V. The learner demonstrates that she has been and will continue to be a life-long learner.

My artifacts demonstrating this outcome.

The fact that I chose to further my education by pursing a master's degree, 20 years after I had received my bachelor's degree, is one demonstration that I am a life-long learner.  I started the Southwestern College Master of Science in Leadership program in July of 2008 and have been taking a class every other session for the past two and a half years, with my anticipated graduation in May of 2011.  My nearly three-year commitment to this program is another demonstration that I have been and continue to be a life-long learner.  Other demonstrations of this outcome include:

1.  My Leadership Style - LEAD 515 Leadership Communication and Conflict Resolution

2.  Leadership Development Plan - LEAD 520 Leadership Coaching

3.  Leading the Admissions Team at Butler To Be the Best We Can Be - LEAD 520 Leadership Coaching

4.  Personal Leadership Development Plan - LEAD 580 Practical Problem Solving for Today's Organizations

5.  Personal-Best Leadership Project: Online Application for Admission - LEAD 590 Leadership Project 

My reflection on meeting this outcome.

1.  Learning more about conflict resolution has always been something I needed to do, but bringing up the subject of conflict made me cringe, prior to taking this class of course.  I learned many forms and aspects of conflict resolution, as well as some tips that I have put to use so that I can cringe a little less at the subject of conflict.  Those tips include:

• Conflict spirals are unproductive.  Actually, I knew that but I did not know how to handle them.  I learned that it is o.k. to stop the spiraling conflict conversation and tell the other person that we will continue this conversation when we can have a rational discussion.  You can allow for cooling-off time if the two parties get into a struggle.  Or, if one of the parties is not able to negotiate because of their emotions are too high, discontinue the meeting until a later time.
• It is o.k. to vent with a safe friend.  “Venting does nothing to help the conflict process.  If you need to vent, do it with a safe friend, counselor, or third party, not the person you are having the struggle with" (Wilmot & Hocker, 2007, p. 215).  I vent with a safe friend or third party as a form of preventing conflict.  I have also shared this information with my staff.  I felt as though we already did this—vent to each other about concerns—but I wanted to reiterate that I had learned that it is o.k. and can help prevent conflict.
• Manage conflict to be viewed as positive.  For example, rather than avoiding conflict during a staff meeting, take the time necessary to talk through an issue in an attempt to increase cohesion, innovation, and creativity.
• Control the process, not the person.  I do this by including everyone involved in the process and allow each of them to share their thoughts while others listen actively.

In addition to these great tips, I learned that I manage conflict in a collaborative style.  “Collaboration demands the most constructive engagement of any of the conflict styles.  Collaboration shows a high level of concern for one’s own goals, the goals of others, the successful solution of the problem, and the enhancement of the relationship.  Note that collaboration, unlike compromise, involves not a moderate level or concern for goals but a high level or concern for them” (Wilmot & Hocker, 2007, p. 162).   I am collaborative but at times I am satisfied to compromise when the stakes are not as high.  I believe I have demonstrated through these tips and my conflict management style that I have conquered one of my life-long learning needs.

2.  This leadership development plan that I completed as a requirement for LEAD 520 Leadership Coaching includes my two-year plan for education and/or training which demonstrates my plan for continued life-long learning.  My two-year plan for education and/or training includes:

• Since I started the Master of Science in Leadership program at Southwestern College July 2008, in two years I will be just over two thirds of the way finished with the program.
• I attend the Kansas Association of Collegiate Registrars & Admissions Officers (KACRAO) Conference each year and I am currently serving on the 2009 Local Arrangements Committee.  I also attend the Great Plains Association for College Admissions Counseling (GPACAC) Conference every other year.  These conferences provide me a chance to get to know my counterparts at colleges across the state and region who I can call upon throughout the year.  They also provide a chance to develop professionally by volunteering to be on committees.
• I attend Butler Community College’s Institutional Development Day, twice a year, once in the fall semester and once in the spring semester.
• The Enrollment Management Leadership Team that I am a part of holds an annual retreat.  This is in addition to our every-other-week regular meetings.
• I participate in cross-training with academic advising by attending advisor training sessions twice each semester.

3.  The conclusion of this portfolio paper reviews my commitment to being a life-long learner.
     "For me to be able to lead the admissions team by example I must stay educated on the latest trends in admissions and be able to implement ideas.  I must also be provided challenges and support from my supervisor, and also be confident in my professional behavior.  With these ingredients, along with additional years of experience, I hope to continue my journey through the ranks of the organizational structure of higher education.
     One of the most important of these ingredients is education, as I work toward earning a Master of Science Degree in Leadership from Southwestern College.  This continues to be a part of my professional development plan, and encouragement and support from my supervisor is essential.  The feedback that I receive from him is very valuable to me, as I respect his work and years of service to the field of college student services.  Also, the material that I am learning from the leadership program is helping me to develop professionally and personally.
     While I develop as a leader, I have followers who are counting on me and my past experiences.  With only a few months under my belt, I am striving to coach our admissions team so that we can all win."
From keeping up with the latest trends in admissions to earning my master's degree, I am continually learning as I strive to lead the admissions team at Butler to be the best we can be.

4.  One of the questions asked for this paper was, "What do I need to do to improve my abilities to move the organization forward?"  I responded with, "Working on my master’s degree is helping me improve my abilities, which will in turn help me move the organization forward.  I also need to continue to look for projects that will help me improve my abilities so that I can become more knowledgeable in other areas of enrollment management."  I know that volunteering for projects in other areas of enrollment management is a great life-long learning tool for me to become more knowledgeable.  Within this personal leadership development plan I found two areas I feel demonstrate that I have been and will continue to be a life-long learner.

1. I wrote, "Challenging the process is about experimenting and taking risks, in an attempt to improve processes, products, and services.  Leaders search for opportunities to challenge the process by listening to those people who are doing the work, as well as listening to customers.  As the text states, “Innovation requires more listening and communication than does routine work.  Leaders guiding a change must establish more relationships, connect with more sources of information and get out and walk around more frequently” (Kouzes & Posner, 2007, p. 177)."  I think this shows that I believe learning comes from others, by listening to team members, as well as customers.
2. I wrote, "To encourage the hearts of others, leaders must recognize contributions by showing their appreciation.  Leaders must be involved and know their constituents to be able to personalize recognition...The text notes, “Everyone benefits when leaders hold the belief the people can change and people can develop new skills and abilities” (Kouzes & Posner, 2007, p. 292)."  I think this shows that I not only believe I should be a life-long learner, but I also believe others should be life-long learners too by developing new skills and abilities.

5.  In one of my Spring 2010 classes we were notified that we would be doing a personal-best leadership project for LEAD 590 Leadership Project and that we should begin thinking about what project we would choose.  The timing of finding out this information was absolutely perfect.  I had been talking with my supervisor about my goals for the upcoming year during my annual evaluation and we discussed one of my goals being to develop a new online application for admission.  We talked about how this goal would be quite an undertaking and several months of work.  Without further ado we added it to my evaluation goals and in June our team began building the new online application for admission.  This project is one of the largest, in terms of responsibility and time, that I have ever been a part of and the leader of.  Taking on this goal demonstrates my commitment to being a life-long learner in my professional setting by wanting to lead the team that builds, tests, and implements a new online application for admission.  This commitment, takes leadership skills, organizational skills, technology skills, and the ability to learn new information within each of these areas.  Taking on this goal as my personal-best leadership project demonstrates my commitment to being a life-long learner in my educational setting by truly selecting a project that is worthy of the title "personal-best leadership project".  In this paper you will see the steps I have taken to lead this project, such as modeling the way.  I achieved this step by communicating clear expectations of the well-organized project to our team.  I believe my organization of the project was my most significant leadership action because it allowed each team member to know what was expected of them, including myself.  You will also see my recognized strengths, as well as the leadership areas I can continue to improve upon.  My strengths as a leader are my organizational and communication skills.  To improve my leadership skills I need to continue to practice encompassing all I have learned throughout this leadership program.  This project's anticipated implementation date is January 31, 2011.  It is moving along right on track because I am applying many of the aspects of leadership I have learned throughout this program.  From modeling the way and encouraging the heart, to knowing which leadership style best suits each team member.  I believe this also demonstrates that I have been and continue to be a life-long learner. 

My future learning goals related to this outcome.

I definitely plan to continue to practice my new-found conflict management skills when needed.  And, now that I no longer cringe at the subject of conflict management, I also plan to continue to learn about this subject through seminars, webinars, conferences, etc.  Another area that I will continue to learn about is my admissions profession, by attending the annual conferences of two organizations, and occasionally attending a national conference.  However, I not only want to continue to learn about my admissions profession, but I also want to learn more about all of the departments within enrollment management.  That is why I will volunteer for projects in other enrollment management areas to become more knowledgeable.  Last but certainly not least, my most important future learning goal is to continue to learn from this leadership program.  I have learned a great deal of information over the past two and a half years, and by periodically reviewing each class I will be able to practice the information until it becomes routine.

Kouzes, J.M. & Posner B.Z. (2007). The leadership challenge (4th ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wilmot, W. W. & Hocker, J. L. (2007). Interpersonal conflict. New York: McGraw-Hill.

IV. The learner exhibits poise and confidence in verbal and written communication.

My artifacts demonstrating this outcome.

I believe the grades I have received on all of the documents and papers I have posted and submitted for this program are an excellent exhibit of my poise and confidence in verbal and written communication.  However, to hyperlink each and every one of them would be quite a lengthy list.  So here a some of my favorites:

1.  Undocumented College Students in Kansas - LEAD 510 Leadership in Context

2.  Leadership Development Plan - LEAD 520 Leadership Coaching

3.  Case Study Analysis of Butler Community College - LEAD 565 Knowledge Based Leadership

4.  Personal Leadership Development Plan - LEAD 580 Practical Problem Solving for Today's Organizations

5.  Frozen H2O Breakers - Session presented at the 2005 and 2009 Kansas Association of Collegiate Registrars & Admissions Officers (KACRAO) Conferences

6.  Revisiting Your Campus Visit Program II - Session presented at the 2010 KACRAO Conference

My reflection on meeting this outcome.

1.  I wrote this paper in my first class in the Master of Science in Leadership Program two and a half years ago, however, it is the paper that I remember most and that I am most proud of.  This paper exhibits my poise in written communication by showing balance and composure with a "touchy" subject.  It also exhibits my confidence in written communication by showing my understanding of the legislation regarding undocumented Kansas high school graduates.  I believe this paragraph is an excellent example of both my poise and confidence in written communication, "The majority of these undocumented students crossed the border to the United States before they could even walk.  Their parents brought them here when they were just babies, they were raised here, and they attended school here from kindergarten through their senior year of high school.  For them not to have the opportunity to continue their education is unjust.  Kansas House Bill 2145 makes it just.  “Any law that uplifts human personality is just.  Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” (Hartwick, 1994, p. 6)."  This class is no longer on my Blackboard so I am not able to retrieve what instructor James Morrison wrote about this paper, but I remember he commented on how well I handled writing on such a sensitive subject.

2.  I believe the following written information that was included in my leadership development plan shows my confidence in what I can accomplish over the next five years.
"During the next five years I plan to:

• Revise and update admissions staff position descriptions.
• Write a comprehensive admissions marketing plan.
• Address the dual campus situation by establishing and implementing the same admissions processes at each campus.
• Serve in leadership roles at the state and regional level for KACRAO and GPACAC."

I wrote this two years ago and since that time, I have completed revising and updating all of the admissions staff position descriptions, I have begun writing a comprehensive admissions marketing plan, and we are currently addressing the admissions processes at each campus.  Once I complete my master's degree I will, again, volunteer to serve in leadership roles at the state and regional level for the professional organizations KACRAO and GPACAC, which I am a member of.

3.  I received a perfect score on this paper and the instructor Dr. Susan Sasiadek commented, "Kirsten, you have submitted an excellent paper, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  From start to finish it was informative, interesting, and related directly with the class.  From a content standpoint you included a lot of great material.  Each section was clearly defined and elaborated on the contents of that section.  Your analysis on Butler Community College was very thorough.  I could see many contrasts throughout your paper to that of what we have studied these past six weeks.  I especially liked your recommendations at the end.  You applied your references very well in that they validated the points you were making where applied.  I liked the way the paper flowed and I felt the paper was very well organized.  From a formatting standpoint, you have included APA references both in the body of your paper and on the reference page, page numbers, and a cover page.  Excellent work including sub-headers with your paper!  Kirsten, I was very impressed and proud of your work.  Excellent job!"  My grade on this paper and these comments from the instructor validate that I exhibit poise and confidence in written communication.

4.  Truthfully answering the questions within this assignment show the poise and confidence I have of knowing myself.  From knowing my strengths and weaknesses, to knowing my positive attitude helps me handle disappointments, mistakes, and setbacks.  I also know whether or not I am prepared to confront complex problems that face my organization with my answer of, "I currently am not at the level where I would be called upon to handle complex problems that confront my organization.  Nor am I prepared to handle the majority of the complex problems at my organization.  I would not consider the problems that I deal with as complex.  Rather, I am working on problems with the processes in our department or working with a student whose information is incorrect."

5.  This session on Frozen H2O (ice) Breakers was such a hit at the 2005 conference that we were asked to repeat it again at the 2009 conference.  Myself and two of my co-workers presented this session which included reviewing the handout of ice breakers, as well as leading everyone in participating in several ice breakers.  Being a session presenter and receiving excellent written evaluations, including requests for an encore performance, is an exhibition of my poise and confidence in verbal communication.

6.  I have not yet received the formal written evaluations from this session, however, the comments from the audience at the end of the session were very positive.  The positive comments were not only on my presentation, but also about how I incorporated questions, comments, and discussion from the audience to round out the session.

My future learning goals related to this outcome.

As I stated in number two, when I complete my master's degree I will volunteer to serve in leadership roles at the state and regional level for KACRAO and GPACAC.  These leadership roles give me the opportunity to continue to improve upon exhibiting poise and confidence in verbal, as well as written, communication due to leading committee meetings and presenting sessions at the KACRAO and GPACAC conferences.  I continually use my written communication skills in my daily work.  I also continually use my verbal communication skills in my daily work with prospective students, whether it is at a college fair, high school visit, or during a campus visit.

The Hartwick Humanities in Management Institute. (1994). Classic Leadership Cases - Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail”. Oneonta, NY: Hartwick College.

III. The learner demonstrates an understanding and appreciation of the ethical implications of leaders.

My artifacts demonstrating this outcome.

1.  Interview Project - LEAD 505 Organizational Leadership & Ethics

2.  Group Project - LEAD 505 Organizational Leadership & Ethics

3.  Final - LEAD 505 Organizational Leadership & Ethics

4.  Bad Leadership - LEAD 510 Leadership in Context

5.  Personal Leadership Development Plan - LEAD 580 Practical Problem Solving for Today's Organizations

My reflection on meeting this outcome.

1.  Having the opportunity to interview Butler Community College's President Dr. Jackie Vietti was a treat for me.  Not only because the interview helped to fulfill a requirement of LEAD 505, but also because I respect her.  She is well spoken, intelligent, funny, and above all, shows concern and cares for all Butler employees.  Prior to my interview with her, I assumed from my small amount of contact with her that she possessed very high ethical standards.  And, she confirmed my assumption during the interview.  From her decision to terminate a productive employee for unethical conduct, to her dedication to the College’s stakeholders, she is truly the essence of an ethical leader.  She told me that she was troubled by the recent unethical behavior of some leaders in the private sector, such as Enron and the finance industry.  She said, "I think that is unacceptable.  I don’t think any organization deserves a leader who takes advantage of that organization, either financially or for personal advancement.”  Not only do her words prove her high ethical standards, but her actions show her commitment to high ethical standards too.  She launched an ethics initiative at Butler.  “We have created the ability for employees to express their views to a third-party person if they see something that they feel is not right,” said Dr. Vietti.  She helped me understand and appreciate that for leaders to be considered ethical, their words must agree with their actions.

2.  During this group project I learned about the non-existent ethical climate at Salomon Brothers.  The leadership at Salomon Brothers knew about misdealings in the trade department but did not take action.  When the situation was discovered in August 1991, Warren E. Buffet, an outside director and shareholder, was appointed interim chairman.  It was by his actions and Salomon’s new leadership, as well as a commitment to ethical conduct, that Salomon Brothers slowly began to rise from the wreckage.  Honesty played the largest role in defining the organizations ethical conduct.  Honesty laid the foundation for the new culture and was continually demonstrated through the words and actions of Buffett and Salomon's new leadership.  This quality was first evident in the way the new leadership handled the illegal trading scandal.   One of the leaders, Deryck Maughan, stated, “Our working philosophy was that we had better just follow the facts wherever they led and get them out” (Paine & Santoro, 1994, p.114).  This type of honesty and cooperation from a corporation accused of wrong doing had never been seen before.  Buffett and Salomon's new leadership demonstrated their commitment to honesty through their cooperation with the investigating agencies.  It was by Buffett’s model for honesty that other managers followed suite.  “Following Buffett’s model, individual managers met with their supervisees.  The communications department began distributing press releases throughout the firm and introduced a daily fact sheet detailing developments in the government investigation and in firm business” (Paine & Santoro, 1994, p.125).  The ethical leadership culture Buffet and Maughan established in Salomon Brothers was to lead by example.  Both believed that for employees to act in an ethical manner, all leaders had to conduct themselves in a positive respectable way as well.  Maughan reinforced their ideology by leading by example and taking responsibility for actions when things went wrong.  It is evident from the success of Salomon Brothers new leadership that their actions incorporated Schein’s five primary mechanisms for embedding an ethical culture within an organization.  Schein’s primary mechanisms include:

1. Attention - "Schein (1985) describes attention as what the leader focuses his employees to concentrate on…” (Sims, 2000, p. 67).  Maughan set out for his employees to concentrate on compliance.
2. Reactions to Crisis - “A crisis situation, Schein asserts, allows followers to see what is valued by the leader because its emotionality brings these values to the surface” (Sims, 2000, p. 68).  With a swift reaction to the crisis, Buffet set the tone for a new corporate culture and it was rewarded with Salomon being allowed to return to the Treasury securities market.
3. Role Modeling - “A leader communicates strong messages to his or her employees about their values through his or her own actions, and Schein labels this role modeling” (Sims, 2000, p. 70).  When Buffett stepped in to take control of the situation and Salomon Brothers, he brought with him his image.
4. Allocation of Rewards - “The behavior exhibited by people the leader decides to reward with pay increases or promotions signals to others what is necessary to succeed in an organization – Schein’s allocation of rewards mechanism” (Sims, 2000, p. 71).  Buffett linked pay to performance but it was not looked upon favorably.  Many managers left Salomon Brothers due to the new compensation system, which was eventually cancelled.
5. Criteria for Selection and Dismissal - “Schein’s last mechanism by which a leader shapes a corporate culture, criteria for selection and dismissal, describes how a leader’s decision about whom to recruit or dismiss signals his or her values to all of the organization’s employees” (Sims, 2000, p. 72).  Buffett made sure that anyone who was connected with the scandal at Salomon Brothers was fired.

Buffett’s efforts were aimed at changing Salomon’s culture, and in the end he was successful at changing that culture to one that supported ethical behavior.  Empowerment from subordinate leaders down to the individual employees was evident and led to a positive ethical environment.  Buffett and Maughan really cared about the work they were doing and the people they were working with.  By committing themselves to an ethical standard everything else seemed to fall into place.

3.  The final test for LEAD 505 Organizational Leadership & Ethics shows my understanding and appreciation of the ethical implications of leaders.  Within this document includes what I believe to be the most important ethical issue facing leaders in today's organizations.  Money.  I believe that money is one of the main reasons that leaders act unethically.  Whether it is earning more money, embezzling money, hiding money, etc.  I know there are other ethical issues out there but money was what it boiled down to in the Salomon Brothers case that we studied in this class and money was what caused a productive employee to be fired at Butler.  “We behave immorally simply because we are moved to do something other than what morality requires, not because we lack access to morality’s requirements” (Ciulla, 2004, p. 130).  Temptations get in the way of our ethical values, and money is one of those temptations.

4.  I learned from this book that we tend to study good leaders, but we should not ignore studying bad leaders too.  I also learned that we should study the followers of bad leaders, so that we can learn how to attack bad leadership and turn it into good.  The author, Barbara Kellerman, notes that bad leadership is part of everyday life and must be better understood.  There are two categories of bad leaders, ineffective and unethical.  Unethical leadership fails to know the difference between right and wrong.  Kellerman wrote:

• Ethical leaders put their followers’ needs before their own.  Unethical leaders do not.
• Ethical leaders exemplify private virtues such as courage and temperance.  Unethical leaders do not.
• Ethical leaders exercise leadership in the interest of the common good.  Unethical leaders do not. (Kellerman, 2004, pp. 34-35)

5.  Within this paper I show my understanding and appreciation of the ethical implications of leaders and how they can impact an organization.  When asked, "What are my beliefs about how people ought to conduct the affairs of our organization?", I answered, "I believe people within the organization should conduct our affairs in an ethical manner.  Then, I believe they should communicate the information truthfully to all employees so we are well informed about decisions and changes that effect us, our work, our stakeholders, and our students."  Obviously, this leads to a better run organization, and if a leader conducts the affairs of an organization unethically, it could potentially lead to a poorly run organization.

My future learning goals related to this outcome.

To assist me is maintaining my ethical standards, I plan to continually read and learn about ethical, as well as unethical leaders.  I have decided to do this because the book Bad Leadership was one of my favorite projects and papers that I have completed for this program.  I believe that learning about ethical, as well as unethical leaders, can give me more perspective on the subject.  By simply studying ethics, we can learn to be more cognitive of the temptations.

Ciulla, Joanne B. (2004). Ethics, the Heart of Leadership (2^nd ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger.

Kellerman, Barbara (2004). Bad Leadership: What It is, How It Happens, Why It Matters. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Paine, Lynn S. and Santoro, Michael A.  (1994).  Case 1 – Forging the New Salomon.  Harvard Business School case 395-046.

Sims, Ronald R. May. (2000). Changing an Organization’s Culture Under New

Leadership. Journal of Business Ethics 25: 65-78. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

II. The learner demonstrates that she is recognized by her current employer as an excellent candidate for advancement and/or is qualified for key leadership positions within her chosen field.

My artifacts demonstrating this outcome.

1.  The Butler Community College Admissions Staff

2.  Educational advancement pay

3.  Organizational and Leadership Change of the Enrollment Management Team at Butler Community College - LEAD 560 Leading Change in Organizations

4.  My resume

5.  Commendation from Butler's President Dr. Jackie Vietti

My reflection on meeting this outcome.

1.  As you can see from the Butler Community College Admissions Staff, I am the Director of Admissions.  I was promoted to this position in August 2008, which was just one month after I had started the Southwestern College Master of Science in Leadership program in July 2008.  I received the promotion, not only based on my years of experience, but also because of my decision to further my education.  This promotion clearly demonstrates that I have been recognized by my current employer as an excellent candidate for advancement and am qualified for a key leadership position.

2.  I receive educational advancement pay following each nine credit hours I successfully complete.  This monetary incentive shows recognition from my employer.  And, I believe I am showing my employer my dedication to the organization by continuing my education, which will allow me to further excel in my position.

3.  This paper reviews the organizational change process that took place, which created my current position.  Having written about this process has obviously helped me better understand organizational change, but in relation to this specific outcome, writing this paper shows how my current position was developed by my employer as part of an organizational change process.  It was developed based upon a recommendation from an enrollment management consultant, as well as a recommendation from the strategic enrollment management team, to the organization's executive council.  If I had not had previous experience in my field of admissions, nor had I started working towards a master's degree, I would not have been considered for my current position.  I believe this paper clearly demonstrates that my employer finds me to be an excellent candidate for advancement and that I am qualified for my current leadership position.  This is shown throughout the paper, but specifically in this paragraph:
     Although the consultant recommended an outside selection for either the Dean of Enrollment Management or the Director of Admissions, both positions were selected from within.  Even though the consultant did not note a formal succession planning process during her two-day visit, the college administration knew who had the ability to accomplish assignments.  This relates to the article Leadership: Lessons From the Best, “…It’s best to grow your own.  Best-practice organizations develop their leaders rather than recruit them from other companies” (Fulmer & Wagner, 1999, p. 3).

4.  My resume includes my current position, as well as leadership positions I have been elected to and selected for within the Kansas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (KACRAO).  KACRAO is a professional association of more than 400 higher education administrators who represent nearly 80 institutions and agencies in the State of Kansas.  From serving on committees to leading committees, I have had the opportunity to use my leadership skills and knowledge in KACRAO.  Once I complete my master's degree, which will free up some of my time, I plan to increase my involvement in KACRAO.

5.  This was a commendation from the President of Butler Community College Dr. Jackie Vietti.  Her words of thanks to me for orchestrating great events, show that she recognizes my leadership as a key factor in making these special campus events a success. 

My future learning goals related to this outcome.

The leadership concepts and the application of those concepts I have learned in the Southwestern College Master of Science in Leadership program has helped me to better lead the Butler Community College Admissions Office over the past two years.  I also feel more confident that I could, in time, lead the student services division.  My future learning goals related to being recognized by my current employer as an excellent candidate for advancement include continually learning more about Butler's administration through actively participating on assigned committees and attending division meetings and administrative council meetings.  My future learning goal related to being qualified for key leadership positions within my chosen field, as I stated in number four, is to increase my involvement in KACRAO.  I will do this by volunteering for committees and showing an interest in elected positions, once I complete my master's degree.

Fulmer, Robert M. & Wagner, Stacey. (March 1999) Leadership: Lessons From the Best.
Training & Development. p. 28, 5 p.

I. The learner demonstrates that she has gained breadth and depth of understanding of key leadership concepts.

My artifacts demonstrating mastery of this outcome.

1. Final Exam - LEAD 500 Leadership Styles and Theories

2. A Gap Analysis of the Butler Community College Enrollment Management Team - LEAD 500 Leadership Styles and Theories

3. Final - LEAD 510 Leadership in Context

4. My Leadership Style - LEAD 515 Leadership Communication and Conflict Resolution

5. Organizational and Leadership Change of the Enrollment Management Team at Butler Community College - LEAD 560 Leading Change in Organizations

6. Case Study Analysis of Butler Community College - LEAD 565 Knowledge Based Leadership

7.  Change Initiative:  Employee Performance Evaluation Instrument and Process at Butler Community College - LEAD 570 Leadership for the Future

My reflection on meeting this outcome.

1. The final test for LEAD 500, which I received an A on, clearly demonstrates my understanding of different leadership styles, which are key leadership concepts. In this document I address one of my favorite leadership styles, democratic supervision. Democratic supervision is one of my favorites because, "Democratic supervision...is characterized by the sharing of power and by participative decision making" (Pierce & Newstrom, 2008, p. 286). I believe in empowering employees and one way to do this is to allow input from the group. One example of allowing input from the group is at our admissions monthly meetings. Admissions team members from both campuses meet once a month at alternating campuses. Everyone has the opportunity to submit agenda items, which they lead the discussion on. Team members also have the opportunity to openly discuss topics during the meetings. We listen to all ideas and then make decisions based on results and/or majority. In this document I also address another leadership style that I have not experienced much, if at all, throughout my professional career. “Authoritarian supervision, in general, is characterized by the relatively high degree of power wielded by the supervisor over the work group” (Pierce & Newstrom, 2008, p. 286). The authoritarian leader makes all decisions for the group. Followers are told what to do and how to do it by their leader. This leadership style seems to be commonly used in the military, as well as in manufacturing, which is why I have not experienced this leadership style in my professional career. Both of these leadership styles are used today, democratic and authoritarian. However, I learned in LEAD 500 that the democratic styles seems to be preferred over authoritarian.

2. This paper also shows my understanding of different leadership styles and it demonstrates by ability to analyze the effectiveness of each team members' leadership style. My analysis concluded, "The Director of Advising, Director of Financial Aid, and Registrar positions all have to be authoritative leaders due to the nature of the functions within their offices, and all three of them are authoritative leaders. The Dean of Enrollment Management, Director of Admissions, and Accounts Receivable Manager are all democratic leaders. While all of these people and their staff members work with students, the first three work more directly with policies, regulations, and statistics, and the last three work more directly with our customers." This paper also analyzes the vision of the Strategic Enrollment Management Team, reviews the consultant's report as it relates to the Enrollment Management Team, and compares the vision to where the Enrollment Management Team stood at the time the paper was written.

3. My understanding of the context of leadership for different leaders is demonstrated in this matrix. The demonstration of context is through the demographic, political, social, and economic climate in which they were/are leaders. For example, the context of Queen Elizabeth's leadership includes:
Demographic - She took the throne at a young age when women were not in positions of power. She relied heavily on her aides.
Political - She was determined to preserve domestic peace while maintaining the independence of the Church of England.
Social - Her personal context of determination set her up for success. Along with the help of her aides, she transformed England from chaos to success.
Economic - She did not want worldly goods, but only good for her people. (Hartwick, 2001)

4. Using my understanding of different leadership styles, in this paper I analyze my espoused leadership theories and my own personal leadership style. I believe a good leader is one who leads by example and is able to use different leadership styles that are best suited based on the personalities involved and/or the situation. My belief was confirmed within the text, "Effective leadership requires the ability to size up the situation (and people involved), compare it against prior experiences and practices, and develop an approach that would fit but remain flexible enough to adjust as the situation requires" (De Janasz, Dowd, & Schneider, 2009, p. 385). Knowing there is always room for improvement, I have included a plan to initiate changes where needed within my own leadership style. One of those areas in need of change is dealing with conflict. This is an area that I have resolved to view in a positive manner, rather than in a negative manner as in the past. I am focusing on controlling the process, not the person.

5. This paper gave me the opportunity to show my understanding of how an organizational change took place at Butler Community College of the Enrollment Management Team. The change was based on recommendations from an enrollment management consultant. This organizational change also led to a leadership change. The consultant’s recommendations for organizational change were presented to employees at departmental meetings by the directors and deans, rather than by vice presidents or by the president to the entire staff. This quite possibly was not the best form of communication for the organizational change information. However, according to Lee Roy Beach, “When the vision springs from the existing culture and ongoing activities, or when the need for change and the nature of that change is obvious to most members of the organization, your job is relatively easy” (Beach, 2006, p. 77). This organizational change was just that. It was coming from an existing culture and it was obvious that the current Enrollment Management Department needed to be re-organized and changed to meet the needs of the students. Research on enrollment management was being presented at conferences and resonated with Butler employees so the mind change was an easy one. Once the organizational change was adopted by the administration, the leadership for the new Enrollment Management Team began being formed.

6. This document shows my understanding and ability to analyze a case study, which is an essential skill for leaders to be able to perform. This gives leaders the background necessary to move their organization forward in a positive direction. Analyzing a case study includes evaluating the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Within this case study I evaluate the SWOT analysis, identifying the threat as, "The recent decrease in state funding has significantly reduced Butler's resources for travel to conferences with colleagues. These conferences could be compared to a strategic-group analysis, "...strategic-group analysis involves identifying and charting the business models and business-level strategies that industry rivals are pursuing. Managers can then determine which strategies are successful and unsuccessful and why a certain business model is working or not" (Hill & Jones, 2008, p. 179). Without being able to attend conferences, Butler employees must generate new ideas amongst themselves. Also, they are not able to maintain their competitive advantage without knowing what successful endeavors their competitors are pursuing.

7.  My depth of understanding a specific change initiative theory is demonstrated in this paper by the use of the steps in the theory.  I have related each step of my proposed change initiative to the steps in the Task Alignment Theory.

1. Mobilize commitment to change through joint diagnosis of business problems.  I propose that the human resources department bring together a wide-range of employees to form a change initiate group and get their feedback on the current employee performance evaluation instrument and process.  Just as I have discussed this issue with several employees (deans, directors, and support staff) at different meetings over the past two years, I believe that human resources would find a general consensus that the current evaluation instrument and process is cumbersome, inconsistent, and does not lend itself to a productive face-to-face evaluation meeting between the supervisor and the employee.
2. Develop a shared vision of how to organize and manage for competitiveness.  The change initiative group would then be led by human resources to choose a new evaluation instrument and process, and just as our text states, “These new arrangements will coordinate the flow of information and work across interdependent functions at all levels of the organization.  But since they do not change formal structures and systems like titles or compensation, they encounter less resistance” (Jick and Peiperl, 2003, p. 235).
3. Foster consensus for the new vision, competence to enact it, and cohesion to move it along.  This is where the president and vice presidents come in to play as they foster consensus for the new evaluation instrument and process.  I believe this will be easy to accomplish since a wide-range of employees would be involved in changing the instrument and process, and the current instrument and process are not well liked.
4. Spread revitalization to all departments without pushing it from the top.  Rather than the president and vice presidents guiding supervisors and employees through the new evaluation instrument and process, members of the change initiative group would hold a number of information/training sessions at our various campuses, and human resources could keep track that each employee attended at least one session.  Employees could also attend more than one session if they felt they needed to in order to gain adequate information/training. 
5. Institutionalize revitalization through formal policies, systems, and structures.  Human resources, along with the change initiative group, would re-organize the employee performance evaluation instructions, as well as edit the evaluation policy in the employee handbook.
6. Monitor and adjust strategies in response to problems in the revitalization process.  Once the new system is in place and supervisors and employees have gone through the process once, the change initiative group and human resources would conduct an evaluation.  If necessary, they would incorporate changes in response to the issues indicated.  The change initiative group would evolve into the employee performance evaluation review team and every two to three years the members of this team would change, involving as many employees as possible on a rotating basis.  This team would continually monitor the employee performance evaluation instrument and process and as our text states, “This learning enhances effectiveness even further and results in an even stronger commitment to change” (Jick and Peiperl, 2003, p. 238).

My future learning goals related to this outcome.

I plan to review my portfolio on an annual basis, at the same time as my annual performance evaluation. Completing both at the same time of year will help keep me on track. I view this reflection as another avenue of checking up on professional goals. I also plan to continue reading material on leadership, as I now understand that leadership is such a varied subject. This will help me to broaden my understanding of key leadership concepts even further.

Beach, Lee Roy (2006). Leadership and the Art of Change. CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

De Janasz, S.C., Dowd, K. O., & Schneider, B.Z. (2009). Interpersonal skills in organization. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

The Hartwick Humanities in Management Institute. (2001). Classic Leadership Cases – Elizabeth I, Queen of England. Oneonta, NY: Hartwick College.

Hill, C. & Jones, G. (2008). Strategic management: An integrated approach, 8th edition. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Jick, T.D. & Peiperl, M.A. (2003). Managing change: cases and concepts (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Pierce, Jon L. & Newstrom, John W. (2008). Leaders & the Leadership Process. (5th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Introduction

My name is Kirsten Allen and I am currently the Director of Admissions at Butler Community College.  I was promoted to this position in August 2008 and was an admissions counselor for five years at Butler prior to this promotion.  Before coming to Butler, I was a public relations account executive at Sullivan Higdon & Sink advertising agency in Wichita.  I have also served as the director of communications for the Kansas Secretary of State in Topeka and was at Pratt Community College for 10 years, five years as an admissions counselor and five years as the director of admissions.

Because I am a graduate of a community college and have been employed at community colleges for 17 years, I believe wholeheartedly in the education and opportunities that community colleges offer.  And, I know that I want to continue my professional career at a community college.  To be able to add to my professional accomplishments, I need to complete a master’s degree.  After carefully researching all of my options in the Wichita, KS area, I selected the Southwestern College Master of Science in Leadership program due to the course curriculum.  I feel the information I have learned in the courses has helped me build upon my skills to better lead a college department within a student services division.  I also feel more confident that I could, in time, lead the student services division.

I began the Southwestern College Master of Science in Leadership program Summer 2008.  The program includes 12 classes, which I will complete Spring 2011.  This is my portfolio.  You will see five outcomes.  You will also see my leadership projects and papers, through hyperlinks, that demonstrate my understanding of each outcome.

I am very close to completing my goal of earning a master's degree which has taken an extreme amount of dedication, determination, and sacrifice.  All well worth it!