Service Learning Organizational Proposal

Submitted By: Brinnlie Gatherum and Nick Taylor Information Technology/Management Training Program SLCC Communications 1010 February 19, 2013

Overview
The problem we found was that many elderly residents in retirement homes do not receive the proper psychological or emotional care that they need. Families often neglect visiting their kin and thereby stop the elders communication channels to the outside world, thus resulting in loneliness and increased psychosomatic detachment and depression. Furthermore, many Alzheimers units have problems with wandering residents who often times escape the padlocked facilities. In order to solve these problems, my partner and I proposed to organize a service group that would perform various tasks to help the Wentworth Retirement Home in our area. We started by assigning group members to come prepared with a culture to talk about, a sample of the food that the culture eats, along with music, clothes, and a game from that part of the world. Our goal was to bring different cultures to the retirement home in order to reach out to, interact with, learn about, and spend quality
Nick and Tanner discussing which picture cutouts to use for the themed binders.

time with those who do not have family to communicate with. We additionally put picture books together for the residents in the Alzheimers unit. Each picture book had a theme and magazine cutouts for the elderly to look at and reminisce about. Group members helped with gathering magazines, cutting out pictures, pasting them onto paper, and organizing them in a 3-ring binder. Our goal was to provide entertainment for the residents with Alzheimers so that they could
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exercise their brains and to keep them from wandering around the building. This helped the staff tremendously by keeping the residents occupied and out of dangerous situations as they often get hurt from meandering. Our effort in reaching out to lonely individuals in our city has helped increase emotional soundness, mental vigor, and overall spiritual morale for all of the elderly inhabitants of the Wentworth Retirement Home. This project has helped many people who face depression, despair, desolation, and hopelessness caused by isolation in rest homes to feel more loved and wanted. The value of our service is going to increase the number of outside communication for the elders while simultaneously adding a greater feeling of purpose and reason for existence. The value of the service we have added will continue to help forlorn individuals feel that they are loved and valued by many.
Meredith (Nicks secret admirer) Brinnlie posing with a fortune cookie from the Cultures Nigh t.

Project Description
The goal that we set out to accomplish was to provide better psychological and emotional care for the elderly in our city. We figured that the best solution in achieving this goal would be to bring the outside world to their little home by incorporating different cultures within walking (or wheeling) distance through both a cultural social activity and also through themed picture books. The purpose of the culture activity was to keep the occupants of the retirement home entertained with and involved in different cultures from various parts of the world. By creating a social project based around a few different cultures, the residents were able to communicate with diverse people from the group and learn more about other parts of the
Shantel, Tanner, Hunter, and Nick working hard at our Culture Night.

world all while creating lifetime relationships and memories. The purpose of the themed picture books was to occupy the members of the Alzheimers unit and keep them from wandering the building and getting hurt. By creating these books, we provided a safe way to exercise the elders minds and get them to think deeply and produce new memories. The staff was deeply grateful for this service. Step one in accomplishing our main goal (psychological care) was to split our service group into two teams for the culture activity: one team for China and one team for Africa. Step two in accomplishing our goal was to assign each group member one of the following: a food sample to bring from that culture, a selection of music, clothing, a game, and random facts and information to strike conversation. The third

step in accomplishing our goal was to advertise our need for magazines to cut pictures from for the Alzheimers units themed picture books. The fourth step in accomplishing our goal was to cut out pictures from the magazines, paste them onto paper, and organize them in a 3-ring binder. At each meeting, group members were busy uplifting the elderly with kind words; listening actively to the residents as they spoke about various things; assisting the elderly in any way possible; entertaining the elders with games, food, information, and stories; cutting out and pasting pictures for the picture books; and organizing the pictures into themed 3-ring binders. There seemed to be no transitioning time at any of the meetings since group members were always kept busy with stories, questions, and arbitrary information by the wonderful residents. At our first meeting, we presented our vibrant cultural activity in the lobby of the main unit
Yancy, Lydia, and Hunter cutting pictures from magazines.

of the retirement home. In the African section, we had a game

that Jolynne created, fruit from various countries in Africa such as Mango and Banana from Brinnlie, African drums playing in the background brought by Brinnlie, and African decorations Brought by Brinnlie. In the Chinese section, we had a Marshmallow and Chopsticks game (which was the main attraction) brought by

Nick, Egg Rolls made by Shantel, a tape full of music played in the Chinese culture from Nick, a lanternmaking craft brought by Nick and Hunter, and a large assortment of dcor brought by Nick. In the second meeting, we began cutting through magazines and organizing pictures by themes. This activity took up the entire two-hour period. In the third meeting, we pasted the pictures on colored cardstock, placed them in page protectors, and stored them in a 3-ring binder to be given to the Alzheimers unit. Our project for the Wentworth Retirement Home was very successful. In the end, our Service Learning group was able to provide a fun and entertaining night to over forty-five residents in the main unit through our culture activity. We also finished making six themed picture books for the Alzheimers home, each of which contained 8-20 pages full of colorful pictures and themes ranging from sports to animals, and travel to cars. Everything our group did in this project pertained back to our original purpose: to positively influence and improve the lives of lonely elderly. We were successful in reaching out to, interacting with, learning about, and spending quality time with many elderly individuals who do not have family with whom to communicate. This project has not only helped our group to communicate more effectively with different groups of people, but also inspired each of us to reach outside of ourselves more often in order to find more happiness and purpose as we get involved in the lives of others.
Brinnlie, Hunter, and Tanner setting up for the cultural activity.

Group Assets
Two outstanding strengths that our group portrayed were laser thinking and maintaining a positive attitude. Both of these aspects were very beneficial to the success of our project. Without one or the other, our project might have gotten off track or even fallen apart. It is critical for a manager of any group to have laser thinking. When everyone focuses on one thing at a time, the whole project is able to flow more smoothly. Our group was able to work quickly and effectively because everyone was clear on their
Nick overwhelmed with joy as he is presented with a Mountain Dew for his hard work.

duties, everyone understood what was expected of them, and everyone knew our teams ending goals. In order to use laser thinking, managers focused on praising progress, not just perfection (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 141.) This concept increased service members morale and motivation to complete the project. Like in One Minute Manager, focusing on praising progress and not just perfection speed up the process at which service members completed their goals. As we were cutting out pictures to place into 3-ring

binders, everyone had a clear idea of what they were looking for. Once our service members reached a certain goal, a treat such as ice cream or cookies was given out for a short ten-minute period before we would return to work. By focusing on the groups progress and working towards a goal (and not merely relying on complete perfection,) we were able to get more done since rewards were involved. This made

putting together the final product much faster and easier than if we had only focused on a perfect end result. Our strength of maintaining a positive attitude was fully utilized during all three days of our project. For example, on the first day, we set up a table that contained information about China and Africa to try and start friendly conversations with the elderly. And boy did we start some conversations! Each of our group members seemed to get stuck that night listening to a long life tale of how living was back in their day. But as our group members show[ed] concern for others (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 139,) we realized that we arent as different from the elderly as we thought. Maintaining a positive attitude while listening intently to a very decorative and detail-oriented story given by an old woman is not only polite, but crucial to the success of our project. Though it was hard to keep up with their many stories, it turned out to be a lot of fun! We used the communications concept of show concern for others (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 139.) We realized our differences and indifferences with the elderly, and used that as common ground to start conversations. Our genuine messages of interest made a tremendous difference in the elders overall state of happiness. Group members felt grateful an d worthwhile in doing this service, and left much happier than when they came. In all, by showing concern for the elderly, it was easier to work with them when we brushed our concerns aside. Our group was able to successfully demonstrate that you can, in fact, have a great time focusing on one thing at a time, while maintaining positive attitudes towards the work you are doing. The combination of these two concepts intertwined with communications skills meant less micromanagement work for the project managers, and more fun for everyone!
Brinnlie scooping up a reward for Vince and Shantel after achieving one of their goals for that day.

Group Limitations
Even the best of groups have a few weaknesses, and ours was no exception. While we did excellent work, we had a few troubles. One of these was our planning, or the lack thereof. The other limitation was that we did not communicate effectively. Planning is the most fundamental portion of any group project. Without planning, projects are loosely thrown together and end up unorganized and confusing. As project managers, we had a hard time deciding on a specific plan because of preoccupation (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 112.) We had other business and personal concerns that made it difficult to keep our minds on the subject at hand. Since keeping focus on a current task is crucial to its success, being preoccupied was a weakness that my partner and I had a hard time controlling. Effective planning is necessary, and since we put it off to the last minute, hasty decisions were made that proved to be a downfall to our group. For example, as the deadline for our pre-service meeting came closer and closer, we realized how small an amount of planning we actually did since we were preoccupied with other tasks. It ended up being a scramble to get our documents prepared for our meeting, resulting in us having to reschedule another appointment when we were better organized. This was a direct result of failing to plan ahead because of being preoccupied. However after a quick discussion and some rigorous planning, we were able to get things sorted out and back on track towards completing our goal.
Brinnlie and Shantel are preoccupied while receiving instruction.

Effective communication is another crucial aspect that our Service Learning group lacked. Our communication was ineffective, and our ideas lost their clarity. As a result, misunderstandings between my partner and I came about. Misunderstandings involve words being interpreted differently from the way we intended them (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 76.) When communication is uneffective, it leads to frustration and aggravation. For example, when my partner and I were texting each other about ideas for our project and project times, we became confused and misunderstood exactly where we were to meet, what date, and what time. When communication channels are effective, however, goals and expectations are clearly understood. Projects can run much more smoothly, and more time will be focused towards completing the goal rather than repeatedly asking what the goal really is. This is important because it
Tanner is a bit confused after a misunderstanding with the group.

benefits all of the group members including the project managers. Communicating face to face was by far the most accurate and effective method of communicating. When we were all in a group and actively participating in group discussions about what needed to get done and who was willing to do what, everyone seemed to be on track. Later in

the week though, as we were sending out reminder texts and emails, we found out that some people werent exactly clear on the supplies they needed to bring or what was expected of them. This was a major limitation in our group. As soon as we were able to meet up the next day, everything was cleared up with some good old face-to-face communication.

Recommendations
As managers, we collectively decided that our biggest drawbacks were the following: our failure to plan ahead effectively, our unsuccessful communication skills, and our unclear expectations of the group members. Therefore, we propose that, in order to improve our teams work, we should have planned farther in advance, had more quality face-to-face communication, and we clearly defined our expectations to each of the group members. By failing to plan ahead, our group was in an extreme time crunch. Our pre-service meeting did not meet the deadline, and we did not have enough time to complete the service project to the absolute best of our abilities due to the lack of time. Each group member had to compromise their time (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 151) and accommodate work time, family time, and homework time in order to complete our goals. If we could do the project differently, we would start planning our service project much farther in advance; we would go much more in depth on details, times, expectations, and other niceties. If there was one thing in particular we would do if we could start our project over again, it would definitely be having more face-to-face communications with our team members. It proved to be the fastest and most accurate channel of communication. We would have been able to receive instant feedback and clarify any confusing subjects with body language, voice intonation, and direct eye contact. This would
Nick being the good project manager he is.

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vastly increase efficiency by avoiding any time wasted on trying to understand and decode messages. In future group situations, we will start planning the day we receive the assignment, and only do small portions of the total project each day. For example, we will start deciding days and contacting group members weeks in advance for their input, take everyone to the site visit, and have more group involvement on our decisions to lead to each specific planning detail. The next thing we could have done better is letting people know exactly what was expected from them. We had a few instances where late night texts were sent out in order to clarify what supplies we needed for the project the next day. This easily could have been avoided by making our expectations crystal-clear while we were meeting together as a group. One way to help improve our clarity in
Vince and Shantel eating ice cream and being productive.

expectations is to use unequivocal terms (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 76) to avoid misunderstandings. For example, when communicating to a certain group member about goofing off, all chaos broke loose. The project manager said, Please stop talking, we have a tight deadline and we need your absolute undivided attention. However the group member took it as, If

you mess up one more time, youre out. If we were to do this project over again, we would make sure every single group member understands what is expected of them from the start to prevent goofing off and thus resulting in a reprimand and equivocal term. In future groups, we will be sure to follow through with direct communication with group members and using unequivocal terms.

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In future group activities, we both decided that there is one specific thing each of us would do better to help our team run more efficiently. Brinnlie would integrate One-Minute Goal Setting, Praisings, and Reprimands in order to create a friendly yet strictly professional communication channel between project managers and group members to increase productivity. Nick really felt that if he could establish a crystal-clear expectation from each group member, there would be much less confusion and far more productivity from the beginning of the project. By planning farther in advance, having more quality face-toface communication, clearly defining expectations, and utilizing One-Minute Manager techniques into project management, we can experience an even greater amount of success than we ever thought possible.
Brinnlie is confident in her future project management endeavors.

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Conclusion
Our Service Learning Project dealt both directly and indirectly with the elderly. It was direct service in that we interacted with, reached out to, learned about, and spent quality time with those who do not have family to communicate with. It was indirect in that we made picture books for the residents in the Alzheimers unit to keep them safe from wandering and getting hurt. Our group was vas very well focused and great in maintaining positive attitudes. We prais[ed] progress, not just perfection (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg.
Featured are our Foods, Travel, and Fashion picture books.

141) by using a rewards system. Our group additionally show[ed] concern for others (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 139) and actively participated in conversations with the elderly. Without our groups positive mind-set and willingness to serve, the service project would have failed miserably. We had two major limitations: planning and communicating. Our problem with planning due to inattentive and preoccupied (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 112) group members led to increased stress on everyone involved, and our lack of communication led to misunderstandings (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 76.) and aggravated situations. These limitations ultimately led to chaotic situations, quadrant-1 living, and a complete waste of time.

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Each picture book contains 8-20 pages of hard work.

In order to have a more orderly and more successful service project, project managers should have planned more effectively, used better communication channels, and made clearer expectations for the group members. Because we did not plan effectively, group members had to compromise their time (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 151.) To fix this, project managers need to talk with the group and have them equally involved in layout of the project. Furthermore, because our communication channels had excess noise, misinterpretation of messages occurred resulting in mass confusion and contention. To fix this, more faceto-face communication is needed. Additionally, because the expectations of the group were unclear,
Lydia, Shantel, and Jolynne stand with thoughtful hearts

progress was slowed profusely. Equivocal terms (Communicating At Work, 2005, pg. 76) were often the consequences of these clouded objectives. To fix this, the One-Minute Management style must be enforced. Regardless of the groups limitations, we performed extremely well. We reached out to, interacted with, learned about, and spent quality time

with over 45 individuals. Our effort in reaching out to lonely individuals in our city has greatly increased emotional soundness, mental vigor, and overall spiritual morale for all of the elderly inhabitants of the

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Wentworth Retirement Home. This project has helped many people facing depression, despair, desolation, and hopelessness caused by isolation in rest homes feel loved and cared for. Our group also successfully made six themed picture books for the Alzheimers home, each of which contained 8 -20 pages full of colorful pictures and themes ranging from sports to animals, and travel to cars. By providing this entertainment to the residents of this unit, we are keeping them from wandering and getting hurt. This service project was an eye-opening experience; we learned that giving service is just as fun (if not more so) than hanging out. We can utilize our time more effectively and find immense joy and content in helping others. Our service project has not only helped us look far beyond ourselves, but has opened more opportunities for us to develop and share our talents with others who could benefit from them. As we get more involved in others lives, we can find an increasing amount of happiness that cannot possibly come from any other source.

Project Managers

Nick Taylor and Brinnlie Gatherum

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Works Cited
Adler, Ronald B., and Jeanne M. Elmhorst. Communicating at work: Principles and Practices for Business and the Professions. 8th ed. New York City: McGraw-Hill, 1992. Print.

Yancy catching up on a much-needed snack after a few minutes of hard work

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Table of Contents
Section Page

Overview........................................................................................................................................................ 1 Project Description......................................................................................................................................... 3 Group Assets ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Group Limitations .......................................................................................................................................... 8 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................................... 10 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 13 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................. 15

Brinnlie, Vince, and Shantel working hard to create themed picture books
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