Key Event #4: Soul Food Cont.

The most recent event that has played a role in shaping my understanding of leadership is probably going on right now. Going back to my small group that I talked about in event #1, this year, two girls joined me in leadership and I had to go about showing them the ropes of leading a small group. To be completely honest, our leadership styles have clashed a lot and some weeks it is very difficult to feel like I am leading effectively because of the decisions they make when asking their assigned questions. One of my co-leaders is extremely relaxed and is okay with just catching up with everyone for an extended period of time, my other co-leader is very quiet and has an extremely reserved style of leadership, and I personally like to get into the thick of things relatively quickly so that we are scrambling at the end to get everything done. As much as I love leading with these girls, it has most definitely challenged me as a leader to figure out a good balance of each of our different styles of leading. This is kind of the first situation that I am in where I have to problem-solve this sort of struggle and it has been difficult to figure out where our problems begin, how far they go, and how much of our problem is simply in my head because I prefer to lead in a different way? I am all for having a team of leaders because I think you can reach so many more people that way, having specific leadership styles to match learning styles, or having the super-enthusiastic, extroverted people to reach new people and then the quieter, more introverted leader who continues to connect with those already on the inside. As we have gone throughout this semester, I think we have started “norming”, but for the first few weeks that we were all leading together, we most definitely entered the storming phase for a while. This has taught me more about how to lead in a team with others and work hard to figure out how to lead together well and I hope that I can remember this time of my life when I come into an issue like this again in the future.