Leadership

By: Dylan, Juan, and Jazmine

What did we learn?

Throughout this trip, we learned a variety of fundamental values that are imperative to the structure and processes involved with giving service. We learned that providing an efficient service to a community in need of basic necessities requires discipline, initiative, and empathy. We must have the discipline to do what needs to be done for the community we are serving, because as a leaders we must go beyond our comfort zone and our basic requirements by adding on to our tasks. In our situation, there are not many students who would have volunteered to exchange their opportunities of a normal Spring Break, by deciding to give service, instead. Not only is the short-term commitment a challenge itself for most people, but to have a meaningful impact, one needs to commit themselves to giving service in the long-term. Many Indianapolis community members that we encountered were devoting their lives to the efforts of the organization of ending the food injustice in the area. We learned that maintaining discipline is an essential part of being a leader in a community because these are people who are placed in difficult life situations that requires one to add on to their tasks, in order to make a difference. We must also have the initiative to observe a problem occurring, even it does not impact our own community and build a collective effort to resolve it. Lastly, empathy is the main fundamental value that we need as a community, because while we may not all have the same experiences, we need to at least try and empathize with people, in order to help them. In our particular case, we were only there to assist the Indianapolis community members in resolving their food injustice for a short period of time. In that time, though, our team members gained perspective and experience on the hardships that are felt by these people on the daily. Not only did we gain perspective for that particular situation, but due to it, we will now carry those values into our own community where they may have not been as evident as before to us. Overall, we learned to effectively collaborate in a new group setting by revolving around the same values, ultimately having an impact on a community that was not our own. In turn, we gained an experience that will influence how we view every overlooked privilege that we have in our daily lives and have a stronger view on the true value of service.

How did we learn it?

(Discipline, Initiative, Empathy)

As for each and every one of us, the discipline, empathy, and initiative inherent to well-developed leadership skills were cultivated through our service opportunities. In terms of discipline, the stringent morning schedule coupled with the long days of service forced us all to adapt to a *likely* new and foreign schedule. With those long days of work, discipline became much, much more pertinent as we were expected to stay on task, and the need for it helped to further cultivate it. Though our days were long, our time in Indianapolis was relatively limited. Because of this time limitation, a heightened sense of initiative came to the forefront of our service. We all displayed this facet of leadership via frequent delegation when needed as well as continuously inquiring about what needed to be completed next. Above all else, our time in Indianapolis helped us to be much better leaders because we all became more empathetic. Granted, being the concerned and active citizens that we are, we already possessed a great deal of empathy, but the boots-on-the-ground approach of HST gave us a level of empathy that is only acquired through listening to the experiences of those we came across. We all were gifted the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with an eclectic group of individuals. We may not be perfect leaders, but our collective experiences with the Hawkeye Service Team has made us more disciplined, initiative-driven, and empathetic through our service.

Why was it important to learn?

The importance of discipline, initiative, and empathy are vital when choosing to be a leader in a community. Leadership is about bringing people together to accomplish a common goal, no matter what the individual backgrounds or viewpoints may be. As a leader, we are expected to possess the discipline necessary to have a goal in mind and focus on achieving that goal, even if there are setbacks; initiative to do whatever needs to be done to reach the goal; and empathy for those we are helping, but also for those whom we are leading. A leader is someone to look to in trouble or in good fortune for support and congratulations, so the leader must be empathetic to others in nature. There are many other skills and qualities that are important parts about being a leader in any community, but it is important to remember that individuals may approach leadership in different ways. One person may posses a boisterous personality and may choose to lead with inspirational speeches and courageous bouts of action. Another individual may be the kind of leader who pushes the group to be their best and chooses not to be as much of an outwardly leader as others. All in all, every leader has their own way of representing leadership, but everyone has the potential to be a leader and exhibit all the important qualities that a leader should posses.

How will we use this knowledge in the future?

As students of the University of Iowa, we are being groomed to become future leaders of companies, hospitals, government agencies, and much more. We all have a voice, and our voices are meant to be heard. Being future leaders, we learned to emphasize the importance of leading others in order to create a better quality of life for all, and that lesson will be used for all future endeavors. We all posses our own version of leadership and we use our strengths, and our weaknesses, to present our interpretation of leadership to others. Some of us our strong, outwardly leaders, with loud voices and attention-grabbing actions. Others of us are quiet leaders, who present out leadership through action rather than voice, but still have the strength to be disciplined, take initiative, and show empathy foe those we are leading and helping in our community.

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