Homework answers / question archive / Running Head: Development Plant Part 1 Development Plan Part 1 Nuha Al- Shair February 19, 2021 My experiences while dealing with difficult people 2 1

Running Head: Development Plant Part 1 Development Plan Part 1 Nuha Al- Shair February 19, 2021 My experiences while dealing with difficult people 2 1

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Running Head: Development Plant Part 1 Development Plan Part 1 Nuha Al- Shair February 19, 2021 My experiences while dealing with difficult people 2 1. My evaluation of my past experiences with difficult people I have had three difficult interpersonal conflict situations at the workplace, and every situation needed skills to solve. The first situation is when I was an accountant, and I needed numbers to complete the assignment. Some of the employees responsible for giving the numbers never understood and instead felt that the result could be arrived at without their input. This was very frustrating since I felt they have to understand their part and how they should contribute to publishing the final result. The result was that it made accountability and meeting deadlines difficult. The second conflict was a leadership conflict, and I had difficulty adapting to management's new leadership style. I had been accustomed to the hands-off leadership style, where a person is left to do their duty in the best way possible and make reports. In this situation, if there is a mistake, the person was held entirely responsible. The new leadership style was authoritarian and followed every minute of employee engagement. I found this very stressful, and I even contemplated resigning as an auditor. The third and the last difficult situation is dealing with different people with different personalities. In this case, I was taking my baby cousin to the hospital, and I was in a hurry; in my car, I had to cut someone off the lane, and he was not pleased, he used all manner of words to describe my behavior and did not even give me the chance to explain my actions. This situation was the most irritating, and I have had many thoughts on handling it differently. What has worked well for me when handling difficult situations In all the situations, there are common elements of personality that worked well for me; the first thing I did was calm down and let the conflict subside. Then I talked to another person who could have a different perspective on the problem. This was very useful in the first two cases and helped me in having a different perspective of the problem. I did not wait for the problem to become more passive or aggressive. I tackled the problems before they got further. For example, in My experiences while dealing with difficult people 3 the first case, I told everyone responsible for giving me data to keep time and informed them nicely that the information was important. Being cool helped me understand that when I argue with people, it is not necessarily true that my point of view is the same as theirs; I tried to understand their point and look at my point from a third person's perspective. I had to accept future conflict that my perspective is always right and become more open to other people's perspectives. Another element that I have employed apart from calming down and reflecting on a different perspective is active listening while communicating. It is not important to get together and talk, and it is also important to get the time and listen to people. When I crossed the line for the other driver in the driveway, I felt that I could have taken time to talk to him, just let him talk, and wait for my turn to talk. I have learned to be attentive when other people talk and think that they are not feeling the same way. I have also tried to understand what people mean when they speak rather than concentrating on what is spoken. Finally, self-reflection is the best way of resolving conflict; when I consider things from other people's points of view, it means that I will understand them better. Self-reflection was important in the driveway incident since, I had to agree that I was wrong, and it was also difficult for the driver to guess my problem without giving me time to talk about it. Given that it was also rush hour, I might have wasted his time on the highway. 2. My strengths and weakness in navigating difficult interpersonal situations I interviewed three people, my mother, younger sister, and elder sister. Each had their view on my strengths while handling conflicts. My mother identified several weaknesses, such as my inability to listen; she says I always rush to decide when making judgments. She also clarified that I always assume that a conflict will resolve itself and always postpone a conflict. When I reflected on her comments, I realized she had a point. My experiences while dealing with difficult people 4 On the other hand, my elder sister was less critical; she noted more critical weaknesses in my interpersonal relationships. She claimed that I solve problems but not completely, and sometimes I take time alone to solve the problems, but when I truly reflect, I never find a complete solution. She suggested that I should be using a more collaborative approach in problem-solving; this means that I should involve more people like coworkers in problem-solving, as proposed by Hutchby (2005) and McNaughton et al. (2019) in his writing on problem-solving at workplace. However, the third correspondents were more positive, and although she said that I should be more careful when solving the problems, especially on the belief that I can handle almost all the situations at the workplace, she also noted that I should learn the problem-solving theories by Huerta-Wong & Schoech (2010), this will greatly be advantageous to my personal development. Instead, I should involve my elders in the process and put more effort into the present and not the past. Among the three, they all agree that I have a poor conflict resolution approach and should work hard to improve it. In addition,, they also agree that I quickly summarize conflicts. This should take more time to analyze perspectives and also finding out the best solution. I agree with their assessment; I have not been good at finalizing conflict: some still ring in my head unresolved while others are pending. I have taken no step towards their solutions. From the interview, I can only identify the weaknesses I have in navigating difficult situations. 3. My action plan to practice my Active Listening Skills. The skill I would like to develop this semester is active listening skills. Since active listening was listed as one of my mother's weaknesses during the interview, I decided that this is the point I will develop first. Since I am planning to be a successful leader in the future, I have to make an effort to listen to employees and my surroundings in the workplace. This is important in inviting employee input, but it is also helpful in creating a culture where employee input is valued. The following are the action plans that will help me develop my listening skills; My experiences while dealing with difficult people 5 1. Approach every dialog to listen At this stage, I will engage an individual who can teach me how to listen and an individual with reputable oratory skills. 2. Stop Talking too much and listen more. When talking to the individual chosen above, it is important to stop talking and listen more. This means suppressing the urge to talk and instead concentrate on what I am going to say next. 3. Let the individual give me open-ended questions. These are open-ended questions that would allow me to think and structure my answer before actually doing it. 4. Focus on positive feedback When I realize a speaker has problems expressing a point, I will urge them to smile and try to node positively to increase the possibility of finishing the presentation. This will ensure that I learn to focus on the positives and not the negatives. 5. I am paying attention to my responses. The way I respond to questions is also an important part of the dialog, and therefore, when answering questions, there is a need to keep an open mind towards the other person’s point-of-view even if I disagree with their point. My experiences while dealing with difficult people 6 References Huerta-Wong, J. E., & Schoech, R. (2010). Experiential learning and learning environments: The case of active listening skills. Journal of Social Work Education, 46(1), 85-101. McNaughton, D., Hamlin, D., McCarthy, J., Head-Reeves, D., & Schreiner, M. (2019). Learning to listen: Teaching an active listening strategy to preservice education professionals. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 27(4), 223-231. Hutchby, I. (2005). " Active Listening": Formulations and the Elicitation of Feelings-Talk in Child Counselling. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 38(3), 303-329. 1 MGT 385 Personal Development Plan Part II: Assignment Guidelines and Rubric Length: Four pages minimum (no maximum), double-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins. Value: 30 points Objective: The purpose of this assignment is to assess your practice of your identified skill and to reflect upon the topic of dealing with “difficult people.” Respond to the following in your paper: 1. How did the action plan go? What three steps did you plan to work on through the course of the semester? Were you able to execute these steps? What happened? Were they useful or helpful? Please note: There is no penalty if the answer is “no.” Whether it’s due to the action steps not going well, not being useful, and/or you were unable to execute some of the steps fully due to the current COVID crisis, there is no “wrong answer.” The important part is to reflect on the three steps you identified, and describe not only how you were able to execute these steps, but whether they were useful or valuable in helping you to better develop your identified skill. 2. How would you like to further develop your identified skill going forward? In an ideal world, what other steps could you take to further work on this skill? 3. What portions of the course did you find most useful/helpful to your learning about “difficult people?” While we unfortunately did not have the chance to interact in-person for the remainder of the semester, please describe the portions of the course that you found most helpful or useful to your experience in navigating difficult interpersonal situations. Please consider this question in light of your future career goals—for example, if a certain job or industry does (or does not) fit with what you desire in your interpersonal interactions, please explain that here. (Note: If the “Difficult Conversations” unit was the most helpful, and you discussed this in your prior paper, that is fine; please just summarize, and potentially expand upon, what you identified in this paper, and in particular, how it relates to your role in the workplace.) 4. What areas of difficult interpersonal interactions—whether they are personal, in the workplace, or both—would you like to improve upon (beyond your identified skill)? In summary, what other areas could you improve upon in terms of managing stressful or difficult interpersonal situations? 5. How could the course have been improved upon and/or what would you have liked to learn more about? Your perspective provides me with important and valuable constructive criticism. In order to make the class more valuable to future students, I would greatly appreciate your input on how the class can be improved. Please do not worry about being penalized for 2 offering your honest assessment and recommendations. While every student is different in their preferences, this is your opportunity to make suggestions that can help future students improve upon how they manage challenging interpersonal situations in the workplace. If you can’t think of much, that is absolutely fine—you can consider this a “bonus” question that is not required, but if you have any thoughts, please share them here! SUBMISSION Development Plan part 1.docx COMMENTS Feedback to Learner 3/12/21 2:25 PM Thank you for your thoughtful self-reflection! I really like your action plan of active listening, but I was a bit unclear how often and with whom you'll be doing this with. I would actually recommend taking each of these 5 action, then thinking of 3 unique steps to practice. One area could be with someone in your personal life (i.e. once a week with a family member); one could be with a team project you have at Suffolk this semester, for example. I might suggest you have 2 steps/contexts- identify two areas you'll practice this-then, on your third step, write down each week how it went so you can assess and measure your progress, and reflect on how the skills went. You can also ask for feedback from someone close to you on how you are doing, and document that as well. This is just food for thought, but I would recommend thinking more specifically about how often you'll do this, and practicing in at least 2 different contexts, as well as a way to measure and track what occurs. I look forward to reading how everything goes at the end of the semester!