Hans Sandoval

Leadership Reflection
My experience with leadership started in high school where I had leadership roles and

also was introduced to leadership as a concept to study. However, it was not until college where I

was challenged to reflect on leadership and to push my understanding of what leadership is and

what it looks like. In this sense, I admit that I am still developing my understanding of leadership

and admit that I am only at the beginning of my journey in leadership. As a result of this, I still

wrestle with the concept of leadership and what it means to me and what the study of it can offer

me. The readings for this weeks class, my leadership positions throughout my four years at

Loyola, presentations I have attended on the topic of leadership, and my social justice internship

have all contributed to my understanding and perception of leadership.

Throughout my very short involvement with leadership, I have developed an affinity for

certain leadership styles. I identify heavily with the encourage the heart and the model the

way styles of leadership the most. I am a firm believer in setting an example in the workplace

and to respect people in the work place in accordance with the values that the leader holds and

conveys to the group. I think that modeling the desired leadership qualities is the fairest thing a

leader can commit too. I personally really detest environments in which a leader holds everyone

below him or herself to a standard that he or she does not follow, especially if the leader in

question openly ignores the standard conveyed. The reason I say this is because I personally am

energized by the example of people above me. I think about my work life in the Department of

Student Diversity and Multicultural Affairs (SDMA) and my experiences with the staff of that

department. I have allowed been moved by the tiny staff of SDMA; each person on staff is

enthusiastically and unapologetically passionate about social justice and of creating a diverse and

inclusive environment at Loyola. For two years Joe Saucedo, who is now the director of SDMA,
was my direct supervisor. I was always moved by his leadership in SDMA and how he modeled

respect, understanding, and caring throughout the department. I always had the sense that he

cared deeply about me and really wanted to support me. As a result of me feeling validated by

him, I always did my duties in the department with joy because I believed that they would be

valued and that my hard work would be noticed.

As stated before, I also identified heavily with the encourage the heart leadership style.

I believe that creating a culture of affirmation and celebration is essential to effective leadership.

In my experience, there is a limit to how long I can work effectively and derive satisfaction from

my work if I am not being affirmed. I do not say this in a context that I need to be pampered or

lack confidence in myself that I need the constant validation of others but rather the total absence

of affirmation and reassurance of my good job performance makes me experience work as a

tedious responsibility and that my work does not contribute to others and that I make no

difference. I thrive when I know that what I am doing is actively contributing to the people that I

am serving. I had one experience at a job in my past where my supervisor never affirmed any of

the people below her and constantly invalidated everyone. Constantly listening to her

complaining demoralized everyone at the work site. Every time I would go to work I would feel

like a commodity and like I was expendable. This experience made me realize how important it

is for leaders to be conscience and responsible for how they interact with those whom they lead

and to make sure that those below them feel validated and appreciated. The Caldwell and Dixon

readings section on love really paints a great vision at least for me on how effective leaders

should aspire to model their leadership. The reading spoke about how love is the access to

creating connection and relatedness between people. When the article speaks about love, it is not

describing romantic love but rather love that cultivated an environment of caring, understanding,
and most importantly authenticity (Kouzes , 93). The most vivid example in my life that I have

of this authentic love is during the summer before my sophomore year. Right before the summer

started, I was hired as a STARS mentor for SDMA and was to start the position at the start of my

fall semester of sophomore year. The week before fall semester started, I emailed Joe Saucedo

and told him that I was transferring to a community college because Loyola had become too

expensive for me to afford and I thanked him for offering me a position in SDMA. I expected to

receive an email from him with the standard condolences and wishing me good luck at my new

school. However, I was totally surprised when that very same day he called me and told me he

scheduled a meeting for me with the assistant director of financial aid to help me. He told me

that he really wanted me to stay at Loyola and that he really wanted me to work for SDMA and

that that was why he really wanted to help me. Although I was moved by his kindness, I still did

not believe that anything could be done with my financial situation that would have me stay at

Loyola, but I hesitantly agreed to go to the meeting out of respect for Joes kindness. I was

astounded when I was able to work out a way to stay at Loyola and that was all thanks to Joe and

his authentic care for me. I would not be at Loyola if he did not advocate for me and help me

when I saw no way out of my situation. As a result of this, I had a profound respect for Joe as my

supervisor and made me feel at home when at work in SDMA. This was all thanks to Joes

authentic love.

In my internship site, there are a few leadership styles that are dominate. The most

dominant leadership style is that of enabling others to act. It is expected that staff and interns

take the initiative and be proactive in tasks. Due to each staff member being in charge of multiple

cases and clients, staff members are expected to be very responsible and organized with handling

the big caseloads that they have. There is a lot of trust given to the staff to be effective in their
handling of cases. It is understandable to me why this leadership style is used at my internship

site. However, I do think that at times this style can be overwhelming for some of the staff at

times. Because the staff is expected to be very independent and proactive, I observe that staff

members can feel at times like there is not enough time in the day for them to complete the tasks

they need to complete. I have seen how staff members stay at work past their shift to complete

tasks. I would admit that this style of leadership can difficult for me. I like to have clear

directions and I get worried of doing a task incorrectly when I do not. At times, I also can feel a

little embarrassed to ask too many questions because of needing to have everything together.

A value that is common at my internship site is that of tough love with the clients.

Throughout my internship one of the first and constant things I noticed was that of how there are

times in which having overt compassion and understanding for clients is appropriate and also

there are times when being frank and stern with clients is what best serves them. Since I work

with the kid clients, I mostly only need to resort to being compassionate and understanding but I

have observed how staff members that work with the adult clients must at times be very straight

and forceful with them. This is common when clients miss meetings or are unnecessarily difficult

with the staff. This has made me reflect on my misconception that I have toward social justice

work. Previously, when taught about social justice, I always got the sense that social justice is

this thumbs-up-kumbaya-everyone-is-smiling type of phenomena. This internship has shown me

how social justice work is not always this utopian experience of saving the world and that at

times to serve the population you are serving it requires bold and at times seemingly stern and

rude actions. It has been difficult for me to act in this stern way even when the situation merits it.

There have been a few times when my supervisor has told me to be more stern and forceful with

clients especially when they are being unnecessarily difficult or are lying. However, I appreciate
that this internship has shown me that there is a whole other side of social justice and more

importantly another way to be effective in social justice work that I had never been exposed to.