Reflective Journal: Working with Teams, Improving Social Skills and Presenting Information

Reflective journal
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Working with others (group / team work) and interpersonal communication.

Experience
I have participated in different organizations such as CSSA which has presented me with opportunities to work with teams in accomplishing a common objective. CSSA was suitable because it exposed me to various situations that necessitates group work interactions. For instance, CSSA organizes different events such as cultural events that enables members to socialize. During the Chinese festivals that were organized by CSSA, I interact with other members and share my experiences and give them advice on cultural awareness and other issues concerning professional development. Besides, the association also organized and planned various student performances to showcase and this presented me with opportunities to interact and learn about the different perspectives that people about the society. However, the disadvantage with CSSA is that most members that I interacted with were Chinese nationals which restricted me to listen to people from other diverse communities. Working in teams has helped me learn how to cooperate and worked together with other organizational members to ensure that effective strategies are implemented to promote success in delivery of a predetermined goal. I have learned that when working with teams, people from different social background have various views and perspectives that when considered, they promote better decision making and increase the quality of the outcomes; this is possible because individuals have different competences which when utilized properly help in facilitating the success of the team. Additionally, tasks were delegated among the team members based on their capabilities.
Reflection
I learned that working with teams helps in completing tasks in time and that teamwork facilitates personal and professional growth. For instance, apart from gaining effective professional skills, I also developed better interpersonal skills. For example, I have developed abilities to related and communicate effectively with my subordinates. Interpersonal communication helped me engage in communication that facilitated the exchange of ideas and information that promoted better decision-making. Furthermore, interpersonal communication enabled me to learn to listen to views and opinions of team members, and it has enabled me to appreciate the perspectives of people from the different cultural background.
Experimentation
For future development and professional practice, I will improve on facilitating communication that promote cohesion in the teams. Besides, this is helpful in addressing conflicts among the team members (Tuckman, 1965). Successful communication is needed for clear conveying of ideas to the team and providing direction to the team, and ensures that no member of the team is confused about instructions provided.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) and resilience

Experience
I have participated in intern programs in different organizations and this has provided me with opportunities for working and experiencing the activities, duties and responsibilities for a marketing executive. Additionally, during my intern, I was allowed to work under the supervision of the senior marketing executive; this provided me with opportunities to learn the kills and characteristics of effective marketers from the senior leaders in the organization. In order to increase my self-awareness, I learned how to recognize other persons’ emotions and the situations causing the emotional responses. This was helpful in learning the strengths and weaknesses of other organizational members. Additionally, in order to related and understand other workers better, I was keen on examining techniques for becoming more empathetic; I achieved by putting myself in other peoples’ shoes in order to understand how they feel. Furthermore, I ensured that I choose how to respond to conversations in different situations to avoid conflict incidents.
Further, I improved my social skills in order to increase my ability to recognize co-worker’s emotions; I achieved this though adopting social skills that enabled me to actively listen to both senior and junior employees in the organization and also paying attention to their non-verbal communication and also develop appropriate methods for solving problems and conflicts such as such as the use of a mediator. Further I learned the needs for understanding the moods, behaviours, impulses of employees in the organization and comprehending how to control them to match the situation of the company. For example, I learned for to fit in the new environment in the firm and integrate with the new colleagues and this enabled me to have easy and interaction with all organizational members. Besides, during the internship I learned the need for using emotional intelligence in marketing to target the intended customers in the right place and at the right time (Kidwell, Murtha, Hardesty and Sheng, 2011). Some of disadvantages that I faced included discrimination because of my position as an intern in the organization and I was therefore not included in meeting involving decision making or discuss other serious matters in the organization. Such experiences limited my interactions with some organizational members.
Reflection
I learned the need for emotional intelligence in developing soft skills such as persistence, critical thinking, problem-solving and optimism. Additionally, I learned how marketers in the company use emotional intelligence in facilitating successful marketing strategy that is based on the understanding the emotions of the intended customers.
For future development and professional practice, I have understood how emotional intelligence may be used in facilitating conversations with potential customers to promote lasting relationships with the customers.
Experimentation
The experience gained through the internship programs will help me develop resilience which is needed in developing resilience to work in a competitive industry. Besides, I have to ensure that in-depth knowledge about the intended customers is incorporated into marketing strategies to address different marketing...