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.
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A very precise entry from you as you gave a clear opinion on why effective communication is important to you. I agree to a large extent that body language may give people wrong impressions. Like what you mentioned, a simple smile may be interpreted by different people differently. Hence mastering communication skills is important in order for us to understand each and every intention of each other. I suggest that you can elaborate a little more on your example on “office politics”. For example, you can tell us how effective communication can minimise your chance being the “loser” in the game of politics.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Li Yun
Hey Xiu Jun,
ReplyDeleteI like the point you make about the different nuances of communication due to factors such as cultural and gender differences. Perhaps those factors have led people to make certain assumptions under different perspectives and hampered effective communication. In turn, these may cause much unwanted misunderstandings.
On a side note, I think that as much as it would be good for people to develop a holistic set of effective communication skills, they should be flexible enough to use appropriate skills at correct time too.
Best regards,
Wei Tian
hey yeo, on the whole your post seems alright. However, i feel that it is a lengthy post. It would be very much appreciated if you had been more concise.(commented by ramani d/o challiah)
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI think your points has been put forth clearly and completely. You're also pretty considerate to the readers by giving examples to illustrate your point. I feel that the post could have been more concise, like what Ramani has mentioned.
Regarding 'office politics', it's important to have communication competence, however, I feel that EQ plays a bigger role. Knowing how and what to say is one thing (communication skill) but where, when and who you say it to is another (EQ).
Hopefully, we all can learn to be a good communicator at the end of the module!;)
hey hello. I think the points you mentioned in the post were very clear. By giving examples, you made the points more interesting and also allowed the readers to view the points from your perspective.
ReplyDeleteThe point about "speech or body language being misuderstood sometimes" stood out most for me because I do get such things happening to me as well and like you i will start wondering what my friends or audience thinks about the way I'm behaving. This is especially so when I'm giving a presentation. In fact, during presentation I will try to interpret as many cues as possible from the audiences.
I do agree to what Huixin said as well that EQ plays a bigger role with regards to handling "office politics." However, I also think by having high EQ doesn't mean we will be a master in playing with "office politics" as well. So let's just look forward to our next class on EQ i guess where we get to know more about it. :)