Case Study and Questions

Reggie works with Gloria and Lakeisha. He is a friendly older man who often talks about his plans for retirement in five years. He likes to make people laugh but often jokes about his struggles to learn new programs and technology.

The company recently informed the team that there will be a compliance test on new safety policies, which employees will need to pass in order to keep their jobs. The company has provided materials to study as well as optional practice exams. Gloria, Lakeisha, and Reggie are having lunch in the break room, and Gloria and Lakeisha mention that they have already signed up to take the first practice test. Reggie comments about how hard it is for him to learn a different way of doing the jobs that he has already been doing for years, joking that “you can’t teach an old man new tricks.” However, later in the day, he stops by Gloria’s desk to find out how she is preparing for the test and asks for advice. Given that they have a month until the compliance test, Gloria is confident that she can help Reggie prepare. Using your problem solving and self and social awareness skills and the information that you learned in Chapter 7 of the webtext about brain plasticity and mindset, answer the questions below:

1.Define mindset and describe what kind of mindset Reggie needs to embrace to be successful.

2. What is brain plasticity?

3. In Chapter 4, you learned about memory and how to effectively study. Using Chapter 4 in the webtext, what two specific strategies should Gloria suggest to Reggie so that he will be prepared for the compliance test? Why will these two strategies work?

4. If Reggie were your coworker, what important aspects of the situation would you want to keep in mind when offering advice and strategies to him? Why do you think this is important?