Seminar 4 - Cultural Awareness

Seminar 3 - Leadership Discovery

 

 Ashley Thompson

NMAL - Class 14

Personal Purpose Statement

Through my professional experiences I have discovered that when it comes to leadership there are three values that can make or break you. My values are based off being the customer support specialist for Ag New Mexico, Farm Credit; number one passion, number two service, and number three integrity. When helping a customer (farmers, ranchers, & dairymen) I must be efficient with my responses, efficiency happens when you are knowledgeable and passionate about the subject. I have the unique opportunity to connect with individuals in the ag industry on numerous levels I get to market, teach, and most importantly learn from my customers.

Seminar 1: Leadership Discovery

 By the end of this program I want to say that I...

…have the knowledge and skills to take on a leadership roll effectively, and continue to grow from the connections we have made during our time together.

    Leadership is made up of a string of definitions, the purpose of leadership is; to bring about change, solve problems, and/or achieve a mission for the organization. During this exercise we developed our own definitions of leadership; The guidance of others to obtain a common goal for the organization. I have experienced this in my position at AgNM and enjoy that the current management here guides our company to be the best it can, they expect a lot of us but do not add unnecessary pressure. I gained a lot from this exercise and enjoyed how Dr. Dormody broke down the definition(s) of leadership.

    Have you ever thought about the strengths you bring to the table, or the strengths of your employees? The concept had never crossed my mind until a month ago when I took an assessment to find out what my own strengths were. I started thinking about how employers should start this in their initial hiring process to build their teams based on the strengths that would benefit the organization best.                                                                                               Once we understood our strengths it was easy to see them in our daily routines from our professional to personal lives. We then separated into two groups (by random) and attempted to escape from an escape room. This was a great exercise not only to get to know one another but to see our strengths ignite to help our team escape. 

    Overall seminar #1 went very well and I cannot wait to see how this program will evolve!