                Ohio State is huge. And I mean 56,064 undergraduate students huge. We have all heard about how easy it is to get lost among the crowds and classes, but with all of the students involved even being a member of an organization most likely isn’t enough to keep you out of the dark. Sometimes whole organizations become pushed back just because of the sheer amount of groups on campus. I think a few insights on how to solve this problem as a leader can be found in the student development theories that we read about. What struck me about the theories was the focus on the individual, and how he is unique.

                This concept of the individual is a two way street for leaders. Not only do they have to recognize their own development (who wants to follow a leader who doesn’t keep growing?) but they should see their own organization as an individual and focus on its development, too. I talked about this a little in my last post, but I am a firm believer that an organization should have shared goals and that the leader should follow what the organization is looking to do.

                The article on shared visions by Marty Jacobs had a lot of thoughts on how to get to this goals, and I think that Marty Jacobs hit the nail on the head when he said, “Without a shared vision, the force of the status quo will prevail in an organization.” In other words, an organization without a vision will just go with the flow, and won’t develop into something amazing. I agree with him when he says that this vision is more or less a collection of the personal visions of each member, which also calls into play the development of each member so that they all have something worth sharing.  

                Getting everyone’s ideas incorporated into this vision is maybe the most motivating thing a group can do, because everyone feels incorporated into the group and feels that personal connection. In the same article by Marty Jacobs he talks about the differences between compliance and commitment, and the subtlety between them. A committed, developing group is what makes the group great.

                So how do you get this way?

                That’s where student development theory comes in. One concept that I saw over and over again in this article is that students must be considered as unique individuals, along with the theory that a student’s environment and personal motivation are keys to their success. I thought that it was interesting that many years ago education was personalized and not only taught what we might consider an education today along with values. Then there was a shift to a more “large group” feeling, and now we are in a sort of mix of the two. Kind of like a best of both worlds situation. There group feeling is provided by the size of the university, and all of the opportunities that come from that. Though as the article states, the size of the university can also decrease development with redundancy.

                But the personalization? That’s where we come in. As leaders and members of SLA I think that we can really use the ideas of student development theory in facilitations. I’ve noticed that facilitations seem to be at their best when I am leading them in a unbiased manner, and I think that the thoughts given by the article about facilitations brings together a lot of ideas that will really help me become a better facilitator. What I wanted to get at though is how I’ve noticed that once things get going in a facilitation and I take a step back, that’s when the growth really occurs.

                Evans says it best when he states, “Development is not simply a maturation process, but requires stimulation through challenge and support.” The experiential learning cycle (which is that people learn best through experience and analyzing what had happened for themselves) is an important aspect of development, because it is how you develop.

                So as a facilitator (and leader) I would take a step back and let your organization develop and experience for itself, while you do the same for yourself.