Self Reflection #1

The relational leadership model is an effective way of instilling leadership. It consists of a purpose, ethics, empowerment, inclusive practices, and a process. My current understanding of the relational leadership model would just be just knowing what it is. Having a purpose is knowing a specific goal the group you are leading is striving for. A good leader can effectively instill purpose in their members, so they are familiar with the leader’s and group’s goals. Being an ethical leader treats their followers morally and with respect. They know what ethical leadership is, and make sure that they are authentic, trustworthy, and enact those values. An empowering leader can easily motivate people. By empowering others effectively, people are more driven to contribute to a common cause. Empowering instills a sense of self and makes people confident in what they are doing. Being an inclusive leader includes all people in their cause. People who are interested in your cause, people in your following, and people who are even on the outside of your group. By being inclusive, one is open minded to ideas and partnerships with others. By being process oriented leader, they are organized and creates the ability to cause change together as a team. They know that the process in order to achieve the goal is equally if not more important as the end outcome.

I’m pretty confident in most of the categories, except process-oriented because of group projects and initiatives in high school. I have plenty of ideas and change I want to make in the world, but sometimes I just don’t know exactly what to do. I am not sure what to do as a career either for example, yet I know what I want to do as an outcome but I am not sure how to come about it. I want to start my own business for example, but I am not sure what for just yet. There’s minor processes I can think of to have said outcome (such as educating people in an informal setting), but it can be hard for me to congregate people. I want to educate people as best as I can. In my junior year of high school, I orchestrated a presentation at the Parker River Wildlife Refuge back in Massachusetts on our food system. This consisted of scratching the surface of the commercial food system, teaching about the positive environmental effects of buying locally and growing your own food (using examples of aquaponics or hydroponics as well). Unfortunately, nobody came to that presentation, and that was probably for multiple reasons. I do not believe I advertised as early enough, even though I did a copious amount. It was also an AP Environmental Science project, and we had a month and a half before school got out. I would like to learn how to congregate people more effectively in order to fulfill a goal. I believe the service action proposal makes me more confident about understanding this model because I have good role models to look up to for examples, like Community Leaders and staff such as Erinn, Jessie, Destiny, Sid, and Parker. I also work for my friend’s mom, Kate McKay, who’s a bestselling author, and I’m helping her with her book release amongst other assistant work. She is an empowering and powerful woman and leader, and I also look up to her, and her work, greatly. SLC will also help me with my leadership skills and understanding the relational leadership model, such as the previous reading. I am looking forward to the service action proposal so I can make an impact on the community and further develop my leadership skills. I would love to educate and engage the public in sustainable practices, and I hope I will be able to do this through SLC and the village!