To all of My Colleagues

As I reflect on another course at Walden, it is important to recognize each of you for your contributions to my learning experience. Without the feedback from all of you in discussions and blog posts, it would be a very boring experience for me. I like being able to communicate and bounce ideas off of one another to shed some other perspectives on the current issues in our field. I wish all of you the best as you continue on your educational journeys. I begin a new position on Monday as the Director of a Nursery School with 2s, 3s, and 4s. I will meet my new staff members and hopefully have a warm welcome from each of them. I will be the outsider coming in to an organization that has been well-established for decades, the YMCA. Please keep in touch and if you have any suggestions on how I can start off on the right foot with my new team at the Y, please email me at: claralaporte@gmail.com

Thank you all, and best wishes for continued success!

Team Development & the Adjourning Stage

Throughout my life, I have been a part of many groups that have worked together towards common goals. When a group works well together, it can be hard to part ways, and say good-bye when the work is finished. According to Abudi (2010) the adjourning stage looks at the team from the perspective of the well-being of the team rather than from the perspective of managing a team through the original four stages of team growth. I think it is important for this stage to occur, so everyone can feel a sense of closure and accomplishment when the project or task is completed. In my own career, it has been difficult to leave some jobs, like when I worked in banking. I felt the group there really worked well to accomplish the daily routines within our department. Leaving that tight-knit group of people who really worked like a team was tough! Now, in my early childhood career, I feel that our center leader is not keeping a tight-knit group of staff that is working together, so it is not going to be as difficult for me to leave this job if that ever happens.

In my Masters program, I feel that the groups of colleagues, who have been in many of the same classes with me throughout my journey, are like a family to me. It will be difficult to lose the support and advice of some of my fellow early childhood professionals. The ultimate adjournment will occur if I can even meet some of my colleagues when it comes time to graduate next year! Adjournment is an important stage in the team development process in regards to continuing work together. As a team becomes close, it is likely that they may keep in contact on additional projects, even after going separate ways. I know I would contact some of my professors and colleagues if I wanted advices on how to handle a certain problem or situation.

Thank you all again for your continued support on my educational journey!!

-Clara

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

Experiencing Conflict & Effectively Managing It

- Think about any disagreements, or conflicts, you have recently experienced or are currently experiencing at work with a supervisor or colleague, or someone in your personal life. Share at least two strategies you have learned about that might help you manage or resolve the conflict more productively, and why these strategies might be effective. For example, could you suggest a compromise? Could you look for a broader range of solutions to your disagreement? Could you use some of the principles of nonviolent communication or the 3 R's to better help you resolve this conflict?

     In my work setting, I have had an ongoing problem with communication to my supervisor. I have found it challenging to address some of the concerns I have about the future of our center without feeling belittled by my boss. Recently, I sat down to compose an email with a list of all of the things that I feel are hurting the school’s reputation for being a quality early childhood program. I am very passionate about what I do, and it pains me to see the school quite literally spiraling downward. In my list of concerns, I offered some ideas that I thought could help the school. I thought this was an effective strategy that could help resolve some of the issues. However, after I sent the email, my boss took over two weeks to respond and talk with me about them. In the two weeks leading up to our meeting, I felt like we were walking on eggshells and she barely spoke to me some of the days.
     When we finally met, she actually criticized my choice of emailing her over meeting with her in person. However, when I told her that I organize my thoughts more clearly in writing, she appreciated it, as I didn’t come storming through her door when frustrated on the day I composed the email. In order to compromise in this situation going forward, I could mix both strategies by bringing my composed list to an in-person meeting with my boss. This would utilize the idea of reciprocity in meeting both our communication needs in resolving further conflicts.

- Also, if appropriate, ask your colleagues for their input and advice regarding, if not specific problems, how they have learned to be more effective communicators as it relates to conflict resolution skills.

     Regarding being a more effective communicator, I learned from my boss in the situation above that she would have appreciated me coming to her first. I can be a more effective communicator by putting my thoughts into writing for myself, and then meeting with people in person as email can sometimes lose the emotional aspect behind the words. 

My Assessment of My Communication Skills & Results from Others

I have to say that for this assignment, I was a bit nervous at how others might perceive my verbal aggressions. This week at work I had an incident with my boss where I felt like I overstepped my boundaries when I was angry by lashing out and doubting her abilities to run our school. I do believe, however, that this was an isolated incident because I have had frustrations with work building up, and it is starting to come out in my daily interactions with my boss.

This assignment was definitely enlightening to see that I don't usually come across as an aggressive speaker to my husband or one of my co-workers. All of the scores put me in the moderate range which states: "you maintain a good balance between respect and consideration for others' viewpoints, and the ability to argue fairly by attacking the facts of a position rather than the person holding that position."

The first thing I came away with from this assignment is to holdback any attacks on one's personal character, even in an argumentative conversation. There are ways to support your position with facts and come away a "winner" without attacking the other person's abilities or self-concept.

The second thing I took away from this is the importance of being a good listener. I think it is very important to others to know that a person is listening to them whole-heartedly. This assignment helped me to see how people-oriented I am in this regard. My husband, a co-worker, and myself all received this result when doing the assessment. Relationship building is important to serving families and children, and this is a positive in my career. It is also a positive in my personal life as I work hard to maintain the relationships I have with friends and family. I will, however, have to be more careful in the amount of trust I put into people. Being people-oriented can have this downfall associated with it.

Communication and Diverse Groups of People

For this week’s assignment, we were asked to think about cultural diversity we see in our colleagues at school, in our neighborhood, in our workplace, and also, possibly, within our family. Then we are to consider all the aspects that make up culture, including race, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, varying abilities, and so on.

Here are the questions we were asked to think about:

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

·       If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?

·       Based on what you have learned this week, share at least three strategies you could use to help you communicate more effectively with the people or groups you have identified.

Diversity exists in all areas listed above. In the workplace, especially, there are different groups of people to communicate with: colleagues, parents, and children. There are definitely different strategies to use in communicating with each of these groups of people.

In interacting with colleagues, it is important to keep an open mind and be attentive while listening to them. It is important to take everything in and ask clarifying questions before passing judgment on a person.

In interacting with parents, it is important to make sure that your tone and body language isn’t “saying” something that would contradict your words. Again, it is equally important to keep an open mind when listening to parents about their child and making sure that you don’t pass judgment based on a parent’s family culture and values.

Thirdly, in interactions with children, it is important to speak at their level and listen attentively to their needs as well. As educators, children learn from us, which includes our body language, tones, and gestures. We have to be able to interact on their level, and promote positive body language and speaking.