10 things this class has taught me

Management II was definitely a new experience for a lot of us. I have never experienced a class like this, but thats not necessarily a bad thing. I feel like I have taken more skills from this class than most of my other courses in college. Skills that I can actually use in my life, not just facts from a text book.

1. Exit your comfort zone.
 Hop right in on the human pretzel game, play telephone to practice communication, state your opinion. This class taught me to be comfortable with myself and work as a team. In traditional classes, I feel like I get stuck sitting in the background and absorbing what goes on around me, but Management II forced me out of my comfort zone.

2. Don't be afraid to speak in front of people. 
I am a far better speaker and presenter because of this course. Teaching the classes made me more comfortable with the experience of public speaking.

3. Think Deeply
A lot of these topics we learned about were not easy issues. Things like ethics and crisis management really made me stop and think. Management is not going to be easy, and critical thinking is going to be an important skill.

4. Write more often 
Blogging has been a great way for me to reflect on things that I learned and let me relate them to things that I enjoy. I was able to tie together our topics with The Office, Greys Anatomy, Legally Blonde, and other favorite shows and movies. I realized that I love to write, especially about topics that relate to management.

5. Talk to people  
Contacting a mentor was kind of scary at first, I did not think that I was good at talking to strangers, but it was another learning experience where I could exit my comfort zone. My mentor is wonderful and I am so glad I got to meet her!

6. Assignments shouldn't be "disposable" 
Reading David Wiley's blog post on open pedagogy, I really enjoyed his discussion on assignments not being disposable. Leaving this class, I feel like my blog and the primer is something that we can be proud of. I hope to leave my future classes with something just as tangible.

7. Change is good 
Aside from learning a lot from Erin and Kyle's presentation about change, this whole course has been a change. It was something new we all learned from.

8. You can learn a lot from others 
From Jess's stories about Red Robin and Jason's Pirates Cove experiences, I think I learned a lot from everyone's past management/employee experiences.

9. Participation is key
Not only did I learn more from participating in others presentations, but I know as a presenter when others engage it makes my job so much easier.

10. Personality is important 
From our very first assignment, I saw everyones personality type very clearly. Having this in mind made working with others easier, because I could understand where they were coming from.

Workplace Environment

A study was published in the Proceedings of Healthy Buildings 2000, Vol 1 showing that factors such as temperature problems, stuffiness, job stress, and just an overall unsatisfactory indoor environment had a positive correlation with low levels of productivity. I think this is an important thing to take note as as a student soon to be entering the workforce. It is important to be aware of how your environment really can take a toll on you and your co workers. Also, the way that you and your co workers treat your space can make you more or less productive.

If there is any two people to show what not to do in an office space, its Dwight Schrute and Jim Halpert. They both negatively affect the work environment in these clips. Both contribute to a somewhat negative (although entertaining) workplace environment.

(No one likes feet, especially in their workplace)

Pranks are great but not in the office 

Study on workplace environment: http://www.senseair.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/31.pdf

Co Workers and Employees by Zodiac Sign

I was excited to find some more workplace zodiac signs! My previous post was related to your management style based on your star sign, but I found this article discussing what type of co-worker and employee you are based on your zodiac. I thought this tied in well with "Many" and whether you're a believer or not, its fun to see!

Mine was:
Cancer (June 21 - July 22)

Clock this sign in as the den mother of the office, even if he's a guy. They can make people feel so good with their natural tendency to nurture and be supportive. They're also highly intuitive and intelligent. However, their moods and emotions can seem to clock in and out as often as the office door swings open and closed during the day. 

I thought this was interesting considering my recent post on the quiz I took on what type of leader I am. My results for that was a Paternal leadership style. This lined up well with the traits of my star sign. 

This is the article where you can see what your sign means:

http://www.dailyhoroscope.com/horoscope-headlines/astrology-office-employees-horoscope 

One, Two, and Many as a Team

Today, Shayna and Logan presented on the topic of Teamwork. I noticed a lot of what they talked about lined up very well with the evolution of our class as Management II. We started off on the first day all really uncomfortable. No one wanted to volunteer to put on the blindfold and do the icebreaker. We all sort of looked at each other, waiting for someone to step forward, not wanting to make a fool of ourselves. I think that part of the course was our Forming stage. Our Storming stage, although not hostile as the diagram below shows, was confusing. We all had different ideas: how should we pick our mentors? how should we be graded? how many absences? I feel like after the first few presentations we reached Norming. You can tell the level of comfort we had with each other just by how much we participated. No one was afraid to ask questions or make comments. After that, we reached Performing. Now, as we assemble our primer, we are Adjourning. We are assessing what we have done, and looking at all the work we have done with pride. I think we make a great team.