The change started with structure. We finally were told who the president of the "organization" will be. His name is Joe, and he will communicate to the CEO (or Dr. Feinberg) on our behalf. Dr. Feinberg told us that the key to a positive work environment is structure. He also mentioned that every structure needs easily identifiable goals that can be measured. These seem so obvious, yet made me think about how few of us actually incorporate those ideas in our everyday lives.
Dr. Feinberg said that without structure, you need extremely strong leaders to succeed. If you have structure, you can get by with less strong of leaders and less effort. This, at first, sounded like a cop-out. Shouldn't you always put forth the effort? Shouldn't every organization find the strongest leaders possible? Then when I really thought about it, how many people really want to go into work every day using all their energy possible? I would imagine that it is a very small percent. I know that some days I want to relax a little. When structure is in place, everyone can work more efficiently. That means that the CEO doesn't have to run around to every single employee every single day and tell them every bit of information. Structure saves time.
After we established our new structure, Feinberg stressed the importance of creating goals for the organization. This carried over from the last lecture on vision. All the members of the group need to know what the goals are so that we can all be motivated. The new president told us that he wants to improve leadership skills, keep the value on us (the students), keep accountability, and be dependable. These are all great goals for the class, but Dr. Feinberg said that they will not do anything unless he can measure them. I had never thought about that aspect of a goal before. How do you measure your progress toward the goal? I have always said I am a goal-oriented person, but it's hard to think about how I measure the progress. He challenged each of our group leaders to create their vision and the measures for it. Now I understand that without a measure for the goal, how will you know if you accomplish it or have any progress?
Establishing a structure will help any organization strive toward success. It allows for easier communication and better efficiency. Now, everyone knows what they need to do and how they need to do it within that structure. The next step is to create goals for the organization. Goals are so important because they unite everyone in a shared vision. Finally, you have to set up measures to determine if you are accomplishing those goals. Without a measurement, it can be hard to really see if anything is getting done. Structure, goals, and measurement allow leaders and followers to both flourish together.
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Critique
ReplyDeleteAlthough this blog is not weak, by any means, it is still more of a summary of that day’s class then demonstrating how the knowledge, or that day’s activities, affected her. Rachel goes into great detail describing the new structure of CSR 309, the addition of a president and how the structure will benefit the students. Although she got the point, that structure will allow an organization to function with weaker leadership, she could go into more detail on how it affects her.
Rachel also went into great detail about goals. How goals need to be defined so followers can have a vision for the future. I enjoyed the last two paragraphs of her blog. She used a more analytical perspective and demonstrated that she understood the point of the material. She was able to see how having a goal and vision makes the group stronger. Rachel obviously understands how having goals, visions, and a solid structure will make an organization more successful in all their endeavors.
The only thing I feel could be improved upon is less summary. Her blog reads as a summary of that day’s class. Although she uses this style to allow her thoughts and ideas flow, it could be more reactive and have more feeling.
Summary
I really enjoyed reading Rachel’s blogs. She is insightful, pays attention, and her blogs show she is gaining so much knowledge from the course. She appears to be model student who is absorbing everything she can from Dr. Feinberg and CSR 309. If she keeps this trend up, she will grow into a great leader.