EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Do you think you are effective at communicating and how can you improve?
What are some new or different ways you learned to communicate that you will apply to your leadership role?
Realistically, what kind of listener are you? What can you do to become a better listener?
 
I have over the years developed certain communication skills which have proven quite useful. I however believe  there is still a lot I can do to communicate powerfully and prolifically- particularly in the the area of taking initiatives and having a positive optimism when communicating. My current role is of  a technical nature. Because of this I need to hone my analytical skills to the point where I establish trust in the students I TA.

All in all, I'm more of an attentive listener- especially with regards to subjects or issues that interest me. I intend to work on being more of an empathetic listener as this creates a more friendly and comfortable environment for effective communication. I hope to achieve this by trying to understand and showing a genuine concern for the welfare of the  people I listen to.

VISION.

My vision is to assist students taking ECEn 380 (Signals and Systems) to understand and appreciate the various ways of applying linear time invariant systems analyses to solving real world systems problems.

My goal is to review each week's lab on Tuesdays (9:00am-10:00am) before the actual lab hours which is Wednesdays and Thursdays 3:00pm-6:00pm. So far,this approach has been effective in enabling me better execute my role.

What does being a “servant leader” mean to you?

Like I said in class, the word 'sacrifice' encapsulates the meaning of being a servant leader for me. I think one other interesting meaning I derive from servant leadership is the fact that servant leaders care less about what their followers think of them(the servant leaders) and more about how their followers think of themselves.


What drives a servant leader I believe, is the sincere and genuine desire to cause positive change in the lives of their followers with no ulterior motives. We can therefore say servant leadership is righteous leadership with no strings attached.

How I will apply the principles of Divine Centered Leadership to my role?

Ben has agreed to meet with me every Saturday and during some weekdays to study and solve home works together. I intend not to only focus on my understanding of key technical concepts as we do this but also assist Ben with areas he is struggling with as much as possible. 

I think what's really important is that my motive for working with Ben is to build a friendship that has trust as its foundation.

Who I met:

I met a young man called Ben Arnold. He is a double E major (purely electrical engineering major). He has 2 brothers and a sister and he lives about 30 blocks from campus. He loves to play basketball and ultimate Frisbee. Above all he loves technology, especially hands-on creation of code and hardware that can really do cool stuff. He is currently working for a company called Wavetronics.

The thing I love about this young man is that he is very motivated and intelligent but extremely humble and patient. You could sense it in the way he communicates and relates with people around him. I guess the most valuable part of meeting Ben is discovering this aspect of his character. The beauty of this is that I do not only have the opportunity to relate to Ben using experiences from this class but also I have the chance to learn from Ben's life as well.

Aims continued:

I figured I'd be happier and effective if I developed skills that would aid me assist the students I TA to progress. This would motivate me to develop the character and mindset I need to succeed in my career. I'm really thankful that BYU offers such an opportunity for students to grow into responsible leaders.

My ultimate goal is to climb the corporate ladder in the big telecom companies back in Africa. The surest way for me to accomplish this is mastering the concepts in this class and consistently applying those concepts in my current leadership role.

Leadership Development - Blog1

What leadership roles I have: Signals and Systems TA

Leadership qualities I possess: Empathy and dedication to quality service