Comm/Collaboration Classmates!

 

 

 

Hello, Communication and Collaboration classmates.

      Thank you so much for sharing and challenging ideas and perceptions. Your postings were so personal and in depth. It has helped me each day to give more on the job and in other areas of my life. Johnna thank you, for being a truly “involved professor”,  as I read your words of encouragement to my classmates and myself, it made me feel so much a part of the group and so  happy to see others enjoy your response.  

     My true wish is that my classmates, my professor and I, will forever walk in our designed purpose with nothing missing and nothing broken to get us to our destination.  My specialization is Public Policy’s and Advocating, if anyone is in this class please let me knowJ   It would be great to continue on with a familiar classmate J.  Meanwhile, lets keep working together recognizing our strengths and truly others.

GOD bless,

Val

 

 

 

Adjourning

The groups that I have worked with were either from church, work or school.  The groups from work taught me the most for many reasons; Diversity in age, gender, religion and environment.   I have learned to ask specific questions in a work group and respectful  very diverse ideas.  This type of group is the hardest to leave because you get awareness from them.

The norms were more of the church groups; we were “like minded” in most areas, age, religion, diversity and environment. Although meeting s were productivity the norms were always easy to establish.

In the high performing groups  I learned how to be prepared and come with questions. This type of group caused me to think outside the box and to be critical thinker with some sort of resolution.  In other groups I have taken what I have learned from work and have helped with  more answers  to questions that needed attention.  Leaving one department and going into another I can say it was very hard to say goodbye to the committee that challenged me to think differently.

 I really haven’t  experienced closing rituals  or none that have left an impact on me. A few rituals that I have come to enjoy in meetings  are; coming with candy to make the environment as comfortable as possible, having a person type  up word  every word said to use as a reference if needed , having a timekeeper  and a facilitator to put side bar conversations in their perspective places.

My hope or my  idea to adjourn from  the group of colleagues in the Master’s program would be in the form of meeting my classmates face to face the night before graduation and just talking about the program and after the ceremony we would all eat together . Just like any other project,  adjourning demonstrates  that we have hung in there  from beginning  to the end  with a great sense of completion.

Disagreements and Strategies

There was a team conflict with colleagues about four years ago,   that has taught me to really think through conflict for a resolution. The conflict was around the matter of everyone finishing their own assignments and not imposing on others.  However, the real matter was having enough courage to have a crucial conversation.

Because there were four people involved and our supervisor had to be brought into the matter, we all worked with the Diversity team (HR) to take layers off of the problem.  The first strategy was the 5 Why’s (because there is a reason for everything). The example question was “why are people not working their own assignments?” Those questions then lead to other whys from the string of answers. This strategy uncovered the intent of the person, not the behavior. The last strategy was making a list of what we all had in common to remember the mutual goal, that strategy minimized the conflict and zoomed in more on how we could help each other’s more.  

 Oh, there was one more strategy, we took a personality test and shared the results of our personality type, our greatest strengths and the areas that we struggle with. That strategy uncovered areas we didn’t notice about ourselves and how others liked to be treated.  Coming up to speed, I can see how the NVC (in a new perception) played a part ( hearing one’s  point of view) and the 3R’s  facilitated by the diversity person as guidelines. .

 

 

How I and Others Evaluate Me about Communication

How I and others evaluate me

I rated myself as “mild” which stated in taking the quiz

Self

As a bit uneasy in some communication situations and somewhat more confident in other context. Communication is not something that I worry a great deal about.

 Co-workers Have shared; I appear not to be clear in some conversations because I don’t intent to hurt feelings.

 

Family; Has actually shared that in some deep conversations I will shut down or avoid  talking farther because the end result is not wanting to hurt someone’s feelings.

 

Overall:This is good information. Now I must make goals to be clear and to stay in the moment to figure things out in some conversations of  how to be effective in situations  that can turn emotional.

We all agreed; that I am a great listener  and I like to  follow up in most conversations  for details.

 

Do I find myself communicating differently according to individuals?

When I think a about culture diversity, rather in the presence of co-workers, classmates, family or in the community, I see myself becoming a product of my environment.

At work, I'm professional with early education as the focus and hoping I can successfully be a great resource to families and teachers.

At Church, I always wish I could be in the same place on a daily basis. The environment is much more relaxed and the atmosphere is full of gratitude. Talking with the people, I see more smiles than ever!

At home, I am free!!!!  It's  a safe zone to be who I am   and say what I feel . One thing that my family and I  work on is  treating  each other better than we treat outsiders. If I treat my boss with great respect because I need my job or I have a motive to get a raise  and show how dependable I can be, than I owe that to my family because they love me unconditionally .Our words are just as kind to each other as they are to the church and work family. a

The common denominators in the groups I have identified for effective communication are
1. Listening
2. Reflecting
3. Eye contact
4. Smiling  ......and.......
5 Showing respect    

 

Nonverbal vs. Verbal

To get a better understanding of communication in varies ways; I turned the T.V. on with the mute button down.  The movie I came across was “Mooz-lum” a black woman leaving the sanctuary of the church and a very light or white man following her. I couldn’t figure out the relationship of the two characters. She appeared be a woman who was down on her luck, and crying.  The gentle man seemed concerned and to wanted to help her.   

She woman was full of tears, she looked worried and he looked emotionless, strong in the eyes and whatever he was saying he looked convincing.  

Then , replayed the scene  with the sound turned on.

The assumptions I made were far from what was really going on. WOW, the woman and man that I spoke about were a Muslim married couple, and she did not want to be married anymore, so the husband told her he was taking their son. I was way off in my guess! 

If I had known a bit  about the movie and still watched the it with the mute button on, I think there would  have been still some inaccurate assumptions that I would have made, that is why listening is the key!

Competent Communication

 

  Prosecutor, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby communicated very well in front of  the media that would be heard nationally .  Attorney Mosby demonstrated  competence, confidence and assurance about her topic at hand ( an unlawful arrest that took place in Baltimore) .  The Attorney's behavior appeared to be, focused, also direct and a tone in her voice  that was well heard  and clear. The opportunity to make a difference  and speak publically must have come with a price of life experience that was either modeled or through her own trials.    I have learned form her appearance  to know my subject well, to be sure of the facts before presenting and depending on the subject at hand your facial expressions should match the subject. For a serious matter such as the one she spoke on I did not  witness smiling, I would want to model her communication skills because it demonstrates standing for what you believe while and knowing  your subject well enough to be open to talk with people