Prior to the production of the video that we had used in our final presentation, we had actually produced another video to be used. However, this video was plagued with sound issues, mainly due to the echoes of the filming location. Thus, when we used it in the mock presentation, it was received badly and feedback was that we should change it if possible. The video can be seen here:
Critical Reflection on Learning Points in the Course
I always knew that learning about communication was important. But to me, it was just one of those things where you tell yourself, “I’ll learn it when the time comes.” I wish I had actively tried to learn how to effectively communicate before this course. It was only when I started the course did I realize how essential these skills really are and how wide a spectrum they cover. After going through this course, it has led me to realize how applicable these skills are and how much they can affect your interpersonal communication for the better.
For example, in this course, we learnt about the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. This Conflict Mode Instrument categorizes the way we handle conflicts into 5 general modes. Competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating. After learning about this, I was able to predict conflicts around me and manage them. I was also able to observe the effectiveness of the different modes in my own project team when used in inappropriate situations. Using the modes ineffectively in conflict situations, although mitigating the conflict, has led to us not performing at our optimum level. This is because we do not directly pinpoint the cause of the conflict but rather accommodate and compromise. In light of this, we are now reflecting and reevaluating how we manage conflicts so as to be more productive as a team and to communicate more effectively.
It was also through this course that I was able to learn more about myself and the way I communicate. I found out that although I have strengths such as being clear and concise in the message I am conveying and being confident when speaking, I do not use hand gestures as much as I should. This might cause me to lose an audience with a shorter attention span and thus affects how effective I am as a communicator. I am glad that I am aware of these shortcomings so that I can work on them to improve as an effective communicator.
I was also made aware of other aspects of communication which, did not occur to me as being communication skills. One of these aspects is the skill of being a good listener. It did not occur to me because I initially thought communicating only had to do with output. Being able to listen to what the other party has to say, I learned, is also a mark of a good communicator. One has to be able to listen well before he/she expects the other party to listen to them.
Therefore, in conclusion, I am glad that learning the skills required to have good Interpesonal and Workplace Communciation is part of the SEEMS program. This set of skills are extremely important to our course of study. As future engineers, we will definitely be required to work in teams and how well we communicate affects how well we will perform. With this, I would like to leave you with a quote on team communication:
Reflection on Project Learning
At the start of this module, personally, I felt that making a video and preparing a presentation did not have much relevance to learning communication and to what I was studying. I also felt that assessments in this form were unnecessary because of the SEEMS program’s heavy workload. However, after going through the assessments and the module as a whole, I am glad that I was proved wrong.
Through giving the presentation, I have learnt even more about how I am as a presenter. Previously, when I gave presentations, I always felt that I was boring people and that few people would listen to what I have to say. However, by improving my verbal and non-verbal skills in this course: by making use of hand gestures and varying the pitch and tone of my voice, I am happy to say that my presentation skills has improved. I was even complimented by one of my classmates about how I was confident in what I was presenting and managed to keep the audience’s attention. This really encouraged me and made me more eager to improve myself not only as a presenter but as an effective communicator.
In the process of making the video, initially, my team and I faced a few setbacks as the video we did in the beginning had some sound issues. This was caused by the echo of our filming location which we had overlooked. So in light of this, we had to re-shoot our video. However, every cloud has a silver lining. Because we had to redo the video, we were able to re-evaluate our script and we realized that certain portions were not aligned to what we were presenting about. Thus, we were able to make a video that really aided the presentation and was well received.
In conclusion, after going through this project, I have learnt not only how to be a more effective communicator, but I have also taken home an important lesson. It is essential that we keep our minds open to learning, even if at that point in time what we are learning has no obvious relevance to us. I have also learnt that interpersonal communication is not something that everyone is automatically good at. It is essential that we take every opportunity to improve our communication skills as it would definitely aid us in our daily lives.
Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication (Revision)
Verbal and Non-Verbal communication are closely interlinked with each other. This is just something we cannot avoid. In some cases, they both portray the same message. However, like in this conversation I observed, they portray conflicting messages!
As I was walking in the shopping mall the other day, I heard a conversation going on between a young couple, they were in their early twenties. The girl looked downcast and obviously had a bad day or was facing some sort of difficulty. Her boyfriend asked her if she was okay. However, instead of telling the truth, she just said she was fine.
Albeit a short conversation but I feel that it is a perfect example of how Verbal and Non-Verbal communication can sometimes contradict each other. This is because we have full control over the words we speak, most of us are not able to exert this same control over our body. Are you able to put on a cheerful expression when you have had a bad day?
Non-Verbal cues can either reinforce the message or contradict it. In class, I learnt how Non-Verbal Communication can also repeat a message, accent it or even be a substitute for the message. Through this incident, I was also led to analyse how gender, culture and age could possibly influence communication.
Firstly, culture. I personally feel that Asians have a culture where showing your true feelings or being vulnerable, even to those close to you can be seen as a sign of weakness. I don’t know why this is, but it is just something I have observed over the years. This might have led the girl to keep her troubles inside.
Next, gender. Ever heard the phrase “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” ? This is because males and females express themselves differently and interpret others differently as well. In this case, the boyfriend probably thought all was fine and dandy, while the girl might be thinking that her boyfriend doesn’t care about her enough to ask further. Although both males and females have different ways of communicating, we should not let it be a hindrance to our communication. We can do this by understanding the other gender and learning to adapt to how they communicate.
Lastly, age. In this incident, how age has affected their communication might not have been very apparent. However, the situation might have played out differently if they were older. Maybe due to their younger age, the girl did not realize that her boyfriend might have been able to help or at least be there to support her through her tough time. Also, through experience, her boyfriend could have also been able to read her body language and know that something was up.
After analyzing this incident, I am now aware that culture, gender and age definitely do affect the way we communicate. As times are changing, nowadays, culture, gender and age do not affect our communication as much as it did in the past. However, even with the changing times, there is no way to avoid these factors completely. The best course of action is to know how these factors influence our communication and to adapt to them.
What is your opinion? Let me know what you think about how culture, gender and age would affect communication!
Strengths and Challenges in Communication (Revision)
Communication: The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium, is crucial in everyday life. Through many years of experience, I’m sure we would have developed strengths in certain areas of communication. However, I’m sure most of us still face challenges in communicating with others. It is essential to analyse these obstacles to learn from them and to make ourselves better communicators.
For myself, one of my strengths in communicating with others is that I am able to gauge the other party’s current mood. Being able to read another person’s body language is important in effective communication. This is because the other party’s willingness to accept information often varies based on mood. Someone who is in a bad mood would not be so eager to listen to anything you had to say now, would they? The ability to be clear in imparting information is another one of my communication strengths. In order to effectively disseminate information, one must be able to relay the message clearly without causing the audience to be distracted by other things.
Although being strong in certain areas of communication, I still face some challenges when communicating. One of the challenges I face when it comes to effective communication is that I lose the attention of the audience quite quickly. This is possibly due to the monotony in my voice. In class, I quickly learnt that it is important to vary the tone and pitch of your voice when it comes to communication because it helps to keep the attention of the audience and makes the exchange more lively. Another challenge I face is that I get quite nervous and might come across as quite arrogant or stern when I am required to communicate with someone I have just met. One way I hope that I can overcome this obstacle is to step out of my comfort zone by continuously meeting and exposing myself to new people.
Even though I am aware of the challenges I face in effective communication, one does not overcome these obstacles overnight. By learning about skills needed to facilitate effective communication and by experience gained over time, I am sure that I will be able to grow more as an effective communicator.
Managing Conflict
Conflict: A serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.
It is almost impossible to avoid conflicts, be it with family members, friends or even colleagues. This is because everyone has their own opinion and viewpoint. Thus, when two or more party’s opinions clash, a conflict arises.
Awhile back, I experienced a conflict within my group of friends. One of these friends, had just got a girlfriend. Let’s call him “S”. Now, every year on New Year’s Eve, we would have a get together just to hang out and to celebrate the coming of the new year and S had already indicated he was attending. So everything proceeded as normal until the night of the get-together itself, where S, suddenly didn’t show up.
He probably had his own reasons as to why he didn’t show up but he had made a commitment to us. So a call or a text would be the least he could do. Needless to say, some of us were disappointed and a little annoyed. After trying to contact him multiple times, another friend of mine, E, decided to call S’s girlfriend to find out why he didn’t show. So, long story short, turns out that S was at a party his girlfriend had organised and decided not to go for our’s. In the end, this incident led to S not being a part of this group of friends anymore as he felt that we had invaded his privacy by calling his girlfriend.
Now, most of us would automatically say that S was the one at fault. However, after thinking about it for awhile, I realized that although he was partially at fault, we were at fault too for not respecting his privacy. And in the end, we had lost a friend due to such a petty misunderstanding. I feel that this incident is a very good example of how bad resolving conflicts can turn out.
After class the other day, I observed that this particular form of conflict management is categorized under the Competing Conflict Handling mode. This mode of conflict management is one where the user is only worried about satisfying his or her own concerns and not the other party’s. I always wonder, how would the situation have turned out if both S and us had thought about the difficulties that the other party had been facing.
What do you guys think? Let me know how you would have approached the situation if you found yourself in S’s place or E’s place.
Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication
Verbal and Non-Verbal communication are interlinked with each other. This is just something we cannot avoid. In some cases, they both portray the same message. However, like in this conversation I observed, they portray conflicting messages!
As I was walking in the shopping mall the other day, I heard a conversation going on between a young couple, they were in their early twenties. The girl looked downcast and obviously had a bad day or was facing some sort of difficulty. Her boyfriend asked her if she was okay. However, instead of telling the truth, she just said she was fine.
Albeit a short conversation but I feel that it is a perfect example of how Verbal and Non-Verbal communication can sometimes contradict each other. This is because we have full control over our mouths, we do not have this same control over our body. Can somebody even look happy when they have had a bad day?
Non-Verbal cues can either reinforce the message or contradict it. Non-Verbal Communication can also repeat the message, accent a message or even be a substitute for the message. Through this incident, I was also led to analyse how gender, culture and age could possibly influence communication.
Firstly, culture. I personally feel that Asians have a culture where showing your true feelings or being vulnerable, even to those close to you can be seen as a sign of weakness. I don’t know why this is, but it is just something I have observed over the years. This might have led the girl to keep her troubles inside.
Next, gender. Ever heard the phrase “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus” ? This is because males and females express themselves differently and interpret others differently as well. In this case, the boyfriend probably thought all was fine and dandy, while the girl might be thinking that her boyfriend doesn’t care about her that much. Although both males and females have different ways of communicating, we should not let it be a hindrance to our communication. We can do this by understanding the other gender and learning to adapt to how they communicate.
Lastly, age. In this incident, how age has affected their communication might not have been very apparent. However, the situation might have played out differently if they were older. Maybe due to their younger age, the girl did not realise that her boyfriend might have been able to help or at least be there to support her through her tough time. Also, through experience, her boyfriend could have also been able to read her body language and know that something was up.
I think there is no way to escape how culture, gender and age affect the way we communicate. The best course of action is to know how these factors influence our communication and to work around them.
What is your opinion? Let me know what you think about how culture, gender and age would affect communication!
Strengths and Challenges in Communication
Communication: The imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium, is crucial in everyday life. Through many years of experience, we would have developed certain strengths in terms of communication. However, I’m sure most of us still face challenges in communicating with others. It is essential to analyse these obstacles to learn from them and to make ourselves better communicators.
For myself, one of my strengths in communicating with others is that I am able to gauge the other party’s current mood. Being able to read another person’s body language is important in effective communication. This is because people’s willingness to accept information varies based on mood. Someone who is in a bad mood would not be so eager to listen to anything you had to say now, would they? Being clear is also one of my communication strengths. In order to effectively disseminate information, one must be able to relay the message clearly without causing the audience to be distracted by other things.
One of the challenges I face when it comes to effective communication is that I lose the attention of the audience quite quickly. This is possibly due to my monotonous voice. It is important to vary the tone and pitch of your voice when it comes to communication because it helps to keep the attention of the audience and not make the exchange so boring. Another challenge arises when I am required to communicate with someone I have just met. I get quite nervous and I might come across as quite arrogant or stern. I can overcome this obstacle by continuously meeting and exposing myself to new people.
I hope that through learning about my strengths and weaknesses, I will be able to become a more effective communicator.
Interpersonal & Work Communication 