Zachary Saenz SPC1017-Groups2-Reflection #1

 Blog Post #1

        To Begin ~

             For our first presentations, we learned about 3 topics. These topics included Intercultural communication, group leadership and problem solving, and communicating in groups. Although we see these things in our lives every day and experience them, sometimes I think we can believe that we understand something completely without exploring the crevices that are difficult to spot. Each of these groups contained information that I told myself I knew that I didn’t know. For example, although I thought I knew what it was to be a leader, I didn’t grasp that there are different types of leaders in different situations. The list goes on for the rest of the topics and I would like to write about details. 

          

        Intercultural Communication

Firstly, I would like to begin talking about intercultural communication. It is pretty “obvious” what the 2 words mean, however I never experienced or could connect with it until this project. Intercultural communication is all about what makes us different and unique, which could be sexuality, race, disability, or even masculine and feminine cultures. I would like to discuss how I was able to connect with one of these differences and that would be disability. In my group, I was approached with a situation I’ve never faced before. Two of my members were access students from different cultural backgrounds and I didn’t know or understand that. Although it may sound ignorant, it was how I was raised. I’ve never had to communicate in a group setting with a person with a disability and although I was uncomfortable at first and a bit frustrated with some of the potential barriers at hand, I realized that patience was necessary to communicate effectively. And overtime, I began to be more patient with them and myself. It taught me to set up barriers for myself as well, for I too deserve patience and time. Additionally, I believe that now you can see two cultures intertwined with one another, whether that be in a platonic relationship, friend group, or work setting. We’re advancing and changing our ways, and I believe that with different opinions, perspectives, and ideas we will grow even stronger. However, we still need to work on some of our ways, for often I see individuals from different backgrounds judging one another. To elaborate, it is good that we bring more diversity into our world and embrace it. But at the same time, when does it become too much? When do we diversify ourselves so much that we begin to separate ourselves from one another?

Group Leadership and Problem Solving 

The second topic I would like to discuss is Group Leadership and Problem Solving. Being a leader isn’t easy and sometimes we take the label for granted. A leader isn’t something you’re born with; it’s something you learn. In this group project, I believed that being a project manager would be simple. I mean, all I was supposed to do was write an introduction and conclusion, and assign roles, right? It’s funny to say that was the least of my worries. Communicating with others was the hardest part. I’ll give a couple of examples. There was one member in my project that did her stuff late, and I was tasked to help her complete her portion. I was given barely much to work with, and I had to input her information onto the power point she couldn’t access. This was while I was working on my own portion, which I had to avoid. I was drowning. However, I was able to rise above it and do what I needed to do to get the project done. Yes, even though I didn’t respect myself in the process, I pushed through for the rest of my team. Another example I can give is that I was answering various questions 24/7. I was bombarded but I had to be patient with myself. In these 2 examples, you could think “hey, you’re not respecting yourself”. And you’re right, I wasn’t. I realized that during the problems and conflict that some of us faced, I needed to put myself first sometimes. Being a leader was able to let me build connections, learn from others, and explore myself. The presentation that group 3 presented helped me understand so much more than the surface of leadership. We’re all leaders in our own ways, whether that be in our friend groups, our classes, or to ourselves (Below is an example of a leader under stress, but she fights to achieve her goals).

 

Communicating in Groups

Now, I would finally like to discuss the presentation I and my group presented. However, I would like to relate what I learned to the real world. Every day, due to social media it’s scary to meet others and if you didn’t know, a lot of the times people take online classes is the fear of social interaction. We hide ourselves because of the fear of what people think. And when I was younger, I thought that was true. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that we’re all special in our own ways. We all have our flaws, our moments, our mistakes, our achievements, our bad times, and our good times and we’re afraid that we’ll be judged for the version we think people see. But it’s all crap. I’ve realized through communicating with others that we all have something to bring to the table. We don’t always need to like each other, but we can respect each other and the more you show who you are, the more you’ll attract the right people for you. This applies to any group, whether that be family groups, friendships, or formal groups. Working with all the individuals within my group lets me understand them if not on a deeper level, a somewhat deeper level. We had an artist, a soccer player, and a bodybuilder. And they all had their own separate lives, but through that we were able to communicate effectively, because we had a goal. To pass the class and get the credit. Although it might not be seen as a perfect goal to have, ultimately, it’s what brought us together, right?