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Theories In Action: (1)

Based on the interactions I have had with my colleagues over the course of the last three weeks, I would say that the strong majority of them use James MacGregor Burns’ Transformational Leadership to guide their methods of teaching and supervising. I would argue that this has made the program much more effective than I anticipated as I was originally intimidated by the virtual component given the field at hand.

My main supervisors, Erik, Zach, and Tim, all connected with me in a way that raised both my motivation and my morality. It was less transactional in the sense that there was no offer or exchange of things in return for something else. Rather, the focus was on learning and motivating me and the other interns to really try and get the most out of the experience.

The main example that comes to mind is when I was preparing for my final presentation for my first rotation of the internship. I was incredibly nervous and didn’t really know what to expect as it was my first time giving this type of pitch. I didn’t know what went into it and how to structure it and was honestly very overwhelmed at first. Zach, Erik, and Tim all stepped in, gave me a hand, and pointed me in the right direction. They constantly checked in and told me how well I was making progress and really just did their best to support and motivate me. This made me more effective as it took away my stress and made me feel confident and motivated as I wanted to show them that I could create a well polished product. 

All three of them are very charismatic and try to help every intern reach their potential. This ties into the morality piece of Burns’ theory. They have inspirational motivation and use their words to encourage action. Another part of the theory that definitely applies is that they each have individualized concern and while they are focused on the common good, they show concern for individuals on a singular level as well.

Overall, like I mentioned, the theory in action is Transformational Leadership and absolutely applies and is effective in my current experience at my summer internship.