Final Team Presentation...

It is almost hard to believe that this semester is over, boy I have learned a lot. I have been concentrating on our final presentation of late and thinking about my incremental growth since the first one. I am not sure what my class peers have learned but I have learned much about myself, my potentials, and areas of needed growth. I am very excited on all of these fronts, but at the moment I am trying to center on this presentation and my team getting it done successfully.
     One thing that I have learned since the first presentation is that I wasted no time with the "dance" this time around and neither did my team-real growth! The first time we prepared to present we were filling one another out, still trying to disclose, still trying out speaking...all while trying to build some intimacy and trust with one another. Wow, all the paradoxes, interesting. This time our trust was in place, our voices were present, trust always evolving...but we tackled this job! I am so thankful I have learned as much as I have in this course and from my peers. At least now I can recognize processes that are occurring or not in my group work, I can look at both the Unilateral model and Mutual learning model and be able to apply the principles as I work in my professional work and hopefully in my personal life as well.
        As I sit here reflecting on all that I have learned I am sweating over how to include enough of what we have learned in a fun, interesting, and meaningful way in only an hour and ten minutes. Wish us luck.

The Drama Triangle

     I cannot believe that the semester is about to end. I have learned so many interesting bits of information and strategies. As I  prepared for my last presentation on The Drama Triangle, I really became focused on three major roles identified in the Unilateral Model; the role of the persecutor, the victim and the rescuer. 

     I have seen each of these roles in my professional life, and unfortunately have acted in one of these roles at some point in time as well. Schwartz describes the persecutor in the following way; the persecutor is critical of others' actions and offers judgmental and non-specific criticism. The victim discounts their own ability, knowledge and skill. The victim places the responsibility of their success or failure on someone else. Finally, the rescuer, this person is the helper,  discounts others' abilities to handle his or her own problems (Schwartz 423). I have learned so much from learning to identify these roles and what the outcome might be in employing these roles within working teams. I have seen these roles unfold in my work life for years. One example I have is that of the victim. One of the members of my team slips into this role each and every time we are assigned a new policy or procedure to implement into our unit. This role gives her an avenue to not fulfill her assigned team tasks by making remarks like, "I am uncomfortable with how to explain these procedures, or I'm just so overwhelmed with what I already have to do that I am not sure I can handle this assignment". Ugh, now that I have learned how to identify these roles as "strategies" it is even more irritating. I am also realizing that for each victim in the group there is a rescuer...it's just like a dysfunctional family. Fortunately, Schwartz offers tips to avid falling into the pitfalls of allowing these roles to take root, and oh boy do we all need those. Stay tuned my team's final presentation will illuminate these roles and strategies to combat them!

"Easing In"

       So I have been waiting all semester to start working from the Schwartz text, The Skilled Facilitator Fieldbook and I am so excited about the potentials for learning that are abound for me. One topic that I read about this past week really raised my brows...this concept of "Easing In".  Schwartz states that "Easing in is an indirect approach designed to get others to see things your way for themselves". (Schwartz 38) As I pondered what this meant in my day to day work life and management position I thought that this would be more difficult to achieve than not. Secondary to this thought I was sure that I wasn't a manager that used this strategy in my work with colleagues, that is until I read further.

         Schwartz teaches us that easing in is a way of stating your point of view without directly stating it to others. One example that Schwartz shared was to go through this via questioning, "Don't you think it would be a good idea if we outsourced the work" (Schwartz 38). When I focused in on this example I realized that I do that all the time to my colleagues. I tried to justify this behavior by saying to myself, "It will be a shortcut if I plant this seed to get everyone in the same mode of thinking". Ugh, I can't believe I have been doing this. In doing this I now realize that I was making an assumption that my colleagues wouldn't have a viewpoint to share that would help us arrive at a positive result. So now I am putting this question out to you guys...do you think easing in is a viable strategy in some situations, or is it pure manipulation and coercion?