Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Post of Appreciation

I would like to say thank you to all of my colleagues for supporting me with your brilliant ideas, opinions, resources, and personal stories that I will help me in my career, the future, and my life journey. I hope that I have supported you all through my blogs and group discussions which can be useful to share with others what you have learned. I would like like to wish my colleagues a successful continuation on their professional path. We can stay in contact through my blogs. I post my writings on there which are very spiritual and I know that it will encourage and support you all on your move through this program. Feel free to read and give me some feedback which will help me as well. I have enjoyed my colleagues and this course. May God Bless You All!!!!

Saturday, February 15, 2014

The Adjourning Phase

I was in this Christian group called Women of Faith (WOF). I feel like the adjourning aspect of this group was the hardest to say good-bye because we had established a spiritual connection and friendships amongst us and other colleagues. It allowed us to fellowship through bible study, extra-curricular activities, and programs on campus. Most of us stayed in the same dorms and others stayed in different ones, but we would meet in the lobby of the dorm in which I was living in. We stayed in touch with each other by cell phones and email addresses because we knew that this group would end when we all graduated. Our ritual was that we meet at church and have a banquet which involved dinner, preaching, socialization, and reminiscing about the good/bad times in which we all shared.

I think that high-performing groups and groups with the clearest established norms are the hardest to leave because it is about helping each other, learning from failure, sharing information, and trust. They are firm believers when it comes to their vision and being successful. I will adjourn from the group of colleagues in which I have formed while working on my master's degree in this program by wishing everyone the best in their education and life journey. The only communication that I would have with my colleagues is through a social network such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or if they continue to respond to my blogs. Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because the project is coming to an end and the team members are moving off into different directions (Abudi, G., 2010).

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Disagreement or Conflicts Between Sisters

I recently experienced a disagreement through a message on a social network called Facebook. It was someone that I knew in my personal life in which we called each other sisters. This how the conversation began:
Me: Hello funny acting person lol
Her: Hello, no
Me: Yes, but anyways how are you doing?
Her: Acting funny
Me: Exactly
Her: Hey Casa! You ok now, but you was tripping last night
Me: Hey! I'm good and how was I tripping last night because I said you were funny acting
Her: Yes because that's not true
Me: Why that's not true
Her: Because how I am being funny with you and what reason would I have to be acting funny with you None what so ever
Me: So that is when I told her how I felt and how I don't get attached to people too quick, but I really do like her as a sister, but we don't talk like we use to and I know that she be busy with the kids, church, and her husband, but a text or phone call wouldn't hurt sometimes. It's like she had distant herself from me and I didn't know why.
Her: She told me how she felt and then said well you are going to have to get over that feeling because it is not like that at all.
Me: Oh, trust me I will get over it.
Her: You are making a big deal out of nothing and she is sorry if I feel that way and she hate that I am offended about her response.
Me: I'm not making a big deal out of it I just see it as expressing how I feel. Why you say that I'm offended by your response
Her: Because you said oh trust me I will get over it
Me: You said I need to get over that feeling so that's why I said oh trust me I will get over it
Her: Ok
Me: I'm about to leave it along and I don't want you to have a bad day or be in bad mood
Her: Ok
Me: K, well hopefully you will have a better day
Her: Ok
The End

I felt like I did make a compromise when I said that I would let it be and I told her to have a better day. The two strategies that I have learned about that might help to manage or resolve the conflict more productively would be to be carefully about the choice of words I choose to use and to stop being in my feelings so much. These strategies might be effective because it can stop me from having another disagreement over petite stuff as people would see it. I feel as though our disagreement was deeper than that because later on I found out that she was not only doing me like that, but other closer friends as well.

To my colleagues, I would like you all input and advice regarding my disagreement. How have you all learned to be more effective communicators as it relates to conflict resolution skills?

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Evaluation

The similarities in how I evaluate myself as a communicator and how others evaluated me is that we both say that I am a good communicator, humble, and a God given talent to help children. I try to keep a creative mind to expand the growth of communicating with the youth. I take my own life experiences and incorporate it into the lives of others. I strive daily to better myself by improving my communication skills by not talking in slang which is a challenge and to stop texting in slang as well. The differences would be that I over think myself when it comes to situations as far as public speaking or being in a small group in which we have to stand in front of the class and give a summary of what we have learned. The one thing that surprised me the most was when they said that I am good communicator because I tend to underestimate how well I can communicate with others. I feel like sometimes when I be communicating with people that my eye contact be off because I have a tendency to look down or away. The new insight that I gained this week about communication is that sometimes we beat upon ourselves because we think that people see us in a negative perspective when in reality they might see us as being more positive.