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More than often organizations or individuals in an organization find themselves picking on a specific employee for their flaws or faults. Rather than taking the mature or organizational approach of communicating with the individual and considering retraining him/her, subordinates continue to pick on the individual until the individual eventually explodes or leaves the company. In other words, rather than helping them get better and turning their weaknesses to strength, they destroy the spirit of the individual as well as the drive to learn and do better. It’s like finding all the bad things he/she does, not letting them go, and not seeing any of the good things he/she does. As I mention this, I reflect on a personal situation I faced when I was a child. While attending middle school, I became a victim of bullying, which it may not seem as the same thing as picking on an individual in an organization but it actually is. By definition bullying can be physical, mental, or verbal. When a subordinate engages on verbal abuse by either through gossip with other coworkers, the grapevine, or any other form of communication, he or she by definition is harassing, verbally and mentally bullying the other person. He or she may not be doing it exactly to the individuals face but in the act of including others to do the same it turns to bullying. It’s eventually destroys the spirit of the individual, the sense of teamwork, collaboration, the individual might begin to feel left out of the team, given unimportant tasks and eventually, leading up to the individual’s departure of the company. In my perspective, the situation that I faced in my childhood, has helped me recognize and act when subordinates begin to pick (bully) on other individuals through either gossip, “clicks”, exclusions, and so on. It’s like having a bullying detecting antenna that goes off when situations arise that may escalate to bullying.

The second situation that has had a formative impact on me, and has helped me be who I am today in an organization, would be the meaning of responsibility. Just like any other parents, parents try different forms of teaching their children the meaning of responsibility. In my situation, my parents choose to teach me responsibility through the purchase of a pet. At the time I didn’t know or understand the meaning of responsibility but I did have chores. Learning then the responsibility of taking care of a pet, feed it, bathe it, and overall just take care of it, was something completely new and strange to me. It took sometime for me to realize it’s a living pet and no longer a toy. This situation helped me realize and taught me that life is full of responsibilities. It doesn’t matter how small, easy or big the tasks at the workplace might be, I’m responsible for completing those tasks on time. With my new position at work, I have a lot more responsibilities than I have ever in the past thought about having. It’s been a learning process trying to complete various new tasks at the same time as the other responsibilities I had in the past. Needless to say that responsibility is key in an organization where a team must meet constant deadlines. This situation has helped me be where I am today professionally, educationally, and personally.

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The company for which I currently work for does not practice the method of storytelling as often as other companies might. There was only one instance to which a manager tried to promote the “change in the air” by telling a story. The Director of Dinning Services wanted to start the new fall semester fresh with new ideas, policies, procedures, and methods of conducting business. He had asked the manager below him to conduct a meeting talking about the new changes the company would be implementing in the form of a story. The director’s motive for using the storytelling method was to influence action for implementation and motivate those skeptical about change on how these new ideas were for the better of the company and it’s customers.

  

The manager in charge of presenting the ideas through the story completely achieved the opposite goals the director had in mind as well as achieved the opposite results of storytelling. He conducted it more as a meeting where lower level managers were obligated to follow as told or to deal with the consequences. The manager presenting the ideas continued to say: “Change is in the air and it will happen whether you like it or not. So either get on the train of change or get left behind, which in that case there’s the door.” The results were more resistance towards change. Lower level managers did agree however, that some of the ideas presented would benefit the customers as well as the business but the way they were presented did not seem adequate and it seemed uncalled for. The manager did not in any way say things like: this is where we have been, this is where we are now, and this is where we are aiming or want to be. It did not in any form motivate anyone for change and those who were undecided about change began resisting it even more. In other words, it destroyed the culture and the communication in the company between lower level managers and top management. Needless to say that the manager who pretended to tell a story is no longer with the company and it took two months for the director to begin rebuilding the communication and culture of the company. To this day it continues to struggle on certain areas of communication but with time both the culture and communication will become stronger than ever.

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On chapter 3 of the Leader’s Guide to Storytelling, Denning begins by defining a one of a kind of story, a springboard story. A springboard story communicates a complex new idea, which as a result inspires individuals to take and implement action. There are 9 main elements of a springboard story. The first and most important step is to communicating the change idea in the story clearly. This also means that you must maintain your focus on the change idea and make it worthwhile to the listener. Secondly, find a true authentic story. This is often one of the determinants of success or failure of a story. Telling a made up story makes you seem like a dreamer or a liar coming across completely opposite from what you are trying to achieve.

Thirdly, after you find a story to tell, tell it from the point of view of that single protagonist. Do not tell it from the point of view of the team or the organization because this opens up the listener’s perspectives to different scenarios of things that could’ve or did go wrong and eventually distracting the listener from the story. Fourthly, relate the protagonist to the audience as in their struggles, obstacles faced, and so on. Fifthly, make sure to give the date and place of where the situation took place at the beginning of telling your story. This ensures the listener the story is true and can be looked up at a later time. Sixth, when telling your story sometimes listeners do not make the connection of what is happening in the story to what is happening to them at the time. Therefore, it’s best to spell out the alternatives of what could’ve happened if the change idea had not being implemented. Seventh, try not to overwhelm the listener with irrelevant details, so tell your story to the most of minimalist fashion. Get straight to the point quick because you might loose the listener’s focus. Eighth, springboard stories have a positive tone as well as an authentic happy ending. Not all stories will be the same but when trying to inspire action a positive tone and a happy ending can help you achieve that. Lastly, link the change idea to the story otherwise you will leave the your audience and listeners wondering what was the point of the story.

After understanding these elements described by Denning, I realize that from Chimamanda Adichie’s message in the TED video “The danger of a single story” is that these types of stories differ. Denning talks about how for a springboard story a happy ending and positive tone are in order to inspire action. Even though Adichie’s story has a positive tone and inspires actions, she seems to take a different route. Her story isn’t short, she gives more details and background information than I think its needed if her purpose was to just inspire action to the listeners. I like her story because she speaks about her personal experiences and the way she grew up giving the story a positive tone, a happy ending, and inspiring action. But she does more than what is intended for a springboard story, it even seems like it’s a bit more entertaining than an organizational story. In my opinion, it seems like you can inspire action with the new change idea in different forms. It really depends on who is your audience, how well you tell your story, how you tell it, the change idea, and the ending of the story. Just as Adichie says: “A single story can create stereotypes”, so try different stories and explore beyond your horizon. This may even lead to a better story.

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The MSLD 500 course has given me a great learning experience. Reflecting on that experience I notice that everything has been positive and for the better. Even though this is my first master class and I don’t have any other class to compare it to, I think it’s been a great, fun learning experience in which everything I have learned can be used or transferred over to my personal and work life. If I were to compare the worldwide program experience to a regular classroom, I can say it has many advantages. One of these advantages is the flexibility of being able to “attend class” when you can during the week. For example in my case, since I recently just began working again, I have been able to dedicate Thursday through Sunday for schoolwork. One of the main drawbacks of online classes is learning to get into discipline of maintain a balance between school, work, and family. When I first began this master course, it became hard trying to balance schoolwork with family time. I found myself many times just surfing the web for irrelevant subjects, or just going out camping with family rather than staying home to do my schoolwork. Now I have learned to maintain a schedule allowing me to balance everything that is important at this moment (school, work, and family).

So, what can I have done to improve my learning experience in this course? The main thing I wish I could’ve done for this course is dedicate more time to explore all the subjects, concepts, and so on. Another way I could’ve improved my learning experience would be to learn discipline and balance between class, and life from the beginning. This would’ve avoided me submitting in two to three assignments late. What can the University or the instructor do to provide additional support for my learning? Honestly, I don’t think there’s more the instructor or the University could do to improve my learning experience even more. For example, the teacher is available through email or by phone from M-Sat. The instructions that were given for each assignment were a little vague but that is the point of the class, to enhance your own thinking, make your own decisions or judgment, and to take whatever decision is best for your path to the future. Were the topics that were covered seem relevant or irrelevant to your experience and to what you expect for future courses?  The topics that were covered were very much relevant to the course. Between the weekly readings and discussions it allowed me to understand in more depth how it related to critical thinking. Some of the examples and weekly readings even gave personal or real-life experience of those researchers, allowing me to gain a better perspective or feeling for the topic or subject being discussed. For the second part of this last question, I’m not sure what is to come in the future of these classes. But I have no doubt that what I have learned in this class will transfer over and be very useful for the next and rest of the classes of the MSLD program.

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Presentation designs depend on the type of presentation created or needed. For example, for a nontechnical presentation a very good design for your slide is something that relates to the topic with ease. Not something busy or with a colorful background or with contents consisting of too many bullets. The less amount of text the better, so don’t be scared of white space in your PowerPoint. In the other hand, for a complex or technical presentation where formulas or diagrams must be presented try to use a white background with black text. It’s ok if you have bullets but just try your best to only present main ideas as you can explain the idea in more depth as you present (if possible). Also, if possible, try using less than 10 slides, as your audience can get bored, begin to lose interest or get distracted with something else. Avoid cluttered slides, not too many pictures and barely any text. Remember a busy background, too many pictures, and too much text can distract your audience from you.

One of the basic concepts for a good presentation design is to create your own template because you are the only person that knows and understands what you specifically need and who your audience will be. This way you get a chance to show off your creativity skills and present a one of a kind presentation and design. If you insert pictures, try to use original high quality photographs, as it will give your presentation a higher quality. Try not to use clip-art or 3-D text because it can be distracting and it makes your slide seem busy. When using animation or transitioning through the slides, try to use it as least as possible because it can be both distracting and ununiformed. Always use the same type of text, text height and color because it gives your presentation a very uniformed, organized, and professional look. The best advice of all is to practice. Practice creating other presentations; get familiar with the tools you are planning on using to carry out the objective of your presentation, practice presenting in front of the mirror or in front of an audience, get familiar with the context, and so on. But practice, practice, practice!