STC Reflection

There are three main styles of leading: autocratic, democratic and laissez-fair.

Autocratic

Authoritarian leaders, also known as autocratic leaders, provide clear expectations for what needs to be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done. There is also a clear division between the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make decisions independently with little or no input from the rest of the group.Abuse of this style is usually viewed as controlling, bossy, and dictatorial.
Authoritarian leadership is best applied to situations where there is little time for group decision-making or where the leader is the most knowledgeable member of the group.

Democratic

Participative leadership, also known as democratic leadership, is generally the most effective leadership style. Democratic leaders offer guidance to group members, but they also participate in the group and allow input from other group members. In Lewin’s study, children in this group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group, but their contributions were of a much higher quality.
Participative leaders encourage group members to participate, but retain the final say over the decision-making process. Group members feel engaged in the process and are more motivated and creative.

Delegative (Laissez-Faire) Leadership

 

People under delegative leadership, also known as laissez-fair leadership, were the least productive of all three groups. The people in this group also made more demands on the leader, showed little cooperation and were unable to work independently.
Delegative leaders offer little or no guidance to group members and leave decision-making up to group members. While this style can be effective in situations where group members are highly qualified in an area of expertise, it often leads to poorly defined roles and a lack of motivation.

Communication

 

Communication is important when leading as it allows us to give our commands clearly and for our audience to clearly understand what we are saying.

 

When giving a command, make sure that what you say is clear and distinct so that your audience can follow the command with ease. If you are giving directions, give them specifically( like turn left ), and not just things like “Over there”

 

Calm Down

 

 We must keep a cool head when we are leading. If we are angry, we will let our emotions influence us and cause us to make the wrong decision. Furthermore, when we are at our burting point, unpleasant things will appear, so we must calm down when leading.

 

Ways to Calm Down

 

1)      Take a time out. Just take a few minutes to yourself to calm down. Get away from the thing or person that is making you mad.

2)      Breathe in and out. Take a few deep breaths and think of clam waters or something along that line.

3)      Walk away. Walk away from the thing or person. Being around them will not help.

4)      Avoid your first impulse. As mentioned earlier on, anger will cause you to make the wrong decicion , so do not do whatever first comes to your mind when you are mad. It will most proabably worsen the situation.

 

Gang Show

 

My group was quite unco-operative when it came to the planning of the gameshow. I am not sure whether it was whether the group leaders were leading the wrong way by shouting a lot and not listening to the rest of us. Or is it that the rest of us were just overly impatient and made a lot of noise thus creating a need for the leaders to shout and as no one liked being bossed around, no one listened to the orders given.

The leaders in this case were autocratic.

Outdoor cooking

We cooked our meal using a natural fuel. The hardest part was lighting up the fuel. The service scouts used matches to light it which had two flaws. 1) The flame of the match was weak 2) The wind kept blowing so the matches kept going out. They should have used a lighter but we have to work with what we were given despite the fact that it was just wasting the matches.

Once the water was boiling, you added the instant noodles into the water and allow it to cook. Once the noodles has softened, you added the seasoning and wait until the flame goes out. Then you can enjoy your bowl of instant noodles.