By Tasha M. Troy Recently I was asked what would help someone become more persuasive. The answer I gave may have seemed simplistic or counter intuitive, but I’ve found it to be essential for myself in having influence without position and persuasion without pressure, particularly in the cross-cultural settings I usually find myself in. If
By the time I graduated from high school, I had a clear vision for my career; I knew I wanted to live and work in another country. I pursued an education in teaching English as a second language so that I could be paid to live in other countries. At the age of 29, when
By Tasha M. Troy One of the key dimensions of culture is the “relationship-oriented / task-oriented” continuum. As a product of American culture, and as an element of my personality, I began my career highly task-oriented. I was focused on first, gaining the credentials and education necessary to reach my goals and second, getting as
Listening is such a neglected communication skill! One thing I’ve discovered is people in today’s world often don’t feel like anyone is listening to them everyone is broadcasting: blogs videos YouTube crazy people on the news. Everyone’s talking, and so few people are listening. Most of us feel like our perspective is never heard or
by Tasha M. Troy I tend to be an independent learner and worker. I love to shut the door and “get into the zone” with a project. However, sometimes it’s hard for me to include others in my work. They don’t move at my pace, and sometimes they interrupt my train of thought. As I
by Tasha M. Troy I might be a goal setting junkie. I love to look at the future, think about what it might mean, chart out a path to achieve different goals, and plan a course of action. I am a very future-oriented type of person. Because of this, I’ve managed to accomplish quite a
As a young teacher in 2003, I started receiving less-than-stellar reviews from my students. Fortunately for me, the school I was teaching with at the timehad a good system in place to coach struggling instructors to improve their teaching approach. For two months, I was required to create formal and detailed lesson plans – very
by Tasha M. Troy When I was young, my mother was an elementary school teacher. I watched how hard that woman worked, and I decided that kind of work was not for me. Life has a funny way of turning the tables on you. By the time I finished college, I was headed towards a
By Tasha M. Troy In 2012, I decided to pursue a second master’s degree. I was teaching at a top university at the time that offered tuition benefits, and I love to learn, so it just made sense to me. Unfortunately, it didn’t make sense to the director of the program I was teaching with.
By Tasha M. Troy This past semester, I taught a “language support” class for international students taking a world history course. As part of my duties, I was required to attend all the world history lectures with my students. I loved it! While I took Western history as part of my own college education, I
by Tasha M. Troy When I was very young – I mean preschool-aged young – I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to go to school. I only know this because of a deep disappointment I experienced on my fifth birthday. My mother had told me that I could go to school when I