Leading Change and DR. GRAC

This week Nathan Ward spoke to us about leading change and taught us the steps to lead change through the acronym DR. GRAC. It stand for Desired Results, Guidelines, Resources, Accountability, and Consequences. When Nathan taught us these steps I thought of my uncle who recently took over El Azteca, our family Mexican restaurant, and how he went about leading change. He definitely had a vision for El Azteca. He changed changed the organization of the menu, added choices to the menu, completely redecorated the inside and outside of the restaurant, and put people in different positions. This didn't happen all at once, but it was his goal or desired result at the beginning. Next, he set employees guidelines and deadlines for when a certain change would happen. For example, he first tackled the menu and the new foods. After that he worked on painting and redecorating. He set deadlines for when he would finish and then he moved forward. Next, my uncle assessed his resources. He has a friend from LA that he brought from him to Utah. He takes care of the finances and checks. He used and organized human, financial, technical, and organizational resources. My uncle measures progress and accomplishment by often asking costumers about how like the food. He also has received feedback from newspapers and other food critics about the quality of the food. Finally, the way that he knows whether or not he is achieving his goal is by the amount of people and revenue that El Azteca gets. All in all, I thought DR. GRAC made a lot of sense. 

We also learned 8 steps of leading change in our lab that I thought was super helpful and I plan to use with my family when I move back home this spring and summer. First, one should create a sense of urgency, then pull together the guiding team. Next, develop the change vision and strategy and communicate it to others for understanding. Fifth, empower others to act and sixth, produce short-term wins. Don't let up and create a new culture. I want to talk to my parents about planning and having fhe and family fun night more regularly. My guiding team will include my parents, since they are the ones with most influence in our home. With them, we can come up with a plan and strategy. I've already been reading up on it and have some ideas for how it could work. I'm still working on the rest of the plan, but I feel real strongly about it. I'm planning on writing my final paper on how I'm going to implement this change. I know that it is important for my family, especially since I'll be moving out again next fall and my sister might as well.

Ethical Leadership

This week's lecture was one of the best! Major John Curtis came to speak to us about ethical leadership and shared some meaningful examples of ethical leadership in his own life. He outlined several principles that helped me learn what ethical leadership really is:

• The degree of difficulty of doing the right thing increases as time increases.
• The consequences of doing the right thing is never as bad as we fear.
• People respect those who tell the truth
• Trust is the oil of business machinery
• Attributes that separate great leaders from good leaders
• Doing what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it
• Help people share ownership of the problem
• Do the right thing when it's hard: valiant living
• Decide today what is important

These points made total sense to  me and apply not only to leadership, but to life in general. For example, it makes perfect sense to say that trust is the oil of relationship machinery. Ultimately, the reason that those who live these qualities are great leaders is because the principles are righteous. The Lord blesses us for having integrity and for doing the right thing in every part of our life. Ethical leadership is one perhaps most important kinds of leadership there is. 

 

How does this apply to being a Gospel Doctrine teacher?

In order to have the Spirit I need to be honest in my personal life and in what I teach my class. The Spirit is so so important when teaching the Gospel. Also, Matt and I have to trust each other. When he says that he will prepare the lesson, I completely trust that he will because he always does. The same is visa-versa. Thirdly, I think that who I am outside of class is just as important as who I am in class. I not only teach during the Sunday School hour, but I am an example, whether for good or bad, in everything I do. Being honest and trustworthy outside of class matters a lot when I stand up to teach people about being honest and trustworthy. Doing  my personal scripture study everyday matters a lot when I stand up to teach people about doing their personal scripture study everyday. Lastly, when I live valiantly no matter what circumstances I am put in I can live with confidence in who I am. This confidence reflects in the way I teach.