Wednesday, March 23, 2011

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Tai Chen Yu (17)

A leader should be :
  • Honest — Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not inspire trust.
  • Competent — Base your actions on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.
  • Forward-looking — Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.
  • Inspiring — Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.
  • Intelligent — Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.
  • Fair-minded — Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.
  • Broad-minded — Seek out diversity.
  • Courageous — Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.
  • Straightforward — Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.         
In addition to all these traits, I feel that a leader must be a person with the intelligence and wits to be able to lead a certain group of people to success and to be able to be innovative and flexible so in times of crisis he would be able to adapt to the changed environment and be able to still continue to lead his people without failure. Also, I think that moral values do not apply in being a good leader, as a gang leader is also a leader and should he not be able to fulfill the basic requirements of being a good leader the gang would also fail along with him but however if he does posses these traits, he is also counted as a good leader. A leader is a person that is able to lead his men to survival and success along with being able to adapt and accept which is the main trait that sets leaders apart from different people. 

Source:


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Ong Ding Shan ~ 14

Great Leaders possess 

Passion. Gandhi, the peron who led India to independence, who inspired many for civil rights and freedom all around the world. From being jailed to starving himself for the better good of India, he has proven that the never ending passion burns in his heart for his whole lifetime. 

Intelligence. Confucius, a thinker in China. Little is known about his background, however he is thought to be the editor of the five classics. His inteligence about life have influenced many into thinking deeper into life.

I think a good leader would look from the big picture and slowly drive into the small details, analysing very aspect of the situation. There he will then come up with solutions and solve the problems. He should not crumble under stress, let his judgement fall under pressure or doubt himself. 

eLearning CE: Activity 3 Abram Tan (01)

    Leaders are like celebrities. They have something others want. But leaders have also some things which are different from celebrities. Leaders are all out for their team. They are selfless beings, whether in their field or not. The leaders' team see them working hard, see their passion and see the intellect they have with dealing with problems. Good leaders put in tons of effort to put in tough spots that they have to work their way out of. These good leaders are optimistic and never want negative thoughts but instead think that everything has a way. By thinking that there is a way to solve the problem, good leaders motivate and encourage their teams such that, in a matter of time, the problem is solved. Not through their intelligence but through their never ending optimism. Therefore, with a leader's good skills, selflessness, and optimism, they bring their average team to become one of the best. 
Source: Katherine, Hobson. (2008, November 19). America's best leaders: lance armstrong, cyclist and advocate. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/news/best-leaders/articles/2008/11/19/americas-best-leaders-lance-armstrong-cyclist-and-advocate 

eLearning CE: Activity 3 Jake Wee (10)

Leadership Skills

Traits of a leader
1) Motivation: When the team is down and disheartened, the leader has to take on the role as a motivator to push the team to encourage them, to ask them to press on and not to give up but to focus on whats ahead of them and not whats past. 

2) Positive/Optimistic: The leader has to be optimistic and always look on the bright side of things. If not, how then can he lead  the team and motivate them?

3) Self Confidence: The leader has to believe in himself and knows that he is the leader and his decisions are the best for the team and himself.

4) Trust: A leader cannot do everything by himself thus he has to delegate work to his subordinates. Thats when trust comes into the picture. Knowing that his/her subordinate is capable and delegating a job to him and even if it turns out bad, the leader will still take responsibility for what happens, but it takes a true leader to trust in what he subordinates do and know that its the best.

5) Humility: The leader must understand that though he is at the top, he still needs to learn from the rest and not think that he's the best and that his way will work and that his subordinates ideas are deemed to fail.

Managing crisis under stressful situations
A leader should remain calm and think through the situation before acting. He should not just freak out and just feel like giving up. Its important for a leader to remain confident and calm, as the whole team is looking upon him for further instructions.

Good leaders- Ming Yong

I feel that a good leader should be able to think in terms of the big picture, instead of small and minor problems that are negligible when looking at a larger scale. For example, if you're a leader of a nation and you know that <insert country name here> is going to attack your nation, and at the same time some terrorists have kidnapped, lets say 10 citizens and demand for a ransom of a ridiculous amount. In this scenario, the leader should be wise and realistic and focus on managing the nation's defenses and military. A bad leader in this case would give the terrorists the money they want, which if invested in military purporses could grant the nation extra troops and supplies, just to save his citizens. When comparing these outcomes, which one do you feel is better? Sometimes, for the greater good leaders must be ready to sacrifice even lives. To me, this is the most important trait of a leader: To be willing to sacrifice for the greater good.
Secondly, the leader should not be obsessed with personal matters and focus on the real threat. This is closely related to the first trait, the leader has to know how to spend his time wisely for the benifit of everyone and not be putting too much time on his personal affairs. In short, the leader must be able to prioritize what is the most important, and take the best course of action.
Lastly, the leader must be a good person in general. Now when i say good person i do not refer to the kind of people that devotes their time in helping others greatly and being a kind and nice person, but rather im reffering to traits like cunning, decisive and persuasive. Without these traits, he should not be considered as fit to lead his people.

eLearning CE: Activity 3 Ronak Mehta (15)

Most people around just sit there and just wait for something to happen, knowing nothing's going to happen. But from all these people there are some of them who believe in themselves and have the courage to lead the others who just sit there doing nothing. These people are called Leaders. They have many traits but i'll just share some very important ones. 

1) Honesty/Honest - One of the most important things Good Leaders must have is Honesty in themselves. These morals must be in them for them to show and be outstanding to people who follow them. They must have the right amount of Sincerity; also TOO much Sincerity is also not good! 

2) Forward Looking - Leaders need to be forward looking. In case you do not know, it means that they need to have an inspiring vision in front of them to do something in the future and to succeed. By looking, in the future, one can get ready for anything that might just come up and time is something you can control and have to live in a certain manner. This also involves not looking back in the past and thinking about the future.

3) Intelligent - A very obvious and important trait. One must have the knowledge and capability of what he wants to succeed and do. Without it, nothing can be done, why not? Intelligence runs in everyone's mind but what matters is the amount of it. For a leader to lead, he must be knowing in what he is doing and as said before plan ahead and not look back depressed of the mistakes.

These are some VERY IMPORTANT traits for what it takes, to be a Good Leader. 

Asking yourself, how do these great leaders cope and handle through times of stress and lead at the same time? These people have a very calm and thinking mind, not losing their anger very fast and controlling it. With that controlled, they can think ahead of what to plan and move on to the next step. 



Ronak (15)


eLearning CE: Activity 3 Ray Chow 22

The first trait that a leader should possess is they must have a
vision. As the saying goes, 'You must stand for something, or you'll
fall for everything. Hence, a good and awesome leader should be able
to visualise what is coming up next, how to face it and stuff like
that. As a leader, one has to learn to communicate one's vision or the
vision of one's group to the people one wants to follow him. That is
why Al Gore wanted to be the president of the United States. He wanted
the world to know about global warming and he has now achieved what he
has visualised, and was the 45th vice-president of the United States.

The second trait that a good leader should have is passion and
determination. One's followers want passion; in fact, they'll go to
the ends of earth because of it, live and die for it. Think of the
sailors who traveled with Christopher Columbus or Leif Ericsson to
explore uncharted territory. Their leaders' passion inspired them to
take on new and very dangerous challenges.

The third trait and I feel the most important is that a wonderful
leader makes himself a role model and not the boss. A leader is
someone who leads others. How can one lead others if he himself as not
walked the path himself? What I am trying to say is that a leader has
to meet the standards and be an example to others who follow him. The
traits of a good leader includes to always guide and help the
followers as one of them and not be bossy and commanding. Try to be a
part of the team rather than just giving orders and targets.

Good leaders do not stress out easily. Instead, to stress out, they do
leisurely activities to stress out. They do not vent their anger in
front of everyone. Imagine Lee Kuan Yew suddenly shouts out and throws
stuff in the middle of a speech. Not very sightly. So that is the
reason why Obama plays golf, and that is the reason why Hilter
organised the Holocaust.

Sources:

Vogan, P. (2010, April 17). 5 key traits of good leaders. Retrieved
from http://www.entrepreneur.com/management/leadership/leadershipcolumnistpattyvogan/article163590.html

Bhatti, S. (2010, April 8). Traits of a good leader. Retrieved from
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/traits-of-a-good-leader.html

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Jonathan Phang (12)

Some traits of a leader to me would be :

1) Able to gain the trust of people. This means that they are able to get people to trust in him or her to lead them. 

2) Decisive. The leader must be able to make decisions for his or her group. 

3) Communicative. The leader must be able to communicate with his or her group. The leader must take into consideration the group's feelings when making decisions.

4) Have Confidence. The leader must have confidence in leading a group, otherwise the group might feel unsure about the leader. 

5) Able to Motivate. A leader should be able to motivate his or her group, able to encourage them as they meet obstacles. 

6) A good follower. A leader should consider other's opinions and advice. A leader should not always think of him or her being in authority and therefore not listening to others.

7) Responsible. A leader is and should be responsible for the group's actions. 

A good leader would manage stress and frustrations by firstly, not blaming others. Should the leader blame others, there will probably more stress and conflict among the people. A good leader should also ask other's for advice and not just do things his or her ways in solving a problem. A leader should also remain calm and not be stressed out, as others might also be worried about the leader and their own future, basically not panicking.

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Izzat Syahmi (09)

Research on lives of a leader.
  • What traits do they possess?
  • How do you think a good leader manages crisis under stressful situations?
Some traits that leaders possess are:
  • Honest — Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not inspire trust.
  • Competent — Base your actions on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.
  • Forward-looking — Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.
  • Inspiring — Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.
  • Intelligent — Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.
  • Fair-minded — Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.
  • Broad-minded — Seek out diversity.
  • Courageous — Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.
  • Straightforward — Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.
  • Imaginative — Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods. Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be innovative!
Source:www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leadchr.html

Those who do not manage stress successfully are often failures at leading during these situations. Emotional and mental stability is a prerequisite for effective leadership. An effective leader has the capacity to remain calm, stable and focused during the most chaotic periods. A sense of stability must be maintained in order to keep recovery efforts on track during the stressful periods of a crisis.

Done by: Izzat Syahmi
Class: S2-06

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Tan Hao Ming(18)

A leadership role is one of the most important in a group, or in any other form of leadership. Everyone should be given the chance to become a leader, no matter whether we think they are a good or a bad leader. A good leader will have good traits, while a bad leader will also have some of the traits which a leader should have. This below are the 7 main traits which I think a leader should have:


1) Confidence: 


A leader must believe in his or her own abilities to lead effectively.


2) Character: 


This is important when it comes to leading effectively. There are two aspects to character - trustworthiness and honesty. Even if there is a 'fault' in the character of a leader, the followers will not believe in him. You realise that everyone normally choose someone to become a leader because of his/her character which suits the role. So, this is still one of the common traits a leader must have.


3) Communication: 


The leader must be able to put across what needs to be done and how it is to be done to the followers. At the same time, he/she must be willing to accept any suggestions from the other followers and have the ability to listen, question, analyse and observe. He/She should believe that action speaks louder than words. He/She must allow this trait to flow smoothly.


4) Knowledgable: 


A leader must be highly knowledgable, thorough in his/her work in order to be able to guide, lead and train his/her followers properly. being a highly knowledgable leader can make it easier when it comes to solving problems. It will also make the work more easily, effectively done.This is a real vital quality required for leadership  development.

5) Respect:


A good leader earns respect, but not command respect. He/She must Be able to listen to his followers without interrupting as all his followers deserved to be respected. He/She must set a good example for his own followers. If he/she listens and respects everyone, his/her own subordinates will also follow him/her and respect him/her and the others.


6) Vision:


When we do things, we must be able to know what we are doing that for. We need to have a goal and vision that we want to achieve so that it will have more meaning when it comes to doing such things. This is same for a leader. The leader must plan well about what he is going to do and be able to consider the future. He/She must also be able to explain well to his/her followers and make them understand the need to change.


7) Attitude: 


For a leader and his followers to succeed, this is one of the most  important traits. Even when there is problems faced by the leader, a positive attitude must be maintained. He must also at the same time be able to instill this to his followers by appropriate motivation and problem solving techniques.


There are 5 ways on how a good leader reacts and manages to crisis under stressful situations. A good leader will choose to take some time to figure out what is going on first before he carries out any action. In a company, most likely the manager will call for a meeting to carry out this action.


Another way a good leader will react is to act promptly, not hurriedly. He/She must be able to provide direction and respond to the situation in a timely fashion. He/She will know when to act and knows that acting hurriedly will only cause people to get more nervous. "Be quick but don't hurry" is the quotation to use over here.


The last three ways of how a good leader will act are to manage expectations, demonstrate control and to keep loose. Out of these 3, I feel that keeping loose is the most important over here. When leaders face such crisis situations, they must keep calm and be able to adapt quickly to it. After that, they must be able to think of ideas and solutions quickly, and they must know that this one cannot be solved by one person; they must discuss this with the others too.


For manage expectations, a good leader will be able to adapt and also analyze the situation quickly, the scope and size of the crisis. This type of leaders are also important as they know that they must not alarm other people, yet do not be too afraid to speak to the magnitude of the situation.


Lastly, we have demonstrate control. When there are such crisis situations, no one may be in control of the situation, but a good leader will be able to assume control. This is like a disaster, be it man-made or natural, no one may be in control, but people can control the response. This type of leader will put himself into action and bring the followers to bear.


Sources: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/characteristics-of-a-good-leader.html

Daniel Tan (20) Lives of leaders

These are some of the leadership skills I find that a good leader should gave.

Visible - By circulating around the workplace, you will appear more approachable and available. Take advantage of every opportunity to interact with co-workers. Be supportive of others and try to help out with the little things. Walk into the bay area and have a brief conversation as you help a co-worker with a customer's car. Management By Wandering Around (MBWA) works! Make sure to practice visibility upward as well as downward.

Consistent - Don't be a tyrant one day and a pussycat the next. Flip-flopping between styles confuses employees. Stick with one style of leadership. Those who look to you for leadership must know what to expect on a daily basis. Also, make decisions consistently. It is important not to bring personal feelings to the workplace. When dealing with employees, stay focused on the situation or issue, not on the person. We connect with some workers better than others. Try not to let the relationship taint your response. Treat all employees equally. Enforce company policies fairly. It is more difficult with the co-workers who are different from you.

Initiate - Try initiating conversations to help find better solutions. Asking questions is a great way to initiate conversations. Try asking open-ended questions. For example: "What can we do better as a company?" Don't always dictate change. Initiate change by creating an atmosphere where creative juices can flow freely. Encourage suggestions for improvement. Set out a suggestion box and reward good suggestions. Continually strive to get better.

Positive - You set the tone for your environment. An optimistic attitude from a leader can carry over to others. What type of tone are you setting at the shop? Is it one of optimism or one of pessimism? Confidence is contagious; so is the lack of it. Employees mirror the tone that leaders set. Be an encourager.

Responsible - Leaders accept challenges as well as successes. If an employee makes a mistake, it is your responsibility to help him or her improve. Employees will never respect a leader who deflects criticism toward the team. Successful leaders think of themselves as "we," not "I." It is a leader's responsibility to ensure that everyone shares in the team's success.

Listen - The most important characteristic of a leader is being a good listener. Focus on the needs of your employees. Often people feel afraid of, or intimidated by, management. Make sure you show people you are willing to listen to what they have to say, that they are important and worthy of your time.

Open the doors of two-way communication. Don't fall into the trap of telling others what to do without considering their opinions. No person - at any age - enjoys being told what to do. Even if you know the answer, listen respectfully and hear out a question. This will help you open up communication between you and the workers.

I think a good leader would not panic and would control the group and keep them together so that they would be able to cope during the stressful situation

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Tan Siah Wei (19)

We see forms of leadership in our everyday lives, whether it is Barack Obama on the news, or the Captain of your Soccer team. In our society, guidance and motivation is essential to maintain discipline.

One essential quality is to be able to speak well in front of the audience, like Barack Obama or Martin Luther King Jr. Obama was successful in convincing people to vote for him, as he had the ability to know his people well enough such that he could provide for their needs, in his words, 'Yes We Can'. Due to all his promises, people started to go for what they wanted by voting for him.

Gandhi had self-confidence, which made people believe in him and follow him in a long March to the seaside to collect their own salt when the British taxed them absurdly for it. The people believed in him because he knew what he was doing, and did not seem to be deterred by the British's actions. The March was later known as the Salt March.

Leadership is not defined by just one form. Sometimes, education and charisma are not essential. In Gandhi's case, he just needed to relate to the people that he knew what he was doing. He did not need to be a rich or very well educated person, he just needed to believe in what he wanted. So, if you want to be a leader, you must know how to motivate people then to guide them. Sometimes, not everything goes your way, so you must learn how to accomodate.

A good leader must also be able to react to situations swiftly, and not idly. For example, due to the Japan Fukushima crisis, the government is putting all their attention on the nuclear crisis and leaving the people to fend for themselves. Such action taken may have been addressing the problem, but the government are bringing down the people's morale, and the people lose respect. Leaders may not be able to fully avoid such problems, but they should try to as much as they can. 

Sources: The Straits Times Newspaper + Inferences

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Heo Yub (08)

  • What traits do they possess?
  • How do you think a good leader manages crisis under stressful situations?

Some of the traits that good leaders posses have is:

  • Honest — Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not inspire trust.
  • Competent — Base your actions on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.
  • Forward-looking — Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.
  • Inspiring — Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.
  • Intelligent — Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.
  • Fair-minded — Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.
  • Broad-minded — Seek out diversity.
  • Courageous — Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.
  • Straightforward — Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.
  • Imaginative — Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods. Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be innovative!

A good leader should remain calm at all times and when his team members are not, he should calm them down and think of methods to solve the cause of stress.

eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Brendon Goh (07)

  • What traits do they possess?
  • How do you think a good leader manages crisis under stressful situations?


There are 7 basic traits that most good leaders have, some might have more, while some do not have 1 or 2, but these are a few of the most important traits. 


  • The leader must be Proactive, meaning by making decisions yourself and coming up with ideas yourself, and not rely on other and others influence or react to external things. 


  • The leader must have a goal right at the start, so they know what they are trying to achieve and will make sure and do everything possible to make sure that they will succeed and achieve it. 


  • A good leader will be able to prioritize,  things that are more important will o first, the least important do last. There should be a balance of time of what you do, between work and others, like relaxation or playing time. 


  • Try and make agreements when you are working in a company to have win - win situations, a deal where both parties benefit is always better than a deal where you benefit while the other party lose out. Always find these situation  and make this type of deals, and make everyone happy. 


  • A good leader must seek to understand and make sure he understand it well, fully and clearly. You might lose out if you do not understand something, so be the first to go and understand it. And after that clarify your doubts by asking it, understanding a part of it is as good as not understanding that thing at all. 


  • A good leader will have to communicate efficiently with others, like group or team mates, or even partners from other companies of groups, so that that leader will be able to gain trust. The way the leader presents himself in front of everyone gives a strong first impression if that person is worthy of his or her trust and if he or she has trust, then he or she will respect you and listen to what you want to say. 


  • The leader must maintain a balance between everything he is focusing on, between finance, advertising, production, sales for example. Do not put too much energy into one and in the end, you neglect the other and the results could be catastrophic. Focus your time, effort and money evenly in every department. 


So these are some of the traits that I feel are quite important and a good leader must have. Some may not apply to us right now, but we can still apply it in a small scaled way. 


Source: 

The 7 habits of highly effective people. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.quickmba.com/mgmt/7hab/



If there is a major problem and a very stressful situation, I feel that the leader should remain calm and brainstorm, come up with as many ways as possible to solve the problem. If it is a major one, reject media interviews and questions for the time, and concentrate on solving the problem. Only tell the media what had happened and how you managed to solve it only after you really solved it as the media will give you pressure and come up with false statements some times. If you cannot solve it, seek help from others, your partners can help you, like other companies or groups. 


Done by: Brendon Goh ( 07 ) 

Class: S2 - 06


eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Chan Jia Ler (5)

A Leader is Honest; displaying sincerity, integrity, and candor in all of his actions, competent; basing his actions on reason and moral principals, forward looking; setting goals and visions for the future, inspiring; by showing mental, physical and spiritual stamina, he will inspire others to reach new heights, intelligent; read, study and seek challenging assignments, fair-minded; displaying empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well being of others, broad-minded; seeking out diversity, courageous; displaying a confident calmness when under stress, straightforward; using sound judgements to make good decisions at the right time, and imaginative; making timely and appropriate changes in his thinking, plans and methods.

A good leader try to calm down in stressful situations, as he cannot make proper decisions if he is stressed out. Then, he will calm down his team members and solve the problem. 


CE Activity 3 (Abu Ubaidah 02)

  • What traits do they possess?
  • How do you think a good leader manages crisis under stressful situations?
All leaders have a big trait that is similar. They are all influential, Their words can be inspirational and their thoughts had logic behind it. Taking Adolf Hitler for an example. Who ever knew that a painter could one day be Mr Hitler, who brought demise to some people in the world through his actions, beliefs and followers. Another good example would be Barack Obama. Mr Obama is an extremely good influencer and something amazing about him is that he never loses his cool during a debate.

All the leaders I see are calm when under stress. To vent it out, I see a lot of these influential figures do sports. I guess we can learn a lot from them by doing similar leisurely activities. I am sure all the good leaders in the world has to manage their stress well.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

2011 eLearning Week: Instructions for ACTIVITY 3

Research on lives of a leader.
  • What traits do they possess?
  • How do you think a good leader manages crisis under stressful situations?
Submission of Work 
  1. Post your research in the blog (as shown in the googlesite) via email.
    • The class Character Education blog is newly created. You have not been invited as a co-author yet.
  2. Craft your research findings in an email.
    • Cite the resources that your referred in at the end of the write-up.
  3. Set the Subject title of the email to be: eLearning CE: Activity 3 - Your Name (Reg number)
    • Example: eLearning CE: Activity 3 Timothy Tan (25)
  4. Email your research to the email address given in the Googlesite.
    • Your post will be published automatically on this class Character Education's blog.