Who do I work with? - an assignment: If you want to be aware of who you work with you should look wider. Your closest co-workers are not the only people, and it is useful to know the whole list of people that you potentially may interact with at your work. So print the handout attached to this assignment and write down every person you can think about. And please keep that list with you in case it was helpful in the future parts of the course. (printable handout: Who do I work with - an assignment).

Is respect necessary? - an assignment: Take your list from the previous assignment where you've defined 'the others' and now try to set a number from 1 to 10 for everyone: 1 - I don't respect that person at all; 10 - I respect that person always and everywhere. (printable handout: Is respect necessary - an assignment).

Keep your mind open - an assignment: Let's think about past situations in your work or in your personal life when someone wanted to show you their ideas about something, but you felt that you knew everything about the issue. Did you listen to the ideas, or stopped them in the middle? Think about few situations, and if you find that you didn't let people share their ideas with you, then try to write down benefits that you could possibly get if you only were willing to listen to others. (printable handout: Keep your mind open - an assignment 1).

Then, during the next week (and of course the rest of your life) try to let people share their ideas with you. Even though it may seem that your thoughts are the best, and you do not need anything else, at least listen to them, because who knows, maybe you will get something fresh to your thinking.

Responsibility - an assignment: Now think about situations from the past when you made a mistake but you didn't admit it. Instead, you blamed people around you to protect yourself from confronting your boss. If you can think about such situations, then create a list of negative results they might bring or actually brought to your work and life. (printable handout: Responsibility - an assignment).

Complete your commitments - an assignment: Create a list of things to do for the next week. The list should also include requests of people around who are important for you, for example, your children, wife/husband, parents etc. Try to set a deadline for completing every commitment that you will write down on your list, and try to complete it. (printable handout: Complete your commitments - an assignment).

Remember about hygiene - an assignment: Create a checklist of actions that in your opinion are important to look professional and to provide yourself with proper hygiene. Then think about your regular clothing and hygiene routine and compare both lists to check whether you do everything that you should or not. (printable handouts: Remember about hygiene - an assignment 1 of 2; Remember about hygiene - an assignment 2 of 2).

Let your smartphone rest - an assignment: Think about situations from the past when, for example, you had a conversation with someone and that person was more engaged in looking at a smartphone than in conversation with you. Try to name some emotions and feelings that you experienced at that time. (printable handout: Let your smartphone rest - an assignment).

Keep smiling - an assignment: For the next week (or longer) spend around five minutes standing in front of your mirror and practise smiling. Explore your smile, look at it from different angles, combine it with different body movement, and if you feel comfortable try to smile while speaking. Thanks to such practise your muscles will remember the gesture and it will be easier for you and more natural for your body to use your smile in every situation.

Make use of resources - an assignment: Create a list of three courses that you will take in the nearest future! Those may be courses offered for free by your company, or some valuable courses available on SKILLSHARE. Set a deadline for each course to provide yourself with some more motivation to complete them quickly :) (printable handout: Make use of resources - an assignment).

Remember about boundaries - an assignment: Create a list of boundaries that you want people to respect. Then think about whether you respect all of those boundaries when it comes to your interaction with others. (printable handout: Remember about boundaries - an assignment).

Let it go - an assignment: Can you think about any conflicts between you and your co-workers? If yes, then please try to write down a scenario of a conversation between you and your co-workers that should stop the conflict and restore the positive atmosphere. If you can't think about any situation like that, then use your imagination and create such conflict in your mind and then create the scenario of a conversation. Try to think about some arguments that you might use in the future when a conflict appears. (printable handout: Let it go - an assignment).

Two heads are better than one - an assignment: Now, let's think about your co-workers. Think about their skills and about areas they are good at. After that, create a list of things that you possibly could learn from them in group work. If it's your new job, or maybe you are in the process of looking for a job, then think about things that you wish you could learn from your new co-workers. (printable handout: Two heads are better than one - an assignment).

Amelia Newton

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