"Relational Leadership Model?? Duuuude, what's that?"

It's nice of you to join the class, Jeff Spicoli... even though you're late..as always..
Sad to say, but if you keep this up, you'll never graduate Ridgemont High!

Basically, in chart form, it looks like this:

"Duuude, it looks like those bubble gumballs you get from those machines for 25¢ ...   

 I like the purple one, grape flavor's my ultimate favorite!"

*sigh*..All right Jeff, I'll help break it down for you. Now pay attention!!

The key word to the Relational Leadership Model is RELATIONSHIP.

There are five components to the model: Purpose, Inclusive, Empowering, Ethical, and each one of these components work together to contribute towards the fifth component, Process. Each component of the model relates to one another, and holds connections. Each is a link towards successful leadership, and if one is missing or broken, the model would simply shatter and fall apart.

The Knowing-Being-Doing aspect to each element of the model is the glue that holds each link together. Without the knowledge and understanding of who you are as a person, who your group members are, and what you want to accomplish, leadership would not be possible. Without maintaining the right attitude and possessing the right skills, success would not be possible... You see, everything connects to each other!

"Ohh okaaay dude. I got it. So... what does this have to do with YOU?" 

Everything! Let me start off with..

PURPOSE.

I have always been committed towards diving into challenges. A strong purpose is what pushes me to attack any conflicts that may arise, no matter what they are, driving me and my fellow members forward to ultimate success! A purpose of overcoming certain challenges and creating a positive change in myself and in the situation itself has always acted as my motivation and driving force. Knowing what is driving me and my group members to work as hard as we do motivates the whole group to continue working hard towards seeing a positive change. Acting without a good purpose leads to feelings of emptiness and confusion.

An empowering, ethical PURPOSE is what acts as the stimulus of leadership. 

INCLUSIVE.

I believe that everyone is unique, one-of-a-kind, and beautiful, and plays a very significant part to the community. Everyone has something special to contribute to society. Understanding where everyone comes from has always been my goal when working with others. Understanding that everyone comes from a different background and holds various beliefs, mind-sets, and traditions is extremely important to me when I am making decisions within my group.

Being open-minded and not just believing that there’s only one solution to each problem helps me engage diversity in everything that I do, and has helped me to be successful in coming up with new ideas. Everyone in your group has something to contribute, and by taking all contributions into consideration and respectively combining them all, you will be able to come up with ideas that everyone will be able settle with.

EMPOWERING.

Get used to seeing Harry Potter references in my blogs... (-_-)

Helping to heal others when they are down, and encouraging them to try their best at whatever they do is severely important. There will always be obstacles coming up and knocking down your fellow members, and without creating a positive environment full of hope and inspiration, the group’s motivation and general mood will go downhill, leading the group to gradually fall apart. 


I feel like empowerment is one of the elements I should work on. I have found myself sometimes spending a little too much time cheering people on in my group when things aren't going too well, and not enough time focusing on finding a solution.Whenever a conflict may come up, I would always stay positive as the generally optimistic person I am, keeping my team members' spirits up, but failing to work towards fixing the problem that's slowly dragging us down. 

Lean on Me!!

In other instances, I would be lacking in the "empowerment department". In high school, when I would be assigned to group projects and some of the members of my group would fail to complete their section of the project, instead of motivating them and encouraging them to complete their responsibilities, I would instead take on their sections and finish them myself. Since we were being graded as a group, I didn't want their lack of commitment to the project to drag the whole project and group down, making all of us get a bad grade... 
I would like to work more on empowering others to willingly commit to their sections, instead of "giving up" on my members and taking their work into my hands.

Being a leader means you have a sense of power that you must respectively put to good use. Use “The Force” wisely!!!  Instead of abusing your sense of power and using it to manipulate others around you recklessly, respecting the power you have been given for use in your position and using it for the greater good is ethical.

ETHICAL.

How do you view yourself? Do you believe you're a good person?
Those are tough questions! One of my daily goals is to make decisions throughout the day while being faithful to my morals, beliefs, and religion, while being thoughtful of how my decisions may affect others around me.  

Empowering others to work with good ethics and morals is extremely important towards maintaining the well-being of the group’s motivation and goals. I believe that encouraging each member to believe in themselves and to trust their naturally honest, moral and ethical instincts when it comes to making decisions will guide the whole group towards the right direction. 

PROCESS.

How does your group get along and work together effectively? How does your group deal with certain situations, unfortunate or not? How does your group accomplish all goals, and keep focused on the main purpose that drives them towards their goals? Combining all these elements of purpose, inclusiveness, empowerment, and ethics is what completes the overall aspect of process.

Things are constantly changing: situations, the society, and even yourself. Some of these things may be overbearing. Understanding where you stand as a person and where the other members stand themselves is always important towards making good progress.

Process is another element that I would like to work on. I sometimes may be stubborn when it comes to accepting that things change all the time. For example, when I sense that perhaps a good friend of mine has changed, I become greatly discouraged, concluding that "He/She's not the same person anymore. I don't know them anymore!", often beginning to shut them out of my life, unable to accept that people are constantly changing all the time.

Though I am open-minded to new ideas, I am the kind of person who adapts a certain rhythm to my everyday life, often building certain "rituals" and patterns to everything that I do. When a change comes along, though I know that it is inevitable, I refuse to adapt to the change for the longest time until I finally have to surrender to it, finally incorporating it into my life. I would like to work more on accepting changes as challenges, molding the changes into myself and my life to let me grow more as a person. 

I believe that adapting to these certain changes and polishing and updating your group’s ideas will lead you to success! Though things will constantly change as it is naturally a part of the ever-changing process, the core of the group, it’s ethical, inclusive, and empowering purpose, will remain strong, true, and honest. 

"Awesome!! Totally Awesome!!... well, I'm gonna go surf now, so I'll be going.
Hey Bud, let's party!!!"

*sigh*... Well, you go have fun with that. Hopefully he picked up some of what I had to say... 

~Hungry Eyes for Leadership~

Roads? 

Where we're going, we don't need roads...

to PART ONE!

Welcome to my blog!!! :) This is my first experience blogging, so I apologize beforehand if it's so bad that it makes anyone want to create a time machine out of a DeLorean and go back to the past to avoid ever reading it… "Back to the Future" anyone? Throughout my future posts, I'll be sneaking in quotes from the ‘80s... I know, I know, my great obsession with this decade is quite unhealthy, but how could I possibly resist??!

Throughout my whole life, besides being an active participant in the "I Wish I Could Wear Colorful Tights and Leg Warmers Every Day and Not Be Looked At Weird" community, I have been an active participant in the performing arts community. From the moment I slipped on my new pink ballet shoes with my tiny hands years ago, I felt my body slowly being taken over by a virus, an exhilarating virus caused by a bite from the performing arts bug. Little did I know that this virus would be incurable, driving me to build my resume as a performer from the time I could barely tie my shoelaces to my present self as a college freshman, a shoelace tying expert.

As long as I can remember, the theatre and stage has been my second home, and sharing many unforgettable experiences with my fellow dancers and cast mates has been absolutely amazing. What we’re doing isn’t just standing on a stage, singing and dancing mindlessly; rather, we perform in front of others to create a positive change within the onlookers’ hearts and minds. I’ve always believed that giving back to the society is necessary to our well-being as human beings. What use is a life if it does not touch upon other lives, or in my case, what use is my life as a performer if it does not inspire or make any expression on the lives of the audience members watching? The art I create is completely useless if it simply passes minds without leaving a trace of reflection. As the aged ropes of the theatre creak to raise the curtain and the orchestra begins to play, I see the audience begin to transform. Smiling faces look back at me and my cast mates as the final note sounds and the curtain falls. In my heart, I know that within those few hours, we’ve brought a change in these people’s lives: we’ve provided a glimmer of hope in these hard times, and the encouragement of brighter days to come.

“Why are you always so involved with the arts?,” a person may ask. It is because I personally believe that it is so very important for human beings to express themselves. Everyone was born with a voice. Some people have the gift of speech, some people have the gift of dance, painting, photography, singing... We all “speak” and express our unique selves and lead others through our various gifts, and everyone deserves the chance and the freedom to state what they have to say by using their gift effectively. In a world where our individual voices are pinned down by politics, law, and social and media pressures, finding a way to burst out of the restrictions binding our throats and speaking out through alternative methods is severely important. I believe the performing arts community encourages the audience to speak out and stand up for their beliefs, therefore motivating them to trust their creative ideas and lead others. One of the key elements of leadership is good communication, and through our display of expression on the stage, we encourage others to express themselves and speak up!!

Performers also have lives as busy full-time working civilians, hard-working parents, and sleep-deprived students, and they devote the time that they can find to work with each other effectively on a production. There are always days where a cast member or perhaps a handful of them show up to the theatre feeling down in the dumps. Perhaps they have had a bad day at work, had just broken up with their significant other just 10 minutes ago, or had just received the news that a close relative had passed away. No matter what kind of unfortunate event had happened, it is up to each and every one of us to put on a smiling face and be ready to perform in 2 hours. The show must go on!!  Each one of our efforts combined makes a 100%, and if one member is not committed to contributing their percentage, the production will fall flat. With encouragement, motivation, and love, the whole cast works together to solve each other’s problems, worries, and concerns, and is there to support one another, no matter what happens. Despite our many differences, ages, beliefs, racial and cultural backgrounds, our one definite similarity, PASSION acts as the glue that bonds us together. We are all leaders in this performing arts community, as we are all responsible for doing our own duty and part to make the production a spectacular and memorable one.

Nothing makes me and my cast mates happier than relieving the stress of others and transporting them to a world where anything can happen, and where magic exists.

All those hours of hard work are completely worth it when I see little boys running down the aisles of the theater during intermission laughing and imitating Peter Pan’s crow, seeing that youthful twinkle in grandparents’ eyes as they watch my cast members and I take on familiar characters from the 30’s, and seeing glistening tears rolling down cheeks of touched audience members as the dusty curtain slowly floats down, gently bringing them back to reality, the magic of the theater forever engraved in their hearts.

Nobody puts Part Two in a Corner!

Don’t worry Patrick Swayze (bless his soul), I won’t! Part two is very important.  

Being optimistic in everything I do, including when I’m taking on challenges, allows me to have the time of my life. Displaying your strong sense of positivity influences others so much more than you think it does. Just being a positive role model motivates others and followers to pick themselves up and dust the dirt off themselves, no matter how much life events may push them into the ground.

Who wants to follow a grumpy leader? Certainly not me!! Leaders have the responsibility to always stay open-minded and stay hopeful for the best outcomes, turning each negative into a positive.


I view being a leader as being similar to the element of water, and followers as being various water paths and channels. When you place an object such as a rock before running water, the water flow is blocked for just a moment, until it finds a way to either go under the rock, over it, or go around the rock to continue flowing to its destination. The same thing applies to leaders. Obstacles will always get in the way of a leader’s desired path, but by taking the time to ponder the most effective solutions, the leader may find other paths that will lead to success. By communicating with other members and encouraging them to share their creative and innovative ideas, the leader may find alternative paths that will allow the group or community to blast through the obstacle or go around it. Without the various water paths, water is helpless and trapped. To be a leader, you must have the support of your followers, for without them, you are nothing. Strengthening and encouraging your followers to trust themselves and their decisions will also in turn strengthen yourself as a leader.

I hope all of you survived my first blog, and aren’t wishing for Doc Brown to save them from ever reading this. I look forward to seeing all of you soon!