:AACE CERTIFICATION 2009-2010:

Hi there. Sending you a season’s greeting card from a beautiful Hanoi in autumn. I’m so enjoyed when reading your posts each week. You’re lighting me up with AACE and I have to try to work smarter to catch up with you all. I feel how happy am I to join a class with mates from various backgrounds and experiences. I learn from you day by day. Besides, I get more ideas to develop my communication topic. And this week, I come back the last week topic to answer our Dr. Question. Where’s the changes besides the paragraphs of theories.

Actually, no obvious changes made, hehehe, I have to tell the truth. But changes are made a little from my side in my real-life working team. Firstly, to apply changes in my current team, as for me, a newly forming team with selected people who are good at certain aspects of work but not really good at forming a working team. Communication with us is sometimes broken, and that created double works and misunderstanding each other. Changes needed for my team is to build a common communication tools then we can gather and discuss and finish the common tasks/goals. Then, I made shared folder with an issue log in excel file to update issues and solutions taken from our daily works. And just like an experience sharing case, I showed to my team mates what the advantage of using that file was. After all agreed, we set targets together and we committed to finish it in the same manner and a set timeline. Works were broken down by parts and by each person’s strength. At the end of the week, we’ve got a work done better and faster. We didn’t spend time on going around asking and creating so many communication channels, but just one common channel for the whole team. I can see that we’re getting more in a team now.

For behavior part of the last definition about communication in Webster’s New World Dictionary, I understand that behavior is crucial in our storming and forming stage, while we still need more time to understand each others and find the common ground to play with each others. I went back to the communication session in PMBok, and I take my team members as stakeholders in my communication enhancement project. Even we're in a small team is a small team but the needs, expectations of each team memebers are totally different and team member’s personality is definitely different as well so that it's more important for us to find a common ground to get a consensus for each issue. In addition, my team is still missing a team leader who drives all in the same direction, everyone now seems to try to drive the team in their own way that makes the team works go badly and disorderly. And if there’s misunderstanding in communicating with my team we can get troubles. That’s why I decided to change my original communication from sending long emails to everyone by going to their places to discuss and get common ideas for each issue or forming rules first then I made it officially in emails. That showed clear results. Everyone had their ideas in the team works. And the work result was obviously better than before.
I can see that my team members seem satisfied with the new ways of communication with changes in both communication tools and behavior. And yes, the two small changes applied and gradually show its results in the new days to come with my team.
Nice weekend to you all.
P/S: Dear Dr. PDG, the Ethical/Unethical behavior survey result, I would like to save it for my coming blog posting.
P/S: Transformers: our team now often gets the same BIG tasks and all we have to finish by team efforts to get it finish on time.

Hanoi, 24/10/2009

Thao