Lead By Creativity

    My Project

    When I submitted my statement of purpose for applying to Gonzaga’s ORGL program, I had the opportunity to state my “why” and it came from a very unlikely place. I love learning. I can’t say I have always felt that way while attending school throughout my years as an adolescent, but I do come from a strong family of educators who helped build a foundation for my educational journey that taught me the value of hard work and pursuing a degree. This continuous pursuit of education has now led me to Gonzaga’s Master of Arts in Organizational leadership to fulfill a personal goal of becoming a professor.

    This was the perfect opportunity for me to combine my experiences in the creative field, my graduate experience in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University, and my heart for education and creative team development within organizations.

    Leadership & Creative Team Building Curriculum

    Overview/Course Description:

    This course is designed to increase students’ knowledge and understanding of leadership and creative team development through a combination of informative sessions and active participation in cooperative, creative activities.

    Introductory activities help students to establish their own personal brand and integrate their leadership philosophy within their personal brand. Establishing a personal brand will help set the stage for subsequent activities and learnings by allowing each individual to create a foundation that will build upon what type of creative leader they strive to be so that by the time team activities are engaged, each team member will be able to identify their own sense of identity and purpose for reaching the collaborative goal of the team. Topics to be presented and discussed include the creative process, leadership models and styles, stages of creative team development, ethics, diversity, and visionary or principle-centered and creative leadership. The course will culminate in short group presentations of key learnings. In addition to the group presentations, there are additional assignments that provide an opportunity for reflection and self-evaluation with regard to leadership styles, strengths and areas for improvement, and a plan for personal/professional development.

    Module 1 :

    Establishing a Personal Leadership Philosophy & Personal Brand

    In this module, students will develop a personal leadership philosophy while engaging in these 4 questions:

    What do I want as a leader?
    What don’t I want as a leader?
    What does this require of me as a leader?
    How does this shape who am I becoming?

    Establishing a leadership philosophy will provide insight and understanding in developing your personal brand. This includes establishing core values and developing a personal logo that serves as a graphic representation of those values.

    This is one example of a personal logo that takes the geometrical principal of halving to represent mathematical preciseness, while integrating a stylized feel for the artistic side of the individual. Part of the process of creating a personal logo is to tell the story behind its creation.

    Module 2 :

    Creative Team Building Essentials

    Building a team of creative professionals can be challenging for modern organizations. In this module, students will begin to explore the dynamics of creative team building by understanding creative team culture, how to build and sustain culture, and even strengthening a culture that may need fixing through these principles:

    Building Safety
    Sharing Vulnerability
    Establishing Purpose

    Other key learnings will involve seven key steps below to guide students through the process of successfully building your creative team.

    1. Defining the scope of your creative work
    2. Considering your resources
    3. Assessing the skills of your creative team
    4. Evaluating team dynamics
    5. Deciding how to hire
    6. Assess technical and communication skills of prospective hires
    7. Staying flexible and scalable

    Module 3:

    Global Creative Team Building

    Now that students have demonstrated competencies in how a creative team is developed, it is now time to move into how those same dynamics can be used to develop teams from different cultures all around the world. To do this, we have the help from renowned expert, Erin Meyer, to provide students with an analytical framework combined with practical, actionable advice for succeeding in a global world.

    Module 4:

    On-Site Creative Team Building Immersion

    Module 4 presents itself as a live, hands-on immersion experience to building creative teams.

    Creative team building activities are included in the schedule for the assigned immersion, when we will be applying creative team development theory to problem-solving activities that students could bring back to their organizations. These creative team focused and problem-solving activities are designed to enhance students’ critical thinking skills, creativity, problem-solving ability, and ability to work effectively as a team. Activities included also present opportunities for taking creative leadership roles, recognizing creative leadership styles, utilizing team activities for distanced teams, identifying what works and what doesn’t work in given situations, and applying learning to real life situations.