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Week 12: How I would change the course

While I find organizational culture an interesting subject--and in fact I’ve been studying it for years since I was in a leadership institute and was able to analyze the toxic organizations I worked for--I feel like a lot of that type of content could have been condensed into a week or two. I would have preferred to learn more tools of KM as was written in the course description. This is only my second KM class, so I thought I would use the tools learned in this class to gain more confidence as a KM practitioner, but I feel like I still have no idea the types of KM tools available to me.

I am unapolegetically practical, so learning specific tools would have been really helpful to me. Once I understand the tools, I am good at reading the situation in the room so to speak to know when is the best time to use them instead of just blindly following the textbook.

I did like learning about humble consulting per Schein--I think that is a great concept to carry through in all types of work. It’s helpful to me as I’m a problem solver and just want to jump in sometimes, but he cautions to use a different approach which will be good for me to practice.

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Week 12: Am I helpful?

I like to consider myself a helpful person. I stay out of situations where I feel I can’t be a help knowledge- or skill-wise, but try to offer support in other ways, such as encouragement.

Sometimes, though, I can be too helpful with giving advice when people do not really want it. I’m a pragmatist and want situations solved quickly and do not have a lot of patience for incessant complaining with no action, so I am quick to offer help when it is not wanted.

After reading Schein, I will try to be more humble in my helping efforts, asking more questions about what is desired (or just general questions out of curiosity), in order to be more helpful instead of just pushing my advice onto others.

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What would I change about IAKM 60303?

There’s not much I would change about this course! The only small items are:

• The required use of Linked-In. Though I do have a profile, I am not likely to connect with people there regularly. • Some of the materials were repetitive within the program. I would really like to see more diversity in course materials. • I felt the second half of the course could use more content. Content seemed to be more packed into the first half of the course. Alternatively, the number of weeks could be shortened.

Overall, I really enjoyed the class and feel that I am a stronger leader because of it. The smaller class size lead to a great level of engagement. I knew several classmates from previous KM courses, which was nice because I didn’t have to explain my organization and its challenges in great detail. I think I was more honest in giving feedback because I was so familiar with several of my classmates and knew they would take these exercises in the spirit they were intended. It was nice to use tools external to Blackboard; since all KM and LIS courses are online, the new (to me) tools were energizing. Our fearless leader Brian was a great instructor, I enjoyed his candid feedback and his willingness to engage with students. I connected with him on a more personal level than I have with other instructors. I hope to see him teaching more KM courses in the future! This was a truly awesome group of professionals and I can’t wait to see how we all lead in the future! Good luck to all of you!

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Am I Helpful?

I think I can sum up my level of helpfulness in one word: Sometimes. I try my best to be as helpful and positive as I can be, but I sometimes fall short of the mark. One of the biggest lessons I learned in this course is that helpfulness must be practiced consciously and deliberately. It’s can be tempting to view yourself as “helpful” on the surface or on a personal level, however, being deeply helpful in a professional context is more challenging. As Schein points out, helpful professionals must form strong, trusting relationships with their colleagues. These relationships create space for genuine communication where purposeful and direct questions can be asked. As a “helper” your focus must be on the person you are helping, and not on yourself and your own experiences.

The lessons I have learned in this class have helped me put a lot more focus and thought into how helpful I really am. For example, I’m a storyteller, and like to use personal examples when attempting to help my colleagues. I realized during this course that isn’t usually what people want when they are looking for help. They don’t want to hear about MY problems; they want me to help them figure out what their problems are and lead them to their own potential solutions. This is something I still need to work on and continue to develop. I’m grateful that this class lead me to this realization and made me more conscious of what being truly helpful looks like.

Reference:

Schein, E.H. (2016). Humble Consulting: How to provide real help faster. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.

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Wk 12: Helpfulness & Changes to the Course

Was I helpful?

Although I found myself helpful, I believe that my help sometimes had poor timing :( During the first half of the course, I was not engaged on a week-to-week basis, as I was moving at that time. Despite the fact that we were given the chance to submit everything by the first half, I felt that I should have found time in responding to people’s posts. Because I was not nearly as deep in the material as everyone else, my help would have been purely based on the writing styles. With that said, some help is better than none.

After we had completed our move, which was around the deadline for turning in the first half work, I made it a mission to immediately dive in to the notes I received on my posts and respond and/or answer everyone’s questions.

The second half of the course went a lot better, as I regularly maintained a weekly cadence for my posts and peer grading. I was very happy to see the responses to my grading, as it seemed like I provided a different perspective for them. A lot of people even stated that they would use my advice towards future posts and even their special project :)

What would I change about this course?

At times, it was difficult to be in sync with everyone’s work-pace (including my own)

Initially, I disliked tumblr, but after a couple weeks of regularly using it, I actually got use to the user-interface and realized some of its strengths. For example, it took me a while to realize that others can leave notes on my posts and I could provide clarity to any questions

With that said, I understand the importance of gaining an experience with these new tools, but for future courses, I would suggest just sticking with Blackboard. Honestly, this is the first class that I have encountered throughout my entire program that has regularly utilized a social media tool

Although I had taken the opportunity in turning everything from weeks 1-6 by 6/30, I found it difficult while peer grading during the second half. Those who decided to turn everything in by the 2nd half ultimatum left me with peer grading the same people twice.

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