Looking back, I have realised that many of the arguments I encountered at home or messes I encountered at the workplace were the result of me either being an ineffective communicator or an ineffective listener. This brings me to why am I interested in learning effective communication skills.
Well, for one I would like to minimise the number of arguments I encounter. Having effective communication skills not only encompass being an effective listener or speaker, it also involves the building of interpersonal communication skills. In short, not only would I learn how to communicate properly so that people would not get the wrong message, I would also learn how to try and avoid getting myself into conversations which might antagonise a person leading to less hostile confrontations.
Secondly, effective communication skills also include skills which are useful in one’s working life. These range from the art of effective business letter writing to how to perform during a job interview. These are skills which I find to be extremely valuable as they would give me an edge when I start hunting for my first permanent job after I graduate. Most modules in NUS tend to prepare one for the IQ problems one might encounter in their job, but not the EQ problems.
Finally effective communication skills is more of a “life skill” than a “job skill”. I have taken numerous modules which are meant to educate one in a specific field of study which would be of importance in their job later on. But I have never taken a module which teaches one a skill which is useful outside their career. I guess if I have to pay NUS $3000 per semester, I might as well make the most of it and take a module which would remain useful to me even after I retire. ES2007 is one such module which would allow me to learn a very useful life skill.
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A well-summarised post on the various factors. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI've to agree with you on the part on how effective communication skills can help in one's working life. For example, with the knowledge on how to draft a business letter, we can spend more time on the "real" content and not just wasting time thinking on how to start, what kind of language should I use etc. That was the problem I faced when I tried to write my first few proposals. With effective communication, chances of a sending a wrong message to the reader will definitely be lower. This will be especially true in business letter when I feel that the content should be highly accurate, with minimal discrepancies. Agree?
Hi Joshua!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Godwin that it is indeed a very well summarized post of the lessons that we are going to learn in this course.
I do also agree to a great extent that effective communication skills include being both a good listener as well as a communicator. I am able to visualize and understand your situation, mentioned in your first paragraph, as I face similar problems, whereby ineffective communication led to heated arguments or unhappiness. Personally, I feel that everyone should learn to be good communicators and listener as if only one party practices such skills, it may improve the situation but overall, I do not think that it will be of much help. Since communication is a two way process, it really takes two hands to clap.
In addition, learning to communicate effectively is indeed more of a life skill. I will definitely raise both hands to join you in a module which will teach me life skills!
Hi Joshua,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! While I generally agree with the points you have raised in your post, I particularly like the point in the second and third paragraph about the fact that most of our university curriculum has been about developing our technical skills, whereas little has been done about our "soft" social skills.
I think that this point is especially interesting, as it highlights the fact that effective communication skills are just as important as technical skills, but unfortunately regularly overlooked by many.
I like the point about communication being a 'life skill' Joshua.
ReplyDeleteOn your point about minimizing arguments, I have always noticed that taking ourselves less seriously helps. This means developing the ability to laugh at ourselves, something I am trying very hard to work on.
What it does do is that it communicates an easy-to-get-along persona which always helps. One of the greatest examples of this is Warren Buffet - who has this ability to get the audience in splits with apparent ease. Some of videos on YouTube with Gates, visiting top schools all over the states, are worth a watch!
Hello Joshua,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about some modules preparing us for the IQ problems, rather than the EQ issues we will encounter in the future.
I suppose it can't be helped that we are learning facts and solving scientific problems since we are in the faculty of science. But I don't mean to say we have an excuse for neglecting or focusing less on EQ.
In my opinion, development of EQ should be one's own responsibility. How we engage the world in the future will depend on how we work on ourselves now. But not everyone can work on their EQ without a first direction. ES2007S could very likely be this first direction some of us need. For instance, learning about self-awareness being the keystone to EQ development is a way of finding a direction.
In short, I believe we should all be active in our personal EQ development. We could learn about the guidelines in school, but we can only truly deveop it in our daily lives with the help of appropriate modules as catalysts.
Thank you, Joshua, for this clear, concise response to the blog post assignment. You adeptly and enthusiastically explain why effective comm skills are important for you. What surprises me a bit is how these skills somehow become synonymous with ES2007S. That's a bit of a misnomer, I think. It also worries me: I hope you won't be disappointed in the course!
ReplyDeleteOn another communication front, writing skills, below I point out a few minor issues you might want to consider:
1) skills? >>> skills.
2) Effective communication skills not only encompass being an effective listener or communicator, it also involves... >>>
Having effective communication skills not only encompasses being an effective listener and communicator (speaker?), it also involves....
3) In short >>> In short,
4) study which >>> study, which
5) And the art of effective communication skills is one such module. >>> I appreciate the accolades for ES2007S (I really do!), but "the art of effective communication skills" is much more than any module!
Hey guys, thanks for all the comments you have left behind so far. I really appericate it.
ReplyDeleteGodwin: Hey, I agree with you that in writing a business letter the message has to be clearly brought across. Imagine writing a business letter to a company where you wished to place an advance order for 100 new air planes. But perhaps your message was not clear and the company read it as a Purchase Order for 100 planes to be delievered immediately. That would surely be a real disater in terms of the finaical cost you would have to bare.
With regards to writing a proposals I sincerly believe you would be able to write excellent proposals by the end of this module.
Kian Leong: Glad to see you agree with me that being a science student in NUS means getting tons of modules which improve our IQ and not our EQ. Not to say that this is bad though, but I beleive that a university education should be a wholistic education, with equal emphasis on both the EQ and the IQ skills.
On a side note, what really are EQ skills? Is the art of effective office politics considered an EQ skill or an IQ skill?
Brad: Thanks for pointing out the flaws in my writing skills. It is rather embrassing on my end that even after 14 years in the education system, I still make such errors.
On a lighter note, I do not think I would be disappointed with this module. This module has already turned out to be one of the most fun modules I have had so far.