Week 9 Journal

This week I really enjoyed my study time, reviewing a case study on Southwest Airlines.  I’m surprised how a seemingly simple idea of localized service grew into one of the eight largest airlines in the world.  During my review time I would continually jot down quotes and ideas presented by past and present employees of Southwest.  I found these quotes to be highly motivating and leadership positive.  Upon further research, it seems as though all of the persons selected for employment either learned to focus on work-life happiness or they already possessed an acuity towards Southwest Airlines leaderships values and goals.  Also, I was surprised at the laidback atmosphere developed and portrayed from the top down.  It was clear the employees and case study author found this endearing and desired to find the root cause.  As I completed my study time, I found the root cause of this to be actual love and caring for their fellow employees and leadership.

A trait I’ve been trying to develop and perfect is that of delegation.  I’ve found the adage to be true; delegation truly is an art form.  In my current role with church I have the opportunity to work closely with the young men, ages 12-18.  For a summer camp fundraiser, we sale a flag placement service for six “flag flying” holidays annually.  We will post a flag at sunrise and retire the colors again at sundown and we charge a flat annual fee.  I’ve taken a lot of the responsibilities for the organization and ritual that proceeds these “flag days”.  Today, we celebrated Veterans Day.  I delegated the responsibilities to the three quorum presidents to remind the youth and arrange routes and delivery for our 300+ flags.  They successfully looked up sunrise/ sunset times and posted to a ward Facebook page as a reminder for all the youth, they also made personal phone calls to those without Facebook.  Whereas some of the routes were understaffed and some were overstaffed, the majority of the event went without issues.  It was good lesson for me to learn.  I can be just an effective of a leader, standing back and watching as I can while rolling up my sleeves and performing the work myself.

 I experimented with a listening activity with my 10-year-old son, Jack.  I read him the previous two paragraphs of what I studied and learned this week.  I then read the paragraphs he had written in his school journal about what was important to him.  As we rehearsed what we had heard, I found it was easier for me to retell what Jack had experienced, than Jack repeating my adventures throughout the week.  I think this falls upon what interests us.  I’m very invested on the happiness of my son, I truly want to know what makes him tick and how to make him happy.  I surprised to find out how much he enjoys baseball (they’re playing it in P.E. right now).  I had always assumed he loved football, due to the fact this is what he usually asks us to sign him up to play with city leagues.  I think Jack struggled with retelling about my study time – not because he doesn’t care, but because of interest.  He knows I work a lot and I’m busy with school, church and work.  If I told a story about camping with the family or riding motorcycles with him, I’m sure he would have been able to rehearse it back to me verbatim.