A631.9.2.RB_Video Debrief of Team MA

Steve Jobs is and always will be a visionary.  The desire to fight through defeat and come back stronger is what fueled Jobs to continue in his quest to produce the best and strongest technical advances for home computing.  Although Jobs is gone, his legacy and life’s work will forever live on for generations to come.  Many remember Job’s as the founder of Apple but most forget that he was let go from Apple which drove him to create NeXT which later was purchased by Apple.  These changes in the Job’s life and professional career are what fueled him to be one of the best creators of technology to date.

During my debriefing I learned a lot about myself that I might have otherwise thought about differently.  As much as I want to be a leader and change the way people understand and value academic technology, I know that I am not the type of person to create a new learn platform but instead I am the person who will test, break, provide feedback, and transform what is currently out on the market in order to help those who are the visionaries for design and production create a better product.  According to my management assessment profile I wouldn’t necessarily be the perfect fit for a startup company but instead I would be better suited to come in when the company it at its large and rapid growth stage(s).  Even though I am not perfect for this stage of the NeXT startup team, I do however have characteristics that would be great for this stage of their organization and could ultimately help to transform the organization.  Below I have captured 3 different characteristics from my assessment that I feel would fit great into this step of Job’s new organization:

Fiscally Conservative

• Starting up a new organization there are many areas where spending will be taking place.  Job’s discussed in the video that he has forgotten how much money and how many different things would need to take place in order to get the organization off the ground again.  I believe that because I am great with money I would have been able to assist Job’s with the design of the structure and responsibly allocate finances in order to ensure they were put the best use possible.

Structure

• I need structure and when structures (policy/procedures) are not in place I am the type of person to create them.  In the video it was clear that mostly those in the room were engineers who would rather do what they love then be bogged down with creating an organizational structure.  In this area I would come in and help to create the walls of the organization to allow the creators to do what they love.

Desire for a Challenge

• Start a new company is a challenge in and of itself and according to my management assessment I have a strong desire for a challenge.  In conjunction with my problem solving skills I believe that I would have been a great asset to the NeXT team during their startup phases because regardless of the problem or challenge I would have the skills to handle the issue.

Even though this startup organization is centered around technology, the root of the organization was focused on the needs of education and creating a tool that both students and staff/faculty can use.  Education is something that speaks to me in volumes and I understand what it takes to create a prosperous learning environment for students.  I feel as though many of my best qualities for this type of implementation would span across the area which focused on the needs of the students and staff/faculty.  I would need to understand what their needs are and how I can take those requests back to the person creating the tool.  I have found that nowadays we send out survey’s in order to request that type of information but its more than a survey when it comes to education, you have to be there in person with the client(s) to understand their needs, their wants, and their desires.  Many of the people in the room with Steve Jobs were engineers who don’t necessarily want to be with the client but instead want to be in a room filled with computers, writing code and reading through hundreds of lines of HTML.  I would have been the person in Job’s team that would have been sitting down with the client and finding out what their needs are, I would have been the face or the bridge between the two worlds.

Even though we lost Job’s, we will always continue to benefit from his hard work and determination.  Technology was forever changed by him and his team.

References:
Петренко, C. (2012, January 19). Steve Jobs Brainstorms with NeXT Team [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loQhufxiorM&feature=youtu.be
NextSteps, R. (2013). Management assessment profile: Katy Hendry.

A631.8.4.RB_Reflective Analysis

                                      “Hi, I am ENTJ” also known as “The Executive”

Jungian functional preference ordering:

• Dominant: Extraverted Thinking
• Auxiliary: Introverted Intuition
• Tertiary: Extraverted Sensing
• Inferior: Introverted Feeling

About 2 years ago the department I was working for offered the Myers Briggs test and at first many people didn’t take it seriously until we all lined up to see how each person in our department measured up to each other in relation to the number they scored in each section.  The most eye opening moment is when I realized that my boss and I were both scoring in the same areas at almost the same number which made me realize that I couldn’t be an assistant to an executive if both of us ranked in the same area (the area known as the executive).

According to the Myers site, “ENTJs are natural born leaders.  They live in a world of possibilities where they see all sorts’ challenges to be surmounted, and they want to be the ones responsible for surmounting them.  They have a drive for leadership, which is well-served by their quickness to grasp complexities, their ability to absorb a large amount of impersonal information, and their quick and decisive judgments.  They are ‘take charge’ people.”

Being an ENTJ I realized that I was born to lead to some capacity but I also know that I still need a few more years of experience and education to become more prepared for the type of leading I wish to do.  I think it is very important for all young professionals to take the MBTI once when they start their careers and a few more times at milestone points to see if they have changed or remained the same.  It is so important to know who you are and being self-aware so that you can be effective as a leader and to better understand those who you lead.

Once I took the test I became self-aware rather quickly that it was time to start making progress to change my career and within 6 months I had finished half of my master’s degree and had secured a new position within the university I am currently working for.  Now all results will vary but becoming self-aware helped to lay out a path for my professional success.  It has been sad that ENTJ people are very forceful and decisive people and I completely agree with that because I know that when I set my mind to something, I go for it full force and I don’t stop until I achieve it.  Asides from the attributes of being an ENTJ individual, there are some downsides that I have to keep in mind which I find is part of the self-awareness journey and that is I have to be more open-minded and understanding.  Often ENTJ people can be too aggressive in getting to where they want to be and I don’t want people to remember me that way although I am sure some think of me that way now.  I want to be a comfortable balance of driven and compassionate and that is what I try to work on each day through my studies and my career.

Taking the Meyers Briggs test is extremely important to me and I think others feel the way I do.  I know that if I was in a leadership position I would set aside both time and funds in order to have the MBTI test administered because I think it helps for a team of people to understand one another better and therefore ultimately work better which will promote a better working environment.

Reference:
Myers, B. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.personalitypage.com/ENTJ.html

A631.7.4.RB_Future of OD

I would never classify organizational development as a fad that would over time become irrelevant because development is not a fad but instead is a necessity of organizational change and growth.  The need to keep up with rapidly changing times is extremely important to organizations who want to stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive in their industry.  Taking into consideration ERAU as an example, the need to remain at the top for both education and our specialized field (aviation/aerospace) we have to constantly go through periods of organizational change in order to stay dynamic and not become static.  As thing change with in higher education and in the aviation/aerospace field, the organization will need to embrace OD as it takes shape in ERAU to ensure we stay prosperous and see steady growth.

In the area of organizational development as a disciple, I foresee constant changes taking place because the needs of OD will change as other variables become relevant.  Areas that will change how this disciple is seen or taught are (but are not limited to), the economy, demographics or location, industry, and politics. The future for OD will continue to grow especially with the changes of generations in the workplace.  What were once the needs of the Baby Boomers are now becoming the needs of Generation X, Y, and ME.  We often forget about that changes that are taking place right now in the workforce and how important it is to have the skills of organizational development as we embrace these changes.  I can only speak for myself but I think that I am at a slight advantage now because I have taken these two courses and understand how important OD is and how to apply it to my career.

Over the past two courses I have learned so much about not only myself as a leader but how my leadership skills help to promote organizational development and how I have been a part of organizational development.  I have found that these two courses helped to guide me to understanding how important it is to have both inside assistance and outside guidance when organizations are having difficulties or need to promote themselves over a plateau they could be having in their industry.  The need to understand how I play a role in this discipline is very important for me.  In order to change and mold myself, I have to understand the study of OD and how I aid in the OD process.

Although challenging, the study of OD was truly eye-opening and helped me grow so much.  I feel as though now I have a better perspective of understanding situations (case studies) from a broader perspective which has allowed me to become a better practitioner of the OD discipline.  My goals now are to continue to grow from my OD studies and apply these as I move forward but with the note that OD is a living thing and it will constantly be changing as other changes take place around it.