I really enjoyed class this past week and the feel of all of us sitting around in a circle talking. I have always been a big fan of windows. I used to work in a lab that had no windows, it was hideous. I love that my job now has windows. I really do think that the hospital did us a favor by not giving us a stuffy old conference room. For staff meetings we all sit in the hall by the windows and it is very relaxed. We recently had an inspection by our governing body and one thing they mentioned in their summation is how much teamwork and spirit of cooperation we had in our lab. I think it definitely has to do with our environment and how relaxed we all are. I guess there is something to this caring about space after all, Feng Shui anyone?
After hearing Dr. Carter talk about her research on wikis and blogs and their use in the classroom and the conference she attended I got to thinking about interaction and technology. For some these two words many not seem to go together. Before taking this class I didn’t think they belonged together either. I thought that technology was making us a cold society, pulling us apart, discouraging human interaction. I have loved all my Adult Learning classes thus far and the discussions I have taken part in with my classmates, but I think I have gotten more out of this classes than the others because of the use of technology. I feel like I have such a great understanding of the subject matter because I get to read others thoughts on the matter. Yes we have discussions in class and they are good and sometimes amazing but the real amazing thing to me is to read the thoughts that come out after the class, the stuff we say after we have processed for a while. The wiki is also a great tool. I have loved reading everyones consulting pages. I think I have learned as much about consulting from everyone else’s project as much as my own. Although I still think that there is no replacement for face to face interaction and I am still disturbed at how much this generation communications via technology, I love the use of blogs and wikis to enhance, not substitute, our discussions and learning.
You know, the one thing that seems to be constant throughout Block’s book is balance. You have to balance the feedback and conversations you have with the client and know when to ask the right question. If you ask too early or too late you risk alienating the client. You have to balance. One thing that struck me from the feedback class is the balance needed in a feedback meeting with a difficult client. I didn’t have to worry about this with my consulting project but I can see how this could be a problem, especially for me. I think it would be a huge challenge for me to balance the act of being positive and not letting the client off the hook. I have a habit of trying to point out things to people in a positive way and when the person becomes defensive or starts explaining all the reasons they did what they did (resistance) I just fold and say that whatever they did was not a big deal. I am not really sure how I would have handled this in a real consulting environment. Would I have behaved differently viewing someone as a client rather than a family member or co-worker?
Can I just say that I love learning by teaching. When I was an undergrad I loved tutoring because I found that I developed such a strong understanding of the material by helping someone else with it. So needless to say, I am rocking with the Discovery and Data Gatrhering material. I loved preparing the presentation and doing the exercises, it was a lot of fun. Some people would cringe at have to do presentation like that and honestly I sometimes do too, but our class is so open and freindly I felt like a big tutoring session. I love peer teaching as a learning tool.
OOPS…. I had this post written over a week ago and I guess I never published it. Oh well……
I was thinking in class tonight when we were gving our project updates about resistance. Something someone said, it may have been Dr. Carter, made me think of this. When the group working with Mrs. Sanchez was talking about their update, they were mentioning how difficult it was to set up a meeting with her and thought maybe it was resistance. I think it was Dr. Carter that made the commnet that maybe Mrs. Sanchez was just too busy. This got me thinking about projection. Because we are learning about resistance are we projecting resistance onto our clients? Just a thought….
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