Wednesday, October 23, 2013

                      Professional Thanks and Support

       Taking a minute to let my colleagues know how they have supported me through this course.  It gives me great courage to say, I enjoyed reading and sharing stories about families and heartaches through discussions and blogs.  I have a passionate for early childhood education and I have a ton of love for children.  I want you all to continue to promote diversity in the classroom and care for the kids as though they are your owns.  Let’s continue to have that solid foundation through communication and encourage them daily.  If we continue to allow our children to practice educational skills and don’t forget about a little fun, we can make a difference in their lives!

       Thanking my colleagues for taking the time to read my blogs and supporting them.  I hope they have been enlightening to you and I wish you all the best! May God bless you and I as we continue this journey together.  For those of you that are going in a different direction, continue to reach for the stars.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

                                                    ADJOURNING
 
We have successfully made it through the five stages of team development, from introduction in the student lounge to reading each other inspirational discussion posts and blogs.  Now it’s time for the adjourning stage, a time to come to an end and go our separate ways, this is where we should be able to reflect on our accomplishments and failures.  Our group will split up and go on to other classes or jobs and this will be a thing of the past.  This is all a part of life, as you enter into another class continue to use the skills you learned in this class and it will make you stronger.  In order to make effective decisions you have to work hard as a team and be able to accomplish tasks.

        I have participated in many groups in my life and it was easy for me to adjourn them, the simple reason I enjoyed them and the time we shared together.  There was some groups that wasn’t good in working with, always wanted to give out orders or wasn’t there to work towards the goal.  That’s why the team leader should ensure that there is time for the team to celebrate the success of the project (Abudi, 2013).  That’s why it’s likely we as classmates will meet again in another class or via facebook and be able to say “I remember you”.

        Once you have developed a close relationship with team members, the break up can be hard.  Many members also feel a compelling sense of loss because you have worked so hard to get things done and get alone.  As leaders, one should be able to emphasize valuable lessons learned and pass it alone.  The breaking up of a team can be one of the hardest routine.

        One closing ritual that I experience was on an outing with my church.  We went into the mountains and meet other church organizations.  At the end of the two-week stay we gathered around and held hands and each one was allowed to say a short prayer.  We acknowledge the end of the time together and mark the transition point, because the closings should provide time for personal farewells.  This was a very exciting times in my life, because the reflections generated energy through the group.

        This is time in my life in which I have to accept the adjourning from the group of colleagues in this class at Walden.  Some of my classmates, I have seen come and go and others is my first time meeting.  I enjoyed reading your stories about your conflicts, families, and concerns.  I applaud you for continuing your journey towards your master’s degree and hope you accomplish what you are reaching for. 

        Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it’s all about being and working together.  Once you have worked together as a team you must separate and go your separate ways, which is hard for some people to do.  May God bless you all!
 
                                               Reference
Abudi, G. (2013). 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

Saturday, October 5, 2013


                Disagreements/Conflicts

 I recently experienced a disagreement with a co-worker, who happened to be a close friend at work about taking orders and giving demands.   Even though she’s much older than I am, she expects me to stop doing my job and help her with her unfinished work.  I know there are different ways to handle conflicts, but when it comes down to not respecting each other, it’s considered to be power dynamics.  This is when one person has power over another and handles the conflict unproductively (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012).  On the job, the discussion became so heated; our supervisor had to come in between us. 

 The two strategies I have learned about what might help me manage or resolve the conflict more productively is to analyze and focus on the source of this disagreement.  We need to center on a surroundings on how we can express our concerns and be able to compromise, because if these emotions continue there will always be debating issues.

 I always believe compromising is a good substitute to resolving disagreements in your work environment.  We all know that everyone do not like to compromise about particular issues, which leads to an argument, which leads to being written up.  One advantage of compromising is that it lets you and the other person quickly resolves a conflict by agreeing on a decision-making method (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012)

  Nonviolent communication offers powerful skills for compassionate giving and receiving.  I would be able to apply these principles during this disagreement to inform my co-workers of the consequences we could tolerate.   So in order to work together, we must avoid the blame and try to improve the situation.  Therefore, we must be able to increase our communication skills and push our responsiveness towards what we are working towards (Center for Nonviolent Communication, 2013).
                                         
                                                       Reference

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real Communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (2013).The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org