Key learnings
Explore my coursework journey, learnings, and projects
Foundations of Leadership
Orgl 600 - Summer 2022
I jumped into my first course with so much enthusiasm and uncertainty about what was to come. While I expected books like Northouse’s Leadership to be on the syllabus, I was intrigued that I’d be reading books like Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and Palmer’s Courage to Teach. This reading list, and class, quickly revealed the unique approach this program takes to cultivating whole-hearted leadership. Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed focuses on true partnership and restoring humanity in others, Palmer’s Courage to Teach focuses on how critical it is to “attend to the voice of the teacher within” (p. 33). These two books became the foundation of my leadership exploration at Gonzaga. First, effective leaders are authentic leaders - they know themselves deeply, lead from their strengths, and take care of themselves through practices like solitude, silence, and sabbath. Second, effective leaders partner with others to support them to become the best possible version of themselves.
In this course, we explored three fundamental questions that would be the bedrock for the entire program: What are my deepest desires as a leader? What does this require of me as a leader? How does this shape who I am becoming? Kouzes and Posner’s Leadership Challenge and Northouse’s Leadership provided the foundation for understanding frameworks and theories for effective leadership.
Two years later, I am still rewriting and revising my answers to those essential questions. I have gained language, examples, and experiences that help guide me toward who I want to be and the practices required for my growth.
“Leading others begins with leading yourself and you can’t do that until you’re able to answer that fundamental question about who you are.”
- Kouzes and Posner, The Leadership Challenge (p. 52)
Imagine, Create, & Lead
Orgl 605 - Fall 2022
This was such a special class that embodied so much of what this program became for me - the experience of feeling deeply seen and known and learning in creative and experiential ways. This class included a two day immersion in Spokane with classes focused on community, adaptive leadership and music, leadership and metanoia, belonging and bridging, and Ignatian imagination. These classes embodied a constructivist approach to learning - leading to lasting insights through exercises like the Johari Window, which I have incorporated to trainings I lead today. The immersion also demonstrated how to build trust and community with a group of strangers through intentional activities and prompts, helping me develop friendships I hold dear today.
There were a few insights I have carried forward from this class. First, in the Adaptive Leadership & Music session, we discussed the role leaders play in effectively “regulating the heat” to keep team members in a productive learning zone. This learning zone is possible when individuals feel equally challenged by the situation and supported by their leader. Second, in the session on belonging, bridging, and leading, we discussed the foundation required for curiosity (the superpower that unlocks relationship and innovation!). Calmness + compassion + tolerance + confidence + trust = curiosity. Third and finally, we discussed the Ignatian practice and theme of “seeing and seeing again” as a way to expand creative and imaginative capacity. With this framing top of mind, I experienced myself approaching people, experiences, and even my own thoughts with more openness, curiosity, and ultimately care. I utilized this concept as the inspiration for my final project, which brought together the local “places” of each of my classmates (a flower or leaf from each classmate’s neighborhood) that were arranged together to display how we may see these places, and each other, differently after we spent time learning together.
People don't mind change itself, they resist the loss associated with the change.
- Dr. Josh Armstrong
Servant Leadership
Orgl 530 - Fall 2022
I was initially drawn to this program because of its emphasis on Servant Leadership. This approach felt aligned to the type of leaders who have had the greatest impact on me and the type of leader I am hoping to become. This class focused on the foundations of becoming a Servant Leader - one who is fundamentally focused on listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community.
This course focused on developing an empathetic moral capacity, effective practices for nurturing community, capability to practice effective listening and foresight, and capacity of systems thinking. This class reiterated what I learned in ORGL 600, the importance of tending to one’s inner life for effective leading. Thompson’s Congruent Life became one of my favorite and most impactful readings of the program. Thompson describes that meaningful leadership is cultivated through a congruence between one's inner and outer life, bolstered by disciplines like solitude, silence, sabbath, meditation, prayer, and service. He describes the “fruits” of a congruent life which include flexibility, acceptance of failure, creativity, humor, energy, vision, integrity, courage, empathy, vulnerability, empowerment, and love. Thompson’s emphasis on cultivating one’s inner life remains one of the greatest values of this program, informing my priorities and practices every day.
“Remember that in a fierce storm, only the tree with both deep roots and flexible branches survives unharmed.”
- Thompson, The Congruent Life (p. 145)
Communication & Leadership Ethics
Orgl 610 - Spring 2023
This course explored how one can navigate ethical dilemmas, acknowledging the subjectivity of common sense and diversity of worldviews and perspectives. In this course, we practiced articulating our own values and identifying the way our values and our contexts inform how we view and respond to different situations. Additionally, we practiced curiosity and humility to understand the perspectives of others. We utilized tools like the Potter Box and Rest’s Four Component Model to understand how to manage ethical tensions, both within our own perspectives and in community with others.
“We must learn to hold the tension between the reality of the moment and the possibility that something better might emerge… As I stand in the tragic gap between reality and possibility, this small, tight fist of a thing called my heart can break open into greater capacity to hold more of my own and the world's suffering and joy, despair and hope.”
- Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness (p. 175, 178)
Leadership & Community
Orgl 610 - Spring 2023
Another one of the primary reasons I pursued this program was because of immersion at St. Andrew’s. I was so excited for the immersive experience of living with a community that so explicitly models humility and hospitality. I spent five days at St. Andrew’s Monastery in Valyermo, California, following the rhythms of ancient Benedictine practices. Through conversations with the monks, observing them throughout the day, and doing dishes alongside them, I observed how their shared purpose and commitment to humility, hospitality, and obedience was critical to their experience of community. Additionally, I was changed by participating in the rhythms of reflection (four daily gatherings of common prayer and Lectio Devina) and practice of silence (silence from 7:30pm to 6am). These practices created space for honest introspection and mental space for inspiration and peace. In To Know As We Are Known, Palmer (1993) writes, “Solitude eventually offers a quiet gift of grace, a gift that comes whenever we are able to face ourselves honestly: the gift of acceptance, of compassion, for who we are, as we are. As we allow ourselves to be known in solitude, we discover that we are known by love” (p. 124). Through this course, I reflected on the components critical to building a community of belonging, which Block (2018) posits is ownership and accountability.
Community is about the experience of belonging… Belonging occurs when we tell others what gift we receive from them.
- Block, Community: The Structure of Belonging (p. 130)
Team Building & Leadership
Orgl 550 - Summer 2023
This was the most transformational class for me in this program. Through the readings, discussions, and three day immersion in Spokane, I was able to not only conceptualize psychological safety and belonging, but experience it first hand. This unlocked a passion for me in creating spaces where individuals feel like they can show up fully and discover more about their connection to themselves and others there. During the immersion, the team development activities fostered a team journey through Tuckman’s five models of group development. Additionally, it fostered an inner journey of understanding how one shows up on a team, in conflict, and in high pressure situations.
The readings in this class, like Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team and Coyle’s Culture Code illuminated the practices that contribute to high performing team cultures. Lencioni highlights the importance of trust, engagement with conflict, commitment to decisions, accountability, and focus on results. Coyle emphasizes safety, vulnerability, and purpose. Specifically, Coyle’s emphasis on safety was transformational for me, as I came to understand belonging in practice. I left this experience feeling inspired to incorporate team development activities into my work, equipped with theory and practice to create spaces of belonging, and more connected to myself and those around me.
“Successful teams know their greatest project is building and sustaining the group itself. If they get their own relationships right, everything else will follow.”
Coyle, The Culture Code (p. 229)
Organizational Change & Transformation
Orgl 517 - Fall 2023
During my time in this program, my organization has been in a process of transformation. This class helped provide language and models for navigating and leading through change in a way that achieves organizational goals and enables employees to feel valued. Deszca, Ingols, and Cawsey (2020) define the Change Path Model which illustrates the four key steps to leading effective change: awakening, mobilization, acceleration, and institutionalization. Additionally, through this course we analyzed diagnostic and dialogic tools like ADKAR, Kubler Ross Change Curve, Lewin’s “unfreezing, changing and refreezing” model, and Force Field Analysis. This course built capability in practical tools to lead change and remove barriers within organizations by equipping those closest to the work with the most information, resources, and autonomy.
“Four key steps to leading effective change: awakening, mobilization, acceleration, and institutionalization.”
-Deszca, Ingols, & Cawsey, Organizational Change (p. 54)
Organizational Theory & Behavior
Orgl 615 - Fall 2023
Ah, the most discussed class in the program. Known as the “Everest” class because of HBR’s “Everest Leadership and Team Simulation” created by Michael Roberto and Amy Edmondson. This course focused on organizational and team dynamics, effective teaming and decision making in high stress situations, developing a learning organization, and utilizing systems thinking to solve problems and effectively make decisions - through immersive experiences like the simulation and case studies.
As with so many of the courses in this program, I learned the most through experience. The Everest simulation revealed to me how I actually show up on a team (not just my philosophical reflections of how I’d like to or think I ought to). The intentional ambiguity of this course forged relationships with my team that were grounded in respect and deep trust with each other. Overall, this course itself was a simulation in a sense and was the perfect learning ground for refining how I want to show up, lead, and partner with others.
“At the heart of a learning organization is a shift of mind - from seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world, from seeing problems caused by someone or something ‘out there’ to seeing how our own actions create the problems we experience. A learning organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality. And how they can change it.”
- Senge, The Fifth Discipline (p. 13)
Leadership & Storytelling
Orgl 681 - Spring 2024
Leadership and Storytelling was the perfect end to this program. Authenticity and congruence have remained two of the most critical leadership skills I’ve sought to develop through this program. This course focused on reflecting on your own narrative and sharing it with others as a tool for bridging. It also focused on developing a group narrative as a tool for belonging.
This course helped me understand and reframe my story. Effective leaders are authentic leaders - and authentic leaders are self aware and have a developed life story. It also illuminated how vulnerability and acknowledging our own stories are key for true connection. The experience created during the immersion on campus demonstrated Winnicott’s concept of the holding environment - a space where one experiences both protection and challenge (requirements for growth and development). This course provided practical tools for personal and group narrative work, including a narrative timeline which was used as a foundation for my Team Development Project.
“What’s personal is most universal.”
- Carl R. Rogers
