I will teach my students about synergizing by presenting them with a challenging math task and first asking them to try to tackle it individually and quietly. After a few minutes of them struggling, I will ask them to speak to only one partner about the challenges they are encountering with that math problem. Then I will go over turn-taking skills when speaking in larger groups, such as in groups of six, so that everyone's voice is heard. Sometimes very quiet students have brilliant ideas, but if no one encourages them to share their thoughts, they won't. After I have gone over turn-taking skills and encouraging each other to share their thoughts while the rest of them practice their listening skills, they will have the opportunity to tackle that challenging math problem as a group of six members. At the end, they will reflect on, and talk about, which method yielded better results: working alone or working with a partner or working in a larger group, in order to solve the challenging math task.
In order to reach the level where you can synergize, you must be able to effectively carry out the first five habits. The first five habits help shape you into the type of leader that can work in synergy with others without feeling threatened, defensive, or uncreative. When you synergize, you welcome others, into your sphere of influence, to offer ideas and blend them with yours in order to create an even more creative third alternative that is better than if each person were working alone. The purpose of synergizing is to end up with an end-product that you could not have possibly created working by yourself. When you see the value of having a diverse team that has multiple lenses through which they view different situations, you magnify your worth, increase your sphere of influence and accomplish a lot more than if you just privately try to tackle a challenge. A behavioral change I intend to make is to start synergizing with a wider circle of colleagues. I do synergize a lot, but upon reflecting on whom I synergize with, I think I tend to synergize with like-minded people because that's with whom I feel comfortable. Instead of reaching out to a wider sphere of influence, for different reasons, I tend to synergize with the same group of people and I need to include multiple perspectives, not just people who will agree with me or see things the way I do. It's just easier because I have my sphere of influence easily accessible and I don't have to go out of my way to find them. I could also synergize on-line through mediums such as Twitter and different learning communities. I have found that strangers who share the same interests are very willing to synergize as well.
I will teach my students about synergizing by presenting them with a challenging math task and first asking them to try to tackle it individually and quietly. After a few minutes of them struggling, I will ask them to speak to only one partner about the challenges they are encountering with that math problem. Then I will go over turn-taking skills when speaking in larger groups, such as in groups of six, so that everyone's voice is heard. Sometimes very quiet students have brilliant ideas, but if no one encourages them to share their thoughts, they won't. After I have gone over turn-taking skills and encouraging each other to share their thoughts while the rest of them practice their listening skills, they will have the opportunity to tackle that challenging math problem as a group of six members. At the end, they will reflect on, and talk about, which method yielded better results: working alone or working with a partner or working in a larger group, in order to solve the challenging math task.
2 Comments
Bill
2/25/2015 09:29:10 pm
Cristal,
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Angelica
2/26/2015 09:38:10 am
I think synergizing with individuals who are not like minded can be a challenge and once you have mastered Habit 5, Seek first to Understand Then to Be understood, then Habit 6 will be a breeze. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
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Cristal HerreraIncorporating Stephen Covey's 7 Habits into my professional and personal life. Archives
March 2015
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