Don't Freak, It's Public Speaking...

Hello, welcome to week eleven,

Today I’m writing on something most people dread, and this is public speaking. I will be honest when I read that we would need to be doing a seminar which involved public speaking I almost ran for the hills. Just the thought of speaking in front of a crowd is enough to make me disappear quick smart, but, I had committed to doing the paper and it would be time to deal with it.

Once we had got into the group and received the information regarding our seminar it became obvious that the idea of recording ourselves for the seminar would be easiest. Our group is spread wide, we also all work and have family commitments, so we organized a weekend evening and we smashed it out. It wasn’t without its troubles; four of the five members were obviously struggling with the talking despite it being only to our group and the camera.

We had Nathan in our group, who was extremely confident in his ability to speak and he seemed to thrive on leading us through this. We all had our troubles forgetting words, stumbling on words we had used a thousand times and having the ability to make our speech flow. As a team I believe we really pulled together, we understood that the majority were struggling so there was never any pressure applied, the atmosphere remained in good spirits which helped immensely and we did very well. Some will no doubt see our seminar and see all our faults, but, I believe we all learnt from this, we all grew from it and I personally came away with more confidence in myself and my ability to speak. If you had asked me to speak to people I do not know, even just to a camera, a year ago I would have laughed and left the building before you would realise.

I found the beginning of this recording to be very frustrating for myself. I knew my topic, I knew the statistics and leading into the session I was confident in myself. I started my first section of my talk and made a mistake with a statistic, this hit me hard, I lost my thoughts and felt as though I knew nothing. I quickly regained focus after some group laughs, mainly at my cussing of myself. I gathered my thoughts and controlled by breathing. I think I did well overall, I stepped up to something that has always been a stumbling block for me and I feel good walking away from something that was a very good learning process for myself.

I quickly would like to take a moment to thank my group, we have worked well throughout this entire semester but most importantly for myself, they made this seminar assignment the best it could be. They were supportive and kept it very relaxed which helped immensely.

Ryan. 

Week 9: Team Work

Hello, readers and welcome.

Week 9 is proving to be a big week, late nights and lots of coffee, group report taking shape and the process of editing and revising has begun. This week’s blog is going to analyse the workings of my team and diverse roles within our team environment. I have split the post into five sections under their own headers. Enjoy.

Team Start-up

Our team was initially set up using our course forum. A post was put up looking for fellow members within the same location, we had several respondents and we went with the first five members to respond. We quickly formed a private Facebook page to get to know each other better. There was no thought process around the idea of what roles we would have or would be asked to take up, however it became clear we all wanted the same outcome and we clicked as a group quickly. Our group consists of five members, they are: Jade, Bridget, Shaun, Nathaniel and myself, and we make up the self-named group LabRats.  

Leadership

Upon starting our group report we acted on the instructions of our lecturer and voted a leader, this resulted in Jade being elected as team leader. What was obvious to me from the start was that our team was highly motivated in wanting the best possible marks and therefore I found the need for a single leader of less importance, this proved to be the outcome as a few of our members took up leadership roles in different ways. Our team has functioned almost entirely on what Lewin describes as the Laissez-faire model, in which the team makes the decisions and the team is highly motivated. Having been in many team environments I have often found a lack of a single leader can cause the environment to turn negative and seem directionless, what has worked well in this group is the willingness for multiple members to step up into a leadership role in some form to keep the momentum of the group moving forward. I believe this aligns with McGregor’s theory. Theory Y, which said if the job is satisfying the people will commit, they will seek responsibility and use skill, creativity and imagination to overcome problems. We all wanted the same result, therefore, the members were all willing to be leaders in their own way.

Team Roles

Before I delve too far into the roles that our team members played and continue to play, I just wanted to inform you, that I am using the Belbin Team Roles, full descriptions can be found at http://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles/.  I have listed below (in no order) the group members and the roles I have witnessed them take up and occasionally step into as needed:

Jade: Team Worker, Monitor Evaluator, Plant  

Bridget: Team Worker, Plant

Shaun: Completer Finisher, Monitor Evaluator, Coordinator

Nathan: Shaper, Implementer, Coordinator

Ryan: Coordinator, Team Worker, Resource Investigator

As we can see from the list above, we have most members taking on roles which Belbin mentioned as leadership within team roles, these being: Coordinator, Shaper and Monitor Evaluator. This meant that no matter the circumstances we always had a member or multiple members ensuring the work was flowing along and keeping everyone motivated in their own way. As an example, we decided to have a face-to-face meeting, Jade (our voted leader) was unable to attend due to family reasons yet the meeting continued smoothly mainly due to Nathan's ability as a Shaper and Shaun’s role Monitor Evaluator. There have been countless occasions throughout our time as a group when members have not only stood up as a leader but also applied different team roles, listened and allowed others to lead. The saying “too many chiefs not enough Indians” doesn’t seem to apply or it certainly hasn’t up until this point. I believe strongly that the combination of roles we have in the team have complemented each other very well. Not only did we have multiple leaders but we also knew how to work together to get the most from each other’s strengths.

Weaknesses

Nobody is perfect, you don’t get strengths without weaknesses. In a team environment, you can certainly strive for the perfect team. I’m not saying that our team is perfect and due to the short length required for the teamwork we won’t reach perfection. However, we have not been affected by any of the allowable weaknesses stated by Belbin. This certainly doesn't mean they aren't there, they just haven’t come to the forefront of our work. Several reasons could be:

• We work as a team but we are distance students located far apart, therefore we work alone, in our own time on, our own accord
• The short length of time in this group environment hasn’t forced the weaknesses out

Though I acknowledge that there will always be weaknesses, with the reasons above and the distinct roles the different members have taken on means we have nullified any possible weaknesses to this point.

Strengths

Perhaps one of the team's best strengths is the ability to have members use their roles positive attributes to overcome another roles weakness, even though I believe this may have been occurring without us realizing.  Furthermore, communication has been pivotal in the team's success till this point, the communication started very early in the process through Facebook messenger and has allowed the team to function to what I believe has been an exceptional level meaning we have been efficient and effective in completing tasks set by our tutors and our own set targets.

Concluding Thoughts

In conclusion, I am extremely happy with the progress our group has made and can only see it continuing if not improving through the final week of the report. We have functioned well as a team and have respected each person's role/s within the group. I am very excited to see our finished product and hope that it justifies our group efforts. 

Week 8: Water Immersion and Recovery

Hello readers,

Well, this week we have been given the freedom to write on our own chosen topic, so I thought I would write briefly on a question that was brought to me by a youth football player in a team that I help coach. We had a local derby game during the week and our lads played a huge game, they ran themselves into the ground. But, it was during the warm-down and recovery session that I was asked if cold water, hot water or a mixture of both (contrast immersion) actually helped with recovery. Many young people (adults also) notice a lot of their favourite sports star sharing pictures or videos of themselves jumping in and out of ice baths and using similar water immersion tools.  I had never questioned its use, simply adopting the thought that it must be beneficial if all these super-stars are using it. So I went hunting for the truth.

Many argue that cold water immersion has a positive effect on the recovery from high-intensity exercise, while contrast immersion had very little to no effect at all (Sánchez-Ureña, Barrantes-Brais, Ureña-Bonilla, Calleja-González, & Ostojic. 2015; Graham. 2017). Whilst an article released by Auckland University (2017) said: “Our study found ice baths are no more beneficial than a simple low-intensity warm-down at reducing inflammation and muscle damage after intense exercise”. It became obvious to me that there was a lot of information that was contradicting of previously read reports or studies, one report stating it helped, another saying it had no effect while others said it could be detrimental to the recovery process. That was until I read a report by Stephens, Halson, Miller, Slater, & Askew (2017), that found and listed what could be contributing factors in the results of water immersion. They concluded that there was no one-size-fits-all approach available and that many different contributing factors must be acknowledged and thought on before using this process as an aid in recovery. This struck home for me, it makes sense as every single person and their body is different to the next, why would it be different for athletes.   

Even though I may not be able to give the young lad a definitive answer regarding the use of water immersion, I can thank him for reminding me that we should be questioning what we are told, or lead to believe, and then further educating ourselves with the answers we find.

References:

Graham, A. (2017). The effects of cold water immersion and cold water therapy on performance

recovery following high-intensity exercise: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal Of Australian Strength & Conditioning, 25(2), 59-65.

Sanchez-Ureña, B., Barrantes-Brais, K., Ureña-Bonilla, P., Calleja-González, J., & Ostojic, S.

(2015).Effect of water immersion on recovery from fatigue: A meta-analysis. Motricidad: European Journal Of Human Movement, 341-14.

Stephens, J. M., Halson, S., Miller, J., Slater, G. J., & Askew, C. D. (2017). Cold-water

immersion for athletic recovery: One size does not fit all. International Journal Of Sports Physiology & Performance, 12(1), 2-9.

The University of Auckland. (2017). Ice baths no good for muscle recovery. Retrieved from

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/news-events-and-notices/news/news-2017/02/ice-baths-no-good-for-muscle-recovery.html

Week 6: Remote Teams

Hi and welcome back to my blog journey,

As you may have seen I have missed a week, I had an assignment due therefore all my time and efforts were directed at this. But, we are now back on the blog and this week I will be writing briefly about the remote team that I currently work with.

The remote group I work with has 5 members from the wider Manawatu area, we all have very busy lives outside of study which includes, work, family as well as our many hobbies. Due to this, we are not able to meet face-to-face instead we have utilized technology to combat this issue. We regularly talk via our private Facebook page and messenger and we have set up Google Docs as to be able to all work simultaneously on our project. However, I do feel that making time as a group to meet face-to-face is important, as it will improve the relationship the group has and the trust in each other (Watkins, 2013).

Our group was formed very earlier in our study semester, therefore, we have been able to get to know each other and our strengths and weaknesses very well. This has allowed us to decide as a group on different roles we will take on and what tasks each person will have. Also, we have been able to recognize what all our individual goals were and ensure we were wanting the same outcome, we do not want to simply pass this group assignment but get the best possible mark being an A. Our communication has been very good and each member of the group has been contributing to the decisions.

One of the things our group will need to work further on is setting our individual tasks and tracking our progress as a group, this will allow us to see how each member is going and will allow us to help each other further. More importantly, keeping track of this progress will ensure we are working productively as a team. Google Docs is a good way of tracking this progress, possibly making a weekly agenda or list of tasks for everyone that we can all see will help us. We all understand that life gets busy and having a group decided list of tasks for each week will keep us moving forward efficiently.

I have held a part time job as a coach of my local college football team, I had to work within a small team consisting of an assistant coach, manager, parent representative and the college sports coordinator. One thing I found to be the biggest challenge was getting everyone to communicate effectively, there were individuals who had different objectives and they didn’t voice these. In the end, this broke down the entire system, the lack of communication was the killer blow in what could have been a good environment and eventually our goals were not obtained. So, to see our small remote group begin the way we have is very encouraging. We have been very effective and I believe we will be very successful if we continue to communicate, help each other and remain focused on our end goals.

Watkins, D. M. (2013) Making virtual teams work: Ten basic principles. Retrieved from

https://hbr.org/2013/06/making-virtual-teams-work-ten

Week 4:

Hello and welcome to week 4 of my blog journey.

This week we have been given a free reign on what it is we write about, so I thought I would do a quick piece on why I feel my topic is important, not only to me but to everyone, on an individual level and to wider communities. I find the easiest way I learn and retain is if I can physically see something or picture it well so I will give some key statistics that I hope will shed some light on our health situation in New Zealand and abroad.

Firstly, some statistics released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that in 2014, 1.9 billion adults, aged 18 years or older, were overweight and over 600 million more were obese. While a further 41 million kids under the age of 5 were overweight or obese. That is some terrifying statistics when you take the minute to consider that obesity is preventable.

To paint a picture a little closer to home, a New Zealand Ministry of Health survey from 2015/16 revealed that 1 in 3 adults was obese, that’s 32% of our adult population. Add to this the further 35% of adults who are overweight, the 11% of children who are obese and the 21% of children who are overweight but not yet obese and I think we can all see just how serious the issue is within New Zealand. To put a figure on this issue, a report from the Faculty of Medical and Health Services found that overweight and obesity cost between $722 million and $849 million New Zealand Dollars (NZD) in health care and loss of productivity per year.

Now I think we can all see what an ugly picture this is drawing, but it is our reality. Our country is unhealthy, we are making unhealthy decisions through what I believe is a lack of understanding and education when it comes to what we need to do to ensure the quality of life for ourselves and those around us. I don’t know what the answer is. I don’t know how we change our entire food environment to begin to rectify what we have created. But what I do know, and what I truly feel passionate about is the need for change. We need change. It is made plain and clear that our current food environment and our relationships with food are killing us.

Since taking on this topic I have found myself questioning all my diet habits and those of my family, much to their disappointment at times. I really feel that this is an issue that will need to be handled at a community level. By that, I mean starting within your family and then offering insight and help to others. So, I do encourage everyone who reads this to think on the topic and maybe make some decisions regarding our personal relationships with food.

Thanks, Ryan.

Week 3- The Debate

Hello again, 

Welcome to week 3 of my blog journey. Today I was hoping to provide two resources that I have found on my previously mentioned topic, New Zealand government should adopt a policy of subsidising healthy foods by taxing unhealthy foods, with opposing arguments. Instead what I have found through my research is that it is widely accepted and agreed upon that such a policy would have positive effects. I found that almost all scholarly resources provide evidence of ways it can work and ways that could hinder its success. This is what I have provided below, firstly a paper that agrees on a policy but brings forward possible hindrances and the second paper focuses on what sort of success a policy could have.

Cornelsen, Green, Dangour, & Smith (2014, p. 22) suggest that a policy regarding the pricing of foods and beverages is only one instrument within the food environment and cannot be the single answer. The authors go on to explain the lack of understanding and proof in what indirect effects a pricing policy would have, be it positive or negative. For instance, if a subsidy applied makes one food cheaper this allows more funds to be spent elsewhere, it doesn’t mean that the money will be spent on another healthy option. Another issue that Cornelsen et al. (2014) bring forward is the difference in spending behaviours within different socioeconomic groups, meaning a policy may have different effects for a different group. What I believe the authors of this paper have brought into the wider research is instead of looking for one answer to the problem look to change the entirety of the food environment to influence our diet behaviours and choices for the better.

The second paper I have brought forward today is one that goes through the procedure of measuring the possible effect that a policy may have on mortality from diet related disease within New Zealand. Cliona, Eyles, Genc, Scarborough, Rayner, Mizdrak, Nnoaham, & Blakely (2015) estimates that applying a number of diet related taxes and subsidies could avert or postpone deaths by between 560 to 2400 lives every year. Furthermore, the author's study estimates a drop-in purchase on taxed goods and an increase in purchases of subsidised goods, meaning they would expect positive effects on dietary habits and choices. I feel the authors were using this study to bring to attention the estimated amount of deaths prevented or postponed by the introduction of a policy to make people aware of how significant it can be. I think they wrote this paper in a position of hope that more would look further into initiating such a policy in the near future.

As I stated in my introduction, I have found it hard to source references of a scholarly level that is completely against the use of such a policy, for this reason, I have hoped to provide two references that may encourage further thought and research from my readers.

Reference List:

Cornelsen, L., Green, R., Dangour, A., & Smith, R. (2014). Why fat taxes won’t make us thin

. Journal of Public Health, 37(1), 18-23.

Cliona, N, M., Eyles, H., Genc, M., Scarborough, P., Rayner, M., Mizdrak, A., Nnoaham, K.,

& Blakely, T. (2015). Effects of health-related food taxes and subsidies on mortality from diet-related disease in New Zealand: An econometric-epidemiologic modelling study. PLoS, 10(7).

The Literature!

Hello Readers,

I will be writing about my research process for my Position paper, the topic I have chosen is: The New Zealand government should adopt a policy of subsiding healthy food by taxing unhealthy food. Before I get into this I will give you all a paragraph about me and my history regarding education and researching, this way you get a better understanding of who I am as we go through this journey.

I’ll be honest that from the age of 16, when I left school, I truly believed I wasn’t an academic person. I felt that reading and writing, beyond the use of social media, wasn’t for me. After having my son, I realized I needed to do more, I moved back from Australia and made the decision to study. I was extremely nervous about studying as I had honestly not written nor read something more than an email or a Facebook post since leaving school to early. This was compounded when my first introduction to university study was a long and difficult semester, there were many late nights and early mornings as I struggled to grasp concepts of researching, reading and writing at a level that is acceptable for university.

Because of the above I used my break to find resources and tools to help improve myself in this area. The following paragraphs explains what I have done and it was all learnt from this paper, the Massey University online seminars and fellow students.

Firstly, I took my topic and reworded it into a question, Should the New Zealand government adopt a policy of subsiding healthy food by taxing unhealthy food? By doing this it allowed me to be more specific in looking for answers and information. It also brought about subsidiary questions. For example, have similar policies been applied elsewhere and with what results?  

Secondly, after having identified the questions, I took all my main terms from my question and listed all my possible search words. Some examples from my list are healthy, unhealthy, obesity, tax*, sugar, fat, incentives, plus many more. This helped me to be effective and use my time better when searching online.

Thirdly, I used the Massey University online library for the bulk of my search. I used the list I had created to form different search options bringing up more sources. I then went through and read the abstract and discussion/conclusions of each source, if I found them useful I saved them through Endnote. Upon having a good pile of possible sources, I went through them a little deeper and picked the ones I truly needed. One of the things I learnt from this was to use the reference list of the papers I had found as they were valid sources on the same topic, they also took me to various places such as government sites, newspaper articles and an online medical article site.

The above process has helped me to form a position and made me think critically about the information available. My position has changed slightly from before I began the research but is now one I can confidently stand by.

Ryan.