HDF 190:

FIRST YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE

Matthew Campion
SPRING 2017

[email protected]
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Strengths
Opening Statement SLIDE #4
Section 1: Self Leadership SLIDE #5
Section 2: Leadership Theories SLIDE #6
Section 3: Inclusive Leadership SLIDE #7
Section 4: Interpersonal/Organizational leadership SLIDE #8
Section 5: Interpersonal/Organizational Leadership SLIDE #9
 Signature Strengths
Futuristic
Significance
Competition
Focus
Command

Values in Action Strengths

M
 OPENING STATEMENT
My name is Matthew Campion. I am a freshman at the University of Rhode Island in the Doctor of
Pharmacy program, while pursuing minors in Leadership Studies and Biology. In the future, my goals is
to also complete the masters program pharmacoepidemiology and pharmacoeconomics at URI along with
my PharmD in order to prepare myself for work in the pharmaceutical industry. After graduating, my
goal is to earn a position working at one of the major pharmaceutical companies. My top strengths are
Futuristic, Significance, Competition, Focus, and Command. My top values include Bravery, Social
Intelligence, Creativity, Humor, and Love. All together, these strengths and values make up who I am
and how I make decisions as a leader.
The leadership model that I can relate to the most is relational leadership. I feel that all of the aspects of
the relational leadership model come naturally to me. Relational leadership emphasizes the importance of
relationships, and creating relationships with others is one of the most important aspects in my life.
Having these strong relationships can lead to effective change. ​
 SECTION 1
SELF LEADERSHIP
18. Student will describe personal leadership style and/or personality style including strengths and weaknesses and examples of application (Sources = Leadership style inventories, the L.P.I., Type
Focus (MBTI), LAMP, DISC, and other career inventories, etc.)

In HDF 190, we learned of four different categories that our personal strengths fall under. For myself, I can confidently say that I feel that my leadership style is
influencing, as three of my strengths are found in this category. The strength that connect to this are significance, competition, and command. For myself, I feel I use a
combination of these three strengths as an influencer. I feel that one of the part of myself that I tend to do often is try to sell my ideas to others to agree. I always try to sell myself,
to make myself appear important and needed by others, striving to be significant to others whom may need me. With that when it’s apparent that others find me significant or can
need my help in situation, I tend to then strive to take command of these situations. I feel that I perform better and I am more confident when I leading others when I have
command over situations. When leading others, I then use my competition to drive myself and my peers to work harder at the task at hand, to do the best we can in that situation.
I felt that a personal application of this was during a day in HDF 190 that we were competing against other groups to have the largest marshmallow tower. I had a background in
the activity, so I very motivate to try to win the competition. I am going to talk about how I used my influencing strengths in a positive way and a negative way during that group
project. I used significance, as I had background information on the best way to construct the tower. This motivated me to get my fellow group mates to believe in the technique I
knew of, by being important and useful to them. My fellow group mates decided to listen to my ideas, which I then started to take command of our team. I used my command
strength to help give roles to each person on how the can help build the tower. My competition strength then got me all pumped up about the race to build the tower, and I got my
team motivated to get the tower build. These strengths we successful in building a strong tower and strong group work. We did come in second place due to a slight 1 inch less
than another group. However, our tower lasted the whole rest of the class, while the other competitors did not and was not freestanding, so I take that as a win in my book. While
we did good together, there was some negatives that came about by my influencing strengths. For example, I was a bit overbearing and forcing my idea on the group at first. Also,
while commanding, I felt the need at times to just do the tower myself because I felt I knew the best way to do it. This did not leave an open space for others to share their ideas
that they had to improve the design. Also, the competition strength got me a bit too focused on winning the competition, and it was evident I did not show my appreciation to the
ruling of the judges. Knowing my leadership style, in the future I can watch out for these weaknesses. I need to remember to still allow others to share and be open about their
ideas, and to understand that sometimes my peers can bring significant ideas to work, as my ideas are never perfect and can always be improved.
 SECTION 2
Leadership Theory and Models
41. Student will show knowledge of the “Relational Leadership” model by Komives, McMahon & Lucas
In HDF 190, we learned that Relational Leadership encompuses many parts that work together in order to create an effective leader. One of the most important aspects of
Relational Leadership is the relationship one can create with others in the quest for purposeful change. With these relationships however, one must have a clear image of themselves
first, a knowledge of self, in order to create these relationships with others. Within the model, there are five main parts that work together. These five parts stress the importance of
being inclusive, empowering, purposeful, ethical, and process-oriented. All of these parts work together in common overarching themes. These themes are knowing, being, and doing.
Knowing is the first step, as one must know themselves, how change can happen, and how others may see the world different than you. Being is making sure one is being ethical,
caring, and inclusive of others. Doing is acting in socially responsible ways, walking the talk, when being committed and a participant in a community. Each of the five parts of the
Relational Leadership model fit into the themes of knowing, being, and doing. Purposeful, one of the main parts of the model, is simply making sure that one has an individual
commitment to the task at hand and those you are working with. With purposeful, knowing is seen as understanding the change process and models, as well as understanding the
mission and what the group is trying to achieve. The next theme, being, is seen by believing that being positive and optimistic about the task will help everyone be better and that it is
indeed possible to make a change. The last theme, doing, one must use their skills to identify goals, think creatively, and involve others in the vision-building process. A next part of
the model is empowering and the empowerment of of others involved in the group. To empower others, one must understand the impact of their power on others and the process of
the project. Being empowering must believe that everyone can have something to offer and should value what others can bring to the table. The act of empowering others requires
skills in encouraging or affirming others while sharing information with everyone. Another main part of the model is ethical, or what drives values and standards of leadership with is
considered morally good. Knowing how to be ethical is understanding values and models of valuing one’s self and others. One needs to believe that actions that benefit others are
preferred over the actions pursued for self-gain. Also, believing that socially responsible behavior should be encouraged for all. Having the skills in behaving concurrently, being
reliable and responsible, and acting courageously would be seen by someone performing ethically. Inclusion is another part of the model, which can be defined as being inclusive to
all others and other’s points of view. Keys to inclusiveness is having a knowledge of self and others and understanding many different frames and multiple realities of others. Being
inclusive is seen by believing that differences in people are valuable. They should believe that everyone can make a difference when they are given fairness and equality. To be
inclusive, listening skills, framing and reframing skills, and skills with building coalitions are needed to act inclusively. The last part of the Relational Leadership model is
process-orientated. This describes how the group goes about building and maintaining a team, and accomplishing the group’s purpose. Knowledge of group process and
understanding community are needed. One needs to believe that the process is just as important as the outcome. In addition, one should believe that high quality effort needs to be
encouraged for success. One can do collaboration, reflecting, learning and to develop the skills needed for being process-oriented. All of these components of the Relational
Leadership model needed for building positive relationships and excelling in leading towards a goal. This model can teach one about themselves while simultaneously teaching about
others.
 SECTION 3
Inclusive Leadership / Diversity and its application to leadership
40. Student will demonstrate personal application of model(s) of gender identity above

In HDF 190, we all completed learning contracts to explore and utilize our strengths and values. I chose to complete a safe zone training and learn on how I can be an ally of the LGBTQ
community. During that training, I learned about different models related to gender and identity. One of the activities we did was the genderbread person. It began with an introduction explaining how
many people confuse the four main terms and identities with one of other. These include biological sex, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. I learned that these identities and
expression are distinct from one each other and are independent. The first one we talked about biological sex. I learned that there is the popular understood types of sex, which are female and male.
However we learned about intersex, which is when the persons genitalia may be a mix between the two, or lacking either. Before this activity I did not even know this was possible. They gave a
statistic that almost 2% of people are born intersex. This opened up my eyes about a different biological sex then what people consider normal. Next we learned about gender identity. One can
identify as a man, a woman, but also genderqueer. Genderqueer is defined in which a person either identifies as both man and woman or neither man nor woman. With all of these identities, it is
very open to what the individual may decide who they are. I learned that these are not all or nothing either. It is more as a range, and it would be possible for all of these identities to fall at any point,
not just the middle or the extremes. Another expression we discussed was gender expression. This includes feminine, masculine, and in between those androgynous. Androgynous is considered to
be blended, having both masculine and feminine, appearance. We then discussed sexual orientation. This included heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and pansexual. I personally learned about
pansexual, which is an individual who is attracted to others regardless of their gender identity or biological sex. I learned that bisexual attracted to both male and women, compared to pansexual
who is attracted to those in between as well. We discussed how attraction is more than just sexual, as it can be emotionally, physically, spiritually attraction as well. This was something new to me,
as I have never thought about it that way. After doing this activity and taking the training, I was able to learn much more about some of the models of gender identity.
 SECTION 4
Interpersonal and Organizational Concepts and Skills
132. Student will show knowledge of the stages of group development (Tuckman/Tuckman & Jensen, Bennis or others)

In Com100H, as well as HDF 190, we discussed the multiple stages of group development. The stages include forming, storming, norming, and performing, usually followed by a
fifth and final stage called adjoining, as seen in evidence #8. The first stage is forming, when members are first joining the group. During this stage, the group’s goal is made clear
to all the members. This allows time for members to express any intia questions they may have or any concerns, and give out initial assignments to members. Norms are usually
established at this time, which is the expected behavior of the members within the group. After the forming stage is the storming stage. The storming stage, may be considered as
the ‘first fight” within the group. The members within the group now feel more comfortable within the group, are more willing to express their opinions to other members. This
allows greater negotiation about participation and how the group should be working. Confronting other members in the groups about ideas they have and looking for a change
could be sign of being in the storming stage. Next is the norming stage, which is usually right after the storming stage. After the group works through an initial conflict, the norms
of the group will help be set in place and be in a better position to work on the task at hand. This stage represents that members are willing to abide by the rules created by the
group and others values in order to achieve the goals set in place. Next stage is performing, which is seen by a decrease in tensions and a greater focus on the work needed to
accomplish the group’s goals. There may be small negotiating of conflicts, but overall the focus is getting the work done. An example of this is a weekly meeting by the members
to work on the project together. A last stage of group development is adjoining. This is seen mostly by groups that are assigned a specific goar or a deadline to finish the project.
They talk about aspects that may have gone better but also celebrate the fact that their work is now complete. .Source- “Tuckman, Bruce (1965). "Developmental sequence in
small groups".”
 SECTION 5
(Interpersonal and Organizational Concepts and Skills )
109. Student will demonstrate knowledge of active listening techniques

I first learned about active listening techniques in COM100H, where our teacher demonstrated some of the very basic, non-verbal techniques for showing recognition towards
others talking.This included head nodding, eye contact, and body posture. This was a brief introduction for me, and I learned more about it during the FLITE retreat in HDF 19t.
When in our small groups, we went through the 6 different aspects of active listening, easily seen as a part of evidence #3. These 6 aspects include: Encouraging, restating basic
ideas, reflecting feelings, clarifying, and summarizing.With each of these aspects, there was a goal, a process, and examples of what to say. For encouragement, the main goal is
to project interest and maintain conversation.The process should be had with a positive tone of voice and one should try to neither agree or disagree. An example of this includes
phrases such as “I see…” and “I understand…”. The next aspect would be restating basic ideas. The goal would be to show your understanding and disclose a grasp of the facts
The process would be restating speaker’s basic ideas.Examples of what to say include “If I understand, your idea is…”. After restarting basic ideas, one should attempt to reflect
the feelings of the person they are talking to. The goal would be to demonstrate that you are listening and understand how the person feels. The process should be about
reflecting the person’s feelings and say comments like “You feel that..”.. Next one should try to clarifying. The goal would be to ask for additional facts and help the person explore
all sides of the problem. The process would be by asking specific questions with examples such as “Can you clarify that?” or “So in other words, what you’re saying is…”. Lastly,
summarizing should be the last aspect of active listening. The goal would be to draw together ideas and facts, while creating basis for continued discussion. The process of this
should be that major ideas are restated, reflected, and summarized. Examples of this are, “Theses seem to be the main ideas you have expressed…” and “If I understand you,
you feel this way about…”. Putting together all of these aspecting will aid in the active listening technique. This will allow for better, more productive conversations with other, while
allowing both people to explore any issues at hand the best possible ways. It is particularly important in FLITE to be an active listener, as you can better understand fellow peers
in the small groups. This allows you to be more engaged in the conversation and then be able to contribute more to the group. Source:Penn State University’s center for conflict
management mediation handbook training, 1990.