Before taking this class I considered myself to be a good active listener. I thought I was good at listening to what others were talking about. When stepping into this class and being told that even though I thought I was a good listener, I probably wasn’t. Hearing that made me confused, and I thought “It can’t be that hard, I’m sure I am a good listener, I mean my friends always come to me to vent about their problems.” However, I quickly realized all the different factors it took to be an active listener and a collaborative leader, and knew that I had a lot of learning to do. This class has helped me grow a lot in both of those areas. Through the readings and the role plays I have grown and learned a lot of valuable tools to become a better …show more content…
While my listening and leadership roles have grown tremendously since taking this course there are still areas for improvement and things that I plan to do to keep growing my active listening and collaborative leadership skills. Throughout this class we have done a lot of reflecting. These reflections let me see my areas of strength and weakness. Some of my strengths are reflecting, knowing and being able to manage my hot buttons, and communicating well with others in group settings. In the book, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, the authors talk about how important it is to be able to sit down and reflect on the past, present and future (Shankman, Allen, & Curran, 2015). It lets you see what you did good and where you still need to grow. In return this helps you become a more effective leader because you are constantly looking to improve …show more content…
One area for growth is when people are telling me their problems I try and tell them similar experiences that I have had because I want them to know that they are not alone and that I can relate. However, the speaker can take this as I don’t care about their situation I am only trying to talk about my problems. The authors talk about this in the book The Lost Art of Listening, and how there are certain times to relate to a person but if a person is explaining their situation and you immediately relate it to your experience it seems like you are more focused on yourself than the speaker (Nichols, 2009). Therefore, while I have good intentions and might not know what to say in the situation relating it to my own experiences is not the best way to go about it. I need to better understand the appropriate time to relate to the situation and when to just let the person tell their story. Another area for growth is being more self-aware and open to feedback. I don’t take either good or bad feedback well. In the book, Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, the authors talked about what self-awareness is and why it is a priority. Being self-aware means that you understand what you are capable of, and this takes a lot of reflection and feedback from others (Shankman et al., 2015). This is an area I need to work on because when given good feedback it makes me feel awkward and I’m not sure how