Little bit of Josh

1. Use the 6 C’s or Dr. Nielsen’s process to discuss a decision you have made in your role. (Go step by step)

     I use the 6 c’s often as I try to be the best teacher for the Elders Quorum that I can.  Once I had a huge lesson planned out and it was going to be great.  Then I was informed that the stake president was there and he needed most of the time.  I had to decided what I was going to teach in the 5 minutes that I had available. 

          a. identify the problem: the problem I identified was that I had material for an hour but the time of 5 minutes.  What is the most important thing?  What could I say that would help the members of my quorum the most?

          b. pray for guidance: I pray often as I prepare my lessons and right before I teach.  But I was praying a lot more this time.  I needed to know what to do, and I needed the answer quickly. 

          c. study the problem: I had the announcements and the opening parts of the meeting to study the problem.  I looked over my notes and the activities I had planned and I thought of the members of my class and what they needed the most. 

          d. make the decision: I realized that the most important thing that I could communicate to them was that we had living prophets.  I used one quick activity and focus the whole 5 minutes on this. 

          e. pray for confirmation: Once I made that decision it was time to go and unfortunately I didn’t take the time to pray for confirmation.  I was already praying so I looked for confirmation in how I felt and how the lesson played out. 

          f. act—do it: I had to act because I was up in front of the class and I had to go.  I handed out a one page handed out to everyone and gave them  1 minute to read it and find a todo. I then  showed them how they only had one page, but it was full of wonderful knowledge because the Apostles are called of God. It went very well.  

2. Why can a model like RACE help activities or events run smoother?

No plan survives first contact with the real world, but by planning, you run over in your mind all the things that could happen.  Then when the things do happen you can be prepared and you have a plan in place to respond to the occurrence.   Also, plans help the people you are leading have confidence in you.  They can know the next step because you already told them what it would be, and they don’t have to wait to get a communication from you.  In stressful and or fast moving environments this is hugely valuable. 

1. Give an example of when you have utilized a strength or weakness in your role (you or someone else).

    I have the strength of public speaking.  By using techniques I can help those who many not be listening the best to tune in.  Once I was teaching and I was really trying to make a point.  I noticed that some guys sitting on the back row were talking.  I locked my gaze onto them and slowed my speech patterns down quite a bit until one of them noticed.  When he saw that I directing my attention at them, he reached out and quieted the others.  By using this and other public speaking techniques I feel like I am a better teacher in my Elder’s Quorum. 

2. Think about the strengths of your GPT and how they are working to better your results. 

    Our group is very strong.  Cameron is good at marketing and he moves forward quickly which helps us get things done. Matzen is great at executing and he is busy which helps us to save time.  Skyler is extremely reliable, and his soft-spoken manner draws the group together. Together we are doing very well on our projects. 

Do you think you are effective at communicating and how can you improve?

     I think that I am a very good communicator.  When I communicate I think about the situation and try to give them all of the data that they need in order to make a decision.  If I am talking about a meeting, I make sure to mention the time and place as well.  

I know that I can improve in my communication as I strive to help others.  I often have one goal in communicating and that is to make sure they understand what I am saying and to take the appropriate actions.  I often don’t take the energy to listen to what they are saying and to try and see what I can do for them. 

By listening and seeking to understand them first, I believe that I can become a much stronger communicator. 

What are some new or different ways you learned to communicate that you will apply to your leadership role?

     Using analytical skills in communicating a new and different way.  I really enjoy public speaking and so my preparations usually focus on myself.  What my material is, how I want to present the material and so forth.  If I spent more time analyzing the audience and thinking what message would be the best to reach them, I could see even more success.  As a teacher especially, I think about that they need to hear but I am not particularly analytical in my preparations and I feel that is a good direction that I could go in order to improve.  

Realistically, what kind of listener are you? What can you do to become a better listener?

    Realistically I am a good listen.  I am an active listener and will sometimes try and solve peoples problems even when they don’t want them to be solved.  To improve, I think I could focus on what do they need.  What can I do for them?  What can I do right now that will help improve their day and make their path easier? 

By doing this type of active listening, I feel I could greatly improve. 

How will you apply the principles of Divine Centered Leadership to your role?

As a teacher, I am there to help others.  I should have no other motive in my teaching, but to learn first, for myself, the principles that I am supposed to teach, and then teach as clearly as possible those principles to my class.  The Savior was a teacher his whole life. He taught the people what they must do in order to inherit eternal life. This is also what I must do.  Not only that, but as a leader, the Savior had credibility because he did what he taught and he never faltered.  I need to make sure that my conduct is at such a level that I can teach my classmates and they will believe what I am saying because we actions speak the same principles as my words. 

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

     Being a “servant leader” means that instead of exercising authority over people, and giving out orders because you are a leader, you do as Christ did: serve them. Christ was a “servant leader” because He served others and let His example and kindness do the leading. A “servant leader” is someone who devotes all their efforts to serve those who they have stewardship over.  They do not lead for personal gain, or benefit, even though these things may come to them.  They lead to help others see and reach their potential. They lead in such a way that they build up the people around them and help them to become powerful leaders as well. 

What leadership roles do I have now? 

   I have several leadership roles. I have the continuous roles as a son, a brother, and a friend. I serve as the Elder’s Quorum instructor in my ward.  In my friend group, I often take the lead in activities and games as I try to help everyone have a good time.

What leadership qualities do I possess?

I care about others.  I truly want them to succeed and for them to realize their potential. I have an analytical mind and I have the ability to think through a situation and find the best outcome. For example if a line is moving slowly, I have the ability to find the bottlenecks and come up with a  few methods to remove them.  I  also have am a good planner.  I think through a situation from top to bottom and figure out what needs to be done first, and what actions require previous actions. 

Which leadership role will I focus on to apply the principles I learn in this class?  

     I will focus on my role as an Elder’s Quorum teacher.  This role is frequent and specific and I feel that it will provide ample opportunities for me to apply the principles that I learn and see myself improve. 

What part of networking do you find most difficult? How do you plan to make it less difficult for you?

-The part of networking that I find most difficult is remembering what everyone needs and what they have to offer. I love meeting new people but I have a hard time remember everything about them. “ Jace is going to Africa, I could send him this article. But what is he majoring in?” I want to be a value adder to my network and not a value sapper.  This requires remembering what others need and helping them to get that.  I think that by being more organized I can make this less difficult for myself. Write down when I met someone, and what they are doing, and why I think I can help.  By keeping good records, I will decrease the worry that I might be missing something important for someone. 

Now that we are at the end of the class, how would have networking helped you as a leader in your leadership role?

-Networking would have helped me connect to the elders in my quorum. If you know someone better, you know what they need more, and you can help them more.  This is especially true as a teacher. If I could have gotten to know each of the elders more personally I would have had ideas and inspiration come to my mind. 

What will you do to specifically help overcome the fears you identified?

-I will be more organized.  One of my biggest fears is misusing my time.  I worry that there is something that I should be doing on this earth, and I am not.  By being much more organized with school, life, and business, I can know that I am working on something because I have decided that it is the most important thing that I could be working on. 

I will also start a system of organizing my contacts and my network in order to understand their needs, and the opportunities that I have to help them out. 

I recently had a class where we talked about Ethics.  I really enjoyed the class.  I loved seeing others reactions to ethical situations and hear what the other students in my class thought.  We identified the values that were most important to us.

My top values are friends, spirituality, energy, tenacity, knowledge, happiness, improvement, and innovation.  Using those I tried to create a personal code of ethics. 

Personal Code of Ethics

Spirituality - Nothing is more important than to make my Father in Heaven proud of my.  All decisions will be measured by Heaven. 

Improvement - I will improve the world in everything that I do. 

People are most important. Remember that. 

I realize that my code of ethics is different than others might have.  Even if you don’t believe in God, I think that you have to acknowledge some sort of higher power, and I try to reflect my beliefs in my code of ethics. 

How have you implemented change or would implement change in your leadership role?

I have implemented change in my role as Elder’s Quorum teaching in a number of ways.  

One was getting members to read the lesson before they came to class. We can cover a lot of material very deeply if class members would prepare and just read through the lesson manual the day before.  I tried to get buy in for this change effort by explaining to them why we needed to do it. I got leadership on board by getting the Elder’s Quorum president and the Bishop to support and encourage the readings.  And I reduced the friction for the class members by sending out the links in an email close to Sunday.  All they had to do was click on the link and read the article. I would even time myself reading the message to tell them how long it would take. I started with no one reading the assignments and by consistently holding the members accountable, I would gradually increased it.  By using persuasive techniques that I learned from “Made to Stick” which I read for my leadership book, I got the class up to around 10%.  Not awesome, but much better than 0%.

I also sought to increase the friendship that Elder’s had.  I did this by consistently giving time in class to getting to know each other.  We would share what was good or bad about our week, or asking their name.  I also taught them about how giving hugs increases group unity and I have everyone give 8 hugs before each class. I feel that this change effort was successful as everyone enjoys giving man hugs, and no one thinks that it is weird. 

Overall, I would say that the getting to know each other change effort is going great. The reading before class effort is still growing. 

1. Based on Tamara’s lecture, our discussen, and the advice given by your classmates what new goals or time management adjustments are you going to be making and why?

-Even better planning.  When I plan my day or week, I am very successful.  The days that I do not plan I feel off balance and lost.  Planning is interesting because it takes planning to plan.  I have to sit down and look at what I have to do and plan time into my schedule in order to accomplish the planning itself. But when I do it I succeed.  My classmates gave similar feedback and ideas, and I plan on planning even more. 

2. Define balance and how you implement it in your role or your life?

-Balance is interesting.  You need balance in everything.  People are always being held up as examples when they have invested a huge amount of effort into a particular subject.  But often you don’t see what is balancing them out.  You don’t see the scientist who loves to go for runs to take care of his body as well as his mind.  You don’t see the dedicated straight A student who takes care of his church calling with equal zeal.  We have to have balance.

I would define balance as understanding what is most important in life. If we know that we will take care of our spirit, our mind, our body, and others.  I implement it in my life by trying to plan my week.  I write down my top ten goals in life often and ask, am I doing the things that I really want to accomplish every day?

3. Give an example in your role where you have had to be an excellent time management leader.

-Every time that I give a lesson, I have to manage the time.  I always seems as if I prepare double the information that I know I will need, and end up using 1/4 of the stuff I prepared.  With so many great talks, quotes, stories, and video clips, I have to decide on what is essential and try to communicate that as cleanly and as clearly as possible.   How long do I ask for class comments trying to help someone say something that someone needs to hear, verse how fast do I try to cover the examples.  Balancing the speed of the lesson with the needs of the class is a tricky time management problem I face every Sunday. 

I heard a statistic once (caution :) that Americans are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. Which means that on average people would rather be in the coffin that speaking at the funeral.  I don’t really believe this but I do love public speaking. 

I researched the fear of public speaking and found that people with low levels of self esteem are more anxious about public speaking because they believe that the audience will notice more negative things about them. (My hands are shaking, I say “um” to much etc)

I found that Diona had a perfect cure for the anxiety. If you really care about the audience and want them to get the most out of your talk as they can, you will not notice your own problems. You will only care about how much the audience is getting out of your talk and if you are really helping them reach their goals. 

I was recently asked,  

1.       Where have you implemented public speaking within your role?

2.       What aspect of public speaking are you going to improve on?

3.       What did you like best or was surprised to learn in Diona’s presentation?

Answer to 1. My role is a teacher in the Elder’s Quorum which means that I implement public speaking all the time.  Every time I teach in fact.  I use public speaking yesterday.  I always start of my classes with something interesting. Yesterday I had everyone get up and give 8 hugs (manly hugs of course).  I always try to tell stories because I find that is what I remember from any lesson. 

Answer to 2. This is actually a hard question for me.  I think that I am good at public speaking, and I love doing it.  I can improve on giving people space to answer questions.  I sometimes move on too soon from a person giving an answer. I do this because there are 3 other hands raised that I need to get to, but sometimes I feel this cuts the person off and we don’t get an insight that they could have shared.  Silence often brings out more from a person because they rush to fill it.  I feel that I can definitely work on this in my public speaking. 

Answer to 3. I liked the part where she told the story about hitting the boy.  I honestly can’t remember anything else that she said, but I remember the story and I remember to 1. turn right, 2. glancing blow, 3. hit something soft.  I can remember her rules about defensive driving because it was a story.  The power of a good story can not be understated.  If you want someone to remember what you say, tell a story. 

I really do love public speaking. I love watching good public speakers and want to continue improving my public speaking powers. :)

I heard a statistic once (caution :) that Americans are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. Which means that on average people would rather be in the coffin that speaking at the funeral.  I don’t really believe this but I do love public speaking. 

I researched the fear of public speaking and found that people with low levels of self esteem are more anxious about public speaking because they believe that the audience will notice more negative things about them. (My hands are shaking, I say “um” to much etc)

I found that Diona had a perfect cure for the anxiety. If you really care about the audience and want them to get the most out of your talk as they can, you will not notice your own problems. You will only care about how much the audience is getting out of your talk and if you are really helping them reach their goals. 

I was recently asked,  

1.       Where have you implemented public speaking within your role?

2.       What aspect of public speaking are you going to improve on?

3.       What did you like best or was surprised to learn in Diona’s presentation?

Answer to 1. My role is a teacher in the Elder’s Quorum which means that I implement public speaking all the time.  Every time I teach in fact.  I use public speaking yesterday.  I always start of my classes with something interesting. Yesterday I had everyone get up and give 8 hugs (manly hugs of course).  I always try to tell stories because I find that is what I remember from any lesson. 

Answer to 2. This is actually a hard question for me.  I think that I am good at public speaking, and I love doing it.  I can improve on giving people space to answer questions.  I sometimes move on too soon from a person giving an answer. I do this because there are 3 other hands raised that I need to get to, but sometimes I feel this cuts the person off and we don’t get an insight that they could have shared.  Silence often brings out more from a person because they rush to fill it.  I feel that I can definitely work on this in my public speaking. 

Answer to 3. I liked the part where she told the story about hitting the boy.  I honestly can’t remember anything else that she said, but I remember the story and I remember to 1. turn right, 2. glancing blow, 3. hit something soft.  I can remember her rules about defensive driving because it was a story.  The power of a good story can not be understated.  If you want someone to remember what you say, tell a story. 

I really do love public speaking. I love watching good public speakers and want to continue improving my public speaking powers. :)

I heard a statistic once (caution :) that Americans are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death. Which means that on average people would rather be in the coffin that speaking at the funeral.  I don’t really believe this but I do love public speaking. 

I researched the fear of public speaking and found that people with low levels of self esteem are more anxious about public speaking because they believe that the audience will notice more negative things about them. (My hands are shaking, I say “um” to much etc)

I found that Diona had a perfect cure for the anxiety. If you really care about the audience and want them to get the most out of your talk as they can, you will not notice your own problems. You will only care about how much the audience is getting out of your talk and if you are really helping them reach their goals. 

I was recently asked,  

1.       Where have you implemented public speaking within your role?

2.       What aspect of public speaking are you going to improve on?

3.       What did you like best or was surprised to learn in Diona’s presentation?

Answer to 1. My role is a teacher in the Elder’s Quorum which means that I implement public speaking all the time.  Every time I teach in fact.  I use public speaking yesterday.  I always start of my classes with something interesting. Yesterday I had everyone get up and give 8 hugs (manly hugs of course).  I always try to tell stories because I find that is what I remember from any lesson. 

Answer to 2. This is actually a hard question for me.  I think that I am good at public speaking, and I love doing it.  I can improve on giving people space to answer questions.  I sometimes move on too soon from a person giving an answer. I do this because there are 3 other hands raised that I need to get to, but sometimes I feel this cuts the person off and we don’t get an insight that they could have shared.  Silence often brings out more from a person because they rush to fill it.  I feel that I can definitely work on this in my public speaking. 

Answer to 3. I liked the part where she told the story about hitting the boy.  I honestly can’t remember anything else that she said, but I remember the story and I remember to 1. turn right, 2. glancing blow, 3. hit something soft.  I can remember her rules about defensive driving because it was a story.  The power of a good story can not be understated.  If you want someone to remember what you say, tell a story. 

I really do love public speaking. I love watching good public speakers and want to continue improving my public speaking powers. :)