Discussion 4.1

Building Relationships

• Reflect upon your professional experiences.  (This can be about your teaching experiences or your professional career if you are not a teacher yet).  Compare and contrast strategies that, as a co-creator and collaborator, could be used to build relationships with an individual or group who is already competent but may not be incorporating newer ideas or methodologies.  Share at least one strategy that you believed worked and one that did not.  Then, compare your experiences with those of your classmates.

Years ago while working at a local bank, I was in charge of the book of business.  Many of my coworkers were timid about working with it and said that they didn't understand because they did not want to work with the data profiles.  I pointed out other things that they did like to work with and the fact that when they first started working with those tools they were uncomfortable.  So I spent time with each and we talked about the techniques they used to become familiar with the other aspects of their job. This allowed them to recognize that although intimidated they can become comfortable learn how to work the tool the way they successfully utilized other technologies. 

Techniques that did not work were implemented by my supervisors, who barked "Figure it out!" without offering any real guidance or support.  As a result people became resistant to learning new tools and methods.  They were aggravated, frustrated, resentful and tasks did not get accomplished.  People would try to reach out to each other and those that did learn become overwhelmed and stressed  because the remainder of the work fell into their lap.  This created division in the team and damaged the effectiveness of the branch, which lead to more barking from management.  Quickly, a dangerous cycle of resentment was built instead of a collaborative atmosphere.