Leadership
Leadership Synthesis Essay
“The most effective leaders are always investing in strengths,” says Tom Rath in Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. The Honors Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato defines two themes within the leadership competency: values and teams. My first year at Minnesota State University, Mankato was the year I learned how to identify myself and my values in terms of leadership. Prior to coming to MNSU, I had developed my skills through a program called Family Career and Community Leaders of America or FCCLA. However, I never really knew exactly what “kind” of leader I was. In an Honors First Year Experience class, I took a StrengthsFinder Assessment and learned that my leadership strengths are restorative, developer, empathy, positivity, and discipline. I do agree with the results, especially with developer and empathy. I believe I am a positive developer because my favorite way to improve myself or help others improve is by focusing on utilizing current strengths to help transform possible weaknesses. Empathy has been a strength of mine since childhood; I have always been able to relate to others on a meaningful level no matter the situation which makes me a very personable yet effective leader.
Later in my journey as an honors student, in Honors 401: Exploring Personal Leadership Through Social Change, I learned about different theories of leadership as well as several individual values and group values. This class gave me the opportunity to develop my personal values and learn to work with others towards a common purpose. The personal values I identified were world peace, achievement, passion, health, openness, wealth and risk. This class encouraged me to move beyond my comfort zone and volunteer at Committee Against Domestic where I was able to use my leadership strengths for a greater purpose. I worked with a group of diverse volunteers to provide service to survivors of domestic abuse. I worked with a team of volunteers to watch several children while their parent(s) attended domestic abuse support group meetings. At times, it was difficult as some people believed leadership should be given to one individual, and others thought it was a good idea to divide tasks evenly and report back to a designated person. Additionally, there were different opinions on how to occupy the children. After discussion, we decided that we would designate tasks to people who were willing to put in extra effort. We also identified that we wanted the children to be occupied in a fun but education/constructive way, such as with puzzles, games, arts and crafts, etc.
In my second year of college, I took Social Change in the 21st Century where I solidified my values and passions. I continued to build on what I learned in the previous class. I practiced the group values I identified in Honors 401 to create a campaign: collaboration, common purpose, and controversy with civility. The campaign I created was centered around reducing the carbon footprint of MNSU. My group members and I worked diligently, effectively, and efficiently together. With reflection on my experience, I was able to recognize the social issues I feel passionately about which reinforced my values even more. Furthermore, my group members and I faced several challenges during our experience. Some of the challenges we worked together to adapt to were creating a campaign that aligned with the universities policies, gaining enough attention to create traction, getting in communication with large corporations like Sodexo, and many more. Some members of the group excelled at research while others were better at arguing our point. There were occurrences where all members of the group could not be present, so I had the opportunity to develop both off those skills.
Now that I had practiced my leadership strengths and values in the classroom and in the community, I was introduced to a new environment when I chose to become a research assistant. Around this time is when I was preparing to decide what to do post-graduation, so it was the perfect opportunity to get more exposure to the field of psychology. Prior to starting research, I took time to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses once again to ensure I would get the most from this new experience as a research assistant. Most of my prior experiences had strengthened my leadership strengths of developer, empathy, and positivity. Being a research assistant allowed me to emphasize my last strengths: restorative and discipline. I looked for anything in the research process that could be done better and worked to improve it. It is important to attempt the most accurate data possible. The members of the research team worked very well together even with the overwhelmingly wild schedules of college life. Some people preferred to do work in small amounts of time frequently throughout the week while others worked better researching for long amounts of times. When we had the opportunity to talk about our research to others, certain members of the team stepped up because one of their strengths was communication. We adapted to challenges, such as scheduling and frustrating technology issues, through collaboration and a common purpose.
In conclusion, I have developed a leadership philosophy through my experiences that I feel to be most personable to me as a leader. I am an effective leader when I am able to practice my values with people who have the same greater goal as me by forming personable bonds to achieve great collaboration towards that goal. I want people around me to feel completely open to share ideas. This is a philosophy that will bring me steps closer to being a successful clinical psychologist by allowing me to form meaningful relationships with my future graduate school class mates, professors, coworkers, bosses, and eventually clients.
“The most effective leaders are always investing in strengths,” says Tom Rath in Strengths Based Leadership: Great Leaders, Teams, and Why People Follow. The Honors Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato defines two themes within the leadership competency: values and teams. My first year at Minnesota State University, Mankato was the year I learned how to identify myself and my values in terms of leadership. Prior to coming to MNSU, I had developed my skills through a program called Family Career and Community Leaders of America or FCCLA. However, I never really knew exactly what “kind” of leader I was. In an Honors First Year Experience class, I took a StrengthsFinder Assessment and learned that my leadership strengths are restorative, developer, empathy, positivity, and discipline. I do agree with the results, especially with developer and empathy. I believe I am a positive developer because my favorite way to improve myself or help others improve is by focusing on utilizing current strengths to help transform possible weaknesses. Empathy has been a strength of mine since childhood; I have always been able to relate to others on a meaningful level no matter the situation which makes me a very personable yet effective leader.
Later in my journey as an honors student, in Honors 401: Exploring Personal Leadership Through Social Change, I learned about different theories of leadership as well as several individual values and group values. This class gave me the opportunity to develop my personal values and learn to work with others towards a common purpose. The personal values I identified were world peace, achievement, passion, health, openness, wealth and risk. This class encouraged me to move beyond my comfort zone and volunteer at Committee Against Domestic where I was able to use my leadership strengths for a greater purpose. I worked with a group of diverse volunteers to provide service to survivors of domestic abuse. I worked with a team of volunteers to watch several children while their parent(s) attended domestic abuse support group meetings. At times, it was difficult as some people believed leadership should be given to one individual, and others thought it was a good idea to divide tasks evenly and report back to a designated person. Additionally, there were different opinions on how to occupy the children. After discussion, we decided that we would designate tasks to people who were willing to put in extra effort. We also identified that we wanted the children to be occupied in a fun but education/constructive way, such as with puzzles, games, arts and crafts, etc.
In my second year of college, I took Social Change in the 21st Century where I solidified my values and passions. I continued to build on what I learned in the previous class. I practiced the group values I identified in Honors 401 to create a campaign: collaboration, common purpose, and controversy with civility. The campaign I created was centered around reducing the carbon footprint of MNSU. My group members and I worked diligently, effectively, and efficiently together. With reflection on my experience, I was able to recognize the social issues I feel passionately about which reinforced my values even more. Furthermore, my group members and I faced several challenges during our experience. Some of the challenges we worked together to adapt to were creating a campaign that aligned with the universities policies, gaining enough attention to create traction, getting in communication with large corporations like Sodexo, and many more. Some members of the group excelled at research while others were better at arguing our point. There were occurrences where all members of the group could not be present, so I had the opportunity to develop both off those skills.
Now that I had practiced my leadership strengths and values in the classroom and in the community, I was introduced to a new environment when I chose to become a research assistant. Around this time is when I was preparing to decide what to do post-graduation, so it was the perfect opportunity to get more exposure to the field of psychology. Prior to starting research, I took time to reflect on my strengths and weaknesses once again to ensure I would get the most from this new experience as a research assistant. Most of my prior experiences had strengthened my leadership strengths of developer, empathy, and positivity. Being a research assistant allowed me to emphasize my last strengths: restorative and discipline. I looked for anything in the research process that could be done better and worked to improve it. It is important to attempt the most accurate data possible. The members of the research team worked very well together even with the overwhelmingly wild schedules of college life. Some people preferred to do work in small amounts of time frequently throughout the week while others worked better researching for long amounts of times. When we had the opportunity to talk about our research to others, certain members of the team stepped up because one of their strengths was communication. We adapted to challenges, such as scheduling and frustrating technology issues, through collaboration and a common purpose.
In conclusion, I have developed a leadership philosophy through my experiences that I feel to be most personable to me as a leader. I am an effective leader when I am able to practice my values with people who have the same greater goal as me by forming personable bonds to achieve great collaboration towards that goal. I want people around me to feel completely open to share ideas. This is a philosophy that will bring me steps closer to being a successful clinical psychologist by allowing me to form meaningful relationships with my future graduate school class mates, professors, coworkers, bosses, and eventually clients.
First Year Experience - Leadership Module
I learned about a variety of leadership skills in my Honors First Year Experience course. For this course, I read a book by Tom Rath titled Strengths Based Leadership and in that book, there is a StrengthsFinder Assessment that assisted me in identifying my strengths as a leader. I also took a quiz in Susan Cain’s book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, to determine if I was an introvert or an extrovert. I was able to determine what characteristics I value in a leader. I was also able to discover my strengths and attributes as an introvert that I have to offer when it comes to being a leader. Before learning about the different leadership styles, I hadn’t thought about the idea of everyone having their own unique strengths.
This experience allowed me to reach the competency levels of Leadership Values levels 1 and 2. This was the first time I had ever evaluated myself as a leader, and the StrengthsFinder Assessment helped me identify my skills: restorative, developer, empathy, positivity, and discipline (Values 1). By identifying myself as an introvert, I was also able to identify my strengths and weaknesses. As an introvert, there are specific strengths I have. For instance, I am very open to and receptive to diverse ideas, and I am able to identify when other peoples’ ideas would work more efficiently than mine. However, a weakness of mine is that I sometimes let others talk over me or pass by my own ideas. It has always been a goal/tactic of mine to identify my weaknesses and work on turning them into my strengths (Values 2). I continue to work on gaining confidence in group settings so that I can better contribute to the progress (Values 2).
I will be able to work more effectively in group settings now that I know how to recognize attributes in leaders. I need to know how to effectively work with groups and people of different leading styles because I will be working with groups for the rest of my life. Going into the field of psychology means not only working with others, but also working EFFECTIVELY and EFFICIENTLY with others. This was my first experience learning about specific leadership traits and styles, and I can’t wait to continue developing and practicing my own unique leadership traits in my graduate studies as well as in my actual career!
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Exploring Personal Leadership through Social Change - Volunteering
In HONRS 401, Exploring Personal Leadership through Social Change, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal about how to work towards social change by utilizing my strengths as a leader. At the beginning of the semester, I identified a global issue that I had a passion for and wanted to work on for the length of the course. I chose to focus on domestic abuse, so I began volunteering at Committee Against Domestic Abuse in Mankato, Minnesota. I volunteered every week as a childcare provider while parents attended domestic abuse support groups. I worked my hardest to occupy the children in a constructive, controlled, yet fun manner. Over the span of several months, I was able to grow a personal relationship with these children and empathize with the situation they were in.
Working at CADA allowed me to reach several Leadership levels: Values levels 1 through 4 and Teams levels 1 through 4. At the beginning of this journey, I identified my own personal leadership values in order to make me the most effective role model for the young children. In addition to the values listed in my reflection below, the leadership values I identified were empathy, positivity, and discipline (Values 1). After a few weeks of volunteering, I became overwhelmed with the growing number of children and their difficult behaviors, so I met with the director to discuss what I was excelling at and what needed some improvement. I analyzed my leadership style and came up with my strengths as empathy and positivity, but I realized I was not holding true to my value of discipline (Values 2). By identifying my strengths and weaknesses, I was able to adapt my leadership style to better suit the position as a childcare provider. In the artifact below, I discuss several individual and group leadership values from the book Leadership for a Better World by Susan R. Komives, Wendy Wagner, and colleagues that I utilized during this experience. There were times that the other childcare providers and I had disagreements about how to best occupy the children, so we decided to hold a group meeting to discuss the issues. I educated them on the group values identified in Leadership for a Better World, and we talked about coming up with a common purpose to work towards (occupy children in a meaningful, constructive way) as well as dealing with controversy with civility. We also discussed the contradicting leadership styles within the group that were causing most of the disagreements (Values 3). I utilized and strengthened my personal values of leadership which were restorative, developer, empathy, positivity, and discipline (in addition to the values identified in the file below) every single volunteer shift at CADA (Values 4). At the beginning of my volunteering experience, all of the volunteers met and decided which roles we would serve. I served as the coordinator/advisor while the other roles were note-taker/behavior tracker and bathroom duty (Teams 1). As a team, we discussed if our leadership styles aligned well with our designated position, and we concluded that they did (Teams 2). We worked very well together towards our common goal of occupying the children in a meaningful, constructive way while also preventing bathroom accidents and maintaining safety (Values 3).
After my experience at CADA, I wrote the reflection (below) where I decided to add both openness and risk to my leadership philosophy (Values 4). My experience of volunteering at CADA provided me with great knowledge and wisdom for the future. It is important to understand personal leadership styles in terms of social change because I am part of a generation where social change is a necessity and a challenge. By understanding my own leadership skills and style, I will be able to work with diverse groups of people throughout my entire life to achieve necessary change. However, I recognize I still need to learn how to communicate my own values/styles without feeling like I am stepping on toes. I will work towards becoming more confident with who I am as a leader.
In HONRS 401, Exploring Personal Leadership through Social Change, I had the opportunity to learn a great deal about how to work towards social change by utilizing my strengths as a leader. At the beginning of the semester, I identified a global issue that I had a passion for and wanted to work on for the length of the course. I chose to focus on domestic abuse, so I began volunteering at Committee Against Domestic Abuse in Mankato, Minnesota. I volunteered every week as a childcare provider while parents attended domestic abuse support groups. I worked my hardest to occupy the children in a constructive, controlled, yet fun manner. Over the span of several months, I was able to grow a personal relationship with these children and empathize with the situation they were in.
Working at CADA allowed me to reach several Leadership levels: Values levels 1 through 4 and Teams levels 1 through 4. At the beginning of this journey, I identified my own personal leadership values in order to make me the most effective role model for the young children. In addition to the values listed in my reflection below, the leadership values I identified were empathy, positivity, and discipline (Values 1). After a few weeks of volunteering, I became overwhelmed with the growing number of children and their difficult behaviors, so I met with the director to discuss what I was excelling at and what needed some improvement. I analyzed my leadership style and came up with my strengths as empathy and positivity, but I realized I was not holding true to my value of discipline (Values 2). By identifying my strengths and weaknesses, I was able to adapt my leadership style to better suit the position as a childcare provider. In the artifact below, I discuss several individual and group leadership values from the book Leadership for a Better World by Susan R. Komives, Wendy Wagner, and colleagues that I utilized during this experience. There were times that the other childcare providers and I had disagreements about how to best occupy the children, so we decided to hold a group meeting to discuss the issues. I educated them on the group values identified in Leadership for a Better World, and we talked about coming up with a common purpose to work towards (occupy children in a meaningful, constructive way) as well as dealing with controversy with civility. We also discussed the contradicting leadership styles within the group that were causing most of the disagreements (Values 3). I utilized and strengthened my personal values of leadership which were restorative, developer, empathy, positivity, and discipline (in addition to the values identified in the file below) every single volunteer shift at CADA (Values 4). At the beginning of my volunteering experience, all of the volunteers met and decided which roles we would serve. I served as the coordinator/advisor while the other roles were note-taker/behavior tracker and bathroom duty (Teams 1). As a team, we discussed if our leadership styles aligned well with our designated position, and we concluded that they did (Teams 2). We worked very well together towards our common goal of occupying the children in a meaningful, constructive way while also preventing bathroom accidents and maintaining safety (Values 3).
After my experience at CADA, I wrote the reflection (below) where I decided to add both openness and risk to my leadership philosophy (Values 4). My experience of volunteering at CADA provided me with great knowledge and wisdom for the future. It is important to understand personal leadership styles in terms of social change because I am part of a generation where social change is a necessity and a challenge. By understanding my own leadership skills and style, I will be able to work with diverse groups of people throughout my entire life to achieve necessary change. However, I recognize I still need to learn how to communicate my own values/styles without feeling like I am stepping on toes. I will work towards becoming more confident with who I am as a leader.
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Social Change in the 21st Century - Creating a Campaign
I took a class titled Social Change in the 21st Century, which was exactly what it sounds like: analyzing how social movements occur and achieve in the 21st century. I worked with a group to achieve a social project. Our social project was titled "Out with the Bottle, In with the Box," and our main goal was to reduce the carbon footprint produced by Minnesota State University, Mankato by reducing the use of plastic. We chose to advocate for the implementation of boxed water rather than single use plastic water bottles in all dining areas of campus. At the beginning of our campaign, we wrote a group contract discussing the expectations of each other as well as consequences of not meeting expectations. We also created a petition to show to dietary services and held several tabling events to gain popularity and momentum.
Creating the campaign “Out with the Bottle, In with the Box” allowed me to reach the Leadership competencies of Values levels 1 and 2 as well as Teams levels 1 through 4. At the beginning of the semester, I filled out several questionnaires and completed several reflections to determine what social issues I am passionate about based on my own values, which was very difficult since I was new to activism. However, through extensive research and participation in several activist events, I identified what my top values in terms of social change were: women’s rights, animal rights, and racial equality (Values 1). In developing my activist statement (file below), I met with my professor and discussed my weaknesses (inexperience and self-consciousness) and my strengths (commitment, passion, and resilience) in activism (Values 2). In our group contract, we identified four different roles for the four members of the group: communicator, treasurer, back-up note-taker, and backup treasurer in case the primary treasurer was absent from a meeting. My group members and I held an additional meeting to identify who should be responsible for what portions of the petition: research, argument, signatures, creator, and delivery (Teams 1). We met after our designated due date where we were required to have our portion done and discussed what we liked most about the gathered research and what parts needed to be strengthened. Halfway through the semester, we held a meeting to discuss our current roles. We addressed several critiques regarding a group member’s reoccurring absence and filled out evaluations about each of the members’ ability to perform their designated role (Teams 2). We met for three hours every week and recorded all progress in order to reach our common goal of MNSU’s food contractor, Sodexo, to implement boxed water as an alternative to bottled water. I used my communication skills and restorative skills to write letters to MNSU’s dining services as well as Sodexo. We discussed our strengths as a group and as individuals. One of my skills is effective arguing, so I used the relevant research to create a strong argument as to why boxed water is a great solution to reduce MNSU’s carbon footprint. Our common goal was to get Sodexo to implement boxed water in all dining services on the MNSU campus (Teams 3). At the end of the semester, we filled out evaluations for our own contribution to group work as well as other members’ contribution. I was the only member who wanted to keep the campaign going because I had put forth too much effort to just drop it, so I decided to add “continuing commitment/dedication” to my leadership philosophy (Teams 4).
I gained a lot of useful knowledge for my future. This experience taught me how to effectively divide tasks up among individuals even when someone falls short on their designated task. I learned how to quickly pick up the slack of other group members which is a great skill for my future. For this specific course, we were required to contact the professor if a member didn’t comply to the group contract. However, I do recognize that is not a feasible option in the future. In real-world scenarios, I would meet with the individual privately to discuss concerns and ask that they work to correct them. If correction did not happen, perhaps I could propose a meeting with my supervisor and the problematic individual. Something I need to learn for the future is how to stay grounded in my goals when other members give up. I can work towards finding other individuals of like minds with whom to collaborate.
I took a class titled Social Change in the 21st Century, which was exactly what it sounds like: analyzing how social movements occur and achieve in the 21st century. I worked with a group to achieve a social project. Our social project was titled "Out with the Bottle, In with the Box," and our main goal was to reduce the carbon footprint produced by Minnesota State University, Mankato by reducing the use of plastic. We chose to advocate for the implementation of boxed water rather than single use plastic water bottles in all dining areas of campus. At the beginning of our campaign, we wrote a group contract discussing the expectations of each other as well as consequences of not meeting expectations. We also created a petition to show to dietary services and held several tabling events to gain popularity and momentum.
Creating the campaign “Out with the Bottle, In with the Box” allowed me to reach the Leadership competencies of Values levels 1 and 2 as well as Teams levels 1 through 4. At the beginning of the semester, I filled out several questionnaires and completed several reflections to determine what social issues I am passionate about based on my own values, which was very difficult since I was new to activism. However, through extensive research and participation in several activist events, I identified what my top values in terms of social change were: women’s rights, animal rights, and racial equality (Values 1). In developing my activist statement (file below), I met with my professor and discussed my weaknesses (inexperience and self-consciousness) and my strengths (commitment, passion, and resilience) in activism (Values 2). In our group contract, we identified four different roles for the four members of the group: communicator, treasurer, back-up note-taker, and backup treasurer in case the primary treasurer was absent from a meeting. My group members and I held an additional meeting to identify who should be responsible for what portions of the petition: research, argument, signatures, creator, and delivery (Teams 1). We met after our designated due date where we were required to have our portion done and discussed what we liked most about the gathered research and what parts needed to be strengthened. Halfway through the semester, we held a meeting to discuss our current roles. We addressed several critiques regarding a group member’s reoccurring absence and filled out evaluations about each of the members’ ability to perform their designated role (Teams 2). We met for three hours every week and recorded all progress in order to reach our common goal of MNSU’s food contractor, Sodexo, to implement boxed water as an alternative to bottled water. I used my communication skills and restorative skills to write letters to MNSU’s dining services as well as Sodexo. We discussed our strengths as a group and as individuals. One of my skills is effective arguing, so I used the relevant research to create a strong argument as to why boxed water is a great solution to reduce MNSU’s carbon footprint. Our common goal was to get Sodexo to implement boxed water in all dining services on the MNSU campus (Teams 3). At the end of the semester, we filled out evaluations for our own contribution to group work as well as other members’ contribution. I was the only member who wanted to keep the campaign going because I had put forth too much effort to just drop it, so I decided to add “continuing commitment/dedication” to my leadership philosophy (Teams 4).
I gained a lot of useful knowledge for my future. This experience taught me how to effectively divide tasks up among individuals even when someone falls short on their designated task. I learned how to quickly pick up the slack of other group members which is a great skill for my future. For this specific course, we were required to contact the professor if a member didn’t comply to the group contract. However, I do recognize that is not a feasible option in the future. In real-world scenarios, I would meet with the individual privately to discuss concerns and ask that they work to correct them. If correction did not happen, perhaps I could propose a meeting with my supervisor and the problematic individual. Something I need to learn for the future is how to stay grounded in my goals when other members give up. I can work towards finding other individuals of like minds with whom to collaborate.
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Research - Dr. Stark's Research Assistant
I joined Dr. Stark’s research team as one of her research assistants. As a research assistant, I am responsible for several important tasks. I provide feedback to Dr. Stark on studies she designs such as my personal opinion, additional research, strengths of the study, and possible problems. I also run participants through these studies every week which entails first objectively explaining what the study they are participating in, instructing them on what to do, and following up with them after the study. Towards the end of the study, I begin entering data into an excel spread sheet so it can be analyzed on SONA Systems. The first study I helped conduct was regarding critical thinking in the work place, and then we studied lie detection in job interviews.
Working as one of Dr. Stark’s research assistants means being a member of a research team, so this experience was great for excelling me in the Teams Leadership competency. Specifically, I reached Teams levels 1, 2, and 3. When I joined this research team, Dr. Stark hosted a meeting for all team members to discuss what our roles would be as researchers. All of the research assistants were responsible for completing the tasks listed above. In addition to those tasks, we could also identify our own research project to work on if desired (Teams 1). Dr. Stark is the research advisor, so she is responsible for the team’s study topics, such as lie detection and critical thinking. She is also responsible for consulting with each of her team members about how tasks are going. We meet as a full team about once a month to discuss how our research roles are going and what might need to be improved. However, we are able to meet whenever needed to discuss struggles, concerns, etc. When we identify a concern, we talk about possible solutions and work out the problem as a team (Teams 2). Each of the team members works on either their own individual study or research project while receiving feedback from Dr. Stark, or they run participants and work on the main study (Teams 1). Those who choose to work on their own research project are also required to contribute to Dr. Stark’s research as well. We are all working towards the common goal of seeing if there are any trends in our research in order to produce meaningful results that could benefit society as a whole (Teams 3).
In the field of psychology, research will be an enormous portion of my future career, so I am thankful for this experience. Working on Dr. Stark’s research team provided me with relevant knowledge and skills to be able to work with a collaborative team on a research project. I have also been exposed to how research is conducted in a lab setting, so I will know where to start and what to do in the future when I have my own lab and participants. In the future, I still need to learn more distinct roles in a research lab since most of the research assistants have similar tasks.
I joined Dr. Stark’s research team as one of her research assistants. As a research assistant, I am responsible for several important tasks. I provide feedback to Dr. Stark on studies she designs such as my personal opinion, additional research, strengths of the study, and possible problems. I also run participants through these studies every week which entails first objectively explaining what the study they are participating in, instructing them on what to do, and following up with them after the study. Towards the end of the study, I begin entering data into an excel spread sheet so it can be analyzed on SONA Systems. The first study I helped conduct was regarding critical thinking in the work place, and then we studied lie detection in job interviews.
Working as one of Dr. Stark’s research assistants means being a member of a research team, so this experience was great for excelling me in the Teams Leadership competency. Specifically, I reached Teams levels 1, 2, and 3. When I joined this research team, Dr. Stark hosted a meeting for all team members to discuss what our roles would be as researchers. All of the research assistants were responsible for completing the tasks listed above. In addition to those tasks, we could also identify our own research project to work on if desired (Teams 1). Dr. Stark is the research advisor, so she is responsible for the team’s study topics, such as lie detection and critical thinking. She is also responsible for consulting with each of her team members about how tasks are going. We meet as a full team about once a month to discuss how our research roles are going and what might need to be improved. However, we are able to meet whenever needed to discuss struggles, concerns, etc. When we identify a concern, we talk about possible solutions and work out the problem as a team (Teams 2). Each of the team members works on either their own individual study or research project while receiving feedback from Dr. Stark, or they run participants and work on the main study (Teams 1). Those who choose to work on their own research project are also required to contribute to Dr. Stark’s research as well. We are all working towards the common goal of seeing if there are any trends in our research in order to produce meaningful results that could benefit society as a whole (Teams 3).
In the field of psychology, research will be an enormous portion of my future career, so I am thankful for this experience. Working on Dr. Stark’s research team provided me with relevant knowledge and skills to be able to work with a collaborative team on a research project. I have also been exposed to how research is conducted in a lab setting, so I will know where to start and what to do in the future when I have my own lab and participants. In the future, I still need to learn more distinct roles in a research lab since most of the research assistants have similar tasks.
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