APPRECIATION

Reflecting on my experience for the past 8 weeks; I would say that my communication skills has greatly improved and I would continue to work on it for the greater goal of making the difference in the lives of young children and families. I would therefore say THANK YOU to Dr.Thomason for helping me make that remarkable change through her approaches and resources provided for understanding communication better and to be effective in a diverse society. I would also like to thank my colleagues for their insightful and generous comments on my blog post; I really appreciate your support. We are a team as professionals and I wish everyone the best of luck as we embark on another journey. I hope we continue to be better communicators and role models to the lives we touch and the people we interact with. I wish we all continue to improve on our communication skills and continue to make a difference in the world. Finally I sincerely hope I would be a part of Walden Commencement ceremony and have the opportunity to meet every one to celebrate our success and professional growth together. Once again; thank you and best wishes.

Adjourning stage

According to Abudi, (2010) “Every team goes through the five stages of team development. The five stages:

• Stage 1: Forming
• Stage 2: Storming
• Stage 3: Norming
• Stage 4: Performing
• Stage 5: Adjourning

 The adjourning stage is when the team is completing the current project. They will be joining other teams and moving on to other work in the near future. For a high performing team, the end of a project brings on feelings of sadness as the team members have effectively become as one and now are going their separate ways. The team leader should ensure that there is time for the team to celebrate the success of the project and capture best practices for future use. (Or, if it was not a successful project - to evaluate what happened and capture lessons learned for future projects.) This also provides the team the opportunity to say good-bye to each other and wish each other luck as they pursue their next endeavor. It is likely that any group that reached Stage 4: Performing will keep in touch with each other as they have become a very close knit group and there will be sadness at separating and moving on to other projects independently. (Abudi, 2010)

This goes to show that adjourning is crucial and essential in any team work. It indicates success and closure, evaluation and lesson learned, feeling of accomplishment, reflection and moment to make and discuss plans for the future, moment of merry and satisfaction about making a difference. This stage is also good for one’s self esteem, and gears individuals towards striving to achieve positive goals. It’s an emotional phase, filled with joy and sadness; having to say goodbye to group of people you have worked with as a team and support each other’s challenges as a team. Friendship definitely as being formed as human nature builds relationship around interaction, trust, commitment, empathy and support.

Of all the team work I have being a part of, a particular one stood out for me because of the success of the project and the adjourning phase. The team goal was to revive an association magazine. Six members were selected; two female and 4 male all form the field of arts and humanities. It was an amazing experience for me, I learnt a lot and I also got a lot of exposure within a short period of time. At the end the magazine was produced and we moved to the adjourning stage where we all told one another how well we performed and would not mind to working together on another project. We had our farewell ritual with a dinner party at a nice restaurant. The team leader was a wonderful person; He made the event a surprise packaged. It was fun and we all sat down to talk for hours about our dreams and ambitions. We ate, drank and we also got free copies of the magazines as our complimentary gift. Aside from that a certificate was given to members .We are all still good friends, although I lost contact with the other female team mate. I still communicate with the others via phone and social media even though we are far apart.

It has being amazing working with colleagues of different culture at Walden university. We have worked together sharing ideas and perspectives, supporting one another’s growth through interactive discussion and blog posts. I wish our adjourning stage would give me the opportunity to meet everyone in person, in form of an informal ceremony, where we get to talk wine and dine as professionals in the field. I believe some of us would still continue our relationship after this program. We have been like a team, working together for a common goal to acquire a higher degree to make a difference in the lives of young children and their family across the world and the early childhood field in generally. An adjourning phase is therefore needed and I truly hope and pray I am a part of it. I wish everyone all the best in this course and the rest and hope we meet to perform the last stage of our team building.

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

WEEK 5 - Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

Conflicts occur in our personal and professional relationships as well as our interaction with our community. Conflicts can either be managed productively or unproductively. Conflict management therefore, refers to the way that we engage in conflict and address disagreements with our relational partners. Unproductive conflict is conflict managed poorly and has negative impact on the individuals and relationships involved. While productive conflict is conflict managed effectively (O’H air & Wiemann, 2012). When we engage in productive conflict management we are able to make better decisions that would be of benefits to parties involved.

A recent disagreement I had was with my husband regarding the choice of preschool for my daughter when she eventually wants to start. My husband and I had not really discussed it but in some ways we had assumed that she would be enrolled in the same school with his colleague’s kids, but as I watched my daughter grow, I began to understand her better. I saw her as a very active ,spirited child who loves to learn new things but in a more unconventional and play-like manner and since I am an advocate of play in the early years I thought I needed to really take my time to ensure the preschool we eventually enroll her into would be able to meet her needs. I decided to discuss it with my husband, there was disagreements because my husband taught the issue of her school was a done-deal ,he had even made enquiries about tuition and some other information about the school meanwhile I was searching for other options. He made me realize that in some ways I had said things that indicated my interest in the school, so why the sudden change, he also said his colleague said ,all the schools offer the same thing, which I disagreed with him. He had a point I had showed and indicated earlier that she could start the preschool but that was before I began to understand my daughter’s personality better. I felt the best I could do was to look for a preschool that shares my goal of learning and create an environment that would enable her discover her full potential. After stating several facts and reasons ranging from locations, to tuition fees, facilities , reputation and teaching and learning strategies, I advised him to make conscious effort to spend more time with her and if he did not understand my point of view ,then I would reconsider. He did, at least for the benefit of doubt; I was surprised when he came to me and asked the schools I have being checking of late .We both concluded we need to search for schools that would meet our desire while given cost into consideration as well as location. We are yet to decide one but at least we have both agreed on what type we want.

I believe our conflict was aimed at bringing about a better decision for an important plan in our family; our daughter’s education, it was therefore necessary we took a productive step, despite the fact that we both had our reasons for disagreeing

The conflict managing strategies I feel would be appropriate for this disagreement would be to focus on the issue, consider options and alternative as well as adopt the cooperative strategy. I believe when we use these strategies we would be able to arrive at what is best for our daughter without hurting each other’s feelings.When one is aware of how to address conflicts it goes a long way in preventing the damages that comes with conflicts and violence.

Reference

O’ Hair, D. & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins’s.