Ann Marie's Blog

I'll take an "Incomplete"

Last week while I was reading and grading final assignments for the course I teach at a local university, an e-mail popped into my box from one of the students---a part-time student with a full time, demanding job. She explained that she was traveling for work and had written the assignment in transit. She had intended to post it during a stopover in Chicago or Frankfurt, but the flight connection was too tight in Chicago, and when she got to Frankfurt it was impossible to get a good internet connection. So she sent me a quick note from her phone with an appeal for some "Christmas grace."

I looked at her grade without the assignment, a "B,"and calculated what it would be if she completed the assignment as intended, an "A." Grades were due at 5:00 pm that day, so I quickly decided to post the grade as "I" (Incomplete) and offer to adjust it once she delivers the missing work.  You see, at this particular university I, as the instructor, have the ability to simply change an "I" to a letter grade online. Changing a "B" to an "A" requires filling out some paperwork, delivering it to the school, and requesting the signature of someone with more authority than myself. It also requires that I explain "what happened" and why I think the grade change is justified in this case.

So, an Incomplete grade serves my needs (and the students', I think) best at this moment in time.

It also prompts me to consider all of the other times when being satisfied with an "incomplete" would serve me (maybe all of us?)  better than striving for an "A" or some other "grade" that we might give ourselves or expect from someone else.

When I was struggling to finish my masters' thesis 10 years ago, one of my advisors shared a piece of wisdom that really helped. She told me there are two kinds of thesis projects, "perfect" and "finished," and that I would have to choose which one I wanted. Of course I chose to finish, and still cringe that it wasn't perfect, but I've carried this lesson with me and can see that I still need to remember it today.

So as I write this blog every week, I'm going to try hard to be satisfied with "incomplete." I'll press the "post" button before I know that what I've written is perfect, and see what happens. Maybe I'll publish some articles and books somewhere else that will be more "complete" and worthy of a letter grade from someone, but here I won't worry about finishing anything. 

I do hope to start some things, though....

Just Write It!

It's time. For me. To write.

To stop just talking about writing. Thinking about writing. Studying writing. Planning to write. Scheduling time to write.

It's time. To write.

It's time to step outside of my comfort zone and actually publish my writing in this pretty public forum, where other people (even some that I don't know personally) can see it.

There is a bunch of information in my head, on my bookshelves, and in files on my computers  that could be useful to you, especially if you are working outside your comfort zone: in a new company, department, or country, with people from different cultures, generations, genders, or personality styles.

I've been studying, practicing, designing programs, and teaching about intercultural communication, leadership development, team performance, training and development, and marketing for years. 

The last significant writing that I published (if you don't count course syllabi and consulting proposals) was the thesis for my Masters Degree, 10 years ago. It was a 99-page project titled "U.S. Assignments: A Descriptive Study of Transferee's Perceptions of Factors that Influence Their Effectiveness While Working in the United States." Not exactly light reading or easy to access.

I'm still interested in knowing, among many other things,  how to help people from other countries figure out how to navigate and succeed in a U.S. workplace. I've actually learned a lot more about this particular topic in the past 10 years, and want to share what I've learned with people who can really use the information---right now, in real life, to help them do their jobs better---without wading through 99 pages of research results to get to the good stuff.

This blog is a start. The plan is to simply start writing and see what happens. I have a long list of topics to explore, and promise to publish something at least once a week in 2011. Sometimes more. You can expect some serious stuff: like the highlights of really useful findings from the latest academic research, along with some fun stuff: like new games and interactive exercises to liven up and deepen your conversations in meeting and training sessions, and plenty of stuff in between. 

So, I would like to invite you to read. And if you find something you read to be interesting, thought-provoking, or helpful in some way, I invite you to share it with others who might also find some benefit in what I have to say. 

Thanks!

Ann Marie