Em's Ever Evolving Erudition

My goal of paraphrasing members of my team is going very well. I’ve been successful at paraphrasing at least one member at every meeting. This adds to the natural flow of conversation and helps clarify ideas for me and the rest of the group. I have not encountered any challenges when it comes to this goal nor have I had to make any adjustments to it. My goal of asking quieter members to share is a little bit more challenging. I am mindful that I do not want to spotlight any quieter members and I acknowledge that everyone functions differently. Asking introverts to share with the whole group in a way that feels unnatural to them is unfair. But this goal has helped me look at these members while at meetings to see how they are interacting with people. I noticed that the quieter members do still talk and share, but just with smaller groups or just one person, sometimes after the meeting. I think that creating alternate ways of sharing, making sure to leave ample wait time, and ask...

1. Update me on your progress on your goals. What developments, new insights or observations do you have about the skills you are focusing on since your last journal post. 2. Respond to the following questions: In what ways can an understanding of personality type enhance our collaborative skills? What was your four letter result? Did this make sense to you? What new insights did you gain from completing the self-assessment and learning about the different personality types in relationship to your ability to work collaboratively with others? How might Susan Cain’s talk help us to think about personality type and collaboration? Include at least 2 citations or quotes in your response. 1.  I’m grateful for my goals when I’m in meetings lately. They have really elevated my observation of who is talking/sharing the most and who is not. It tends to be the same people at each meeting. One thing that I’ve noticed is that it is not that the quiet people do not share, it is tha...

1. Update me on your progress towards your goals. As you considered your goals this week, what new insights do you have? Are there any specific examples of situations where you consciously thought about or worked on some aspect of your goals? I have created a little “meeting journal” to help me with my goals. This is where I will keep my discussion diagram, brief notes on discussion, and data points on my behavior. This is as long as I won’t be the notetaker in the meetings. As this is rotated and I’ve already done it this year (it's a big group), I don’t think that will be an issue. I have only had one meeting since creating our goals as snow days have made an impact on the time we meet. I did a discussion diagram and my teammates were interested to see who talks the most. We reflected that some people look like they talk a lot but they are only interjecting a word or two as a bigger conversation is happening. We also reflected that some that look like they are not t...

Journal Entry #1: Action Plan for Collaborative Skills Journal and Readings Reflection Identify a Target Skill Area for improvement Target Skill Area ( Major Area for Improvement): The target skill area that I would like to improve is inclusion of others in meetings. Rationale for Selection of Target Skill Area (Why did you select this area? Discuss results of checklist #1 or other forms of self-assessment): The reason I chose this target skill area is because although I feel it is important for all voices to be heard, I do not do much in meetings to make this happen. There are people who dominate the discussions and there are others that barely talk at all. I happen to be one of the people who talks the most in my meetings. I make sure to leave room for those who also want to share, but I don’t actively encourage others to add their thoughts. When assessing myself using the checklist, I rated myself a 2 on two skills that demonstrate a more inclusive approach to member...