Firstly we covered the questions we may have about Part 3 of the module - professional networking. It was interesting to hear different peoples perspectives of what they thought the difference was between a network and a professional one. For some they keep it very seperate, two different pages for the private and personal and the professional and public. For me it is quite hard to do this as most of the professional networks I have are mainly my friends too. This was something I had never really picked up on, a professional network can be a friend too. This all linked into Lave and Wenger theories - 'Community of Practice'.
Paula asked us what Community of Practice's we had... no one answered so lucky me got picked on! Fortunately by Paula asking me directly it made me understand the concept a lot more once she had explained and she used me as an example mapping the communities I have... once she had started the process for me it became clear to me that I had many more I had never even considered before today. Me and Amelia had a little chat at the end of the session and actually found that both of us are a community of practice for each other, as we both have sources of information and both know each other from before undertaking this course. By the end of mapping my own communities I ended up with an additional 3 circles than Paula had created for me.
Cabaret artists
– allow me to expand my networks outside of the hotel and allow me to network
with people higher up in the industry than myself, having these contacts means
they know more people who are at the top and capable of giving out jobs
Tutors/Lecturers-
Paula and Adesola are a massive network to me because they are my only contacts
who know the course and can give me feedback on my work
Team in my current hotel – this practice means we all know how the ‘Nidd Hall’
framework should be, without this community we couldn’t have social lives nor
run the hotel without each other.
Other Bapp students-
past and present these students can share their problems that they maybe had in
the past and give me tips or share their problems where I can help out,
blogging allows me to network with this community of practice easily
Bourne Leisure employees- this network is the largest of all the networks for me
in terms of my current practice, the email service we use here allows us to
network with every single employee within the large company to share
knowledge/advice/news
Other hotels in the same
branch- again similar to the bourne leisure employees, this community share the
brand ensuring that marketing etc are all the same and in terms of my practice
– shows and entertainment activities are done properly.
Overall the session has shot my confidence and belief in myself up, before the session I was feeling behind and not on track, but now I know where I am going forward I have a better sense of what to do next. Looking at the picture below I was on the 2nd step, throughout the session I moved up to the 'I'll try to do it' step and today I'm feeling the 'I can do it' step. Something as simple as this picture is a great way to reflect on your feelings about an upcoming task.
Comments or questions you have about the session post below, or anything I vitally missed when I left would be interesting to hear about! where do you feel you are at the moment on the step ladder? With not long to go let's all try and reach the top :)
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