What Qualities Make a Great Adjoining Process?

 

 

 

What Qualities Make a Great Adjoining Process?

          A couple of years ago I volunteered to be on the Teachers Retreat committee at my school and I was filled with excitement to be able to contribute to the school as a whole.  The committee consisted of six members and we actually worked well together.  Our goal was to come up with a place to have a teacher’s retreat at a place that most of the teachers would be committed to go.  Our team leader was already selected from the principal and she explained the various roles that needed to be filled by committee members. 

So in the forming stage we talked about what roles we would fill and we already knew each other so there was no need for introductions.  Two of the members created a survey that listed possible retreat locations, possible dates, and a list of activities and this was distributed to all of the teachers.  At every meeting our leader would provide us with a list of duties, goals, results, and what the next plan of action would be which is defined as the agenda (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  The place that was chosen for the retreat was Ocean City, Maryland which is a beach town. We were allowed to select a luxury hotel that had balconies with an ocean view for every room, and each teacher was provided with a $50.00 American Express gift card.  We left on a Friday morning and returned on Sunday evening.  There were team building activities, beach games, trivia games, night socials, and shopping outlet trips that were planned.  Our project was an overwhelming success because we had a strong vision, we established mutual respect and we trusted each other.  Great teams value the opinions of team members and display trust and mutual respect (Laureate Education, 2011).  Our committee displayed these great qualities and we grew to be fond of one another.

The adjourning process was a joyous occasion because we were a very effective committee and we were excited about the upcoming retreat.  Our leader had secretly ordered mugs that read “Working Together Is Success”; to be given to all team members.  The adjoining stage signals the end of a project and a time to reflect on the team experience (Abudi, 2010). During the norming (working as a team) and performing (functioning at an elevated level) stages we were highly effective because we finished our assigned tasks on time and we also helped out on other tasks when needed.  During and at the end of the retreat we received many compliments on how well the activities were run.  The committee members were proud of the accomplishments and we all vowed to work together on future projects together.
Upon completing this Masters program I will miss the informative discussions that we have all had and the helpful information and suggestions from our instructor.  We have become a helpful collaboration team and I will always remember this meaningful experience.  I wish everyone continued success in this program and beyond.
 

 

References

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from

            http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Team building strategies [Video file]. Retrieved from

            https://class.waldenu.edu

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St.

            Martin's.

 

 



Resolving My Personal Conflicts

 

 

 

 

Resolving My Personal Conflicts

          When two or more people are entangled in a disagreement it can be defined as a conflict (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  Conflict is often unavoidable because often people have difficulty seeing eye to eye on various issues.  The conflicts that can be most challenging are the disagreements that we may have with family members because these are the people that you will be stuck with most of your life and there is an emotional bond that exists.  So the task at hand is how do we resolve conflicts in a peaceable manner and leave all parties feeling satisfied.

          The major conflicts that I experience constantly are with my husband who I have been with for many years.  He has the awful habit of taking off his clothes at night and dropping the clothes on the floor when he changes into his night attire.  This really irks me because I feel that it is unsanitary and he does have a clothes hamper that he rarely uses.  I am constantly telling him to pick up his clothes off of the floor and he refuses to do so until he is ready to wash his clothes.  Our next argument is over the television remote and when and where that one can watch television.  I often like to work on my laptop computer on a small dining table in our den and watch television at the same time.  He often complains about me having my computer on the table and he thinks that I should not be able to watch television and use the computer at the same time because he believes that I am monopolizing two devises at the same time.  So he will often come in the room and change the channel on the television and tells me that I am not allowed to do both.  I automatically get in an argumentative and defensive mode because at that point I believe that my rights are being violated.

          When thinking about the ways that I could resolve these pressing conflicts I start pondering about what techniques could be successful.  I could implore the escapist strategy which means to try to avoid all conflicts at any cost (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  My husband   often uses the Challenging strategy because he becomes very assertive and feels that his way is the only way.  So we have to find a way to come up with some cooperative strategies which is defined as creating solutions that would appeased both people when a disagreement occurs (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).   I think my husband and I should use the 3R’s strategies to solve our conflicts which are to be respectful of our feelings, share our thoughts, and respond to the others needs (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.).  Sometimes I will pick up his clothes off the floor and wash his dirty clothes to avoid conflict.  When I am on the computer and the television is on I will also ask him if he would like to watch something else and he will respond “yes” or “no thanks” so we are moving toward more peaceful solutions.  We are now moving to more productive conflicts which ease tensions on a thriving relationship.   

 

 

References

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New

          York: Bedford/St.Martin's

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent

          communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/

         



My Communication Skills Evaluation

 

 

 

 

 





My Communication Skills Evaluation

            The communication self-surveys revealed how I interact with people and some of my strengths and weaknesses.   In the Communication Anxiety Inventory test my score was 40 which revealed that I am not comfortable communicating in all arenas; such as speaking in front of large groups of people (Rubin, Palmgreen, & Sypher, 2009). Communication does not seem to be a problem for me because I love interacting with people but I do try to judge a persons’ demeanor to determine the depths of my conversations.  On the Verbal Aggressiveness Test my test score was 65 which is considered moderate which means that I rank medium on the scale, and when confronting people I am very respectful of their feelings (Rubin, Palmgreen, & Sypher, 2009).  On the Listening Styles Profile test it revealed that I loved communicating with people and that I am concerned about their feelings, and that I am able to build relationships because I possess great listening skills (Rubin. Rubin, Graham, Perse, & Seibold, 2009).

 .          I selected my young adult daughter and a neighbor who is also a friend to take the tests in order to reveal how others view my communication skills.   I was surprised that the outcomes were very similar to my own.  My daughter warned me before taking the test that she was going to “let me have it” but I was pleasantly surprised that her scores were not that far from my own  and in all of the same categories on the test..  My friend’s score actually matched mine in the Communication Anxiety Inventory test which was 40 (Rubin, Palmgreen, & Sypher, 2009).   My daughter’s score on the Communication Anxiety Inventory assessment came out as 49 which moved me up to the “moderate” bracket and implied that I suffered from “situational” anxiety which is stage fright (Rubin, Palmgreen, & Sypher, 2009).  That’s the area I need to improve in order to feel comfortable speaking in front of large groups of people.  My girlfriend scored me as a 68 on the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale which is now making me stop and think about how I interact with her because this number is significant.  I never thought that I appeared aggressive to her but now I need to temper my tone when communicating with her in the future.  This exercise taught me a lot about myself and how others see me and I am glad that the test revealed that I am indeed people oriented because I am a teacher and that lets me know that I have chosen the right profession!

 

References

Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A

sourcebook. New York: Routledge

Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., Graham, E. E., Perse, E. M., & Seibold, D. R. (Eds.) (2009). Communication

            research measures II: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge..

           

 



Cultural Diversity

 

 

 

 

Cultural Diversity

          My neighborhood has become more diverse in the last five years because the older neighbors have died and for some unknown reason their surviving children have chosen not to keep their parent’s homes.  Ten years ago my neighborhood was African American and now it is very mixed with a Hispanic family, one Caucasian gay male, two Caucasian heterosexual couples, one Caucasian/Hispanic gay couple, and one biracial heterosexual couple (African American women married to a Caucasian male).  This change is a welcomed change but it makes me feel like I have to exert more effort in developing neighborly relationships.

          After being enrolled in this Communication and Collaboration course I have begun to ponder on what techniques I could use to communicate with my new neighbors.    When I visited my neighbor Maria who is Hispanic I assumed that her television would have an English speaking show on because I thought that everybody watched English speaking shows. But when I entered her home she was watching a show in Spanish and I sat down on the couch to watch the show with her.  I was displaying cultural myopia when I thought that she was watching the same types of shows that I watched, believing that everyone shared my interests (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).   Maria has come over to my house on several occasions to help me with my garden or to alert me to move my car because of street cleaning.  I would like to get to know her better and understand her life story and forge a stronger relationship.

          John is a very friendly person, he is Caucasian and his wife Jessica is

African American and she isn’t very friendly.  They have a garden in their backyard and are very much into organic food.  Jessica seems to be very guarded with her communication with me and I often wonder could it be a defense mechanism because maybe she has received negative comments because of her marital situation.  I would like to get to know her more and feel just as comfortable with her as I do with her husband John.  I guess I should work on my self-adequacy skills and improve my communication delivery by sharing some of my interests with her and finding out what interests she may have and what we may have in common.  Sometimes you have to go the extra mile when trying to establish relationships and shyness is not an asset in this case.  In both of the examples I mentioned I communicated differently because with Maria there is a slight language barrier even though Maria makes an effort to communicate with me in English but I know that she is making a strong effort because I hear her speak Spanish to her family members.  Jessica has chosen not to communicate much with me so I am very careful with the words that I use to communicate with her, but I have the faith that things will get better.  Being in a diverse neighborhood is exciting because you can observe different cultures and figure out how to interact with people in a positive way.

 

 

References

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St.

          Martin's.

 



Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

 

 

 

Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

     I watched the television show “Modern Family “ with the sound off for the first several minutes then I turned the sound up and compared what I thought I was observing without sound to watching the show with the sound turned up.    There was a dark haired man sitting on the couch moving his hands and looks like he is explaining something.  A lady is talking to a boy that looks like he is around 12 years old.  A blond- haired guy is on a playground but looks like he has a flashback to something that has occurred earlier.  In the next scene a heavyset guy is talking to a lady with blond hair and they appear to be arguing and the guy rushes into the house.

            Now with the sound turned up on the show, an older man is taking care of a baby and he put a liquor bottle up to his mouth and drinks the liquid.    The heavy set guy reappears and says that he has to prove a dispute with Claire. The older man decides to take the baby to the movie theater and the baby starts crying, so a lady in the movie theater offers to take the baby out of the movie theater.  The scene goes back to the playground area and the blond-haired guy asks a little boy to teach him how to play a children’s game using a ball because his little daughter has been bullied by this particular little boy.  A woman named Gloria caught the guy (who is actually her husband) without the baby but he is holding the baby’s blanket.  The father says he doesn’t understand why his wife is so mad, but his son (the 12 year old boy) tells him that maybe she is mad because he gave the baby away to a complete stranger. 

            This experiment made me realize the importance of verbal communication.  When I was watching the show without sound I had some idea of what the people were feeling by looking at facial expressions and body language,  But when the sound was turned up it opened up a whole new world of understanding.  Listening is more important than speaking in order to get the full picture of what is actually happening.  This exercise forced me depend solely on my visual and listening skills  and now I am going to take the time to really listen to people before I speak in order to give my undivided attention and respect to the speaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Effective Communications

 

 

 

Effective Communications

 

President Barack Obama is a master communicator because he engages his audience, builds a relationship with the listeners, and he makes one feel an affiliation because he appears to understand what they may be experiencing in their own life.  His sense of humor is contagious and he delivers his speeches in a non-threatening way.  In the field of politics it is very important to connect with the audience in a positive and convincing light.  During the President’s first presidential campaign he used the code words ‘Yes We Can” and this slogan resonated in the minds of a multitude of people.  That slogan was hard to forget during the campaign season and it evoked positive thoughts in people that had just experienced an economic downfall.

I do not feel comfortable speaking to a large group of people because I have difficulty with the speed and intonation of my voice.  I would like to be convincing to people and attempt to influence their thoughts because those are the skills that a great communicators must possess.  President Obama portrays a lot of charisma and his smile can light up an entire room.  I would like to learn some of the positive techniques that he possesses because I have great ideas of how to improve the early childhood field.  I need to put my nervousness aside and step out on faith and realize that the only way that I can become a more effective speaker is to practice.