Group Work

To start off, My Group Rocks!  I couldn't have asked for any better "team mates" to do all of these assignments and presentations with.  They all work hard and are brilliant people.

I've enjoyed the group work we've been required to do in MCOM 320.  Being able to successfully communicate with a group, then turn around and successfully communicate as a group to others can be a lot of work.  This skill, however, is so important in today's society and very important to learn.

As a group, Brethren has been able to grow close to one another, learning each others' strengths and how to best use the strengths we have.  By doing this, we can be as influential and effective as we can.  Granted, we still aren't professionals in the presentation industry.  The lessons we're learning as a group will help us so much in the future as we go off to our different careers.

Something I've decided I want to do in the future when I'm presenting is having someone video every presentation I give where it's appropriate.  Watching myself on GoReact helps me see how I can improve personally as well as how my group can perform better.  By doing this time and time again I hope to eventually be an expert at presenting in all types of settings including with a team.

Check out my teammates blogs listed below.

Derek Lambert
Kevin Egbert

Google Docs

I am a firm believer in Google Docs!  I believe they're the more excellent way to group projects.  Our group has been using Google Docs since day one, and I wouldn't do it any other way.  The project I found it the most useful with, besides this consulting project, was our chapter presentation.  We were able to create a slide show in which we could all add our input to the slides any time we wanted.

What I liked most about Google Docs in this assignment was the fact that we could all be sitting in the same room with this same document open while talking to each other and adding our ideas.  Sometimes it can be so frustrating being the scribe in the group that has to listen to everyone else give their two cents and expect you to write it down.  With Google Docs, we didn't have to worry about that at all.  Also, when we weren't all in the same room, it was very easy to use the chat rooms available. I'm definitely a firm believer in using Google Docs in group projects and assignments.

Briefing Article

I did my briefing article on the pros and cons of tapering quantitative easing.  I really enjoyed the things I learned, but I had the hardest time narrowing it down to one page.  Whenever I hear a one page paper is due I think it will be a piece of cake.  With this one, however, I found myself spending way more time than I even imagined.  I really enjoyed the research I did though.  

What I learned from this experience is that people don't want to read long detailed information in an article.  People want to understand the key points of a topic while still gaining a good knowledge of the topic.  Articles in newspapers could be much longer than they are, but the authors and editors have to cut out the fluff and focus on the main topics of something.  This helps people look at an article and want to read it, and want to keep reading it once they've started.

From this experience, I'm going to make sure that I think about this when writing any articles.  I know this will help me communicate much better in the future.

Evaluating Alternatives When Solving Problems

A wise man once told me, "The problem is not the issue; the issue is how you handle the problem." Each of us face problems in our lives, and each of us will continue to face many problems in our lives, especially in our careers.  It is important that we learn how to solve problems in order to make sure they don't become an issue.  Problem solving involves four steps.

1. Diagnose the Problem
2. Develop a Solution
3. Evaluate Alternatives
4. Implement Solution

I'm going to focus on the third step in this blog, "Evaluating Alternatives."  This step comes in after we've done all of our brainstorming, and we have tons of ideas out on the table.  In this step we need to narrow it down to one solution.  We first organize and refine the ideas we have.  This involves combining ideas that are alike and throwing away ideas that may go against company policy or budgets.  Next, we establish certain criteria such as saving x amount of dollars or bring in y amount of revenue.  We then weigh the criteria to determine which factor is the most important.  Last, we bring in the ideas we have and see how well they fit the criteria we've established.  This last step help us see any bias that may be involved.

I know that as I follow these steps the rest of my life that I will find problems becoming less of an issue and more of a common part of life.  After all, problems help us in life.  If it weren't for problems, we wouldn't have jobs. 

Group Presentation

I was very pleased with how Brethren presented chapter 8 today in class.  It was far from perfect, but I think all of us learned so much.  We practiced and practiced and practiced.  We had our time cut down to where we still had 15 seconds to spare; however, come time to present, we went over a little.  I know I got a little nervous and added just a little bit more to my portion of the presentation.

I also noticed that we were all so focused that we forgot to smile and have fun with it.  While we're trying to be professional, it's important that we also make sure we have fun and smile.  It's much easier to listen to someone who is happy, energetic, and smiley.  That's going to be one of my biggest focuses as I move forward and work on presentation skill.

Another thing I noticed is that I like to hold my hands together in front of me.  I actually had no idea I was doing this during the presentation until I watched it after and saw the comments on it.  I feel like practice is going to be the best way to solve that problem.

Overall, I felt the presentation accomplished what it was supposed to accomplish; learning.  I know that every time I present from here on out I'll learn more and more things.  This was a great opportunity.

Online Mock Interview

My online interview was great.  I definitely didn't perform as well as I would have liked to, but I learned a lot from the interview.   I’m amazed at how well role plays help me.  I always feel like I've got a good grasp on things until I do role plays.  This is when I realize I don’t have a great grasp on things, but I’m able to fix any problems in order to help me achieve my A-game. 

For example, I felt so prepared for this online interview.  I thought about potential questions and how I would answer them. I read over my resume. I reviewed the job description.  I felt very ready for the interview, and the interview was going well.  Then the question came . . . “Do you have any questions?”  I had completely failed to think of questions to ask.  I panicked, and I told my interviewer I did (because I knew I should).  I then looked like an idiot trying to think of a question after I had said I had one. 

A lesson was definitely learned.  These mock interviews really do help prepare for the real ones.  The more practice I get, the more familiar I’ll become with interviews, and the better I can prepare. 

Mallory Hansen interviewed me. 5

Letters

Letters were easy to write as a missionary when the only thing I had to worry about was....nothing.  I just wrote the name of who the letter was to, and then I would put my name at the end of it.  It would be nice if those were the only characteristics to worry about in a professional letter.

I've learned a lot over the last couple months about how to write to professional letter to someone.  I've learned that good news should be right at the beginning and easy to spot.  Bad news, however, should come later on in a letter as to make it a little more subtle.  By doing these things, you allow the right tone to be received by the reader.  If a reader sees bad news right up front, he or she is going to have negative feelings throughout the rest of the letter.  These characteristics are important to maintain good relationships with those you disclose bad news to.  Bad news is a part of life, but it doesn't always have to be a bad experience for those involved.

I know the knowledge I've obtained about how to write effective letters will help me immensely throughout life if I apply the principles I've learned over the last couple of weeks.