Week 8 Post 2: Checkers vs. Chess

While I was exploring the Harvard Business Review, I came across an article that caught my attention. The article was titled, “What Great Managers Do” by Marcus Buckingham. The author conducted research by using a study of 80,000 managers, the survey asked various questions regarding the manager’s management styles. Buckingham said that he found an abundance of different management styles, however he said there was one quality that truly sets great managers apart from the rest. This is that great managers discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it. He says that verge managers play checkers while great managers play chess. He goes on to explain that in checkers all the pieces are uniform and move in the same way and are ultimately interchangeable. In chess, there are many different pieces and each type of piece moves in a different way. You can’t play if you don’t know how each piece moves, but more importantly you won’t win if you don’t think carefully about how you move the pieces. In the business world great managers know and value the unique abilities and even the irregularities of their employees, and they learn how best to integrate them into a coordinated plan of attack. Capitalizing on a person’s uniqueness also builds a stronger sense of team. By taking the time to understand what makes each employee tick, a great manager shows that he or she sees their people for who they are. This personal investment not only motivates individuals but also galvanizes the entire team. To take great managing from theory to practice, the author says, you must know three things about a person: their strengths, the triggers that activate those strengths, and how they learn. By asking the right questions, squeezing the right triggers, and becoming aware of your employees’ learning styles, you will discover what motivates each person to excel. I believe this was a very educational article for future managers like myself and fellow classmates, and I will always remember the Checkers vs. Chess analogy.

https://hbr.org/2005/03/what-great-managers-do

Week 8 Post 1: Mentorship Presentation

On Wednesday in class, Colleen and I presented to the class on the topic of mentorship and its importance in life as well as the workforce. I believe that it was a very educational and useful presentation for the class. They can use the information we presented in the future when they find a mentor or maybe even become a mentor themselves. Professor Bonica was away at a conference, so we used Facetime in order for him to be able to watch our presentation as well as make comments. I thought this was pretty cool because he was in another State but we were still able to conduct our class as if he was in the room.

A mentor is a person or friend who guides a less experienced person by building trust and modeling positive behaviors. An effective mentor understands that his or her role is to be dependable, engaged, authentic, and tuned into the needs of the mentee. A mentee is the person that is advised, counseled, and trained by the mentor. Mentorship is the relationship between the mentor and mentee in which the mentor  helps support and encourage the mentee to manage their own learning in order to maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be.

The history of mentoring dates all the way back to Greek mythology, where it originated from Homer’s famous book, The Odyssey. The character Mentor coaches, advises, and counsels Odysseus’s son Telemachus. Mentor prepares Telemachus to take over the family responsibilities while his father Odysseus is away on his journey.

In our presentation we talked about five different types of mentoring, which are: Peer mentoring, Role Model mentoring, Reciprocal mentoring, Reverse mentoring, and Group mentoring.

Peer Mentoring: Individuals already having gone through the same experiences as you are now

• Academic settings
• Employment
• Teams or extracurricular activities
• Goals of the relationship:
• Provide support
• Encourage
• Build confidence and trust

Role Model Mentoring: Mentor relationship in which the mentor is seen as a role model to the mentee

• Mentee looks up to the mentor and seeks to imitate the mentors behaviors
• 5 qualities of the Role Model Mentor:
• Passion and ability to inspire
• Clear set of values
• Focused on well-being of others                                             
• Selfless and accepting of others
• Ability to overcome obstacles
• Similar to Peer Mentoring as it is seen in academic, employment, and team settings.

Reciprocal Mentoring: Alternating roles as mentor and mentee

• Both parties have similar experiences and success but a complementary skill set
• Keys to success:
• Goal setting
• Accountability
• Trust
• Goals of the Relationship
• Share knowledge
• Gain insight

Reverse Mentoring: An initiative in which older executives are paired with and mentored by younger employees on topics such as technology, social media and current trends

• Is primarily seen in Work/Employment settings
• Criteria for Success:
• Defined expectations: Each party needs to be very clear on their expectations
• Willingness to learn: Both parties act in the capacity of a mentor as well as a mentee; so they must both genuinely want to learn from and share with each other
• Trust: Reverse mentoring requires the trust of each party.  The goal is to push one another outside of their comfort zones and try new ways of thinking, working and being
• Transparency: Both parties must be open with their feelings and with what they are thinking.  They must be able to overcome differences in communication style and be open to seeing situations from different angles

Group Mentoring: Multiple individuals acting as mentors and mentees

• Peer Group vs. Team
• Guidance rather than training
• Benefits:
• Multiple viewpoints
• Cross-disciplinary and diverse perspective

Benefits of Mentoring

• Benefits for the Mentee
• Provides impartial advice and encouragement
• Develops a supportive relationship
• Offers professional development
• Results in higher job satisfaction, salaries, and promotion rates
• Benefits for the Mentor
• Allows for growth of leadership capacity
• Can learn valuable lessons from mentees
• Helps strengthen interpersonal relationship skills
• Leads to more personal satisfaction

Week 7 Post 2: Reflection of Performance Evaluation Presentation

Yesterday in class, Caroline, Regan, and Carly had a great presentation on the topic of performance evaluations in the workforce. A performance review identifies strengths and weaknesses of employees to allow managers to target areas that require improvement. Performance reviews are used for growth and development of the individual, as well as allocating bonuses, raises, and promotions. There are five different types of performance reviews; numerical ranking, forced ranking, management by objectives, 360 degree appraisal, and critical incidence.

- Numerical Ranking is the most common type of performance review. Employees are evaluated on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10. This type of review gives managers a tangible number to work with when evaluating employee performance.
- Forced Ranking is typically used by larger companies to simplify their human resource decisions. This system is used to identify the top and bottom percent of employees. In most cases, the bottom percent of employees will either resign or be fired and replaced with better performing individuals.
- Management by Objectives is the most black and white system used to conduct performance evaluations. This system is based on specific goals and deadlines given to the employees. Managers evaluate employee’s performance simply by seeing whether or not the goals are met.
- 360 degree appraisal is a performance evaluation system that is used by gathering information from multiple parties such as, managers, coworkers, customers, and even vendors. The more information that is collected, the better the evaluation will be. The appraisals are filled out anonymously by multiple people depending on the size of the organization.
- Critical Incidence is used by identifying and describing specific events or incidents that can be either negative or positive. A positive incidence would be when an employee does something extraordinarily well, for example an employee could have acted very well in a stressful situation. A negative incidence would be when an employee needs to improve their performance, for example an employee could have made a serious mistake that could have caused damages to a patient. Detailed records are kept in order to evaluate the effectiveness of employees.

Pros and Cons of performance evaluations

Pros:
- Allows managers to enhance the quality of their employees and workplace.
- Gives employs feedback on their personal performance, and encourages hard work.
- Allows employees to improve their performance through constructive criticism.

Cons:
- Could cause conflicts, and result in damaged morale of employees.
- Could not be taken seriously by either party, or both.
- Could increase negative competition and lead to aggressive behavior
- Could obstruct teamwork

Week 7 Post 1: Reflection on Communication Presentation

In class on Monday, Jess and Sarah had a great presentation on the topic of communication. Having good communication skills is a very important attribute, especially as a future healthcare manager/leader. The study of communication is important, because every administrative function and activity involves some form of direct or indirect communication. Communication is defined as the process of transmitting information and common understanding from one person to another. It is important to note that unless a common understanding results from the exchange of information, there is no communication. The article Jess and Sarah had us read before class did a good job of describing communication and how it works. The article explains the two common elements in every communication exchange, which are the sender and the receiver. The sender initiates the communication, and the receiver is the individual to whom the message is sent. There are certain responsibilities of the sender and receiver.

The sender’s responsibilities are as follows:
1. Clarify ideas before communicating
2. Take into consideration the total physical and human setting
3. Examine the true purpose of each communication
4. Consult with others in planning communications
5. Be mindful of the tone and basic content of the message being communicated
6. Take the opportunity to convey something of help or value to the receiver
7. Make sure they follow up with their communication
8. Communicate for future as well as the present
9. Make sure their actions support their communication
10. Seek to be a good listener

The receiver’s responsibilities are as follows:
1. Stop talking and listen
2. Put the talker at ease
3. Show a talker that you actually care about what they are saying and want to listen
4. Remove any possible distractions
5. Empathize with the talker
6. Make sure that you are patient with the speaker
7. Go easy on argument and criticism
8. Ask questions when appropriate

I believe that Jess and Sarah did a great job in their presentation, they kept the class engaged and explained how communication works and why it is important. I specifically liked the activity they included in the presentation, in which they made use tell a story to a classmate. As the listener, you were not allowed to communicate with the speaker in any way so just had to sit there and listen. This was pretty hard for me because always like to communicate with speakers when they are talking to me. I will usually say words to agree with them or nod my head, which shows that I am actually listening and not just daydreaming or looking off into space.

Week 6 Post 2: Mentorship

For our next class presentation Colleen and I are going to present on the topic of Mentors and Mentorship. I started to do some research on the topic and I found an article in which the author gives advice on what kinds of mentors to look for and how to use your mentor as a helpful guide.

The five pieces of advice are as follows:

1. A good mentor breaks you out of your comfort zone. There will always be people around to comfort you, but a good mentor is one that encourages you to keep improving and pushes you into new experiences

2. A good mentor knows your personal strengths and weaknesses. Try to improve upon your weaknesses by finding the mentor who will complement them. You don’t always have to be exactly similar to a mentor to get along. In fact, finding someone with different skillsets than you will be helpful since you’ll have even more to learn from this person.

3. Know how to utilize your mentor. You’ve finally found your mentor leader, but now what? A lot of time, mentees asked the mentors, “what do you think I should be doing?” or “what are the hottest trends in companies?” Those are the wrong questions to ask as a start before sharing who you are.

4. Perception vs. reality. Your vision might differ from the reality of things — be specific and know how to make the most of your mentors by asking those hard questions. If your relationship with your mentor still doesn’t align with what your goals, try to take the leap of faith by asking your mentor if there is anyone else you should connect with or network with in a certain field.

5. Don’t feel like you have to find someone in your industry or in the same location. And yes, you should have both men and women as your mentors. Find those who are very different from you because you’ll get the best range of possibilities and perspectives. Also, remember that in this new digital world, you could foster a mentor-mentee relationship via Skype, Face time and other virtual online tools. This will help you find an even wider range of mentors to complement your work and give you fresh insights.

I believe that these are good pieces of advice for a young person looking to pursue a career in any field. I also believe that every person beginning their career should have a mentor that they can go to for advice or help, this will allow you to develop into a better professional but also a better person in general. It is important to find a mentor that you can just talk to when you might be feeling down or are going through tough times in life.

Week 6 Post 1: Reflection on First Section of Class

Now that we have finished the first of three subsections of this course, I would like to reflect on what I have learned as well as my experience in the class thus far. The first section of the class was titled “One” because it focused on the individual and its behavior in the workplace. The topics that my classmates and I taught each other about were Motivation, Emotional Intelligence, Professional Identity, Character, Change and how to deal with change, and Personality. I’ve learned a lot of things about motivation and many useful techniques to use to motivate me when I might be feeling unenthusiastic or lazy. I also learned how important it is to have a good sense of emotional intelligence in the workplace, especially in a healthcare setting, in order to better connect with your employees and colleagues. I’ve learned the difference between an individual’s identity, personality, and character. As well as how important it is to have good character as a professional in the healthcare field. One of the most important things I have learned so far is how to deal with change. I believe this is so important due to the fact that once I get out into the workforce I am going to have to deal with change on a daily basis because the healthcare field is very unpredictable.

           

I have had a great experience in this class so far, even though at the beginning I was a little hesitant and wasn’t too sure how it was going to work out. I believe that my fellow classmates and I have done a great job of taking on the responsibility of running the class and making sure everything is coordinated. So far all of the presentations have been great and have allowed me to learn many new things that I will certainly use in the future. I am looking forward to the next section of the class as well as getting to read the final version of the primer at the end of the semester.

Week 5 Post 2: Resilience

In class yesterday Kyle and Erin discussed the topic of change. Before class they had the class read an article in the Harvard Business Review titled, How Resilience Works, by Diane Coutu. I really enjoyed reading this article because I gained a lot of knowledge on resilience, which I wouldn’t have learned if I didn’t read it. Resilience is a key characteristic of successful individuals. The thing that stuck out to me the most was when Dan Beaker, the CEO of Adaptiv Learning Systems which is a company that develops programs on resilience training, was asked if resilience matters in business. He responded by saying. “More than education, more than experience, more than training, a person’s level of resilience will determine who succeeds and who fails. That’s true in the cancer ward, it’s true in the Olympics, and it’s true in the boardroom”. I liked this quote because it shows that you don’t have to be the smartest or most experienced person, but if you have resilience you can still be a successful individual. I also liked how the author describes resilience. He says, “Resilience is neither ethically good nor bad. It is merely the skill the skill and capacity to be robust under conditions of enormous stress and change”. The author also explains how resilience is usually shown when an individual has to face a hardship or tragic event in their life. Unfortunately I can directly relate to this. My oldest brother unexpectedly passed away about 3 and a half years ago. This was a tragic event for me and my family and certainly one of the biggest changes in my life. I consider myself a lot more resilient because I could have felt sorry for myself, however I used it as motivation to pursue my dreams. It has also taught me to never take anything for granted and appreciate the little things in life. I believe that resilience is an important quality to have because you are going to be faced with hardships at some point in your life and resilience makes it that much easier to get through them.