Paul
J. Meyer
My personal understanding of communication is
that it is a transfer of signals, ideas and emotions, and the understanding
of their meaning. As a student, my fellow course mates and my family are my
primary sources of social interaction. The communication within such a group
serves as the fundamental mechanism by which my friends and I share our
frustrations, feelings of satisfaction and other thoughts. Thus, communication
also provides a release for emotional expression and fulfillment of our social
needs. It is not surprising then, that my achievements and happiness often stem
from benefitting from such tightly knitted communication circles.
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| Best friends are always around with a smile |
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| My Happy Family |
On the other
hand, a lack of effective communication often gives rise to misunderstandings,
unhealthy emotional expressions before spiraling further to unhappy endings.
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From a
professional viewpoint, I feel that communication is pivotal in day-to-day
interactions at the office. A manager cannot make an informed decision without adequate
information, which has to be effectively communicated to him either by his team
or an external source. Once the manager makes a decision, he again has to
communicate this new direction to his team to inform them of that change. It is
indubitable, that the best ideas, and an efficient working environment cannot
take shape without effective communication.
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Soldiers need a leader who can effectively communicate
instructions in order to be an effective unit
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If knowledge
were to be the light that gives us direction, effective communication can be
said to be the muscle fiber in our body that propels us towards it. As a
freshman, I could not have taken a better module that not only imparts skills
to improve my communication acumen, but also widen my social circle. I strongly
believe that with the many skills I am going to learn in this course will put
me in good stead for my future projects in NUS, my career, and add more flavor
to my personal life.
Hello guys!
ReplyDeleteDo let me know how I can improve my post as this is the first time I have ever blogged! Not used to:
1) Word Limit
2) Language (Semi-Formal)
3) Sharing about myself in public space (rather shy)
That being said, I finally did it!
Cheers and Happy CNY everyone!
Hi Titus! I like how you insert some relevant examples from different profession (professional, soldier, freshman). One thing I want to ask you is that, do you think that effective communication is necessary in every professional communication (while taking the 7Cs as a guideline for effective communication)? One of the Cs is conciseness and I know that there are some culture like Indonesian or Japanese where straight to the point arguments are considered as impolite. So what do you think? :)
ReplyDeleteHello Mercia thank you for commenting on my blog post!
DeleteI do think that effective communication is too important in everything we do - professionally or outside the corporate circle! Your example made me think of a rather archaic example - Ancient China.
Then in ancient China, happiness of the monarchy was of paramount importance. As a result, monarchs are in constant peril as their subordinates tend to lie to them to please their ears - being impolite to the Emperor by telling them otherwise actually risks the wrath of the monarch!
In this instance, effective communication (albeit dishonest communication) is important to maintain the lives of the subordinates!
Likewise, in the modern era, effective communication requires environmental cognizance (are we chatting in a meeting? an office? at home? which country?) and understanding of the person we are chatting to where possible (an elderly? my boss? my teacher?). So yes, some people prefer for conversations to be straight to the point, and some require buttering up before delivering bad news!
As they say in the One Minute Manager series - Different Strokes for Different Folks!
Cheers
Titus
Hi Titus,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I think you did a good job for your first blog post:) it's nice to see that you have included your own photographs to make your post more interesting and personal.
I liked the way you linked knowledge with effective communication. "If knowledge were to be the light that gives us direction, effective communication can be said to be the muscle fiber in our body that propels us towards it" Indeed, knowledge kept in the dark is useless. Only if there is effective communication (or the action) applied to knowledge, greater innovation or ideas can be formulated.
As the question was how effective communication is important to you in particular, maybe it would be better to include more details on how it applies directly to you. I see that you addressed the question in the introduction and conclusion but the body was mainly about how effective communication is important in general.. I hope i made sense..
Happy CNY!!
Hey Eileen!
DeleteThank you for your comments! I was hoping to actually make a contrast from personal to corporate experience - and I have zero corporate experience hahaha!
Still! Thank you for your honest opinion! I will be mindful of this in my next blog post!
Happy CNY to you too!
Wishing you "Year Year got Fish"
Cheers
Titus
Hi Titus! Your post was extremely 'YUCKS', I mean extremely fabulous as per our blog group's perception of the word. HAHA. I loved the fact that you added your personal space into the woes that communication can bring about. It shows me a clearer picture of what communication can do if it is not effective enough. Ineffective communication may lead to misinterpretation of the message or an inability to comprehend the message. Or hmmm on a side note, did you just say that you were a shy guy? Titus!!! I feel so happy knowing you because you make our blog group so lively. Also I feel that you are a confident young man who uses impressive language to speak. I enjoyed reading your post Titus. Thanks for sharing:) YUCKS which means good job HAHA
ReplyDeleteLoshini!
DeleteMy jaw dropped when I read "your post was extremely 'YUCKS'". Tsk...ineffective communication! hahaha! It was not until I saw the "apostrophes" and read further on did I realize you were not telling me what I thought you were.
Thank you for your honest opinion of my post! I think your post was very 'YUCKS' too!
Cheers
Titus
Thank you, Titus, for this initial post! I'm happy that you have embraced the platform for completely, adding fine photos to your written opinion. You've also produced an easy-to-read, concise post. Kudos for that.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, I appreciate how you generalize the value of effective comm skills. What seems to be missing though is a more complete statement of your own particular needs. You mention, for instance, "unhealthy emotional expressions." Okay. Give me a context for that. Tell me how you have a need for developing the sort of sensitivity that would allow you to avoid or minimize such problems.
Do you see what I'm asking for?
Hey Brad!
DeleteThank you for giving me a holistic assessment of my post! Honestly, what you mentioned was on my mind! However, I was worried about the 300 word count limit and I also wanted a contrast between personal and professional communication circles. I guess I should plan better!
Cheers
Titus
Hi Titus. I like the way you include "transfer of signals" in your definition of communication. Sometimes we tend to emphasize communication as a way to express emotions or ideas only. When you include signals, it extend the definition to non-living-things communication as well (eg. digital communication). Sometimes humans also use signal to convey their lack of interest (eg. when a salesperson approach you).
ReplyDeleteIndeed, communication is a good (and cheap, no, free) way to get emotional fulfillment. Nowadays, there are more media that can help us achieve such fulfillment such as video games. That can be one reason why some kids today cannot communicate effectively.
In a professional life, well, some manager are not effective communicators (hey, they are the boss, they can do whatever they like :P). The worst case is when his subordinates failed to understand his command because he didn't communicate effectively, and the subordinates were punished or get scolded because of that. Things will get confusing and frustrating for the subordinates because they taught they have followed the orders. I am agree with you that everybody in the office, regardless of their hierarchical position, should communicate effectively.
Anyway, congratulation! You have widen my social circle. We are friends, right? :D
Anyway, you should display the links to others' blog so we can 'jump from blog to blog easily :D
ReplyDeleteMercia!
DeleteThank you for your very kind comments on my blog post! It appears to me that you've given my blog post a further read and I am really very appreciative of that!
And yes! We are friends!
Actually I've been meaning to ask you guys during the ES2007S lesson today as to how to display links! However, I was absent today because I was sick - just woke up from a long nap in fact. If you could teach me I would be ever so thankful!
Cheers
Titus