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On Chapter 12, Denning describes six dimensions of leadership. The first dimension talks about how an interactive leader would rather work with the world than against it. Basically, instead of imposing your views, ideas, and/or values unto others, you would rather help them find their values, ideas, views and even path with the organization. The second dimension is about an interactive leader that adds and subtracts elements from the leadership palette. In other words, a good interactive leader uses some of the elements provided or thought to him or her as well as dismisses or leaves out any element that may not work for the leader or work for the common goal. The third dimension is that it helps build on personal integrity and authenticity. Meaning, the leader would know how to communicate who they truly are, his or her beliefs, what you stand for, and what your goals are. Since you begin having this open communication with them, they will begin to respect you more for that because they would know the real you. The fourth dimension is that an interactive leader does not depend on possession of hierarchical authority. To me personally, it says that a true leader doesn’t need a fancy or official title to lead others into something good. Any with good intentions can help clarify the situation, help improve structure, and provide coaching when needed.

The fifth dimension is the benefits from an understanding of the different narrative patterns that can be used to get things done in the world. Basically, an interactive leader understands that there are different ways and forms of using narrative to convey different actions such as a springboard story to convey action. Lastly, an interactive leader is active in participation. In other words, an interactive leader does not stand back and let events unfold on their own and helps only when asked. A good interactive leader helps even when the help hasn’t been asked for, does it for good generous reasons without expecting anything in return, does it without needing a title to prove his or her worth, and actively participates throughout the organization with all individuals as a team. Overall, a good interactive leader does it all in generosity and for good reasons.

After reflecting on these dimensions, I realize it has basically given me an overall look of what leadership is about. A good leader has good intentions and in my opinion, is basically a “people’s person”. He or she works with subordinates, helps them rather than work against them by manipulating them or their future actions. One example would be under the dimension of an interactive leader who doesn’t depend on the possession of hierarchical authority. In the past and before my promotion, my supervisor approached me and told me how much she admired my leadership style to train and help others without even being asked to do it. I honestly did it because I like helping others even though personally I may not agree on their views or opinions. Another example I recall is under how an interactive leader adds and subtracts elements from the leadership palette. Basically, even though I’m still learning on how to be or become an effective leader, I see that I have dismissed certain elements of leadership that do not seem to work for me such as manipulation. Certain people say that it’s ok to lie a little so someone can be manipulated into doing the task but in my opinion, that’s just how I refuse to work. I rather say the truth and be honest with the person than get caught on a white lie and lose their trust, loyalty, and communication. A situation I recall about this was when my supervisor asked me to send someone home early because we needed to cut back on labor. She had asked to ask a specific person and to tell her that it was just that we would not need her for the day. Knowing that she could clearly see that we would need her help, I decided to actually tell her the truth and she in returned thanked me for being honest with her about the situation.

 Lastly, an interactive leader benefits from the understanding of the different narratives. There are many different ways a story can be told and used to convey a desired action or direction. I have not fully tried a story but I have used humor to cheer up coworkers about the day. One small story was actually more about recalling the events of a certain situation and how we in turn were more appreciated by management for going above and beyond for our customers while keeping in mind the managing business aspect of it. 

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On October 2012, in Daytona Beach, FL, I was approached by my immediate supervisor with a list of tasks that needed to be completed before the end of business. Along with this list, the instructions were to not stay passed the scheduled time, as it would hurt budget for the next week. These tasks were given to me an hour before my punch-out time. The list consisted of various tasks such as counting inventory, making the next week’s order for both food and paper products, cleaning the entire back room area, etc. Typically on the days of inventory, counting inventory takes about five hours and must be done with someone else for verification purposes. Composing the next week’s orders, between counting and inputting the order into the system, takes about two hours for each order since the systems are different. That day I felt like I was in so much conflict between my feelings about what she had done and how much she trusted me to get them done before my scheduled punch-out time. I tried different things between delegating tasks to subordinates and doing some myself before my scheduled deadline, but overall it all fell back to me. The subordinates that were left for the rest of the day had the work cutout for them as business transactions increase when it’s cold outside. After being repeated the importance of the completion of such tasks, I decided that I had no other option but to stay off the clock in order to complete the tasks given. Now imagine if my immediate supervisor had not abused of my loyalty. Do you think I’ll still be able to trust her to do what is right? To be a little bit more organized? To maybe jump-in and help when needed?

Conveying this story is important to me as I hope that it sparks action. The action should be to become more organized in a way that it will not hurt the relationship that supervisors and leads must have. Whether it’s the lead trusting the supervisor to do what is right and the supervisor to not abuse of the lead’s loyalty to him or her. If this story sparks the right action, the dynamic of the entire organization will change in terms of management and its employees. Employees will learn to trust their supervisors more and in turn become more loyal to them rather than having this continuous gap and breakdown in communication between management and employees, and for the organization it will mean a dramatic decrease in turnover and an increase in human capital and knowledge.

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Denning discusses and explains the 3 basic components of a genuinely ethical community: trust, loyalty, and solidarity. According to Denning, trust is the general expectation among members that their fellows will behave ethically toward them. This first value is missing from my organization and if I’m not mistaken they are aware of it. Its not something that you clearly see that it is unethical but that you see if you work behind the scenes. An example of this will be when a supervisor asks a subordinate to get certain tasks done before the end of their shift, an hour before their shift actually ends and without staying past their scheduled time. This has often happened and many individuals stay “off the clock” in order to complete the tasks given in fear of punishment.

This unethical practice of basically forcing individuals to stay “off the clock” past their scheduled time to complete tasks has many safety implications and concerns that arise every time this happens. Instead of giving subordinates tasks towards the end of their shift, management should consider giving them the list at the start of their shift. Basically if it’s a task that would take a couple of hours to complete, the best time to give them this task will be at the beginning of their shift so the subordinate has the chance to plan the tasks of the day. On the safety aspect of this situation, if a subordinate hurts him or herself while “off the clock” but fulfilling on duty tasks, the organization is responsible and forced to provide workers compensation. Therefore, I would recommend all supervisors and top management to make sure tasks are given at the beginning of the subordinates shift to ensure they are done with time, while on duty, and the subordinate has the chance to plan out the tasks of the day. It also makes it a less stressful day for the subordinate. If tasks happen to be given towards the end of the shift, subordinates should be encouraged to speak up about the situation and if it’s of high importance to stay on the clock until the task is completed.

The second basic component of an ethical community is loyalty. Loyalty is the acceptance of the obligation to refrain from breaching one another’s trust and to fulfill the duties entailed by accepting that trust. There is some loyalty in my organization but not to the full extent of this definition provided by Denning. Loyalty is present when subordinates accept the obligation to fulfill a task because they have been trusted to fulfill the requirements of that task but not from refraining from breaching one another’s trust. The example above can also be used to explain my point. The subordinate was trusted to fulfill the task given but the conditions in which they were given were/are inappropriate and therefore, the subordinate finds him or herself obligated to stay off the clock in order to not brake the trust between the supervisor and the individual. Not only is the individual now worried about breaking that trust between the supervisor and the individual but he/she is now scared of the punishment that will be received if the task isn’t completed. The solution above can also be applied to this situation.

The last basic component is solidarity. Solidarity is caring for other people’s interests and being ready to take action on behalf of others, even if it conflicts with personal interests. I have been a witness of solidarity in my organization. There are moments were individuals who happen to not get along outside of work, tend to work closely together in order to complete tasks faster and more effectively. They have effectively put their differences and conflicts aside in order complete tasks. I have with time developed these values. Even though I’m unaware of some of the values of the individuals around me, values like these are easy to recognize when you have worked both the front line and the “behind the scenes”. They can be aligned through sharing the experiences we have encountered as well as the stories of conflicts and how we as a team overcame them.

Denning, S. (2011). Transmit your Values. The Leader's Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative (Revised and updated ed., pp. 132-133). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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The Core Workplace Value Assessment exercise helped recognize what are the most important core workplace values I hold and believe in. These values represent who I am as a person both personally and professionally, determines or explains the level of satisfaction I have currently have with my job, and also helps me judge how I would “fit” with any future job, position, or career change (Hansen, n.d.). The values I hold are not all consistent with the values of my organization, Sodexo. Sodexo’s core workplace values are service spirit, team spirit, and the spirit of progress (Sodexo, n.d.). After completing this exercise, I realized that the top 5 core workplace values that represent who I am as a person are:

• Stability and security
• Professional development and on-going learning and growth
• Clear advancement tracks/opportunities for advancement
• Opportunity for balance between work life and family life
• Respect, recognition, being valued

Even though service spirit does not align with my most important workplace values, I do consider it a value but it’s not a priority per say. We all do give some type of service, whether it’s in the food industry, retail, over the phone, in the military, daily, weekly, and/or so on. Sodexo is part of the food industry service. In my position as one of the leads of Sodexo, among other things, I’m responsible for providing great customer service to every customer as well as make their experience a unique experience when possible. I’m not sure how I mitigate with this value but I do find myself saying “It’s part of my job”. Team spirit for Sodexo is the most important value that is of absolute need. Sodexo’s definition of teamwork consists of: listening, transparency, respect for others, diversity, solidarity in implementing major decisions, and respect for rules and mutual support. For the past few years that I have worked for Sodexo, I have experience a certain level of teamwork. Since we are such a big account it’s difficult for management or supervisors to include other employees or all leads for decisions but they do try their best to include and inform everyone about changes or important decisions. As I continue to progress with the company I hope to be more involved in decision making, implementation of changes, and so on. This leads me to the last value of Sodexo, the spirit of progress.

It is Sodexo’s belief that everyone can improve on any given situation, whether it’s personally or professionally. They support and encourage employees to shape their own future and growth with the company by encouraging them to take full advantage of the training programs and systems available. This value goes along really well with the values I currently consider important. Continuing your education is very important in Sodexo’s management team. Therefore, having the opportunity to work for a company that encourages education is very important to me. There are so many advantages to continuing your education such as, increasing the possibility of professional advancement, development, learning, growth, and so on. As life goes on certain values might change or begin to become less important. At this moment in my life education, stability, progress, respect, and growth are the most important core workplace values I hold.

Hansen, R. S. (n.d.). Workplace Values Assessment for Job-Seekers. Quintessential Careers: College, Careers, and Jobs Guide. Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www.quintcareers.com/workplace_values.html

Sodexo Employee Handbook. (n.d.). Sodexo.com. Retrieved November 15, 2012, from www.iamsodexo.com/front_en/Images/Final09HandbookE_tcm80-279403.pdf

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After reading Chapter 14 of Messages by McKay, Davis, and Fanning, I realize that it is not easy for me to “work the room” per say or even strike up a conversation with a stranger. Just as the authors explain, fear from strangers come from two sources: outmoded nineteenth-century social restrictions and you own self-depreciating internal monologue (McKay & et, 2009). On chapter 13, the authors use an example of this slender woman standing awkwardly by herself and frowning at a party (p. 191, McKay & et, 2009). Even though this example is used as a prejudgment example, I can only imagine myself actually doing the same thing. Maybe not frowning exactly, but spacious, bored, and watching everyone else having fun.

Reflecting on my behavior when meeting new strangers I think I do fall under both sources of fear from strangers. I do usually expect a mutual friend to introduce me to the strangers regardless of the gathering, whether it’s business or social. On my behavior as well I do have a problem self-depreciating me as a person and predicting the worst out of meeting someone new. I begin by telling myself “I’m boring”, “I have nothing good to say”, “Nothing is interesting about me”, “Nothing interesting has happened to me yet”, etc. Fear of rejection is and has always been one of my biggest concerns and since I rather not deal with it, I remove myself from any possible situations where I may get rejected.

Some of the lessons I have taken from this lecture in order to improve my ability to connect with others are:

Analyze what I say to myself,

Reframe my approach behavior,

Reframe my view of rejection,

Learn how to deal with the emotional blow of rejection,

Plan to get rejected,

Use my body language to convey interest and full attention,

Find good icebreakers to begin conversations with strangers, and

Ask questions.

McKay, M., Davis, M., & Fanning, P. (2009). Making Contact. Messages: the communication skills book (3rd ed., pp. 205-213). Oakland, Calif.: New Harbinger Publications.