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About JHLP

About JHLP

Jerry Holmes Leadership Program for Engineers and Scientists Dark blue and crimson banner logo

 

 

Our mission is to help Gallogly and Mewbourne students learn and practice the skills they will need to be effective and ethical leaders now and throughout their careers.



 


 

Our Philosophy

JHLP provides a variety of leadership and related development opportunities for students, faculty and staff. The program introduces participants to leadership concepts and best practices through:

  • Guest lectures
  • Mentoring
  • Roundtable discussions for student organizations
  • Courses and course modules
  • The Undergraduate Certificate in Engineering Leadership
  • Workshops
  • Retreats


 


 

Tenets of JHLP

JHLP aims to influence people to make positive change through the exercise of technical expertise, collaboration, and ethical practice. The concepts introduced through the JHLP are based around the following tenets:

  1. Leadership can be taught.
  2. Leadership is an influence process.
  3. Leadership can be exercised by anyone in an organization, regardless of position.
  4. Leaders promote change and create the environment in which change can take place.
  5. Management is a part of leadership, and not an oppositional concept.
  6. Leadership preferences are influenced by culture.
  7. There is no such thing as a "complete" leader.

These tenets shape and frame the leadership capabilities that are taught through the program. Through JHLP’s pillar-based approach, students enhance their capabilities across five domains: personal development, interpersonal relationship, management and teamwork, leadership, and intercultural competence. Our leadership capabilities were inspired by programs at Rice University, MIT, and the University of Toronto.  Their assistance and generosity are greatly appreciated.

Click the icons below to learn more about each pillar.


 


 

The Five Pillars



 



 

Personal Development
Personal Development

An ability to understand oneself and one's aspirations and possibilities

  • Develops and accurate and practical understanding of "who I am" and "who I can become"
  • Knows personal strengths, constraints, and development opportunities
  • Practices self-control
  • Develops self-confidence
  • Routinely seeks out and receives feedback from others
  • Knows one's basic needs, motivations, and values
  • Possesses intellectual humility
  • Strengthens one's ethical values and principles

Knowing how to set personal goals, allocate resources accordingly, monitor progress, and achieve results

  • Has a personal and professional vision
  • Sets SMART goals
  • Takes initiative
  • Plans, monitors, and manages goal achievement
  • Develops drive, perseverance, and resourcefulness
  • Achieves measurable results and learns from the process

The ability to make effective decisions using rational and creative methods

  • Understands common decision-making heuristics and biases
  • Defines problems, generates alternatives, evaluates alternatives, and implements solutions
  • Is comfortable with ambiguity; does not rush to reach a decision
  • Makes decisions with confidence
  • Practices practical ingenuity
  • Practices open-mindedness
  • Learns from problem-solving experiences
  • Builds capacity for creativity and innovation

The ability to cultivate and grow technical and financial expertise

  • Developing technical skills that distinguish one from one's peers
  • Developing a working knowledge of business finance



 

Interpersonal Relationships
Interpersonal Relationships

Being a positive, productive, and sometimes outstanding contributor

  • Assesses current commitments and allocates time and effort to make a positive and productive impact
  • Knows how to discover what is expected for strong results
  • Delivers outstanding results
  • Knows when to step back and allow another person to take the lead
  • Actively contributes to the group decision-making process
  • Supports the group leader
  • Challenges the status quo, especially when it is the "right thing to do"

The ability to initiate, create, and maintain mutually satisfying and beneficial relationships and social ties

  • Develops perceptivity regarding others' emotions and social styles
  • Builds mutually satisfying and beneficial relationships
  • Acts with compassion
  • Builds trust and credibility
  • Assesses current networks for personal and professional purposes
  • Builds and manages networks
  • Speaks and acts with civility; promotes an environment of civility

The ability to promote fairness through inclusive practices

  • Speaks and acts in ways that affirm the value of all people
  • Promotes fairness
  • Encourages input from all group members
  • Understands how historical factors influence participation
  • Deploys strategies to build an inclusive organization
  • Acts as an ally for people who may feel excluded

The ability to effectively work with others to achieve goals

  • Works effectively within a group to accomplish the group's goals
  • Facilitates good teamwork processes
  • Deploys strategies for capturing, discussing, and evaluating ideas
  • Uses established techniques to manage group discussions
  • Makes sure all members of a group feel free to contribute

The ability to experience and manage differences in constructive ways

  • Diagnoses sources of conflict
  • Manages emotions surrounding conflict
  • Understands one's preferred conflict management approach
  • Matches appropriate conflict management approaches to situation

The ability to communicate ideas effectively

  • Chooses appropriate communication strategies
  • Crafts the message to fit the audience
  • Designs effective visual aids
  • Is confident and articulate when speaking in public
  • Uses effective written communication practices



 

Management and Teamwork
Management & Teamwork

Designing and developing a structure to achieve desired results

  • Identifies needs and requirements
  • Creates an overall structure of shared responsibilities and interrelationships
  • Creates individual role requirements, responsibilities, and expectations
  • Establishes processes for transition and succession

Coordinating and working with team members to achieve goals

  • Effectively composes and launches project teams
  • Coordinates the efforts of team members
  • Stays aware of the actions of other team members
  • Engages in backup behavior as needed
  • Documents team practices and processes; stores and disseminates information appropriately
  • Encourages shared leadership practices within a team
  • Promotes team-level learning
  • Acts in ways that promote and improve the team's overall capacity for leadership

Assessing and selecting individuals for specific roles

  • Identifies the skills needed to meet the team's objectives
  • Assesses the skills and interests currently possessed by team members
  • Recruits and selects people for roles, based on team needs and individuals' interests and strengths

The ability to implement plans, assess projects, and react accordingly

  • Understands principles and tools of project management
  • Creates plans to achieve goals and objectives in accordance with organization's vision
  • Implements and updates plans to achieve desired results
  • Coordinates group members' efforts
  • Understands budgeting, can manage financial resources
  • Can deliver a project on time, on budget, and to specification

Understanding and acting upon the importance of mentoring and training

  • Shares knowledge and expertise with others
  • Coaches others
  • Mentors younger or less-experienced students

Enabling others to have the authority, control, and voice in achieving shared objectives and making group decisions

  • Diagnoses situations where empowerment or delegation is appropriate
  • Deploys strategies for enabling others to become empowered and confident in their roles
  • Uses delegation strategies appropriately in decision-making situations
  • Employs good follow-up practices
  • Practices effective group decision-making



 

Leadership
Generative Leadership

Creating and implementing a shared vision, goals, and objectives for achieving these aspirations

  • Defines purpose, goals, and strategies
  • Creates awareness of strategic context or environment (sense-making)
  • Creates a shared vision and mission
  • Translates mission into goals, objectives, and measures of success

Creating an environment that enhances the ability, motivation, and opportunities among members to achieve outstanding results

  • Communicates a clear and meaningful vision
  • Understands intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
  • Builds a work environment that fosters intrinsic motivation
  • Uses rewards and recognition appropriately to enhance motivation
  • Uses rhetorical strategies to enhance the effectiveness of communications
  • Diagnoses performance problems
  • Deploys appropriate strategies for resolving performance problems

Using a repertoire of different leadership styles to meet the specific situational requirements

  • Understands and relates to people as individuals
  • Understands one's natural or preferred leadership style
  • Selects behavioral strategies to meet specific situational needs
    • i.e., balancing a focus on relationships versus delivering results

Understanding the existence and necessity of power and building power for ethical and shared purposes as well as the ability to gain others' attention, commitment, and cooperation

  • Understands the relationship between power and influence
  • Diagnoses sources of personal, positional, and non-positional power and influence
  • Diagnoses situations to select appropriate influence strategy
  • Knows how to influence upwards
  • Builds and manages personal sources of influence
  • Manages positional sources of power
  • Knows how to convert power into influence

"Politically oriented communication that increases the resources available to the team and networking communication which expands the amount and variety of information that is available to the team"*

  • Works with stakeholders, suppliers, sponsors, and other organizations to increase the group's personnel, material, and/or financial resources
  • Understands the political environment of the larger organization
  • Builds connections between one's group and other groups

* Burke, C. S., Stagl, K. C., Klein, C., Goodwin, G. F., Salas, E., & Halpin, S. M. (2006). What type of leadership behaviors are functional in teams? A meta-analysis. The Leadership Quarterly, 17, 288-307

Creating and implementing positive and lasting changes

  • Identifies a need for change
  • Imagines new possibilities
  • Works with others to effect change
  • Becomes comfortable with the chaos associated with change
  • Creates and implements a process for sustaining improvements



 

Intercultural Competence
Intercultural Competence
  • Recognizes the influence of culture on the understanding of leadership
  • Can identify leadership attributes that are common across cultures
  • Can identify leadership attributes that are culturally conditioned
  • Understands the communication patterns characteristic of high-context and low-context cultures
  • Can adapt one's own communication style to better work with people of other cultures
  • Understands how engineers from different countries/cultures frame problems and pursue solutions
  • Works effectively in teams of engineers from different countries and/or cultures
  • Works effectively with people from non-technical backgrounds
  • Values the contributions of team members from non-technical backgrounds



 

Contact Us

Dominique Pittenger, Ph.D.

Dr. Kim Graves Wolfinbarger

Director, Jerry Holmes Leadership Program
Office: REPF 260
Direct: (405) 325-8734
REPF Front Desk: (405) 325-3164
kimw@ou.edu

Kim Graves Wolfinbarger is the founding director of the Jerry Holmes Leadership Program. She designs and delivers leadership development curricula tailored to the needs of collegiate engineering and applied science students. She teaches the Leadership & Management for Engineers course, works with undergraduate peer mentors, and provides advice and counsel to Holmes Leadership Associates and their professional mentors.

 


 

Photo of General Donald J. Wetekam

General Donald J. Wetekam

Brock Executive in Residence

REPF 241
Direct: (405) 325-6790
REPF Front Desk: (405) 325-3164
Email: Donald.J.Wetekam-1@ou.edu

Photo of Jeff Biggerstaff

Jeff Biggerstaff

Engineering Student Life Coordinator

CEC 107
Direct: (405) 325-4724
Dean's Office: (405) 325-2621
Email: jglidus@ou.edu

Photo of Henry Mbogu

Henry Mbogu

Graduate Assistant

REPF 259
Email: maduka.mbogu@ou.edu

 



 

Thank You to all JHLP Sponsors

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Become a Sponsor

We need your support to encourage the next generation of leaders in engineering. We invite you to make a gift and join us in celebrating the accomplishments of our student leaders and help them grow into tomorrow's leaders in engineering.

For corporate sponsorship opportunities, please contact Trish Bloemker Sowers, GCoE Executive Director of Advancement, at tbsowers@ou.edu or by phone at (412) 999-9544.

You may also make a gift through the OU Foundation at the link below.



 

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