Moving Forward

We travel through the five stages of team development in all points of life, here we are adjourning once again.

Through your comments and questions over the last 8 weeks, you have helped me move forward in a working relationship that has been a challenge. I hope I have helped you in some small way build, expand, and sharpen your communication skills.

As we move into our specialization courses I hope we can keep in touch and share in joys and questions. I invite you to continue to follow my academic blog so that we can stay connected. I wish you all the best in your endeavors as you adjourn on to your next course on your educational and professional path.

Parting Ways

I have worked on many committees and with numerous groups of people over the past 20 years in this field. Thinking back to my Head Start years, I worked within programs in which the staff became strong teams. At the close of each year, we would say good-bye in the hopes to get the chance to work together the following year. Our adjourning each May was pretty informal because we were sure our paths would cross again. 

Last year a committee I participated in finished the work we were charged with. While we said good-bye in that group context, we are all still involved in a larger committee in which we can interact and work for the common good in early childhood. O’Hair & Wiemann (2012) state, “some groups may decide to continue to work together on new tasks” (p. 258). In many of the committees I am involved with, the work is conducted in sub-committees that, when the work or project concludes, they rejoin the larger whole.

My experience has been the groups that are the hardest to leave are the ones who were small and who did have established norms. Groups that gather over a long or extended period of time are extremely hard to leave. I am two months away from saying good-bye to a group of early childhood administrators who have been a part of a training seminar that began this past January. Over the last ten months we have meshed into a close-knit group who has built trust and mutual respect. We have come to rely on one another in brainstorming and solving challenges across a number of programs. Our closing session and graduation is scheduled for five weeks from now. I know that though we are moving, or adjourning, into a new phase, we will remain connected via reunions and other communications.

References:

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Strengthening Communication

Over the past couple of years, the majority of my co-workers and I have learned, examined, and began practicing the concepts learned through Crucial Conversations (just recently we have had a major increase in staff so not everyone is familiar with CC). Due to the adjustment of language used amongst co-workers, I have observed increased positive interactions between co-workers. 

In addition to be mindful of the idea of Crucial Conversations, I have identified 2 strategies that have helped me in resolving a conflict situation at work. One strategy is selective listening, defined by O’Hair & Wiemann (2012) as “listening that involves zeroing in only on bits of information that interest the listener, disregarding other messages or parts of messages” (p. 175). The co-worker with whom I am trying to increase open communication and decrease animosity and anger with is a very social person as I am. My observations of this person include a difference in our work ethics which I have allowed to color my assumptions and communication with her. I have been practicing selective listening with this person so as to highlight, in my mind, the essential pieces/statements that are important to our combined work. This has been helpful and I have noticed an increased positive spin in our interactions.

A second strategy that has been useful in my recognition of the interactions with this person is reminding myself of two core beliefs of adults: “People are inherently good and want to contribute and improve and people are doing the beset they can based on their present moment awareness” (Francis Institute, Strengths-Based Coaching®). As adults working in a filed as collaborative as early childhood must keep in mind these core beliefs as we work with others.

References:

Francis Institute. (2012). Strengths-Based Coaching®. [Participant Workbook]. Kansas City, MO.   

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.