Assignment task:
For this Assessment, you will act as a manager who has been co-leading an important project with Adam, a fellow manager. The project involves rolling out updates to the user experience for your company's most important software product. At project kickoff, you and your counterpart, Adam, agreed to the aggressive rollout schedule provided by upper management. Just this week, however, you have discovered that Adam has prevented shipping the most recent update, which you had already signed off on, as he didn't feel it was ready. Word has gotten back to you that Adam has been making comments such as "this company doesn't care enough about quality" and "I'm the only one who really understands what our users want and need."
After speaking to your supervisor about the issue to get their advice, the two of you agreed that your next step is to reach out to Adam to address the situation and to arrive at an agreement on how you will work together going forward to ensure a successful project. You have also agreed that you will send your colleague an email after the interaction to continue building your collegial relationship and to ensure that your agreed-upon plan is in writing. You will share the results of your conversation, as well as the draft of your email, with your supervisor for feedback.
Once you have completed the online, simulated one-on-one conversation with your peer, you will analyze your experience and then write up your analysis of effective communication skills and approaches that can be applied in any professional conversation-but specifically when you need to address conflict of any kind. As part of your reflection, you will consider the ways in which you can not only improve your communications skills going forward but also use these skills to be a more effective change agent. As you complete Part 2 of your Assessment, be sure to include specific examples where applicable, as well as relevant citations from the Learning Activities, the Walden Library, and/or other appropriate academic sources. In your analysis, address the following:
1. Did you reach an agreement that takes into account the needs, concerns, and perspectives of both stakeholders? Why or why not?
2. What impact (positive and negative, if possible) did your preparation have on the outcome? Provide a rationale to support your analysis.
3. What best practices/strategies (from the Competency resources) did you incorporate into your conversation? For each best practice/strategy, be sure to include a minimum of one scholarly source for support.
4. Which of the best practices/strategies do you believe you incorporated successfully, and which do you feel you could have done a better job at incorporating into this conversation? Be specific in your answer.
5. Based on this experience-and considering what went well and what you want to improve-what are three specific things you will do in future difficult conversation scenarios?
6. Finally, in what ways do you predict your enhanced communication skills could enable you to be a more effective change agent? Provide specific details to support your answer.