Post of Appreciation

Just a note to say thank you for the support and wonderful posts that each of you has shared over the course of this class. I think that becoming a more effective communicator is a goal that I am going to work toward as a professional in the early childhood field. The examples that you all have shared and the responses that you have posted will be useful to me as I continue on my journey. I wish each of you success as you continue and maybe I will have the privilege of working with some you again in our next class. Thank you again!

Adjourning Phase - 5th of the Five Stages of Team Development

When considering the different groups that I have been involved in, I would say that the group that I had the hardest time saying goodbye to was the church building committee. Although I still saw the group of people that I served with on the committee, the fact that “we” did not complete the project that we had set before us left me with a feeling of failure. It was hard to have worked so diligently on this project with this great group of people and not get to see what we had worked so hard for happen under our watch.
Another group that I would like to share is the cohort that I was a part of at Tusculum. During our forming stage – where we met each other for the first time, we were able to get to know each other and figure out which group we fit more closely with. (Where and who we would sit with.) We were to get into groups of six and the group that I ended up with made for a great team. We communicated well with each other and each of the members had something that they could bring to the table. We were very fortunate to have a “tech savvy” man in our group that really brought things to life. He was usually the leader on our group. We all worked so well together and each took our part in the group very seriously. When it was time to say goodbye, it was truly a hard thing to do. I spent 20 months, and countless hours with this group and we had become so close. Most of us still keep in touch with each other today. The adjourning phase for us in this situation was a success. Over the course of those 20 months, we produced some great projects and each of us worked together to make it a great success.

I think that the adjourning phase is kind of like the icing on the cake. It is done and you feel that sense of accomplishment. The fact that we did not make it to this phase while on the church building committee left me feeling like we failed. I think that seeing your hard work completed leaves you with a feeling of accomplishment and we did not get that.

Adjourning from this online cohort will be different from the adjourning phase I experienced with the cohort where we attended class together, because although we are in groups, we don’t really get to know each other on a real personal level. I do feel that upon completion of this degree, even though we do not know each other on a personal level, we have provided each other with some great feedback and ideas that we can each take with us.

Communication Conflict

This year, I was involved in a conflict with a representative from a company that our school had invited to represent us for insurance purposes. I hate conflict and this whole incident was very difficult for me as I tried to be positive and open about what was going on. I am unable to share some of the details of this incident, but basically, this representative came in and took my personal information in order to present me with a quote of how he could help me. This information was promised to be back to me within a week. After three weeks, and no responses to my phone calls, I started inquiring about this representative. Come to find out, I was not the only one that was experiencing this same kind of treatment. As I said, I struggle with conflict, but am now growing more and more concerned with the fact that I have not heard from this representative and my personal information is out there somewhere. I am still considering checking into identity theft. The two times that I did speak with this person, all I could get was personal sob stories. Being the person that I am, I bit, hook- line- and sinker. When I saw this representative at my school, I made it a point to speak with my principal and she brought us both in to her office where we could discuss what was going on. I think that I was able to get my point across in a way that was non-threatening, but after I explained why I felt the way that I did about this situation, I turned the tables by asking how this would have made him feel. I also asked if he would not have had some of the same thoughts had it been his personal information floating around out there with no communication whatsoever? My papers were finally returned, but am still concerned about my information being stolen. I do think that the way that I handled my part of the situation was in a productive way, and it involved a lot of probing and playing of the devil’s advocate. I think that I did use the 3 R’s in order to help with this situation as I was not demanding, but respectful and responsive in my interactions with him.
If you were in my position, would you be concerned with identity theft? Just curious.