the true meaning of empowerment

Empowerment! A word with so much power and rigor in its meaning. The process of empowerment can build a team and break a team. In society today, many organizations don’t understand the full meaning of empowerment and what it entails. According to Possner and kouzes, empowerment is “giving power to someone, thus resulting in a greater sense of confidence/self esteem and ability to do a task” (PowerPoint). Empowerment is only achieved through trust, respect and knowledge of individual’s strength and weaknesses. Without trust it is practically impossible to willfully share/ empower another individual. This is because the leader might be insecure and afraid of losing their power and sense of security. Trust is also important to empowerment because without it there will be conflicts between leaders and those empowered because of jealousy and distrust. Empowerment is a difficult; this is why it is mostly attributed to a good leader.  I have had some personal experience with empowerment in my life especially in a leadership situation.

                My student council years where filled with triumphs, passion, and a time of growth. This was a period in my life in which I had my most leadership experience one of these being empowerment.  I was personally empowered by my student council team executive Loraylnn Castillo. This occurred during our yearly event “Prom Showcase”. I was bestowed the event coordinator position by my exec; she empowered me with the authority to oversee and control this event.  This was an immense opportunity for me as a new and young member in the student council. I wasn’t only shocked, but I was excited and honored. I asked Loralynn why she decided to had decided to give this event to me instead of the other three members, and she replied: “because you were the only one who could handle”. At that time this statement didn’t make sense and I didn’t put any thought into it, I was just happy that after being an underdog for so long, now I had been given he opportunity to shine. Looking back now after reading the article on empowerment and the discussion in class, I realized that Loralynn made these decisions because she truly understood her team’s strength and weaknesses. She understood that I was better at communicating and sales merchandise than all the others in my team.

                Empowerment is an important necessity in every leadership institution. Because empowerment correlates with trust, this means that trust is also a very important aspect in every group or relationship. Relationships and institutions that have trust always seem to fall and are never successful. A good leader is one who trusts and empowers and also a strong organization is one in which the members get empowered and are very trusting of each other.

how leaders develop their ethics?

Many people today fail to understand the differences between ethics, morals, values and character. Sometimes, people think all these things all explain the same concept, but have different names. However, this is not the case because all these things are different from each other though they all work together to make an effectively moral and upright leader. While Values is an individual’s beliefs, morals is their perception of right and wrong, Ethics is a universal and globalized rule of right and wrong and character is the individuals personality and identity. A leader without ethics cannot be an effective leader. This type of leader is a toxic leader. Where do leaders attain their ethics from? How do their affect their decisions as a leader.

                A leader can develop ethics from numerous sources but I believe the top three sources of a leader’s ethics are: their family, their environment, and Religion. A person’s family has an immense impact on their lives from birth till adulthood. As we grow from a young age, we learn the things that our parents do, what they say, and how they act. On a more personal perspective, there are some ethics and values that I still maintain and that I got from my family. An example of one of these ethics is the fact that I grew up with the notion that I could never call an older person without using a title of respective in front of it; also that I could never call an older person by their first or maiden name. I also learned the value that a woman was virtuous and honorable and there were certain behaviors that a woman wasn’t supposed to possess.  These value and ethic I learned from my family has taught me to show respect and be a respectable individual and this would help to become a better leader. It will teach me to respect towards all and this is an important leadership quality.

                Also, most individuals learn their ethics and values from their environment and who they surround themselves with. We all grow up and learn that stealing is wrong and there are legal precautions for it. We also learn that there are certain actions and things that aren’t acceptable in society and there are certain punishments for each of these “illegal action”. These are all things that we gather from the media and from society that help us to become moral and upright citizens and it impacts our judgments and behaviors as leaders.

                 An important ethic and value shaper is the religious systems. Our different religious systems control out outlook and behavioral patterns in society and as leaders. We grow learning from our pastors and the bible’s directions. Our religious faith is what controls our life priorities; many Christians like me put God and the church as our first priority because we learn that “God is a jealous God”. An example of how my religious system impacted my ethical values in life is the fact that I don’t use profanity because I find it unchristian and against the bibles message. Another example is the Jehovah’s Witness religion that doesn’t celebrate Christmases or birthdays because they are taught that these actions defy the bibles message.

The White Privilege Vice

This week’s topic was Social injustice and it was correlated with the reading, “White privilege: Unpacking the knapsack” by Susanne McIntosh. In this paper Susanne McIntosh explains that there are certain privileges that are attributed to whites because of their skin color. She explains that these individuals who receive these privileges are unconscious of it because it comes to them not as a result of their will power but due to their ethnicity. In this paper Susanne lists all the privilege she is receives not because of merit but because she is Caucasian and also some things that she doesn’t worry about encountering.

                This topic was a very interesting one to me partly because it was a familiar topic that I had discussed in my 101 (I was excited to see how the discussion will resemble or differ from the previous one). This topic was also interesting to me because I am a girl of color and I have had such conversations with friends of different races. I strongly believe and accept McIntosh’s point, I believe that there are still some privileges that a white girl of equal status as me will receive that I won’t necessarily receive or maybe I will receive it but in a lesser amount. These privileges are not to be correlated with discrimination because they are not. The individuals who give out these privileges do so unconsciously, just like the receiver of these privileges are mostly unaware of these privileges and don’t see them as privileges.  Sometimes the individuals who are the givers of these privileges are of a different race; usually the minority race. An example of this is the story a fellow classmate of mine told about her experience at Walmart with her boyfriend. Raven explains that while walking out of Walmart, she wasn’t stopped to be checked while her boyfriend who was a Latino was stopped. I also noticed she mentioned that the service guy who stopped her boyfriend was also a Latino. After hearing these stories, something dawned on me: we all participate in some way, intentionally and unintentionally, to the continuation of these unearned white privileges.

                While also participating to this discussion in class, I thought of a famous, yet controversial scene form Paul Haggis’s Crash.  This scene was the scene between Ludacris and his friend, where they discussed the unfair privilege the waitress who was an African American had given to the white individuals. She had unfairly handed out more privilege to her white customer by pouring out more coffee to the white customers than she had to the black customers. This was an act that she had performed unintentionally because she had been acting under the power of what I just termed “the white privilege vice”. This further proves that each of us are influenced by this subtly hand that controls us all called “the white privilege vice”.

the importance of Group cohesion

Five years ago, when I was back in Cameroon, I was a member of the dance team at my old high school (which is known as secondary schools in Africa). We were a very close knit tin this time, team spirit, and love for another was our first goal. Our motto was “win together, lose together”, and as cliché as that may sound, this meant more to us than winning any competition.  I never really understood the amount of cohesiveness that was present in this group till when my father took ill. He was diagnosed with temporary paralysis of the right side of his body and this condition was coupled with loss of speech. I was only 13 years old and I hadn’t developed a coping mechanism yet for such situations so all I could do was c=sob and isolate myself. It was surprising to me how much my team was present for me at this time. We had been a family in competition, but during this time we became a family beyond that realm. This united force and group attraction helped me get through this time.

                Every group needs some aspect of cohesiveness in order to make it and become successful. I believe cohesiveness is the bond that exists between groups or group members that helps them in achieving their ultimate group goal. Every relationship needs some form of cohesiveness: families, groups, sisters, students, etc. The different aspects of cohesion include: cohesion is teamwork, cohesion is attraction, and cohesion is unity. Collective efficacy which is “the strong belief of all or most group members that the group can attain its goals” is also very important for every group and it ties in with a group’s cohesion (Powerpoint notes). This cohesive force and bond between groups is what enables them to successfully resolve conflict and last for many years. A group in which there is a lack of cohesiveness usually faces a lot of conflict because there wouldn’t be any bond between its members, a lack of unity within the group and most importantly a lack of team work. Each member will be more concerned with their individual goals and how to promote themselves and there would this will also to lead to a lack of collective efficacy and a massive failure for the group.

                The concept of group cohesion relates to a country’s patriotism. Patriotism is ones deep love/attraction to their country and the willingness to die for it (like a group member’s willingness to go beyond in order to achieve the group’s goal. A good example was the situation with Egypt’s presidential protests. Though they fought against Mubarak who had the entire army on his side, the people were still united as Egyptians. The army refused to kill any civilians because they believed that “they are all family” (bbc.co.uk) and was only willing to carry out non-violence defenses.  They had different opinions but they all fought still maintaining that cohesiveness as a nation. This is what differs Egypt from Libya and why the situations in Libya are very different.

Driving with directions!

Every Organization needs a vision and mission statement. This is the founding principle of this organization and it guide and leads their actions and goals. The vision and mission statement vary greatly between different associations because it relates to their central and internal goal. A mission statement is a statement of “purpose and core values”, it describes the actions that a certain group plans to undertake to reach their ultimate goal, it serves as a compass indecision making, and it keeps the individuals in a group, centered towards a common purpose. The vision statement, however, is the final outcome, goal or expected future of an organization. It is the goal they hope and expect to achieve in the long run. The vision and mission statement work together in a parallel manner in an organization.

                In my church’s leadership group, we addressed this importance of a vision and mission statement in any association. As youth council president I was required to attend some leadership classes, and in one of these classes, this topic was discussed. The teacher explained the relationship between a vision and mission statement in a different light. He said that the vision statement was like the road directions (MapQuest and GPS) that directs people and gives the necessary actions to perform that will leader them to their destination. While a vision statement is the required destination that an individual is trying to arrive at. He explained that usually the beginning of leadership is like taking a trip or driving to a place where one is unfamiliar with. You always begin at your starting point or current destination where you decide to travel or drive to a certain place; this corresponds to the time in which a leader is thinking about beginning and organization or starting a new venture/leadership. Once one has decided to drive, they realize that though they have the address to their destination, they don’t don’t know which road or turns to get there. At this point, they consult their GPs or the MapQuest system because it provides accurate actions to do in order to arrive to the final destination. In leadership, after a leader decides to undertake a certain venture or begin a company, they are usually unsure in how to manage their company to get it to its ultimate best. So they have to create a mission statement that provides the actions that each member/driver will need to do in order to get that company to the place where he envisioned it would be someday. This goal/ final destination is the vision of that leader. The thought and idea they conceived that lead them to take some actions.

                After listening to this unusual description of a vision and mission statement, it made me view vision and mission statement differently. Everytime I embark on a leadership venture, I always create either a mental or written vision/mission statement. I always ensure that I have my MapQuest directions to lead me to my final target.

toxicity iss the root of all evil!

In every organization, there are always good people and the bad ones, those commonly referred to as the ‘Bad Apples’ of the organization. These individuals possess certain traits and characteristics that make them toxic and dangerous to the progress of the organization. This is the same as with the leadership organization, there are some leaders who possess these toxic characteristics that make them a threat to their respective organizations. Some of these characteristics include: incompetence, malfunctioning, irresponsible, sense of inadequacy, insatiable ambition, amoral and etc. All these characteristics and more are what constitute a toxic leader; these traits are dangerous traits that could destroy any association and for the leader to have these traits makes it even more unhealthy. There are two forms of toxic leadership: intentional and unintentional (toxic leadership notes).

            In previous years, while I was part of certain groups, I experienced leaders with such traits and I was also at some point a toxic leader. While in a senior Cotillion, I encountered a leader who possessed some of these qualities and could be describe as a toxic leader. The head of the cotillion had insatiable ambition, amoral behaviors, avarice and greed, and a huge amount of egotism. She managed to remain fair and equal as she possible could, but her different treatment toward each one of us made it very evident that she discriminated between us. Her trait of greed and avarice made her treat the wealthier children with more respect and care than she did the rest of us. She also had a quest for insatiable ambition; she wanted to promote and further the organization so much, she also behaved differently towards the parents. She made the individuals with connections and money, close associates of hers with no regards for the other parents. The toxic traits she had contributed to the downfall of the organization because most parents weren’t pleased with her behavior and swore to ensure that the organization didn’t prosper. In this case, she was an unintentional toxic leader because Engage in careless and reckless actions, including incompetence, nonetheless causing negative effects

            Another example of toxic leadership going on in current news is that situation with the Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi and the situation going on in Libya. The Libyan citizens are fed up with Gaddafi’s bad leadership and continuous rein, and they are demanding for his resignation. These problems all erupted partly because the Libyan constituents view Gaddafi as a toxic leader who doesn’t really care much about the need of his people, but he uses his power to further his insatiable ambition greed. Even in times of turmoil, Gaddafi is still bent on being president and will not resign. He instead decides to utilize violence, murdering the people he is supposed to protect from harm because his toxic traits already characterized him as a bad leader. he was and is still an amoral president who lacks any respect for his country. In Gaddafi’s case, he would be labeled as an intentional toxic leader because he is deliberately injuring others to enhance himself as president (toxic leadership notes).

what kind of follower are you?

The followership model explains that there is no leader without a follower. This model is definitely true and the most important aspect of leadership. Nowadays many people focus and pay more attention the leaders and teach individuals on how to become effective and successful leaders. What they fail to realize is that if everyone was taught to become a leader, the whole ideology of leadership would be destroyed. This is because there will be constant conflicts and a chaotic setting if everyone was to govern. Just as leaders are essential, followers are also very vital; so more attention needs to be given to the followers and followers need to be taught to become good followers and help the leadership cycle flow. The reason it is so difficult to teach individuals to become good followers is because the roles of followers are minimized and those who follow are belittled in society. What most people fail to realize is there would be no Mohammed Gandhi without his followers and there would be no president without his constituents. The followers are the most powerful individuals in the leadership cycle/pyramid though their placement is towards the bottom of the pyramid. Followers are like the elves in Santa Claus’s workshop; their hard work makes things happen and make people’s dreams come true.
            I have had some personal experience being a follower and I admit that it was a difficult task that however brought me joy at the end. When I was in Student Council, I didn’t hold an executive position making me a follower or the official term, a delegate. The delegates in my schools student council were the backbone that held this organization together. We assisted the executives in the idea process, but we were solely in charge of carrying out these ideas and making them come to life. Our different execs were the congratulated and acknowledge for our hard work.
After this week’s reading I realized the kind of follower I was in student council. It dawned on me that I was a participant follower. I worked hard and contributed, but my shy attitude kept me away from achieving my full potential. I wasn’t a bystander and I didn’t isolate myself from the group, but I preferred to stay away from events and activities that involved exposure to the school body. I was a behind the scenes person; I followed all the orders of my dance community executive Loralynn and I completed every task assigned to me. However, I only stuck to completing the duties assigned to me and never tried to utilize my own initiative to help further the organization. I cared more about being part of this group than going against the norms and boundaries I had been placed in. I participated, but I lacked the passion and drive and commitment like the diehards to give student council the best in me and fully involve myself in the group. I deeply regret being such a follower.