Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Blog assignment 1
To me, effective communication means being able to convey my message across to my target audience or person clearly. If I am not able to do so I would have wasted both me and my audience’s time. It could also create a lot of unnecessary misunderstandings. There was once where I went out with my friend, a girl, but I just simply informed my girlfriend that I was going out with a friend. My girlfriend found out and she got angry and suspicious. Effective communications skills will also be important to my career development. If my manager or fellow colleagues find that I cannot convey ideas clearly they may not involve me in bigger projects or more important jobs. During national service I once declined doing a task and my superior did not dedicate a task to me for quite a while. It felt bad and I felt redundant. I also feel that if I am being able to communicate effectively, I would be a more confident person. There would be fewer barriers for me in reaching out to others and I would be able to network more effectively. It was this lack of confidence that lost me the chance in going after a girl I admired during Junior College. Delivering concise and clear messages is extremely important in this fast-paced world, one that is very dependent on emails and short messaging services. People nowadays simply do not have the time and patience to read long, vague and boring messages thus effective communication skills are highly sort after. Thus, in summary, if I am able to communicate effectively, I would create less misunderstandings, improve my career chances, be more confident and not put off others from reading my message.
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Hello Ken Jie! Apparently, many of the guys in our class are rather influenced by the matters of the heart when it comes to effective communication. As mentioned from last week’s lessons about the 7Cs of effective communication, I think your problem would fall under the category of ‘completeness’ of your message. I have the same problem as you, with the tendency to account for things in a short yet lack of details message. In return, the receiver tends to infer and imagine lots of other irrelevant stuff that could potentially sour the relationship. Nonetheless, you are right about delivering not just concise, but also clear (and possibly detailed) messages to make such that both parties are on the same frequency. In addition, I totally agree with you that most people, including myself, dislike reading long and lengthy messages. Probably that is why we are all bound by the limitation of up to 250 words for our blog posts. By the way, let’s bear in mind that we have to FULLY account EVERYTHING to our girlfriends regardless of what issues or its severity.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Ivan
Hello! This is the last blog I am commenting on and I find your post the FUNNIEST because you actually dared to mention problems with affairs of the heart. =) Don't blame your girlfriend because girls probably tend to subconsciously overthink because girls want nothing but the truth! (A little shortcoming of girls =)) However, i also do agree that delivering clear and concise messages is essential nowadays in this fast paced world. But I guess there is a thin line between conveying something in a short and concise manner and conveying something more detailedly! I guess we have to see who's the audience and prioritise. =) bye!
ReplyDelete-PUTS BOTH HANDS UP- AGREES WITH SARAH! (: Haha, KenJie, girls are extremely jealous creatures and its something that cannot be changed. I like the fact that you blogged about affairs of the heart too, its something that all of us have (I'm assuming here!) but are all too shy to place it on the worldwide web. Other than the importance of phrasing the messages we want to convey, I guess tone plays a huge part too. Maybe you rejected the task in army with a slightly harsh tone and your superior did not take it too well... do correct me if I am wrong though!
ReplyDeleteHi Ken Jie,
ReplyDeleteIt is of no surprise that your girlfriend had such a reaction. Think in your girlfriend's shoes and you will get the picture.
I agree that there is a need to deliver short and concise message, but there are some tiny details that has a huge impact when left out. Part of the challenge for effective communication would be to decide which part of our intended message are actually necessary.
I do suggest that you could probably split your posts into paragraphs. It would look more organised.
Cheers,
Chee Siang
Well, long and boring this post is not. (It may be concise to a fault.) You have obviously touched your other readers, especially with the example about you and your female friend. I do think this post is fairly clear, and you show the value of effective communication.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple sentences though where your language use needs attention:
1) If I am not able to do so I would have wasted both (me) and my audience’s time.
2) There was once (where) I went out with my friend....
3) People nowadays simply do not have the time and patience to read long, vague and boring messages thus effective communication skills are highly sort after. (This should be two independent sentences.)
I also agree with Chee Siang that better paragraphing would make this a better read. Still, I appreciate the overall effort.
Thanks for that and for your attention!
hi!
ReplyDeleteI can understand how your girlfriend feels. From my point of view, it would be nice for her to understand your social circle and the friends you usually hang out with.
People's impression of you can change over time. Thus, it is not too late to pick up communication skills to gain the trust of your fellow co-workers. In my opinion, the most important thing is to be able to reflect and understand what changes need to be made. From your post, it is evident that you have done that well so far!
-evonne-
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Ken Jie,
ReplyDeleteLike Chee Siang and Brad have mentioned, paragraphs please. By using paragraphs, where one idea ends and another starts is better demarcated. You need to make life easier for your audience.
One other thing that bugs me is that you briefly relate one story then go on to the next point with a bare minimum of details. I suppose it's because you feel rather constrained by the word limit, yet at the same time you have many thoughts to express. But admittedly, it's just the closet "kaypoh" in me that wants to know more details.
That aside, I feel you made many pertinent points very concisely. The overall message is coherent (can be better with paragraphs) and concrete, with points supported using brief personal examples. Nice job!
Haha yup point taken for paragraphing! Yup the word limit is a little constraining so I did the best I could. Cheers!
ReplyDelete