Resolving interpersonal conflict

Valerie and Yvonne are my two good friends during my secondary school years. The three of us used to hang out together every day in school and even after school hours. However, a major conflict broke out between them about a month ago, due to their clashing characters.

Valerie is outgoing and very friendly. She was the popular one in the class, constantly surrounded by a group of friends. Although she could be quite tactless at times, people still liked her for her bubbly character.

On the other hand, Yvonne is more of an introvert and gets emotional rather easily. She can also be overly sensitive to comments from her peers.

At the class gathering last month, Yvonne started saying very sarcastic things to Valerie, such as “yeah, you are the most popular one”, and criticized Valerie in every way. Valerie was puzzled by Yvonne's behavior and attitude towards her so she approached Yvonne for clarification. Yvonne started lashing out all the grudges she bore towards Valerie. She said that Valerie was insensitive and wanted Valerie to know how she felt all these years by being sarcastic to her. She was also unhappy that Valerie nicknamed her “auntie”. She felt that Valerie is always making fun of her and embarrassing her.

Valerie, being both hurt and angry over Yvonne’s ridiculous comments, has not been talking to her since then.

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding between the girls. What can I do to help salvage this wonderful friendship that we used to share?

Why developing effective communication skills is important for me?

We often heard of the phrase, “office politics”. As the phrase suggests, there are politics in almost every workplace. Handling office politic is not an easy task at all. There are always ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in this game of politics, and nobody wants to be the ‘loser’, including myself. The above is only one situation where effective communication is an important attribute to surviving well in the working society. In life, there are many tasks that cannot be performed successfully without an effective communication system.

On a personal note, sometimes I wonder what my friends think about how I behave. Was I being rude in saying certain words or doing certain actions? Does my speech or body language leads to misrepresentation of what I truly mean? Communication can come across very differently due to many factors such as cultural and gender differences. One simple smile from you may be interpreted by another differently; some may feel that it is sarcastic; others may feel that it is sincere, all depending on the situation and the impression you give to the other party. It is important for one to develop a holistic set of effective communication skills in speech and body language, in order for people to be able to convey their thoughts properly without being misunderstood.

Effective communication is important for improvement of my interaction skills with peers and future colleagues. This matters to me as I am going to enter the workforce in a year or two years’ time, and good communication skills are imminent in a successful career. During the short interview, communication skills play a significant role as small gestures and the use of language can determine the first impression you convey to the employer.

At the end of this module, I hope to be able to achieve professional presentation skills and be able to carry myself well, also not forgetting to learn to be more sensitive towards others, leaving a good impression for everyone.

Hi there!!!

Hi everyone. Welcome to my es2007s blog! I'm looking forward to seeing your comments on my posts. See you guys in the following lectures! =)