CONGRATULATIONS ON ANOTHER FINISHED LINE,...
Almost There, so More Grace...
For every one who has enabled me to learn, Praise-El children say:
And I also say:
Wednesday 26 June 2013
Friday 14 June 2013
ADJOURNING....an essential stage of TEAMWORK
Research shows that as a group progresses, it goes through five specific stages which are: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning ( O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012). All stages are vital and have their indelible impression on the lifespan of the group. The adjourning stage is exceptionally a cumulative, evaluation, celebration and soul stage of the work. I use all of these adjectives because the adjourning stage is usually characterized by these descriptions.
I remember my stay in what we call Family House. The family House is a building that houses a body of transiting christian youth corpers. My country has a policy that enables every first degree fresh graduates to socialize, encounter work experience and have diversity exposure in various locations of the country. A national body sends a list to each university of where every final year student should be headed upon completion of their program. Most posting sends people to locations that are distant and unfamiliar. You are required to serve the nation for one year in that location. The goal is to enable the spirit of service, patriotism, and work culture in fresh graduates.
It begins with one month of camping for everyone. And usually the outgoing set meets with the incoming group in each state and they take off from there. The family house is a house that welcomes those who were Christians on campus and those who choose to join them. Usually, accommodation, after the one month camping is tough as you have to fend for yourself, but the Family house, a body of Christians, uses the opportunity to reach out to people. Somehow, I had accommodation provision from a family friend but had to go and stay in the family house because I was appointed the welfare secretary when the new leadership team was appointed.
The family house residents went to our various places of posting for work daily, such as schools as youth corper teachers, and other offices that chose to welcome corpers. We always began our day communally with prayers, sharing the word from the bible and we had a great time fellowship-ping. We made a general meal daily, also have evening devotions before we went to sleep. We had chores and duties. We did community cleaning more rigorously at weekends and we also cook twice daily at weekends.
We had goals and collective projects such as improving the building that housed us ( it was an uncompleted building, being built by these ordinary corpers and each set contributes), rural evangelism, annual concert and national conference. We all participated accordingly and spirits were always high in family house. We were young school leavers with great prospects in the face of economic hardships, so the leadership usually focuses on faith, resilience, righteousness, diligence and such values during exhortations. We did form, I was not cognizant of the storming stage but it occurred here and there. We met established norms which we had to imbibe, and they were pleasant and helped the communal living. Family house was fun, we were family.
At the end of our service period, emotions welled up, A lot of us were already so bonded, some were engaged to be married, some have already secured good jobs with credible established companies, and some were yet to have anything at all. We encouraged ourselves as we had been doing. We had a party with awards and recognition of contributors. This is a norm that every set must undergo. We were very emotional as we were to part with each other.
It was hard to part because we had become a family. It was a mixed feeling. Yes a stage of our lives which we all at one time longed for has just been accomplished. Well then, how about the new family we had formed, It was not very exciting separating. We had to say goodbye and we tried to keep important contacts ( Abudi, 2009).
The adjourning stage of the teamwork is essential because it reveals the true nature of the team spirit of the team that has existed. It is like examining the emotional social and physical well being of the group.
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
O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's
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| Praise, the Youth Coerper |
I remember my stay in what we call Family House. The family House is a building that houses a body of transiting christian youth corpers. My country has a policy that enables every first degree fresh graduates to socialize, encounter work experience and have diversity exposure in various locations of the country. A national body sends a list to each university of where every final year student should be headed upon completion of their program. Most posting sends people to locations that are distant and unfamiliar. You are required to serve the nation for one year in that location. The goal is to enable the spirit of service, patriotism, and work culture in fresh graduates.
 |
| Youth Corpers |
It begins with one month of camping for everyone. And usually the outgoing set meets with the incoming group in each state and they take off from there. The family house is a house that welcomes those who were Christians on campus and those who choose to join them. Usually, accommodation, after the one month camping is tough as you have to fend for yourself, but the Family house, a body of Christians, uses the opportunity to reach out to people. Somehow, I had accommodation provision from a family friend but had to go and stay in the family house because I was appointed the welfare secretary when the new leadership team was appointed.
The family house residents went to our various places of posting for work daily, such as schools as youth corper teachers, and other offices that chose to welcome corpers. We always began our day communally with prayers, sharing the word from the bible and we had a great time fellowship-ping. We made a general meal daily, also have evening devotions before we went to sleep. We had chores and duties. We did community cleaning more rigorously at weekends and we also cook twice daily at weekends.
We had goals and collective projects such as improving the building that housed us ( it was an uncompleted building, being built by these ordinary corpers and each set contributes), rural evangelism, annual concert and national conference. We all participated accordingly and spirits were always high in family house. We were young school leavers with great prospects in the face of economic hardships, so the leadership usually focuses on faith, resilience, righteousness, diligence and such values during exhortations. We did form, I was not cognizant of the storming stage but it occurred here and there. We met established norms which we had to imbibe, and they were pleasant and helped the communal living. Family house was fun, we were family.
At the end of our service period, emotions welled up, A lot of us were already so bonded, some were engaged to be married, some have already secured good jobs with credible established companies, and some were yet to have anything at all. We encouraged ourselves as we had been doing. We had a party with awards and recognition of contributors. This is a norm that every set must undergo. We were very emotional as we were to part with each other.
It was hard to part because we had become a family. It was a mixed feeling. Yes a stage of our lives which we all at one time longed for has just been accomplished. Well then, how about the new family we had formed, It was not very exciting separating. We had to say goodbye and we tried to keep important contacts ( Abudi, 2009).
The adjourning stage of the teamwork is essential because it reveals the true nature of the team spirit of the team that has existed. It is like examining the emotional social and physical well being of the group.
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
O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's
Saturday 8 June 2013
Strategies For Conflict Resolution
"Conflict comes about from differences - in needs, values and
motivations. Also, conflict is not a problem in
itself - it is what we do with it that counts"( Conflict Resolution Network.).
I understand the place of relationship with families and I love to maintain good relationships with the families that we serve in our school. Because I have been privy to some families', needs and sometimes, I am considered a confidant. Lately, one of the parents that we serve and who enjoys coming around withdrew conspicuously. I attempted to reach her and I felt like I was hitting a wall because she did not seem to budge. Last week, as I read through the resources for the week, I resolved to confront any issue that may be stifling our relationship. I did this based on our very good rapport before now, we were like families. On that note, I invited her for a dialogue and I was shocked at what she revealed as her reason for withdrawing. She referred to something I said that I was not even aware of that put her off to that extent.
"A relationship operates like savings in the bank; whenever an issue arises, the parties can dip into their account of goodwill to help deal with it. Often not a discrete activity, bridge-building takes place all around us, sometimes without us even perceiving it" ( the third side) .
On dealing with the issue which began with discovering what was the reason for the withdrawal. There was no way I would have known what the issue was if we had not talked with each other. The strategy I employed today is known as negociation.
"Negotiation, sometimes called “direct” or “unassisted” negotiation, refers to any dialogue involving two or more people in an effort to resolve a dispute or reach an agreement" (Association for Conflict Resolution). At the end of the day, i expressed my need for friendship and she expressed her need for emotional support.
We both decided to put the past behind and forge ahead. We arrived at a solution that fully satisfied both sides of the issue, in a win-win manner. References
http://www.acrnet.org/Page.aspx?id=691
http://www.crnhq.org/pages.php?pID=12#skill_3
http://www.thirdside.org/roles.cfm
I understand the place of relationship with families and I love to maintain good relationships with the families that we serve in our school. Because I have been privy to some families', needs and sometimes, I am considered a confidant. Lately, one of the parents that we serve and who enjoys coming around withdrew conspicuously. I attempted to reach her and I felt like I was hitting a wall because she did not seem to budge. Last week, as I read through the resources for the week, I resolved to confront any issue that may be stifling our relationship. I did this based on our very good rapport before now, we were like families. On that note, I invited her for a dialogue and I was shocked at what she revealed as her reason for withdrawing. She referred to something I said that I was not even aware of that put her off to that extent.
"A relationship operates like savings in the bank; whenever an issue arises, the parties can dip into their account of goodwill to help deal with it. Often not a discrete activity, bridge-building takes place all around us, sometimes without us even perceiving it" ( the third side) .
On dealing with the issue which began with discovering what was the reason for the withdrawal. There was no way I would have known what the issue was if we had not talked with each other. The strategy I employed today is known as negociation.
"Negotiation, sometimes called “direct” or “unassisted” negotiation, refers to any dialogue involving two or more people in an effort to resolve a dispute or reach an agreement" (Association for Conflict Resolution). At the end of the day, i expressed my need for friendship and she expressed her need for emotional support.
We both decided to put the past behind and forge ahead. We arrived at a solution that fully satisfied both sides of the issue, in a win-win manner. References
http://www.acrnet.org/Page.aspx?id=691
http://www.crnhq.org/pages.php?pID=12#skill_3
http://www.thirdside.org/roles.cfm
Saturday 1 June 2013
EVALUATING MY COMMUNICATION SKILLS
My communication self assessment outcome was exciting to me because of the nature of the test. It was fascinating to me to not be sure of the category we will eventually arrive as i answered the questions as sincerely as I could. My communication anxiety level recorded low, my verbal aggressiveness scale recorded moderate and my listening profile style recorded me as one who is "people oriented". As I saw each outcome, I sought for what I could do to make a better target for myself from wherever I currently may have found myself.
Amazingly, the two people whom I asked to assess me are my husband and my secretary. The two of them scored me on the same category in all three communication areas. But much more interesting is that they did not differ from the categories that my self assessment placed me.
The interesting disparity amongst all three of us comes in degrees within the level for both communication anxiety and verbal aggression levels. My self assessment revealed that my communication anxiety is on 31, my husbands' revealed 30 and my secretary revealed 26. The verbal aggression places me on 61 in my self evaluation, 62 in my husband's and 66 in my staff's.
What I think I of the disparity in comparison to what I have learned in this course, I think understanding culture dimensions in communication came to play. Enculturation in particular is my explanation. Enculturation is the process of transmitting a group's culture from one generation to another. Husbands are well respected in my social context ( Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2011). It is obvious that I can only be viewed as less aggressive with my husband and more, with my secretary; also my husband thinks I have a little bit of communication anxiety and my secretary thinks I have much more less anxiety. Worthy of note is that my self evaluation came midway of the other two people.
This week's evaluation makes me realize that I am not far from who I think I am in comparison to who I am viewed as. Also, that effective communication is much more that what we say.
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.
Amazingly, the two people whom I asked to assess me are my husband and my secretary. The two of them scored me on the same category in all three communication areas. But much more interesting is that they did not differ from the categories that my self assessment placed me.
The interesting disparity amongst all three of us comes in degrees within the level for both communication anxiety and verbal aggression levels. My self assessment revealed that my communication anxiety is on 31, my husbands' revealed 30 and my secretary revealed 26. The verbal aggression places me on 61 in my self evaluation, 62 in my husband's and 66 in my staff's.
What I think I of the disparity in comparison to what I have learned in this course, I think understanding culture dimensions in communication came to play. Enculturation in particular is my explanation. Enculturation is the process of transmitting a group's culture from one generation to another. Husbands are well respected in my social context ( Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2011). It is obvious that I can only be viewed as less aggressive with my husband and more, with my secretary; also my husband thinks I have a little bit of communication anxiety and my secretary thinks I have much more less anxiety. Worthy of note is that my self evaluation came midway of the other two people.
This week's evaluation makes me realize that I am not far from who I think I am in comparison to who I am viewed as. Also, that effective communication is much more that what we say.
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.
- "Communication Anxiety Inventory
- "Verbal Aggressiveness Scale"
- Rubin, R. B., Rubin, A. M., Graham, E. E., Perse, E. M., & Seibold, D. R. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures II: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.
"Listening Styles Profile-16"
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