Communication is a platform that facilitates the conveying of information and intention between functioning individuals in a community. To me, the ultimate goal of communication is to not only make others understand what we want them to understand as complete as possible, but also, conversely, to understand what others want us to understand.
Unfortunately, as pointed out in last Friday's class, contrary to this ideal, communication in the real world is subjected to barriers that distort and cloud the original information and intention to be conveyed. Effective communication skills are important in identifying and overcoming these barriers. Although it is usually difficult to achieve the ultimate goal of communication mentioned above within the short time allowed for response in real world communication, we could at least employ relevant communication skills to address and overcome the more serious obstacles.
One of the skills for effective communication is the 7 Cs of communication. Here are two of my experiences that illustrate how such an effective communication skills could be at disposal readily and easily in overcoming obstacles in communication.
In an interclass basketball competition back in my high school, after being defeated in the semi-final and emerged only as the second runner-up, our class instructor highlighted a communication breakdown among our players. During that lost match, players at the bench were keeping up with the game and occasionally shouted out reminders to players in the court to avoid fouls. One of the more frequent shout-outs was "Don't stand inside the line!" Our class instructor pointed out that in such an intense and heated game like basketball with all the cheering from the crowd, especially during semi-final stage, it is important to avoid confusion by sending a clear and concise message like "Stand behind the line!" instead. We were taken aback by this communication breakdown and realised the hard way how important effective communication skills are in teamwork.
The second experience in communication breakdown happened when I was in charge of my Hall's Dinner and Dance (DnD) pageants photoshoot. The theme conveyed by the DnD committee to my media committee lacked concreteness and completeness despite constant emphasis and intense follow-ups on my media committee's part. In fact, several unnecessary photo retakes ensued when the DnD committee turned down the photos for not meeting up with the theme requirement. To be honest, we strongly believed that the DnD committee lacked clarity and concreteness in the process of outlining the theme. As a result, the photo-"rush" became two-month overdue not without taking a toll on my members' time and effort.
These experiences in communication breakdowns are the reasons I am taking this module this semester -- to learn effective communication skills. I look forward to an exciting and fruitful learning experience in my last semester as an NUS undergraduate.
Hi wellens!
ReplyDeleteBeing a member in a team sport is definitely not easy feat! I feel that communication tend to breakdown when people are feeling stessed, especially when one goal is crucial to the team.
Let's all start by trying to communicate effectively in class then gradually improve by conquering all barriers!
cheers!
Sup Wellens,
ReplyDeleteI think your rendition of PC was pretty insightful. You also demonstrated that if there is a will, there is a way. The module didn't find you, rather it was the converse; you had a dream or goal----to communicate well, and you actively sought after the solution that best fits it in the form of the PC module.
CHeers
@Chuan I agree. In the case of sports, it is the split second decision making that stresses players. Stress is one of the common communication barriers especially when we try to multitask (sometimes even unconsciously) instead of dealing with one thing at a time. Usually it is quite difficult to deal with stresses in sports like basketball since the split second decision making falls onto the player who is in control of the ball.
ReplyDelete@Mark I believe PC means professional communication, is it not? Well, I was just providing examples to make to substantiate why I feel effective communication skills are important to me. I feel that examples make understanding easier for the readers since readers could at least relate them to personal experience.
Hope all of us could benefit greatly from this module.
Hey Wellens!
ReplyDeleteI love how you incorporate into your blog post the content we learn in class, especially the 7 Cs of communication. I have been in charge of a committee as well, and I would say that it is not easy to ensure that we achieve all the 7 Cs of communication, and at times like that, the miscommunication led to unhappiness in many people. Those were probably the most excruciating experiences i had from taking up the huge responsibility. I always admire people who are born leaders. For the rest of us, we will just have to work doubly hard! ;)
I agree with both you and Chuan Ting on the strong connection between communication and team sports. Although I don't play much sports, but I do know that communication is the key to success in team sports!
Hope that all of us will eventually put the skills we develop through this module to good use in whatever aspect that we want to excel in! :)
Hwee Teng
Thank you for a very fine post, Wellens. It is clear and concise, well developed, and rich with detail, namely the two anecdotes that illustrate the importance of effective comm skills. Your language use is also impeccable, except for a couple minor problems:
ReplyDeletea) as complete as possible >>> as completely as possible
b) after being defeated in the semi-final and emerged only as the second runner-up, our coach ... >>> after our team being defeated in the semi-final and emergING only as the second runner-up, our coach...
By the way, one question: Which line on the court were the students referring to as they screamed?
Thank you Brad for the comment and corrections.
ReplyDeleteNow that I remembered, it was the free throw line during free throws.
The shout-outs were in Chinese, so I translated it literally as "inside the line". Actually, it wasn't a proper choice of vocabulary in Chinese in the first place.