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Phil Mosley
Dr. Shin
SAM 6280.01
Personal Leadership Development
April 21, 2014
As the semester has gone on in our Organizational Behavior and Leadership class, the
importance of being a good leader for organizational success has really began to make sense.
Being a strong leader is important to so many of the aspects of a successful organization.
Different types of leaders have been outlined, from task-oriented and transactional leadership
styles to relationship oriented and transformational leadership styles. Learning about these
leadership approaches has also allowed me to examine my own personal leadership style and
examine the current leadership positions I hold. In this paper, I will outline my current
leadership position as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Sport Science at
Belmont University, identify some of the challenges and issues I face as a Graduate Teaching
Assistant, and finally detail a possible leadership solution to those challenges.
As I began to think about the current leadership roles I hold in my life, one particular role
really stuck out to me. I am currently an Athletics Marketing Intern at Vanderbilt University, a
graduate student at Belmont University, as well as a son, brother, and active member in a
Christian fellowship. However, the role that most requires my leadership is my position as a
Graduate Teaching Assistant at Belmont University. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the
Department of Sport Science, I am responsible for creating and following a curriculum for the
physical education classes of circuit training, weight training, group games, and aerobic walking.
It is my job to follow a planned course of action throughout the semester for my students as well

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as trying to motivate them to become more physically active and enjoy working out. As a GTA,
it has been my experience that I use a blend of transformational and transactional leadership
behaviors in order to maximize my students efforts. I have found this approach to be
particularly effective at motivating my students to give their maximum efforts, particularly in my
circuit training and weight training courses. The transformational aspect of my leadership
approach for these classes involves me being very encouraging to my students while they work
out. I try to flood them with positive and encouraging affirmations while they perform difficult
workouts in hopes that they will be motivated to push themselves and feel a sense of
accomplishment while they workout. The transactional aspect of my leadership in those classes
is that I have certain expectations of my students and they must do certain things. I require them
to wear appropriate clothing, show up to class on time, and perform the workouts that I set out
for them. While I have found my leadership behavior to be effective in my position as a GTA, I
also possess some strengths and weaknesses in this position.
I believe that some of my biggest strengths in my position as a Graduate Teaching
Assistant at Belmont University are my ability to relate to the students, maintain an even-keeled
demeanor in all situations, and to motivate. Being that I am probably the youngest teacher most
of my students have, I believe that my students feel they can relate to me on a level that they may
not be able to connect with some of their other professors. The ability of a leader to have his
constituents trust him and feel they can confide in him makes for a successful organization.
Also, I am very strong at maintaining a calm demeanor in all situations. I believe that my ability
to remain calm and focused translates to my students when they may be stressed out, particularly
during a difficult class workout. I also believe that I am a strong motivator. As mentioned
above, my ability to motivate the students to push themselves farther than they thought possible

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allows them to maximize their potential. Some of my weaknesses in my position as a GTA are
perhaps that I may be too laid-back at times and not quite strict enough. I believe that all great
leaders command the respect of their followers and perhaps by being a bit relaxed and laid back
at certain times with my students, I lose their respect. On the same note, while I believe I am a
strong motivator perhaps I am not quite strict enough with my students. I think that while I am
both a transformational and transactional leader with my students, I tend to side with the
transformational approach and perhaps that is why I struggle being strict enough or
transactional enough.
As a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Sport Science at Belmont
University, there are several challenges and issues, at both the micro and macro level, that I face.
While these challenges can sometimes present obstacles to my overall mission as a GTA, I
havent found them to be detrimental to my progress. Perhaps the biggest challenge that I run
into as a GTA is my age. Being that I am only 25 years old, I am only a bit older (and sometimes
younger) than most of my students. The biggest challenge that this presents is it impedes on my
ability to command respect from my students. In order for any great leader to have success, he
must have a group of devote followers who are willing to do anything the leader asks of him.
The biggest way for a leader to have his followers do as he says is through the ability to
command respect. Oftentimes I believe that due to my age, my students often view me as a
friend rather than someone in a leadership position. A micro level issue this creates is it
impedes daily task accomplishment during class. The students believe that because they see me
as a friend rather than a leader or person of authority that it is okay to goof off during class.
They may do this be talking while I am talking, texting as opposed to working out, or not
showing up to class on time.

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Another challenge that I face as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of
Sport Science is maintaining the personal safety of my students. One of my strengths as a GTA
that I mentioned earlier is that I am able to push and motivate students to achieve their maximum
potential, particularly in my weight training and circuit training courses. One of the biggest
ways I am able to accomplish this is by creating extremely difficult and challenging daily
workouts. While the workouts are very effective if they are performed correctly, having
extremely difficult workouts always leaves the chance of someone getting hurt. It is important
and challenging for me to remember that while I always want my students to push themselves
harder than they thought possible, I do not want to do it at the expense of their health and well
being. A macro level issue that this could create is if one of my students were to get seriously
injured in class, I could lose my position as a GTA and ultimately not be able to pay for Graduate
School as a result of losing my tuition. While none of my students have been seriously injured to
this point, it is important for me as a leader going forward to maintain a balance between pushing
and motivating my students while still maintaining an atmosphere of safety and well being.
A third challenge that I face as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Sport
Science is my ability to communicate with my peers, specifically as it pertains to coordinating
and accommodating the requests of all the faculty in a small facility. The Sport Science building
is a relatively small and old facility. There are several undergraduate level Exercise Science
Courses that are administered there everyday in addition to all the Physical Education classes
that the other GTAs and I teach. As a leader, it is important to be an effective communicator with
your peers. Communication, as we have discussed in class this semester, is a barrier that affects
organizational success. Oftentimes, it is difficult to coordinate with the other instructors on
classroom space and facility availability because there are so many levels in the organization. It

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is a daily challenge that I face and it keeps me on my toes. There have been times when I have
had to change my lesson plan on the fly due to the fact that the weight room had been reserved
by another professor without my knowledge or due to my lack of proper communication. While
these situations are not recurring, they certainly pose a problem when effective communication is
not utilized.
As I analyze my leadership position of Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of
Sport Science at Belmont University, it is important for me to take into account my strengths and
weaknesses as well as evaluate the challenges and issues I face. This gives me a clear picture of
the things that I need to work on in order to be a more effective leader. I believe that some of the
barriers I face with my age as well as with my communication could be improved upon through
the P.O.L.E principle we discussed in class. This theory, which stands for Planning,
Organizing, Leading, and Evaluating, relates to effective management and could certainly help
me as an instructor. If I plan for my classes better, then the chance that a communication
breakdown could happen at the last minute will be much less. The same could be said for
organizing my classes better. If I am always one step ahead of the students in terms of having
an organized plan for the day, then the chances of them getting hurt are much less then if I was
coming up with a plan on the fly. The third principle of P.O.L.E, leading, is something that
will be better as a result of planning and organizing better. Leaders always need to be prepared
and organized in order to effectively get the most of their followers. Finally, the fourth principle
of P.O.L.E, evaluating, will help me to take a step back and realized what I have done well and
perhaps not so well as a leader in the position of GTA. It is always important to take stock of
debits and credits as a leader in order to see what is done well and can be done again, and what
was done poorly and needs to be improved upon.

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Another theory that I can use from our class in order to improve upon the challenges and
issues I face as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Sport Science is trying to
become a better transactional leader. As I mentioned earlier, one of my weaknesses is perhaps
being a bit too transformational in my approach as opposed to transactional. This leads to poor
task accomplishment by my followers at times. In order for me to become a better transactional
leader, I need to try to be a bit more assertive. Oftentimes, I am a little too reserved and quiet in
my approach with my students. As a leader, my students are looking to me for direction and
guidance. It is important for me to be as assertive as possible by letting my students know
exactly what I am expect them to accomplish on a daily basis. I believe that if I try to be more
assertive and task-oriented in my leadership approach, that my students will continue to thrive
and I will become a more well rounded leader.
In conclusion, my current leadership position as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in the
Department of Sport Science at Belmont University requires me to lead and motivate students. I
oversee undergraduate physical education classes and I am in charge of overseeing six classes
during the semester. I thrive at being able to relate to my students and motivate them but
struggle with being too laid back at times. Some of the challenges I face are related to my age,
the personal safety of my students, and communication barriers. I believe that by implementing
the P.O.L.E principle and by becoming more of an assertive, task-oriented leader, I can
effectively become a better leader and overcome the challenges I face. Going forward as a future
sport leader, my time as a GTA will be a valuable experience that I can call on in challenging
situations. I am excited for the opportunity to continue to lead students at Belmont as a GTA and
for the opportunity to be a future sport leader.