Month: February 2013

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Beyond Self, A Snapshot of What Invested People Achieve

Saad, Hugo, and Our Tour Guide, Mehdi, the Center's Coordinator
Saad, Hugo, and Our Tour Guide, Mehdi, the Center’s Coordinator

AUI (Women's) Center in Azrou

AUI Center in Azrou

Today I returned to AUI’s Center in Azrou, accompanied by Hugo and Saad. Hugo and I wanted to explore the opportunity of the Director of the Center speaking to the Leadership Development Institute’s participants and Saad supported the French and Arabic language needs during this Moroccan journey.

Upon leaving the Center, I knew without a doubt that Mrs. Malika would serve as an excellent model of leadership. She has accomplished much for thousands of people–a statistic validated by the published reports one sees upon entering the community. The Center is a progressive contribution to the people of Azrou and beyond, serving 7 additional villages with extension sites.

*The Center started in 2002 with the Support of AUI in Ifrane and some 11 years later

*Provides health checkups and medication for women in the area who prior to 2002 did not have such access

*Provides informal education for children who have no access to education or who have been expelled from public education

*Allows students who test well to return to public education or to persue a professional trade

*Supports high school students with a one-year intensive program, eventually leading to an intership and employment in high need industries

*Promotes Arabic literacy in reading, writing, and mathematics for women and men

Moroccan Women Learning--the Laughter and Joy in the Room Was the Sound of Appreciated Literacy
Moroccan Women Learning–the Laughter and Joy in the Room Was the Sound of Appreciated Literacy

Our tour guide noted that 400 women and about 50 men were taking literacy classes.

*Teaches women to sew and weave, ultimately leading to employment or self-employment

Sewing Classes are Coupled with Literacy Classes
The Center Celebrates Women's History Month
The Center Celebrates Women’s History Month

*Hosts after-school activities for children

*Provides housing for children and teens who live too far away to communte the city’s public school on a daily basis

*Offers classes in English

*Offers basic computer training to anyone interested

LDI Site Visits 1&2 with Salim 018

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The Leadership Development Institute (LDI): A Workshop on Planning

Planning Workshop
Dr. Avis Winifred Rupert

As a part of the Leadership Institute, students engage in a series of workshops aimed at developing positive leadership skills to positively impact their lives, the lives of Moroccans, and consequently each community they enter, regardless of the country.  Though, I have a host of facilitators leading a range of sessions, as the LDI Coordinator, I had the opportunity to facilitate the planning workshop for both LDI participants and AUI student club presidents.  One of the aims of the Institute is to support leadership in varying arenas on campus.

The planning workshop proved to be an exciting event and one that is close to my style of leadership–I am a visionary, and planning is central to vision living.  As an advocate of pursing a desired future, vision living makes each day count and each day a part of something extraordinary. Furthermore, if one is an excellent communicator, as all leaders should strive to be, such great leaders have the skills to invite others to be a part of that extraordinary pursuit.

Through the photos below, one can see that I am a hands on teacher and trainer. 

The way I see it, “A true learning moment requires one to experience it to really get it.”  So, during the workshop students developed ideas through writing, worked in groups, shared openly aspects of drafted plans, and of course coupled the latter with engaged mental activity. Below are a few photos and then excerpts of the PowerPoint I used to shape the workshop.

Enjoy,

Rupert

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ImageImage

Leading through PlanningBLOG

A central part of the Institute requires field-related experiences, visiting and interacting with local associations. The above PowerPoint began and concluded with a reference to field situations. The Institute is committed to helping students engage with the local community to make responsible and positive contributions. Morocco’s future leaders will be informed, engaged, and responsive. Who would not want such a leader?

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Pausing–The Mark of a Powerful Contributor

Sophia Gardens
Sophia Gardens

This past summer I journeyed to Wales for the first time.
These days I select my vacation and retreat spots based on the beauty I am expecting to experience. Nature is soothing and relaxes my mind for careful and productive reflection. Though this is not true for all, I would say pausing does wonders for insightful and refreshed approaches to the demands of life.

When I began my career, I became intimately aware of long hours, hard work, demanding obligations, and at least a hundred voices a week seeking something from me. The latter describes the Wal-Mart management team member’s context.

Today, I still put in long hours, work hard, submit to demanding obligations, and the voices today are not only audible but stream in constantly through email. In a recent class discussion, my business students discovered that they could encounter some 400 emails a day in the workplace.

So what has changed in my professional life after some 20 years?

Realizing the value in pausing, reviewing, reflecting, and, when possible, seeking a little solitude.

If one really wants to make an impact and take responsibility for his or her contributions, there is a need to pause and question if a specific direction has yielded to the lessons of the past while considering the future. Sometimes solitude sets the stage for such consideration.

As I work with and coach student leaders in the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) and consider all the demands they face and will face after university life, I am determined to help these future local and global leaders see the value in pausing. Below is the excerpt of an email I sent after intense LDI team meetings:

Good Morning LDI Participants,

I want to thank you for what appeared to be very productive and engaged meetings last night.

Now, however, I need you to do something:

Pause, Review, and then Continue Meeting and Planning.

Take time to pause and review the following documents in your LDI Notebook:

Vision, Mission, and the LDI Agenda/Topics (see the Retreat agenda and the LDI Semester Calendar)

These topics were not selected at random; they support the features and tools of a leader.

. . .

Finally, considering your specific team, review the LOTY (Leader of the Year Award) Action Plan with noted dates and all that you reviewed above.

You are now ready to continue meeting, planning, researching, and developing questions to support phenomenal team initiatives.

A leader not only knows how to do something, but why and when he or she must complete various objectives and through which means achievement is possible.

Rupert

Do I practice what I propose? Yes. And if you would like to see the evidence, take a look at my Wales photos.