KATIE CURTIS

ORGL 600: Foundations of Leadership

• We learned about what makes a bad leader, what makes a good leader and what it takes to be a good leader versus a bad leader. We then analyzed how these lessons were shaping who we would be as future leaders. In this course we discussed our current strengths and weaknesses as leaders and had others around us weigh in on who we are as leaders currently.

• Key Takeaways:

  • Organizational dysfunction can be very visible or hidden and can take place in many different forms

  • Invite others to be apart of the change process for greater engagement and better results

  • How think about the readings and lessons for this course and future courses in terms of my own organization

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ORGL 605: Imagine, Create, Lead

•  In this course we broadened our typical idea of leadership to consider leadership in terms of creativity and imagination. During this in-person course, we developed relationships with students and faculty and together explored how creativity can strength us as leaders.

• Key Takeaways:

  • Creativity and imagination can be found in various methods beyond the obvious and even those like myself who are not typically creative can use creativity to be a better leader.

  • How to adjust and accommodate for various personalities and as an extrovert, how to invite introverts to participate.

  • Introspectively learn about me as a leader and what I need to be my best self.

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ORGL 520: Negotiation and Conflict Resolution

•  We explored various case studies to learn about various types of conflict and how to transform conflict into necessary change. We discussed how conflict arises and how mishandled change can quickly lead to conflict. This class was very applicable to my current position since we are a young business and constantly changing as we grow.

• Key Takeaways:

  • How to work together on a virtual team to complete a project.

  • Discussed various types of violence and how some violence is inevitable and to what extent our organizations should tolerate and/or prevent it.

  • Conflicts can be resolved in various methods such as negotiation, arbitration or third-party mediation and when it is appropriate to use each.

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ORGL 610: Communication and Leadership Ethics

• Ethical decision making, and effective communication were main topics in this course. We learned about dialogic communication and how to spot and practice effective communication in leadership. In this course I spent a lot of time reflecting personally on how I address ethical dilemma and communicate with others.

• Key Takeaways:

  • What is socially right and wrong has changed with time and is dependent on everyone’s individual backgrounds and experiences.

  • In ethical dilemmas it is necessary to consider the values and culture of those involved and who will be affected.

  • Ethical decisions are often influenced by the judgement and opinion of those around us.

  • Common sense, which I tend to rely on very heavily, is only common if everyone has a common education, background and community.

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ORGL 615: Organizational Theory and Behavior

• We learned about how organization structures affect the organizational systems and analyzed in our own organizations if our current structure if effective or what may work better. We worked virtually on a team to complete a simulation and learned how lack of communication and individuals background knowledge which is assumed to be common knowledge can hinder the success of a group.

• Key takeaways:

  • Shared visions guide teams and a common and clear shared vision is absolutely necessary for a team to operate successfully.

  • True leaders get to the source of a problem and inspires others to join in creating a system to solve the problem.

  • A divisional structure would best suit the needs of our company, yet it is important for an organization to be fluid and open to changing structures as the business grows.

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ORGL 550: Team Building and Leadership

• As an in-person, three-day intensive class, we gained many tools as leaders to take back to our organization. We read and discussed what makes a dysfunctional team and practice leading effective teams. We also learned more about what kind of leader we are and in what situations and groups our leadership stands out.

• Key Takeaways:

  • We all have leadership pirates which hinder us in groups, it is important to admit our weaknesses and by being aware of this we can work to mitigate the effects.

  • Leading in a neutral environment is most comfortable for those being led and will lead to more honest and effective communication.

  • Routine team building is necessary in every organization, I have already implemented regular team building in my own organization and received great feedback.

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ORGL 516: Organizational Development

• In this course we learned how to be an organizational development consultant and what to look for in organizations as a consultant. We analyzed our own organizations from an organizational development viewpoint. We also learned a great deal about change and how to effectively lead change.

• Key Takeaways:

  • It is necessary to invite people to be a part of the change process, getting everyone on board with change is a necessary first step.

  • Preparing for change before the change happens is an essential and sometimes missed step in the change process.

  • In organizational development, leaders see opportunities for change and advancement and advises the organization, they are not responsible for seeing the change through – that is a leader’s responsibility.

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ORGL 524: Leadership in Human Resources

• Human resource policies and best practices were reviewed and discussed as a class. We shared personal human resource issues and offered suggestions on how to handle the situations. Significant time was spent on hiring new employees and training new and existing employees.

• Key Takeaways:

  • Stronger and more specific human resource policies should be implemented in my organization to protect us as a business and to provide better support to employees.

  • Discussing policies with other human resource professionals in similar size business will give me ideas of how to improve my own, such as areas I can improve our review process.

  • I now have more resources available to me that I am familiar with to review, read about and understand human resource policies and laws that apply to my organization.

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ORGL 532: Leadership, Justice and Forgiveness

• This was my first class from the servant leadership concentration and was very different from any other class that I took in this program. We discussed in depth many personal and traumatic stories in our own lives and in history. We focused on the need for restorative justice and forgiveness in leadership.

• Key Takeaways

  • Asking for forgiveness is just as necessary, if not more necessary, than granting forgiveness.

  • Servant leadership helps us move beyond and overcome shortcomings from the past, it helps to lead the way to acceptance and forgiveness.

  • It is necessary to learn from tragedies of the past and scale them down to our own organizations to strive to be a servant leader on a daily basis.

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ORGL 620: Leadership Seminar

• The final course in the program is a reflection of all prior courses. This course is 16 weeks rather than 8 weeks as all the other were and results in a finished portfolio unique to each student's journey in the program. Also incorporated in the finished portfolio is a final leadership project including execution (or plan for execution) and outcomes. 

• Key Takeaways

  • Reflection is a key part of leadership and necessary to be a successful leader.

  • As leaders we pave our own journey and bring individualized experiences which shape our leadership philosophies.