April 11, 2014

Communication is a skill that can be learned in any situation. It is often an important skill as well. As a consultant, communication is very important because we have over 50 consultants and it is very hard to know what is happening to everyone unless tell us. Not only that, there are 14 SINC Sites that have to be managed.

Diana came to class to talk about the importance about communicating professionally and why it is important to us. TLT offers a lot to their students however not many students know what we have to offer. Our services that we provide are paid by the technology fee that every undergraduate student pays.

It is very important for students to know what DoIT offers because it can definitely enhance their educational experience. But, how can we get students to know what they are paying for? It is definitely something that I ask myself all the time. Students do not know what there is that is being offered unless they need it and when we do not have what they need, they get mad. It makes me confused however determined to figure out a way for DoIT/TLT to share with every student about the services on campus that we offer.

I want to try and talk to more students about what DoIT offers when the opportunity comes. I think that as a consultant and a future senior consultant, it is my responsibility to market the services we provide because we will never know if it will truly help someone. But we will know if it will hurt someone. What they don’t know will hurt them, one way or another.

We had to act out how we would communicate with someone who was being unprofessional in different roles (as Rose or as a Senior Consultant). I thought it was very hard acting like Rose because it is hard for me to act like another person however I tried to act accordingly if I had her power and what I should enforce. A few of my colleagues acted as senior consultants which is a tad big harder because senior consultants work closely with consultants or are even friends with consultants. It is a challenge to be strict with your friend in a professional setting because it may involve personal feelings. This made me think about my actions as a senior consultant and how I would treat the consultants in the future.

From this exercise, I realized that communication is learned on a daily basis. As a consultant and an intern, I have to communicate to my higher ups and my peers about what is happening in my life that conflicts with my work schedule, any issues regarding a site, updates, etc. I also learned that if the issue is professional, always maintain a professional demeanor and clarify that it has nothing to deal with anything personally.  I also have to stay compassionate, caring and respectful to everyone even if I may not be in a good mood.

Shadowing Posts:

• 4.8.2014- Made up shadowing hours on 4.22.2014
• 4.9.2014
• 4.10.2014- Subbed Mentor: Vi
• 4.11.2014- Choosing my Path