This assignment provides students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of leadership by evaluating the skills, values, methods, and performance of someo

GENE402 (On Campus)

Leadership Project (Part 2): Leadership Interview and Reflection Paper

Assessment

This assignment is a 2000 – 2250 word written paper.

Purpose

This assignment provides students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of leadership by evaluating the skills, values, methods, and performance of someone in a leadership position. Through a personal interview, the student will determine the leader’s strengths and weakness, accomplishments and failures, but, most importantly, how that individual’s approach to leadership conforms or diverges from the model presented by Kouzes and Posner in The Leadership Challenge. In a written report, the student will comment on the leader’s compliance with the Kouzes and Posner model, and provide recommendations on how that individual could improve his or her leadership in light of this model. For more information on the Leadership Challenge model, you can visit the website. Finally, students will have an opportunity to reflect on the experience and describe what they learned and how it will help them in their leadership journey.

Description

To successfully complete this assignment, students will have to perform the following:

1. Select a leader to interview. You should select someone who is a leader in your major/discipline. [Note: Exceptions to this should be cleared with your professor.] For example, if you are a literature major, you may want to interview a teacher or the leader of a literacy advocacy group; as a government major, you may want to interview a local council member or mayor; as a Christian ministry major, you may want to interview a pastor or local ministry leader. This assignment is designed to help you understand leadership in the field you have chosen; please make every effort to make this assignment relevant to you. Be sure to inform your interviewee that the interview and the paper will be held in strictest confidence and will only be shared with your professor. ** YOU MAY NOT INTERVIEW SOMEONE YOU KNOW.

1. Submit your selection for leadership interviewee through the designated discussion board forum in the Community area of Canvas. You must submit this to your professor by no later than the last day of Week 2. Your professor will approve your choice or contact you to discuss other options.

1. Once your interview choice has been approved, contact the leader and determine a date and time for the interview. The interview can be in-person, on the phone, or through internet video conferencing (e.g., Skype) and should be about 30 minutes in length (it can be longer if the interviewee agrees; please be respectful of his or her time). To prepare for your interview, you may review the contents of this website, or find similar resources that offer interview guidelines.

1. Prepare at least seven (7) interview questions: remember, the questions need to relate to the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership and must help you determine the interviewee’s leadership style and evaluate how closely he or she reflects the model. The following questions are adapted (with additions) from Kouzes and Posner’s online resource, The Student Leadership Challenge. You may use the questions from this list or develop your own:

· What does leadership mean to you?

· What is the greatest success you have had as a leader? What are some of the things you did as a leader that contributed to that success?

· What incident has been your greatest failure as a leader? What are some of the things you did as a leader that contributed to that failure?

· What strengths do you believe you have as a leader? Weaknesses?

· What has been your greatest influence as a leader?

· What are three or four actions you believe are essential to create success?

· What kind of relationships should exist between leaders and followers in your organization?

· How do you demonstrate your leadership in your organization or group?

· What are your core values and how are they reflected in what you do as a leader?

· How do you facilitate improvement, manage change, or deal with mistakes in your group or organization? How do you deal with your own mistakes?

· Other questions may be provided by your professor.

1. Conduct the interview and take notes on the responses you received during the interview. Also, note the date, time, and location of the interview.

1. The paper will consist of four (4) main sections: (1) a report, (2) a reflective essay, (3) references, and (4) appendix:

5. The report should be about 1500 words in length and comprised of the following: (i) introduction (one paragraph), (ii) brief summary of the results of your interview (one to two paragraphs), (iii) a critique of the leader, comparing him/her to the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, including strengths and/or weaknesses in light of the Kouzes and Posner model (2-4 page), and (iv) your recommendations for improvement (3-5 paragraphs) based on the book – and documented! Use additional resources (e.g., books, articles, etc.) to support your recommendations, as needed.

5. The reflection essay portion of the paper should be about 500 – 750 words: write an essay on what you learned from this leadership interview. This should not be a repeat of the report section, but an overview of what you learned and how you can use this information in your own leadership experiences. Be sure to tie in the themes from The Leadership Challenge model and the other texts and resources from the course on character, culture, and service, including the results of the Christian Character Index and your initial definition of leadership offered in Week 1.  

5. In an appendix, include the notes from the interview (questions and answers), date, time, and location.

5. A reference section or bibliography must be included (refer to the syllabus for appropriate writing and reference style).

1. Submit the report through Canvas.

2 | Page

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RUNNING HEAD: Leadership Interview Project 2

Leadership Interview Project and Reflection

<Your Name Here>

Regent University

Professor Mark Lawrence

December 3, 2024

Leadership Interview Project

Introduction

Leadership . . .

Interview Summary

Leader X is

Leader Critique According to the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership

Something about the model of leadership here.

Model the Way

According to Kouzes and Posner. . . describe the practice according to the textbook here.

Examples from the interview. . .

Shared Vision

According to Kouzes and Posner. . . describe the practice according to the textbook here. Document usage of the book.

Examples from the interview . . .

Challenge the Process

. . .

Enable others to Act

. . .

Encourage the Heart

. . .

Recommendations for Improvement

Make sure to use the book here! Document it too

Personal Reflection

750 words here: Write what YOU got from the course (and from the interview if you like).

Conclusion

In conclusion, . . .

References

Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (2021). Everyday People, Extraordinary Leadership: How to Make a difference, regardless of your Title, Role or Authority. John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ.

Appendix- Notes

,

2

Leadership Interview Proposal

Kristopher Warren

Regent University

GENE 402

Professor Lawrence

October 6, 2024

Leadership Interview

I interviewed Andrea Jennings, the Principal of Suburban Elementary, for this leadership project. This person leads over 50 teachers, enrolment advisers, and admissions counselors, influencing the school’s enrolment strategy, student retention, and institutional growth. This leader has over 15 years of experience managing people and encouraging teams to achieve strategic goals in a competitive educational setting. Given my expertise in higher education and concentration on leadership in organizational development, this leader is pertinent to my field of study, allowing me to analyze academic leadership dynamics using Kouzes and Posner's highly renowned model.

Andrea has led the school system through her education challenges for over a decade, driving innovation and questioning old techniques. She manages the admissions department, plans student engagement strategies, and leads enrolment process improvements. She supervises cross-functional teams and collaborates with executives to maintain purpose alignment. Her influence goes beyond admissions as she works with other departments in the school to streamline the student experience from inquiry to enrolment and retention. Her job requires administrative abilities and the capacity to inspire, motivate, and lead through change and problems. Her diverse responsibilities make her a good Kouzes and Posner model subject for leadership analysis.

Kouzes and Posner define good leadership as showing the path, inspiring a shared vision, questioning the process, enabling people to act, and exciting the heart. My interview with Ms. Jennings assessed her compliance with crucial leadership practices, which lay the groundwork for success. From the start, she showed several of Kouzes and Posner's leadership attributes, but she might refine her approach for more impact.

Model the Way

She leads by example, which is one of her skills. She demands good performance and behavior due to her hard work and dedication to the university. Leading by example, especially amid institutional change, reassures her staff. Her leadership attitude, "never ask anyone to do something I would not do myself," has earned her peer respect. She encourages responsibility and integrity, Kouzes and Posner's first leadership practice, representing her team's beliefs. Formalizing expectations may rise. Her leadership style is informal, yet formal feedback could help her lead.

Inspire a Shared Vision

Andrea stressed the need to link her team's efforts to university goals when addressing inspiring a shared vision. She routinely explains the institution's long-term strategic goals and ensures her team understands how their everyday activities contribute. Her ability to communicate a compelling goal has helped preserve team morale during difficult times like decreased enrolment or institutional reorganization. Despite successfully communicating the school's mission, she admitted that one of her biggest problems is ensuring every team member feels engaged. Great leaders share a vision and let people recognize themselves in it, according to Kouzes and Posner. Leadership might benefit from additional one-on-one time with her team to better understand and link their ambitions with the organization's goals.

Challenge the Process

Innovators like Andrea challenge the process. She described her efforts to disrupt student recruitment by implementing new digital marketing strategies and a CRM system that improved advisor-student communication. Since she pushes her team to think creatively and take calculated risks, several successful experiments have improved the admissions process. Innovation and continual improvement support Kouzes and Posner's idea of questioning the status quo to advance. She remarked that some of her ideas have failed and that traditional staff members occasionally reject her. This opposition is understandable, but she might improve her leadership by structuring change management to help her staff adapt to new ideas.

Enable Others to Act

Ms. Jennings excels most at empowering others. She is dedicated to giving her team the resources, autonomy, and support they need to succeed. She often gives managers decision-making power and encourages them to own their work. Empowerment has enhanced team performance, department trust, and collaboration (HA, 2020). Andrea supports Kouzes and Posner's emphasis on teamwork and trust. She said in the interview that junior staff members generally defer to senior supervisors and are reluctant to take the initiative. She may mentor these junior staff members to give them the confidence to take on additional responsibilities to help her team act.

Encourage the Heart

Finally, Ms. Jennings emphasizes celebrating her team's triumphs, corresponding with boosting the heart. Performance assessments and personal notes of appreciation are used to recognize individual and team accomplishments (Murphy, 2020). Rewarding her team boosts morale and reinforces desired actions. Kouzes and Posner advise celebrating triumphs to boost motivation, and Andrea seems to realize this. However, she can create more formal recognition programs to institutionalize this habit and reward even the tiniest triumphs.

Conclusion and Recommendations

In conclusion, Ms. Andrea Jennings is an excellent leader who follows Kouzes and Posner's five leadership techniques. She excels at modeling, challenging, and empowering people. However, she can improve her leadership by personalizing relationships to inspire a shared vision, structuring change management, and improving recognition programs. These changes would boost her team's performance and reinforce her university leadership.

References

HA, V. D. (2020). The Impacts of Empowerment on the Teamwork Performance: Evidence from Commercial Banks in Vietnam. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(4), 267–273. https://doi.org/10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no4.267

Murphy, K. R. (2020). Performance Evaluation Will Not Die, but It Should. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(1), 13–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12259

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