Confusion to Competency

When I first started to brainstorm about the topics of my paper this week, I was a little stuck. Usually I can think of plenty of examples of how I have been in leadership positions throughout my time in Wartburg. However, this week my class is challenged to think of how taking classes outside of our major have helped us become leaders. Part of me is puzzled because it has been a couple of years since I have taken a single class that was not a requirement for either my major or my minor. After reflecting upon my previous classes at Wartburg, I realized that the classes that I took helped give me a bigger understanding of the communities with which I may have to deal with. In my very first class, Inquiry Studies: Better Living through Chemistry, my class talked about the importance of having a liberal education. We talked about how, as students, it is not only important to try and understand ourselves, but try to understand others as well. We highlighted that if people learn from multiple disciplines, people will have similar backgrounds and it will be easier to relate to one another.

In a Ted Talk*, Ria Merchandani from Brown University talked about how being liberally educated can help support a community. In her hometown in India it took five years to build a bridge because of conflict among the engineers and the community where the bridge was being building. The engineers did not understand the lifestyles of the fishing communities who were going to be displaced and the community did not understand the science behind why the bridge needed to be place where their homes were. Even if just the engineers were a little more liberally educated about socioeconomic classes and struggles that people go through, it might have been easier to make progress more quickly. Mirchandani said in her concluding statements that, "science and humanities cannot live in isolation. It only leads to inefficiency" (Mirchandani). Therefore, as a leader within a progressive world, it is imperative to have an open mind and to learn about topics that might not relate directly to who I am so that I can better understand who others are. By being able to have such a background, not only will I be more aware as a leader, but I am more capable of being a problem solver. At my time at Wartburg, I have been gifted with the opportunities to learn more in-depth about cultural and socioeconomic differences that someone without a liberal education might not understand.

CULTURAL CONFUSION

When I returned to Wartburg after spending six months in Argentina, I was a little nervous about how I would transition back to life within the United States. To help take off some of the pressure of adjustment, I took a class called Return Adjustment. When I first signed up for this class, I noticed that only me and one other girl who went to study abroad in Kenya were in the class. I was definitely sure that we would have different experiences to share with one another. However, on the first day of classes, I was surprised to find six other international students joining our class. While I was confused why they were there, my professor explained that we would be focusing on the transitions from being in another country and the difficulties of returning home. The international students had either just visited home, or were planning on returning home at the end of the semester. What was interesting was that even though we were all from different countries from around the world, we all had similar struggles when going abroad. Additionally, I was able to get a glimpse into the rules and rituals of my classmates' cultures as well.

Since I would like to work with people from other countries (or possible travel across the world), it is essential that I understand some of the struggles that may come with those responsibilities. One topic we talked about throughout the entirety of the course was intercultural communication. Many times, when interacting with someone from another culture, it's very easy for there to be a misunderstanding. Not only can a person be lost in translation, but non-verbal communication can be a source for confusion. As we shared stories about how accidentally offended people or said something we didn't mean, we discussed ways where we could be more prepared for these situations. In fact, for our final project, our class split up into groups and we had to make a "Survival Guide" for traveling to other countries. Since we all had experiences abroad, we were role models for others for their experiences abroad. My group said how people should find information about a country before they travel there through reading books and online information as well as talking to friends who have either traveled to that country or live there. We highly encouraged people to talk to friends because their experiences usually were more clear and direct about what a person should do. Not only should people try to learn more about non-verbal communication, but they should also learn about different roles in other cultures, too. For instance, we noted that people should learn about the distinctions of interactions between men and women, husbands and wives, elders and children, teachers and students, and professional to professional. Not understanding the importance of relationship can lead to many opportunities for cultural miscommunication. When we were abroad, we had talked to our friends and colleagues about what to look out for. The fastest way to learn was to make the mistake and see through people's reactions that something went wrong. Now as a leader I understand the importance of being culturally aware and that I should always make sure to pay attention to other cultures.

As a leader that works with various cultures, it is important to learn about the people from that culture before arriving. Then, by appearing culturally aware, the people of the culture may feel more comfortable, enhancing the relationship with that cultural group. For instance, before I left for Argentina, I read information about the country and talked to people who had already visited the country. One important lesson that I learned from those resources was to always greet people by kissing them once on the cheek rather than shaking their hand. Then, once I arrived to the country, I felt a little more prepared about what to do.

PLAYING WITH DIFFERENCES

As a part of working with the High School Leadership Institute, I had to take a class with the other mentors for the summer called Youth Leadership Mentoring Seminar. In this class, we not only learned how to be a mentor for the high school students entering the program, but we reflected on the importance of working with diverse populations. We decided that we needed to make sure that the high school students were introduced with various kinds of diversity because when the students went home to implement their projects, many of them would need to work with people who are different than them. One of the most obvious examples is age, but other factors were social class, race, and culture.

An activity that we did with the students to introduce them to the concept of working with diversity is called BARNGA*. BARNGA at first seems like a simple card game where each player cannot talk. The students are divided up into multiple groups and then taught the rules of the game. Little do they know that they are being taught different rules. Each round they bid pennies and the person with the most tricks at the end wins the pennies. After the students go through the simple card game twice, some students are moved from one group to another based on how many pennies they had. At that point we usually have a lot of students who become skeptical and confused. When I played the game the first time, I just sat and let the people at the new group tell me what I should be doing because I was not going to be the one to disrupt the game. However, other people were determined that their way was the right way and tried to fight for the trick.

The themes that we were addressing through BARNGA were the differences between societal rules in social classes. We emphasized that although someone may entire a community with the best intentions, their actions may not be interpreted well by the community because they don't follow the social norms. This lesson was not only crucial for the students who were planning the service learning projects to implement at home, but for all volunteers. As a volunteer, I have encountered people who do not want to accept the gifts that my group has to offer. Even though initially my group thought that the people should be gracious for the services that we offered, we realized that sometimes we weren't addressing a problem that was really important to the community we were serving. Also, sometimes people had so much pride that they could not accept the situation that they were in and ask for help. As a leader, I must try to recognize the needs of the communities that I interact with on a daily basis. If I do not take the time to learn what is important to the community, there is potential for confusion or frustration among both parties. Subsequently, the high school student leaders we worked with had to learn how to deal with people who might not agree with their proposal and how to interact with others who are different than them that they may work with.  In life, this is a reality that all people need to accept. Within my leadership style, I am more comfortable in watching others and follow social cues before trying to give my own input. Once I understand what is going on, then I feel free to more actively participate within a community.

FINAL COMMENTS

As I leader, I have to remember to have an open mind. As I learned, even if a class was not a requirement of my major or minor, there were still some prevalent lessons to learn that can help with future interactions. People are so incredibly different that by having knowledge in various fields, it is more likely that there will be some way to try and relate to them. Most importantly, a leader has to take the  initiative to learn more about others and try something new. Without the confidence to take initiative, my leadership would be stagnant. However, the capacity to be adaptive is essential to leadership, and my journey to expand my leadership has included taking classes that do not relate to my major or minor.


*Mirchandani, Ria. "Putting Liberal Education in Perspective: Ria Mirchandani at TedxBrownUniversity." Ted Talks. YouTube. 21 November 2012. Web. 20 October 2013.
 
**Thiagarajan, Sivasailam and Raja Thiagarajan. Barnga: A Simulation Game on Cultural Clashes, Boston: Intercultural Press, 2006.