Rodney Mace

Organizational Leadership Competencies and Artifact Assignment

Rodney Mace | ORGL 620 Leadership Seminar

 

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

• John Quincy Adams

 

I have listed the courses I have taken in the ORGL program in chronological order. There are too many great takeaways from the ORGL courses I have taken to list them all.  I think of Hinman’s writings about Relativism, Absolutism, and Pluralism. Hinman stated he “seeks to stake out a middle ground between these extremes: ethical pluralism. It retains the legitimacy of cross-cultural judgments (something the absolutists are correct in believing) but does not claim that we necessarily have a monopoly on the truth” (Hinman, 2012, p. 24). During this course, I have reflected on many conversations and interactions I have been a part of through the years. I realize that what I thought of as “right or wrong” was only this way due to my perspective, and my perspective was driven by bias due to my surroundings and the influences I had growing up. My situation is unique to me and I cannot expect others to have the same lens to view the world. I feel I have evolved during the ORGL program and hopefully I am a better leader and person after participating in this venture.

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ORGL 600 Foundations of Leadership

 

This was the first class I took in the ORGL program. When I enrolled in the program I did not

know what to expect from the program and I knew nothing about Gonzaga University except the basketball team is always really good. This class set the foundation for all the learning and growing I experienced going forward. This class is where I began my journey to discover who I want to be as a leader and as a person.

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Artifact: The artifacts from this class are the readings including Heraclitean Fire (Carey, 1999) and especially Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Frier, 2000). These readings were very interesting and I especially liked the concepts of oppression and liberation that Frier expressed in his book.

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ORGL 520 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

 

This class helped me to understand negotiation and conflict on varying levels. The course

explained the impact conflict has on individuals and communities and the long term

ramifications. The conflict analysis on the Arizona miners’ strike was very informative. I lived in Arizona when I was enrolled in this class, and I had direct dealings with several copper mining operations through my job which made the information in the class much more real.

 

Artifact: The course final paper analyzing the Arizona miners’ strike and the book Copper Crucible (Rosenblum, 1998).

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ORGL 605 Imagine, Create, Lead

 

This was one of two immersion classes I took in the ORGL program. I was really apprehensive about the class prior to attending. I have never thought of myself as a very creative person, but I learned there are many forms of creativity and we should embrace our talents. There were many things I liked about the class including the Meyers-Briggs assessment, improv activities (creating something new in the moment), metanoia activities, and especially the dance studio understanding of movement and space. I met many wonderful people during this course and enjoyed being a student on campus, if only for a short time.

 

Artifact:  My final project. I was able to utilize the knowledge I gained in this class to solve a major problem for my company and this led to a company-wide implementation of the process I recommended. This would not have happened if I had not attended this class and gained insight on different aspects of creativity and problem solving.

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ORGL 532 Leadership, Justice, & Forgiveness

 

In this class, students are forced to think about forgiveness in ways we probably have not done in the past. There were several great readings including Forgiveness and Power in the Age of Atrocity; Servant Leadership as a Way of Life (Ferch, 2012), and The Sunflower: On the

Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness (Wiesenthal, 2008). I had never thought deeply about

forgiveness until I took this class. The material forced me to look deep into my soul and come to grip with the person I was at times and I did not want to continue to be. In Wiesenthal’s book, he discussed an interaction with the German Soldier Karl. The soldier had been a part of atrocities committed against Jewish civilians and on his death bed wished to confess to a Jewish person and ask for forgiveness. Wiesenthal was unable to grant this last wish and left Karl without comment after his confession. Later Wiesenthal talked about the events with several friends after relating the events a man named Josek stated “Do you know,” he began, “when you were telling us about your meeting with the SS man, I feared at first, that you had really forgiven him. You would have had no right to do this in the name of people who had not authorized you to do so. What people have done to you yourself, you can, if you like, forgive and forget. That is your own affair. But it would have been a terrible sin to burden your conscience with other people's sufferings.” (Wiesenthal, 2008, p. 70). The concept of not having the right to show forgiveness

for others was something I found fascinating. Much of the material was unpleasant to read, but necessary to gain insight into justice and true forgiveness.

 

Artifact: My Life of Justice and Forgiveness Paper. I served in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan and supervised a large group of intelligence personnel including interrogators. I did this paper on the morality of enhanced interrogation techniques, if the interrogators should ask for forgiveness (if possible), and if the suspects should show forgiveness due to the circumstances. I have struggled with the morality of war, including my service. This paper was difficult to write and highlighted the ethical struggle I have concerning wartime activities.

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ORGL 535 Listen, Discern, Decide

 

This class helped me realize that listening is a major component in communications. Robert Greenleaf says that a good listener tries to hear everything that is said, not just what the listener expects or wants to hear (Greenleaf, 1996, p. 70). Prior to this class, I had attended many communication classes in the corporate world and in the military. I always felt I was a good communicator and had many complimentary comments from colleagues and employees I supervised regarding this. After taking the class I realized I am not the communicator, nor listener that I want to be. I also learned the value of silence in this course. Mother Teresa is quoted as saying “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature, trees, flowers, grass, grows in silence, see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence … We need silence to be able to touch souls” (Malka, 2016, p. 1). I had never taken the time to mediate or just stop and “listen” to the silence. I have a very busy schedule and always told myself there isn’t enough time to not be in an activity or sleeping. During this class I started taking 30 minutes each evening without distractions and sit in silence. I did this at times in my house and other times I went outside and listened to nature. I found this to be very relaxing and was able to think without having disruptions to my train of thought. I now realize this is a wonderful tool for my mental health and continue this practice every day.

 

Artifact:  The entire reading list for this class. These are great books, easy to read and understand, and relevant to all classes in the ORGL program.

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1. Hesse, H. (2012). (W.K. Marriott, Translator). Siddhartha. Lexington: Simon and Brown.

2. Horsman, J.H. (2018). Servant-leaders in training: foundations of the philosophy of servant-leadership. Palgrave-MacMillan.

3. Davis, P. & Spears, L. (2013). Fortuitous encounters: wisdom stories for learning and growth. Mahwah: Paulist Press.

4. Frick, D. (2011). Greenleaf and servant-leader listening. Westfield: The Greenleaf Center.

5. Essay (Frick’s book is only available from the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership at the link above)

6. Greenleaf, Robert. (1996). On becoming a servant leader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

7. Burley-Allen, M. (1995). Listening: the forgotten skill—a self-teaching guide. New York:

8. John Wiley & Sons.

9. Sardello. R. (2008). Silence: the mystery of wholeness. Benson, NC: Golden StonePress.

10. Sparough, J. M. (2010) What's your decision? How to make choices with confidence and clarity: an Ignatian approach to decision making. Chicago: Loyola Press.

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ORGL 515 Leadership and Human Potential

 

This course consisted of five modules that were designed to help leaders influence their

organizations culture, grow the organization, encourage innovation and creativity by focusing on people, and how to perform action research. The overriding factor in achieving these measures is unlocking human potential. The class focused on Dialogic Organization Development and Growth Mindset, Design Thinking, Appreciative Inquiry, Action Research, and Open Space. This course gave me many tool to use going forward, particularly design thinking and action

research.

 

Artifact: The module five final assignment. This was a video I created giving a proposal to my company executives. This was very difficult for me as I do not feel comfortable in front of the camera. It took me many takes before the product was satisfactory to submit for grading.

 

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ORGL 681 Leadership and Storytelling

 

This was the second immersion class I took in the ORGL program. I feel this was the most

enjoyable class in the program. I did not fully understand the power of storytelling to an

organization until I took this class. Having employees tell the story of their work groups and the contributions they make is inspiring. This allows everyone in the organization to realize their contributions, where the company started, and visualize where they will go in the future. The other part of the class was the most emotional: writing personal stories and listening to the stories of my classmates. The stories were gut-wrenching, inspirational, and humorous. The stories of the class peeled back scars from long ago, and also told of hope going forward. I felt privileged to hear and read the stories of my classmates and I look back on they form time to time as a reminder of how others’ lives are so different, and yet the same as mine.

 

Artifact: The final paper I wrote in the class titled “My future story.” This was very hard to write as we were to look 20-30 years into the future. I will be very old in this time frame, and it was sad to foresee the things that may happen as I get older. I hope to have many wonderful years with my family, but I am nearer the end of my life than the beginning. This story forced me to confront my mortality in a way I never would have done except by putting it on paper.

 

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ORGL 610 Communication and Leadership Ethics

 

This class had a lot of material to review and was a challenging course. The course discusses both personal ethics and organizational ethics. The course helps in the development of skills in ethical communication and decision making. There were scenarios where moral dilemmas were presented and the students were challenged to utilize decision making tools to review and discuss the material. There are many things I will take away from this course. The main one being that ethics means different things to different people. We will not all have the same viewpoints as we are not looking at the world through the same lens. The discussion board posts talking about the various ethical issues were very interesting and thought provoking. I had to peel back my personal opinions and bias during these discussions and consider the opinions of my classmates. I realize I am not always correct in my assumptions and have to keep an open mind.

 

Artifact:  The story of John Woolman. I had never heard this story before taking this class and I was fascinated by his dedication to his conviction on the evils of slavery. He did this over the course of 20 years using persuasion instead of violence to make a change in how the Quakers viewed slavery. Palmer states:  “To fight is to meet violence with violence, generating more of the same; to flee is to yield to violence, putting private sanctuary ahead of the common good. The third way is the way of nonviolence, by which I mean a commitment to act in every situation in ways that honor the soul” (Palmer, 2009, p. 170). What Woolman did, at a great personal cost, was the third way: he committed to act in a way to honor the soul by his revelation and talks with the Quakers concerning slavery.

 

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ORGL 615 Organizational Theory & Behavior

 

This course was the most difficult of the ORGL courses I have taken so far. There was a

considerable amount of coursework and it was very time consuming. The course objectives included helping students understand how to plan, establish, and maintain an organizational structure and the importance of organizational strategy. It also discussed how to effectively network and the leader’s role in designing and leading effective teams. Students utilized a Systems Thinking Journal to document systems knowledge and skills learned throughout the course. There were individual and team projects in the class and deadlines were sometimes hard to meet. The greatest challenge in the class for me was the Mt. Everest simulation. The task of getting all the team members on the same page, and working to attain team goals (while they were concerned with their assigned individual goals) was difficult at times. I felt our team worked fairly well together, but it wasn’t until after the simulation ended and we reviewed the entire simulation stage by stage, that we realized our mistakes.   

 

Artifact:  The artifact for this class is the final Examen conference. I discussed the class with the professor and the course objectives including personal mastery, shared vision, mental models, team learning, and systems thinking.

 

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ORGL 620 Leadership Seminar

 

The leadership seminar is the capstone course for the ORGL program. We reflect on our unique and shared journey throughout the program and give insights to our learning, maturity and growth as servant leaders. We demonstrate our competencies and knowledge attained throughout the program and complete a leadership project and portfolio. This is our final opportunity to earn and share our knowledge with other students in the program.

 

Artifact: This will be my portfolio detaining my knowledge and journey through the ORGL classes. I hope to demonstrate my personal and professional growth as a result of being a student at Gonzaga University in the ORGL program.