following under leadership Oct 27

Throughout my time in the Kaleo program I have seen countless actions of leadership. Fortunately almost all of these examples are positive, however that doesn’t mean that they are easy to follow. It all depends on the scenario you are in and if you are willing to succumb to taking directions. The first thing that came to mind was our OT video project. This is an example of really good leadership; three students were designated as directors thus having control over the project. They all were all experienced in this field and had a passion for it. However due to everybody having their own idea of what they wanted the movie to look like and a time crunch at the end we were not all able to get exactly what we wanted. The directors had the final say in how each scene would be filmed and if any parts had to be cut out. This was at times was hard to follow because I felt like some parts could have gone better if we did them a different way but I am so thankful that the directors were who they were and did what they did because in the end it turned out to be a fantastic production!

A really good example of leadership which I believe all the students experienced was on our S.A.L.T.S trip. It was so easy to follow under the experienced crew of the ship and there are a few reasons why. One is because we had no idea what we were doing but were all willing to learn so at every opportunity we had to try something new there were people all over it wanting to listen to the directions of the crew. Another reason is how the crew lead, they didn’t boss us around or demand anything, they came down to our level and taught according to our skills. Most importantly they took the time to get to know us personally and build a real relationship. That is major importance to have when there is group working under you. I was thoroughly impressed of the leadership abilities the crew expressed.

One last example is from our worship team. I love being on the worship team but since we are still a new group and figuring out what works best for us, it can cause a bit of conflict. I would not have picked a different leader for our group; he is very talented and has a great taste of music. The problem here is that so many of the members, including myself, have played on worship teams before and we intrude on our leader’s position trying to make it our own. Often instead of listening to what our leader is suggesting we give a counter suggestion of what we want. This at times can be good but first we need to be able to work together as a team in our respected positions, once we have that established then we can start expressing personal opinions. A good example that I have seen come out of this are people stepping up into leadership. When conflict rises there are certain people that step in and become the “peace makers” trying to find a compromise to make everyone happy, it’s really easy to follow these people because they are obviously showing a concern for the group and attempting to do what is best for everyone.