HDF 190:

FIRST YEAR LEADERS INSPIRED TO EXCELLENCE

LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO

Robert Zenga
SPRING 2018

robert_zenga@my.uri.edu
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Strengths
Opening Statement SLIDE #4
Section 1: Self Leadership SLIDE #5/6
Section 2: Leadership Theories SLIDE #7/8
Section 5: Interpersonal/Organizational Leadership SLIDE #9

(No outcomes from sections 3 and 4)

 Signature Strengths
Achiever
Responsibility
Restorative
Positivity
Developer

Values in Action Strengths

Teamwork
Honesty
Social Intelligence
Gratitude
Prudence

M
 OPENING STATEMENT
In HDF190, I learned a lot about myself and how I use my
strengths, values, and caring personality to help others. I know
that I am passionate about making positive change in the world,
and know that my strengths and values will help me to achieve
that. I know that I like to take charge as a leader but also love
working as a member of a team and solving a problem together. I
see the good in people and help them to develop their skills in
order to practice leadership and be a leader. I am proud to be part
of the URI Center for Student Leadership Development and hope to
continue working with them to grow as a leader and become more
involved.
 SECTION 1
Self Leadership
(Outcome 15: Leadership style, strengths, and weaknesses)
After taking the Gallup StrengthsQuest test to find my strengths and leadership style, I was a
little bit surprised by the results. My top 5 strengths were achiever, responsibility, restorative,
positivity, and developer. Although I understood positivity, responsibility, and even achiever, I was
surprised by my restorative and developer strengths. Since taking the assessment, I have
realized that these are absolutely strengths of mine. Restorative is taking care of problems and
finding the problem to solve. I am always looking for things to make better in order to help others.
Developer is about finding the potential in people and helping them to use their strengths to grow.
I care deeply for others and this is something that I tend to do when meeting new people. As for
achiever, I always want to get things done as soon as possible, and for positivity, I may not be
positive when it comes to myself but I present myself in a positive way and strive to help others
find the positive things in their lives. For responsibility, I always tend to be careful and help others
and work my best to make sure that everybody is safe and respectful. I have realized that these
strengths, when used too often or too forcefully, can become a weakness. For example, achiever
can be a strength, but if it is too much of a focus, it can stop you from discovering the beautiful
things around you and “stopping to smell the roses”. It is important to know this and use
strengths for positive things, but realize that these are not our only strengths and that we need to
use them in moderation.
 SECTION 1
Self Leadership
(Outcome 3: Managing and regulating emotions)
In the past, I have had issues with managing my emotions and not letting small setbacks hold me down. I
tended to overreact and spiral out of control when something didn’t go my way. When taking general
psychology at URI, PSY113, I was working hard to do my absolute best, but unfortunately slipped up on an
assignment called a “PIA” meaning psychology in action. We were supposed to look up an empirical
experimental article to apply our learning. I used a meta-analysis study rather than an empirical study, which
skewed all of my results. This resulted in a low grade of 20%. When I discovered this news, I was defeated
and didn’t know what to do. Instead of being proactive, I spiraled out of control and let my emotions get the
best of me. I knew that it wasn’t going to help me at all to sit there upset in my room, so I decided to email
the professor and ask what I could do to fix the grade or complete extra credit. I received a quick response
saying that I could revise the grade up to 100% within the next week, which solved all of my problems. Once
I re-submitted the assignment and received the grade I wanted to, I looked back on how I reacted when I
originally got the grade. I was overreacting, which didn’t help me solve the problem, and I could have
resolved it faster had I not been so focused on how much of a failure I felt I was. This taught me that in
stressful situations, you have to keep control of your emotions and try to find a solution rather than bury
yourself under the pressure. I can continue to solve problems in this way using my value strength of
prudence, as I will think through the situation before allowing myself to overreact. This will allow me to
make rational decisions and solve problems effectively.
 SECTION 2
Leadership Theory and Models
(Outcome 26: Servant Leadership)
In HDF190, I learned about how Robert K. Greenleaf’s Servant Leadership theory focuses on putting others first and
doing anything possible to help or serve others. Servant Leadership begins with a natural feeling to serve followed by
a conscious choice to lead. Serving others can help yourself and others, strengthen an organization’s commitment to
a cause, and empower others. Servant leadership is mutually beneficial and shows compassion for those you are
serving and serving with. One component of servant leadership that is often confused is that the goal is not to “fix”
something, giving the idea that something is broken, but rather helping or assisting others however possible. Servant
leaders often use their strengths and values to serve and can sometimes forget to care for themselves. There are ten
characteristics of servant leadership that, when used with one’s strengths and values, help to serve and help those
around you. These characteristics include listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization,
foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people, and building community. Listening should be active, and
should be heard completely before making decisions or comments. Empathy refers to separating a person from their
work, walking a mile in their shoes, and being personable with individuals. Healing is considered helping your staff
become whole, considering history, and building a future together. Awareness of self and organization is important, as
it focuses on being sharply awake and reasonably distrusted. Persuasion is the opposite of positional authority,
convinces, and builds consciousness quickly. Conceptualization refers to making time for strategy and planning things
out. Foresight considers the consequences of present decisions on future outcomes. Stewardship focuses on being
entrusted with resources of others, and getting return on investments. Commitment of the growth of people refers to
helping people no matter who they are or who your favorites are. Lastly, building community has to do with
camaraderie and working together. Servant leaders are equal to others, live a helpful lifestyle, and have a mindset that
they can always reach higher or do more. The Servant Leadership theory describes leaders who work hard to make a
difference in others’ lives.
 SECTION 2
Leadership Theory and Models
(Outcome 40: Relational Leadership)
In HDF190, we learned about the Relational Leadership Model, which focuses on building actions and
decisions on why you want to do it rather than around what you are doing. The main idea around this
model is that it is used to put others first and focusing on the “why” or reasons you want to do something
to help others rather than the “what”, which is focusing on what you are doing. Using this model, there are
five components to make sure are included. These are inclusive, empowerment, ethical, purposeful, and
process. These all focus on how you behave when working with others and help to determine whether or
not you are doing something for the right reasons. The inclusive component has to do with understanding,
valuing, and engaging all aspects of diversity in order to gain a new perspective and to develop a team’s
strengths and talents. The empowering component is important as it helps to encourage members to get
involved and participate, which can lead to self-empowerment as well as environmental empowerment.
The ethical component is involved with making decisions based on moral principles and leading by
example. The purposeful component relates to the team being committed to a common goal, finding and
taking action on a shared vision, and resolving differences among the members of a group. Lastly, the
process component has to do with being aware of how the group acts and how that impacts the group’s
work, being dedicated, and being intentional in the work you do and the mission you follow. All of these
work together to make a group work well together. The actions of the group are carried out by knowing,
being (value strengths), and doing (character strengths). Knowing focuses on being familiar with yourself
and others in a group in order to engage in activities and learn. Being has to do with being aware and
open to the things around you in order to make a lasting impact. Doing is acting to help others, listening,
and developing skills as a team.
 SECTION 5
(Interpersonal and Organizational Concepts and Skills )
(Outcome 114: Stages of Group Development)
In HDF190, I learned about Tuckman’s stages of group development and how they relate to
working with others as a group. The stages include forming, storming, norming, performing, and
adjourning. Forming is when a team starts to meet each other and forms ground rule for the
group dynamic or the task at hand. Members are usually treated as strangers during the forming
stage. Storming is when members start to communicate feelings and ideas to one another but
they still see themselves as individuals rather than a group working together, which can lead to
argument, resistance, and hostility. Norming is when people start to feel that they are part of the
team and understand that if they accept others’ ideas, they can achieve the task at hand.
Performing is when the team works together and trusts one another. They learn to be more
flexible and put the hierarchy formed in storming aside to contribute and include everybody. In
Adjourning, the team completes the assessment and works to transition roles and recognize
everybody’s achievements. Adjourning can be used as a time of reflection and debrief from the
activity. This model can be shown when a new group starts working together and need to
accomplish a task together. It explains the difficulties and success of a group and how they grow
and develop in order to achieve a common goal. This is extremely relevant through group
projects in school and working to achieve a common goal in the workforce