Communication and teamwork, two different words but not entirely independent. The success of a team depends largely on how well its members are able to convey their ideas to each other and how well they understand each other. The importance of effective communication and teamwork is not just limited to the workplace or school; but is seen in every walk of life. I’ll tell you why it is important for me.
When I came from India to Singapore a few years ago, talking to people was one of the biggest problems I faced. I wouldn’t understand their accent, they wouldn’t understand mine. We thought very differently. It was then that I realised the importance of communication in daily life. Good communication skills are needed no matter what you are doing, playing a sport, writing an email, or even simply talking to a friend. Communication, often confused with verbal communication, is much more. It is any form of interaction with another person, not just by words, but also by our actions, or body language.
With the increasing complexity of the nature of work these days, it has become impossible for one to work alone. I would soon be an engineer and would be working with teams on projects. I therefore need to be a good team worker. I need to understand the views of my teammates, give them due respect, resolve issues in the team and keep the team together. One who cannot work with people has no place in today’s work environment.
Communication and teamwork are two of the most important attributes in a person today. It is only after you can communicate effectively that you can be a good team worker.
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Dear Anuj,
ReplyDeleteBeing from India, I appreciate a lot the fact that we're grouped together. A large proportion of our course mates are Indians and I hope to learn more about them, their ways and culture. By doing so, we can minimize any disputes and quarrels pertaining culture differences in the future.
Wherever you are, Singapore, India or anywhere else, you’re most likely to be working in a cosmopolitan society in a professional career. This is because of globalisation and the influx of foreigners in every globalised country increases, leading to an increase in the different cultures. By breaching the culture difference as soon as possible, you are actually improving yourself as a team member, learning their ways and getting to know how they think.
That is why we need to adapt quickly to the different cultures, accent and ways of thinking and sort out all the difference. This semester we will have ample opportunities for that especially in our class where there’s a good influx of people from difference countries.
I look forward for your next post and most importantly, learn more about your culture and ways of doing things.
Regards,
Mohd Ferrino
Hi anuj,
ReplyDeleteI’m glad to say that I’ve no problem understanding you in class.
I’ve also noticed the difficulty that foreign students have in getting themselves understood by the locals. I had a classmate in junior college who was also from India. There was a language barrier in the way. The fact that he was not fluent in English combined with his tendency to speak very quickly made it nearly impossible to understand him. With difficulty, he was able to get himself understood by others after a few months as his command of the language improved and the rest of the class became used to his accent.
In paragraph 3, you mentioned the importance of teamwork in our working life and I agree with it. Many programming projects consist of tens of thousands of lines of code. It would take ages to complete this kind of project on our own. Working as a team would help speed up the coding process and increase productivity.
I’ve enjoyed reading your clear and concise post and am looking forward to your next post.
Regards,
Russell
Dear Anuj,
ReplyDeleteAs part of the ‘foreigners influx’, as what Eno has said, I guess we must more or less have some very similar experiences. To be frank, I do feel that these experiences help me a lot in understanding the importance of communication as well as practicing my communication skills.
I share the same view with you; the importance of effective communication and teamwork can be seen in every walk of life. It is a globalized world and working in teams has become unprecedentedly commonplace, therefore the demand for talents who are communicationally competent is dramatically increased. As you have said, one can hardly find a place in today’s work environment if s\he cannot work with people. It really forces us to improve our communication skill and teamwork ability as well.
Therefore living and studying in such a cosmopolitan environment like Singapore is a privilege that could be very helpful to our future career. And taking this course is another such privilege as well.
Regards
Shiyan
Hi Anuj,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that as a foreign student, if you dont communicate you will not survive the world of national university of singapore.When a new foreign student enter a different culture university, he need to learn and adapt the life there.Communication is a way that allow us to do that.
I also agree that if we don't train our communication skill now, in the future when we are in an engineering team, a lot of problem we will be facing and that would not be pleasant thing to face. We need to learn how to handle conflict,how to present out idea, how to exchange our knowledge with other people and etc.
But for overall,i enjoyed reading your post and am looking forward to your second post.
Best regards,
Jeisern
Dear Anuj
ReplyDeleteI am facing the same problems with communication as you did 2 years ago. My English skills are not so good. My first semester passed without much improvement in my language because I was too shy to talk to others. And when i attended the CG1413, I started to realize how important communication and team work are. I think that it time for me to change myself.
I totally agree with you that it is common misconception that communication is only verbal language. It is, in fact, any form of interaction with others. I remember in Ferrino's blog, he mentions of traffic accidents when writing about communication. The sound of car hooter or the signal light are also communication.
The today's working environment require teamwork. Teamwork not only reduce the time needed to complete projects but also increase the efficiency. Being a good engineer also means being a good teammate.
Thank for your interesting post and i look forward to reading your next post.
Regards,
Long
Hi Ferrino,
ReplyDeleteI too am looking forward to this opportunity of mingling and communicating in our group, which is quite diverse, with 2 Singaporeans, 1 Indian, 1 Chinese and 1 Vietnamese. I have always been looking for opportunities to interact with people in small groups. This way, we can learn a lot about them.
Dear Long Dam,
Friend, I can totally understand what you are going through. It may get disheartening at times, but if you persevere, I assure you that you would come out as a more confident person and learn a lot about yourself too. It took me over a year too to communicate effectively with locals. And like you, even I spent my first 6 months mostly with my country-mates, limiting my interaction with the locals. But it is never too late to start.
As a word of advice, you should be looking for opportunities of interacting with the locals, especially in small groups where you can closely observe their way of talking and learn about it. We, as a group, would also try our best to help you as much as we can. Let’s all make it a learning experience for ourselves as well as for others.
Hi Russell and Shiyan,
Thank you for your constructive comments.
Dear Jeisern,
It is very nice of you to go outside your blogging group and read other posts and comment on them. I really appreciate it. Hearty thanks.
Cheers,
Anuj