the four-leaf clover

And class #2 of the semester, Organizational Learning,  is off and running. After the sessions so far, and completing the first couple chapters of Nancy Dixon’s text, I have some new ideas about organizational learning. During our class discussion Tuesday night, one concept stuck in my mind,

Learning is constructed from a collective.

A diversity of opinions is needed within organizations, or any learning environment, to form different perspectives. If the same opinions and ideas constantly rotate around a board meeting or department, how would changes or an increase in knowledge be obtained? I started thinking about my department and the learning that takes place within it everyday…

The concept of learning being constructed from a collective of different opinions and meanings is not being utilized as much as it should. For example, I have 5 different personal investigators in my department, who each have their own labs. Even though the projects within the labs are different, they all have similar interests and the love of research. The downside to my department is they never collectively share their research discoveries or ideas. Each lab acts as “one”, where what seems to be the more beneficial way of collaborating would be to share with everyone.

After our discussion, I realized the lack of a “collective” within my department. What can be done to help strengthen the learning that takes place? One idea I had in mind was holding monthly seminars. Each week the labs get together and have “lab meetings” amongst themselves, but there is never a departmental seminar. I think this would be a great way to share not only research ideas and studies that have succeeded, but also discuss what didn’t work. Students and faculty would benefit from the discussion of information and this would lead into sharing of ideas and experiences… therefore collective learning!

These are just some initial thoughts, and I look forward to pulling ideas from this course and learning as much as possible. (And hopefully helping my department grow into one, instead of many!) I also agree with what Ed said in the last class, that it will be interesting to compare some different departments/schools within the university, and see how we are similar and different when it comes to organizational learning. Bring on the semester!

The first week of Fall classes has come and gone, again. I have high hopes for this semester and the two classes I’m taking, one of them being Consulting Skills in Adult Learning Environments. Before our brief class discussion the other night, I had my own thoughts on the term consulting.

Consulting = coaching, mentoring, fixing problems, guiding, listening, providing solutions. Yes, these terms are associated with consulting, but the roles associated with them are so much deeper.

Expert, Pair of Hands, and Process Consultation are three roles of consulting. Depending on what the client or organization has a need for is the role the consultant should take. I’m excited to learn more about the Process Consultation role and how to help clients solve the problems themselves. This sort of self-learning is beneficial in more ways than just consulting. I believe I learn the best if I’m not given the answer, but have to work for it. As we discussed in class, when the client has to dig deeper to solve the problem, the outcomes can be shocking. I believe that more often than not, the client or organization is surprised to learn where the true problem lies. This is why being open to self-discovery is so important.

After this little teaser of what’s to come, I’m excited for the class and semester. In one night I not only learned more about consultation roles and components of problems, but I now know I should keep an onion in my backpack. Whenever I have a problem at work and need to get through it, I can sit and think, peel back the layers of my onion, and hopefully discover some new answers.

Week One:

            My second session of summer school started this week and I’ll be in class again, twice a week, 4 hours a night, for 5 weeks. I must say I was not looking forward to it, however now that this first full week is over, I’m intrigued. I told the class, as they’ve heard in courses before, that I’m a sponge. Currently I work in the VCU School of Dentistry in the research department. I serve as a lab manager and administrative assistant for numerous labs, and also for those who work in them. I’ve also explained that this is not my ultimate goal as far as a career, but a stepping stone. I hope to use the HRD skills I’ve learned and still are learning, and continue to apply them in the university setting, but possibly in student services, program development or student admissions/counseling.

            This week we were given the opportunity to take self-assessment and personality tests. I’ve taken the Meyers-Briggs test before, but it’s been something I’ve taken and not really thought about or applied afterwards. This time was different. Not only did we take the test, but we really used it as a great take-away experience. I learned that using the MB type indicator and acknowledging the different types within people, can help relationships in the workplace. This started the wheels turning. I began thinking about all the different individuals and personality types I face on a day to day basis. How are my relationships with these individuals? Could they be better? How can I strengthen these relationships? Lastly, what is their type?

            The person who stuck out in my mind most was my supervisor. It was pretty apparent from the first interview that our personalities were different – in some cases extreme. I’m an ENFJ: extrovert, intuition, feeling and judging. My boss, I believe, is an INTJ. He is definitely a blatant I – introvert, and he’s a very deep, analytical thinker. It then clicked that most of the people I’m surrounded with are introverts, but this also makes sense – they are researchers. Most of their days are spent reading and gathering data, either by experiments, reading articles or journals, and writing grants. The thought of this however, for me, sounds terrible. However, our relationships work, as far as I can tell. Being aware and knowing his style can only help build on that relationship.

            It was also very rewarding and inspiring to hear Dr. Damico say that I’ll fit perfectly into my career goal with the qualities, styles and traits that make me who I am. I think throughout this course, the advice, class discussions, take-aways, and constant feedback will allow for a very productive course. It’s a great feeling to be able to relate to classmates and feed off each others unique knowledge. I look forward to the next 4 weeks!

Theory X: In this theory, which many managers practice, management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can.

Theory Y: In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control.

            In my workplace, which right now I’m focusing on my department, I have my supervisor, the department chair, as well as 4 faculty members who run their own labs. Technically, I work for all of them and they function as lab managers, but I only specifically answer to my supervisor. Okay, back to relating my managers to the theories. I would argue that my supervisor very much so has a Theory Y approach towards myself and his staff. He is not the best leader when it comes to running a department, but let’s us do what we need to do and doesn’t question our decisions.

            I sometimes think he demonstrates too much of a Theory Y approach. He trusts that everyone is self-directed enough to meet their work objectives and are also committed to these objectives; however, when he knows one person isn’t, instead of confronting them, he doesn’t change his behavior. He basically ignores the issue. I also think that instead of the staff seeking responsibility, as the theory states, they take advantage of it.

            My work environment is very separated, because having numerous labs, they all function as their own unit. I have one Personal Investigator with a lab of 18 masters’ students, post-doctorate students and research scholars who is so much of a Theory X person it’s not even funny. I actually had her lab technician come to me today in tears – I’m working on my mentoring/active listening skills at work. By demonstrating a Theory X approach with her lab people, she’s ultimately going to force them away. She thinks that her people don’t like being in the lab and are “goofing off” most of the time. She also doesn’t care about the overall goal of the department and functions alone. Whenever there is an issue, everyone knows who was at the start of it.

            I think these theories of X and Y are very interesting and I can also see how people may exude qualities of both. Theory X is the negative and Theory Y is the positive. I think managers/staff/employees/students/administrative assistants can all show qualities of both. I also think it’s natural for some employees to get in a mode where they really are just showing up to work for a paycheck. I also think this is an opportunity to look for ways to make your job duties or objectives more exciting, or possibly to look for another job option.

            What I enjoyed about this week was learning about some history and theories about HRD. I’m no expert, that’s for sure, but I’m ready to learn all that I can and take it with me as much as possible now and in my future career.

Week Three:

            “You start to do the job before you get the job.” This phrase stuck in my head this week, and I found myself contemplating how I could accomplish this. As I’ve said before, I would like to continue working in the University setting, specifically in student services, admissions, program development or career counseling. So I started thinking, what can I do now before I get a job like this?

            Well, I currently am in a position where I can have a lot of influence and interaction with faculty and students. Working in the research department in the School of Dentistry is actually quite eye opening. Almost every semester we get new students, either coming through a lab to do their PhD’s, masters, or just simply to get lab experience. It’s easy to form relationships with these students and I’ve noticed more recently that they will come to me for advice about the department, our department chair, or just the School of Dentistry in general. It makes me feel appreciated and it’s my passion.

            Doing the job before I get the job also reminds me of experiences I had during my undergraduate time here at VCU. I was asked to be a student advisor in The School of Mass Communications, which gave me great knowledge and the love of working with students. I not only gave them advice on courses to take, but also provided some examples of other classes to take to fill in electives, or what professors I had taken classes from that worked well for me. I tried to give the students all that I could – in essence, I was doing the job before I got the job.

            This week Dr. Damico gave us another great take-away, the TCL model. TCL stands for Trainer/Coach/Leader. This model is all about gaining commitment and working with employers/employees to be the best that they can in the workplace. The key strategies of encouraging, mentoring, confronting and conducting difficult conversations are all roles we will have to play at some point in our careers. As of right now in my current position, I think I play the role of encouraging and mentoring most. I’ve realized that being an administrative assistant, plus managing labs, I hear everything. Since the department doesn’t have a strong leader in place, I guess it means that I’m the next best person in line. I have to encourage the students and staff to be patient with day to day activities because changes are going to happen with the changes in leadership. I’ve had to mentor one of the lab technicians on numerous occasions because she’s not happy with her work environment but doesn’t want to confront her supervisor. As I said, I hear it all.

            What I find difficult and need to work on is offering up solutions too quickly. For example, when the lab tech. came to me and I was consoling and mentoring her, I wanted to give her solutions. I wanted to tell her what she should do and how I would handle her situation, but didn’t. It’s not easy though, but making them figure out their own solutions and ways of handling things makes it better for the individual.

            The last concept we learned that sticks out for me was active listening. Active listening builds trust. I’ve always thought of myself as a good listener, and I guess I was proven right after volunteering this past class to demonstrate my skills.

Week 4:

            It’s hard to believe that our fourth week of class has come and gone. I’m in the process of finishing up my paper and final project, constantly contemplating Theory X and Y and what we’ve learned about HRD. This week also provided great take-aways. For one, we were able to look at an actual case study of Dr. Damico’s. It described basic information on the person he was mentoring/consulting, and also the issues this person was having within the organization. After hearing the final result, how this person eventually was fired, it was clear that no matter how hard we try to work with a person, sometimes we fail.

            This can be very frustrating. I personally feel responsible when someone I’m mentoring or simply given advice to ends up unsuccessful. However, in this case, this individual never really accepted the fact that he had something to work on. You can’t change something you refuse to acknowledge, because the issue will remain a wall that just won’t break down.

            I started thinking about the mentoring situation I have a work currently. One of my lab technicians is having many issues with her supervisor, one of my Personal Investigators, and her fellow lab partners. Since the PI isn’t at work much and when she is, she doesn’t communicate well, this lab tech. is basically left to run the lab, which consists of 18 people. All my other labs have 5-8 people total… this gives some idea of how out of control this lab actually is. Basically, I have mentored her over the past few months and it started with a few venting session which have now turned into some tears. After, hopefully, giving her some good active listening skills, she has told me some solutions she would like to take to change her situation. I agree with everything she knows she needs to do, however, she isn’t following through with her own suggestions. It’s very frustrating because the venting still goes on and the tears still fall and with new people arriving in the lab the issues get bigger and bigger. How do I continue to coach or mentor a person in a situation like this? I want to help, but have to be aware of my situation and crossing lines. This is still a work in progress, so we’ll see how it eventually pans out.

            Another great take away this week was the interviews with Dick Leatherman, Marvin Weisbord and, of course, my father. All three of these individuals were very inspirational and it’s comforting to see how successful they all are in this field. Each one of them was different, and clearly takes a different approach regarding human resource development, organizational development, and teaching/facilitation.

            I started thinking after class on Thursday how it must have been being a student in Dr. Leatherman’s class. He was, for lack of better words, intense. I appreciated his enthusiasm and love for his job and that alone would make a class like his intriguing. Weisbord is another individual who clearly shows passion in the world of organizational development. He is the creator of Future Search, an effective organizational change strategy. In Change Strategies last semester, we used his concept of Future Search and were really able to see how one of these conferences came together. What I find so beneficial about Future Search is someone can use it in a conference of 20-200 plus people. Ultimately, it can be used in any organization or department worldwide.

            Lastly, it was a great take-away to interview my father, who has been in the human resources field for almost 30 years. It was not only easy to talk to him about what he does, but it’s amazing that he’s been doing this for so long. It wasn’t until I started this program, and realized my passion, did I take interest in what his career was. Since he’s been in the field for this amount of time, he’s really been able to utilize many aspects of human resource development, including training and consulting. An inspirational quote I took from my father was, “It’s important to create passion in the work environment and empower associates to drive change; and always have fun at what you do, or why would you come to work.” I have a great mentor, and am lucky I’ll have him guiding me throughout my HRD career.

Week 5:

            It’s amazing these five weeks are coming to an end. This HRD overview course truly provided information and take aways that have given me a good grasp on what it’s all about. I’m going to wrap up my reflection on the course before the final presentations; however, I must say that one of the best aspects to these 5 weeks was learning from my classmates. It’s remarkable how much I learn from them all. I know some of us in the program, myself included, are still not 100% sure what we want to do when we finish our coursework. I know the general area of interest, but many aspects of working in a university appeal to me.  

          I feel confident that my active listening skills have strengthened after this course, that my coaching, mentoring and leadership abilities are stronger, and that my overall knowledge of HRD has grown. It’s pretty fascinating how much a person can learn in only 5 weeks, but I think I can speak for everyone in this course when I say that we’re taking away a lot more now than we thought we would. Through this last week of class, I hope to learn even more about HRD through the interviews we all conducted. I know Dr. Damico will share more personal insight and advice that I will remember when I’m finally out in the HRD world.

         There may be a little more reflection to come these last few days of 620, but if not, I’d just like to say again that this course has been extremely helpful, insightful and rewarding. I’m already looking for ways to use these tools I’ve learned and hopefully share them with others!

I decided to wait and post all of my journals from SELD 688 until the very end. Throughout these journal entries, I think it became apparent how much I had to learn and how much I enjoyed learning from Dr. Gerber. This is a wonderful class that I think everyone should take, even if it’s not required. Hope you enjoy reading about my 5 week journey!

Once again a semester has come to an end… This one went by much faster than I expected, and I attribute that to the classes I was taking, one of them being Change Strategies. I felt engaged throughout the semester and enjoyed the activities and experiences we shared in this course. It’s a great feeling learning so much from my fellow classmates, and even though we are all different, we share the love of adult learning. I remember during the first class, Dr. Carter asked us if we had ever been involved in an organizational change. I had some thoughts about what one might be, but had never thought of or been involved in a change like this. I must say that now, through this course, my knowledge has grown about organizational change and the different intervention strategies we can use to help bring organizations together.

One evening before class started, Carol and I were discussing our text, Organization Change, Theory and Practice. Carol was saying how much she was enjoying the book and said as she was reading, she could specifically pin-point specific examples and experiences that had happened within past jobs. Basically, she emphasized a sense that it was all finally coming together as she was reading. I was somewhat envious, because I was struggling a bit more with the text. I found the examples in the book helpful and the concepts/theories interesting, but that same light bulb didn’t go off for me. This is how I usually am though, I find the text helpful as a guide, but I can relate and learn more through my classmates discussions, input, and experiences.

I found the chapter on levels of organization change very powerful. Change lies within the individual, the group and the larger system, “an organization is a totality, a whole with interacting parts or components.” It’s important to understand that all the parts of an organization affect the whole. I know I’ve used the dental school in many examples before, but I think this is a good example of the different levels of an organization. Through our various departments, clinical and administrative staff, faculty and students, we have many pieces and parts. It’s as if we are all tiny organizations (departments/clinics) within a larger whole (VCU School of Dentistry.) When one part is lacking or falling behind, it affects the various departments and clinics, and in turn affects the school. As the book states, change differs at different levels in the organization.

It’s also important to remember how individuals or organizations respond to change. In the text, Levinson stated that whether change is embraced or resisted, all change is a loss experience, particularly a loss of familiar routines. This is very true, and I will see it very soon within my department. We are in the process of looking for a new director, who will also be my new supervisor. There is a lot of resistance to this upcoming change on my part. To be quite honest, I don’t want another boss. We have formed a very solid, understanding relationship and it’s not going to be easy, nor do I really want to, put the effort into forming another relationship with a new director. He is also already aware of how our department functions together and it’s going to be difficult bringing a “stranger” into our “family.” However, I have also looked at it and realized I need to learn to embrace the new change. There are some aspects of my department that do need strict change and regulation, and bringing in a neutral person who has no past ties to the department may fix some of our underlying issues. This would have a huge positive impact. Needless to say, I can understand the different responses to change. It’s easy to resist it because we get comfortable with how things are, but in the end, we don’t know what positives could arise with the changes.

Writing the Burke-Litwin paper also helped to link the Burke-Litwin model to a real life organizational change. When I first looked at and read about the model, it became quite clear how all the factors within organizations are intertwining and affect each other. However, even after studying the model, I didn’t have a concrete example to use. Then Dr. Carter suggested NASA. This turned out to be a wonderful suggestion and I chose to analyze both the Discovery and Challenger tragedies and how these were results of organizational failure within NASA. While writing this paper and describing the factors in NASA that led up to these tragedies, the Burke-Litwin model started to come together in my mind. Not all the components of the model were used, but many of them were, and these affected others significantly. One of NASA’s biggest problems was hierarchy and leadership and their inability to listen to others. Analyzing NASA through the Burke-Litwin model helped clarify how organizations function and if all the components work well together, the organization will be successful.

The last, and I believe, most influential part of the course was learning about different change strategies and interventions through my classmates. Through one week of facilitation and the next of debriefing, we all became better “experts” in Future Search, Open Space and Appreciative Inquiry. I blogged a few times before on my thoughts and perspectives on these strategies, but what I appreciated most about each of them was their uniqueness. Each facilitation emphasized different themes; from bringing people together based on the past, present and future, to stating a theme and having lots of open communication, to focusing on the positive side of a topic. Now that I’ve gone through and learned more about these change interventions, I see how organizations can change and be successful using many different approaches. I also was able to see that I could take pieces of each of these strategies and apply them to my department.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. I think we were a great group and this allowed us to bounce ideas off each other and have valuable discussions. As I’ve said numerous times, I like when I can take things I’m learning in these courses and apply them to where I work. Change Strategies was definitely one of those courses. Congratulations to those graduating, we’ll miss you and good luck! To everyone else, I’ll see you either this Summer or Fall!

I needed a change again. I’ve realized more and more that I’m in a place where I constantly need change to keep me upbeat about work/school/Richmond in general. It’s obvious, I’m very ready for the next phase in my life… wherever that may take me. Therefore, another theme and layout for my blog. I plan on changing the header tonight to make it more personal and exciting.

It’s hard to believe that this is our last week of class! I’m sure we all can relate when I say, “Where did the semester go?” This week we have three more teaching demonstrations, I think the crepes are this week!!, and I’m very excited to see what else I can take away from my classmates. What I believe is so profound about this assignment was it forced us all to do something out of our comfort zones. Even if what we did was a teaching demo we do on a regular basis, it’s different sharing our own personal teaching styles with others, and knowing we’re getting critiqued. For example, if some of my classmates didn’t like some aspect of my teaching, but it’s something I’ve been doing for years, what to do next? Try to change and see how the students respond? It’s beneficial to see it through someone else’s eyes.

I think from coming practically straight out of college and working in the university, it’s easy to see and think one particular style of teaching is the norm. However, I’ve learned through this class that there are many ways to teach and these strategies can really enhance the experience for the students as well as the facilitator. Watching my classmates and the different ways they approach teaching has been wonderful and I’ll definitely take I’ve learned from them and apply it in the future.  

So, I’ve procrastinated in finishing my individual project for Instructional Strategies. I had no intention of waiting this long to turn it in (you’ll get it Thursday Wendy!) but the weeks have gone by so quickly and, well, here I am with only about 2 weeks left. I’ve been working on it periodically over the semester, and think what’s taking me longer is figuring out the right way to write up the day so it’s easy to follow/facilitate. My 8-hr. workshop is actually a re-design of the School of Dentistry’s Staff Development Day. It’s something that will only be used once, because each Staff Development Day has a new agenda, therefore it’s different than someone writing a seminar or training session that may happen numerous times.

I know I’ve said it before, but the one aspect of working in a school with so many departments, on top of a clinical side and administrative side, is the lack of unity among staff. For many people, it’s hard to break out of a comfort zone and meet new people, so I’ve planned this day to help bring the staff together and hopefully form new friendships. I hope that in developing this Staff Development Day, it will bring a better attitude and more enthusiasm within the staff. It’s difficult putting 100 people in a room together twice a year that may never have seen each other before, and expecting them to jump right into discussions and activities. Ultimately, I hope the learning tasks I’m developing will help mend this divide, and when I pass it along to our HR Assistant, she’ll use some of the strategies during our next Staff Development Day.

This week the Open Space facilitators finished up their 2 weeks of presenting, and I must say that it’s quite a change strategy! After watching the video on Harrison Owen during the debrief, it became clear how Open Space came to be and why it’s such a different approach to organizational change. Quite plainly, Open Space is about people communicating in an inviting atmosphere where ideas and opinions are exchanged. Throw in some food and drink, butterflies and bumblebees and we have it. Wow.

What I enjoyed about being apart of the Open Space experience was the option to make choices. If I wanted, I could have started one session and then moved to another. I also could have taken a break to eat some food or just take a few minutes to discuss with another participant or think alone. Open Space provides a comfortable atmosphere which really allows the participants to ponder and discuss the topic at hand. Our discussions revolved around “Outrageous Leadership” and with this came many threads. I took part in “Loss of Leadership” and “Leadership to Legacy.”

What was so profound about this intervention was how effective a conversation could be with any number of people. Our first discussion group consisted of about 6 of us and we shared experiences, opinions and thoughts on leaders who don’t lead, or who don’t do it in an effective way. Then, my next group included me, Pam and Ali. Even though we were much smaller, the discussion was rich and informational. We all had experiences to share about leadership to legacy and it was easy to bounce ideas off each other. This is what I took away and found so uplifting about Open Space. When it’s over, it’s over… and where it leads you is the right way… these concepts can lead 5 people to 2000 people to changing an aspect of an organization.

Hopefully if more organizations take a chance with the Open Space they will realize how effective it can be. I can understand that for upper-management it may be hard to get over the hurdle of the relaxed atmosphere that comes with Open Space, but this really allows for a breakdown of hierarchical rank for a couple days. Forcing this equality among employees will create great discussion.

Thank you to the Open Space facilitators for making this experience so worthwhile and eye-opening. I hope one day I will be able to participate in the organizational change intervention again!

I’ve noticed that most of us fall back on using PowerPoint’s to facilitate and teach. Why is this? What a question… I don’t think I would have taken the time to ask or ponder this before taking Instructional Strategies. It really hit me today when I walked by our conference room at work. It’s used mostly by faculty and students for classes, and after walking by the door a few times, I noticed one of the faculty members using a couple PowerPoint’s to teach his lesson. This isn’t the first time I’ve noticed this, and I started thinking about other instructional strategies they could use to make things a bit more interesting and interractive. I also thought about why they choose this method of teaching 95% of the time… the typical dark classroom and reading off the slides verbatim. Well that sounds boring.

I can see, especially teaching in the medical field, why this method of relaying information is beneficial. Initially, these students are learning about numbers, theories, formulas and diagrams that have to do with the basics of dentistry. Not until they master these things do they start practicing on molds and then patients. So, what other types of instructional strategies could work in these initial classes? Depending on the topic, brainstorming could take place, video/film, role-play, small group work, case studies, debates… the list could go on and on. It may just be an outside perspective, but I don’t see a lot of these taking place within some of the smaller classes that meet in my office area.

So why PowerPoint? Ultimately, it’s easy and provides a guide during a lecture. I also think facilitators and teachers forget how many memorable tools they can use to get ideas across. It’s easy to say that we remember more of a concept if it’s taught “out of the box,” but until you have that one professor who does it, I don’t think you fully understand how profound it can be. I had a teacher in undergrad here at VCU, Dr. Rankin, who taught a Sociology class called ”Human Sexuality.” The reason her class is so popular is because she uses so many different instructional strategies to talk about and describe all the aspects of human sexuality. Yes, she would use PowerPoint presentations, but those aren’t what I took away from the class. I remember the videos we watched about different cultures and how they view sexuality, the class discussions, movement, and definitely ice breakers.

So, using different strategies can have a huge impact on how we learn. PowerPoint’s are effective and help relay information, but hopefully through practice and knowledge of different types of these instructional strategies we can add some more excitement and variety to the classroom. It may take a little more thought and time, but the student could remember it forever.