Elizabeth Reves

Category: Success Skills

  • The Client Meeting

    The Client Meeting

    https://www.creativeboom.com/tips/10-surefire-ways-to-completely-rock-your-first-client-meeting/

    Visit the website above and use it to come up with a list of things you will do to: prepare for your first meeting with your client, discuss with your client during the first meeting, how you will follow-up after the meeting.

    When you have your “Before, During, and After list all ready to go, post it on your blog. Detail counts! If you say you are going to prep for the meeting, what does that entail? If you say you will dress professionally, what exactly will you wear? Have you tried it on lately? Post pandemic-lock down, does it still fit? If you say you are going to make small talk for two-minutes, how will you know what to talk about?

    This may seem like a big detailed project, but you will be glad you did it! It will be very useful in preparing for your meetings with your client. Being prepared is the best way to alleviate the communication anxiety associated with meeting a client for the first time.

    Due: March 13. 2022

  • Still Hungry for a Sandwich?

    Attached is a link to more information on the Ethical Feedback Sandwich.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rH7rlL_ubabWGEUHJ9s1L3hZ-LL6Hcfe/view?usp=sharing

  • Peer Review Reflection

    Due: February 20, 2022

    Take some time to think about the in-class peer review on Thursday, February 17 and answer the following questions:

    1. Were you able to use the Sandwich Method in your discussion with your partner? If so, did you have any problems using this method?
    2. Do you feel your collaboration session went well? Why or why not?
    3. Did you feel comfortable critiquing your partners work?
  • The Ideal Team Player

    The Ideal Team Player

    January 25, 2022 Due: January 30

    Today we watched a TED Talk from Patrick Lencioni. In this video, we

    are asked to take stock in ourselves and see how close we are to being the Ideal Team Player and to examine what virtues of this ideal we are strongest in and most lacking in. That’s your Success Skills homework for this week.

    Book Summary - The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni

    Watch the video again, give it some thought, and write a blog that tells me what your strengths and weaknesses are as far as being Humble, Smart, and Hungry. Be sure and tell me why. After you have written about your strengths and weaknesses, tell me what you are going to work on strengthening (it should probably be your greatest weakness of the three) and a possible plan for overcoming that weakness.

  • High Achieving Teams: Death to the Super Chicken

    Cartoon Happy Farm Scene - Crowd of Happy Hens Sitting Stock Illustration - Illustration of happy, joyful: 78475911

    Thursday, January 20, 2022

    Today we talked about the highest performing teams and spreading the “shine” among group members. The Margaret Heffernan TED Talk we saw in class is attached for you to watch again to remind you to not peck each other to death!

  • 1/18/22 Working In Groups: A Little Inspiration

    1/18/22 Working In Groups: A Little Inspiration

    Watch the video about the formation and early days of Pixar, then write a blog about how the group came together and how their diverse backgrounds added to the success of the organization. Questions to answer in your blog: 1. Who were the founders and what were their backgrounds, 2. How was the new building built to be conducive to group communication? 3. What concepts of group communication did you recognize in their story? 4. What was your overall impression of how they worked together as a group? 5. What do you suppose might have happened if the group were made up of people with more similar (or the same) backgrounds?

    Due: Sunday, January 23

  • Sales Speech

    Due Date: Thursday, December 2, 2021

    You each will give a 3-5 min presentation to “sell” yourselves to your classmates for placement in to groups for next semester. You will prepare a typed, formal outline for the speech that will be turned in on your blog the day right you speak (Dec. 2nd). I have provided a template below that you are to use to create that outline. For your visual aid, you will create a power point with no more than four (4) slides. As you present your speeches, your classmates will take notes as part of their own grade. 

    Please use the following preparation outline:

    Introduction:

    I. Attention Getter: (Tell us something that will immediately grab our attention)

    II. Listener Relevance: (Tell us why we should listen to this presentation)

    III. Speaker Credibility: (What research/personal experience make you credible on this topic) 

    IV. Thesis Statement: (In one sentence, what is the goal of your speech?) 

    V. Preview: (Tell us specifically and concisely, in order, what your main points will be.) 

    Transition: (Take us to the first main point)

    Body:

    I. Main Point One:

    Listener Relevance Link: (Tell us how this point connects to us)

    A.

    1.

    2.

    B.

    1.

    2.

    Transition: (Take us to the second main point)

    II. Main Point Two:

    Listener Relevance Link: (Tell us how this point connects to us)

    A.

    1.

    2.

    B.

    1.

    2.

    Transition:(Take us to the conclusion)

    Conclusion:

    I. Restate Thesis (Restate the main idea of the presentation)

    II. Main Point Summary (Explicitly review the main points you talked about)

    III. Clincher (Refer back to attention getter)

  • Assignment: Cultural analysis of IT Minor Class

    Due Date: Sunday, November 14, 2021

    Format: Typed, Double spaced, Include opening paragraph, Body, Closing paragraph, turned in on your blog.

    Organizations are created to accomplish goals. In the process of working toward those goals, a culture develops. A culture is the character and personality of your organization. It’s what makes your organization unique and is the sum of its values, traditions, beliefs, interactions, behaviors and attitudes.

    A part of your project experience will be to identify and describe the culture of the organization with which you are working. We are going to use this class for practice in identifying the elements of an organization’s culture.

    Most of us are at least subconsciously aware of the culture of any group or organization of which we are members. Several of the elements are discovered by participation within the group while others are realized through observation. Some of the major elements of culture are:

    Rites, ceremonies and rituals ( Rites of passage)
    Fairy tales, myths, stories and legends (Stories passed down)
    Heroes (Idealized founders, etc.)
    Language (What style is used)
    Humor and play (Reduce tension, build rapport, share positive feelings)
    Rules (The code that must be followed)
    Metaphors (may be used to break down issues, etc.)
    Physical setting (Physical environment)
    Stories (Specific stories told or passed down)
    Values (Behaviors that do not change)


    To understand the “cultural identification” process USE THIS CLASS as an example. From the 10 elements above, CHOOSE 5 and describe this class in those terms. You will need to include examples for each element.

    ***Remember to use examples to support your element choices. This is often the most forgotten part of this assignment.

  • Tuesday, October 5

    Today we talked about why we do what we do, and using that story to follow us (or buy our product, or vote for us, etc.). This is just one of the facets of what makes a good leader, and we will be talking about leadership throughout the class.

    Here is the link to the Simon Sinek TED Talk we watched in class. Yes, it’s an older talk, but the discussions and research regarding the limbic brain and how we can best use that knowledge in various fields continues.

    Assignment: Due Sunday, October 10, 2021

    So that you will be able to tell people “who you are”, create a blog post that tells us who you are and why you do what you do (and what you want to do). Don’t worry, this will evolve over time as you realize who you are and what brings you joy. You may want to ask the people in your life for help – ask them “what reasons have I given you for wanting to go into this field?” People who love you pay attention – they will have answers.