Understanding Your Roles

WHAT?

            This week in leadership class, we discussed Chapter 17 of Adaptive Leadership. The chapter is titled “Understand Your Roles” and discusses the importance and benefits gained from getting on the balcony and becoming completely aware of all of the different roles you play. The book highlights the important notion that the roles we play and our behavior in these roles depends on the values and the context of the given situation. It is helpful to understand that the roles you play are constantly changing in order to understand what motivates you to act the way you do in certain situations. This directly relates to my blog post last week about defining your triggers.

SO WHAT?

            I think that it is important for everyone to understand how the different roles you play cause different triggers to come into play or cause certain triggers to be more sensitive. For example, when I am on the soccer field playing the role of a team member, I let my competitive nature take over and I take a dominant role on the field. I can be triggered by the littlest things the opposing team does. However, when I am working for Deloitte next year as a business technology analyst and I’m talking to a client, I need to play a more reserved role because keeping our clients happy is extremely important in the consulting business. In this situation, even if the client does something to frustrate me at all, I will build up shields to my triggers and remain calm.

NOW WHAT?

            This topic also directly relates to our current Community Map Assignment in which we are supposed to map out all of the different organizations we are a part of, the roles we play in those organizations, and how we can motivate positive change within our spheres of influence. After starting this assignment, I was surprised by the amount of roles I play every single day. I play the role of a student, a sorority member, a daughter, a team member, etc. I think the next step is to determine how you are triggered differently when you play different roles. Doing so will help you lead change effectively and anticipate certain triggers in certain situations allowing you to respond in a more productive way.