Alina Alvarado

The idea of learning invitations/commitment emails is something I would like to apply/see applied in my team. It goes beyond just saying we care about development. It can also be a good segue into a development plan or even a tool for checking in on their progress in their plan. I am currently applying for a supervisory role over other academic coaches, and a lot of this course content has given me both ideas and key verbage to highlight my goals and intentions for the role.

It's important to establish what their goals/approaches are, how they feel about their performance or the situation,  and then ask to share your view. It was interesting to learn of the advice that coachees should do 90% of the talking in meetings and to learn how coaching is defined (or, more accurately, how it is not defined) because I would often interchange coaching with mentoring, training and providing feedback.

My main takeaway are the levels of exceptions made for the policies and regulations. They make sense to why they are needed, but can add confusion in fully understanding what is  or is not a requirement.

My team and I are going through Appreciative Advising certification for coaching clients/students, and it is interesting to see the parallels between it and appreciative inquiring. Appreciative Advising includes other steps though incorporating "disarm" at the beginning and "don't settle" at the end. Though we apply it towards our students, it is important to remember to apply it internally.

I didn't know there was a specific term for adapting language and delivery style to others preferences. Though very important, one thing that's concerning is at what point can matching seem disingenuous since that is not being open of your own preferences.

It's interesting how some of the characteristics associated with different learning preferences can also be taken as learning challenges when they are not understood properly. Not recognizing how to better reach other types of learners can lead to judgement, confusion, and frustration. I like how the lesson breaks them each down, explains it from the learner perspective, and then gives examples of how to tailor the lesson/approach.

This course is interesting because I took it after taking the EQ-I ( Emotional Quotient Inventory) assessment which showed that my assertiveness and empathy were above average but the independence aspects were drastically lower (which can impact authenticity). However, this course connects the two more rather than seeing them individually.

This course provided insightful information on what a PLDP is and how to use it. I kind of wish that breakdown was given at the beginning to have the explanation from the start before starting to put information without the explanation of the expectations. When I use PLDPs for myself and my team, I want to break it down first and then have them complete it.

I realized I am more of a visual learner. I also learned that some of the language I have used in the past could be considered limiting. I will keep that in mind, especially when we are brainstorming. However, I still feel there is an appropriate time to address what didn't work in the past (but also review why and if there have been changes since then that could make the idea work now).