Upon entering university, I became acquainted with people from all walks of life. Due to differing growing up paths taken, I found it difficult to communicate with some of them. Not only did I not understand their manner of expressing themselves, I could not get my point across as well. Thankfully, majority face similar circumstances and we make an effort to understand each other. Upon graduation next year, I anticipate similar situations. At that point of time however, I do not expect the people I come into contact with to be as patient and understanding since work is more often than not, expected to be done promptly. Hence, I find it critical to start developing effective communication skills.
An internship experience also made me realize that effective communication skills will not only help bring across the intended message accurately, it will help foster understanding and build relationship among the people who work together. For example, my former manager speaks to the interns using Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) and the Hokkien dialect to communicate with the rest of the employees. The reason for the difference can be attributed to the difference in generation. The interns from the younger generation are more used to communicating in SCE and similarly, among the other employees, in dialect. By speaking in the appropriate languages, the manager has shown that he was easily approachable.
Communication is the only way out in a world whereby people need to depend on others to process work. By equipping oneself with effective communication skills, it will help to reduce misunderstandings and this will ultimately allow for higher efficiency in work. Moreover, as mentioned above, it can encourage healthy working relationships and facilitate working in a team. In the process, a person will also discover about him/herself and ideally try to correct the negative and learn how to bring out the best in oneself.
An internship experience also made me realize that effective communication skills will not only help bring across the intended message accurately, it will help foster understanding and build relationship among the people who work together. For example, my former manager speaks to the interns using Singapore Colloquial English (SCE) and the Hokkien dialect to communicate with the rest of the employees. The reason for the difference can be attributed to the difference in generation. The interns from the younger generation are more used to communicating in SCE and similarly, among the other employees, in dialect. By speaking in the appropriate languages, the manager has shown that he was easily approachable.
Communication is the only way out in a world whereby people need to depend on others to process work. By equipping oneself with effective communication skills, it will help to reduce misunderstandings and this will ultimately allow for higher efficiency in work. Moreover, as mentioned above, it can encourage healthy working relationships and facilitate working in a team. In the process, a person will also discover about him/herself and ideally try to correct the negative and learn how to bring out the best in oneself.
4 comments:
It's good that you've already had first-hand experience of how being adaptable and sensitive in communication 'oils the wheels of progress' at work.In Singapore, you do have the difficulty of dealing with diverse races, social classes and nationalities in the workplace but despite this I think kindness and honesty in your day today communications take you a long way- Teacher, Fiona
I agree that employers have to make the effort to communicate effectively with their employees by using the language or dialect they are comfortable with. This is especially so in Singapore as it is multiracial and a company normally has employees from different cultures and countries. Thus i am encouraged by your eagerness to learn the skills to improve your communication with others as it would definitely help you in your leadership position in the future
Hey Pei Yu,
I agree with you when you say that "communication is the only way out in a world whereby people need to depend on others to process work." I cannot imagine a person with really bad communication skills being able to carry out his daily activities easily and happily.
Hi Pei Yu!
I agree that effective communication will aid us in fostering good working relationship. When we communicate with others, we need to bear in mind who we are speaking to, the gender, the situation, the status, and many more. This is not an easy task. I believe sincerity is very important as it is the only way that we can get our points across to the audience and which they will accept.
However, I am still worried about the "office politics" when we enter the workforce in future. Hopefully, we will be lucky to avoid "back-stabbers", will be able to put the skills learnt in this course to good use, and have pleasant working environment!
Cheers
Jia Yi =)
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