October 3rd, 2020 
I HAVE ATTACHED TWO DIFFERENT DISCUSSIONS PLEASE READ & RESPOND TO EACH. DO NOT PUT TOGETHER
DISCUSSION 1
Change in the workplace due to COVID-19 has brought around some major challenges to overcome. After the suspension of in-person services, our Youth Workforce Services (YWS) participants could no longer visit us for resources, attend workshops, or help set up special events. As the center’s IMS InnerSight Coordinator, I am responsible for overseeing our career exploration programs. I organize the events, set goals for my colleagues, and we all recruit youth to attend. Our team collaborates and communicates daily to meet our program needs and goals.
InnerSight is a two-part workshop that involves collaboration between Career Advisors, youth participants, InnerSight facilitators, and the InnerSight Coordinator. Other stakeholders include YWS leadership, the City of Los Angeles Employment and Workforce Development Department, and the InnerSight team. In a nutshell, InnerSight is a personal, professional, and organizational development experience based on an inventory of interests provided by the youth in part one (InnerSight LLC., 2014). We get four sessions throughout the year to provide part two of the InnerSight Experience to 71 youth. The dilemma we are facing now is how will YouthSource centers continue the workshops, can the centers distribute technological devices and hotspots, and how will case managers provide the workshop materials to youth?
For weeks, we have been contacting our city monitor to find out what we are supposed to be doing about InnerSight and if it would be required for this program year. YWS InnerSight Coordinators for both sites appealed to leadership, the city, and the InnerSight team for answers. All that we were told was that in was in the works, and that each site would need to plan for 71 youth participants within eight experience sessions.
We finally got answers to our questions today in a phone conference, which was originally supposed to be a zoom meeting. We joked about unforeseen technical difficulties, voiced concerns, problem solved our way through potential challenges, and came out with a tentative plan to run a pilot workshop virtually. We decided to concentrate recruitment efforts on youth with access to technology and a secure network. We are currently in the process of obtaining hotspots, and have secured chrome books and tablets that we plan to loan to youth for workshops and school. Distribution will be conducted by appointment outside of the center or dropped off by staff.
Communication in-person is an integral part of the success of this program as attendance and engagement are required from students. Face to face communication is ideal for sending and receiving messages between communicators ( Manning, Waldman, Lindsey, Newburg, & Cotter-Lockarx, 2012, p. 38). A question, that I hadnt yet considered was brought up in the phone conference. How do we ensure the youth are present, participating, and that the facilitators keep the attention of youth for the span of three hours? The cons of virtual meeting is that youth are still learning hos to use zoom, they might not want to share their video, and youth are often initially shy or quiet.
Although its easier to spot nonverbal cues of inattention F2F, engagement and eliciting participation to is something the InnerSight facilitators are very good at doing. The pros from technology-mediated communication is that youth wont have to commute to attend the workshop, most of our youth have access to a phone with internet access, and those that dont have the option to get a loaner Chromebook or hotspot. Our program reacted quickly and was able to secure these tools in advance, all we need it the green light from our IT department to distribute and a contract form to return the device.
Nevertheless, our stakeholders and the YWS team are confident that we can organize and distribute the materials to continue providing youth with this career exploration experience. We believe virtual rapport building is possible by making sure that youth understand the value of actively participating in the InnerSight Experience. Career Advisors must communicate the process and requirements of the workshop prior to committing youth to attend, and its important to providing a safe cyber-environment and set community norms from the beginning. Facilitating this workshop will require a student-centered approach that encourages youth to actively listen and be present in the virtual workshops.
References
InnerSight LLC. (2014, October 10). The InnerSight Story. Retrieved from https://www.myinnersight.com/about-us/the-innersight-story/ (Links to an external site.)
Manning, C. A., Waldman, M. R., Lindsey, W. E., Newburg, A. B., & Cotter-Lockhart, D. (2012). Personal inner values: A key to effective face-to-face business communication. Journal of Executive Education, 11(1), pp.3765 Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jee/vol11/iss1/3/?utm_source=digitalcommns.kennesaw.edu%2Fjee%2Fvol11%2Fiss1%2F3&utm_medium=PDF&utm_capaign=PDFCoverPages
DISCUSSION 2
Part 1: Identify a current dilemma or challenge that you are involved in a face-to-face environment where successful collaboration is necessary (volunteer committee, sports team, or work situation). What are the specifics of the situation? Devise and post a strategy using suggestions from the readings from the past few weeks that implement a successful collaboration. Some questions to think about when creating your collaborative plan: What is your goal? How will you engage your stakeholders? How will you avoid groupthink? Propose methods for the collaboration process that would be successful through face-to-face interaction using the course readings to support your points. Why would your recommendations be successful?
Benilde Hall is a treatment program that houses 80-100 homeless men (Benilde Hall, 2020). We dont get the option to do virtual with this program. With that number of men living here and having over 30 staff members it can make it difficult in these trying times. Covid has put an interesting twist to the recovery process at Benilde. I will say that we are mask to mask rather than face to face. We have created a plan to keep people safe and still provide services to those we serve and our community. Masks are worn at all times; social distancing is promoted as well. We have limited the size allowed in groups so it has added to the need for more groups so everyone has a chance to find the tools they need. The goal is safety and recovery. We have avoided group think by working off CDC guide lines for Covid procedures (Janis, 2020). If we follow what the professionals recommend there is less chance of group think getting in the way. These recommendations have worked. We have people going back into the community as working, tax paying members of society.
Part 2: Identify a possible technology-mediated collaboration (work situation, current event, or hypothetical situation). Identify the stakeholders, their roles, and strategies for engagement. Propose methods for the collaboration process that would be successful through technology-mediated interaction using the course readings to support your points. Why would your recommendations be successful?
The Kansas City Recovery Coalition has been moved to Zoom for the time being (KC Recovery Coalition, 2020). It has allowed us to continue to work on ways to network and build to better help our community. The coalition is a group of recovery program that work together to fill the missing gaps that have been part of the treatment world for years. We meet monthly to make sure we are breaking down silos that have kept programs from talking to each other in the past. Zoom works as we all kno9w by now. There are new issues like zoom fatigue but there are ways to lower that impact. This has been working for 6 months. We get better as we learn more and continue to keep our goals in mind. Our goal is to help more people find recovery. So far, we are able to work together, from a distance and still make it work.
Part 3: How are the strategies for technology-mediated collaboration different from F2F? What are some of the pros? What are some of the cons of each method? How do nonverbal cues factor in each method?
Our minds are used to taking in cues that we are not able to do in a virtual world. It takes more focus when you have to try and understand all that is happening from just a face/faces on a computer. We are not able to see the body cues that would normally help us gain understanding (Duffy, 2020). F2F needs transportation at times to go to meetings. It takes more time out of the day. It does build a better relationship in my opinion. Virtual is quick and easy. You are in your own place and more comfortable. You can even wear shorts and flipflops as long as your shirt looks good.
There are benefits to both and as we move forward I think our world will be using more of both because of convivence. They both have assets and draw backs. But used right they can help.
References
(2020). Retrieved from Benilde Hall: https://www.benildehall.org/
(2020). Retrieved from KC Recovery Coalition: https://kc-satrsc.org/
Duffy, L. F. (2020, April 29). How to Combat Zoom Fatigue. Retrieved from Harvard Business Review Home: https://hbr.org/2020/04/how-to-combat-zoom-fatigue
Janis, I. (2020). Groupthink. Retrieved from psychologytoday: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/groupthink
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