Leadership Academy 2013-14 LeadingAge New York Feb. 2014 | Page 33

Hasan Tariq

Volunteer Program

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Human Resources. Scheduling the time to attend to this project has been one of the biggest challenges for me. There is my schedule,
the schedule of the potential volunteer and the schedule of the Human Resource Department to consider during the screening
process. This has prevented some volunteers from joining us. I was also not sure how to find an organization that it would make
sense to partner up with. I was surprised at the response from Columbia University just by keeping it simple and using an online form.

4

How do you hope your project might unfold in the months and years ahead and what impact do
you hope it will have on the field at large?

In the future I would like to see a steady stream of volunteers coming to St. Mary’s to learn and to share. I think that some of what
St. Mary’s does with Complimentary Therapy, and Therapeutic Recreation should be observed by pre-med students so that they
always remember a more holistic approach to treating illness when they go onto deliver services professionally. I hope that having
younger people around will help some of our residents bridge the digital divide and learn to use computers as a way of enhancing the
quality of their lives on a daily basis. Depending on how successful we are with Columbia University I would like to invite students from
City College, which is a half mile away from St. Mary’s in the opposite direction, to come in and develop community bonds with our
organization and our residents.

5

How has the action learning process in the context of the Leadership Academy experience
contributed to your growth as a leader?

On my application to the Leadership Academy I stated that sometimes being a good leader means following the best advice you
receive. I think that that statement still holds true and I have received a wealth of information, interpretations and advice during this
experience. The use of softball questions, pregnant pauses and active listening have been ways that I have improved my interpersonal
skills. Tuning in to my authentic leadership style has helped me to lend my strengths towards the desired outcomes and giving the
work back to my colleagues has been a way of playing to their strengths.
The importance of giving people room to make mistakes has been useful and learning that mistakes are acceptable if they can be
learned from has helped me to look towards moving on to do things better in the future. Accepting that affording someone the room
to do something their way instead of micromanaging can result in outcomes that I did not expect.
Approaches to successful collaboration have been the most contributive elements of the leadership experience. Learning about
treating others the way they would like to be treated as a way of fortifying relationships has been invaluable in this process. The
power of please, and thank you and the importance of not assigning blame when things do not go exactly according to plan have
made a difference in the way we get the job done.

IGNITE Leadership Academy Action Learning Project 2013-14

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