Communication & Teamwork
During my course on the Publishing Business, we were given the opportunity to collectively publish a book as a class. This book, Moving Through the Grey: Publishing in Action, would focus on publishing trends and topics, as well as topics about issues relating to publishing such as copyright, open access and digital tools. While I had my own chapter to focus on, the entire class had to collaborate in teams to discuss administrative duties, marketing responsibilities, and creative choices. I was placed in a team of students who primarily handled the creative decisions of the book, where we planned the layout, design and presentation of 200+ pages and its cover. Our creative team helped brainstorm ideas for the book cover and I personally brought this design to life on Photoshop.
As a team, we decided every icon on this cover should represent an aspect of the book. For instance, the globe icon represented our chapter on globalization, the man with a microphone for a chapter concerning communication, and the phone and tablet icons represented chapters on how technology is swiftly changing the publishing industry. We then collaborated with the rest of the class to ensure each co-author felt well represented on this cover.
Moving Through the Grey: Publishing in Action's cover that I created after many team brainstorming sessions and consultations with the entire class. Click the image to be directed to the full text of our book.
As a team, we decided every icon on this cover should represent an aspect of the book. For instance, the globe icon represented our chapter on globalization, the man with a microphone for chapters concerning communication, and the phone and tablet icons represented the chapters that outlined how technology is swiftly changing the publishing industry. We then collaborated with the rest of the class to ensure each co-author felt well represented on this cover.
In order to complete my "A Network of Witchgrapht and Vizardy" project for Social Network Analysis effectively and in as timely a manner as possible, communication between our group members was essential. We frequently met to discuss plans, progress, and continuously reached out to one another online and in person for support and with any questions we happened to have.
My group ensured that we began this project with as clear communication as possible, making sure every member understood what book and movie was assigned to them while also finding compromises when two of our members wanted to analyze the same instalment of this franchise. We then had to work together to determine certain parameters, such as what constituted an 'interaction' (i.e. can an interaction be simply an exchange of words? Or can a character merely making eye contact with another character be considered an interaction? Could physical acts such as two teams playing Quidditch against one another be a form of interaction?), and constantly consulted with one another whenever we were unsure of a choice we'd made.
Communication was also essential both when creating our final presentation, and when presenting it. Collecting our massive amounts of data and inputting them into a PowerPoint presentation took collaboration from all three team members through a shared Google Slides document where we were all free to work on it bit by bit. The presentation itself was a great example of my communication skills, as this presentation included extremely technical concepts that I had to convey as clearly as possible to the class and to our professor, and our final presentation time took over an hour, meaning we had to work together to communicate this information in an engaging way to keep our audience's attention.
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Our title page for our Harry Potter network map project
During my time in the MIS program, I have also served on the AÉSISSA student executive twice; once during my first year as the First Year Representative and again this year as one of the association’s co-Presidents, and both have equipped me with teamwork and communication skills.
My duties as First Year Representative were largely to help promote AÉSISSA events to classrooms and act as another way to communicate information from the executive to the students. This involved promoting AÉSISSA events in several different first year classes, communicating information about upcoming student elections, and getting my fellow first-years excited about the prospects of being involved in the next executive.
Acting as a President provided me with further communication experience and experience working in teams, as it is essential that our association members work together confidently and efficiently. Our executive was expected to work together to create and promote events, assist other students with any questions or issues, provide resources to our colleagues, and collaborate with professors and other academic staff to create a bridge between students and educators. It was a priority of mine to work and communicate with my team efficiently and professionally, and I applied these same values when working with other students, with professors, and when attending ESIS Departmental Assemblies each month. While I will also be introducing the new AÉSISSA executive to their roles this summer before the Fall 2019 term begins, the current executive is also currently finishing an information pamphlet for next year’s student executive, which attempts to include information on joining a new association, outlines of each person's role and duties, and will ultimately serve as a go-to resource for new executive members.
I have also utilized my communication skills in my completion of written assignments, class discussions, oral presentations, and communication with professors conducted in both English and French throughout my studies in the MIS program.
I have also gained communication and teamwork skills from working various positions in the Ottawa Public Library, such as Customer Service Assistant (CSA) roles, Public Service Assistant (PSA) roles, and Paging roles. In the public library, it is essential that staff members communicate well with the public when assisting in resource retrieval, conducting reader's advisory interviews, explaining policies and procedures, or assisting customers with any issues or concerns they may have. This is especially important when faced with upset customers who may have incurred fines, had issues with some of the libraries resources, or perhaps had a negative encounter with another patron, as communication is noted to be the key to conflict resolution. As a staff member often working directly with the public, I am expected to listen carefully to any problems, show respect to the patron and to their issue, find and communicate potential solutions in a professional manner, and de-escalate if the situation gets out of hand by communicating to the patron in a calm voice. It is also vital that staff members work together as a team, as the introduction of Think Yes! values have especially emphasized the importance of teamwork, communication, positive thinking, support, and shouldering tasks that may not traditionally be one's responsibility in order to help out their co-workers. I hope to bring the experience I've had working in teams and communicating with staff and with the public to my future role as a librarian.
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During my time in the MIS program, I have served on the AESISSA student executive twice; once during my first year as the First Year Representative and again this year as one of the association’s co-Presidents, and both have equipped me with teamwork and communication skills. I initially reached out to the old executive team about joining AESISSA at the school’s orientation in 2017, as I knew immediately that I wanted to join executive activities and lend some of my skills towards the growth of this association. My duties as First Year Representative were largely to help promote AESISSA events to classrooms and communicate information from the executive to students. This involved presenting AESISSA events in several different first year classes, and assisting first year students with basic information about the program, the executive, and resources that were available to them. Acting as President provided me with further experience working effectively in teams as it is essential our executive work together confidently and efficiently. Our executive were expected to work together to create and promote events, assisting other students with any questions or issues, provide resources to our colleagues, and collaborate with professors and other academic staff to create a bridge between students and educators.
One instance in particular that required great teamwork and communication was creating the 2018 MIS holiday party. Though our executive had started preliminary plans for a holiday get-together, one student expressed an interest in being involved in planning this party and had already communicated their prospective plans to other students and professors. Instead of dismissing this student, I had decided that our executive would work together with them to create this get-together. The exec and I were then tasked with collaborating not only with each other, but now with several students outside the executive, and communicate and promote our collective plans to staff and students. Ultimately, I believe this holiday party was made stronger by our collective efforts and our ability to best appeal to students using the direct input from first years.
The AESISSA executive is also currently finishing an information pamphlet for next year’s student executive, which attempts to include all facets of joining a new association. This pamphlet aims to
I have also utilized my communication skills in my completion of written assignments, class discussions, oral presentations, and communication with professors conducted in both English and French.
Teamwork is also essential when working for the OPL. In the public library, it is essential that all staff members act as a team. The introduction of Think Yes! values have especially emphasized this, as it is a value system that encourages OPL employees to shoulder tasks that may not traditionally be their responsibility.