Ending the Semester with ES2007S

Presentations. The one word that never failed to strike anxiety, fear and stress in me for as long as I can remember. Being a quiet and introverted person, speaking to few people, especially strangers and new people, was stressful enough at times, let alone presenting to an audience, with so many pairs of eyes staring intently at you, scrutinising your every move.

This was before I entered NUS. Since then, I attempted being more initiative in speaking to other people and that has made me more outgoing in informal settings. But when it comes to formal presentations, the word "sian", which means "oh, not again" in Singlish, never fails to pop up in my head and the whole cycle of fear and anxiety repeats itself. However, things were to change for the better after taking the module ES2007S Professional Communication, and I am glad to say my fear of presentation and speaking in front of an audience had diminished. 

Prior to taking this module, presentations were akin to an impending doom to me, as I always thought that I sounded and looked out of place in front of an audience and was always afraid I cannot be heard. I avoided speaking up and presenting as far as possible, whether in class or during workshops, something which I kind of regret now as looking back to my past, I had had several good opportunities to speak, yet I chose to give them a miss.  Also, presentations to me were simply information sessions where you just had to say what you prepared loud and clear, and voila! Your job is done. But ES2007S has changed my whole perception of a presentation. I realised that there is so much more to it than delivering information. It is really a lot about effective communication, from the non-verbals to engaging your audience and talking to them. In fact, presentations are modified forms of conversations, just that your audience size is now bigger.

Contrary to my previous self, I am now less afraid of presentations and even anticipate more opportunities to present, even though I may be uncertain of how I would do. It is almost like I had been injected with an extra boost of confidence and daringness to try out different styles of presenting, and not worry too much about how I will fare, since after all university is the best time to try new things, make mistakes and learn from them before we enter the real world out there. Just keep calm and give it a go.

I had a total of 4 presentations this semester, and I am happy to say that I have improved from the first presentation I did for an engineering module (which I felt was really bad) to the last presentation for the ES2007S proposal project. Overtime, as I learnt more about communication and presentation skills, I became more confident with each presentation I did, and felt more comfortable and aware whenever I presented. I could still remember what happened during my last presentation for the semester, which was for my ES2007S proposal group's oral presentation. Before it was my turn, I kept telling myself “Take charge. I want to tell the audience what I have prepared.” and kept chanting this “mantra” to myself until it was my turn to present. And it turned out to be rather effective in calming me down and making myself more focused on the task at hand. It was one of the rare times when I felt more awake during a presentation and was actually aware of what I was saying to the audience. I also realized that this was probably because I did not rely heavily on my script and had just enough practice to familiarise myself with the points to cover, hence the words came out naturally just like how I would normally speak to someone.  

Apart from the valuable practical and technical knowledge I have picked up from ES2007S, the people who went through this journey with me also made it more memorable. I got to meet many wonderful people, each with their own unique personalities and strengths which I could learn from. I am also really grateful to be taught by Dr Radhika, a very approachable and knowledgeable professor whose lessons were easy to understand. I have indeed learnt a lot from her. 

I remember on the first day of school this semester, one of my engineering professors told the class “Environmental engineers (in fact I think this applies to every profession) must be good story tellers, if not you can’t convince people of your design or justify it well.” (Something along these lines) Thinking back, I am really glad I chose to take ES2007S. Knowing the quiet and introverted person I am, I knew that I needed this course and that it will help me step out of my comfort zone and overcome my fear of presentations and public speaking. Indeed, after 12 weeks into it, I am heartened to say that I am now more confident than before and my expectations of the module had materialised. I believe that all the skills and tips I picked up here will definitely come in useful in the future, especially when I start work, since in the working world out there, being able to speak well is a valuable and highly sought after skill. The 12 weeks of hard work had indeed been worth it. Congratulations to all my course mates who made it through!

Just a little quote to end of my final blog post for this module:

      “The only person you should try to be better than...

                                      ...is the person you were yesterday.”

Here wishing everyone all the best in their future endeavours and in everything you do! :D

Group Proposal Project - A Reflection

This semester has been one of the busiest times of my life, with 7 different group projects and reports to work on, some even occurring concurrently. Although there were times when I was really pushed to my limits since I had other work and commitments to juggle too, through these projects and interactions with different groups of people, each with their own unique dynamics and way of doing things, I have indeed gained countless valuable lessons and learnt a lot from the people whom I worked with. The skills I have learnt from ES2007S, particularly, also came in handy as I worked on these projects. In this blog post, I shall focus on the things I learnt from my group proposal project, in which I had the honour of working with two very driven and hardworking people, Prab and Yeap Jun.

During the first meeting when I first met them, I felt confident that the project will go on well. From the way we discussed and narrowed down the topics to work on, I noticed that my teammates were very decisive and initiative, and that motivated me even further throughout the duration of the project to give my best and contribute in whichever way I could, as I know in the back of my mind that we are all in this together and all of us are doing our best.

Among the many things I learnt from them were initiative, drive and speed. Throughout the project, no matter how busy they were, they always manged to work on parts of the proposal and finish their work fast. This made me reflect on my own time management and work speed, since I often prefer to have more time to produce work that is to my satisfaction and well-thought through. Also, I am very particular about details and tend to require time to “feel” and gauge the overall quality of my work, especially when it comes to writing. Hence, in short, I can be rather perfectionist at times. As a result, my rate of work during this proposal project (and in fact for other projects too) was rather slow and I often felt bad for delaying our group, yet I still want to do my best which means more time is needed. However, I am truly grateful for my teammates as they were really understanding and patient with me, and did not rush me to complete my work, which made me more confident of the work I produced. But, I will still work on improving my work speed as I am fully aware that speed is an important quality in the working world.

Decisiveness was another quality I picked up from my teammates. During online meetings while working on our written proposal, I was amazed at how swift they were when they communicated among themselves to confirm certain things with each other during our group chats. We also managed to more or less settle on our topic by the first meeting and thereafter began researching on it. That has really saved a lot of time for us, which is precious considering our heavy workloads. Also, as I mentioned in my first blog post, I once had a group project in which my group and I found it really difficult to settle on a topic, which wasted quite a bit of time, time that could have been put to better use to improve our proposal for instance.

Earlier in September this year, I attended a camp organised by NUS which taught students the 7 habits of highly effective people, based on a book written by late author and educator, Steven Covey. Working on this group project enabled me to personally experience one of the 7 habits, which is to "Seek first to understand, then be understood". This is because whenever any of us needed more time to complete our assigned portion of the proposal due to other pressing assignments, we will inform each other to see if we could postpone our set deadline or meeting. I really like this aspect of our teamwork, in which we were frank with and sought to understand each other.

Lastly, as someone who truly appreciates reassurances and reaffirmation of my work, I am really thankful for my group members’ constant encouragement and reassurances during the project. I felt that these really kept the group going and made communication within our group easier and more open. I recall in Dr Radhika’s slides about interpersonal communication, giving praise where it is due is one of the important essentials for successful group work. This was the first thing that came to my mind and struck me whenever we encouraged each other. Creating a positive communication climate is another important aspect of a successful working relationship, and encouraging one another along is one way of doing so. In my opinion, these ultimately made our overall project a less stressful one to work on.

I have indeed learnt a lot in the course of working on this proposal project, including adjusting my own mindset and way of doing things to suit that of my teammates on top of the aforementioned qualities. I believe that these skills and qualities will definitely come in handy in the future both in school and at work. Once again, thank you Prab and Yeap Jun for all that you have taught me. It has been a pleasure working with you. All the best for our Oral Presentation next Friday, and last but not least, all the best to the other groups too! :)

Intercultural conflicts in an intercultural world.

In our increasingly globalized world, meeting people from different cultures, whether in school, at work, or even in our daily lives, is very common and even unavoidable most of the time, especially in multicultural societies such as Singapore. Thus, having good intercultural communication skills, or being cross-culturally competent, has never been more important.

At first glance, communicating successfully with others may seem easy and perhaps even ‘commonsensical’; be tactful and do not say unpleasant things when speaking to others, and thereafter return the favour by listening attentively when others speak. But as always many things are easier said than done. It really takes practice to master the art of communicating well with people from different cultural backgrounds, and who may have different beliefs and practices from you. Moreover, communication is not just about speaking but also the non-verbals too, such as gestures and eating etiquette. Thus, no matter how much we know about a certain culture which we do not practise, there will always be certain things which we are unaware of. As a result, intercultural conflicts may arise no matter how well-intentioned our actions and thoughts were. Say for instance you have a colleague from Thailand and you would like to encourage him for doing a good job with a thumbs-up, chances are you will be greeted with an angry face instead of a word of thanks. Hence, whenever in doubt, always read up about the culture of a person whom you’ll be meeting, or perhaps even ask him/her how they usually do certain things such as greeting someone or eye contact, bearing in mind your own cultural values and practices. Avoiding gestures if you are unsure what it may mean to someone from another culture could also be another possible way to avoid intercultural conflicts.

I have a neighbour, a housewife in her 60s, whom I chat with quite often. Recently, she has been telling me about a new domestic helper, named Amina, whom her daughter hired 3 months ago to help her mother with housework. Initially, I had thought that having a helper would be a relief for her as she would be less tired after doing housework. But just last Monday, my neighbour told me that she had transferred Amina to another employer. This did not come as a surprise to me, because from what I heard from her over the past three months, she was not at all happy with Amina’s performance, and in my opinion, an intercultural misunderstanding and conflict between them, as well as a lack of communication led to the strained relationship and eventually the end of their employer-employee relationship. In view of this incident, I shall highlight three intercultural differences which possibly caused or contributed to the conflict between them.

A little bit of background: Amina is an Indonesian who is a Christian, while my neighbour is a Chinese Singaporean who is a Buddhist.

Firstly, based on what my neighbour told me and my observations, I realized that both of them had very different working styles, possibly due to their different cultures. I could roughly understand my neighbour’s character as it was similar to my father’s. They both had a traditional mindset and expect things to be done well yet promptly. My neighbour was quite particular and had strict expectations of Amina’s work and she expects her to take the initiative to ask questions so that she could learn new things and how my neighbor prefers things to be done at her house. In my opinion, from my neighbour’s perspective, taking the initiative to ask questions is a sign of responsibility and respect as it shows that one cares enough for his/her work to want to ensure that it is done well. However, Amina rarely spoke to my neighbour and usually did her work quietly and using her own method, probably due to the language barrier between them. (Amina was not very fluent in English and there was no common language that they could communicate well with) Another problem which this language barrier caused between them was a miscommunication of instructions from my neighbor to Amina. For instance, there was once when my neighbour told her to cook half a packet of vegetables and keep the other half in the fridge. However, Amina ended up cooking the whole packet of vegetables which upset my neighbour. As seen from these incidents, language barrier is one of the cultural differences which led to the intercultural conflict between my neighbour and Amina.

Secondly, Amina was a rather selective eater and does not eat some of the food which my neighbour’s family is used to eating, such as dishes that contained coconut milk and food that has been placed at the altar in my neighbour’s house as an offering. This upset my neighbour too as being a traditional person, being picky when eating without a valid reason is not acceptable. It also made it harder for my neighbour to prepare food for her. From Amina’s point of view, she was probably not used to the kind of food or the ingredients used, which highlights yet another cultural difference in terms of food preferences.

Lastly, Amina would also do chores halfway or took a very long time to complete a task. Looking from Amina’s point of view, the reason why she took a long time to do her job could be because she wanted to do it thoroughly and well, something which I can identify with as it happens to me at times. But my neighbour felt otherwise and expected Amina to complete tasks within a reasonable time. In this instance, the intercultural difference could be different work cultures and attitudes, which in turn could be influenced by one’s cultural identity. 

Of course, there could be other reasons on top of these intercultural conflicts which have led my neighbour to make the decision in sending Amina back. However, in my opinion, had my neighbour discussed with Amina her expectations of her and set some ground rules when she first started work, the conflict between them could have been avoided or at least mitigated. Also, if both parties had put in more effort in getting to know each other better, things may not have been so tense between them. From this incident, we can see the importance of communication and understanding cultural differences of others, especially those whom we wil interact often with, which both have a very huge impact on the quality of relationships we have them.

When one can't change the environment, one can only change one's response to it...

Some say that university days are some of the best days of their life and yet others likened them to a honeymoon. However, this is one thing which I beg to differ, at least for the first semester of my life in NUS. My first semester in university had been quite a torture, as it really felt like school was nothing but studying, studying and more studying, a far cry from being enjoyable to me. Hence, after a month of rest and reflection during the December holidays on my less than ideal grades and school life, I embarked on the second semester of my university life with renewed hope and optimism for the modules I would be taking, including an English module (ES1531, formerly EG1413) that was compulsory for all engineering students.

As English Language had always been one of my favourite subjects since primary school and writing is a hobby of mine whenever I had time, I looked forward to taking this module, as it served as something different from my other modules, and gives me the opportunity to take my mind off calculations while exploring the creative side of my brain. The first few lessons were interesting, as we learnt about critical thinking and writing as well as how to analyse other people’s writing. Things were looking up until the time came for everyone’s “favourite” part of any module, group project. (Though this depends on several factors too..)

Apart from various individual assignments, another major graded component of this module was a group project, in which we had to form groups of 2-3 to work on a topic related to Social Media. My group consisted of 3 members, a Year 1 Chemical Engineering student named Dan, a Year 3 Electrical Engineering student, Zac (not their real names) and myself.

The initial phases of working with them went on quite well in terms of timeliness of completing mini tasks we set for ourselves along the project duration, though we had difficulties settling on a topic. Alas, after several changes, we finally settled on the topic, “Social Media and Recruitment in the Healthcare Industry”.

However, overtime as we worked on the project, tension started arising among our group. From my interactions with Dan and Zac, I found that Dan was more understanding and tactful while Zac tends to be too straightforward at times. Dan, who is a Singaporean, could identify with me sometimes but we kept it to ourselves. Initially, I had thought that this could be due to different working styles as well as differences in command of English Language, since Zac was from another country, and just took some of his less tactful comments with a pinch of salt. However, on several occasions, some of the things he said during project meetings made me feel useless and thoughtless, which discouraged me and made me averse towards this module. Still, things had to move on and to stop myself from being too affected by this, I told myself that perhaps I was wrong and that as a senior, he may know better. Thankfully, towards the end of the project, Zac was more tactful and we all made it through our project with a satisfactory grade.

Someone once said, the intentions of a speaker may not necessarily be in tune with what his listeners interpret. Though this had not been a fully enjoyable experience for me, I am indeed thankful for being able to experience it as it made me stronger and more aware of how I communicate with others in a group work, as well as how to adjust my thinking and way of doing things when things do not occur as expected. What would you do if your project mates are less sensitive when communicating with others, although they may not be aware of it?  

Here's a little quote to end off my first blog post. Have a great week ahead! :D