A520. 9.5. RB_Power_Reyes,Cassandra

       1. Are you comfortable developing sources of personal influence to gain power?

I believe that the textbook offers a great definition of Power, as the definition listed in the text departs from the more traditional definition of power which correlates power as authority based. The shift in the definition of power allows for us to view power as being able to get things done and achieving specific goals instead of one having authority over another.

I believe that when power is defined in this manner, I am comfortable in saying that I have developed sources of personal influence to gain power. I believe there are certain circumstances which call for an individual being placed in a position of power and it is in these instances where power is likely to come less from someone’s formal position in the organization than from one’s ability to perform.

A great example of this type of power is in my current position at this point in time. My manager has recently hired two new Senior Enrollment Counselor’s within the past three weeks. While my manager has all of the knowledge necessary to train these new employees and bring them up to par with all of our systems, information and processes, he has left that task up to me to ensure that I am training them and bring them up to speed as I am well experienced in our job description and performance. While our new counselors may go to our boss for certain things to receive an answer for specific outside the box questions, they tend to ask me first to see if I have an answer for them or can be helpful to them as I am the “veteran” on the team. This in turn has allowed me to build a relationship with each member of the team and in turn I have grown to learn our new employees’ strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, a bit better than my manager as I have been working with them directly. Therefore, my manager relies on me to update him on where we are and how successful they each have been as my power stems from the knowledge I have obtained by working with each individual.

       2. Do you embody the characteristics of likeable people depicted in Table 5.4 (p. 290)?

       We like people when we have reason to believe they will:

·         Support an open, honest, and loyal relationship.

·         Foster intimacy by being emotionally accessible.

·         Provide unconditional, positive regard and acceptance.

·         Endure some sacrifices if the relationship should demand them.

·         Provide social reinforcement in the form of sympathy or empathy.

·         Engage in the social exchanges necessary to sustain a relationship.

I do believe that I embody a number of the above characteristics of likeable people depicted in the above table. I think that each of these elements that are listed are extremely important in a professional setting as you usually find that almost all individuals would like to believe that their teammates or managers and leaders are open honest and loyal. I do not believe that anyone would want someone on a team who is not trustworthy. This would not offer much of a sustainable business relationship.

            Having the ability to be emotionally accessible is extremely important as well as it is important to know the moods and personalities of your team, this can in turn lead to acceptance of individuals along with positive regard and unconditional support. When someone feels they are understood on a personal level, it can be easier to maintain a business relationship in many circumstances.

            Enduring sacrifices is an extremely important factor in maintaining professional relationships as individuals and teammates want to feel as though everyone is putting 100 percent of their energy into the task and goal at hand. When one individual feels as though they are pulling the weight, this can lead to resentment and anger in the team.

            Providing sympathy and empathy to teammates is also important as there are times when personal experiences and life may interfere with the success of an individual at work. Teammates should ensure that they have an understanding of each other and the experiences, both good and bad, we may face outside of work. Understanding these circumstances and sympathizing with others is also important to the success of a team.

            Engaging in social exchanges is also important for all team members as it would be impossible to be a part of a team that did not want to interact with each other or other departments. Teams and individuals must be able to interact in all scenarios and whether or not they are positive or negative. Teams that are unable to do this will not be successful in their end goal.

            I feel as though I embody each of these listed elements, however more importantly, I feel as though I continue to work on enhancing these elements and challenging myself to better myself both individually and in a team environment.

3. Are you able to use influence both up and down your organization considering the information in Table 5.5 (p. 293)

Make sure you understand your boss, including:

• Your boss’s goals and objectives.

• The pressures on him or her.

• Your boss’s strengths, weaknesses, blind spots.

• His or her preferred work style.

            I feel as though I understand my boss in a variety of ways as I have had the opportunity to get to know him both professionally and personally. I understand the goals and objectives of the team and organization as we have weekly meetings where we discuss these things and come to conclusions on how to be successful. I have also learned about the pressures placed on my boss as I have observed his interaction with his manager as well as other departments. My manager’s strengths and weaknesses have also come to light in the time that I have been a part of the organization as I have seen both failures and successes in attempting to deliver better results for the team as a whole. My managers work style has been pretty apparent from day one and has not changed much since starting my position.

Assess yourself, including:

• Your own strengths and weaknesses.

• Your personal style.

• Your predisposition toward dependence on authority figures.

            I feel as though my strengths and weaknesses have enhanced since starting this position as I have continued to learn and grow and challenge myself in my daily activities. My personal style of learning and teaching, and coaching has also enhanced as I have experienced both negative and positive aspects of both the position as well as my interactions with my teammates. My dependence on authority figures has decreased extensively as I have progressed in this position and learned to handle more difficult complex decisions and circumstances on my own, rather than needing assistance from my boss.

Develop and maintain a relationship that:

• Fits the needs and styles of you both.

• Is characterized by mutual expectations.

• Keeps your boss informed.

• Is based on dependability and honesty.

• Selectively uses your boss’s time and resources.

I feel as though my boss and I respect each other and have had the opportunity to discuss the fits and needs of the department, organization, and our personal styles in order to be successful in our positions. Our conversations are mutual in nature and based upon honesty and trust. We depend upon each other in a variety of ways and ensure that we are on the same page with the goals of our department. Most importantly, I think it has been helpful that my boss and I have begun to use each other’s time and resources selectively allowing us to each use the excess time we hold to perform valuable functions or make informative decisions.

Cassandra R.

A520.7.3RB Importance of Having a Coach or Mentor_Reyes, Cassandra

Write a blog entry on the significance, importance, and/or impact of having a coach and/or a mentor to help you in your professional journey.

I think it is imperative for individuals to have both a coach and a mentor for both their personal and professional lives. Coaches and mentors assist individuals with enhancement of their skills, knowledge and direction. They help to pave paths for individuals who are looking to excel in their personal lives and also assist with the development of their professional journey. While coaching and mentoring may concentrate on different aspects of a work relationship, I strongly believe that having both a mentor and coach to guide you is a necessity, in order for empowerment and advancement to take place in an individual’s life.

The significance of coaching and mentoring in my life has been extremely important to my successes. The most coaching and mentoring I think I have received even to date, was in high school. When I was in high school, I had a number of coaches and mentors who assisted me with obtaining the knowledge and skills that were necessary to achieve my Airframe and Powerplant licenses and who helped steer a path of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do with my life. While my coaches were mainly my teachers that specialized in a particular or various areas of the maintenance or aviation related field, many of them took the time out to have one on one sessions with me in order for me to have a better understanding of the processes of what I was studying at the time.

The importance of these coaches and mentors was essential to my success and how hard I worked. It can be quite difficult to take a 14 year old, and have them work hard toward obtaining these licenses when their friends are attending another high school where they are getting out early and having fun with their friends. I truly believe that my coaches and mentors at Aviation High School were some of the most influential people in my life who continued to instill a hard and honest work ethic throughout my five years of the program. The success and growth they helped me achieve both personally and professionally is something that I will always be grateful for. At an early age I was studying and working hard to achieve things I never thought possible. The coaching and mentoring I received was exceptional, even if I didn’t realize it at the time.

I specifically remember a teacher I used to have in high school for my sheet metal class, named Mr. Pupora. I didn’t know it at the time but this teacher was one of the best coaches I have ever had. Mr. Pupora was a very hard, stern, serious, and borderline mean teacher. Mr. Pupora constantly challenged me and pushed me to my limits. His sarcastic and angry demeanor, made me rebellious and stubborn to his requests. I couldn’t take how rude and condescending he was and fought him every day I could, to make him see how little I cared about his antics to “make us better mechanics.” I even spent much time on “Death Row,” the punishment the students called it when Mr. Pupora made us sit at a table in shop class writing apologies or essays on any topic he felt would teach you a lesson that day, because he caught you doing something wrong or because you may have forgotten to do something according to FAA standards. One day, Mr. Pupora, “fired” the foreman of the class and surprisingly made me foreman. I couldn’t understand why he would do such a thing and instantly thought that it had to be because he loved to torture me.

Once I became foreman, I was responsible for the students of the class and their actions. At first I didn’t take the role too seriously and let the students do whatever they wanted, however, once I realized that I was getting into trouble for the actions of others, due to my responsibility of them, I quickly changed roles and started to shape up. When I started to see a different and more respectable response from the class and my teacher, I began to realize that I was in control of a lot more than just a class. I was in charge of my own life, my decisions, my path, my goals and my actions.

I started to work harder and soon realized that I wasn’t “fighting” Mr. Pupora anymore, and if I paid attention closely, everything he was doing and saying was a lesson. I may have hated it but this teacher did have an amazing way of showing tough love on all of his students. He never made anything easy because he said life wasn’t easy and we would all have to work for what we wanted. In between the rolling of everyone’s eyes, deep breaths and muttering of how much they hated the class, I had an epiphany on the lessons I was learning and where I wanted to be in life. I shouldn’t have wanted things to come in easy in life. Once I started to see how good hard work and accomplishment felt, I never turned back to finding the easy way out of things.

As the class continued on I began to go to Mr. Pupora for advice and guidance and did my best to get to know who he was outside of work and teaching. Interestingly enough he had accomplished so much in his life and loved to teach, despite how he knew his students felt about him. I later learned and understood that Mr. Pupora wasn’t there to be our friend and he wasn’t concerned with whether or not his students liked him. What he wanted was to find those students who wanted to work hard, who wanted to be successful and who he felt had enormous potential and shape them into stronger, empowered individuals. We discussed options of paths for myself in the future after graduation and he made suggestions on job placement in areas he saw I exceeded in. Our conversation were always stern, serious and straight forward, but there were days when I noticed a smile on Mr. Pupora’s face when I had achieved or succeeded in something I was having difficulty with. He never said it, but I knew he was proud.

After the class ended, I continued my friendship with Mr. Pupora and continued to visit him until I graduated. A few years later I went back to visit and he even had me speak to his freshman class to “shed some light on them.” While speaking to his class, I saw the rolling of the eyes, the scribbling on paper, the text messaging on their phones, and even the students who seemed to be sleeping. It made me think back to my days as a student in his class and finally I was able to see what he saw. It was then that I realized that Mr. Pupora was a blessing in disguise, as he taught me very early on that I could do and be anything I wanted and instilled in me some of the best qualities I have today.

A few years after that, I went back to my high school for a second visit and walked to Mr. Pupora’s class, only to find a different teacher instructing the class. Thinking he may have been out for the day, I later asked when he may be in, it was then that I found out Mr. Pupora had died of a heart attack the year prior. A sadness came over me as I thought about this. He had done and said so much to help me over the years that I couldn’t believe he wasn’t there anymore. I thought about his coaching and his mentoring and how hard he challenged me to be the absolute best I could be. While it saddened me that other students wouldn’t experience his tough love tactics and maybe have an epiphany the way I did, I was happy that I was able to have gotten to know who Mr. Pupora was behind the wall he put forth. I will forever be grateful for his teaching style, his coaching efforts to make me an exceptional mechanic and his mentoring efforts which helped me to pave a path where challenge and success were waiting for me.

Cassandra R.