Communication and Collaboration Strategy Paper
As we know that everyone is unique and different, the same goes for the uniqueness and difference in their learning styles and the role of their personality type, when it comes to learning communicating and collaborating within a team. That is why different strategies for effective communications and collaborations need to be created for groups of individuals with different learning styles and different personality types. According to the book, Becoming a Lifelong Learner (Carter, Bishop, & Kravits, 2007) three of the many different learning styles are: interpersonal, intrapersonal and verbal-linguistic. Beginning with one of the different learning styles, in specific the verbal-linguistic style, a good strategy for effective communications and collaborations with this learner, is to make sure you recognize the different characteristics of this learning style. For example students with this learning style like to write, they enjoy telling stories, they like to read, they express themselves clearly, they are good in negotiating, and like to discuss topics that interest them. Based on this, a verbal-linguistic learner will require assignments that require writing papers, and book reading, just to mention a few. On another learning style like the intrapersonal learner, some of the characteristics of this student are that he needs quiet time to think, this student is interested in self improvement, he understands his thoughts and feelings, he knows what he wants in life and also likes to work on projects by himself. By identifying these characteristics, a good strategy for this student will be to give him alone time if needed and required, and assign individual projects instead of team assignments. On the last learning styles example I picked out of many, I would like to talk about the interpersonal learner. This learner likes to work in groups, people seek out to them for conflicts resolutions, they like to spend time with friends, this learner is good at understanding people, he also make people feel comfortable and enjoy helping others. Based on this learning style, I can say that this learner will succeed by assigning him to work on teams, and could also be the team leader. Base on my findings of the multiple pathways to learning assessment, I can say that each learner have different ways of learning and this need to be identify by the instructor and the student itself in order to do well in school and prevent wasting time. As we all know, another ingredient to consider when creating a strategy for effective communications and collaborations within a team is the different types of learners or team member’s personalities. Three of the four different types of personalities are: the organizer, the giver and the thinker. Having an organizer on the team will produce that necessary element of organization, cleaning less and many other qualities this team member has to offer. Communicating with this team member is easy, all you have to do is tell him exactly what do you want from him. The giver is a good addition to the team and easy to communicate with and will be great in team collaboration since, this team love to give and most important tend to be caring and honest. My last ingredient on the team is the thinker. This member is another great addition to the team, since he understand how things work, and communicating this to the rest of the team members, is very helpful. Reference (Carter, Bishop, & Kravits, 2007) Carter, C., Bishop, J., & Kravits, S. L. (2007). Becoming a Lifelong Learner. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.