A521.7.4_SeabournBeau

Relate a knowledge sharing story from your personal experience. Be sure to describe the context of your story.

Not to long ago in the past, while at work, I noticed some small puffs of smoke coming from a building located on the airport property. At first glance it appeared to be smoke that could have been generated by a grill top opening or a car with a lot of exhaust coming from it. Naturally I did not get suspicious of the smoke and I proceeded to work. For some reason the smoke just did not seem correct to me and about a minute later I noticed a lot more smoke that appeared to be coming from a building located on the airport. Moments after that I witnessed a man walking at a fast pace away from the building. The building is only accessed on rare occasions by technicians and it just so happened that a technician was on the airport grounds at the time. Once again, naturally I thought it was that individual walking at a fast pace and once again I was mistaken. This person proceeded to run the entire width of the airport in a very fast manner and ran completely to the other side of the airport. It seemed as though he was running away from the smoke. It did not take me long to notify authorities in which I was on hold for over two minutes before receiving a actual person's voice. I informed that there was a person on the grounds that was not suppose to be and that they were preventing normal airport operations from taking place. Not to my surprise, the man jumped a couple barbed wire fences and disappeared into the crowd around the airport.

To follow up with what really happened, this person actually was traveling in a car at a high rate of speed. He the proceeded to crash the car into a sewer built along the airport fence. His car destroyed over 90 feet of airport fence before coming to a rest. The man surprisingly got out of the car and started running across the airport, fleeing from his accident. He was able to successfully run clear across an airport, jump two barbed wire fences and disappear without every being caught.  Luckily for the police it was actually his parents car and without to much hard work they eventually found out who "he" was. This story just goes to show that you have to be ready for anything at anytime. There was a few misinterpretations on my part which caused a small hesitation in contacting any authorities. All in all, this was not normal and shouldn't have happened this way.

A521.6.3_SeabournBeau

Based on this week's readings from the Denning text, identify the elements of high-performance teams and apply them to teams with whom you have worked in your organization. Next, Identify the importance of shared values and discuss the influence of shared values on your team's performance. Finally, examine the four patterns of working together and detail one positive and one negative experience. What could you have done to influence the outcomes?

To start, high performance teams are something that can not be created or pushed upon a group of people. It seems that they are created when a group of people build off of one another and then preform at a higher level. The group will shape to the situation and grow stronger over the time they spend together. They will all grow individually do to the expertise of each person and lastly they all will share the same passion and drive.

A good example of this in my own personal life would be the time I was deployed to Iraq as a mobile air traffic controller with eight others. In a short amount of time, we were expected to learn a new airport, apply our knowledge and then take over from the group that was currently in place. In this example, the needs of the airport helped shape the situation that we were put in. We, as a team could grasp the seriousness of the event and took our job that much more serious. Like the reading says, we grew stronger together over time. This happened for two reasons; first we had to in order to do our job and secondly, we got use to working with one another regularly. Each one of us brought out the better of each other. We were able to push one another to make them that much better at their job. That created a great success and made us much more effective as a team. Do to that particular situation, we all went on to be successful in our career fields. We were able to adapt, overcome and apply our job skills in a shot amount of time and then become better equipped and more knowledgeable as time progressed.

Last I wanted to mention the work group situation in the four patterns. In the Navy, they have a funny way of partnering people from a wide array of jobs into smaller groups to help them finish a totally different job. In this case, around twenty of us were selected to clean a large amount of buildings after a hurricane. The negative side of this would have been the fact that almost none of us had any experience in this field and the people who did, did not know how to properly teach us how to complete the task. The positive about that situation would have been that after some time we were actually able to complete the task. I guess it was sort of an "on the job training" session as the Navy would call it. Although not put together very well and in a short amount of time, we were able to compleete a somewhat rough task.

A521.5.4_SeabournBeau

Based on the readings in the Denning text and the assessment you took in A521.5.1 identify in detail the process of developing and aligning organizational values. Identify the three basic components of an ethical community and discuss how they might be applied in your organization. Are there values that are missing from your organization?Discuss how you might develop those values and also align them with the values of the individuals in the organization.

First is Trust. Denning's text describes trust as "the general expectation among members that their fellows will behave ethically toward them" (Denning, 2011). In the case of trust, I do not think that this element is missing in my organization. I would actually argue that trust is actually the most used element and the most important. Being in the aviation field, I think, has to be all about trust. In my company, we all have to share trust across the board. The company is trusting that you as a controller provide the best and safest service you can, daily. If they didn't trust you, they wouldn't allow you to work. They actually have a lot of different safety measures to ensure they can still trust you too. Just making sure you're up to date on procedures and company policy.

Second is loyalty. Denning defines loyalty as "acceptance of the obligation to refrain from breaching one another;s trust and to fulfill the duties entailed by accepting that trust" (Denning, 2011). I believe that in my company we have a loyalty to one another. The company has different measures in place to prevent it's employees from being exposed in the event of a wrong doing. In my opinion, this is being loyal to the employees. They basically will not sell you out to the media or anyone else when something happens. I think that works both ways also. The lower level, newer people, know that company is constantly looking out for them and they know that they can work without fear of prosecution or annoyance.

Third is solidarity. Denning defines this as "caring for other people's interests and being ready to take action on behalf of other, even if it conflicts with personal interests" (Denning, 2011). In the case of my company, like mentioned above, there seems to be a sense of community and trust established. With that come solidarity. I think because we are all able to trust one another, we can work as a large company effectively and efficiently. I do think there is some room for improvement though. I'm not 100% convinced that the top echelon would come rushing to my every need if I stopped serving their needs. What I mean is, if I'm not willing to play by the rules, they shouldn't;t have to be either. That's probably normal anywhere but an observation none the less. I do think that my company would try and resolve and identify any wrong doings it sees and come to the need of any employee to help them out. I would think that we all have to accept consequences for our actions however.



Denning, S. (2011). The Leaders Guide to Storytelling. San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

A521.4.3_SeabournBeau

I cannot even imagine the amount of times that I have probably ruined my positive message by some sort of nonverbal communication issue. More recently, I have started researching different conspiracies, the food industry and some other interesting things to me. In Messages it describes how someone might try to show someone or some people how knowledgeable they are at a particular subject. The "I know it all" person. I find myself doing that. I have found lately, that because I have done a lot of research on my own, that I am the expert now. I know that is not even the case, but I realized that I was in a way steam rolling the people that I was around. I didn't know it at the time, I wish I would have. This can easily become boring to guests and it can most certainly de-credit me and effect my trustworthiness overall. I also find it interesting that the more intense I feel about something, the more my body reacts naturally. My voice raises, I move my arms and I do get somewhat aggressive. Knowing what I do now, there are simple fixes to help me keep things like that under control. Breathing and consecrating are two ways to help me reduce the stress I think I'm encountering in the situation. I think breathing is the most essential for me. If I can take time to breath, I can take time to catch myself and slow down, understand my guests point of view and interact politely. Lastly, my messages aren't always the most clear. Although I feel like a resident expert on anything I talk about, I can make the information I'm discussion less interesting to say the least. The combination of bulldozing my guests and pushing passionate ideas on them may have led me to be a bad host and could have caused some hard feelings. Lucky for me, most of this happened with family and close friends. I think I have to watch the meta-messages also. I think I'm hinting at something but in reality, I'm creating a negative environment. The combination of all of that can make for a rough gathering. I see now that there are things i need to be working on, every chance I get!

A521.3.4_SeabournBeau

First Situation

The first instance I would mention that helped shape my actions and feelings would have to be when I was 18 and I joined the Navy. After high school I didn't have a clear plan for my future although I always felt like I wanted to be in the military. I had heard numerous stories from my grandfather about how great it was so I felt that was the best choice. The initial stages of the Navy were the most forming. You basically go from a kid knowing nothing to a kid knowing how to somewhat take care of yourself and how to act decently in public. The secondary school associated with the Navy really gave me some meaning. There I learned a bunch of job skill and how to work together with a small group of other students. It was a 16 week program that was designed to teach us entry level job traits for a particular military job. Between that and boot camp, I would say that my outlook on life changed slightly. I found a more diverse culture working around me and a lot of different people with even more different backgrounds. This made me more aware of my actions and feelings toward people and my career.

Second Situation

Secondly, I'm going to combine my marriage and the birth of my son for changes in my life. I still consider myself somewhat young so, the combination of the two have had a lasting impact on me I feel. First, my son is a whole new ballgame. I haven't ever had to care about someone or give someone so much attention before. It makes a more mature adult out of me. I would also say my marriage did that also. I went from a immature single man, to a married man. There are certain compromises and changes that anyone experiences once they get married. All of mine have been for the better! Between my wife and my son, there are not any two more important things in life. They shape how I handle myself professionally and privately. Having a family has in a way made me a better team player. I never understood why people always had an excuse such as "my kid is sick" or "my wife isn't available" before having my family. I now can directly relate to people with a family. That alone makes me a better leader.

A521.2.3_SeabournBeau

I want to begin by saying that the overall message she presented was strong. Her ability to stay focused on her topic and the ability to reach the audience almost immediately was astonishing to me. She was able to quickly outline what a single story was and was then able to connect the audience to a story that she was actually involved with. It was interesting how she used her personal experience to lay the foundation of her point, and that she was able to give examples of how western culture interprets the continent of Africa and links Africa to every country in it. She correctly identified the audience she was speaking to and then gave perfect examples of different dates and times throughout her life that directly related to the message she was giving. Although it seemed like a story, her entire presentation was focused around helping people being able to understand and identify with how we create a single story with people and places. Her overall presentation was powerful and well spoken. She didn't wonder off topic and it was evident that the stories she shared were carefully selected to help her get the point across. She presented good, bright news and she shared the objectively bad side of stories. There was careful consideration as to when to share what story and how to grab people's attention. I feel as though she did a wonderful job with her audience and things were light and meaningful.

A521.1.4_SeabournBeau

I've tried to think of a specific area or story that circulates in the air traffic organization and I've come to the conclusion that there is not ONE story there are many. What I'll focus on is the stories that mean the most and have the highest implications. The biggest area of concentration lately is safety at the federal contract tower level. Air traffic controllers area always talking about the endless people they've saved or assisted with. Actually, this past week a controller at my facility really did save a father and a daughter from crashing. So what I would say is, the implications of the "saving stories" is that every controller should being helping and assisting pilots and other people. By sharing these stories withing the controller community, it makes other controllers want to be the person who helps with the "greatest save" or saves countless lives. The safety implication is huge. It not only promotes awareness and willingness, it makes controllers more safe and reliable at work. The overall culture promotes a healthy story telling environment, focusing on embellished stories. The air traffic control community is very important to safety and efficiency. The fact that controllers share safety stories goes to show that controllers care about the saves and not the loses. This absolutely shows "stand for" mentality in the business. The controller provides the last or first safety measure to those people in need. If stories weren't shared, there wouldn't be people trying to out do their fellow controllers. It's almost like a controllers ultimate way to show their also capable of being an asset to the team. In a way it could also lead to a mentor or admiration situation too. Such as "did you hear about Bob, he helped save a huge flight that almost crashed today?". I think that stories are important to the culture of any business. People need a way to relate and get to know one another. Stories allow people to connect and work together through similarities.