Final Communication Blog

Classmates,

For the last eight weeks, I admit that I have finally found a common ground with all of you---Communication, which seems to be an on-going challenge for each one of us. I greatly appreciated each one of you and your willingness to share your experiences and opinions.

One thing I learned that communication comes in different form, sensation, and meaning for each one of us. This makes our lives more interesting and challenging in positive ways. To encourage the up keeping with communication skill, I encourage you to connect me through facebook.

I enjoyed working with you and am looking forward to continue.

Deborah

Week 6: Team Building

Not all groups make the adjourning process difficult to do.  However, I remember one in particular that made me very sad when it ended and that was the planning of my 10^th year class reunion.  I remember at the end of reunion everyone shared stories of planning the reunion and how everyone began to laugh at the various hurdles we endured throughout the planning process.  Although they were not funny at the time, we were able to look back over them and laugh.  The entire process took about a year to plan and during this time we had created new memories that I had not realized until the last night of the reunion.  We had begun to connect not only with each other but with each other families as well.  It was very difficult to tell my friends good-bye and watch them go back to their individual worlds after staying on the phone until wee hours in the mornings, attending long planning sessions as we drank numerous cappuccinos,  and   hours and hours of licking envelopes, making phone calls and searching the web trying to contact over 400 hundred classmates. 

I feel that high-performing groups are hardest to leave because they represented unity.  Everyone on the team was dedicated and motivated; thus, striving for a common goals.  We had an awesome leader who promoted mutual trust and respect.  She shared her vision for the reunion and was open to suggestions from all the team members.  Everyone respected what the others had to say and in the end we voted on any and all major decisions before they were implemented.  

At the end of the reunion everyone exchanged phone numbers and e-mails so that they could stay in touch.  Some of us hugged, cried, and vowed to stay in touch as well as visit if we were ever in their area. We also took photos to remind us of our time together. 

I imagine my adjournment from my colleagues will be very emotional for me, because we have encouraged each other, shared our experiences and knowledge and supported each other’s ability to learn, grow and develop both personally and professionally.  It is one thing to express our inner thoughts on the discussion board or through our blog, but it will be another to finally meet face-to-face at graduation.  I look forward to meeting each and every one of my colleagues so that I am finally able to put a face with the personality behind the words of articulation.  I think that adjourning is essential because of the need of closure.  The adjourning process gives the members a chance to conduct an after action report so that they can discuss what was effective and what was ineffective for future projects.  This also gives them the opportunity to say good-bye and wish each other well in their endeavors (Abudi, 2010).

Reference

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

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

This week lesson on conflict has really been surreal for me.  A few months ago my company decided to close operations at my childcare center and combine with another center that was close to us.  They had placed a new director there and wanted me to mentor her and help her get the center at the same quality level as my center was.  Unfortunately the director did not welcome my help and would undermine things that I had put in place.  Staffs that were used to working in an atmosphere of quality childcare were now in a place that was not being operated with quality in mind.  The tension between the director and me came to the point that I decided to just step away from the center to let her have full control.  I informed my supervisor about the uncomfortable situation.  Although I am no longer at the center, I still feel a commitment to the families and staff and feel that I have abandon them. 

The strategies that I was trying to use in this situation is to not provoke the new director anymore with a conflict and that is why I decided that mentoring her was not in my best interest or hers.  We have incompatible goals - mine is quality childcare and her goal is being financially stable with the company.  My motto has always been that if you provide quality childcare, you will make the money.  I tried to reassure the director that I did not want her job but wanted to help her be successful.  I feel that I communicated my intent effectively but apparently not and so that is why I decided to walk away from a potential conflict that probably would have escalated.  By learning this week about non-violent communication has helped me know that I did the right thing by walking away.  Please pray that I will overcome this bitterness that I have towards her.

Communication--Week 2

For this blog activity, I decided to watch a movie called Jane Eyre and analyze the communication style. There are two main characters: Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester.

Jane Eyre, a young and twenties-something woman, had gone through tragic ordeals through entire of her childhood and adolescence. She protected herself from others by remaining plain in clothing, speaking, nonverbal communication, and everything. She always stayed on guard. She set herself apart from others by wearing dull clothes (plain) and kept things to herself.

Mr. Rochester, forties-something man, was a father to a young girl. He was hungry for connection with a person. He was on emotional roller coaster, because his first wife had severe mental illness. He reached out through verbal constantly.

When Jane met Mr. Rochester, her body language reflected fear in Mr. Rochester's eyes. He attempted to converse with her, but she would not go pursue in-depth conversation. He read her eyes, body language, and clothing and was able to identify that Jane did not want to share her past with him.

To keep the story short and to the point, Jane and Mr. Rochester realized they were comfortable with each other based on the fact that she listened actively to him and he was able to read her. Naturally, they developed romantic feelings for one another.

As I watched the movie, I could "feel" their emotions and read their nonverbal communication before next event. I immediately knew these characters would bonded.  It was clear throughout the movie. It was easy to observe the eye contacts, the body language, and a few dropped hints such as how Jane rub her hands when she's around Mr. Rochester, and how Mr. Rochester became upset when Jane did not attend his parties on a few occasions.

The more I paid attention to the communication cues, the more I recalled the moments of my life that I probably did not realize when others needed me or did not want me. Now I need to pay much more attention on what messages I am sending out to others and watch for a response from others. Perhaps, I will find a proper way to interact with others.

Communication-Week 4: Who am I as A Communicator?

After doing all kinds of assessments, I perceived myself according to my own standard of what a effective communicator  appeared to me.  Then I reviewed two persons' assessments on me. I found that I felt somewhat insulted for being placed in "significant" on Verbal Aggression Scale. It made me feel like I've worked so hard in improving how I argue the cases with others in appropriate way seem trivial.

However, I realized that this person may not change his/her perception of me, because he/she may already "set up" a certain perception of me based on the first impression. What does it take to change one's perception of me is an important question. This had gotten me to reconsider how I communicate with others. I am becoming much more aware of how others react to my communication approaches.

I am hoping to improve my communication styles in different areas so that I could continue being an effective communicator for everyone including myself.

Communication and Culture---Week 3

Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

 I sometimes find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. I work at a university, and I have many co-workers that are from different counties that do not speak good English and I am unable to understand some of the things that they are saying, so sometimes I use body language and facial expressions instead of verbal expressions.

 I also communicate differently with people that have a different religious belief because I am a Christian and my ways of living are different from others that religion belief is not Christianity.

I have found that there are three strategies that I have learned this week, which would help me become effective communicator. First, listening skills are very important when it comes to communicating with different people. Second, learning about culture and sharing culture even though people communicate differently, we can all learn from each other and be successful. Third, gain my perception of self and of others by learning and relearning about diversity, culture, and my being.

Communication Skills

I choose to watch one of my older sisters' favorite shows that I have not had the opportunity to watch before called, "Bizarre Foods, with Andrew Zimmern who is a chef and foodie. His job is to find the world's most unique tastes traveling all around the world. I have always found food as something you can really enjoy and share with others, the more diverse the tastier. As I was watching the program without any sound, I came to like the personality of the presenter as his facial expressions were very friendly and expressive. It looks like he was visiting India, as I was able to observe in the scenes they were showing of the city and its people. As he arrived to the city a person was waiting for him, I imagine it was his guide there was a lot of talking smiling among them as they walked among the city. The guide would point to the different scenes and Andrew's facial expressions demonstrated admiration as well as interest to learn and see more, the guide's face also showed expressions of pride as we should his pointed to the different places.  I enjoyed seeing how they would actually seem to listen to each other as they spoke by making constant eye contact as well as smiling and shaking their heads.

Then I saw the program once again but now with sound and I was surprise to see that most of my interpretations and assumptions were actually correct as I was actually able to connect their non-verbal communication with the words they were saying. There was actually a lot of good communication being done, as well as mutual respect to both cultures what made it even richer for those that were watching the program. I am a strong believer that communication can exist among all cultures, as long as we are open to learn, respect and value the believes traditions and points of view of all people, even if they differ from our own. If we are able to do this then we are capable to communicating with others in a productive and effective way.