GROW Team Member: Review & Reflect (30 mins)

In preparation for creating action plans for building relationships amongst your team and with your partner organization we would like for you to learn more about your partner's culture. Below is a set of topics to look into in relation to your partner organization's country:

• High vs Low Content

• Individualism vs. Collectivism

• Power Distance

• Uncertainty Avoidance

• Orientation to Time

• Gender Egalitarianism

• Assertiveness

• Being vs. Doing

• Humane Orientation

• Indulgence vs. Restraint

Once you have looked into the culture of your partner organization's country take a step back and reflect on your own social positionality, which was a topic in Module 3.

• How does your positionality recognize, honor, and/or grapple with intersectional notions of difference (politics, economic class, race, ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, legality, age, ability, education, sexuality, gender, religion, etc.?) between your own community and that of your partner’s?

Introduction

Building relationships are at the foundation of our anti-oppressive partnership model. The strength of any community lies in the strength of the connections that we have with each other. With strong connections, you have the ability to assist your partner in creating change. Building these connections takes time—but it is worth it!

GROW experiences can be conducted through virtual, in-person, and hybrid spaces so while completing this module keep in mind the spaces your team will be utilizing and how that may influence the way relationships are built.

Watch

As a team, watch Rosan Auyeung-Chen's Building Connections: How to Be a Relationship Ninja.

During the video you will hear Rosan Auyeung-Chen discuss these seven points on building relationships:

1. Know yourself

2. Don't take it personally

3. Bad vibes

4. Judgements and assumptions versus facts

5. It takes two individuals to build a relationship

6. It's all in the delivery

7. You are never lonely when you are connected

Throughout the video write down your reflections of each of the seven points. After the conclusion of the video use the remainder of the 30 minutes to discuss each of the seven areas as a team.

Below are some guiding questions:

• What skill comes most naturally to me?

• What skill do I struggle with the most?

• What is one intention I hope to make regarding one of these skills?

Reflect as a team

Below are some strategies to consider for building and maintaining relationships. Read through the strategies listed below then as a team work through the questions. These questions are meant to start a conversation within your team on how you plan to build and maintain relationships throughout all phases of your GROW experience. Start creating your plan today!

Active listening

• Ask open-ended questions starting with “what, how, or why”

• Restate, summarize, and clarify what you hear during conversations

• Ask probing questions to achieve deeper insight and identify root causes of problems

Create spaces for interaction outside of GROW activities

• Build interpersonal relationships

• Take time to build team cohesiveness, foster relationships among team members, and communicate that people’s satisfaction and happiness matter

• What are activities your team would like to do? For example: hiking, movies, coffee chats, game night, virtual hangouts, etc.

Show up for one another—Genuine empathy

• Be polite and respectful. Ensure that your words and tone convey respect, regardless of the circumstance.

• Say you care. Explicitly use words and phrase that communicate caring, such as “your satisfaction matters a great deal to me,” or “I value your input on this issue.”

• Ask people how they’re doing. Check in with people. Ask them what they need and how you can support them.

• Acknowledge and validate personal experiences. Acknowledge others’ feelings as they come up and try to validate them instead of dismissing them.

• Appreciate each other

Use clear and effective communication

• Am I being transparent?

• Am I being conversational? Ensure a two-way lane of conversation—don’t just talk at people, talk with them.

• How often am I following-up? Make sure you follow up and check in with your team often. What will your team norms be?

• Is the information relevant?

• Is what I’m saying easy to follow? Is it simple and to the point?

Extend yourself (if you have the capacity to)

• Volunteer to do extra work for a team member or your partner

• Buddy up and be an accountability partner with a team member

• Challenge each other to grow

• Be a support for each other

Questions:

The guiding questions below are meant to initiate a conversation about how you plan to intentionally build relationships within your team and with your partner organization. Use the pre-work you completed about working across cultures to assist with building plans with your partner.

1.) What does it look like for your team to build and maintain relationships with each other individually, as a team, and with your partner organization? Are there similarities and differences? If so, how can you individually and as a team be intentional in building those relationships?

2.) What skills are important in virtual settings versus in-person settings? Are there similarities and differences? If so, think through those specific skills and create ideas on how to implement those skills throughout your GROW experience.

3.) Lastly, how do these skills connect to the seven points mentioned in Rosan Auyeung-Chen's presentation?