Senior Capstone Student Handbook Appendix

THERE IS A HISTORY
Quick Strategies for Team Process
The Group Inventory: Meetings Checklist
The D-U-E Process: Just DUE it !!!
Guidelines for Giving and Receiving Feedback
Time and Stress 

THERE IS A HISTORY ... (A Group Discussion Activity)

Most communities have a history from which most of their current communication, beliefs and values grow. The more you understand the history and perspective of those with whom you work, the better able you are to make informed decisions regarding your community project, as well as establish a framework for productive communication in diverse settings. As your Capstone team begins to plan for working in the community, ask yourselves the following: What has been the relationship between this agency/group/community and other groups in the area? What particular challenges has this agency/group/community faced and how have they responded? What other aspects of this group's or community's history might impact various members' perspectives on the upcoming project?

Quick Strategies for Team Process

BEGINNING STAGES: "GENERATING STRATEGIES" ICEBREAKER

Student groups conduct a brainstorm on the theme, "How we could wreck our group and make sure we have a horrible time." Groups then go through items on the list to generate corresponding strategies for success. (If appropriate, these could evolve into group "ground rules.") This ice-breaker works well for initial group meetings as a great deal of humor usually results from the process, and everyone's "worst group nightmares" and fears are often resolved.

BEGINNING STAGES: ESTABLISHING A FRAMEWORK FOR COMMITMENT

Most individuals in Capstone teams are usually aware that the quality of their work group will impact the quality of their community work. Yet, student teams often plunge directly into the project without explicitly addressing the subject of commitment to the group process. Capstone teams can address potentially problematic issues before they arise by spending a brief period of time in groups discussing the following:

What factors might influence your group responsibilities this term?

Some examples: Working outside PSU; where you live in relation to others in the group; outside responsibilities; level of commitment to the group; level of familiarity with the community agency, course content, or community work in general; experience/level of comfort working with groups; ADD YOUR OWN...

After student groups brainstorm these issues, they can then develop specific strategies for addressing situations if they should arise. For example, if one student mentions that his/her erratic work hours could possibly conflict with a crucial placement once or twice, what exactly will the team do to address his or her absence during those times? Who will be called, who will take over?

HOW I AM IN TEAMS

Group members write answers to the following and share briefly with the group: "In teams I tend to ... In teams I tend to avoid ... I like teams where ... I don't like teams where ... How I'd like to be in this group ... How I'd like this group to be for me ..."
Groups are encouraged to listen respectfully to individual responses and then to assess the overall group profile. For example, what if one group contains six out of seven self-described, "take charge, take control leaders?" What are the implications for working together? Student teams can gain a great deal of useful insight from this quick process.

The Group Inventory: Meetings Checklist

Group inventories come in many forms. Inventories can serve the purpose of detecting any underlying "dynamics" problems that may be developing or they can help to clarify roles and task assignments as the project progresses (among many other uses). The following example represents the "task assignment" variety; for other examples or uses, contact Janelle Voegele in the Center for Academic Excellence (503-725-8341).

Meetings Checklist

This form can be filled out anonymously or reviewed together within the group. Adapt, delete or add items to reflect your own group structure.

_____ We reviewed our last meeting.
_____ We reviewed our progress since the last meeting.
_____ Before we arrived it was clear what the meeting was meant to achieve.
_____ We had a clear list of things to discuss and work on.
_____ The business of the meeting was conducted efficiently.
_____ We spent a balanced amount of time on the different things we discussed.
_____ We moved through the various topics in an orderly way.
_____ The discussions were focused on the decisions we need to make.
_____ We made clear decisions and recorded those.
_____ We agreed on a time and place for the next meeting.
_____ We know what the next meeting will be for.
_____ I am clear about what I am to do to prepare for the next meeting.
_____ The meeting was over-structured.
_____ The meeting needed more structure.
_____ The meeting was effective.
_____ The meeting was enjoyable.

Comments:

Adapted from: Gibbs, G. (1994) Learning in teams: A student manual. Oxford Center for Staff Development.

The D-U-E Process: Just DUE it !!!

The "D-U-E" process is a framework for understanding cultural or personality differences that may be impeding your ability to effectively listen to or work with another individual or group. D-U-E stands for:

• Describe what you observe
• Understand cultural or personality differences
• Encourage communication

Describe:
Self-talk loaded with evaluative statements or adjectives ("she is inconsiderate and pushy") is one indicator that you need to apply the D-U-E process. The first step is to pause for a moment and describe to yourself as specifically as possible your reasons for your evaluations. For example, a person's behavior may seem "inconsiderate and pushy" to you because (descriptively) she begins speaking before you have completed your sentence and because she speaks very quickly without much vocal inflection.

Understand:
The second step in the process is a reminder to think about possible cultural or personality differences that lie below the descriptions you generated in the first step (above). For example, rules for interruption, rate of speech and vocal inflection vary from culture to culture AND between various groups within cultures. In the example above, let's imagine that the person who seems "inconsiderate and pushy" comes from a part of the United States where the average rate of speech is much faster than for the area from which you come. How might that influence your perception of her, and possibly, her perception of your speech?

Encourage communication:
If you take the second step of the process (above) seriously, this will often lead you naturally to the third phase the D-U-E process, and you can begin to focus on the what, or content of the message, and focus less on the how, or manner or presentation. You can also paraphrase the speaker's message, demonstrating your understanding, and save much time that would have been wasted had you allowed cultural or personality "noise" to interfere with your understanding. It may seem like a great deal of work, because it is not something you are normally used to doing. Yet, the whole process takes only a few minutes and can dramatically affect your response to others and your ability to comprehend their meaning.

WHAT IF I'M STILL HAVING TROUBLE WORKING WITH THIS PERSON?

If you feel you need to work with someone to resolve an issue (for example, someone who often begins speaking before you complete your sentence), the D-U-E process allows you to communicate the issue much more honestly and less defensively. You will understand, for example, that there may be a variety of reasons other than just "pushiness" for the behavior. You can describe how you feel about the behavior rather than engaging in blaming or labeling. For ideas about giving and receiving feedback, see Professor Jack Straton's guidelines on pgs. 4-6, or the feedback guidelines on the following page.

Adapted from: Lieberman, D. (1995). Public Speaking in the Multicultural Environment. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Thank you to Dr. Devorah Lieberman, Center for Academic Excellence.

Guidelines for Giving and Receiving Feedback

Focus on understanding before responding.
Make sure you understand the other's perspective from their point of view first, and they will be more likely to listen to your point of view. One effective way to do this is to paraphrase their statement(s) to their satisfaction. Some helpful phrases when first learning how to paraphrase are: "So what you're saying is ---"; "Let me see if I understand. You believe that ---"; "What I think you mean is ---"; "It sounds to me like you mean ---", or whatever is most natural to you.

Focus feedback on the behavior rather than the person.
Refer to what the person does rather than your perception of what she or he is. It is much less threatening to hear about behavior (related to a specific situation that can be changed) than to hear about personality traits (related to imagined qualities that may be difficult to change). For example, we might observe that a person has not been present for three out of the last five group meetings, rather than that this person is not committed.

Focus on observation rather than inferences.
Observations refer to what we see or hear in the other person's behavior, while inferences are interpretations drawn from those observations. If you find it necessary to share inferences, they should be clearly separated from observations. From the example above: "Mary, you've been here for two out of the last five group meetings (descriptive observation). I'm not sure whether that means that you have had conflicts outside of class (inference), or whether you don't feel that involved with the project (another inference), or something else."

Focus on the needs of the recipient, rather than the value or release it provides for the person giving the feedback.
In the example above, how would you end the feedback given to Mary? As frustrating as this behavior might be to you, it would be tempting to follow up by saying, "And everyone's grade is on the line unless you start showing up !" However, for feedback to be effective, it should be heard as an offer rather than as an imposition. In the example above, you might follow up with something like " ... is there something I can do?" or whatever seems more appropriate, given the situation.

Focus on descriptions of behavior in terms of more or less rather than either/or.
More or less implies a continuum for behavior that is based on quantity, rather than quality, which is subjective. Participation in the group then falls on a continuum from low to high, rather than good or bad (or other categorical terms that often result in defensiveness on the part of the listener).

Focus feedback in terms of appropriate time and place.
To be effective, feedback should be given as soon as possible after the observations or reactions. However, consider the importance of appropriate timing when approaching an individual with personal feedback involving possible emotional reactions. For example, should you speak individually or as a group? Should you speak face-to-face, on the phone, or e-mail? (We recommend face-to-face whenever possible, as important nonverbal elements are excluded during phone or e-mail communication.) The giving (and receiving) of good feedback involves timing, courage, skill, and respect for others.

Adapted from: Kohls, R. & Brussow, H. (1995). Training know-how for cross-cultural and diversity trainers.

Time and Stress

The Capstone is unique in terms of the potential for students to apply expertise in "real-world" situations. To realize the potential of the Capstone experience, students often find that they need to adapt busy schedules in order to accommodate the needs of other students and for community partner or agency. While "planning ahead for stress" may at first sound somewhat like a focus on the negative, we believe that taking a plan-ahead approach to the potential for stress-producing events will result in a more productive, positive experience for you (and thus for those who depend on your contributions during your Capstone). Potential causes of stress in Capstone include:

• Time pressure
• Work load
• Competition
• Lack of control over some aspects of the project
• Role ambiguity
• Conflict between personal beliefs and student role as an organizational member
• Conflict between team members
• Lack of understanding about the nature of the work project
• Lack of communication among peers/work team
• Lack of feedback on project performance

People often argue whether stress is a "bad thing" or a "good thing". It is helpful to remember that stress is not a thing in reality but rather the ways in which one responds to stressful situations.

To do:

Consider the above list (common causes of stress). Imagine some less productive responses for each item (if you're like most of us, you are probably speaking from experience for at least one of your examples!) For example, for the item "time pressure" some less productive responses could be "Ignore it/don't come to group meetings/cut out time with friends." Now brainstorm some more productive responses to the same situations. In addition, some suggestions for handling stress include:

• Find ways to assign or delegate tasks rather than doing everything yourself.
• Analyze the activities and situations that produce stress and decide what is worth worrying about and what isn't.
• Together with your Capstone team, establish clear goals and set priorities.
• COMMUNICATE: with your faculty, your community partner, your peers, the Capstone support staff or University professionals (Counseling and Psychological Services; M 343 SMC). Don't let unresolved issues get in the way of your success.
• Acknowledge personal stress producing events and develop alternate responses (as in the exercise above).
  

Adapted from: Mott, D. (1988). The dynamics of time and stress: Time proven tips for the busy education adinistrator. Stillwater, OK: New Forums Press.

"Was I Making a Difference?"
One Capstone Student's Reflection

Was I making a difference? I may never know. I gave my energy to the needs and problems we faced; I got my credits; I gave my time. The needs and problems existed long before we became involved, and they will continue long after ... perhaps a future group will take up where we left off. This is the kind of work that some call "thankless," and I suppose they mean that there are no awards, no plaques, maybe not even a thank-you at the end. Maybe "the difference" lives on in the solutions we generated in the course of the project, or the person who has more to gain from her goals than before I met her. Maybe not. But do know this: my degree now means more than just a paper hanging on the wall, and that has made all the difference.