Adult Personal Conflict Style Inventory

After completing the Adult Personal Conflict Style Inventory, it was computed that when issues first arise, I am very accommodating and also collaborating. The third highest scores were compromising and forcing. When unresolved issues grow to intensity, it was confirmed that I have equal collaborating and compromising efforts. The next characteristic was the tendency to be forceful.
I found that these traits are accurate because I am for the most part a non-controversial person. I rarely speak up when there are issues that bother me. It has to be pretty extreme for me to call someone out or tell them something that hurt my feelings. I would rather let it fall off my back than damage a relationship. This could be, and has been, a downfall because when a conflict builds over time and then explodes all at once, I am more likely to be compromising and forceful!

Adult Personal Conflict Style Inventory Tally

On the Adult Personal Conflict Style Inventory I scored highest with Collaborating when conflict first starts to arise on the Calm scale. Compromising was my highest score in the storm phase of conflict, and both of my highest conflict management styles flip-flopped for second place on the charts. This does not surprise me now after working in many different leadership roles in organizations, sports, and religious events. Back in high school I would have had a much higher avoidance number on my chart, but I have learned that it is best to work things out without either forcing them to happen or running away. There were several tough scenarios last semester that required me to take action as president in an organization and to come up with a collaborative or compromising style to get things done effectively and timely. I never disregarded the feelings of other members, but sometimes there was an outlandish situation or remark that a member and I had to fix the problem before it spread like wildfire throughout the organization. It helped me to grow in my confidence as a leader by hitting problems (more-often-than-not) head on and to get things moving smoothly and back on track from the first signs of trouble.

Adult Personal Conflict Inventory

After completing the excerise in the Adult Personal Conflict Inventory and reveiwing my scores, I am actually really surprised in the Calm category that I scored such a high score in "avoiding". Even though "avoiding" was my lowest score in the Calm it is sometimes evident in my behavior. To be honest I don't like conflict and I probably don't handle it well in some situations; however, I am very willing to compromise. With that said, I did score an 8 in the "compromising" section. My highest score was in collaborating which was an 11. In the Storm category my highest was in "compromising" which was a 9. This is not surprising to me because I know that I deal with conflict better when it first arises rather than after. Also I have noticed that I am more compromising than accomdating to the other person; I'm not sure if that is a positive or negative characteristic.

Adult Personal Conflict Style Inventory

When I took the inventory I found the results to be almost exactly right for me. In the calm category I scored a 9 for being accommodating during the first part of conflict. In the storm part I scored an 11 on both the compromising and avoiding parts. I do tend to be accommodating for the others on the opposing side of the conflict, and then I either try to compromise with them or else avoid them and the conflict after the situation has progressed. Usually I find that if I try and be accommodating in the beginning and then see that I am not making progress I just give up and avoid that person afterwards. If someone will not compromise after I have been accommodating I get tired of the situation and them. These numbers match past experiences I have had. I can think of examples all of the way back to 7th grade with a friend where I eventually just avoided her. Sadly, conflict stresses me out too much.

Human Beatbox

Eventhough this is not exactly a presentation of a person speaking, I think it is a great example of how to relate to an audience without using text. This technique could be used to relate to an audience of people who do not speak the same language as the speaker. I am thinking for my HBR project, I should probably stand up and beat box!

Caleb Chung: plays with Pleo

When looking for a presentation that stood out this i found one by Caleb Chung, who was an inventor of numerous toys.  ( Some that got big and some that didn't) He did a good job at making it entertaining, through music, video, and his remarks. 

What we can learn from spaghetti sauce.

Malcom Gladwell is a world renowned author and speaker. Most of his work deals with the implications of research in social psychology. He is a two-time New York Times #1 best-seller.
Along with being a best-selling author, Gladwell often travels the country speaking at leadership conferences and seminars.

One of his talks can be found at ted.com and is entitled What we can learn from spaghetti sauce.

Although the presentation is not A technological masterpiece, it is still very entertaining and effective.

Gladwell uses the story of psychophysicist Howard Moskowitz to make a larger point about the nature of choice and happiness. Maskowitz is famous in the food industry for changing the way the food industry determined what the consumer wanted.

Gladwell gets his point across by explaining Moskwitz's ideas and illustrating their effectiveness. Malcom Gladwell is extremely intelligent and it is evident in his presentation. He is able to explain difficult concepts in a way that is easily understandable. One aspect that makes Gladwell's presentation so effective is that he is very knowledgable about the subject and his speech. Not once does he look down at a note card. His ideas seem to flow off the top of his head and yet the flow is easily followed. Gladwell also uses intellectual humor to keep his audience interested when things might be boring or hard to follow.

The presentation runs 17 minutes. However, I felt like it was about 5 minutes. This exemplifies the effectiveness of Gladwell's presentation. I was surprisingly engaged in a presentation that had no visual aides. It is a great example of how a story can be used to illustrate a point better than a list of steps to follow.