This workshop taught me one major lesson about trying to communicate in a group setting, especially as a leader. As important as it is to consider what information you should convey to others, it is much more important to understand how others will take in that information. For example, we discussed how presidential candidates will look over every little aspect that revolves around their speech before they are even close to giving the speech. They decide on how to dress, what will be behind them as they speak, whether or not the people around them should nod or clap, etc. all before they even read through the speech! The point behind all of that fuss is so that they can gauge how the audience will take the speech, it's all about how they recieve the information. Presidential candidates have a lot at stake, therefore, if any little thing turns off the audience then they will not take the message in the rway that the candidate had intended. This goes for all leaders in group situations. In order to truly relate a message to an audience, their reactions must be contemplated and premeditaded. It's all about getting the right message across. If a leader can achieve this, then they have accomplished one of the most helpful and beneficial leadership skills. After all, how can you lead a group of people if you cannot communicate with them effectively? As a leader, effective communication is a must. Knowing this, I will definitely pay much more attention to my audiences in order to gain their full attention and get my messages across to them. This skill will not only help me through the Setter's Leadership Program process, but it will also help me in my other organizations in which I am involved and in my future career. Therefore, this is a skill that can be useful for a lifetime.

This workshop was particularly informative and certainly helpful. It was close to the time that we were deciding how to split up the tasks required to complete the Leadership Retreat among our Tier 2 SLP group members. We discussed that everyone should have their own role in a group project based on their skills, knowledge, connections to others, work ethic, etc. in order to create a type of "super group" when placed together. It is only common knowledge that if the tasks are not assigned to specific group members then not everyone will fulfill an equal part in the project. Therefore, by creating work structure, we can create a smoother team process in any group situation. The delegation of responsibilities for our SLP group project can serve as an essential piece to creating a successful leadership retreat, which is our overall goal.

I found the Conflict Workshop to be extremely interesting. Individually, we took the Thomas-Kilmann test in order to determine each of our styles of dealing with conflict. I found out that I am of the "Accomodating Style," meaning that I try to be helpful in making the situation better for others. An excellent example that explains this would be if a friend asked me what I wanted for dinner.  As an accomodating person, I would be very likely to say "whatever you want is fine with me." This response not only shows that I am cooperative, but it also demonstrates my desire to "keep the peace" while still being reasonable. However, after reading into the description of an accomodating person, I now realize that sometimes I may not be allowing my ideas to be shared with others. In the aforementioned example, maybe I really wanted Chinese but refused to say anything about it because I didn't want to start an "arguement." Of course this is only an example, but at least now I see that sharing my ideas with others more could also be helpful when resolving conflict. I will definitely have that in mind from now on so that I do not always sacrifice my own ideas in order to make others content. Therefore, I really did learn a lot from this workshop as I now better understnad my main way of dealing with difficult situations. I have already found that this information has helped me when working as a group to formulate our leadership retreat and I am sure it will help me further into the future too.

Our first workshop for the semester was a revisit to Tier 1, as we discussed our Stengths Quest results once again. To me, this was great because I throughly enjoyed our Stengths Quest discussions last semester. A smilewould come to my face whenever I would read or listen to a description of my top stengths and be able to say "Wow, that is so me."

However, this workshop was a little different from what we had done in the past. This time we analyzed how people with different strengths can work well together. For example, I talked to Kristina who has "Command" as a strength. That is definitely not a strong area for me, since I am not an outspoken person. However, even though we may seem like opposites, because I have the strength of "Relator" we would actually work well together. When she is speaking to a group about something, I could come in and relate her statements to the group so that they could better understand what is being said.

Therefore, I believe that this workshop was a great introduction to Tier 2 as it taught us that even though we are all different, those differences may actually be for the best when trying to accomplish a task as a group. Where one person may lack in skill, another person can take over. Therefore, together as a group we can cover everything. Especially when it comes to creating a successful leadership retreat, which we will be achieving together in order to complete our Tier 2 journey.

I thoroughly enjoyed reflecting upon the common reading with everyone during our last compass event. When we went around the room and shared our favorite letters, I could only think about how our tier one journey went full circle. In the beginning, we were unsure of what we were really going to learn and accomplish together. It was also when many of us introduced ourselves to each other for the first time. However, during our last tier one event together I found myself nodding my head as people read their favorite letters and thinking to myself "that sounds so much like him/her." I believe that we have learned so much together through this process, not only from the professionals who gave us presentations on certain aspects of leadership, but also from each other. Our contributions to the various discussions we have had reflect who we are, our goals, how we would like to improve ourselves, and what we value most in becoming a leader. Many of us share common ideas, but we all have our own individual aspirations which set us apart from one another.

I think that this was worthwhile information to reflect upon during this event. It shows how far we have come by illustrating how we have molded ourselves since day one of the program. I think our favorite letters included a source of inspiration for each of us, which comes with a certain degree of motivation to become that leader we want to be. I am grateful that this book was chosen to be our common reading because for me it really does serve as a basis of encouragement. This is especially true for my favorite letters, which were so directed towards my life and leadership values that they made me hesistate when I was reading the first time. Overall, this program has certainly been a learning experience for me and I am thankful to have been accepted as a part of it.