Week Four with Extension by Ellie Rogers

 

Flame Weeding (As a form of Integrated Pest Management, flame weeding can be used in conjunction with other cultural practices to manage pests as is evident on this soybean research plot located on an organic farm in Greensboro, MD).

Leadership is often a term thrown around in a plethora of team settings. Leadership is the cornerstone of any organization, the pin holding a project in place or the stone leading the way to a crumbling foundation. In this manner, leadership tends to be presented in a dichotomous manner, of ‘good’ and ‘poor’ leadership. This black and white representation was refuted by Antonio Silas, UME Director for Baltimore City, as he explained the nuances of leadership, and exemplified within our own small cohort by Myles Alexander of the Maryland Education and Development Program.

I would ask you to think back to a time when you were presented with a leader whose ideology (or implementation of said ideology) did not align with your own, however, I would say it is likely that more than one thought came to mind. As a member of more than several group projects, I can safely attest to this unpleasant fact. Conversely, when asked by Silas for a personal example of a meaningful leader representative of my own life, I was forced to reflect upon my own influence as a leader. How has my influence impacted others? To which side of the spectrum do I fall, the ‘good’ or the ‘poor’? What kind of leader am I? During this steady stream of thoughts, Silas brought up the concept of leadership philosophies, the myriad of ideologies that come to define a leader.

What is interesting about a leadership philosophy is that it must account for the rapidly changing variables of a team in order to compensate for a desired outcome. To be an effective leader, one must adopt multiple ideologies. That principle, regardless of verbal or internal articulation, is an ever present fact. Relating this concept to my own experience, however, caused me to stop and pause as to what I desired to portray, as to what my desired outcome as a leader was, is, and will be. As a previous teenage manager of fellow teengagers, the ideologies I used previously (heavily authoritarian, participative, transactional) are vastly different from ones I use in other settings. In the end, however, my goal as a leader remains the same: to promote an effective team environment to promote the success not only of my team but of our desired outcome. My development as a leader is, and will always be, a work in progress, however, as I mature I hope to emulate the charisma, flexibility, accommodating nature that Silas demonstrated for us, to better myself as a leader in order to promote the success of not only myself but those around me.

One of the most memorable moments of the Campus Research Tour (and I know many of my fellow interns feel the same way) was during the second portion of our leadership development with Myles Alexander. Rather than go on about the important leadership experience that I gained (which is accurate), the most memorable moment arose as a group of near strangers began loudly articulating their opinions as to who was voted off of a theoretical boat. What I found fascinating about the endeavor was, not only the unifying aspect of the activity, however, how easily and effortlessly a group will form a de facto team, self appoint leaders, and devolve into chaos if done improperly. Within the span of twelve minutes, opinions were being thrown across the room between a group of three, hurtled as time drew to a near, a spectacle being observed by the rest of the crowd akin to an act on the television. This game speaks volumes as to the importance of well-intentioned, properly implemented leadership, spoiling the purported duality of leadership in favor of an endlessly complex web of competing personalities all in favor of a singular, unifying goal.

Barring the fact that I have used the word leader/leadership a total of twenty-three times throughout the duration of this blog post, my understanding of this nuanced concept changed throughout the short duration of our tour. Developing a team of our own as a cohort of interns and individuals with no singular competing leader is evidence for the complexity of leadership and of the work dynamic of a team and I hope to utilize this new view of leading and managing throughout my academic and professional career, a dynamic beast subject to the changing tides of circumstance.

Campus Farm (As a succinct way of ending the 2023 Campus Research Tour, we visited the University of Maryland’s Campus Farm to understand the work that goes into managing a small livestock farm.)