LEADERSHIPIN ACTION (30 points)
OVERVIEW
The purpose of the Leadership in Action assignments is for you to do things to grow in the five
leadership practices – to develop your leadership skills. You will not be graded on whether you had a
positive outcome in taking the step, but rather in how sincerely you tried to develop the skill or practice.
• Your paper should be written in essay format to respond to the questions that are provided.
• Use headings for each of the sections to organize your paper.
• Your paper should be double-spaced with a 750-word minimum (about 3 pages minimum). Note:
Meeting the minimum word count does not guarantee a high score.
• The assignment will be graded as follows:
Good (30 points) Satisfactory (22 points) Unsatisfactory (4 points)
• Responses to all items are
detailed, well-developed, and
supported with specific
evidence.
• A clear effort was made to
practice the identified
leadership behavior(s).
• Uses critical thinking and
shows depth in application of
course content.
• Most responses are detailed,
well-developed, and
supported with specific
evidence.
• Demonstrates surface-level
understanding in application
of course content.
• An adequate effort was made
to practice the identified
leadership behavior(s).
• Item responses are incomplete
and/or brief.
• Demonstrates little insight into
application of course content.
• Effort to practice two
leadership behaviors appears
superficial or lacking.
Writing must be appropriate for upper-division course.
Points will be deducted for grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation errors.
LEADERSHIP IN ACTION: PRACTICE 1 (MODEL THE WAY)
PART A. REFLECT ON YOUR SLPI.
1) Record your overall score from the SLP for Model the Way.
2) Of the six leadership behaviors that are a part of Model the Way, which behavior statement is
indicated that you engage in most frequently? After learning more about Model the Way, would
you say this is accurate or not? Explain.
3) Which behavior statement is indicated that you engage in least frequently? After learning more
about Model the Way, would you say this is accurate or not? Explain.
4) Complete this statement: When it comes to Model the Way, my areas of leadership strengths are:
5) What Model the Way behaviors do you see as opportunities for improving and strengthening your
PART B. DEVELOPING THE SKILL OF STORYTELLING TO FIND YOUR VOICE.
In class and in your book, you learn about the importance of communicating effectively. One way we do
so is by using stories to communicate. The human brain responds to stories.
Also, one of the key parts of the practice of Modeling the Way is “finding your voice and affirming
shared values.” Being able to communicate an important value to you through storytelling will develop
the skill of finding your voice.
1) Select one of your five values for which you can identify a story from your life/experiences that
helps communicate to another person what this value means to you. Tell me why this value is
important to you, and how the value guides your actions/life.
2) Then, tell your story (don’t read it) to someone else to whom you want to share that this value is
important to you and why it is important to you. This can be a close friend,
partner/spouse/girlfriend or boyfriend, parent, co-worker, boss, child, etc. If possible, do in person,
but if not possible, you may do so over the phone. DO NOT SHARE THE STORY VIA EMAIL OR TEXT. It
must involve nonverbal cues and your voice. Share with me the details of who you shared the story
with, when, were, how.
3) Ask the other person for feedback on the story. Explain that you are practicing the skill of
storytelling to convey information. Ask them what worked well. Ask for only ONE thing they would
suggest to make the story stronger in conveying what this value means to you. Don’t open yourself
up to more than ONE improvement piece of information. Tell me about the feedback you received.
4) Finally, reflect on the experience. Do you often communicate using stories? What could you do to
become more successful in communicating through storytelling?
PART C. BEING INTENTIONAL TO CORRECT A MISALIGNMENT BETWEEN A VALUE
AND YOUR ACTIONS.
In a class activity for this module, you examined your values in relationship to your actions. All of us
have times when our actions are out of alignment with a value important to us. Also, within this practice
is the idea that credibility is built by “Doing What We Say We Would Do.” Again, that our actions match
our words.
1) Identify an area of misalignment between a value and your actions OR identify a recent time when
you failed to DWYSYWD. Tell me about one of these.
2) Now, decide what steps you can take within a few days to either fix the misalignment or how you
can take action consistent with your words. You will not grow as a leader if you do not take the
Action Task seriously and pick something of importance to correct or give time to do so.
3) Take those steps. Then tell me what you did, what the result was, and reflect on what you learned
from the action. How has taking this action impacted others? How has taking this impacted you?
