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Intro
Kate Grandbois: Welcome to SLP nerd cast your favorite professional resource for evidence based practice in speech, language pathology. I'm Kate grant wa and I'm Amy
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Episode
Kate Grandbois: Hello, and welcome to SLP Nerdcast. We are so excited For today's episode. We are here to talk about a topic that is very near and dear to our hearts. Collaboration is something we talk about on the podcast all the time. And today we have the pleasure of welcoming two expert guests. Welcome, Becca Sylvia and Christy Stearns.
Kristi Stearns: Hi. Thank you for having us. We're thrilled to be here.
Becca Sylvia: Hello. We are.
Amy Wonkka: Now, Becca and Christy, we're excited to have you with us here today, and you're here to discuss, like Kate said, how to effectively collaborate with other professionals as a speech language pathologist. But before we get started, can you please tell us just a little bit about yourselves?
Kristi Stearns: Sure. So this is Christy speaking. Um, I am a speech language [00:03:00] pathologist. Becca and I, um, well now I'm bringing Becca in, but Becca and I met, um, I think that's important to the story, Becca and I met as, uh, First year grad students in Massachusetts, and that's how we became friends and also co founders. Um, but as for me, I'm originally from Florida, um, went up to Massachusetts for grad school.
I did some work up there, um, worked at schools for, um, autistic children and individuals with developmental disabilities. Um, did a high AEC concentration. I really enjoyed doing that and also working with, um, that upper school age. So like 14 to 21. Um, and currently I'm back in Florida and, um, Yeah, I have a little three year old and, um, back where my husband and I are from.
So it's been, it's been very enjoyable and it's been really nice to be able to maintain such a nice friendship and collaboration [00:04:00] with Becca once we started communication community. So happy to be here.
Becca Sylvia: Yes, so I am Becca. I was born and raised in Massachusetts. As Christine mentioned, we met in grad school.
After grad school, I moved out to Colorado and started my career in speech language pathology, doing a lot of AAC, high tech AAC. And then moved over and did some stuff in the schools and, um, Christie and I started communication community, our blog originally with the main focus on a C, but then kind of a little bit of everything.
And so it's been awesome working together in this kind of professional capacity for a number of years while also being really good friends too. Just great.
Kristi Stearns: I'm sure the two of you can relate in a way, you know, working with a friend and also, [00:05:00] um, you know, someone who holds you accountable, at least for me.
Yes,
Kate Grandbois: definitely. There is nothing better than having a partner in crime, a partner in nerds. A nerdy kindred spirit. It's good. Yes. Yes, to keep moving, you know, moving things forward and having another brain in the room. It's just so great. And we're So glad that you have agreed to share your, your hive mind, your, your knowledge, your shared knowledge with us today as it relates to collaboration.
Um, I do need to read our learning objectives and disclosures before we get started, so I will do that as quickly as I can. Learning objective number one, list the six competencies for interprofessional collaboration. Learning objective number two, describe generational communication styles. And learning objective number three, describe collaboration through personality awareness.
Disclosures. Becca's Financial Disclosures. Becca is a co-owner of Communication Community, LLC, and an employee of a health tech [00:06:00] company, Becca's Non-Financial Disclosures. Becca is a member of ASHA and Co-managers, the Communication Community blog, the Circle, community and Social Media Accounts.
Christie's financial disclosures. Christie is a co owner of communication community LLC. Christie's non financial disclosures. Christie is a member of ASHA and co manages the communication community blog, the circle community and social media accounts. Kate, that's me. My financial disclosures, I am the owner and founder of Grand Bois Therapy and Consulting LLC and co founder of SLP Nerdcast.
My non financial disclosures, I'm a member of ASHA SIG 12 and serve on the AAC Advisory Group for Massachusetts Advocates for Children. I'm also a member of the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy.
Amy Wonkka: Amy, that's me. Uh, my financial disclosures are that I'm an employee of a public school system and co founder of SLP Nerdcast.
And my non financial disclosures are that I'm a member of ASHA Special Interest Group 12, which is AAC. Uh, and I [00:07:00] participate in the AAC Advisory Group for Massachusetts Advocates for Children. All right. Learning objectives done. Disclosure done. Um, Becca and Christy, why don't you start us off by telling us just a little bit about why you're here?
interprofessional collaboration is important for SLPs? Why is this something that we should care about?
Becca Sylvia: Yeah, I mean, I would say there's a lot of reasons why you should care about it. But I would say the number one is like collaborating effectively can lead to better outcomes for clients. So that's kind of what we're here for.
We want our clients to have good outcomes. And there's lots of things that go into having good outcomes. And one of those things is that collaboration with clients. the clients, their families, but also like the team and other professionals. And so, um, we believe that by understanding different communication styles, collaboration methods, different things like that, can improve collaboration and then [00:08:00] therefore outcomes across disciplines.
Kristi Stearns: And I think that's reflected in some of the studies that we'll reference today as well. You know, the objectives that Kate outlined at the beginning of the podcast. You know, we will talk about competencies for interprofessional collaboration, generational communication styles, and collaboration through personality awareness.
We pulled from different research that, um, hit. Several different collaboration areas. Um, so yeah, the competencies generation, then also, you know, those personality assessments and we thought it was an interesting area to explore because for such a. deeply personal field where we have, we're on so many different teams.
I don't know a lot of other professions where we're operating in so many different groups. [00:09:00] Even though you have these, uh, other professionals that you work with day in and day out, and whether it's a healthcare setting, school setting, you also, there's that component of adding, you know, a whole other client and their caregivers and families. And so, operating in a very healthy, constructive team environment, in a collaborative environment, is so, so important, I think, for our, for our clients.
Um, professions specifically.
Becca Sylvia: All right. So we can start by talking about the six competencies for interprofessional collaboration. Um, this was, um, there is an article by Bainbridge et al that discusses essential competencies required for, uh, effective interprofessional collaboration in healthcare settings. So, um, there was a framework developed by the Canadian Interprofessional Health Collaborative, also known as the CIHC, that basically their [00:10:00] goal was like, we want to enhance teamwork among healthcare professionals so that care is efficient, coordinated well, and patient centered.
So all those things that were like, these are all. Great things, you know, um, and so frameworks can be helpful sometimes because it could really kind of lay out very specifically like here are some kind of areas to focus on, um, and, you know, they're kind of can be refined over time. But I think it's we thought it was really helpful.
And we really liked how they kind of laid it out. Um, and so we can talk about each of those six ones. So, Chris, if you want to start with the first few Okay.
Kristi Stearns: Yeah. Um, so as part of, um, as part of these competencies, one of the main competencies, um, is role clarification. So, um, you know, with your team, what is each person on the team going to do to support the client's overall goals?
So what are. Essentially, what out are your, [00:11:00] um, roles and responsibilities on this team? Um, so it's incredibly important that while you understand your role and what you will bring to the team, um, and those, and those responsibilities clearly, clearly outlined, you're also aware of the roles of others, kind of like the, Okay, once you know your role, you know what lane you're staying in and you know if maybe you're getting too close to someone else's lane.
Um, so that gives you the ability to recognize boundaries and, um, the scope of practice for each professional. And I think when those are outlined, um, we can perform our best and, uh, our strongest for our clients.
Kate Grandbois: I just want to make a quick comment based on something you shared earlier about how unique our field is because we're touching so many different aspects of student care, client care, patient care, whatever word you're using.
We also have such a shared scope of competence. We share our [00:12:00] scope with, uh, special educators. We share some scope with literacy specialists, with behavior analysts, like it or not. Um, if you're working in a hospital setting, you might share, you know, some aspects you might be having. disagreements with your ENT over, over something that you're seeing or whether or not to recommend a bedside or I don't know, I'm not, I'm at SLP.
So I don't really know what I'm saying, but my point is, you know, we share our scope with so many other professionals that understanding your role, I have to assume is a critical piece of being able to collaborate effectively without getting grouchy because sometimes you feel grouchy.
Kristi Stearns: You're, I mean, yeah, you're absolutely right.
And I think that, um, also considering that each setting may be doing something different. Um, and those roles may look a little bit different within each setting. Of course, we have our, you know, our specific clinical roles and responsibilities that we can't waver from [00:13:00] too much. But, you know, you think about some of that.
Um, I know you were mentioning the feeding and swallowing piece. You know, there is. There's a lot of overlap in health care settings in that, um, in that space. So making sure that whatever setting you're in, that those roles, um, are Very explicitly clarified and that can that's also a prevention measure for some of the that conflict because maybe in another setting you were way more hands on with that particular role that maybe the O.
T. is taking more of a lead on and that's more of the general team expectation. Um, so making sure that that is clearly outlined is what's going to be. Healthy for collaboration with the team and then also, um, that it obviously reflects on the client as well.
Amy Wonkka: I'd imagine too that when you're clarifying your role, that in and of itself could be promoting collaboration because hopefully [00:14:00] you're having a conversation with these other providers and talking about the overlap and talking about what's going to happen.
So just by the nature of that conversation, you're sort of setting the stage for some collaboration there.
Kristi Stearns: Exactly. Um, and then that kind of leans into, um, another competency, which is team functioning. And that's essentially looking at how will the team function together to support one another. So we definitely need that role clarification to be able to understand how the team as a whole is going to operate.
Um, So this is very important for working effectively within those all of those different team environments for all of those different clients and families. Um, and when you have those roles in place and when you understand the different team dynamics that fosters more of a sense of mutual respect and promotes, um, that positive [00:15:00] collaborative atmosphere.
So in essence, um, having the role clarification contributes to team functioning and that continuous collaboration that it's important to check in, um, on a continual basis versus just establishing those roles at the beginning of the school year, so to speak.
It's important that we continue to check in, um, to ensure that continuation and the team, the maintenance of the team functioning.
Becca Sylvia: I also think, too, if you have good role clarifications, it can be helpful on a team if, say, someone is out, then you can know, okay, well, this person normally is the one who makes sure that this student's AAC device is out and charged in the morning, but I know that they're absent today, so someone else can kind of fill that team member's shoes for this instance, and so that's a way to kind of, you know, support the team, support each other when [00:16:00] someone Can't fulfill their role for a day for a specific reason.
Kristi Stearns: Um, and another area of, um, the six competencies for interprofessional collaboration is that interprofessional communication. So we've covered the role clarification. We've covered, you know, roughly how the team is going to function and check in with one another. Or I guess more of the frequency, right? We want it to be continuous, so that interprofessional communication, that's what that collaboration is going to look like in essence.
How will the team collaboration be maintained? So, um, whether that be You You have a meeting at the beginning of the year and outline what that might look like for you and your team. Do you want to meet on a weekly basis? Do you want to meet in person? Do you want to have, um, email, slack, [00:17:00] messenger, whatever?
You're using check ins, um, but making sure that that interprofessional communication, everyone is on the same page with as well. So making sure that, um, this communication is clear, respectful, um, you know, there are timely exchanges of information, um, because this is, you know, timing is everything in our profession in a lot of ways.
Um, I think I was listening to One of your podcasts earlier this week, and, um, I know that in different states, certain evaluations have, uh, uh, one time frame, and then in other states, it may be a longer or shorter time frame, so making sure that those time markers are also there because, you know, say you're submitting information for an IEP, for example, um, okay, well, if you're submitting that information on the last day, But you have five other members of the team who also need to look at that documentation and make their, um, [00:18:00] edits or revisions or what have you.
Um, that's incredibly important.
Kate Grandbois: I want to make one comment about interprofessional communication. And wanting to make sure that one of the things that I found to be most successful is bringing humanity into those conversations and into that communication. So the colleague that you're communicating with is a human first and a professional second.
Um, I've had, I have found that a lot of friction in interprofessional communication can stem from not having that human connection, so not understanding that someone is having a really bad day, or maybe didn't sleep, or is having a crisis at home, um, or even approaching communication with this underlying sense that your objectives are more important, or your objectives are more urgent, and you, you might end Talking about this later.
So I don't want to, I don't want to put the carpet for the horse, but I just think I, I so value you bringing up the competency of [00:19:00] inter interprofessional communication because it isn't just about timeliness of, uh, your workplace or, or, you know, the word, whether or not you use an exclamation point in your email.
I mean, there are so many layers to making sure that that goes well. And I think so much of that is rooted in, in being a person, just being a human being, connecting with a human being.
Becca Sylvia: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, there's so many times where, like, you might get an email that's like, you're like, are they being a little stucky?
Am I reading this the wrong way? And as much as you want to say, like, it's fine, I'm just going to, you know, forget about it. It can impact you when you're going into your next session, you're thinking about it. And so, and that. can impact, you know, outcomes in general. So yeah, having that like frame of mind of like, let's have strong communication because that does touch everything, whether it be directly or indirectly.
Kristi Stearns: Yeah. And approaching. Yeah. [00:20:00] Like Kate was saying, um, each person as another human, you know, you're not just this bot on the other side of your email screen, you know, they entered this profession to what I would like to think it You know, to, um, you know, care for clients and make sure that they receive the best outcomes and care.
Um, and a lot of this too, I know that these six competencies are a little bit more, um, uh, I don't want to say the drier area, but these are a little bit more clean cut guidelines, so to speak. And they're very important, but I think the big picture too, with all of this discussion about collaboration is that, um, All of these objectives that we're going to discuss require perspective taking.
And it seems so, um, it seems so basic, but it's not, you know, it's important that we have that awareness and we can perspective take [00:21:00] not only, you know, have that knowledge for teaching our clients in some respects, but we need to practice that and model that as clinicians and, um, professionals and when we're working with others.
So,
Amy Wonkka: well, and I have to imagine that perspective taking also. Slides into the next component when you're thinking about your actual clients and their caregivers Um, I don't know if you wanted to talk to us just a little bit about what are some of the components there That come into play when we're thinking about this interprofessional practice.
Becca Sylvia: Yeah, I mean A big one that I know people hear about, we talk about is that patient or client or family community centered care. So at the end of the day, like the, the needs and the preferences of the client, like that is what's most important. And so understanding their perspectives and their values. In this decision making process is [00:22:00] really important.
Um, and that may mean that like roles may shift a little depending on a client themselves because of their situation because of their preferences. Um, different, you know, different scenarios and so understanding what like their goals are cultural considerations their interests. Um, you know, if say for example.
They are, they primarily speak Spanish at home and there's one member of the team that doesn't do a lot of the daily communication, but they speak Spanish and they can say, you know, I can take on this role for this family because it's important to that. They have we have daily communication with them because we know that's important for this family and I can.
Do it, and I can speak to them in Spanish or communicate with them in Spanish versus another family that might say, I do not need daily updates unless it's an emergency. You know, like, I prefer weekly updates and someone else can give me those weekly updates. [00:23:00] That is when those understanding of working together as a team of doing one person's doing one of the other.
But at the end of the day, it's so that the clients are centered.
Um, and so another competency, and I think this is something that is, can be difficult, but I think it is important to, to kind of have an idea about, is that interprofessional conflict resolution. Because as much as we would love to not have conflicts, conflicts, Are going to come up. And again, this might be complex within the team itself, or it could be there could be a conflict with a client because something is going on that they there's a conflict that needs to be resolved.
So being able to address conflicts rather than trying to kind of sweep the munch of the rug, I think is important. Um, and then kind of also being able to understand of [00:24:00] recognizing sources of conflicts to say like, does this happen because the communicate, we're not meeting regularly enough? Is this, is conflict happening because the roles aren't clarified well enough and there's some overlap or there's an important Job or test needs to be done and no one's assigned to this role.
So it's just keeps getting missed. Um, kind of trying to figure out, like, why is this conflict happening and what can we do to address it and try to mitigate it so that it we do not deal with it again, or it's, you know, lesser, I think, can be, um, is helpful. Um, and I think kind of what you had mentioned earlier to key about like, these are humans.
So like, let's try to stay positive. We are all humans. Let's be want to stay positive. We want to offer constructive feedback. We don't need to, you know, do the blame game pointing fingers all the time. Um, because that doesn't really, you know, that can hurt rapport, it can hurt [00:25:00] collaboration. And so Um, being able to kind of find ways through conflict resolution is an important piece of being able to collaborate effectively for sure.
Kate Grandbois: What you all are saying about This these components of humanity is making me think of a little story I heard once called the baby in the backseat.
Have you heard this story? I swear. I'll make it very short. No, I'm so intrigued. But essentially, Amy, have you heard the story? Have I said this to you before?
Amy Wonkka: Yes.
Kate Grandbois: Yeah. Okay. So hopefully our listeners and you all will get something out of this and it's not totally off topic, but essentially the story goes where imagine you're in your car, you're driving to work, you are late, you've got coffee that you've spilled in your lap and you, you, uh, you end up hitting every red light on the way to work and you're sitting at a red light and the light turns green and the car in front of you doesn't go and you're like, what is going on?
And you get so frustrated and [00:26:00] you start laying on your horn and you're like, I am so late. The light cycles to green, the light cycles to yellow, and then to red again, and you're like, I can't believe this, you become increasingly more enraged. The light cycles to green again, the car still doesn't go, you can see the person in front of you fiddling around with something in their bag or something in the back seat.
And you decide that you've had enough, and you're so angry, so you get out of the car, and you storm right up to the front door, or the window, to yell at the person, why aren't you moving? And you see that the woman is stuck and can't get her seatbelt open, her seatbelt off, and her baby is choking in the backseat, and there is an emergency.
And all of a sudden, in that moment, Your anger goes dissolves immediately and you are, Oh my gosh, this is a person who needs my help and you go right in to help the baby in the backseat. So the point of this little story is you never know when someone has a baby in the backseat. And I, I carry this with me as a little story of if someone is being grouchy at you, if there is a conflict, if someone is being snarky, You never [00:27:00] know what someone else is dealing with in their personal life and trying to remember that there could be a baby in the backseat.
There could be something going on instead of taking it immediately personally and retaliating or talking to your supervisor or. Sending a snarky email back that doesn't have any friendly exclamation points. You know, there are so many ways that we can handle ourselves in conflict, holding space for what someone else might be experiencing that we just don't have visibility to.
And that's my story. I won't take up any more airspace, but hopefully that was helpful. No,
Becca Sylvia: I think that's good. And it made me think of a time when I had a supervisor who said it in a different way, but basically was like, You're there are going to be times where you can't give a hundred percent. So, or like your team members can't give a hundred percent.
And I think of it in the sense of number one, okay. Recognizing yeah, that my coworkers or other people I work with, they, because of what's going on in their personal life, they have a baby in the backseat. They can't deal with it. I guess for me, and we'll go into, I guess, like personality [00:28:00] styles a little bit later.
It gives me permission to also to say, okay, sometimes I have a baby in the backseat and it's okay if I can't. Give my a hundred percent because we are humans and like, that's okay too.
Kristi Stearns: Yeah. The, the lack of, uh, you know, I'm putting quotes around this, but the lack of effort, so to speak, is not coming from a place, you know, I don't want this client to succeed, or I want our team meeting to start 10 minutes later. Um, you know, when we can stop and pause and think about, um, like the two of you were saying, you know, think about, okay.
I don't think that this is an attack on me. I think maybe, maybe they had a stomach ache. Maybe they needed to take a little bit more time before the meeting and that's why they were late. Um, I've had stomach aches before. I'm sure other people have too. You know, I, I think it's important to stop and actually consider like, how involved are you personally in this matter, for sure.
Becca Sylvia: And [00:29:00] that leads well into the final competency, which is collaborative leadership. So the idea that leadership roles can be shared within a team, it's not up to one person to be the leader. And so that way, if that one person is, you know, Can't give full effort for whatever reason or has a bigger role to fill one day, other people can kind of take the lead.
So, you know, an example of this is if you do have a standing, you know, weekly meeting or monthly meeting where you talk about the clients, the plans, You know, action steps, all of that. Different people on the team can kind of be the person who leads that meeting and, you know, organizes it together or kind of summarizes the meeting minutes at the end and leads out to say, you know, after the meeting, you know, it's my job today to say, okay, [00:30:00] Christy's going to do this, and Amy's going to do this, and then the next month comes around, and Christy's that person who does it.
So kind of understanding that leadership roles can kind of change, and other people, people can take different leadership roles or different times, I think is also helpful to know that like, yeah, we're not stuck in like a, we made this decision once, and now it's going to stay like that. Until the end of the year or the end of whatever.
All right, so those were the six competencies, the kind of that overall framework. So the next area we're going to talk about is the generational communication styles. And so it's important to understand that generational differences can affect communication. With the caveat caveat that like we're talking about generational trends, not like prescriptions of saying this is what it's Gen all Gen Xers are like this or all boomers are like this because that's not true.
And we know that, but there are [00:31:00] trends and these trends come from, you know, surveys reports, um, based on things like significant global events, cultural, cultural shifts, development of technology. You know, we're saying that a lot of. You know, the Gen Z population is really into technology versus maybe boomers aren't well, guess what?
Like the technology wasn't around when boomers were growing up. So it's not that it's not that they're choosing it's that they just, it's kind of based on cultural and life. Um, but that being said there, you know, certain trends and we think just kind of having that awareness of that. There are some generational trends can be helpful.
So again, seeing that humanity. And the people you're working with, um, is helpful and kind of understanding why they may think things a certain way or might approach things a certain way or have different opinions may be impacted. By the generation that they grew up in. Um, [00:32:00] so, you know, we'll talk about kind of the overarching trends of the generations that we would see in the workplace today and kind of their, you know, rough age.
We also know that like, if you're kind of right on the cuffs, you might feel like, Oh, I really belong to this generation or whatever other generation, but more or less. Um, the first two we'll talk about are baby baby boomers, which are around age 60 to 78. Um, and for communication styles, they tend to favor the face-to-face communication.
And then like more, um, you know, like formal. respectful interactions, more of that like traditional communication style. Um, the next generation, so generation X or Gen X, roughly ages 44 to 59, um, less of that like face to face traditional communication and tend to perform more of the concise [00:33:00] communication, efficient communication, let's kind of like get the job done.
Kristi Stearns: Um, yeah. That's about right. What would you say,
Amy Wonkka: Amy? That resonates for me as a, as a, as a Gen Xer.
Kristi Stearns: Yeah. Well, and it's, it is interesting because the information that we're reviewing and these communication styles that we're discussing across, you know, boomers, Generation X, Millennials and Gen Z, this is polled, what was the survey?
It was like over 400, 000, um, individuals. So like, these are self reports of, you know, um, You know, this is my age range. You know, they're circling their age range and this is their preferred communication styles. And again, I think for me, um, you know, I would fall personally into the millennial range, but I see different, um, communication trends from other, um, generations that I, that I also, um, would subscribe to.
So again, these are, these are more of just trends, but by, [00:34:00] um. Understanding that these different preferences do in fact exist, it gives us a little bit more of that exposure and awareness that, okay, if I'm someone who only wants to chitchat via email or via workplace digital messaging, and somebody else really wants to meet with me once a week in person, I'm not taking that as, wow, This person has no respect for my time.
You know, I know that this is more efficient, but, you know, why do they want me to meet in person, you know? And there's so many more layers than that. Um, and that's not really true to me because I, I love meeting in person. So, um, yeah, I actually do. Becca and I differ in that respect and somewhat. Becca can do more on, um, uh, my, I need more in person accountability and Becca likes that.
Corresponding via email and in messages. But anyways, um, [00:35:00] so yeah, Becca covered Baby Boomers and Generation X. Um, so Millennials, that's, uh, another generation that is roughly between, uh, the ages of 28 to 43. So this is the generation that's a little bit more comfortable with digital communication. Again, a lot of that has to do with cultural shifts in the development of technology.
Um, You know, we tend to, we Millennials tend to value feedback, um, and collaborative approaches. Um, so this might look like, uh, higher energy collaborative environments that appreciate real time feedback, often communicated through digital platforms. So, um, I can say for myself, I really, like, I think back to grad school, and I loved the immediate feedback.
I walk out of a session, and my supervisor is holding up a list of things for me to improve, like, I [00:36:00] really enjoyed that, um, while I know that there are other individuals who want to wait till the end of their week so they can get all of the rest of their Um, documentation done without distractions, and that's not something that they need to consider.
Um, so roughly that's, you know, Millennials, and then our last generation that we explore is Generation Z, Gen Z, which is, um, 27, roughly 27, um, years of age and younger. So this is more of that, um, Technology has, from a cultural perspective, has really evolved, um, for them as compared to, you know, Millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.
So, Gen Zs are described as highly digital, um, they're a little bit more accustomed and have the expectation of multitasking, um, Generations, you know, Gen Z might expect a little bit more of a fast digital communication is and is adept at navigating multiple [00:37:00] communication channels simultaneously. Um, I, I.
You know, I'm making a generalized statement, but, um, I know several different business professionals that they have someone who is, falls into the Gen Z generation, um, managing their social media profiles. Um, you know, I think of some of my younger cousins who are in their early 20s and they also are starting a business ventures with the interest of doing that.
Um, whereas I don't. personally have that type of capacity. Um, but I love to see it, you know, and it just goes to show that within each of these, you know, uh, rough generational ranges, there is so much that each can bring to the table in different ways and to kind of highlight those strengths more than see them as differences.
But it is important to be aware [00:38:00] of. Maybe some of those preferences, whatever it may be, whether it's generalization, general consistent with the generation or not. Um, you know, it can help you with, uh, that teamwork and collaboration. And maybe, you know, maybe you're taking a, uh, approach where, um, we have one, uh, colleague who really prefers those in person meetings.
We have another colleague who, um, You know, wants to do a little bit more messaging and emailing. Okay, maybe we work with a hybrid approach. Maybe we meet in person once a month and then we have those digital weekly updates at the end of each week. So again, just meeting. Your team where they're at and, um, having that mutual understanding,
Kate Grandbois: I think mutual understanding there is key because I can already hear the voice like, Oh, boomer or Oh, God, what a gen gen Z, you know, rolling there, [00:39:00] rolling your eyes or making the assumption that the way that someone else prefers to communicate is in a front somehow to you or disrespectful.
And I think the point here is understanding. that other people have preferences and it's your job as a respectful colleague to acknowledge those preferences, maybe not accommodate those preferences all the time, but not take it personally and sort of look at it through a lens that can diffuse any of any of that conflict.
Becca Sylvia: Yeah, I know, you know, Kristi and I had talked about it a little bit, especially in, I would say, our field, whether you're in a school on a special education team or you're in like a SNF and you can have a rehab team, you may have, you know, co workers who are, you know, on the same level as you in terms of like, same degree, same credentials, same like general responsibilities, and you could have, you know, You can have an OT who has been practicing for over 30 years, and you can have a speech [00:40:00] therapist who just finished their CF and are, you know, one year out of practice, and they're kind of, you have to, in collaborating together, in a sense, and I know, um, so my mom is, has been a school based OT for over 30 years.
When she first started, like, there wasn't email. So, you know, obviously, things have evolved. She uses email all the time, but that's not her first thing. method of communication necessarily. Maybe it is. Sorry, mom. But you know, in the terms of versus someone of her, you know, newer OT or a new speech therapist who is Gen Z and is, you know, just finished, just graduated school and that's all they know.
And so the sense of like this, we have to kind of collaborate and work together and know that. There are that someone what someone might prefer or go to is based on their experience rather than trying to be like, this is the best way that's just like, this is what I'm doing, what I'm [00:41:00] more comfortable with.
Amy Wonkka: Well, and I'd imagine it really, really connects to the interprofessional communication component that you guys were talking about. You know, I think when you're building, uh, When you're identifying the roles and you're, you're identifying whose, whose scope is what, um, and you're figuring out, okay, what is the best method of communication?
I think maybe having some explicit conversations just like you did about the roles would be helpful in terms of what is your preference for communication style? Um, because all of these are areas where, you know, I think, I think about some of the collaboration that I've done in, in my role in schools and in outpatient settings.
And, um, Do you sort of just go into the mode? Okay, this is how we do this. This is how we do this. And I've never even paused to gather information about how the other people I'm collaborating with would actually prefer to meet or receive information or communicate. So it's also very connected to that for me and hearing you guys talk about it.
Becca Sylvia: Absolutely.
Kristi Stearns: And I think just [00:42:00] as a closing consideration, um, again, your personal preference or maybe a colleague's personal preference may not be consistent with their quote unquote generation, but so it's important to not generalize or stereotype entire generations. Um, but, you know, this data that we've shared is from a student.
very big survey. So these preferences do exist. Um, and that I think is the most important to recognize that people will just have different preferences. And, um, just, Use respectful language, you know, use neutral, respectful language when describing generational traits. Um, you know, rather than saying older generations are out of touch with technology, you know, you can say different generations may have varying levels of comfort with technology.
You know, I think of my parents, my dad has always been ahead of the curve. You know, he would fall into that boomer range, but he is incredibly, incredibly, incredibly tech savvy. And what, [00:43:00] whereas my mom. Who falls into that range. She needs support with opening up her Outlook and email and that sort of thing.
So, um, again, there's You can't just fully full on stereotype and focusing on those strengths and emphasizing the different strengths that each, um, colleague or, you know, um, each generation, so to speak, um, contributes, um, is very important than perceiving things as differences or weekend weaknesses and that, um, you know, and this also applies.
We talk about, um, You know, successful collaboration. But again, this also goes back to when we're collaborating with clients and their families. We're working with, um, a very wide age range, um, of clients and family members. So, um, make sure to also include if this is something you're exploring in your workplace, um, how generational diversity can enhance that collaboration and creativity rather than just [00:44:00] you know, framing them as differences or feeling like you have obstacles when you're working with certain clients and families.
Um, so all starts with communication. Just have, have conversations about it. Yeah. Um, and I think we're ready to talk about, um, the ocean framework.
Kate Grandbois: Yeah. I'm really curious to hear these about these components of personality awareness.
Kristi Stearns: Yes. So I think, you know, we, we went back and forth how we wanted to structure these different objectives and I think that the personality awareness using the big five ocean framework, which is what we're going to talk about ties in nicely at the end because you can look back at some of those six competencies for inter professional collaboration and some of these generational differences.
And you can. A lot of that will interweave with some of these, um, big, some of this big [00:45:00] five framework, um, and we'll talk about what that is, and we're digging a little bit more into the, the personality of, um, different people, so that's, that's fun. Out of curiosity, Have any of you taken a personality test before you either applied to a job or during like a workplace, um, like seminar or workshop?
Kate Grandbois: I have. I'm, I'm like the rare psycho killer one. Every, every time. No, I don't
Kristi Stearns: think
Kate Grandbois: that one's in here, but. It's not a psycho killer one, but I, I, I can't remember the acronyms, but I'm the, I'm the, The really rare personality type that makes people look at me weird.
Like
Becca Sylvia: when I took my Harry Potter sorting and I was a Slytherin.
Yeah. That I don't know how, um, valid that test that I took was, [00:46:00] so, yeah, I think it's more valid than my, than my personality test.
Amy Wonkka: Has the Harry Potter sorting test been empirically validated this year?
Kristi Stearns: Wow, we submitted the wrong paper, everybody.
Kate Grandbois: Yes.
Kristi Stearns: Wouldn't that be fun if we were all indifferent? A different house.
That would be it. That would be fun. I feel like I
Kate Grandbois: can feel like a live podcast recording coming on speech pathology and the Harry Potter sorting tat sorting hat research. There's going to be some good research coming out of that. But anyway, I didn't mean to derail you. I have I have taken one of those tests.
Kristi Stearns: Well, maybe some of the questions or some of the findings. Let us know if any of that is consistent with some of these areas that we're describing. I know that there are, there are a lot of different workplace personality assessments. I know like Myers Briggs is a really common one, and I know there's like 16 or something.
Um, but the big five ocean framework, which we are going to talk about, [00:47:00] um, There are five personality traits. And so, um, let's talk about how some of these personality traits can further enhance collaboration. So, uh, the big five personality traits, uh, also known as OCEAN. Um, that's an acronym for each of the individual personality traits.
Um, it's often used by psychologists and offer a comprehensive framework to understand individual differences. Um, again, understanding and awareness is, um, There's a theme here. Um, I believe, uh, this framework has been around since about like the 60s or 70s, but in 1981, psychologist Lewis Goldberg coined the term, um, coined ocean the big five and has been further refined and accepted over the years.
So, um, the, the big five, the BFI consists of a series of statements that respondents rate on a scale, typically from strongly disagree to strongly [00:48:00] agree. Um, I know that we've all taken, uh, little assessments or filled out questionnaires like that. Um, so this, the BFI helps to identify where an individual falls on each of the five dimensions.
And, um, this can provide insights into their personality characteristics, which can be useful for personal development, career planning, and improving interpersonal relationships. Um, So an example question might be, um, uh, or an example statement would be, I see myself as someone who is dependable and self disciplined.
And then you would rate yourself on a scale, um, from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Um, so the first The O in the ocean traits, um, is openness. And so that is the personality that is, uh, uh, willing to try new ideas and practices. Um, so this [00:49:00] personality type might encourage creative problem solving and, um, Is very open to the ideas and perspectives of others.
I think in our field, we all, um, it's important that we all have a sense of openness. Um, because we, you know, a big part of our, um, our ethical requirements as our cultural sensitivity and responsiveness and, you know, that requires a sense of openness. You know, not every client is going to, um, live, um, you know, Or have the same cultural values or beliefs as you do.
Same thing with your colleagues. Um, so it's important that, you know, that's not something that we take into consideration when we want to provide our clients with the best care. Well, we do take it into consideration, but it's only to provide our clients the best care. Um, without any sorts of, um, judgment.
So, um, that's openness. So team members and high openness, uh, I [00:50:00] think I mentioned this, bring creativity to the table, but you know, maybe they need a clear structure to channel their ideas effectively. Um, I'll give myself as an example and my partnership with Becca. I love trying new things, changing things up.
Um, maybe, you know, that's why I love to do design. I just I'm always like, should we change our logo? Should we do this? Um, and, you know, Becca's that channel for me, which we'll get into the conscientiousness. Um, Becca's that channel for me where, you know, she's very open to hear some of my ideas, but she might, you know, she's there to filter them and say, okay, well, A, B, and C look good, and we have time for that, but you know what?
Maybe we can put these other on hold. Um, So, openness, as I was starting to say, conscientiousness, that's the personality trait that's a little bit more self disciplined, [00:51:00] um, meets and exceeds expectations, that little bit more regimented personality, which, uh, Becca, thank you for being there for me. Um, while I do feel like I, um, have a, strong sense of conscientiousness.
I still think that that is one of those personality traits that Becca really contributes positively to our duo. Um, so that's also the person that is establishing clear expectation responsibilities with the team. Um, highly conscientious professionals tend to be organized and reliable, um, making them ideal for the roles requiring, um, Planning and follow through.
So, and that's, you know, it's very important to have that type of personality on a team. Um, and then another personality, um, in the OCEAN framework is extraversion. So, we all know those We all know extroverts. Um, you know, uh, they're [00:52:00] energetic. They enjoy working with people. Um, they like to facilitate opportunities for social interaction and teamwork.
Um, extroverted team members often excel in roles that require frequent communication. Um, again, hi, I'd love to meet with you in person, Becca. Um, and so, what was that? No, I just was laughing. Um, and, uh, appreciate social interaction, um, such as client facing positions. Um,
Becca Sylvia: I
Kristi Stearns: would
Becca Sylvia: just to kind of add in and thinking about the differences and how things come together with a team and the sense of when we look at, you know, some of that role clarification or the leadership, um, trying to, you know, trying to figure out how a team can kind of work together.
I, as Christy mentioned, I definitely am like high on the conscientiousness side of things. Like I can keep track of due dates and I can make sure things are submitted on time and uploaded on [00:53:00] time and we have it all, have all of our I's dotted, T's crossed, um, what have you. But then less on the extroversion side.
So if there is a role that says, okay, this person is going to check in with the client's parents every week and have that face to face conversation, I'm not going to volunteer myself for that role. I can do it, but I'm not going to volunteer myself for that role. But I will take the role of Organizing and filing the paperwork and all of that.
And so that's kind of looking at like, okay, this is where my personality lies. And so this is kind of how we can decide that role and work together as a team. And as we'll go into a little bit more, Christie and I are very similar in some ways, but also very different and other ways. And we kind of have learned how we can collaborate effectively in a sense of like, We can take on different jobs because it [00:54:00] fits our personalities better.
Kristi Stearns: And, you know, it's again, it's not something that happens overnight, obviously, you know, back and I've been collaborating for a really long time. Um, so I think that exposure is important, you know, and going back to the human piece of interacting with your team, you know. You'll learn a lot, not by just having structured team meetings, but by having conversations and learning a little bit more being open, right?
And learning a little bit more about who exactly you're working with. Um, you know, we also have a sense of inferencing skills. I would like to think that we also could. You know, based on our just our casual, maybe nonprofessional interactions would be able to get a stronger sense of, um, some of our colleagues preferences and, um, you know, just their, their sense of self.
So I think, uh, [00:55:00] Yeah, tying in these ocean traits to some of what we talked about before, um, this is kind of like a, uh, tying all these pieces together can help achieve the most successful collaboration. Um, Becca, do you want to go into talking about the other two parts of the ocean framework?
Becca Sylvia: Sure. So we covered the O, the C, the E.
Now we'll go into A, which is agreeableness. So basically it is what it sounds like, getting along with others, being agreeable, um, you know, really promoting that culture of empathy, cooperation, wanting to maintain harmony, you know, all really Good things. I would say what could be difficult is if someone is highly agreeable and there is a conflict and not wanting to sort of kind of address the conflict or try to get to the root of it.
And that can impact that collaboration and they had a effective work down the line. [00:56:00] Um, but people who are highly agree. So people who are highly agreeable may not want to be the person to kind of. Address a conflict, whereas someone else who says, I. Doesn't it doesn't impact me as much to not get along with someone or to have a dissenting opinion.
I am more willing to do that. They can might be someone who can kind of manage conflicts or kind of take that role. Um, when you're working together on a team. Thanks. Um, and then N is neuroticism. So this is kind of having a tendency towards stronger, let's say negative emotions, but kind of emotions such as like being prone to anxiety.
Being prone to prone to getting angry easily. And, you know, this can be a situation. If we go back to the baby in the back seat, someone who is just like, I'm mad because this is not getting done and quick to [00:57:00] being like, they're not doing this, so and so is not doing their job. And then someone who might be lower on their neuroticism scale might say, you know, that person, I'm going to let them sit through five red light cycles before I even, you know, bring it up or get angry about it.
Um, but at the same time, someone who maybe is higher on neuroticism may get stressed easily. So I think that I know you can think about probably people on a team. Maybe yourself who was like, I get so stressed in these situations and I look around and so and so is not stressed or a situation where I'm not stressed that this didn't, this plan we had did not work out well at all today.
Whereas someone else might be like this plan didn't work and now I am not going to sleep tonight. So kind of understanding that some people may respond to the same situation. In a more heightened way, or in a less [00:58:00] heightened way, it can be helpful to know, okay, this is not because they don't care about it as much, or they, it's because of like, this is kind of more of their personality is they're not going to jump to that anxiety or the worry as much.
And so, being able to kind of support other people is helpful so that we can kind of, yeah, move the path forward.
Kate Grandbois: Would you recommend for anyone listening who's maybe thinking about personality tests for the first time or reflecting on how this intersects with their current team? or even how this is reflecting on themselves and what personality traits they may have.
Are there certain things that in your reading of the literature and reviewing all this material, um, Are there, is there one that is more beneficial over the other? So in other words, is it, is it more helpful for a clinician to reflect on their own personality and what they're bringing into the table versus [00:59:00] making assumptions or pigeonholing a colleague?
Well, they're very neurotic. So I'm just going to X, Y, and Z. How does that, what would, what would be your thought there in terms of what a clinician can actually do with this information for themselves and for others? Okay. Thanks.
Becca Sylvia: That's a great question. I would say, I think it's been helpful to think about how I think about certain situations and respond to certain situations and might say, okay, um, you know, I, the reason why I, um, Um, less eager to get on the phone with this client is because the extraversion is like harder for me, and it's not in, you know, or, um, the reason why I'm really struggling to change my plan is because, oh, I tend to be a little bit less open.
And [01:00:00] so I guess for me, it's helpful to know that, like, just because I think see things from a certain perspective. It's not how everyone else might see something from a certain perspective. Um, I don't know what you think, Christy, but I think it's been helpful for me to kind of think about where do I fall on these scales and how I can think about other people might fall in a different place and how they might respond or act.
Kristi Stearns: Yeah, and I agree in that sense. I think that, um, where I haven't Taken one of these formal personality assessments in any of my workplaces. I think now that we've read some of the literature about it and we've Um, examined it that, you know, doing the work, so to speak, kind of starts with yourself. So I think even if I didn't have colleagues that were looking at the same information, um, but I've been able to look at this information and kind of, um, do a self [01:01:00] assessment.
I do think that, um, you know, I'm avoiding labeling other people, so to speak, but, um, it helps me understand myself and what. I have the power to change because, you know, you know what they say. You can't change other people. You can only control what you can control. And, um, I think it also helps you put into perspective what you can control.
Um, but if we were, I think perhaps some of the most beneficial uses of some of these personality assessments, though, is that, um, you know, you each complete the questionnaire assessment or what have you. And then. Should you feel comfortable in your workplace. Um, that opens up to sharing and a collaborative discussion.
Um, so, and then usually I would imagine if this was, uh, during some sort of a workshop that they would go into how the different personality strengths can, [01:02:00] um, support one another or if maybe if there are certain limitations with different personalities. personality types that, um, uh, where, who can kind of, what other team members can help out in the areas that maybe someone isn't, I don't want to say performing the highest, but, um, you know, like for me, who doesn't meet like the highest bar of conscientiousness, um, You know, Becca shares her questionnaire, and she has a higher level.
Okay, great. What can you do? Let's chat. What can you do to contribute, um, to what, uh, to some of the areas that I may need support with? And I think that having this framework, um, It helps take things a little less personal and it helps this whole topic be a little bit more approachable that it's coming from, um, actual literature, you know, self reporting.
I think that that helps. Um, but. I think that using this framework and then also [01:03:00] considering the other frameworks as well that we talked about the competencies and the generational differences, um, can really, can really help with collaboration as a whole. And, um, and again, the ocean traits, you're not just one.
full trade and that's all that you are. Obviously these traits exist in ranges. Um, and some folks may be a little bit more on the, you know, the strongly agree side of that range, um, than others. If that answered your question,
Kate Grandbois: no, it did, um, it, it really did. I, you know, we've talked so much about collaboration on this podcast, but we've never really looked at it through a generational lens or a personality lens.
And I, I think that these two components are very helpful in terms of what we bring to the table, the lens that we're looking through when we're interacting with colleagues, um, thinking about our role on the team, what we can contribute areas where we might need more support, or we might need to advocate.
For more support. [01:04:00] Um, this has all been really incredibly helpful. I'm wondering in our last few minutes, if you have any final suggestions or thoughts for our audience.
Becca Sylvia: Yeah. I mean, as you heard, we did, we kind of, we covered a lot of different things and we just kind of, you know, Um, and we've kind of, um, Dipped our toes into some of these things in terms of dip, the competencies, the generational trends and different personality types.
So we wanted to provide a broad overview to say like, these are different things to kind of think about. Um, And when you're thinking about collaboration and you're trying to maybe establish. Good collaboration on a new team or improve collaboration. It can be helpful to think about, okay. Different areas of.
You know, interprofessional competencies. Generational trends, personality types, and how they kind of all come together. Um, so our goal was to kind of, you know, increase that awareness of it. And you may [01:05:00] find like taking bits and pieces of each of these can be helpful for you and your setting. Um, you know, and as you mentioned at the beginning, The reason why we feel so strongly about effective collaboration is that we really do believe that it can improve client outcomes.
And so that's what we're here for. It's like when we, when the team collaborates together, the clients went out, um, and it also can be helpful, you know, in terms of having a more inclusive and productive work environment. So saying, you know, like, this is, you know, We can get things done. We can be efficient, but also we can be inclusive and understand that we're all different and being different is not bad.
Being different is just being different, you know? Um, and everyone brings their own strengths to work together on a team, whether it's you're working with other health professionals, you're working with a client, or even if you as a speech language pathologist, you are in the same [01:06:00] setting, and there's two or three of you in the same setting, that intra professional communicate collaboration can also be really helpful.
Um, and you know, we just, we want to. As we mentioned before, like understand and respect differences, um, and think about that rather than being bad things that there are strengths that everyone has. And we can, by thinking about strengths, um, that can help with that collaboration and therefore our clients.
Kristi Stearns: I agree with what Becca said. And, um, you know, you may find that there are certain, uh, maybe personality assessments, maybe, uh, workplace frameworks that are more suitable for the place that you're working. Um, yeah, which is why we wanted to give you, uh, a little bit of an array, but, um, yeah, what Becca said about how just, being inclusive to those differences and having some awareness, um, [01:07:00] can, you know, just decrease you taking things personally, which can, you know, deter from you doing your best.
Um, and the You know, there's a reason why, you know, in the nineties, I think about those posters that say teamwork or, um, you know, all of those like very morale boosting types of, I think of those morale, uh, types of posters on, uh, you know, workplace walls, whatever, but, um, they're reminders, right? Um, and I think that some of these frameworks and assessments Bye.
Can give you exposure and reminders, uh, just ways that you can improve your own collaboration, looking inward and, um, and all in all to support, yeah, your, our clients and their families.
Kate Grandbois: Thank you so much for sharing your time and your hive mind, your collaborative hive mind with us [01:08:00] and our listeners.
This was really wonderful. We're really grateful. Thank you so much.
Becca Sylvia: Yes, thank you for having us. We enjoyed this a lot.
Kristi Stearns: Yes, we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for your time.
Becca Sylvia: Yeah, thank you both so much. This is great.
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Kate Grandbois: Thank you so much for joining us in today's episode, as always, you can use this episode for ASHA CEUs. You can also potentially use this episode for other credits, [01:09:00] depending on the regulations of your governing body. To determine if this episode will count towards professional development in your area of study.
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