I am currently taking a class in order to take my Project Manager Certification in the near future. This is my 2nd class in a 5 class sequence. The last class on Contracts, Negotiations, and Procurement was great. The Professor was very dynamic funny and quite quirky. My classmates were cooperative and supportive. It was an awesome experience.
This time around, I am taking a class in Team Oriented Project Management. It is one of the mandatory classes of the sequence. Now please realize that this certification for me is a stepping stone for either more money, more solid marketability in case I decide to work elsewhere, and possibly the prelude to a prospective promotion. But basically, I have been executing projects for quite a while now. Currently, I am working on a kitchen renovation at my job, and once that project is complete, I have been commissioned to change out the flooring material throughout the 3,500 sq ft office space. I have already completed an office relocation of about 85 workstations and 70 employees, the purchase and installation of a 15 ton dry cooler to automate the operation of 7 supplemental AC units throughout the floor, and numerous other small miscellaneous projects. However, this is not something I have disclosed to any of my classmates.
In the classroom itself, I do not try to overshadow my classmates or present myself as senior in experience. However, when we introduce ourselves to each other in order to work on the group assignments, I have discovered that this is the case. Most of my classmates strive to work on projects, but are not at the point where they have actually been able to do so. This particularly week, we broke into groups, as usual, and worked on composing a Team Contract. We began by choosing the roles for the project.
For each group assignment in the class, we need to select a note taker to complete our work to be submitted, a time keeper, and a speaker to present to the class. So, usually no one wants to be the obnoxious one to take over the project and tell the others what to do as a show of mutual respect, but we were teamed up with this uptight and obviously very insecure older gentleman with serious control issues and a side of arrogance. I picked up on it right away when he stated that it was not necessary to elect a presenter because "a leader will surface amongst us". It was pathetic. He sought to manipulate the group into electing him for the task. So, not only is he now an obnoxious fart, but he wants validation, too *eye roll*.
We did manage to complete the assignment, but of course, he disagreed with everyone's interpretations of what he thought the Professor meant because we should realize him and the Professor had some freakish psychic connection. I suppose us simpletons were not able to plug into this collective. There were many instances in which I interrupted him in order to paraphrase for the other ladies in the group in an attempt for him to listen to them instead of dismissing their input straight away. I am more than certain he found me jarring as well since he clearly sought to harness the group and herd us into doing things his way. I was able to deflect his control tactics and frustrate him in return. Lucky for me, he lacked the skill to counter my strategy.
When it was time to present, I had been asked to do so at the onset of the assignment, but when we reached the finishing line, another classmate was elected. I simply agreed and rationalized that perhaps she needed this more than I did. Deep down, I was happy she decided to take the plunge since she had some issues with English as a second language, and most of the time, speakers with thick foreign accents tend to be very reluctant to speak in a group setting. It was rewarding to see her breaking out of her shell. The Professor asked for our feedback, and she began succinctly discussing our notes. He then asked if we had come up with a mechanism to resolve conflict within the group...funny, huh? She paused and thought about it. In truth, we had not, but if you really stretched it, we did discuss misunderstandings with members outside of the group, such as vendors, promoters, guests, etc. But Mr. Smarty Pants had to step in and take over the conversation. He totally stole the spotlight from her and began to explain what we had discussed with plenty of poetic license.
Once the conversation got back on track, she began speaking again, and you could visibly see him tense up as she spoke. He wanted to finish presenting. The best part was that after our group feedback was over, he says to our speaker "good job" because, of course, she can't live with herself unless he validates her. It was condescending to put it mildly that after he forced his input and totally interrupted her presentation, he would then pat her on the back. I wondered is he such a jerk or that oblivious? Either way, he was more ig'nant than brilliant!
After the class had concluded, Mr.Congeniality lingered behind with me and our group speaker. She then asked how we had done the homework assignment from the week before. She shared her strategy to systematically answer the questions posed in the hand-out. Mr. Personality then explained he had used another document the Professor had written as a guide, and followed the steps on how to write more concisely and effectively as per that particular hand-out. It was my turn, and I said I had done mine as a narrative. I used examples from my job and outlined the pros and cons. Those were basically the questions the Professor had asked when we were mandated to compose the Executive Summary. So, of course, my favorite classmate says "Well, we'll see when the Professor hands back the assignment once they are graded." WTF? Couldn't you just have said OK and left it alone? Why did his fragile little ego feel so threatened by me? I just walked away and went to collect my things.
So, this morning, the Professor emailed us back copies of our scanned class assignments from the night before. I read over the other groups' work and ours happened to be the the last one. So, I scrolled all the way down to ours, and I took a moment and noticed the signatures. As you know, signatures are very revealing of a person's personality. I noticed everyone else in the group, including myself, had simply printed their first and last name in the appointed space and then signed their name next to it. Our self-professed 'Odysseus' had printed his first name and middle initial and his last name's initial so it was something like Jonah G. M. (also hysterical since the initials GM also stand for General Manager), and next to it he signed his entire name in letters which measured about 1.5" tall. The capital letters were about 3" tall so that his exaggerated full signature took up 2 separate lines:
"What does the Size of the Signature indicate?
The size of the signature mainly points out the writer’s wish to be noticed. If a signature is extremely large as compared to the handwriting it shows that the writer craves to be noticed, and is very bold and confident. Large bold signature typically indicates "notice me"!"
Now, let me just state that he was the ONLY person in the class, who signed his name in this oh so flamboyant manner. I am no handwriting analyst, but does this mean that his need to be validated borders on the pathological? Can you tell I strongly dislike this person? lol
OK, so being the typical ISTJ personality, of course, I had to download his signature to analyze it further, and I found:
"What does Left Slant of your handwriting Reveals
If your writing leans to the left to a large extent, it means that you tends to be introvert. You don’t like to mix up with the people around you, and try to stay aloof in your own world. Mostly people with left slant have found to be experienced a bad tragedy earlier in their life. They are generally scared of the future. If you have a left slant , try to change your handwriting to change your personality. Left slant in writing reveals introversion, self-denial, egotism, fears for the future and general withdrawal."
All I can say is "Sad, but not surprising!!!"
This time around, I am taking a class in Team Oriented Project Management. It is one of the mandatory classes of the sequence. Now please realize that this certification for me is a stepping stone for either more money, more solid marketability in case I decide to work elsewhere, and possibly the prelude to a prospective promotion. But basically, I have been executing projects for quite a while now. Currently, I am working on a kitchen renovation at my job, and once that project is complete, I have been commissioned to change out the flooring material throughout the 3,500 sq ft office space. I have already completed an office relocation of about 85 workstations and 70 employees, the purchase and installation of a 15 ton dry cooler to automate the operation of 7 supplemental AC units throughout the floor, and numerous other small miscellaneous projects. However, this is not something I have disclosed to any of my classmates.
In the classroom itself, I do not try to overshadow my classmates or present myself as senior in experience. However, when we introduce ourselves to each other in order to work on the group assignments, I have discovered that this is the case. Most of my classmates strive to work on projects, but are not at the point where they have actually been able to do so. This particularly week, we broke into groups, as usual, and worked on composing a Team Contract. We began by choosing the roles for the project.
For each group assignment in the class, we need to select a note taker to complete our work to be submitted, a time keeper, and a speaker to present to the class. So, usually no one wants to be the obnoxious one to take over the project and tell the others what to do as a show of mutual respect, but we were teamed up with this uptight and obviously very insecure older gentleman with serious control issues and a side of arrogance. I picked up on it right away when he stated that it was not necessary to elect a presenter because "a leader will surface amongst us". It was pathetic. He sought to manipulate the group into electing him for the task. So, not only is he now an obnoxious fart, but he wants validation, too *eye roll*.
We did manage to complete the assignment, but of course, he disagreed with everyone's interpretations of what he thought the Professor meant because we should realize him and the Professor had some freakish psychic connection. I suppose us simpletons were not able to plug into this collective. There were many instances in which I interrupted him in order to paraphrase for the other ladies in the group in an attempt for him to listen to them instead of dismissing their input straight away. I am more than certain he found me jarring as well since he clearly sought to harness the group and herd us into doing things his way. I was able to deflect his control tactics and frustrate him in return. Lucky for me, he lacked the skill to counter my strategy.
When it was time to present, I had been asked to do so at the onset of the assignment, but when we reached the finishing line, another classmate was elected. I simply agreed and rationalized that perhaps she needed this more than I did. Deep down, I was happy she decided to take the plunge since she had some issues with English as a second language, and most of the time, speakers with thick foreign accents tend to be very reluctant to speak in a group setting. It was rewarding to see her breaking out of her shell. The Professor asked for our feedback, and she began succinctly discussing our notes. He then asked if we had come up with a mechanism to resolve conflict within the group...funny, huh? She paused and thought about it. In truth, we had not, but if you really stretched it, we did discuss misunderstandings with members outside of the group, such as vendors, promoters, guests, etc. But Mr. Smarty Pants had to step in and take over the conversation. He totally stole the spotlight from her and began to explain what we had discussed with plenty of poetic license.
Once the conversation got back on track, she began speaking again, and you could visibly see him tense up as she spoke. He wanted to finish presenting. The best part was that after our group feedback was over, he says to our speaker "good job" because, of course, she can't live with herself unless he validates her. It was condescending to put it mildly that after he forced his input and totally interrupted her presentation, he would then pat her on the back. I wondered is he such a jerk or that oblivious? Either way, he was more ig'nant than brilliant!
After the class had concluded, Mr.Congeniality lingered behind with me and our group speaker. She then asked how we had done the homework assignment from the week before. She shared her strategy to systematically answer the questions posed in the hand-out. Mr. Personality then explained he had used another document the Professor had written as a guide, and followed the steps on how to write more concisely and effectively as per that particular hand-out. It was my turn, and I said I had done mine as a narrative. I used examples from my job and outlined the pros and cons. Those were basically the questions the Professor had asked when we were mandated to compose the Executive Summary. So, of course, my favorite classmate says "Well, we'll see when the Professor hands back the assignment once they are graded." WTF? Couldn't you just have said OK and left it alone? Why did his fragile little ego feel so threatened by me? I just walked away and went to collect my things.
So, this morning, the Professor emailed us back copies of our scanned class assignments from the night before. I read over the other groups' work and ours happened to be the the last one. So, I scrolled all the way down to ours, and I took a moment and noticed the signatures. As you know, signatures are very revealing of a person's personality. I noticed everyone else in the group, including myself, had simply printed their first and last name in the appointed space and then signed their name next to it. Our self-professed 'Odysseus' had printed his first name and middle initial and his last name's initial so it was something like Jonah G. M. (also hysterical since the initials GM also stand for General Manager), and next to it he signed his entire name in letters which measured about 1.5" tall. The capital letters were about 3" tall so that his exaggerated full signature took up 2 separate lines:
"What does the Size of the Signature indicate?
The size of the signature mainly points out the writer’s wish to be noticed. If a signature is extremely large as compared to the handwriting it shows that the writer craves to be noticed, and is very bold and confident. Large bold signature typically indicates "notice me"!"
Now, let me just state that he was the ONLY person in the class, who signed his name in this oh so flamboyant manner. I am no handwriting analyst, but does this mean that his need to be validated borders on the pathological? Can you tell I strongly dislike this person? lol
OK, so being the typical ISTJ personality, of course, I had to download his signature to analyze it further, and I found:
"What does Left Slant of your handwriting Reveals
If your writing leans to the left to a large extent, it means that you tends to be introvert. You don’t like to mix up with the people around you, and try to stay aloof in your own world. Mostly people with left slant have found to be experienced a bad tragedy earlier in their life. They are generally scared of the future. If you have a left slant , try to change your handwriting to change your personality. Left slant in writing reveals introversion, self-denial, egotism, fears for the future and general withdrawal."
All I can say is "Sad, but not surprising!!!"
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