Ruslan Smyk – Business ISP – Leadership Portfolio

Personal Leadership Portfolio

Part 1: PERSONAL LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY

Leadership Philosophy

“Encourage everyone to do their best.”

My approach to leadership is more laissez-faire, focusing on hiring people with prior experience and instructing managers on direction and what to do so I can deal with larger organizational issues. By motivating my employees, I will have a better relationship with them by encouraging self-initiation and proactive problem-solving would help with output and working more efficiently. People don’t like to be micromanaged and having to ask for directions or what to do all the time.

Leadership Quote

Image Source: AZ Quotes – https://www.azquotes.com/quote/251004

I selected this quote from Theodore Roosevelt because it connects with the in terms of my belief system and feel that it speaks to me directly as to my work experience outside of school. The leadership style empowers people to do their work. As someone who has worked part-time after school and on weekends at No Frills, I like this leadership style because it allows me to focus on my work and get my job done quickly with as little interruption as possible. Tell me what to do and let me do it (following all procedures and policies, of course).

Vision statement and mission

Applying practical skills through hands-on learning experiences, I aim to equip myself with the skills, tools and knowledge to confidently navigate real-world challenges.

I am inspired by practical learning experiences that allow me to build marketable skill sets and to put those skills to work right away to earn a living and support myself. Building on my co-op experience and getting an apprenticeship, I can apply my skills to solve real-world problems. The number of people in the skilled trade has declined for a long time and there is a shortage of people to do the work.

Part 2: GOALS AND PLANS

immediate Goals

Graduate High School

My number one immediate goal is to graduate high school, I need to focus more on my individual school work and studying to get the grades necessary to pass my courses and graduate this coming June.

Get Accepted into College

I have already submitted my first-round of applications and am awaiting responses from colleges to decide where and what school and programs I will be attending. I have applied to continue in the field of auto mechanics. I believe I am ahead of other people who are also applying because of my experience at my co-op placement.

Mid-Range Goals

Finish Trade School

Buy a Car

I have saved a lot of money over the last few years from my job at No Frills and am continuing to do so. I am looking to buy a car for college and am on track to afford one. I have also done co-op as a mechanic at Active Green and Ross, which means I will be able to use that knowledge to work on my own car rather than taking it to someone else. I already have plenty of tools to continue applying my knowledge and skills.

Long term Goals

Buy a House

Start My Own Business

After gaining several years of work experience, constant practicing of my skill set, and saving up plenty of money, I would use the knowledge I learned from this business entrepreneurship course to begin my own trade service business of my own. Starting a business will require some research, along with learning more about start-up costs associated with the business, and developing a business plan This would include the cost of purchasing equipment, licensing: both professional and business, the need for liability insurance, and other related business needs.

Part 3: PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Leadership is important to my career so I can move into higher roles and positions with greater responsibility that would allow me to use and give my experiences and knowledge to someone else. This is the part of an apprenticeship that I find will benefit me and benefit others. You start off with a mentor and learn skills under the guidance of your mentor. Your mentor will provide you with work experience and knowledge of the trade which will allow you to get your certification and/or license to work for yourself. In turn, I would become another person’s mentor and the cycle of learning and teaching someone else continues under me.

Being adaptable is something that I have added to my leadership approach. Learning about the different types of leadership styles, from autocratic to laissez-faire, have taught me the importance of flexibility in leadership. A good skill or trait of leadership is recognizing different situations that require different leadership approaches or styles to motivate your staff and lead people to do their best. Scouting is a place where plans have to change because of attendance or the weather. If you don’t have enough people to do an activity you either modify the activity or move onto something else. Weather can change your plans from something like an outdoor activity needs to become an indoor activity with changes to how and what we have the cub scouts do during their meeting time.

Part 4: MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Planning: Developed my planning skills by creating weekly activities for the younger level cub scouts to do over the year to earn their various merit badges and level designations. In addition to the merit badges, planned activities included physical fitness (games to be done in the gym or outside), planning field trips away from the PLAST meeting house. Meet regularly with older scout leaders to plan and build activities and get updates about what the organization was doing for the coming month.

During the last few years of school my schedule has been pretty hectic. I had to develop my planning to deal with it, I would start by seeing what days I would work. Taking that information I would create a schedule for myself to complete all my work in a timely manner. This turned out very useful as I was working 30 hours a week while having the responsibility of school and volunteering.

Control: Developed my skill of control by making sure the cub scouts behaved during the activities and that a schedule was followed to make the most use of the weekly meeting time and keep them from getting bored. This included impromptu games or activities or having discussions about a topic to keep the kids engaged and focused on the activity or task. This sometimes meant taking them to the gym or outside to run around and burn of energy.

When I was still in middle school, my parents would make me watch my sister after school. Although she was pretty well behaved, I still had the responsibility to take care of her and make sure nothing bad happened. This was the first thing that helped me develop my skill of control and I don’t think I would have been able to take care of all of those kids if it weren’t for this.

Organizing: Developed my skills of organizing by making sure everything went smoothly during a given activity by having all the supplies and materials ready for each week’s cub scouting meeting. Each activity was built with an outline and listed all of the necessary items to have on hand, crafting supplies or other materials and handouts. Activities had to be reviewed to see if they were successful or not and what could be done differently to make the activity run smoother the next time.

Another example of organizing is when I had to create a group excursion. Me and one other person were in charge of creating an outdoor activity for everyone. We decided on ice skating. We reserved the rink for our group along with sending out emails to inform everyone about the location and the next weeks plans.

Leading: Developed my skill of leading by guiding the cub scouts and showing them how to do a given task when working towards their merit badges. We would layout out the materials and do a demonstration of the task and then show what the end result would be for the cub scouts to do or build. The pace of the activities would have to change based on the level of difficulty, how much the kids were paying attention or engaged in the activity or how many steps were involved.

During phys ed, I had an assignment of showing the class a set of drills and being in charge of the segment in class. I had to make sure I explaining everything with clear instructions during the demonstration. I would first have to lead the class through a set of drills based around the sport of my choice.

Part 5: TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Over the time at my Active Green and Ross co-op, I feel as if I have developed self-directed learning. Whenever I am particularly interested in a topic I tend to research it to learn more. One example of this is my love for cars, I have done lots of research while working in an auto shop for coop. I have gained sufficient knowledge in the subject and am on track to continue my goal of becoming an auto mechanic.

The other transferable skill I have developed is collaboration. I have always been more of an independent person my whole life. Working whether it be my job, co-op, volunteering, or in school has helped develop my skill of collaboration. Being forced has helped me become more of an extroverted person.