Crucial Conversations

Respecting others teaches reverence.

Principles of Crucial Conversations, VitalSmarts
In managing a project, you work with people.
Crucial Conversations Videos

• Only 23% of workers report working at their full potential

The Leadership Skill

1. What results do you want that you're not getting?
2. What crucial conversation is not being held or not being held well that perpetuates your problem?

We construct stories/accusations that ellicit emotional responses.
"What you can't communicate runs your life." - Dr. Robert Anthony

• If there's an issue you're not dealing with, it will run your life.
  

Don't trade the possibility of an uncomfortable conversation for the certainty of bad relationships and results.

When you feel threatened, there are some chemical processes that kick in, and blood is diminished from your brain and rushes to your muscles to fight or run.

1. Start with the Heart - Be introspective when applying the message.
2. Learn to Look - Make it safe: Mutual Purpose, Mutual Respect
   

Motives that kill dialogue - artificial stability!

• Save face
• Look good
• Keep the peace
• Avoid conflict
• Win
• Be right
• Punish
  

Law of the Hog- if you're trying to solve the problem through external means (guards, cameras, punishment) you're never going to solve the problem!

The sooner you get back into dialogue, the lower the costs.

People never become defensive about what you're saying; people become defensive because of why they think you're saying it.

See also The Bonds that Make Us Free.

Christmas deocrations story: Husband thought his wife was the Christmas Nazi. One day he woke up and thought, "I really don't care what happens today, I just want my wife to be happy." He came home, took care of the kids, when the wife got back, she was surprised. When he asked about helping with Christmas stuff, she said, "We don't really need to do that right now."

If each person wakes up every morning with an anxious concern for the other, then it works out pretty well. It's reciprocal. - Pres. Hinckley

Grant Writing Tips

Notes from meeting with Doctoral Student Brian Monson from the University of Arizona.
Finding the Idea

• Keep a lab notebook
• Look for opportunities for exposure to what is a hot topic in your field
• Find an area in which you can fill a gap in the research somewhere and that will allow you to answer a pertinent Question

Grantsmanship

• Find out who's on the study section for the grant review (it's online)
• Do a literature search on their name(s)
• Address something related to what they're doing
• Cite them in your grant proposal
• If there is someone you're afraid of being on the review committee for your proposal, send your proposal to them in advance and ask them to review it. Then they cannot be permitted to review your proposal.
  
• Write to the people who are reading it. They are people. Make it meaningful and interesting.

Feasibility Study

• Preliminary work with a small sample to make sure the project is feasible.
• Demonstrates good potential for overall project success.
• Makes you think through the whole process.

IRB

• Get IRB approval any time you think you might publish an article on your study/project.
  

Team Management/Company Culture

D&C 121:41--

• Power or influence ought to be maintained by persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, and love unfeigned.
• Love is a great motivating force, perhaps in any setting.
• Persuasion takes time, patience and communication. We should be prepared to take measures to make each of those a priority when working in our research groups, committees, and in any collaboration.
• Sometimes we have to acknowledge that our ideas may not be the best ideas. We have to be open to new ideas.

Netflix Culture

1. Values are what we value
2. High Performance
3. Freedom & Responsibility
4. Context, not Control
5. Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled
6. Pay Top of Market
7. Promotions & Development

• Real company values are shown by who gets rewarded, promoted, or let go.
• Company values are the behaviors and skills we particularly value in fellow employees.

1. Judgment - make wise decisions
2. Communication - Listen well, treat people with respect, maintain calm poise
3. Impact - Accomplish amazing amounts of important work
4. Curiosity - Learn rapidly and eagerly, knowledgeable about business, technology and entertainment
5. Innovation - re-conceptualize issues to discover practical solutions to hard problems
6. Courage - Say what you think even if it is controversial, take smart risks
7. Passion - inspire others with your thirst for excellence
8. Honesty - Known for candor and directness, non-political when you disagree with others, quick to admit mistakes
9. Selflessness - Seek what is best for Netflix rather than what is best for yourself or your group

Parts of a Research Grant Proposal

• From F&A, everyone gets some type of cut.
• Graduate either seeks a faculty member to assist or faculty member seeks graduate student to assist.
• Seed moneys motivate students and faculty to work together.

Submitted Proposal- Fastlane-beta.nsf.gov - Parts of a Proposal

• Cover Sheet
• Table of Contents
• References Cited
• Budget
• Facilities (Here are they kinds of facilities available to us...)
• Principal Investigator (PI) / CoPI Info (To be listed, they have to be put into the system)
• Suggested Reviewers (Optional-- sometimes self-serving; Can help to eliminate potential reviewers--Send it to the person you don't want to review it, and they're off the reviewers list!)
• Print Entire Proposal
• Project Summary
• Project Description
• Bio Sketch
• Current and Pending
• Supplementary Docs (Partnerships, sub-contractors, letter from them)
• Deviation Authorization
• Additional Single Copy Documents

It's discouraged to send the proposal to other places at the same time.

In general, BYU does a lot for the school and makes research a prominent goal.

Administrivia: Coordinating with BYU Research Office

Matt. 5:18 - "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

• There is a long process for grant applications, so we need to make it all legal and in order.

Coordinating with Research Office

• Federal Registry: Any action that happens must be recorded in the federal registry; any grant application, etc. Hence, it is the most accurate source of information, because it is the most inclusive. grants.gov is searchable, based on Agency, application no., keyword searches, etc. "It is the primary source of going."
• If you want to work with nsf.gov or nih, look at their own websites/search engines.
• Illinois Research Information Service (IRIS) - good place to research as well. BYU has a subscription to this service.
• STEM - Science, Engineering, and Math
• BYU School of Education Grant Committee - 3 individuals with ten years of experience (one of them being Aaron Pompham), Roxanna Johnson (editor of McKay Today Magazine, handles PR for the college), Tiffany Hall (Professional Development instructor for Center for Instruction ... CITES). They are certified grant professionals (American Association of Grant Professionals). 8-hour exam for certification. Roxanne and Tiffany focus more on promoting evidence; Aaron focuses more on Administration levels of a project, making sure that you follow all cost principles that govern the grants.
• 50% cost goes to Facilities and Administration at BYU (on-campus). Off-campus (doing research outside of campus for more than 140 days), you can use a lower F&A rate (28%)
• "Modified F & A" : Of all categories of items in a budget--Personnel, Benefits , Capital Equipment (>$5,000), Supplies (<$5,000, includes utilities), Travel, Stipend (includes training), Contractual, F&A (the first thing BYU Administration looks at)--BYU only takes F&A on first $25,000 of all contractual work. This allows for less of F&A cost applied to the grant. No F&A on Stipend.
• Nowadays, you are expected, as a faculty member, to have brought in a lot of money to the school through your research grants.
• The Budget is where the Administration comes in, on College and Department level. 9/10 times, it's right in-line with their research agenda.
• BYU does not allow students to interact with the agencies and try to handle all the paperwork themselves. BYU's policy is total ownership of faculty grants.

Funding

1 Timothy 6:10, Mormon 8:37

• "they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." If you covet after money, it will only bring you sorrow.
• Money does not bring happiness.
• We look for grant money because you have a purpose in mind and you can't do it without the help of someone else. For some people, however, it's a game.
• Jacob 2:18-19-- Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.
• Continuing in Timothy- The man of God must flee coveting money and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Budgets

• Rate, Units (How many times will that person be paid that rate), Benefits (Covers HealthCare, Benefits, Taxes separate from salary- 1), Total
• Associate Director manages affairs of the center
• "Security by Obscurity"
• Calculate how much you think it is, then triple that, and you'll be more accurate.
• Outsourcing would be "Consulting Services"

With leftover money

• With government, ask for extension to spend money
• You can also give money back

Curriculum Vitae

Week 7 Interlude - The Vitae
D&C 128:6-9
That Angels May Quote From It - Record information while the true details are still in mind

What goes in a Curriculum Vitae:
A more academic version of a resume that includes your past, present, and future...

• Name
• Contact Info
• Education - Degrees, etc.
• (Objective)- maybe include this in a cover letter
• Publications - Other writings
  
• Employment
• (Names of references)
• Presentations
• Memberships
• Grants
• Awards
• Skills - most likely section for lies
• Service
• Teaching
• Leadership
• Languages
• Research Interests
  

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Class

This was a class provided by the Media Center in the BYU Library.

Went over how to use Word 2007 to put in headers, etc.

• Use headers in your documents, because it will make life easier.
• Use Word 2007 because it will make your life easier.
• An Equation Builder in Word sometimes makes transferring to a PDF problematic. If this happens, feel free to bring in the document to the Media Center.
• In Word 2003, use Task Pane and Outlining toolbars to get formatting correct.
  

We also went over using PDFs:

• When you make a quick and simple PDF, the headings will automatically nest the different sections within the document. (Wow!)
• To make a new bookmark in the PDF biew, you can just click on the bookmark with the gold star icon in the Bookmarks tab and then you can move it around by holding the mouse and clicking up. You can move it up/down as well as left/right.
• File-->Properties--> set initial view
• To replace a page, use Pages tab. There you can go to options menu to replace a page.
• You can add a link in Word (using Hyperlinks) and it will work in PDFs.

Uoloading Your Theses

• https://etd.lib.byu.edu/etd/submit.html
  

Supporting an Argument: Scope and Pertinence

Monty Python - purchasing an argument

Crucial Conversations - having mutual purpose and mutual respect can guide a conversation.

Nari's funnel

• Global statement: Ten years ago, the problem was big. The Problem: the future is bleak.
• Stage 1: Research has been done, but we don't know why.
• Stage 2:

Client, Ad Agency, and a Puppy- The Client tells the Ad Agency to create an advertisement with a puppy. The Ad Agency goes and does the photo shoot and returns the photos to the client, who says, "This is a poodle. I was thinking more of a lab."

• What is "the puppy"? You have to establish early what it is what you are looking for, and what you are going to produce. Establish understanding early.

My QuestionDifferent qualities of the project:

1. Increasing efficiency
2. Forms & formats exist

How can we increase efficiency? <-- data-blogger-escaped-a="a" data-blogger-escaped-aculty--="aculty--" data-blogger-escaped-answer.="answer." data-blogger-escaped-artificially.="artificially." data-blogger-escaped-ask="ask" data-blogger-escaped-be="be" data-blogger-escaped-characteristics="characteristics" data-blogger-escaped-constrain="constrain" data-blogger-escaped-do="do" data-blogger-escaped-don="don" data-blogger-escaped-freedom="freedom" data-blogger-escaped-funnel="funnel" data-blogger-escaped-gives="gives" data-blogger-escaped-include="include" data-blogger-escaped-introduction="introduction" data-blogger-escaped-may="may" data-blogger-escaped-need.="need." data-blogger-escaped-of="of" data-blogger-escaped-question="question" data-blogger-escaped-t="t" data-blogger-escaped-that="that" data-blogger-escaped-the="the" data-blogger-escaped-to="to" data-blogger-escaped-whatever="whatever" data-blogger-escaped-with="with" data-blogger-escaped-would="would" data-blogger-escaped-you="you">Music Faculty, etc.), but the whole document is an hourglass, with the question at the fulcrum-- opens up again to how other people did it, how it works, why it matters.

General Question/Funnel Tips

• If your question isn't going to solve the answer, then you give the summary of your piece that you're contributing, then pass the baton.
• You'll have to learn how to fit your proposal into the FORM-- the various constrictions behind the assignment.
• When coming up with your question, cut it in half, and then cut it in half again to get to something reasonable to cover in a dissertation

Isaku's Question-
What are guidelines for aggregating effective programs using OERs?

• Japanese Internet Cafe Refugees - a social phenomenon
• Ultimately an infrastructure for Government to use the courses to give cafe refugees experience, knowledge, and skills.
• Maybe one specific Japanese OER course that you track?
• Different levels of economy make Japan's homeless situation more unique.

1. Make us care about young Japanese homeless people
2. Give solutions - vocational training (start with one)
3. Give results