When I was 20 years old, I got a job at an after-school program for children ages 5 to 11 years old. It was an educational based after-school program, facilitating enrichment activities and tutoring for the children. This was my first “real job”, and I was over the moon excited about it. What really got me excited about the job, besides the fact that it paid relatively well, I was working in a team setting; I was working with other adults, and we were all working towards the same goal, to provide a safe, educationally fun environment for children to go after school. Also, at the time, I had thoughts about possibly going in to the teaching profession (I didn’t really know what I wanted to do professionally at this time, but I thought I would
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More often than not, we would ask, “Where’s Tim?!”, only to find him playing in the gym or on the playground with the children (that was the activity he typically chose to lead), leaving it up to us to provide the structured activities and tutoring. Unfortunately, this form of leadership does not work when your group has little to no experience. Tim had experience, myself and the other assistance did not. “Laissez-faire leadership is not ideal in situations where group members lack the knowledge or experience they need to complete tasks and make decisions,” (Cherry, psychology.about.com). Laissez-faire leadership definitely works if the leader can still convey his/her message and goals, which Tim did not do. The leadership competency that Tim really lacked was the ability to communicate effectively. “The communication environment is a major foundational element of organizational culture, “ (Coppola, 124). Tim did not communicate with the group at all on what was to be achieved. Like, I said, I ended-up stepping up, but this resulted in resentment from me because I was not getting credit for the large amounts of work I was doing. I was also too young at the time and lacked the confidence to discuss the issues with Tim’s supervisor. I stuck it out for 2 years, because I really loved working with children, I
More often than not, we would ask, “Where’s Tim?!”, only to find him playing in the gym or on the playground with the children (that was the activity he typically chose to lead), leaving it up to us to provide the structured activities and tutoring. Unfortunately, this form of leadership does not work when your group has little to no experience. Tim had experience, myself and the other assistance did not. “Laissez-faire leadership is not ideal in situations where group members lack the knowledge or experience they need to complete tasks and make decisions,” (Cherry, psychology.about.com). Laissez-faire leadership definitely works if the leader can still convey his/her message and goals, which Tim did not do. The leadership competency that Tim really lacked was the ability to communicate effectively. “The communication environment is a major foundational element of organizational culture, “ (Coppola, 124). Tim did not communicate with the group at all on what was to be achieved. Like, I said, I ended-up stepping up, but this resulted in resentment from me because I was not getting credit for the large amounts of work I was doing. I was also too young at the time and lacked the confidence to discuss the issues with Tim’s supervisor. I stuck it out for 2 years, because I really loved working with children, I