Final Thoughts

Through this course, I have learned a lot about communication, both verbal and nonverbal. I especially enjoyed making the connections between communication and the diversity we have been focusing on. I look forward to taking those two topics and tying them in to adult learning theories.

Team Building and Collaboration

Thinking about the many stages of team building, the closure is certainly the most difficult part for many reasons. However, I do not believe adjorning with a successful group is more difficult than with a group that has not been successful. If a group accomplishes what they set to accomplish, it is easier to walkway feeling successful and being proud of that. When a group does not perform well and has difficulty meeting the goals, when I walk away I feel unsuccessful and feel like I have more to do, even if I don't. Of the groups that I have worked with, I can think of one that was difficult to adjourn, and that was a team that I worked on for a fund raising project. The group did not work that well, people were uninvolved and there was a lot of miscommunication that made it difficult. While the project did come to an end and the event happened fairly well and did raise some money, I felt unsuccessful because all I could think about was all the this gs we course,d have done differently and wondered if it would have changed the results. I had expected a closing meeting to discuss what could be done better for next time but there wasn't. The event occurred and the numbers were shared through email and we just said we would get together next year to plan the next one. The event would be better if we were able to discuss our thoughts while they were fresh in everyone's heads rather than a year later.

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict

This is a great topic this week because my husband and I have had conflict this week about money. A typical conversation of conflict for married couples, I expect. For a change, the argument isn't about not having money, it's about having money and not agreeing what to do with it. I realize after we did the communication inventory last week that my husband finds me to be aggressive during conflict. So this week I vow to use some of the tools in the NVC and the 3 Rs to help come up with a solution to the conflict. One important tool from those skills is to use respect. This is important because I need to listen respectfully to his thoughts and reasons without interrupting or using rude comments towards him. I think the best way for us to solve the conflict is to write down what we each think and weigh the positives and negatives of each. It is important to use the NVC and 3Rs when doing this and hope that he does the same. I am interested to know what others think of this situation and how to solve the conflict.