From students to leaders

Last Thursday, B&G Clubbers brought 30 pumpkins, some volunteers, candies packed in beautiful bags and a lot of enthusiasm to the Boys & Girls Club in Lafayette. They were expecting 15 children, but 30 turned up; some were even turned away because there wasn't enough pumpkins to go around.

When I got there, the event was already underway. A few kids were sitting around a long, rectangular table, digging their hands into huge pumpkins, and pulling out all the yucky fiber and sticky seeds. David Loverde was busy walking around handing out scoops for the kids and Mitch was helping him by distributing plastic bags where the kids can dump their gloriously yucky pumpkin seeds.

Katie, Chris and Brandon were in the other room, helping other kids with the carving and getting ready for the games.

I put down my bag and coat and asked David what can I do to help. He seemed a little surprised that I will be helping and was uncertain what task to give to me. I sat down with a kid and started helping him gut a pumpkin.

As I sat there and observed my surroundings, I noticed everyone who saw me "at work" seemed a little surprised. Perhaps it was because they were used to seeing me as their teacher, their instructor, their leader. Whenever I asked them what I should do, or what I can help with, or where I should go for something, they seemed a little hesitant to assign me with a role/task.

But after awhile, everyone got more comfortable calling the shots for the events. It seemed natural that I will be helping out and that I am no longer the one assigning tasks. I have changed, from a leader to a follower. And my students have evolved, from being students to being leaders.

I enjoyed watching the transformation and observing how quickly they move into their roles. Everyone was clear on their responsibilities and carried them out with ease and confidence. Sometimes I feel ashamed for being worried for my students. As this event reminded me, undergraduates are a formidable breed of adults. They are passionate, energetic, has the best networks around, and are learning and applying the latest skills they have acquired from classes. Most formidable of all is that their enthusiasm and optimism have not been tainted by encounters with failures - to them, the world holds many possibilities!

Working amongst the B&G clubbers reminded me of what I used to be in my undergrad years. I was stage manager for a theater group, I was organizing bazaars and donating profits from sales to charity organizations, I was organizing camps for incoming freshmen, i.e. I was doing 5000 things at the same time and I don't recall thinking that I can't do it because Iwas merely an undergrad.

I had a lot of fun letting B&G Clubbers take the lead. In fact, I am very proud of them for stepping up and calling the shots. As the saying goes, if you want to teach a person survival skills, you don't bring the fish to them, you teach them how to fish.

Many times, our roles within a team changes. What is important is that when it comes to your turn to step up to the plate, you take the initiative and embrace your role as a leader and guide your team through the task. Even if there are times when you feel uncomfortable switching roles, you just have to bite the bullet and focus on the task. Be confident, because people look to you for guidance.

On a sidenote, this was my first pumpkin gutting experience! I had a lot of fun pulling out the seeds and fibers with the kids (maybe even more fun than the kids did). I know the group brought more pumpkins and had intended to carve one for me, but the overwhelming responses left me empty handed. I am a little disappointed that I did not have a pumpkin to bring home. BUT what I brought home was the knowledge of how to carve a pumpkin! Yes, I was paying close attention to every step of the project and I have every intention of duplicating it sometime this weekend so I have a carved pumpkin this Halloween. Thank you, team B&G Clubbers for showing me how to do this. I have bought a pumpkin today and the carving tools and I will complete the task tomorrow. If successful, I'll have pictures!

Worlds Smartest Dog

Deduction reasoning in the most incredible sense!
Thank you Josh for sharing this on your blog post:

"This is a really funny clip showing how a smart dog get's the ball without jumping into the dirty pool. The clip shows the dog's deductive reasoning... From the dog's perspective, the syllogism is:
-The ball is in the water and can be pulled out without jumping in.
-The mattress will float when I jump on it.
-I can paddle to the ball and get it out of the pool by jumping onto the mattress."

~Josh Heber

Getting to Yes (not really) - Sharktank Belt Buckle Venture

Last week, we learned about the 4 techniques of principled negotiation from Fisher and Ury's book "Getting to Yes". The four strategies are:
1. Separate people from the problem
2. Focus on interests, not position
3. Invent options for mutual gains
4. Insist on using objective criteria

Watch the above clip from Shark Tank, an ABC show where entrepreneurs come on the show to showcase their products to various venture capitalist. The entrepreneurs give a brief sale pitch and hopefully get the VCs interested enough to invest in the venture in exchange for a share of the company.

Watch this particular designer of buckles as he gives his sales pitch and go into negotiation. Observe how he lock himself into position by demanding $500,000 from the VC in exchange for 25% of his company. Watch how the negotiation process turns out to become one in which he has to defend why his company is worth 2 million dollars.

The negotiation process breaks down. This guy walks away with no deal. Note what the investors say about his arrogance.

What could have happened if this guy were willing to invent optins for mutual gains?

Remember, whenever you enter a negotiation process, you need to be mentally prepared to negotiate and don't let your ego get in the way!

An example of an A blog post

Kristen was the first student to post a blog on their group's web site and the first person out of 50 of you to post a blog. On top of that, it is an excellent example of what I expect to see on your blog and so I wanted to share it with all of you.

Take a look at Kristen's post here

*round of applause for Kristen*
Good job!

Looking forward

A few observations from today's presentation:

• seems like many of you are well versed in computer/technology. And perhaps the reason very few of you blog is because you don't like writing (since there aren't many liberal arts students in the classes)
• many of you bring with you experiences of working in diverse small groups
• you are energetic, enthusiastic and looking forward to working on the Service Learning Project

The last point is an especially important one to note and sustain. I hope this enthusiasm will carry you from beginning to end of the project. To me, there is nothing worse than working with a bunch of apathetic and uninterested team mates. Keep your spirits up as obstacles come your way.

Now that the teams have introduced themselves, what's next?

Many of you have mentioned that you have worked in or still belong to teams. But then, if you look further back in your life, you will realize that since kindergarten, or perhaps going even further back than that, you have been put into small groups to accomplish small tasks, play fun games or find a new friend. In other words, we are all socialized into group settings.

That's great! So why take a class on Small Group Communications?

My hopes for this class is to sharpen your skills as a communicator within a small group working environment, to help you understand your roles wthin a small group and to correct flaws in your communication habits. So this is NOT JUST ABOUT WORKING IN A TEAM OF 5 PEOPLE!

The blog will be one toll that you will use to reflect on your own behaviors, growth and habits as a communicator. Other ways of achieving the goals I set for you will be through the service learning project, small group tasks, and other activities plan for this class.

My goal is that at the end of this semester, each of you will have a better understanding of yourself and also be able to excel in a professional team environment. I hope all of you will strive for excellence in your work - mediocrity will definitely get you a B or less in class.

Over the next few weeks, there will be less of the lecture format (vertical hierarchy - me talk, you listen) and more of the team friendly environment (a horizontal hierarchy where the best idea wins). I look forward to see how your team evolves, adapts and changes and how you as an individual participate in that change.

Funny British Credit Card Commercial

Brazilian ad

McDonalds Egypt Ad

Funny Japan Commercial

Enjoy!

Singapore Cinema Commercial

Are you laughing yet?

Arranged Marriage Funny Commercial

Understanding humor is understanding culture..

group of 100 japanese - prank / social psychology

This video illutrates what how people are forced to conform in critical situations when careful deliberation of choices is impossible.

As we figure out the unique norms that make up our groups in the following weeks, I will like us to also reflect on how conformity can hurt the goal(s) we have set for ourselves. Under what situation(s) is conformity a bad thing? What are some of the principles that we hold dear and are willing to stand up for? How might those principles affect the dynamic within groups?

I am a person who has difficulty saying "no" to someone else, especially if the person asks politely. In a group setting, this surfaces in a bad way in terms of the types of project that I took on. For example, there was one time in one of my gender class where i had to partner someone to work on a project. She was very interested in working on research that looks into how culture affects the reception of pre-natal care treatment in the U.S. Specifically, she wanted to examine how pre-natal care treatments were perceived by hispanic groups. My research interest was getting women to understand investment - nothing to do with pre-natal care (except the payment part perhaps). But I agreed to work on the pre-natal care project anyways. Why? Because I didn't want to seem like a member of the group that is difficult to work with.

The effects of conformity manifested in negative ways for me. I was not interested in the project, dragged my deadline (because I was not interested) and really just hated the whole process. I wished I was more honest and not try to take on something that I didn't like doing. In the end, it didn't turn out to be a good paper. We got it done, but that was it. I felt like it was a waste of time. The paper never went anywhere, not even to a conference - that was how bad it was.

Conformity is needed to keep identity within a group intact. But always ask yourself: how much are you willing to conform without hurting the overall goal? If it is detrimental in anyway, voice out your differences - it's better to be heard than to suffer in silence.

Blogger: How to start a blog

this is a very useful link to learn about blogging

Small group communication theories

Key: decipher the role of communication in small groups as dictated by each theory

Systems theory: communication acts to keep different components within small groups in check

Structuration theory: communication within a small group is influenced by the structures/experiences in our lives

Symbolic convergence theory: narratives within a small group help to create a symbol in which every group member can identify with

Social exchange theory: assumes that people are motivated by costs and benefits (similar to economic theory). It is important to communicate the pros and cons of goals to group members and help each member perform to the best of their potential by meeting their needs.

Functional theory: Communication helps group members by promoting rational judgments and critical thinking, as well as preventing group members from faulty decision-making and flawed problem solving. Communication is thus instrumental because it provides the means through which group members can achieve their goals.

The Process (a.k.a. Designing The Stop Sign Video) - ORIGINAL

A classic video depicting corporate red tapes and the hilarious ways that group work can become hazardous.

Getting to know my classes

I pride myself on recognizing students after a week of class. But this semester has been particularly challenging. In the past, I have taught COM 114 and COM 325, both of which required students to submit assignments. The great thing about such a format is that I learn their names very fast because I have to hand their graded papers back before each class.

So I used notecards. Made students write names, phone, email plus an interesting fact about themselves and a pet peeve. Genius! I got back to the office and studied those cards carefully, making small notes next to their names to aid recollection.

Let's see if I can remember them on Friday!

I hate being in a big class where I am just a nameless face. I won't let my students feel like a nameless face - at least not for long!