Reflection journal
Society is made up of different people pursuing diverse goals yet somehow contribute to a system that makes society a place worth living for everyone. Due to the routines that people follow on a regular basis, human interaction is something that is unavoidable and people seek out the best ways peacefully coexist and engage with one another on a daily basis. The chances for successful human interactions are increased if people take the time to learn and understand other people’s perspectives on issues, emotions attached to things and people, experiences, goals and attitudes to mention a few. While these traits do make effective communication quite challenging, the relationships built between individuals in a community go a long way into making interactions easier. Throughout my time studying, the course has opened up my mind to new possibilities as it has helped me to better understand human interaction as well as what people can do to ensure that they observe theirs, and other people’s best interests as they carry out their daily activities.
To begin with, I have come to learn and appreciate the effectiveness of collaborative relationships in different aspects of the community such as in the health care industry. In such a setting, different people such as educators, experienced personnel and other members of staff have to engage with one another on a regular basis (Carr2014). If the communication is to be effective, all parties involved must be willing to work together as well as be committed to serve their best interest as well as the interests of others. Although the goal is to create an environment that promotes peaceful coexistence, I also learn that effective communication and peaceful coexistence also requires knowledge on what to do when conflicts arise. Since people tend to have differences in opinion, disagreements are common as each individual believes that their approach is better suited for a specific situation (Gardner, 2005). For people to coexist and work together, it is therefore important to have conflict resolution measures that can be utilised to; prevent conflicts from occurring; resolve them when they do occur with the least damage possible; and ensure that the conflict does not reoccur in future once it has been resolved.
The importance of effective collaboration is something I have experienced first-hand in my profession in the health care industry. In the beginning, I thought people are often defined by the careers they pursue and often did all that I could to fit into the image of individuals in the nursing field. However, the readings discussed in class has increased my way of thinking as I believe I play more roles than one. This is especially because people tend to try and build relationships with people such as nurses and other professionals (Gillis, 2001). Because of this, I leant that I am not just a health professional but also a mentor to various people who look up to me either because of who I am as a person or because of the career I chose to pursue. I also learnt that, in order to be an ideal member of a community, people are requested to live up to the roles given to them either through their careers or personal decisions made. Although I am not expected to structure my life in a specific way, society has its own expectations regarding people in influential positions and may indirectly dictate the way people live their lives.
My role as a nurse often involves helping people get medical assistance, determining the aliment of a patient, recommending possible treatments, prescribing drugs and other activities aimed at improving a patient’s medical condition. My position therefore requires me to interact with people on a regular basis and giving medical assistance to strangers. As such, effective collaboration is important as it helps me to build strong relationships with my patients in a way that will facilitate cooperation and build trust (Barr J, McLeod G & Welch, 2015). In order to help my patients, I have to work on building proper lines of communication to make it easier for my patients to open up and help me to better understand their medical condition and prescribe desirable treatments. Since I work with different patients, I am in a position where I have to constantly build effective collaboration and this has been made easier with my improved understanding on how people interact in society.
Other than effective communication, partnerships are important in building effective collaboration. The health care industry functions in a form of parts that work independently but strive to achieve a common goal which is offering the best medical care to patients. Like most organizations, medical institutions functions in a way similar to society where people seek to help each other in the name of serving personal and society’s best interests (Rheingold, 2015). People therefore work together to meet set objectives and in doing so, meet their own personal goals. On a daily basis, I have to work with a team not just in my career but also in school. Throughout the course, I learnt that teamwork is of great importance as it not only improves the quality of work but also promotes peaceful coexistence and improves communication. People’s need to fit in has created a culture where partnership is common and is practised on a regular basis. In the employment sector, nurses work together with doctors to offer the best medical care to patients. School also has a similar setting where teachers work together to ensure that students learn the different subjects needed to equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to survive in society. Students also practice partnership especially through study groups that seek to make the learning process easier and more convenient.
In most cases, partnerships take the form of groups where people come together with the aim of achieving a specific objective. Group dynamics play a crucial role in determining the success of the partnership created. To increase the chances of success, it is important to start by selecting team members that have a high probability of working together with the least disruptions (Coleman, 2013). It is therefore important to assess group members’ personal traits and skills; their attitudes toward the group project; willingness to participate; and the reason behind setting up the partnership in the first place. Once established, the groups can then start discussing the best approaches to take in order to meet the objectives. Doing so helps to assign duties and dictate rules to be followed so as to increase professionalism within the group.
Although there are various methods to use when setting up a group, I believe that the most ideal is the learner centered classroom approach especially in the field of medicine. The set up creates an environment where professionals in the group seek to increase the knowledge and information that others possess (Bussman & Schweighofer, 2014). When dealing with patients, a learner centered classroom approach is ideal as it allows for two way communication where patients can seek guidance from professionals present. It also allows for feedback which is crucial in determining what issues that other team members find the most challenging and what can be done to create better understanding (Bussman & Schweighofer, 2014). Groups are therefore important tools for creating partnerships aimed at helping people to better understand the things they experience through daily human interactions.
Effective collaboration is further improved by the rules used to ensure that each member of the partnership plays their roles. The most common rule used is to ensure that every individual is given a voice and that all parties present are given a chance to air their opinions and be heard (Gladman, 2015). While some collaborations may comprise of professionals in a field and other individuals seeking better understanding, the opportunity to talk and share ideas should be given to everyone regardless of their status. Since the aim of collaborations is to brainstorm on ideas and come up with the best ones, equality should be maintained so as to give every individual an equal opportunity (Allin, 2014). Such a setting makes collaboration more effective as people have a platform to ask questions and share ideas as well as get to learn from professionals from their respective fields. Communication is therefore important as it makes it easy to share ideas, ask questions and give opinions aimed at meeting the overall objectives.
From the course readings, I also got to learn the importance of successful collaboration in maintaining harmony. The differences in people’s attitudes and opinions create an environment where disagreements are common. However, there exists various rules and guidelines that facilitate effective collaboration. Society for instance follows written and unwritten laws that govern how people interact with one another (Allin, 2014). There is a status quo that people live up to and ensure that their actions do not stray too much from what is expected. Although people are allowed to exercise free will, the nature of the actions that people carry out is regulated by the laws and guidelines used. There are however less strict measures used to maintain harmony, one of which is humour. I learnt how people seek out different forms of entertainment all in the name of having fun. Humor is often practised in different settings due to its efficiency in lightening the mood and putting people at ease (Gladman, 2015). Humor is therefore something that people share and can be used to open up conversations as well as encourage people to be open and share their experiences, challenges or opinions.
In addition to learning how to best interact with others and establish successful collaboration, I discovered that people tend to influence each other both direct and indirectly through mentorship. Mentoring involves actions taken by an experienced person in a certain field to offer guidance to less experienced individuals in the same or a similar field. Mentoring often involves the mentor and mentee sharing ideas and knowledge regarding their topic of interest with the aim of increasing the mentee’s knowledge and experience (Hatter et al, 2007). Since mentoring is not limited by time, relationships between the mentor and mentee need to be well established so as to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the mentorship sessions (Hatter et al, 2007). In the medical field, experienced medical care givers share the knowledge and experience they possess with other less experienced medical staff with the aim of helping them improve and become better at performing their tasks. The mentorship is often on voluntary basis and people can choose to either take the help of the professionals or not.
The course also brought clarity on the importance of being a good role model. Health education environments for example are ideal for mentoring as people hold medical professionals in high regards. Doctors and patients look up to experienced health practitioners because of the knowledge and experience they possess (Jamookeeah et al, 2011). Being my profession, I have learnt a lot on what is expected of me not just as a mentee but also from people who look up to me to mentor them. At a personal level, I am of the opinion that the reverse mentoring model is the most ideal for mentorship. The model works by teaming up less experienced individuals with senior colleagues who are more experienced and have more knowledge regarding a specific area in their profession (Management Mentors, 2010). The model has various advantages one of which is the generation of new ideas. When less experienced individuals are teamed up with senior colleagues, it creates an opportunity for the young to introduce new concepts to the seniors. The seniors on the other hand share their experience and knowledge with the young professionals. The exchange between the mentors and mentees creates an environment where everyone learns from the other but with emphasis on mentorship. Since the seniors have the skills and experience, they give more input to the mentorship and the young professionals get to teach the seniors about current trends in their field.
Another advantage is that the reverse mentoring model creates a platform where senior members of staff can interact with juniors. In the medical field, it tends to be difficult for experienced practitioners to interact with the junior staff especially with the busy schedules (Management Mentors, 2010). However, the reverse mentorship model creates an environment where junior staff are given the opportunity to interact and learn from senior staff through the mentorship programs. The interaction not only assist mentees to learn the best approaches to take when performing their duties but also improves communication within the organization. Mentees therefore find it easier to interact with their mentors and this has a positive impact on their work performance as well as attitudes towards their jobs.
Despite its various advantages however, reverse mentoring has a downside especially in cases where mentors spend too much time learning from the juniors instead of actually helping them. Since learning is a process that never stops, the insight and new ideas from junior mentees may hinder the effectiveness of the mentorship programs if mentors opt to learn rather than educate (Abouelnaga, 2013). In such a case, the mentors may end up investing too much time sharing with mentees about current trends and changes in their profession and fail to effectively offer guidance based on the knowledge they already possess. It is therefore important to ensure that all parties understand they role they are expected to play in the mentorship program.
The challenge can be overcome using the action reflection theory which sets the mentor as the master whose work is presented as an example that the mentee can imitate or borrow from. Instead of having a situation where the mentor focuses on learning rather than helping; or a scenario where the mentor has all the say, the policies under the action reflection theory make it possible for the mentor and mentee to interact and benefit from the mentorship (ICRE, n.d). On the one hand, the mentor does the action which involves mentoring individuals by teaching them new skills and equipping them with the knowledge gathered over the years. Mentees on the other hand reflect on what they are taught and try to implement it in their professional as well as personal lives in a bid to be as good, as or even better than the mentors. The approach places a lot of emphasis on feedback as it helps the mentors to know what has been grasped and which areas need more attention. Through it, mentees learn that they are not to copy but rather learn and come up with their own ways to implement the things they have been taught.
From the course, I also learnt that effective mentor mentee relationships are like planting a seed because they form a recurring cycle. When a seed is planted, it grows (given the right conditions) to produce more seeds that can be replanted and the cycle keeps recurring. Similarly, effective mentorship relationships involve passing down ideas and knowledge to the younger generation (Duffy, 2013). The mentees learn from the mentors and take the knowledge and skills to be implemented in their regular routines. The information helps them to not only be efficient when performing duties but also put them in a position where they will become mentors in future. The ideas and skills planted in them by their mentors grows into more advanced expertise in their field and in future, becomes the skills that other mentees look for. However, if mentorship is to be effective, the right conditions must be present so as to ensure that the mentees get help that is relevant and applicable to their profession (Duffy, 2013). Similar to taking care of seeds before they grow to plants that make more seeds, mentors must guide their mentees until a point where the mentees can rely on themselves and can even mentor others.
Before starting this course, I was of the opinion that people have the freedom to live their life as they please and that their actions rarely affect others. Such an ideology prevented me from seeing the extent in which people influence one another and how people’s daily lives are interconnected. However, the time spent in class and discussions with friends has opened up my mind to the different ways in which people influence each other’s actions and decisions made. In the medical field for instance, patients look up to their care givers and the success of the treatment process greatly depends on positive relationships between the two. Medical professionals on the other hand influence each other especially through mentorship programs that are either personal or introduced by employers to help make employees better at their jobs.it is therefore important to maintain effective collaborative relationships so as to enhance the peaceful coexistence that society strives to achieve.
People need to understand the impact that an individual’s actions can have on another individual or an entire group. Although people have the right to exercise their free will and utilise their rights and freedoms, the intertwined nature of human interactions make it necessary for people to take other people’s interests into consideration. Those who are doing well need to understand that there are people looking up to them as mentors and follow the examples they set. Those mentored on the other hand need to understand that they are the mentors of tomorrow and as such, strive to become the best in their field so as to help others in future. Lastly, people need to put more effort into building positive relationships with others. Doing so will give rise to a society where people look out for each other’s interests and in doing so; enhance the effectiveness of the collaborative relationships built in society
References
Abouelnaga, K. (2013, July 16). The difference between a mentor and a role model [Blog]. Guest post on The Daily Riff personal website.
Allin, L. (2014). Collaboration between staff and students in the scholarship of teaching and learning: The potential and the problems. Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 1(95). doi:10.2979/teachlearninqu.2.1.95.
Bland, C. Taylor, A., & Shollenberger, S. (n.d.). Feature: Mentoring systems: Benefits and challenges of diverse mentoring partnerships. [Fact sheet]. Retrieved from the Association of American Medical Colleges, Washington, DC website.
Bussmann, U., & Schweighofer, S. (2014). Group dynamics : The nature of groups as well as dynamics of informal groups and dysfunctions. Hamburg, Germany : Anchor Academic Publishing.
Carr, D. F. (2014). Social collaboration for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
Coleman, D. (2013). 42 rules for successful collaboration (2nd ed.). [e-book]. Cupertino, CA : Super Star.
Duffy, M. (2013). Providing constructive feedback to students during mentoring. Nursing Standard, 27(31), 50-56.
Gardner, D. (2005). Ten lessons in collaboration. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 10(1), Manuscript 1. doi: 10.3912/OJIN.Vol10No01Man01
Gillis, A. (2001). Journal writing in health education. New Directions for Adult and continuing Education, 90, 49-58.
Gladman, A. (2015). Team teaching is not just for teachers! Student perspectives on the collaborative classroom. TESOL Journal, 6(1), 130-148.
Jokelainen, M., Turunen, H., Tossavainen, K., Jamookeeah, D., & Coco, K. (2011). A systematic review of mentoring nursing students in clinical placements. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 20 2854-2867. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2702.2010.03571.
Management Mentors (2010). Corporate mentoring models: One size doesn't fit all: Understanding the different types and choosing the best one (or combination) for your organization [Fact sheet]. Management
McKimm, J. Jollie, C., & Hatter, M. (2007). Mentoring: Theory and practice. London, England: Imperial College School of Medicine.
McLeod, G. A., Barr, J., & Welch, A. (2015). Best practice for teaching and learning strategies to facilitate student reflection in pre-registration health professional education: An integrative review. Creative Education, 6(4), 440-454.Mentors Chestnut Hill, MA commercial website.
