Introduction:
My name is Ray Schrager and I'm a sophomore Psychology and Sociology double major on the Pre-Med track with a minor in Leadership Studies. I am enrolled in HDF413 for the Fall 2017 Semester, as well as a member of the organization, which I have been a part of for almost two full semesters. SOLC provides a unique opportunity for students to facilitate retreats for other organizations here on campus. This benefits both the students of SOLC as they get the opportunity to work on their peer leadership skills and the organization attending a retreat with us because while the participants work to achieve a goal, the Facilitators (and Leads and Shadows) get to use their strengths to become more confident consultants and learn first-hand what it is like to run a retreat from start to finish. This is just a small handful of the many skills learned and practiced in SOLC. About a week before the retreat, the facilitation team meets to create an agenda that is tailored to the values and goals of the organization through activities and debriefings. This helps everyone to practice their facilitating skills, time management skills, and teamwork skills amongst other skills SOLC teaches.
Strengths As a Consultant:
As seen on the Strengths and Values tab, my strengths are Achiever, Includer, Competition, Restorative and Positivity. I use each of these strengths as a consultant. My Achiever strength comes out when I help to plan the agenda for the retreat. When an organization participates in a retreat, they have specific goals they want to accomplish. Some examples of a goal for which an organization may request a retreat include but are not limited to, team-bonding, improving decision-making skills within the organization, improving conflict resolution skills, and more. As an Achiever, I make sure that these goals are not only reached but hopefully even surpassed. During an activity, I love seeing participants work together to complete the task given to them and to understand and recall it during the debriefing. Using my Includer strength, during a debriefing of an activity such as an Initiative, I want to hear from every member of the group and encourage everyone to contribute to the discussion in whatever way they feel comfortable. As an Includer, I like to incorporate everyone and encourage active participation because everyone is a vital part of the organization and each individual adds something unique. I encourage those who aren't talking as much to take part and let them express their thoughts when they feel comfortable. My goal as an Includer is to provide that comfortable environment in which those with differing ideas and opinions feel they can express themselves free of judgment. When it comes to my Competition strength, I use this while facilitating activities where the group is high functioning and able to easily complete the task. I may give them a challenge such as taking steps away, blindfolding a member, silencing a member, or just changing up the rules. As someone with Competition as my strength, I love a good challenge and nothing makes me happier than when a group is able to overcome any challenge I may throw their way. Using my Restorative strength during retreats is also important. When a group may be struggling whether it's with the activity itself or dealing with conflicting views and opinions in the group, I like to help them find ways to resolve the problem and work around the bump-in-the-road. Those who possess the Restorative strength find that there are multiple ways to complete the same task. Therefore, if one way doesn't seem to be working, those Restorative-strengthed individuals who are typically highly adaptive can easily change their strategy to find one that is successful. I also like to restore the positive feelings and help participants complete an activity. In the case of an incomplete activity, I like to remind the participants that even though they didn't exactly finish the activity, they still accomplished something by trying. Some things they might have done well include teamwork, communication skills, or simply support and positivity. I wait until the debriefing of the activity to see if any of the participants picked up on those skills previously mentioned. Finally, I use my Positivity strength a lot as a consultant. It is very important to remain optimistic and high energy regardless of when the retreat is and how the group is acting. I celebrate their accomplishments when they succeed and finish an activity and I also help them achieve their goals of the retreat through encouragement and positivity. I also use Positivity as a consultant to keep my co-facilitators energized and positive even if there happens to be a group that isn't taking the retreat seriously or other situations arise. Every retreat is different and as consultants, we need to use our strengths to support each other to build the strongest facilitation team possible.
Strengths As a Consultant:
As seen on the Strengths and Values tab, my strengths are Achiever, Includer, Competition, Restorative and Positivity. I use each of these strengths as a consultant. My Achiever strength comes out when I help to plan the agenda for the retreat. When an organization participates in a retreat, they have specific goals they want to accomplish. Some examples of a goal for which an organization may request a retreat include but are not limited to, team-bonding, improving decision-making skills within the organization, improving conflict resolution skills, and more. As an Achiever, I make sure that these goals are not only reached but hopefully even surpassed. During an activity, I love seeing participants work together to complete the task given to them and to understand and recall it during the debriefing. Using my Includer strength, during a debriefing of an activity such as an Initiative, I want to hear from every member of the group and encourage everyone to contribute to the discussion in whatever way they feel comfortable. As an Includer, I like to incorporate everyone and encourage active participation because everyone is a vital part of the organization and each individual adds something unique. I encourage those who aren't talking as much to take part and let them express their thoughts when they feel comfortable. My goal as an Includer is to provide that comfortable environment in which those with differing ideas and opinions feel they can express themselves free of judgment. When it comes to my Competition strength, I use this while facilitating activities where the group is high functioning and able to easily complete the task. I may give them a challenge such as taking steps away, blindfolding a member, silencing a member, or just changing up the rules. As someone with Competition as my strength, I love a good challenge and nothing makes me happier than when a group is able to overcome any challenge I may throw their way. Using my Restorative strength during retreats is also important. When a group may be struggling whether it's with the activity itself or dealing with conflicting views and opinions in the group, I like to help them find ways to resolve the problem and work around the bump-in-the-road. Those who possess the Restorative strength find that there are multiple ways to complete the same task. Therefore, if one way doesn't seem to be working, those Restorative-strengthed individuals who are typically highly adaptive can easily change their strategy to find one that is successful. I also like to restore the positive feelings and help participants complete an activity. In the case of an incomplete activity, I like to remind the participants that even though they didn't exactly finish the activity, they still accomplished something by trying. Some things they might have done well include teamwork, communication skills, or simply support and positivity. I wait until the debriefing of the activity to see if any of the participants picked up on those skills previously mentioned. Finally, I use my Positivity strength a lot as a consultant. It is very important to remain optimistic and high energy regardless of when the retreat is and how the group is acting. I celebrate their accomplishments when they succeed and finish an activity and I also help them achieve their goals of the retreat through encouragement and positivity. I also use Positivity as a consultant to keep my co-facilitators energized and positive even if there happens to be a group that isn't taking the retreat seriously or other situations arise. Every retreat is different and as consultants, we need to use our strengths to support each other to build the strongest facilitation team possible.
Theoretical Model- Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning:
There are many theoretical frames and platforms I use for my practice of leadership as a consultant such as but one, in particular, is Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning. I use this a lot, especially when I am debriefing an activity because it breaks down each component very well into different stages so that each section and aspect can be reflected upon, analyzed, and discussed. To be exact, there are four different parts including Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation. The cycle starts with the Concrete Experience, which is the actual activity that the group just did. Once the activity is finished, the debriefing starts with the Reflective Observation or what a consultant would consider the "What" and would ask questions such as "What did you do well? What could you do better if given another chance? What worked and what didn't?" These questions are meant to talk about more surface level thinking relating to the activity. After the Reflective Observation comes the Abstract Conceptualization or the "So what". As facilitators, we are now trying to move away from questions about the physical activity and the surface level thinking, and take it a step further to understand the lesson learned and the reasoning behind the activity. Questions would be asked in a way such as "Why is this important?" Finally, it comes full circle to the Active Experimentation or the "now what" where the facilitator challenges the group of participants to apply the lesson they just learned (what they just said in regards to the last questions about the importance and lesson learned) to aspects outside of the retreat such as to their organization, their own lives, or to even the University of Rhode Island in general. Debriefing is very important for initiative activities because this is where the organization will be able to accomplish their desired goals of the retreat. It is also very important during these debriefings that the facilitator asks the question and then allows the participants to answer. The facilitator's voice should be the least one heard of the group and it is okay to sit in silence for a little while as eventually, someone will speak up to break that silence and answer the presented question. This is just one of the many theories and models used and seen as a consultant. Some others include but are not limited to Tuckman's Model of Group Development, the Relational Leadership Model, Theory of Challenge and Support, and the Model of Intercultural Sensitivity.
For Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning (the other named theories and models can be found and discussed in this source as well):
Komives, S. R., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T. R. (2013). Exploring leadership: For college students who want to make a difference (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
There are many theoretical frames and platforms I use for my practice of leadership as a consultant such as but one, in particular, is Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning. I use this a lot, especially when I am debriefing an activity because it breaks down each component very well into different stages so that each section and aspect can be reflected upon, analyzed, and discussed. To be exact, there are four different parts including Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualization, and Active Experimentation. The cycle starts with the Concrete Experience, which is the actual activity that the group just did. Once the activity is finished, the debriefing starts with the Reflective Observation or what a consultant would consider the "What" and would ask questions such as "What did you do well? What could you do better if given another chance? What worked and what didn't?" These questions are meant to talk about more surface level thinking relating to the activity. After the Reflective Observation comes the Abstract Conceptualization or the "So what". As facilitators, we are now trying to move away from questions about the physical activity and the surface level thinking, and take it a step further to understand the lesson learned and the reasoning behind the activity. Questions would be asked in a way such as "Why is this important?" Finally, it comes full circle to the Active Experimentation or the "now what" where the facilitator challenges the group of participants to apply the lesson they just learned (what they just said in regards to the last questions about the importance and lesson learned) to aspects outside of the retreat such as to their organization, their own lives, or to even the University of Rhode Island in general. Debriefing is very important for initiative activities because this is where the organization will be able to accomplish their desired goals of the retreat. It is also very important during these debriefings that the facilitator asks the question and then allows the participants to answer. The facilitator's voice should be the least one heard of the group and it is okay to sit in silence for a little while as eventually, someone will speak up to break that silence and answer the presented question. This is just one of the many theories and models used and seen as a consultant. Some others include but are not limited to Tuckman's Model of Group Development, the Relational Leadership Model, Theory of Challenge and Support, and the Model of Intercultural Sensitivity.
For Kolb's Model of Experiential Learning (the other named theories and models can be found and discussed in this source as well):
Komives, S. R., Lucas, N., & McMahon, T. R. (2013). Exploring leadership: For college students who want to make a difference (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
This image was taken from:
McLeod, S. (2010). Kolb - Learning Styles. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html