Anthony Ramsey
Dr. Patton
SLC 101
18 September 2019
Self Reflection #2
In high school I was involved in many organizations. One of the most prominent groups I was a part of was the National Honors Society or NHS. The group was meant for high achieving juniors and seniors who had a certain GPA and showed certain qualities. These qualities were scholarship, leadership, character, and service. Group members were required to not only display these qualities, but to also uphold a certain GPA and be involved in the community. The groups ultimate goal, like said before, was to help the students that were involved in NHS to become more active citizens in their surrounding communities and to also be a good example of involved individuals to the lower classmen. NHS was comprised of several tiers of leadership. The first was the advisor who was in charge of the lower cabinet members and worked to get any events we planned approved by the principle. Next was the president, they were in charge of holding meetings and relaying to the advisor what the students thought were good activities to hold. Following them was the vice president who helped run meetings and was also a liason for the students in the organization. Lastly the organization had the secretary, communications leader, and historian who were given small jobs to carry out. Below the cabinet was all the members including me. Throughout the year we would host events that pertain to leadership and getting involved in the community.
This group as a whole had good ideas and good goals but in concerns with the relational leadership model NHS did not reflect the characteristics of the relational leadership. Relational leadership is all about the connections within an organization that couples together to affect how, what, and why the organization is doing what it is doing. My branch of NHS, although structured around good principles like all other chapters, was unable to implement them well because the leaders within it were unable to build substantial relationships with the people who were leading and who were apart of the organization. I do believe that the organization was missing both empowerment and inclusiveness because of who was leading and why they were doing so. Because this chapter of NHS was missing both these components it was hard for people to feel as if their voices were being heard and that they mattered.
Personally while I was apart of NHS, like I said before, I did not feel as though the voices of my peers and I mattered. It felt to me as if I was just another useless component to a group that had a goal but did not know how to implement it properly. I do not think I speak for just myself but the other members and I were there not to get our voices and opinions heard but to help with the presentation of the organization to the rest of the school. If I could go back to the two years I was apart of NHS, I would have been a better advocate and voice for me and my fellow members. I would have offered more ideas and collaborated with others more. I also might have ran for a position of power to bring in my own strengths that would have added some coordination and strength to the projects we did and did not do.
I can apply the faults of this organization to my service action proposal by listening. I believe the biggest problem with my chapter of NHS was that the leaders did not listen to what everyone had to say which ultimately caused events we could have planned to never happen. I believe what will help make my service action proposal work the most is collaborating with others and allowing what other people who might have some good input on what I am thinking to be heard. I want the purpose of my service action proposal to be built on the other pillars of the relational leadership model and I want it all to be reflected in the process of how I implement my end goal.