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     Story:
Serving as a leader I was faced with a difficult decision. My team was assigned with several tasks and my superior generally affords me the freedom to complete these tasks and report back to him with the results. There is a lot of subjectivity to the results and I could easily fudge a few numbers for the report to have a highly polished appeal. My team came up short on our quarterly training and we wouldn’t have the time to correct our shortcomings before my next report. Facing possible administrative or fiscal reprimands it took a lot of personal courage to report the actual values of our failed training requirements in order o maintain my integrity within the organization.

     The story I have come up from is consisted of a single protagonist that stems from a situation I’ve found myself in as a leader within my organization. The expectation is that an individual should choose to maintain his/her integrity and honesty in all situations while applying the personal courage needed to report to his/her superior of a failed task assigned to their section. Given the fact the superior may or may not know the truth you must never compromise your integrity. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
     I think this story would have an impact within my organization as a majority of people at some point will have the autonomy within their work environment and feel pressure to report up a picture perfect analysis when in fact there are deficiencies. I think it will allow individuals to assess how personal courage is needed to maintain their integrity and honesty.

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Ethical Pillars:

     Trust, Loyalty and Solidarity are outlined as three pillars that hold up an ethical community. Trust is essential as it forms a bond between individuals allowing the felt sense of members behaving ethically towards them. Second, loyalty establishes the feeling of acceptance of others. Lastly, solidarity demonstrates the care espoused from individuals towards other individuals.

      My organization fosters an environment along these pillars as well. Trust is essential and needs to be established and maintain before we set off on any mission. If there is any breakdown in trust it could have significant drawbacks down the road. As far as loyalty goes, it is most relevant within the lower levels in smaller teams and units. It is common to have competitions between other units or teams which help to maintain the bonds of loyalty. Lastly, there is a significant amount of solidarity within my organization. It boils down to the fact you are on the line and you have to count on the person next to you from time to time and it could be for an ultimate sacrifice. For the missions we perform if you’re not already committed for that you’d be weeded out.

     Since these values are already present the best ways forward is to maintain them in their present state. This is done with small group activities and unit competitions. I also like to have functions either dinner or BBQ’s outside the office so we’re able to interact when people let their hair down. I think that is essential as you need to know who you really are working with.

A521.5.1.RB_FogartyShawn

Individual & Organizational Values:

      The values within my organization are simple and clearly outlined from higher headquarters throughout the organization as a whole. The Army Values set the foundation with what is expected from each individuals and work as a simple code to follow. The Values are: Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage.  In addition to these basic values individuals are expected to continually advance themselves in individual and collective skill sets. These values are generally outlined within each individuals unit through various level of leadership.
     The values I’ve found to be most important through the self assessment would be to have an opportunity for balance between work life and family life. Next I’d like a stability environment and job security while maintaining flexibility in work structure. Lastly, I value having opportunities for advancement and opportunities for supervision, power, leadership, influence within the organization.
     My unit and leaders currently provide great opportunities for advancements both professionally and personally. I’m able to continue my goals of higher education and more demanding levels of responsibility. I really like that they support me in my personal efforts. Having deployed years after year also like I’m afforded a lot of flexibility to maintain my own schedule. Additionally, I’m favorable to the ability to manage my own balance between work and my family time.
     Regarding the differences between my assessed values of priority listed above and the major differences are lie within the job security and the stability of my environment. This is largely due to the fact my environment is ever changing between deployments and relocation. Although I have little to no control over these requirements I have learned how to best deal with them for my family and myself. As far as job security it is largely dependent on the promotion and requirements as the nation at large. If there is not a need for me to move up I could eventually be phased out if I reach a terminal rank. Overall, I feel that my personal values are in line with those of m organization and I’m able to work around through differences.

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     The nonverbal elements of communication make up more than half of what is expressed. All too often people convey separate or different messages that what they are trying to say. This occurs through body language, metamessages, and trying to influence hidden agendas. The most significant aspect of communication is to ensure you truly say and show that you are congruent in your verbal and nonverbal expressions.
      Body language is significant as you can sometimes judge a person even before they speak. If they are in a defensive posture it may be best to hold off asking them something until you can crack their shell. I often rely on my outgoing personality to open or soften people up before I ask or request something from them. By using appropriate eye contact, facial expressions and posture you can transfer or take control of the conversation.
     The next aspects to successful communications are through the analysis of paralanguage and metamessages. This is where you apply or diagnosis the tools used in verbal communications such as pitch, resonance, articulation, tempo, volume. If someone is talking too fast for you to comprehend they may be disinterested in actually talking to you. You can use the articulation of their words to aid in determining their credibility of a given subject. Lastly, the volume and resonance of their voice will help aid you in determining the congruent nature about what they are speaking. In regards to metamessages, this breaks down what they are saying into the basic information being conveyed and the attitude and feelings about what was conveyed.    
     Lastly, all communications have an agenda, but when the speaker is trying to apply an underlying message they are guilty of communication a hidden agenda. This is the element I most frequently encounter within my organization. In a recent conversation I found the other person’s body language not matching up to what they were verbally communicating. I didn’t feel that they were congruent in nature and that led me to believed there was a hidden agenda. A co-worker was asking me if I’d swap shifts with him next week and expressed how I would be “trading up.” I left the conversation with “I’ll get back to you” and discussed the nature of his requests with another colleague. I later returned to the individual and picked up the conversation where we left off. He again asked me if I’d consider swapping shifts with him next week but this time I asked him if he was going to tell me about the increased workload and requirements for his shift. I was able to sniff out his hidden agenda but the incongruent nature of his body language.

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My sister is eleven months older and maintained one grade level ahead of me in school. She has always been a bit “curvy” and was the blunt of a lot of jokes growing up. She has pretty thick skin but on occasion would break down. I was guilty of harassing her at times however I had little patience when it came from people other than me. Meanwhile, my father, a man who would give you the shirt off his back had very few sayings or advice growing up. One thing I remember him saying is “Family is family.” Walking home from the bus stop one day a few guys from her class made several jokes and continued to constantly harass her. I walked up to the three of them and asked them to apologize. They obviously weren’t going to as the next comment to come from them was, “or what?” I looked over at my sister who was crying, and then proceeded to punch the ring leader in the face. One against three was not so good odds that day and I hardly won the skirmish however the three of them did not fair to well either. Now as I am serving in the military my colleagues and fellow service members fall under that blank of “family” and there is nothing I wouldn’t do for them.  

In July of 2002, I enlisted at 18 and was sent off to the US Army Basic training source at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. As with most recruits I tried to do my best and stay out of the way. They call it being the “grey man,” they guy who seems to always be there but out of the lime light. I had a revelation here about how the world is filled with a lot of screw ups. We continually received group punishment or corrective training as the Army calls it. I got annoyed and told one of the constant screw ups to fix his area. An hour later in the chow line he was in front of me and smacked me in the face. I lost my cool and punched him in the face and we started to fight until being pulled apart.  Later that day we were marched out to the tree line and the two of us were told to square off and as we lines up the instructor said as I remember to this day, “We’re going to end all this here and now, feel free to finish what you started earlier.” Apparently I took him too literal and punched the kid so hard he went unconscious. I spent the remaining 4 weeks scrubbing dishes and picking rice out of the dining facilities kitchen floor. To this day, I have a low tolerance for stupid people.

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Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

Single Stories are often incomplete messages received by an individual which invade their imaginations resulting in a stereotype. These stereotypes are based on fragments of knowledge created by single stories which can actually “break the dignity of people” (Adichie, 2009) However, these same stories can be used to “repair” and “empower or humanize people.” Chimamanda Adichie blends several springboard stories composed of events from her personal life to deliver a powerful message. Her message is how stories can help form the backbone of society and provide empowering growth for the people within the misfortune state of Nigeria.  

            Chimamanda blends her stories together while constantly returning to how single stories can warp the perception of people and places. Her presentation is carefully crafted with a superb use of tone and inflection which helps the audience to visualize her stories. She applied strategic elements of humor so the audience doesn’t focus or empathize on a particular story but remains engaged with the overarching message of single stories.
            Joel Whalen (2007) outlines five tools of effective speaking. These tools consist of tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, word selection, delivery. Chimamanda uses inflection cleverly within her stories to allow the audience to grasp the very essence of her points throughout her presentation. She applies modest facial expressions during serious elements and smirks during the light hearted humorous stories. Her presentation allowed the audience time to emplace their emotions for both the springboard story and the over arching message of single stories. Her body language is quite reserved and she in no way distracts the audience from the illustration of her words. The very words she selected fit together like a puzzle. Lastly, she delivers a wonderful performance which leaves the audience captivated by her message of how single stories can help form the backbone of society and provide empowering growth for the people.

Adichie, C. (Artist). (2009). The danger of a single story. [Web Video]. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Whalen, J. (2007). Effective Communications. The Professional Communications Toolkit. (pp. 15-27). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc..

A521.1.4.RB_FogartyShawn

Friday afternoon, the “TGIF jitters” are starting to settle in and we’re wrapping up the last tasks before the weekend. Our leadership gathers all the members for the usual safety brief. It is common practice for a safety brief prior to the weekend; the problem is the storytellers have become complacent and monotone to the audience. The same topics are covered: drinking and driving, family issues, financial awareness, backyard or water safety. The audience is left to digest the regurgitated topics from the leadership weekly with no spontaneity or fresh flavor.

            The story does promote the goals and ideals of the organization with respect to safety however the failed delivery hardly meets the intent of the leadership. The lack of audience participation is a direct result of several barriers emplaced by the various storytellers. The attempt made by the story teller is on stride with attempting to cure cancer or world hunger with a single swoop of the hand. The leadership does not live up to the role of a storyteller. You can tell that there was no forethought given to the story and the delivery is usually a half moon about the storyteller. I could reenact the speech with a sock puppet and have more audience participation.

            The impact on the organization is dismal. I think more preparation and a better delivery will leave the audience remembering safety throughout the weekend rather than taking a brain vacation for the 15 minute ordeal. Having belabored drinking and driving speech after speech I still recall our organization having on average on incident per week. Perhaps the mind numbing campaign is keeping the numbers down but it still doesn’t prevent the occurrence. We have almost 800 individuals within my organization so I’m not sure how that matches against the rest of the population. Now, after having reviewed this piece I will speak with my leadership tomorrow to discuss my perception of a botched delivery. I think I could offer some ideas to make this weekly gathering worthwhile and productive.