HDF 190

Portfolio
DENZEL ROBINSON

Table of contents

Strengths - Slide 3

Values - Slide 4

Opening Statement Slide 5

Section 1: Self Leadership

Section 2: Leadership Theories

Section 3: Inclusive Leadership

Section 4: Critical Thinking

Section 5: Interpersonal/Organizational Leadership

Signature Strengths
Harmony
Includer
Adaptability
Communication
Woo

Values in Action Strengths

Fairness
Teamwork
Honesty
Forgiveness
Self-Regulation

Opening Statement

My name is Denzel Robinson and I'm from Milford Connecticut. I'm currently
attending the University of Rhode Island as an undergraduate, and I'm
majoring in Psychology with a minor in Leadership Studies.

During my time here at the University of Rhode Island, I've become apart of
two organizations and am planning on joining more during my time here at
URI. I am a current member of the Tau-Eta chapter of the Kappa Sigma
Fraternity, and a facilitator for the North Woods Challenge Course.In addition I
was the president of my pledge class and I am now on the Executive
Committee of my fraternity as the Grand Scribe.

I lead to motivate those around me so that they can overcome their

challenges and become better leaders of themselves as well as for those
around them. If there was one thing that you should know about me, it's that
I'm a people person. I enjoy spending time alone but there is nothing better
then spending time with a friends and family and having a positive influence
on them.

Section 1: Self Leadership

8. Student will express a personal values statement

Personal values to me involve my top value strengths, which are

Harmony, Fairness, Includer, and Honesty, and Woo. I value harmony
because I cant stand things that are in chaos or that dont blend well. I
always like to make sure that everybody Is happy and if everyone isnt
happy then I will feel obligated to help in anyway I can to help make the
stress go away. The value strength that I have is Fairness. I like things to
be fair and I think everyone deserves a change to prove themselves and
also have a chance to redeem themselves if the fail at something. My next
value strength is Includer. I believe that no one should be excluded for
any reason and that each person has something unique to contribute to a
group. Finally, honesty is something that I hold very close to me. I never
saw the importance or the need to lie about anything. Lying just creates
stress and some point down the line the lie will catch up to you and make
you look bad as well as untrustworthy, and trust is incredibly important to
me.

Section 2: Leadership Theories

40. Student will show knowledge of the Relational
Leadership model by Komives, McMahon & Lucas

The Relational Leadership Model/Grid has fives categories, which are inclusive, empowering, purposeful, ethical, and
process oriented. For each of the five categories there are 3 sub categories which are Knowing, Being and Doing. The
Knowing category of each leadership component covers what is important to know and understand regarding that
component of leadership. Being is what you need to believe when embracing the leadership component and Doing
covers the skills required to embody the leadership component. Inclusive leadership is, of all students, staff, and
diverse points of view. For inclusive leadership, you must know yourself and others, understand citizenship, frames
and multiple realities, as well as world views and organizational cultures. You must believe that differences in people
are valuable, that fairness and equality are important, that everyone can make a difference, as well as being able to
conceptualize groups and organizations as web-like. Finally, you must have the skills of developing talent, listening,
building coalitions, framing/reframing, and engaging in civil discourse. Empowering leadership is, of self, group
members, and other involved constituents. it comes to empowering leadership, you need to know and understand
power, empowerment, impact of power on policies and procedures, as well as self esteem. For being, you must believe
that everyone has something to offer, and care for the growth and development of others. This is crucial, because if
you dont have a passion to help then youll never get your followers to where you truly want them to be. Some of the
skills that are required for a empowering leader is the ability to share information, build capacity of others, and to
practice renewal. Purposeful Leadership is, having an individual commitment to the position, the students, staff, job,
tasks, and other constituents. For Purposeful Leadership you must understand the change process, models, as well as
the role of mission/vision. For Being you must have an attitude that is hopeful and that encourages helping others. You
must also believe that individuals and groups can make a difference, which is similar to the Being category for
empowering and inclusive leadership. The skills you need to be a purposeful leader is to be able to identify goals,
envision things, create meaning, think creatively, and involve others in the vision building process. Ethical Leadership
is, driven by values and standards of leadership which are good in nature. You have to understand the development
of values, the influence of systems on justice and care, as well as the models of valuing of self and others, but the most
important thing to remember is decision making. You must have high standards for behavior for each person to help
everyone. Finally, you have to behave congruently. The last component of relational leadership is process-oriented
leadership. You must have a deep understanding of the community as well as believing in the effort of high quality. For
skills you must be able to collaborate, reflect, and making meaning of must things that your group works on.

Section 3: Inclusive Leadership

83. Student will create a personal code of inclusive

leadership
Based on the relational leadership
model, when it comes to inclusive leadership you need
to be inclusive, of all staff, and diverse points of view. (relational leadership grid) what
that means to me is being accepting and inclusive to all different types of people, despite
the positions that they do or do not hold in society. According to the RLG, you need to be
aware of self and others, citizenship, frames and multiple realities, world views, and
organizational cultures. For my personal code of inclusive leadership, it would be
important to have a vague understanding of large world issues, and to be open to different
cultures, their beliefs, and opinions. The RLG states that you need to believe, Differences
in people are valuable, fairness and equality are important, everyone can make a
difference, need to conceptualize groups and organizations as web-like in structure. (RLG)
Out of these I believe that everyone has a valuable and unique point of view, and that you
should definitely give each person a chance to explain themselves and their ideas. I also
agree with the RLG on fairness and equality, as well as the fact that everyone can make a
difference. For conceptualization I dont think that its necessary to look at every group and
organization as web-like in structure, but rather as a family and a community where
everyone helps and takes care of each other. Finally, for the doing portion of inclusive
leadership, you need to be able to develop talent, listen, build coalitions, frame/reframe,
and engage in civil discourse. For my personal code, I think that you must be able to listen
to your constituents and be attentive to them so that you can notice their strengths and
expose it to the group. You can then mold their strengths in a way that helps the group
prosper and get close to its goal.

Section 4: Critical Thinking

89. Student will demonstrate proficiency of critical thinking

When it comes to critical thinking, it is important to have an open mind. The 1 st principle of critical thinking is
gathering complete information. Personally I dont think its necessary to know everything about the subject
that youre critically thinking about, but you should be open about everything involving the subject. The 2 nd
principle for critical thinking is to understand and define all terms. Once again It is imperative to have an
understanding of the subject that is being critically thought about, but you dont necessarily need to know
every term and definition in the subject in order to critically think about it. The 3 rd principle is to question the
methods by which the facts are derived. This is how things develop and change over time for the better. No
good change can come without challenging what already exists. The 4 th principle of critical thinking is to
question the conclusions. Questioning conclusions helps create alternate conclusions, which then in turn can
create other alternate ideas about a subject. The fifth principle is to look for hidden assumptions and biases.
This is very important because everyone has their own opinions and biases and if that gets incorporated with
something that is factual, that can become and issue. The 6 th principle is question the source of the facts. This
is important because if you learn something from a source that Is old and outdated, it might not necessarily
be true and therefore will hurt your ability to critically think. The 7 th principle is to not expect all of the
answers to come out when critically thinking. There are infinite amounts of conclusions that can come from
critical thinking, so dont be mad or overwhelmed if you dont think of everything that youre critically
thinking about. The 8th principle is to examine the big picture. When critically thinking it is vital that you see
the big picture, because if you dont then you wont be able to know the why of what your analyzing and it
makes critically thinking immensely harder. The 9 th principle is to examine multiple causes and effects. You
need to be able to know the impact about what the idea is that youre thinking about. The 10 th principle is to
watch for thought stoppers. Though stoppers can include things like worries, obsessions, urges, or unwanted
habits.

Section 5: Interpersonal/Organizational
Leadership
99. Student will demonstrate knowledge of active listening
techniques

There are five things that make a good active listener: Paying attention, showing that youre
listening, providing feedback, deferring judgment, and responding appropriately. When it comes
to paying attention its important that youre looking at the speaker. If you are looking away,
then the speaker might think that you are starting to lose interest. You then must put aside
distracting thoughts. It is important to focus on what the speaker is talking about and not your
own thoughts because you want to make sure that you keep track of the speakers ideas. The
final part of paying attention is to listen to the speakers body language. Body language
contributes a lot to speaking and it is something that most people dont think about when
listening to someone else. The second major part of active listening is showing that your
listening. In order to show that youre listening you should be showing body language that
show interest, such as nodding, smiling, or other similar facial expressions. You should be
encouraging the speaker to speak by making small verbal comments such as yes and uh
huh, which leads to providing feedback. Some verbal ways to show that you are actively
listening would be to reiterate what they say occasionally and to ask questions to provide
clarity and to possibly encourage more conversation. Something you want to avoid when being
an active listener is interruption. It is important that you allow the speaker to finish what
theyre saying, so that you can fully understand their ideas and perspective. Finally, you must
respond appropriately. When you are listening you are gaining knowledge from the speaker,
so you gain nothing by attacking the speaker or making them feel uncomfortable.