Focus Areas 1: Identity as a Leader, Manager, or Learner
Focus Areas 2: Value of Lifelong Learning and Continuous Professional Development
Introduction
The guided inquiry experience has been excellent. It has been a journey of self-discovery and a brief understanding of several theoretical foundations, especially from block 2. There are many insights and implications for my professional and personal life. This critical analysis and reflection emphasize diversity, identity, and the value of continuous learning. These aspects interrelate with leadership and management in the professional setting. Application of Driscoll’s what, so what, and now what model is also valuable, as it will support the whole critical analysis and reflection. I need to improve my leadership process in the organization, but it requires comprehensive analysis and reflection to identify the areas for improvement.
Driscoll’s Model
Driscoll's model is a structural framework that facilitates reflective writing. It is essential to utilize this systematic approach to analyze the learning experience and derive valuable insights and implications. It is all about encouraging people, especially students, to navigate the influence of the experience on the thinking process, actions, and emotions. This model is pertinent in the domains of management and education. It sets the foundation for adequate professional development with augmented decision-making capabilities.
Critical Analysis and Reflection
The illustration of the critical analysis and reflection by using this model is as follows.
What (Experience)
Guided Enquiry has been an incredible learning journey. Interestingly, it was beyond a specific topic exploration (MacKian, 2023). The most important thing was to delve into my identity, especially in the context of the initial career challenges. These initial career challenges have influenced my leadership perception, especially when working as an event manager in a private company. For instance, I started working early to support my family by sacrificing personal time. I worked hard to get commission bonuses and win the best performance award, as the intention was to make my career early. I maintained the balance between professional and academic life successfully, but challenges and issues were in the limelight. It made me a resilient individual with strong decision-making and problem-solving skills. These challenges, discussed in the guided Inquiry, made me realize that I can become a resilient leader in the organization. Of course, these early struggles have shaped leadership perceptions and styles. Starting my career early also helped me to change and manage my identity in many ways.
For instance, before beginning the work and taking on all the responsibilities, I was also typical like others. However, the burden of responsibility made me focus on an individual whose intention is only to work hard and avoid any leisure activities. This experience shaped my identity, which depicts incredible self-control. These are several reasons for changing and managing my identity (Learning Guide 5 Working with People, P. 10).
For example, the managerial role, especially event manager, is challenging, but it interrelates with my identity. Of course, these domains require focus, hard work, and dedication as far as the targets, regulations, and client expectations in the insurance company are concerned. Thus, it portrays a glimpse of servant leadership, and the blend of hard work and focus has become an important facet of my identity. Critically, I have also discussed some loopholes in my leadership or management style. I have been certain about my perceptions and values, and it sometimes creates hurdles in active listening (Wagen, 2010).
Early adulthood hardships made me less empathetic despite the value of active listening, as far as the client's viewpoints are concerned (Learning Guide 5 Working with People, P. 12). Indeed, I should not impose things on people based on my experience, and it is one of the excellent improvement aspects and learning takeaways.
So What (Reflect & Learn)
These experiences have helped me to reflect effectively, along with many insights and implications. I have realized the significance of comprehending the intricacies of identity and diversity in effective management or leadership. For instance, a guided inquiry has been a learning source for me to derive insights regarding personal awareness, group dynamics, goal setting, and many other contextual aspects (MacKian, 2023).
I have been aware of myself due to my challenges and hardships at the early career stage. Critically, I have yet to understand the impact of my actions and perceptions on others. I have been restrained and focused, but it also creates an effect on other people working with me in the organizations. Thus, this learning has compelled me to understand self-awareness at a higher level to set the foundation for improvements (Bladen et al., 2022).
Apart from that, I have assessed the influence of my past on my leadership in many ways. Indeed, I have been resilient and adaptive to adjust to several situations. The material has helped me to change myself, especially in terms of group work, team building, and broader social context. Professional development has been one of the incredible domains (McCauley et al., 2013). Several examples of professional development have been navigated. As an account manager or leader, I have become an expert who must reflect on and learn from the challenge of day-to-day practices (Learning Guide 7 Managing Development and Leading Learning, P. 15). In this learning experience, I have navigated the possible application of Proctor’s model of supervision that considers supervision a formative, restorative, and normative function. Of course, I need to set the foundation for my holistic development, and the application of this model helped me make some improvements.
For example, in my personal and professional life, I often got frustrated and uncomfortable in multiple situations. Sometimes, things go out of control. Thus, I have learned that I need to handle these situations with warmth and empathic behavior. Similarly, regarding the normative function, I need to become less certain of things. Although I have gained success as a manager or leader in the organizations, my ways of working have changed. Underperforming staff can be a significant problem for the manager or leader, and remaining flexible is the best consideration in this context. Appraisal is the best tool for reflection and improvement. It has also opened ways for understanding some loopholes and possible areas of improvement (Learning Guide 7 Managing Development and Leading Learning, P. 18).
According to Jung's four aspects of self, I have concentrated on the "thinking" domain, as I had evidence based on my experience to conclude (Jung, 2014). However, I need to learn that "feeling" is also critical as far as emotional reactions are concerned. In my hardships, these emotions also shaped my behavior for a while. For example, there was a sense of disappointment when I started my career. However,” sensation" came into my life as I began seeing things tangibly and practically. This sensation led me to maintain a good balance between academic and professional life (Learning Guide 8 Personal Development Planning, P. 20)
Now What (Act)
The influence of this learning set the foundation for a new leadership viewpoint. For instance, I have realized that there is a need to be more inclusive in the leadership or managerial role of the organization. The guided Inquiry has helped me to explore some maps and languages that further set the ground for thoughtfulness regarding exclusionary drills (MacKian, 2023). There may be several future situations.
Consequently, I need to enhance the visibility of dedication and relationship building. Interestingly, in activity 8, I considered this change, as there have been many inspiring ideas for executing diverse and inclusive practices in the workplace. The module learning has facilitated understanding and adopting some skills. For instance, after changing my perception of leadership, I realized that building partnerships with people is one of the best ways to justify inclusion.
As discussed, I am willing to practice servant leadership, and building partnerships with patients is the right approach to understanding their needs and expectations. A partnership can take multiple forms, but there is a need to recognize the right form of partnership as a leader when operating or serving as a leader (Fanus, 2012).
Critically, I can face some challenges in building partnerships (Yeardley, 2023). For example, I need help managing interactions and relationships between partners and team members. New industry trends and changes can also create a hurdle, and I need to work on contingency plans as a manager or leader in the organization. The most important thing is to strengthen the group (team) members and commitments to enhance the visibility of collaboration and improve outcomes (Learning Guide 6 Take Your Partners, P. 16).
Final Reflection
Considering guided Inquiry has been one of the best considerations to set the ground for enhancing learning (MacKian, 2023). I needed to reflect deeply on my experience, especially in terms of challenges, attainments, and many other aspects as a manager and leader. This learning and reflective journey started with the exploration of knowledge construction and implications for others in their personal and professional lives. This reflection and learning journey has helped me to realize that I am an empathetic and servant leader (Smith and Shaw, 2013).
Critically, the room for continuous improvement is also in the limelight, and it is one of the important takeaways. There have been potential blind spots, which are discussed with many implications. The most important thing is to cultivate a plan to become more dedicated due to varying expectations in the internal and external organizational setting. The guided Inquiry has become an instrument for comprehending leadership in these domains. Indeed, effective leadership is a consistent process regarding self-discovery, adoption, and learning (White, Guthrie and Torres, 2019).
Conclusion
It concludes that guided Inquiry has been a transformative journey. Indeed, I have enhanced my knowledge of management and leadership along with a good understanding of self-awareness and assessment. I have appreciated the journey of lifelong learning and consistent development. It is the best time to drive self-directed learning to emerge as an effective manager, leader, and learner. Eventually, I am willing to take these insights into my personal and professional life to make the leadership style certain. The concepts of inclusivity, empathy, and proactiveness, especially in change or improvement, are well embedded. Guided Inquiry is an academic practice, but it has set the ground for consistent learning to become a reflective and improved leader.
References
Bladen, C., Kennell, J., Abson, E. and Wilde, N., 2022. Events Management: An Introduction. 5th ed. Taylor & Francis.
Fanus, M., 2012. Toolkit for Successful Events Management. Lulu.com.
Jung, C.G., 2014. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. Routledge.
MacKian, S., 2023. Guided Enquiry 2 Knowledge, respect and caring relationships. The Open University.
McCauley, C.D., Derue, D.S., Yost, P.R. and Taylor, S., 2013. Experience-Driven Leader Development: Models, Tools, Best Practices, and Advice for On-the-Job Development. Wiley.
Smith, A. and Shaw, P., 2013. The Reflective Leader: Standing Still to Move Forward. Canterbury Press.
Wagen, L.V.d., 2010. Event Management. 2nd ed. Pearson Higher Education.
White, J.M.V., Guthrie, K.L. and Torres, M., 2019. Thinking to Transform: Reflection in Leadership Learning. IAP.
Yeardley, T.J., 2023. Being Rather Than Becoming Managers: Dilemmas Facing Event First Level Managers. Event Management, 27(5), pp.745-61.
