5 Chapter 5

My name is Kyle Johnson, and I am a first semester graduate student from Madison, Wisconsin who works in the Strength and Conditioning department at Winona State University.  Before enrolling in the Change Leadership course, I had previously taken six credit hours of the Leadership Education program.  I had taken Systems Thinking with Dr. Waterbury and Sports Marketing and Management with Dr. Callahan.  I am currently taking Change Leadership with my capstone, or Scholarship class as well.  I am hoping to finish the Leadership Education program by the spring of 2018.

At the time I enrolled in Change Leadership, I was very concerned about taking it with Scholarship because the two courses are very writing intensive.  It ended up working out okay for me; however, I would not advise anybody that is coming in as a first year student next semester to take both classes at the same time.  Change Leadership is a great prep course for Scholarship because it helps with the writing process and it shows what the instructor expects from the students.  Being able to prepare in a class like Change Leadership will make Scholarship go by much more smooth because of all the practice students will have gotten.  It is something I wish I had done in the first place, and I think I would have prepared myself a little better.

Another concern that I had at the time of enrollment of the class was that I had never been in a position of great leadership before, so I thought of the class as if it was going to be one of my weaknesses.  It was not until this year that I also had the opportunity to experience being a strength and conditioning coach as well, so I had never really been in the position to influence a group and that made me nervous.  Along the same lines, I quickly realized that a lot of the work done in class would be with our peers in the classroom or through video with students in the jabber group.  The same thing applied as before, as I was not confident in working with people that I was not very familiar with and I did not think that it was going to be something that I enjoyed doing on a daily basis.  To sum it up, I was realizing that I was going to be way out of my usual comfort zone and needing to pass the class, I told myself that I was going to do it, but I did not think that Tuesday night was going to be something I was going to enjoy during the semester.

To negotiate the course, I realized that I needed to get out of my comfort zone in order that I succeed.  Most of the class involves either writing or discussing things with peers in the class and after I finally realized that I was going to do a good job with it, I knew it was not going to be such a big deal.  People need to step out of the comfort zone just one time to have the same epiphany that I did.  I am now friends in two of my classes with people that I thought there was no chance I was ever going to be friends with.  So just not being afraid and so nervous was something that I used to negotiate the course.  Another way I went about getting through the course successfully was going to see the instructor on a regular basis, especially earlier on in the semester.  I always had many questions about the structure of papers, assignments, etc. and by asking those questions I was able to build a better relationship with the instructor and at the same time I was able to get help with some of the course work that I did not previously understand.  I was able to negotiate the class this way as well, and I recommend it to all students.

A third and final way I was able to get through the course successfully and probably most importantly was building relationships with the other students in the class.  We had an assignment where we were asked to learn about somebody else on the jabber side, and it really showed me that it is not that hard to build a relationship with someone, even though you do not have a prior or current relationship with that person now.  They can help students navigate through the class and help them have a better chance to succeed and at the same time, people can build a network that they can follow and have throughout the course of the rest of their life.

The students of Change Leadership will learn many things like I have throughout the class, the most important probably being better communication skills.  I did not realize before the class how important periodic communication throughout life was and I realized that to keep relationships healthy and long lasting that it is essential to check in with your network while at the same time trying your hardest to expand it.  I have brought it over into my actual real life and I already feel better about how I am communicating with my network and how I have built some of those networks stronger than it was before I was in the class.

Teamwork is something that I definitely learned throughout the class as well.  Especially during the newsletter assignment, I felt a lot of us had big responsibility in order to get it done and completed on time.  So learning to hold yourself accountable is definitely something that the new class will learn because if people are not holding themselves accountable during assignments like that they start to let the whole group down.  The same thing with the letter of recommendations – we needed someone to write one for us and we were on a deadline.  So meeting deadlines, working with people that you have never really worked with before, and being able to hold yourself accountable will be a common theme that the new class learns.

My biggest and probably most important suggestion for students of the Change Leadership course is to get to know the instructor.  That helped me out a lot as far as knowing that the instructor was approachable if you needed help, and instructors like to see students out of the classroom setting and for people to drop by.  It is something that applies to real life as well, in that if you want to have a good relationship with all the people in your network, show them that you do not just go see them when you need something, but just to drop in and say hi sometimes too.

Another suggestion I have for the course is to always come to class prepared to speak.  There are many in-depth discussions during the class and if you are not there participating, for one, you lose points and two, you do not learn anything and you do not learn to communicate with other people, and how to have a discussion with them.  For example, a lot goes into the case studies because we need to think deeply and critically as a group. If someone is not prepared for their own case, then your group ends up doing a poor job, the rest of the class does not understand what is going on, and basically it is a lose-lose situation for everybody in the class.  So having a good idea about how you want to contribute to class discussions before class starts is something that I think would help many of the students.

Something that helped me a lot personally in the class was being okay with meeting new people.  I was really nervous right away when we were asked to chat with somebody and learn about them for a about a half hour or so, but after it was done I made a friend out of it and it made me realize how extremely easy it is to get to know somebody.  Building a strong, supportive network is one of my biggest goals that I have for myself and the only way that is possible is if you go out of your way and do things like that.  Honestly, I find it sort of fun too, because as I said I made a friend out of it in the meantime and I think it is somebody that I am going to want to keep in my network forever.  The more people you meet and interact with will put you in better and better situations, and that is something that I learned throughout the class.

Applying everything that we learn in class is something I would really suggest too.  My communication skills have vastly improved since the start of the class so I think it is best that people take their learning experiences that they have during class and use them to grow outside of the class too.  I have actually gotten a few new opportunities I feel came about because of taking what I learned during class and using it to your advantage in the real world.  The possibilities to influence change are a lot easier when you have paid attention in class and use the information to the best of your ability in the real world.

A final piece of advice I want to share to the upcoming Change Leadership students is that do not be afraid to influence change wherever you are at in the world.  It does not matter what you do, but always see the endless opportunities to promote better changes in the community, school, government, whatever it may be.  One of the students in the class said something one time that I still think about a lot and that was something along the lines of “Some people look at loyalty and think it is a good thing, but what if you are just staying at your company because you are being complacent? Loyalty does not really have a place from that point of view.”  It just really made me think because it was a lot different perspective than I have ever encountered before and I am going to take the line with me wherever I go.  So do not be afraid to look at things from different perspectives and to try to enact change throughout things that need some positive changes.

These are some of the things I have learned throughout Change Leadership and some advice and suggestions that I hope can help future students that are taking the class.  Overall, I think just learning how to deal with people in a good way in different situations is something that I really think is going to be learned in the class.  I am not personally where I want to be yet as far as that is concerned, but this course really helped me take a step in the right direction and I think that if I keep the ball rolling now I am only going to get better.  The future students in the class can learn and accomplish the same types of things if they apply themselves and work hard at handling people and building better, long lasting relationships.