Reflecting on the readings and your work, talk about how action research can contribute to you professionally.
It’s funny, but I found the Coglin and Brannock text much more helpful than the Sagor test on the merit that the tone of the latter book put me off a bit. Usually it’s the conversational books that connect to my more conversational manner of learning.
That said, I was interested in the quote from page xxx of Coghlan & Brannick that states ““all good research is for Me, for us, and for them; It speaks to three audiences”.
I believe that it will be here that I begin to take a look around my professional life, looking to discover the subject of my semester studies.
I will obviously be the Me in this sentence, the “us” will be defined as my team and the Team (which are my co-workers and our SME team) and finally, because at the end of the day everything that we do is about selling the ‘poo, the “them” will be the stylist/barber community at large.
Brainstorm: Things that are not good for Me, us and them currently…
- The sense of community: lacking because of the being short handed in the office and having such a large, geographically diverse population.
- Role clarity: sales folk have been “negotiating” rates, roles and expectations with our “team” for so many years that no one really knows who is certified to do what for whom when.
- A generally casual industry: The beauty industry is generally made up of a bunch of “over-share-ers”. This stems from the fact that clientele is often built based on a word-of-mouth recommendations as well as a persona of “coolness”. What I’m finding is that this leads to awkward corporate experiences for the HR guy, for me, but rarely for the Team Members. As friendship and business often are blurry lines, this is an area where we have to work to develop our “folks” as to avoid a great big HR explosion.
