Thank you

I would like to thank all of my colleagues that I have had the privilege of working with this semester. I have learned many things about each of you and I have learned some things about myself too. I appreciate the support and collaboration that I have had with each of you. I wish you all luck on your future classes.

Team Building and Collaboration

I guess one group that I would consider hard to leave was my graduating class in High School. Though I had some rough times in High School, I look back and think fondly of many of the memories. I consider this a group and even to some extent a team development because of all of the different challenges we faced as a group. My senior class has some particular struggles because of some scandalous information that came about our senior year. Our class faced these challenges and actually became more united as a result of them. We even lost our class adviser because of some information that came to the surface and we were all devastated by this.

Like any Senior Class in High School, my class had rituals. We went on a Senior Trip, everyone had senior parties and of course we had Graduation as a final farewell. I think my Senior Class was one of the hardest groups to leave because It wasn't just saying goodbye to a group of people, it was also completely ending a chapter in my life and beginning a new one. Leaving my coworkers at one job to start a new job produced similar feelings to those that I experienced finishing High School, but they were different because the amount of time that had elapsed was different and therefore my feelings were strong, but not so emotionally invested as they had been with my classmates.  I think saying goodbye to my Colleagues after this Master's Degree program will be somewhat similar to saying goodbye to my High School classmates, but it will also be different.

My eyes have really been open to a whole new viewpoint of working as a group and team development. I have gained a lot of insight and I have a new perspective about it. I reflected on different groups of people that I worked with throughout my life. I think if nothing else, it has given me an appreciation for working in a group. The Five Stages of Team Development are something that I will always keep in the back of my mind when working in a group.

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

• Think about any disagreements, or conflicts, you have recently experienced or are currently experiencing at work with a supervisor or colleague, or someone in your personal life. Share at least two strategies you have learned about that might help you manage or resolve the conflict more productively, and why these strategies might be effective. For example, could you suggest a compromise? Could you look for a broader range of solutions to your disagreement? Could you use some of the principles of nonviolent communication or the 3 R's to better help you resolve this conflict? I have recently been having some squabbles with  a friend of mine. He is actually an ex-boyfriend who I have stayed very close friends with. We had some communication issues before we broke up and we have been working on solving these issues. Though we are closer to where we need to be, we are not quite there yet. Our two biggest issues is I don't like to open up for fear of rejection and he has a short temper. Sometimes we will be trying to communicate and my lack of wanting to open up will upset him and make him lose his temper, making me shut down and retreat even more, which then makes him more upset and he starts yelling, calling me names and get volatile. One of our most recent disagreements is the fact that he always wants to talk on the phone and I don't like talking on the phone. Sometimes I feel trapped when we are talking on the phone because that is when he gets upset with me. I would rather talk in person or text message each other. One strategy for me would be to possibly compromise and agree to talk on the phone, but maybe I could agree to do this and then if things escalate to a place where I am not comfortable, I can tell him we need to get off the phone and if he does not listen then I will just hang up the phone. The other strategy I would consider trying would be for us to possibly write things down before we come to each other to talk about them. Sometimes I literally need to visual and see what I want to say before I can actually say it to another person. I also think this would help because he and I tend to interrupt one another a lot. We have both acknowledged that this is a problem, but we have not really been able to figure out how to solve it yet. I think implementing the principles or nonviolent communication or the 3 r's would definitely help our situation. I specifically think the 3 r's could help us and would help.
  
• Also, if appropriate, ask your colleagues for their input and advice regarding, if not specific problems, how they have learned to be more effective communicators as it relates to conflict resolution skills. I would be more than happy to hear any advice offered by colleagues. One of the more important lessons I've learned so far in this class is the fact that everyone communicates differently. I've also learned that our experiences certainly effect how we communicate. As a result of this, I realize the importance of making compromises to communicate more effectively.