SELF in the Diamond Model Andrew Rockfish’s Opening Remarks This week we have a few truths to remember as we explore relationship building to create competitive advantage.  Motivation and empowerment are two words that you have heard throughout your business education.  Managers motivate and leaders empower.  The lines are blurring at GDD.  Managers are giving decision-making authority to teams and leaders are motivating other leaders to get the job done well. But good relationship building gets at the heart of the relationship of the leader and follower: trust, respect, and expertise.  You cannot bring about change at GDD or any organization if the people do not trust.  Like the earlier example of Robbins at Plastic Lumber Company, the inappropriate leadership style gave the impression to the floor workers that Robbins was weak, confused and therefore not in need of respect.  Employees would not follow someone who seemingly was not worth following.  Understanding who you are and what you want people to do is the first step in building relationships that influence others to follow you.   This week our discussion will focus on the skills needed as an individual leader to create and maintain relationships within GDD.  We will also discuss the nature of the leader-follower relationship.  Look carefully at the results of the personal assessment that you will take.  There are two points to understanding the full import of the results.  First, the results tell you a lot about the personal strength and weaknesses you may possess allowing you to contemplate areas of improvement and how you as a person relate to others.  The second aspect of this information is how others relate to one another and the organization.  For example, understanding how a candidate for a new job will fit into the department requires you know the personal traits of those in the department as well as the candidates to make an effective decision on the hire; one that will benefit the organization. THEME ONE: Creating your own leadership energy as Clawson would suggest starts with knowing who are as person. Before you can build relationships with others, it is important to reflect upon the personal skills you bring to the table.  Knowing your leadership style is a start but using assessment tools and feedback from others will help define the extent to which you possess a personal “soft” skill set equal to the task of leading.  Also, you will gain insight into how others perceive you and how you perceive others.  The former skill helps the leader better sell their story and implement change while the latter skill set helps align and design the organization for greater effectiveness. Read and View: How Implicit Personality Affects Leadership Personality and How It Relates to Leadership Emotional Intelligence and Leadership What is emotional intelligence? Interview of Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence Social Intelligence and Leadership Personality and Leadership 9.5min  Pers.

1. SELF in the Diamond Model
Andrew Rockfish’s Opening Remarks
This week we have a few truths to remember as we explore
relationship building to create competitive advantage.
Motivation and empowerment are two words that you have
heard throughout your business education. Managers motivate
and leaders empower. The lines are blurring at GDD.
Managers are giving decision-making authority to teams and
leaders are motivating other leaders to get the job done well.
But good relationship building gets at the heart of the
relationship of the leader and follower: trust, respect, and
expertise. You cannot bring about change at GDD or any
organization if the people do not trust. Like the earlier example
of Robbins at Plastic Lumber Company, the inappropriate
leadership style gave the impression to the floor workers that
Robbins was weak, confused and therefore not in need of
respect. Employees would not follow someone who seemingly
was not worth following. Understanding who you are and what
you want people to do is the first step in building relationships
that influence others to follow you.
This week our discussion will focus on the skills needed as an
individual leader to create and maintain relationships within
GDD. We will also discuss the nature of the leader-follower
relationship. Look carefully at the results of the personal
assessment that you will take. There are two points to
understanding the full import of the results. First, the results
tell you a lot about the personal strength and weaknesses you
may possess allowing you to contemplate areas of improvement
and how you as a person relate to others. The second aspect of
this information is how others relate to one another and the
organization. For example, understanding how a candidate for a
new job will fit into the department requires you know the
personal traits of those in the department as well as the
candidates to make an effective decision on the hire; one that

2. will benefit the organization.
THEME ONE: Creating your own leadership energy as Clawson
would suggest starts with knowing who are as person.
Before you can build relationships with others, it is important to
reflect upon the personal skills you bring to the table. Knowing
your leadership style is a start but using assessment tools and
feedback from others will help define the extent to which you
possess a personal “soft” skill set equal to the task of leading.
Also, you will gain insight into how others perceive you and
how you perceive others. The former skill helps the leader
better sell their story and implement change while the latter
skill set helps align and design the organization for greater
effectiveness.
Read and View:
How Implicit Personality Affects Leadership
Personality and How It Relates to Leadership
Emotional Intelligence and Leadership
What is emotional intelligence?
Interview of Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence Social
Intelligence and Leadership
Personality and Leadership 9.5min
Personality and creating your Leadership style
Moral Compass Leading with Values
Moral Intelligence for Successful Leadership
Ultimate Ethics Quiz
Why Leaders Lose Their Way
Communication
Communication skills are the leader's great set of paintbrushes
as they cover and color every aspect of a leader's job and are
essential to creating change.
Read:
Critical Leadership Skills
How Good Are Your Communication Skills
View:
Communicating in the Workplace
Leadership Communication Why it is Important

3. Complete:
Learning Activity 1 Theme One: Creating your own leadership
energy as Clawson would suggest starts with knowing who are
as person.
Take the following quizzes.
After a review and reflection of the results, discuss how
knowing more about your personality, emotional IQ,
communication, ethics and your natural inclinations to be a
leader can improve your relationships with others in the
workplace. (Students can reflect generally or specifically on the
results to the class. Privacy is important to us all so if you
choose not to give actual numbers and just the results in
general, that is fine.)
Think over your experiences in the workplace and find five
examples where personality, emotional IQ, communication, or
ethics helped to create trust or lose trust, for you, in a leader.
Jung Typology Test
EQ Test
Ultimate Ethics Quiz
How Good Are Your communication Skills
Would You Make a Good Leader?
Leadership Skills
Learning Activity 2
Assess how Bloom might go about solving her leadership
relationship building problems. Take into consideration her
personality traits, organizational values, emotional intelligence
and the social leadership aspects of her role as leader. In short,
how can you make her a new woman; one that the department
would want to follow?
Orlanda Bloom was made Director of Accounting of GDD. She
worked hard in her new post. Having worked at GDD over the
last twenty-five years, Bloom was known for being tough but
fair in her approach to her workers. She was civil to everyone
but was considered a loner by her peers and remote in her
dealings with others. Fearful that should would not be treated
with respect and determined that she would be obeyed in her

4. new job, Bloom became overly attentive to her workers. She
micromanaged everyone from the lowest bookkeeper to her
immediate assistant director. She penalized workers and put
negative reports in people’s personnel files for the smallest
infraction. The accounting department personnel, who were
known to have the best morale in the company became the most
demoralized and unresponsive workers. HR director, Simon
was flooded for transfer requests. Worse yet, several people
left for jobs in other companies. Simon reviewed the situation
and decided that it might be best to consider giving Bloom one
more chance in view of her long history with the company.
However, imposing a probationary period for six months was
seen as necessary and if the negative reports continued she
would be asked to retire or fired if she refused to retire.
Scared and worried for her career, Bloom comes to you to ask
for advice.
Assignments
Bottom of Form
Project Two: Leadership Styles/Approach
Purpose:
The purpose of this assignment is for you to develop a
Relationship Building Action Plan.
Outcome Met by Completing This Assignment
use leadership theories, assessment tools, and an understanding
of the role of ethics, values, and attitudes to evaluate and
enhance personal leadership skills
develop and implement methods for establishing a constructive
organizational structure and culture that fosters positive
employee and employer relationships
assess the interactions between the external environment and
the organization to foster responsible and effective leadership
and organizational practices
Background:
After a relaxing weekend, you come to work, sit down at your

5. desk and open your email. The following is an email to you
from Andrew Rockfish:
I am sending this email to you because of the personal nature of
the material contained within your next assignment. It is
incumbent upon all good leaders to assess continuously their
personal leadership skills, style, and approach.
You will be developing a personal relationship building
assessment plan. Much like an annual doctor’s check-up, the
goal of the assessment plan is to develop a procedure for
evaluating the status of your personal skills, style, and attitude
in your work with others. Included in the assessment plan is a
review of your leadership strengths, weaknesses, results of
leadership assessments, feedback methodology, attitude, and
leadership style.
Relationship building is a dynamic process just as situations
change so too can the people skills needed to address the
situation. Periodic review of those skills will benefit you by
noting weaknesses and areas of change or improvement needed
in your behavior.
So, what exactly am I asking you to do that needs
confidentiality? Well, your plan is going to be the result of the
following hypothetical evaluation you received after your first
year with GDD. Although the hypothetical evaluation could be
much better, we have found that the results provide trainees the
opportunity to reflect upon one’s actual results and to prepare
for personal growth moving forward.
The hypothetical scenario is one in which you were promoted a
year ago into a leadership position. However, the past year has
proved to show several issues and the results are not at all what
we were hoping for when we promoted you. Still, experience
has taught us that help starts with an employee taking stock of
their personal skills. Since we believe that you have the
potential for being an excellent department head, we would like
to take measures toward your development. Please follow the
instructions below:

6. Instructions:
Step 1: Preparation for the Assignment
Before you begin writing the report, you will read the following
requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA
requirements. Not reading this information will lead to a lower
grade:
Review “How to Analyze a Case Study” under Week 5 Content.
You are expected to use the facts from the case scenario
focusing on using this information to determine opportunities
and solve problems.
Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading
rubric while writing the report to ensure all requirements are
met that will lead to the highest possible grade.
In writing this assignment, you will read and following these
tasks:
Task 1: Third person writing is required. Third person means
that there are no words such as “I, me, my, we, or us” (first
person writing), nor is there use of “you or your” (second
person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person,
view this
link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/firs
t-second-and-third-person.
Task 2: Contractions are not used in business writing, so you
are expected NOT to use contraction in writing this assignment.
Task 3: You are expected to paraphrase, which can be learned
by reviewing this
link: https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/QPA_paraphrase2.htm
l.

7. Task 4: You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations
and a reference list.
Task 5: You are expected to use the facts from the case
scenario paired with the weekly courses readings to develop the
analysis and support the reasoning. No more than three (3)
external resources can be used in completing the assignment.
The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course
readings. If any material is used from a source document, it
must be cited and referenced. A reference within a reference
list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice
versa. View the sample APA paper and the How to Cite and
Reference file located under Course Resources/Writing
Resources content.
Step 2: How to Set Up the Plan
Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is
double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product will be
between 5-7 pages in length excluding the title page and
reference page and appendix. You may not exceed seven (7)
pages so it is important to write clearly and concisely.
Follow a Report Format.
Create a title page with title, your name, the course, the
instructor’s name and date;
Introduction
Leadership Table (make sure the tables are formatted to fit
within the report and are easy to read and interpret)
Leadership Assessment
Relationship Building Action Plan
Step 3: Leadership Table

8. In this hypothetical scenario, the review is complete and the
results of the evaluation as well as feedback from your peers
and direct reports are in your hands.
The key to success in this project is to accept the “GDD
Evaluation Form” contents as a real assessment of your
performance at GDD for the first year’s work in this position.
While the information within the form is obviously
hypothetical, you must place yourself in the position and
address the situation as if it were truly you.
Task 1: Carefully review the Evaluation Form and Peer/Direct
Report Comments:
Task 2: Examine the comments and identify those statements
that relate to the following concepts: your strengths as a leader,
your weaknesses as a leader, communication skills, personality,
emotional IQ, with respect to others - trust, leadership attitude,
leadership style, and vision/strategic goal implementation.
Task 3: Complete the Leadership Table with the remarks you
have selected.
Topic
Comment Phrase (s)
Strengths as a Leader
Weaknesses as a Leader
Communication Skills
Personality
Emotional IQ
Trust

9. Leadership Approach
Demonstrated Leadership Style
Vision/Strategic Goal Implementation
Task 4: Write one paragraph for each topic, relating the
conclusions that you have drawn as to your effectiveness as a
relationship builder over the past year. Support the
conclusions/reasoning with the course readings (weeks 1 –
6). Be brutally honest with the conclusions that you draw. This
is personal and means your future with GDD is on the line.
Step 4: Leadership Assessment
To ensure you have a complete picture of your leadership skills,
you will need to take the following leadership assessments. If
you took any of these assessments back in week 5, you may use
those results but you must complete all assessments. Please be
sure to include the actual results in the appendix of the plan.
Note: your results are confidential.
Write a short summary of the results of each quiz or test.
Jung Personality Typology Test
Emotional IQ
Communication Skills
Self Esteem Quiz
Are you a Leader Test
Leadership Skills
Leadership Style Quizzes
Step 5: Relationship Building Action Plan
Now that you have completed the evaluation and read the
feedback comments and results from the leadership

10. assessments, it is time to develop a plan of action for
improvement. Focus on the process of how to bring about
improvement rather than what you should do. What are the
steps you will take to resolve the weaknesses you have? Think
of the leadership action plan as a way to improve the
relationship-building skills with others and influence the people
within the department to accomplish the work in an efficient
manner that meets organizational standards and satisfies
customers.
To accomplish the action plan, you will complete the tasks
listed below. Be thoughtful in your responses reflecting upon
all of the input documents. In completing each task, you will
formulating a thesis statement and support the reasoning with
rigorous, focused thinking that demonstrates the analytical
skills GDD is looking from you.
Task 1: Read all of the reports and provided information
closely.
Task 2: Provide an introduction that explains why people
skills are important for a leader to possess.
Task 3: Identify and discuss the people skills that are lacking
in your relationship with others as demonstrated in the
assessments and feedback received in Step 3.
Task 4: Explain how the missing or weak people skills are
hindering your success at building relationships with followers.
Task 5: Explain the significance of the leader-follower
relationship to fulfilling the strategic plan of the leader.
Task 6. Identify the one critical factor from the facts provided
(aside from the weaknesses in personal skills), that will
specifically affect your leader-follower relationship more than
any other factor. Explain how and why this fact will affect your
future if not corrected now.
Task 7: Provide at least three practical recommendations as to
how you can improve the weak skills that have been identified.
Step 5: Relationship Building Action Plan
Now that you have completed the evaluation and read the

11. feedback comments and results from the leadership
assessments, it is time to develop a plan of action for
improvement. Focus on the process of how to bring about
improvement rather than what you should do. What are the
steps you will take to resolve the weaknesses you have? Think
of the leadership action plan as a way to improve the
relationship-building skills with others and influence the people
within the department to accomplish the work in an efficient
manner that meets organizational standards and satisfies
customers.
To accomplish the action plan, you will complete the tasks
listed below. Be thoughtful in your responses reflecting upon
all of the input documents. In completing each task, you will
formulating a thesis statement and support the reasoning with
rigorous, focused thinking that demonstrates the analytical
skills GDD is looking from you.
Task 1: Read all of the reports and provided information
closely.
Task 2: Provide an introduction that explains why people
skills are important for a leader to possess.
Task 3: Identify and discuss the people skills that are lacking
in your relationship with others as demonstrated in the
assessments and feedback received in Step 3.
Task 4: Explain how the missing or weak people skills are
hindering your success at building relationships with followers.
Task 5: Explain the significance of the leader-follower
relationship to fulfilling the strategic plan of the leader.
Task 6. Identify the one critical factor from the facts provided
(aside from the weaknesses in personal skills), that will
specifically affect your leader-follower relationship more than
any other factor. Explain how and why this fact will affect your
future if not corrected now.
Task 7: Provide at least three practical recommendations as to
how you can improve the weak skills that have been identified.
Step 6: Appendix

12. Task 1: Use the appendix to provide the results of each of the
leadership assessments.
Task 2. Make sure to label each leadership assessment.
Global Delivery Direct - Company Profile
Adobe Acrobat Document
https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/img/lp/pixel.gifActions for 'Global
Delivery Direct - Company Profile'
Your GDD EVALUATION FORM HR Form 2230
Word Document
https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/img/lp/pixel.gifActions for 'Your
GDD EVALUATION FORM HR Form 2230'
How to Analyze a Case Study
Week 5 Learning Activities
Discussion Forum
Updated
Task: Reply to a topic within this forum
To complete the learning activities, please create a new thread
for each theme and identify in the subject line the theme for
which you are responding. Students are expected to post
to all themes and to at least two other students (across all
themes) by Sunday. In responding to the learning activities and
to other students, please be sure to use the course material using
in-text citations and a reference list to cite the source(s) used.
Remember, an in-text citation cannot exist without having a
corresponding reference list and a reference list cannot exist
without having a corresponding in-text citation. Use of the
course material using in-text citations and a reference list is
always expected in the learning activities and good practice for
the assignments in the course.