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Sarah Azzam M80006466

Summative Internship Reflection

My two-month internship added a lot to my experience. It enriched my skills and


talents. Leadership and learning are indispensable, in any place, and at anytime. I
practiced my internship in two different organizations. I shadowed two leaders on at
Hamdan Bin Zayed School and the other at TAKREER organization. Moreover, this
experience enriched my knowledge. Learning from different leadership perspectives in
different settings allowed me to view the big picture on how leadership is the umbrella
for effective and sustainable learning.
I learned that leaders judge and evaluate against a set of standards they always
have goals and targets. They coordinate resources that include money, time and people
they avoid any wastage. It added to my experience to see leaders make friendship and
teams and create interpersonal relationships. This was evident in both organizations.
In both organizations leaders develop themselves and coach others to transfer
knowledge through. Moreover in TAKRER I supervised how leaders mentor others and
develop successors. They give feedback in a fast period of time following any
assessments being done. Additionally they have a tracking system that regulates quality at
all times. Finally, they always have strategic plans that are long term and short tactical
term.
This capability opened me eyes to see that individual work is not enough and that
as a leader I need a leadership team to be able to adapt. Now after understanding that a
learning focused leadership is a team activity I decided to incorporate that in my work
this will result in narrowing the gap between me and the individuals I am working with.

Sarah Azzam M80006466


Furthermore, through my experience in leadership positions I know I have many
leadership skills that include creativity, listening to other views and remarks. I believe
that I have both the integrity and savvy of an authentic leader (Evans, 1996). I am able to
understand the nature of different situations and take actions accordingly. The notion of
moral purpose is very important for me as a leader. Having an explicit, making a
difference and a sense of purpose(Fullan, 2001) is what keeps motivated in my
journey to do my best for my work place and the people I work with. However, these two
months opened my eyes to new insights. Both leaders I shadowed had influenced me, I
learned how an effective change is implemented through a series of steps that include
instruction, continuous assessment, setting benchmarks and standards, distributing
leadership and being savvy.
In my opinion the type of Leadership is a critical factor in organizational learning.
It decides the culture and context of the organization and whether it favors learning or not
through a safe, trustful, low risk and open environment. Moreover, leadership role is vital
in organizational learning because they have the authority to make decisions.
It is understood for me as a leader that there are precise connections between
leadership and learning where leadership is a continuous loop or ring surrounding
learning. The magnitude of leadership ascends out of powerful learning practices.
Furthermore I learned through my internship that communication is vital for the
success of any organization. I think it is an important process that allows the leader and
employees to discuss issues and concerns that are important to them.
Communication in TAKREER organization occurs through formal
communications that include interpersonal communication or one to one communication,

Sarah Azzam M80006466


face-to-face meetings, E-mails, memos, conferences, speeches, presentations, peer
observation, letters, phone messages, MOU and partnerships in addition to informal
meetings. Learning is shared and captured through internal communication that happens
on several levels. Face-to-face communication between individuals is a main form of
communication; unfortunately this does not include the vice president of the
department. Group-level communications occur in teams, or interest groups. The
concentration on this level is to share information, discuss issues, coordinate tasks, and
solve problems. This is a strength that facilitates organizational learning.
In addition to that there is a focus group made of representatives from each
department they are the point of contact for all units to share information, address issues
and provide a resolution. Moreover an anonymous e-mail account is available where
concerns, questions and requests are reported administration assess every email for the
week to discuss concerns of employees and the organization concerns. The
communication process includes cooperation, participation, harmony, and interaction.
During my internship in TAKREER I noticed that there is deficiency in intra-team
communication and taking responsibility in decisions. Leaders do not encourage the
employees to take responsibility in decisions related to the organization by creating an
effective communication environment. The individuals are neither encouraged to take
risks nor interact both inside and outside the organization in order to develop new ideas. I
suggested that tis be changed because all of the above will negatively impact on
organizational learning.
In my opinion human relations will help us achieve organization goals and this
happens through learning. Good relations will allow top management more time to focus

Sarah Azzam M80006466


on organizational learning rather than problems and people issues. As an example when a
new employee arrives the first thing that happens is interacting with the leader this will
allow for communication and here the employee will learn, later this new employee will
be oriented and trained by a variety of people which will also allow for learning. All
individuals can learn and since organization are comprised of individuals eventually they
will learn but the knowledge has to be shared in order for this to happen. Individual
learning leads to individual mental models these must be shared so that the organization
learns through this shared knowledge and as a result it will be part of the organizations
memory this happens through healthy relations. This was one of the skills I acquired
during my time at TAKREER.
During shadowing the academic advisor I understood the reform ADEC is
implementing to develop public schools specifically and developing education in general
in Abu Dhabi. Unfortunately, change is difficult and it is faced by many rejections.
Adaptive challenges cause disequilibrium. Effective adaptation takes time and requires
power to reduce displacement or loss. My suggestion is to prioritize the purposes. When
you know your higher purpose then it is easier to understand your system.
In conclusion, the concept of leadership is broad and contains many complex
factors that require continuous practice and reflection. The style and implementation of
leadership should be adjusted to adapt the context we are functioning in. The obstacles
that are faced during delivering quality leadership should be considered stepping-stones
to learning and professional development. As a leader I fully understand the importance
of self-analysis and assessment, because leadership must be fostered overtime.

Sarah Azzam M80006466

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