Around the same time, I was asked to volunteer as an advisor and treasurer to a state wide group of young people who reshaping their life of substance dependence through mentorship, culture, and spirituality. They wanted to construct and implement a weekend long convention that provides education, support, and most importantly; a weekend of fun free of chemical substances. My duties were to manage all the funds brought in from fundraising and help them negotiate the contract for the hotel and vending services. As this opportunity was presented to me, I recognized the need for leadership development because many of the young people volunteering for this project were struggling with getting acclimated into the responsibilities of a normal life. This underground community needed leadership development, and it also needed a leadership pipeline. As I went through this year long project, I demonstrated complete transparency and over communication with thinking processes and decisions so that everything from ethics to negotiating contractual agreements was clearly demonstrated. The intention was to influence leadership development going forward. As a side note, what became apparent to me was this group of people thrived within their culture, but as listened to them talk amongst themselves and openly discuss their challenges outside of the culture, the main theme that emerged was a need to feel accepted and connected to the outside community. Many couldn't get jobs or housing because they had a drug conviction, which resulted in alienation and low self-esteem.  

 

Artifact two is my experience as a volunteer and it addresses outcome #4.

I had the opportunity to serve as an outside advisor and treasurer to a state-wide group of young people reshaping their life of substance dependence through mentorship, culture, and spirituality. They wanted to construct and implement a weekend long convention that provides education, support, and most importantly; a weekend of fun free of chemical substances. My duties as a volunteer were to manage all the funds brought in from fundraising and help them negotiate the contract for the hotel and vending services. As this opportunity was presented to me, influence from the Del coursework stepped in to shape my thinking and actions. Drawing from the leadership development framework of Day, Harrison, and Haplin (2009) I recognized the need for an integrative approach to leadership development. Although many of the young people helping to make this convention work possess a common challenge in substance use, they are unique with respects to social, cognitive, developmental, and organizational dimensions. Many of the integrative aspects of leadership development are currently addressed within current substance treatment methods, but considering this project requires leadership skills that move beyond personal behavior to organizational behavior. I determined the organizational need as a high priority based on the actions of the group and a lack of knowledge concerning how this organization might operate smoothly.  This underdeveloped community not only needed leadership development, but it also needs the development of a  leadership pipeline for the years to come. As I went through this year long project, I demonstrated complete transparency and over communication with ethics, thinking processes, decisions, contractual agreements with the intention of influencing leadership ethics going forward and establishing a process that may be built on in the future.

 

 

Day, D. V., Halpin, S. M., & Harrison, M. M. (2012). An integrative approach to leader development: connecting adult development, identity, and expertise. New York: Psychology Press.