Wordle

~As We Adjourn~

AS WE ADJOURN

Let me first start off by saying that I really have enjoyed each and every one of you. Though we have not met personally, the interactions that we have made with each other throughout this course have been very rewarding. I have learned to value both good and bad communication as we collaborated with each other the differences. I have learned so much from you all and I have learned from our discussions how to improve myself better as a listener as well as a communicator.

I hope to see some familiar names and faces (Blog) as I journey on through the program here at Walden. It has been nice collaborating, discussing, and blogging with you all as we shared our very own thoughts and opinions. 

My contact email is: da1trina@yahoo.com.  I am also on facebook listed as Oliver Katrina. Lets not let this be the end of the road for us. Anything that I can do to assist, please contact me. I try to have my cell phone with me at all times. (Email). 

I wish you all luck in all that you set forth to do. We are almost there (graduation). Hang in there and I hope to see you all on graduation day. 

Many blessings!

Katrina 

~Adjourning & Saying Good Bye~

Adjourning 

I know that we can can testify about the different types of groups that we have been a part of. For me, the group where we treated each other with respect and looked out for the well being of each other was the hardest to leave. Because we all worked so well together and everyone had high standards, we performed very well. Within the group, there were no cliques. We all had our own opinions and valued the opinions of others. We valued each other and especially our differences. This group was formed as a grade level. We were all second grade teachers and did everything together; lesson plans, meetings, and more.

When I had to PCS with my husband, we celebrated by going to dinner with each other and our families. There to my surprise, I was blessed with gifts from each person.

While working on my master's degree online, I have not had the opportunity to meet my colleagues and establish relationships. I know for sure that it is very hard to leave people or adjourn where there are relationships that are healthy. Adjourning may not be so hard in this case.

I must add, we people do not work together well as a team, it is easy to say good bye. I have to admit, I have been working with a group of managers where I am trying to buy my way out of. People are jealous, mean, unappreciative and have different worth ethics than I do. I can not wait until I am able to adjourn from this team. 

Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it helps the team or group reflect on their accomplishment and failures as well as determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project.(O’Hair & Wiemann, 2012. p. 257) 

Reference

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). 

Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

~Resolving Conflict!

~RESOLVING CONFLICT~

When being asked to think abut conflict in either my professional or personal environment, several encounters come to mind. However, I'd like to reflect on the personal aspects rather than the professional at this time.

Scenario: It is the holiday season and my husband and I are shopping for Christmas gifts. My husband looks over to me after I had spent a few dollars on items that our daughter have on her Christmas list and says, I am going to buy ( he has an outside child) my son items and I can buy Jonaisa ( our daughter) things later. 

Without asking any questions, I looked at him and began to yell using language that is definitely inappropriate. After about two long minutes of telling him how I feel and that he has to take care of all of his responsibilities, I felt a little bad. Being a man, he confronted me, letting me know that I was wrong and should understand where he was coming from. I felt as tough he was putting our daughter last (yes I am sensitive about this). Instead he wanted to ensure that hiss son items are shipped and under his tree before Christmas. 

Two strategies that I have learned that would help me deal with conflict is the cooperative strategy and taken from the nonviolent communication, "10 Steps to Peace".

When it comes to the cooperation strategy it is important because when I communicate, I want my relationship to benefit and have goals that with benefit all of us. When I think about the steps to keeping the peace, I will have to center everything on me making the necessary change to ensure improvement or satisfaction. I have learned from experience that the only person you can change is yourself.

The 3 R's is always a great strategy as well. In all we do being respectful and responsive in a positive manner should give great rewards in return.

This week has been great. I printed a view things from the NVC website and used with my staff to help build teams while improving the culture in the center and believe it or not, it has to start with the way we communicate with each other. 

~How Others View Me As A Communicator~

~How Others View Me As a Communicator~

After getting both my husband and a co-workers to evaluate me this week as a communicator, I was shocked to discover that my husband score indicated that I am people-oriented, mild when it comes to communication anxiety, and significant on the verbal aggressiveness scale. My co-worker rated me as being time- oriented, low on communication anxiety scale, and low on the verbal aggressiveness scale.

One of the things that surprised me the most is the fact that my husband feels as though I am a little more verbal aggressive than I do. I have to admit that I communicate with him more aggressively than I do with others because I am more comfortable with him and I now that he understand me and where I am coming from. I was also surprised to learn that my co-worker feels as though I am time-oriented. I do not want my co-workers to feel as though I do not have time for them.

Two other insights that I learned about communication this week is that stereotyping may be positive, negative, or neutral and could possibly lead to negative and/or bad communication. The second thing is self-esteem. As the text book mentions, people that have high self esteem are more confident in their interpersonal relationships because they believe that they are more likely to believe that being friendly will cause others to be friendly in return. 

Two things that I have learned from this experience to do better is to treat my husband just as good as I treat the people that I work with and have to communicate in a positive manner. I also plan on having more time for my employees. I do know that there are things that I have to get accomplished throughout the day. I plan on making time out of my schedule that is strictly dedicated for listing to my employees.

~Communicating Differently~

On a day to day basis I find myself communicating differently according to the people who are in my surroundings. Diversity is all around us. We are all different and like to do different things as well as communicate differently.

When I am with my coworkers, I communicate in a professional manner. I use proper grammar, less facial expressions and I am very attentive to listening to the things that other may have to say. I could you could say that I am an active listener.

When I communicate with people that are older that I am, I always say yes ma'am or yes sir. I am very respectful and will never raise my voice. On the contrary, I am also very respectful to all but will raise my voice at a person that is around my age group or younger to get my point across.

When I am with my family and friends, I am more relaxed, use slang words when communicating and my facial expressions may tell it all. My husband would say that I am a passive listeners. He says that  I hear what I want to hear.

Based on the things that I have learned this week there are a few strategies that I can use to communicate more effectively.

1. I should be a better listener to everyone. Everyone wants to feel important and valued. If being an active listener works at work, I know that it will work with my family and friends. Being a people- oriented listener would be great when communicating with my family and friends.

2. The platinum rule is essential. When we treat others the way they want to be treated, everyone wins. Hopefully the same thing would be done with you.

3. Masking is importnat. Some times we have to let people know that regardless of what is being said or done, we can act accordingly. We should not show others the way we truly feel with our facial expressions. 

This week I have learned life long skills that will take me a long way. The things that has touched me the most is that we have to take the time to see things the way others may see them. We can  not be to quick to judges others until we have had the opportunity to see thing the way it may be according to others.  

Silent versus Sound Communication

The Nanny

The Nanny is a television episode that has been around for quite a while. However, I decided to pay it a little attention to completed this assignment. There were three main characters on the show, the nanny who is  a flirty lady (Fran), the butler and Mr. Sheffeld. 

When I watched the show on mute, Fran appeared to be a mean lady who used lots of facial expressions. She frowned a lot and used her hands to demonstrate things. She looked a little silly and moved around a lot.The butler appeared to be frustrated. He continued to look confused each time Fran said something or moved around. 

Mr. Sheffeld appeared to be calm and smiled a lot.After watching the show with the volume, I started to become interested. Fran turned out to be really cool and funny. even though she made facial expressions, most of the time the expressions were made to demonstrate the way she felt. She turned out to be nicer when the volume was up. She still is silly but she is more bubbly. She loves to use her hands when she communicates. 

The butler was more sarcastic than I imagined. He said little things that would conclude that Fran was a tad bit frustrating. Every time she talked, he would say something that attacked her character in a funny way.

I could tell that Fran was a little flirty when Mr. Sheffeld came around. Both with the volume and on mute, she continued to blush and used her hands to touch Mr. Sheffeld.
If I had been watching a show that I am more aware of. I would have known the personalities of the characters and even on mute, I would know whether or not the characters were playful or serious. 

If you have never watched "The House of Pain", try this exercise watching that show. I would love to hear the things that you all would have to say about Curtis both before and after.