Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
Leadership Reflection
My experience with leadership started in high school where I had leadership roles and
also was introduced to leadership as a concept to study. However, it was not until college where I
was challenged to reflect on leadership and to push my understanding of what leadership is and
what it looks like. In this sense, I admit that I am still developing my understanding of leadership
and admit that I am only at the beginning of my journey in leadership. As a result of this, I still
wrestle with the concept of leadership and what it means to me and what the study of it can offer
me. The readings for this weeks class, my leadership positions throughout my four years at
Loyola, presentations I have attended on the topic of leadership, and my social justice internship
Throughout my very short involvement with leadership, I have developed an affinity for
certain leadership styles. I identify heavily with the encourage the heart and the model the
way styles of leadership the most. I am a firm believer in setting an example in the workplace
and to respect people in the work place in accordance with the values that the leader holds and
conveys to the group. I think that modeling the desired leadership qualities is the fairest thing a
leader can commit too. I personally really detest environments in which a leader holds everyone
below him or herself to a standard that he or she does not follow, especially if the leader in
question openly ignores the standard conveyed. The reason I say this is because I personally am
energized by the example of people above me. I think about my work life in the Department of
Student Diversity and Multicultural Affairs (SDMA) and my experiences with the staff of that
department. I have allowed been moved by the tiny staff of SDMA; each person on staff is
enthusiastically and unapologetically passionate about social justice and of creating a diverse and
inclusive environment at Loyola. For two years Joe Saucedo, who is now the director of SDMA,
was my direct supervisor. I was always moved by his leadership in SDMA and how he modeled
respect, understanding, and caring throughout the department. I always had the sense that he
cared deeply about me and really wanted to support me. As a result of me feeling validated by
him, I always did my duties in the department with joy because I believed that they would be
As stated before, I also identified heavily with the encourage the heart leadership style.
I believe that creating a culture of affirmation and celebration is essential to effective leadership.
In my experience, there is a limit to how long I can work effectively and derive satisfaction from
my work if I am not being affirmed. I do not say this in a context that I need to be pampered or
lack confidence in myself that I need the constant validation of others but rather the total absence
tedious responsibility and that my work does not contribute to others and that I make no
difference. I thrive when I know that what I am doing is actively contributing to the people that I
am serving. I had one experience at a job in my past where my supervisor never affirmed any of
the people below her and constantly invalidated everyone. Constantly listening to her
complaining demoralized everyone at the work site. Every time I would go to work I would feel
like a commodity and like I was expendable. This experience made me realize how important it
is for leaders to be conscience and responsible for how they interact with those whom they lead
and to make sure that those below them feel validated and appreciated. The Caldwell and Dixon
readings section on love really paints a great vision at least for me on how effective leaders
should aspire to model their leadership. The reading spoke about how love is the access to
creating connection and relatedness between people. When the article speaks about love, it is not
describing romantic love but rather love that cultivated an environment of caring, understanding,
and most importantly authenticity (Kouzes , 93). The most vivid example in my life that I have
of this authentic love is during the summer before my sophomore year. Right before the summer
started, I was hired as a STARS mentor for SDMA and was to start the position at the start of my
fall semester of sophomore year. The week before fall semester started, I emailed Joe Saucedo
and told him that I was transferring to a community college because Loyola had become too
expensive for me to afford and I thanked him for offering me a position in SDMA. I expected to
receive an email from him with the standard condolences and wishing me good luck at my new
school. However, I was totally surprised when that very same day he called me and told me he
scheduled a meeting for me with the assistant director of financial aid to help me. He told me
that he really wanted me to stay at Loyola and that he really wanted me to work for SDMA and
that that was why he really wanted to help me. Although I was moved by his kindness, I still did
not believe that anything could be done with my financial situation that would have me stay at
Loyola, but I hesitantly agreed to go to the meeting out of respect for Joes kindness. I was
astounded when I was able to work out a way to stay at Loyola and that was all thanks to Joe and
his authentic care for me. I would not be at Loyola if he did not advocate for me and help me
when I saw no way out of my situation. As a result of this, I had a profound respect for Joe as my
supervisor and made me feel at home when at work in SDMA. This was all thanks to Joes
authentic love.
In my internship site, there are a few leadership styles that are dominate. The most
dominant leadership style is that of enabling others to act. It is expected that staff and interns
take the initiative and be proactive in tasks. Due to each staff member being in charge of multiple
cases and clients, staff members are expected to be very responsible and organized with handling
the big caseloads that they have. There is a lot of trust given to the staff to be effective in their
handling of cases. It is understandable to me why this leadership style is used at my internship
site. However, I do think that at times this style can be overwhelming for some of the staff at
times. Because the staff is expected to be very independent and proactive, I observe that staff
members can feel at times like there is not enough time in the day for them to complete the tasks
they need to complete. I have seen how staff members stay at work past their shift to complete
tasks. I would admit that this style of leadership can difficult for me. I like to have clear
directions and I get worried of doing a task incorrectly when I do not. At times, I also can feel a
little embarrassed to ask too many questions because of needing to have everything together.
A value that is common at my internship site is that of tough love with the clients.
Throughout my internship one of the first and constant things I noticed was that of how there are
times in which having overt compassion and understanding for clients is appropriate and also
there are times when being frank and stern with clients is what best serves them. Since I work
with the kid clients, I mostly only need to resort to being compassionate and understanding but I
have observed how staff members that work with the adult clients must at times be very straight
and forceful with them. This is common when clients miss meetings or are unnecessarily difficult
with the staff. This has made me reflect on my misconception that I have toward social justice
work. Previously, when taught about social justice, I always got the sense that social justice is
how social justice work is not always this utopian experience of saving the world and that at
times to serve the population you are serving it requires bold and at times seemingly stern and
rude actions. It has been difficult for me to act in this stern way even when the situation merits it.
There have been a few times when my supervisor has told me to be more stern and forceful with
clients especially when they are being unnecessarily difficult or are lying. However, I appreciate
that this internship has shown me that there is a whole other side of social justice and more
importantly another way to be effective in social justice work that I had never been exposed to.