I have developed the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary to make me a proficient leader in my student affairs practice with a proficient level of knowledge and ability in leadership.  In my role as a graduate hall director, I have the opportunity to supervise RA's and desk clerks, to advise hall council members, and to informally advise and support residents through judicial hearings and other one-on-one or group conversations.  In each of these capacities, I believe that I demonstrate an intermediate, competent level of leadership. 

As a leader of my hall staff, I have developed a supervisory style that is collaborative and team-oriented, developmental, and individualized to the needs of each supervisee.  I feel the need to lead my team as a collaborative leader who is not an authoritarian; I do not micro manage my staff members and I do not supervise with a managerial, non-relational approach.  As a result of my leadership and supervision style, I believe that I demonstrate the capacity to be a collegial, respected leader who can be firm and hold people accountable when needed, but also be a team-player that empowers team members and incorporates supervisee feedback and considerations.

This current academic year I have taken a significant leadership role in my graduate hall director position.  During the summer, while I was interning overseas, I received email communication from my assistant director for communication that an extra wing of my building (for approximately 300 students) was being opened and attached to my building.  I decided to respond with flexibility and a team-oriented leadership approach; I was accommodating in terms of my living assignment and was open to the prospect of having a second graduate student assigned to the hall staff and a different supervisor being invited to our team for a more experienced perspective.  When I returned to the U.S. for fall training, my supervisor, the other graduate student assigned to our staff, and I collaborated to develop our game plan for the academic year.  However, a few weeks later, an unexpected turn of events occurred.  The other graduate student who was a leadership role on our staff was removed from this position after a series of unplanned events occurred.  Although this was stressful, I needed to step up my leadership and react with humility, respect, and confidence to keep our team afloat.  There were thirty-three RA's on my staff and only the two of us (between my supervisor and I), so our staff members were fairly worried about how we would survive and complete all job functions with one less leadership role. 

I believe that I demonstrated solid leadership throughout the entire situation and continuation of the academic year.  I upheld the confidentiality of the situation, but still respected the fear and concerns of my staff by being as transparent as possible within the limitations of confidentiality and respect to individuals involved.  I was flexible during the time of transition and turbulence, and was willing to pick up additional job tasks to support the team.  For instance, I began to hear about 5-10 hours of additional judicial cases per week, gained complete oversight of the hall operating, programming, and employment budget, and I needed to alter my supervision schedule.  I also made the tough decision to drop a practicum I had accepted a week prior to the events that occurred, which was a tough decision, but necessary.  I demonstrated leadership to act with maturity, responsibility, and support during a time of great stress and transition for my staff, and I used level-headed and realistic judgment to take action and drop my practicum because my job and practicum responsibilities became too overwhelming for me to manage successfully.  I believe a strong leader is self-aware of her limitations and knows when she needs to say 'no' and adjust her plans to ensure she is not over-involved to the point of detriment.

For another example of my development of leadership competency, I also have an solid understanding of leadership theory that can inform practice.  I read Kouzes and Posner's Student Leadership Challenge (2008), and co-facilitated a leadership development course for about 12 aspiring student leaders.  The course I facilitated was 8 weeks long and utilized the five practices for exemplary leadership from Kouzes and Posner as a framework.  Furthermore, I also have a basic understanding of transformational leadership theory, transactional leadership theory, servant leadership theory, and a variety of tools that can help individuals better understand their own traits and qualities, such as StrengthsQuest and True Colors.  I know the differences between various types of decision-making techniques, such as consensus and majority rule, and I advise students on proper ways to utilize these techniques in their work and organizations.

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Furthermore, I use my leadership ability to help students understand their impact in the community and how their actions are interdependent with other members of the community.  For example, in judicial hearings I help students see the larger picture regarding their behaviors, so that they can grasp how their conduct and decisions can have consequential impacts on others, regardless of their intent.  As such, I have required students to complete educational sanctions such as an apology letter to the hall staff, a floor bulletin board regarding floor policies, or community service hours with custodial staff to redress past misconduct.  I also have a list of sanction options related to academic majors so that I can have residents complete sanctions that make them reflect on the correlation between their life choices and academic ambitions.  I encourage creative, synthetic, and critical thinking for residents who are assigned sanctions, and also have examined skills in creative and critical thinking for my own development as well.