In-Process Reflection Paper Example: Youth Driving Safety Project

The most significant purpose of the In-Process Reflection work about this project of leadership experience is to specifically enable us student engage the various competence leadership qualities we have so learned during our study and development of leadership experience projects. In my project -safety driving conduct I have provided out the very crucial driving conducts among the upcoming young drivers. In this project, I have provided a challenge driving safety measures to be conducted over one year to the teenagers who enroll in the Drive Safe 365 Challenge. In the In-Process Reflection, the major focus is on the learning outcomes experienced from the project.

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I have always believed in quality life as one of my sense of purpose. Quality life can always be achieved through a healthy life, which is a result of healthy behaviors. Among the healthy behaviors that have affected many teenagers is safe driving. As discussed in the importance of the project, accidents have claimed a significant percentage of lives among the young people. Many teenagers have also been left disabled by fatal accidents. Therefore, accidents have slowly robbed individuals and families' good quality of life. In pursuing this project, I have fulfilled one of my sense of purpose in the world, which gives me a sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, and content.

Throughout the project, I have come to realize some of my strengths and areas of improvement as a leader and a follower. Some of the strengths that I have learned is my ability to organize and plan. The various aspects of activities done during the project got me prepared and with a plan to handle them which is a positive trait (Kellerman, 2005). I have noticed that I always ask questions and think of the most convenient way of handling tasks. For example, in raising funds for the project and purchasing the items needed for the Drive Safe 365 Challenge campaign, there was a tremendous success due to enough prior planning. All items were purchased and money collected was more than enough. The money helped in other parts of the project. The team members congratulated me for my preparedness trait. Among my areas of improvement, both as a leader and as a follower is evaluating everyone' contributions and suggestions, to see if they are better than mine. It is time I trust others and believe they are as capable as I am in handling tasks. I have noticed that in most cases, I do not trust tasks handed without my direct contribution. This trait makes me tensed and leaves me overthinking instead of focusing on the primary goal.

Leadership is a complex attribute that any individual can fully acquire. I have always thought that leadership is about giving directives, instructions, commanding, correcting and guiding. However, during the project, I have come to understand that there is more to leadership than the above believes I had. One of the most significant changes I have acquired in regards to understanding leadership is that there are several methods a leader can use to lead (George, et al., 2007). One of the most convenient methods that I have seen work efficiently is involving others in leadership. During the Boise County Project, leadership was mainly through participants contributing ideas and the best ideas being followed. During this process, members would suggest different ideas, which they would then discuss from all angles and follow the best one. The advantaged of this method that I have come to learn is that no one's suggestion or idea is ever useless. Even the weakest or wrong ideas help in contributing to the best idea (LaBarre, 1999). Therefore, it is important to consider that people come from different backgrounds socially, education wise, culture wise and economically. People will always have different ideas due to these factors, and good leadership understands how to incorporate them and use them as a strength rather than a dividing factor.

For a successful project, communication is essential (McCorkle & Reese, 2015). Both as a leader and as a follower, I have seen activities almost going wrong due to poor communication. As a leader, it is important to make sure that your constituents understand every detail you communicate. Also, a leader must pay attention to all suggestions, complaints, or ideas any member contributes. Good Communication is the best method in solving most of the problems that a project can face (Schein, 2010). As a leader and as a follower, it is important to make early communications when you see anything going wrong. Also, I have learned the importance of online communications platforms, especially the social media platform. In engaging the Boise County teenagers, we choose to use online modes of communication as they were cheap, fast and could reach a big number of teenagers, given that almost all teenagers have more than one social media account.

The safe drive project in Boise County has cultivated in me several leadership qualities that will impact the rest of my life. I have learned to respect the different points of views people use to tackle various issues. The different ideas may not always be wrong or weak if I as a leader or as a follower accepts to think from their perspective. It is important to note that as an individual, you can not always be right. Therefore, one should always consider all ideas on the table and use the best.

References

George, B., Sims, P., McLean, A. N., & Mayer, D. (2007). Discovering your authentic leadership Harvard business review, 85(2), 129.

Kellerman, B. (2004). Making meaning of being bad: Different forms of bad leadership. Bad leadership: What it is, how it happens, why it matters.

LaBarre, P. (1999). How to be a Real Leader. Fast Company, 62.

McCorkle, S., & Reese, M. (2015). Personal conflict management: Theory and practice. Routledge.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership(Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.