Meetings?

So, what do you feel when you are attending a meeting. Feeling dreadful? Draggy? No consensus? No conclusion? No end? Time consuming?
Especially to us all who always have meetings, be it on voluntary basis or work, maybe here are some pointers on tackling group conversations. Hehe, I myself every week will have meetings at work, different departments, different jobscopes and so forth.

So let me share with you 5 ways of facilitating group conversations by Steve Davis:

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Have you ever felt 'stuck' in a conversation with three or more people that just wasn't going anywhere? People are droning on and on about this and that, leaving you bored and wishing you could just slip away?This is an all too familiar social situation. We've all been there and, chances are, were unaware we could help shape the conversation to be productive and meaningful for all involved.

You can make a difference in group conversations if you choose. You can "facilitate" them so that they're rewarding to you and everyone involved.

To do so, you must be willing to take responsibility for the course of the conversation without being pushy or "in charge." In well "facilitated" conversations, those unfamiliar with facilitation skills will know they've had a good experience, but they may not know why.

Here are five guidelines to effectively facilitate group conversations.As a caution, keep in mind when making interventions, to be polite and take a "curious" versus a "commanding" perspective. This is particularly important in those social situations where you have not been granted the role of official group facilitator.

1. Get everyone involved

One problem with group conversations is that they often turn into monologues for the most vocal people in the group. People often politely allow others to monopolize a conversation when they're obviously uncomfortable. We've all felt the awkwardness and read the obvious body language of those tolerating a tirade.

In this situation, validate the speaker, and then ask for input from someone else.
This might sound something like, "Wow Bill, I didn't realize you were so tuned in to the stock market, it reminds me of how important investments are to us all. In fact, it makes me think about you, Margie, having recently started your own business, how is that paying off for you?"
One important thing to notice is that I connected what Bill was saying to something completely different, but related to another person in the group. Recognize that you can make connections from one thing to anything if you simply put your mind to it for a moment.

2. Know it's OK to interrupt when appropriate

One thing to consider when redirecting a conversation is that you may have to interrupt people. This is hard for many of us who've been trained to listen when others are speaking. The funny thing is, I've found "over talkers" actually expect interruptions, as this is the only way they can experience a dialogue.

3. Ensure you are actively listening

Listening is the key to all good conversations. We're often thinking of our response while others are talking. Good conversations require us to stay present and pay attention when others, and ourselves, are speaking.

This means that we don't entertain other thoughts while we're listening. Whenever our mind wanders, we bring our attention back to the speaker. When we're listening closely, we're better able to respond and also redirect the conversation in the presence of "over talkers."

4. Stay on track but be willing to leave it

Some of the best conversations I've had moved all over the place. Not in a disjointed fashion, but like a dance, forming a mosaic of meandering patterns that fit together into a coherent whole.
Be flexible and willing to move from one subject to the next, but beware of leaving incomplete ideas hanging. This is particularly common in conversations where poor listening and unconscious interruptions occur.

If the conversation shifts to a new subject when an idea hasn't been brought to completion, politely interrupt and ask the group if they're complete with the idea, or say something yourself to feel complete about it.

The simple act of intervening to get completion often has the effect of drawing others into deeper listening and better dialogue. Staying with a subject long enough to truly express ourselves around it increases our connection to others.

5. Work on cultivating your relationships

We humans are social creatures who sometimes just need to talk. So coming together simply to chat isn't always a bad thing. However, if we really want to have better conversations, ones where we feel closer to the others in the group, we need to work on relating better to one another.

How do we do this? Start by asking yourself how you like to be related to. For me, it's about being heard, respected, and having others "be real" with me.
In your next conversation notice the following: Do you truly listen to yourself when you speak? Are your words respectful to yourself and others? And most importantly, are you being real in the conversation?

Then get ready for others to nearly invite you to facilitate!

Steve Davis, M.A., M.S., is a Business and Life Coach and Infopreneur who works with leaders frustrated by typical problems they experience in groups.
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Dear sahabahs, hope it helps!


x x x

Life's at its peak. Solemn and melancholic. For you whose experiencing that, especially those close to my heart, may Allah show us the way and provide us the strength...

Super IQ Dimensions

http://web.tickle.com/tests/superiq/paidresult.jsp

Your IQ score is 100. This means that you are smarter than 50.0% of all other Super IQ test takers.

This number is the result of a scientifically-tested formula based on how many questions you answered correctly on the Tickle Super IQ Test.

But there's more to intelligence than a single number, a single score, or a single label. Tickle uses 8 distinguishable dimensions of intelligence in the Super IQ Test. By analyzing your individual scores on those 8 scales, we are able to look beyond the raw IQ score into how you process information, and which intellectual strengths you're best at.

Your test results indicate that the way you process information makes you an Intuitive Interpreter.

You are a highly conceptual thinker. This means that you like to seek the underlying meaning rather than get mired in the facts and figures. Because of your approach, you're more inclined to get a broad understanding of what's going on, enabling you to make connections between something you learned three weeks ago, and something you are learning today. While other people may need those types of connections to be pointed out for them you just naturally make them.

You do not need to analyze all the details of any given situation because your ability to see the 'big picture' gives you all the information you'd ever want. You are less inclined to walk through something step by step to get the logic or the meaning behind it — the gist of it is probably already clear to you without the in-depth examination. You'd rather not get bogged down in numbers or the particulars of how something is worded as the details seem meaningless to you.

Here's an example of your Intuitive Interpreter thinking skills at work in a real-life situation:

You are with a friend who is shopping for a car. The salesperson is presenting facts and figures and your friend is buying it hook, line, and sinker. You are noticing, however, the things that the salesperson isn't saying. Intuitively, you know that one of the biggest overall concerns when buying a car is safety and in your opinion this salesperson seems to be going out of his way to avoid talking about it. You take your friend aside and point out your concerns, and when your friend asks about the safety of the car, the salesperson again deftly avoids the subject. You later look up the car in Consumer Reports and find that, indeed, the car has poor safety ratings. Your friend is grateful you went with him on his car-shopping venture.

Your top scores are in the areas of Organizational, Spatial, and Reasoning. This is a very unusual combination — only 6 in 1,000 people have it.

Relighted!

An overdue entry. An overdue event. A year of effort. A year of sheer ups and downs. A year of bonding new relationships. A year of learning through the hard way. A year of forgiveness and mercy.

Was so used to MS having camps that it recapped those treasured moments back then. It wasnt an MS event, yet a much different ball game altogether. Exclusively for the madrasah generation, significantly reminded me of myself, my youngster years in Saff as a kiddo. And when I looked at them, oh my, dah tua akoo ni. Dulu mesti lagi kental dari dorang.

Not easy as an amirah (a leader). Even in MS, i was never given any roles as an amirah in camps. The only one was an understudy as VC during Night Cycling '97 in Saff. Having to juggle with work, studies and this, it really tested lots of qualities in me. All the things that happened for the past one year was an eye-opener, especially when the event was just around the corner.

I shall not elaborate on the camp. Nevertheless, what I've gained was countless. My other amirs (leaders, masculine gender) was my support pillow during the hard times. And things wouldn't be better without the commitment of my fellow organisers. I wouldn't say that this camp was a tip-top one but I begin to realise and believe that it is not something that you want perfectly, but the perfection was due to the completion and cover ups of each others' weaknesses, which developed the strengths of us, as a whole Relite family.

If I want to compare with MS events, comparison will be odious. Both are 2 separate entities. The only same thing we possess is the passion in da'wah efforts. Like my sahabahs said, it's been a long time since Saff had one such camp. And to me kan, it gives a special meaning, because of the special aura and the special people there. Felt no segregration between the two organisations. And I am glad that this happened. Hopefully Relite has ignited the sparks and relight the Saff activism in us.

Adab observed...
Ukhuwwah forged...
A family united...
Memories locked...

Bitter and sweet
Luv y'all...

Relite Family

10 - 12 February 2006
Relite! : Igniting the Sparks
Outdoor camp, West Coast Park
:: Collaboration with Saff & IMPIAN ::

Beware

THIS WAY UP á

widzgeek has fragile contents which may break!

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From Go-Quiz.com

Tiang yang runtuh

Ya Allah, adakah diri ini bersalah kerana sikap yang ada dalam diri?
Tiang yang telah utuh dan bertahan tiba-tiba runtuh kerana taufan yang tidak dapat dielakkan lagi.Masih lagi membina tiang-tiang baru untuk terus bertahan. Aku bersyukur kerana ada lagi yang ingin membantu tiang ini berdiri teguh dan mencari kekuatannya semula. Astaghfirullah. Mungkin itulah dugaanMu untuk menguji keImanan hambaMu.

Hidup. Memang tidak pernah memisahkan kita dengan pelbagai persoalan tentang gelagat manusia. Sedang diri aku sendiri masih tertanya dengan beberapa persoalan yang mungkin belum terjawab. Mungkin masa dapat memberikan jawapannya.

Aku pernah rebah. Rebah oleh keduniaan yang tiada nilai. Dan sebak dengan kerebahan dan kelalaian diriku sendiri. Manusia boleh berkata... takdir Tuhan. Apa yang terjadi adalah di atas kekuasaanNya. Benar, tak ku sangkal pendapat itu. Pernah tidak terfikir? Aqal yang diberi layak untuk digunakan sebaik-baiknya dan di situlah jalan kita memilih syurga atau neraka. Sedang diri masih dihimpit oleh silam, sambil bergelut dengan amalan yang inginkan keredhaanNya. Pentingnya ikhlas dan tekad yang kuat. Memang menyendiri ketika mencari satu masa dulu. Bukan sekadar jasad menyendiri seumur hidup ini. Jiwa juga sepi. Menjejak Illahi yang sentiasa di sini buat peneman abadi. Ya. Tekad yang kuat, tekad yang bulat. Mudah? Pastinya tidak. Tersungkur, Terbaring, Sakit, Perit...

Rasa diri yang dulu sesudah sedar membuat ku terpaksa berlari. Hingga tertanya diri mengapa berlari. Ya, mungkin mengejar segala yang ku zalimi, ku khianati, ku tinggalkan. Namun demikian, diri tidak kesali atas perjalanan yang diingini walau balasan duniawi mungkin menjadi saksi. Kerana selagi ku pasti Dia berada di sisi, ku tekad atas denyutan nadi ini yang akan senantiasa cuba untuk berdegup keranaNya. Dan tak ingin lagi ku berpaling dariNya. Kerana ku ingin terus nikmati kemanisan Iman, kemanisan Islam.

x x x
Ya Allah, hindarilah hamba-hambaMu yang mengalami kekeliruan. Jika Engkau yang mereka cari, maka pimpinlah mereka ke jalanMu. Kerana Engkau tahu isi hati hamba-hambaMu.

Al-Amaanah

Amanah. Setiap manusia dilahirkan dengan tanggungjawab, iaitu amanah. Seorang anak adalah amanah kedua orang tua. Setiap murid adalah amanah seorang pendidik. Sebuah tugasan adalah amanah seorang pelajar. Sebuah projek adalah amanah ketuanya.

Amanah. Satu sifat yang meliputi segala aspek kehidupan. Sedangkan amanah juga itu satu sifat yang utama bagi seorang muballigh, seperti para Nabi dan Rasul. Bahkan amanah para anbiya' dan para sahabat nyatanya lebih besar kerana tujuan pembangunan ummah.

Amanah. Sesungguhnya sifat ini menemani insan dalam perjalanan masa. Ya, masa. Amanah dan masa berjalan seiringan.

Apakah kita sudah cukup berpegang teguh dengan amanah yang diberikan? Apakah waqi' kini lebih mencabar dari yang terdahulu? Apakah sudah cukup dan berasa puas dengan amanah yang diselesaikan?

Sedangkan masa terus mencemburui kita. Dan masa terus mencemburui diri. Hingga amanah bukan setakat dipunggah, tetapi dijulang, dipikul dan dijunjung. Apakah mampu seorang insan mengangkat, menjulang, memikul dan menjunjung keperluan-keperluannya dalam satu masa dengan kurniaan dua tangan sahaja? Sedangkan masa terus mencemburui dan seakan berputar sekelip mata tanpa menunggu kita. Sedangkan amanah tetap kekal dan menemani diri dari hari ke hari.

"The Unseen of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah and the whole affair will be returned to Him. So worship Him and put your trust in Him. Your Lord is not unaware of what you do. (Surah Huud, 11:123)

Kerana Dia lebih mengerti
Kerana Dia kekasih abadi
Kerana Dia aku masih mampu berdiri
Walau amanah masih perlu ditanggungi

Source of inspiration

My inspiration for today to keep me up and alive in lecture. A sketch of my lecturer. Thanks Dr.

A long tiring day. Been out after Subh prayers and back till night. Nice huh, for a weekend. That's life at the moment or so for the few weeks, weekdays to be precise. And hope it'll resume back to normal after the final cut. And I felt bad at the same time after class today for not being able to drop by a cousin's place to prepare for her walimah . Reason being, I'm loaded with books to read for tmr's module. On which I am not even able to download to my brain cos it's experiencing ROM (read only memory, u got it rite) I'm even on camp during her walimah! I hope that Allah gives me the strength to catch up on her walimah on Sunday as soon as the camp ends. Yes, I am feeling like crap.

To ease myself:

"When you think you're struggling
Remember those who suffer more
When you think you are crying
Remember those who cry more
When you think you are drowning
Remember those who lives no more
When you think you are at your wit's end
Remember those who loves Allah more..."

To my eternal love,

You knew what's best for me
You knew why I needed that goal
I hope these sacrifices will make me strong
You knew the reason for me
To carry on with the remaining might that I have
In doubts I hope and I pray till tears fill the eyes
For these few weeks is only I'm left with
Guide me with faith, confidence and composure
To achieve what I've longing for
Sparking of lights ignited in the mind
But I hope what I felt was not my nafs
But sparks coming from your light
Cos you knew, you know and will know
Cos you're my, enlightenment...

Love,

the one who needed your love

x x x

On a serious note, I pray that my classmates, despite family and work commitments are able to continue life in the pursue of knowledge with courage. May Allah reward these act of jihadah. As Allah won't impose anything to you that you can't bear. Whatever happens tomorrow, only Allah knows the result.