"You need to be more articulate."
Those were the very words repeated to a 12-year-old version of me by my teacher. Admittedly at that time I didn't know what 'articulate' meant but time soon fixed that; and so begins my journey of learning and appreciating what it means to truly communicate effectively.
Moving forward the modern day Faizal is fully aware about the importance of communicating effectively; There was a point of my life that it was absolutely critical in fact.
Part of my duties during my National Service was to teach basic First Aid and CPR to members of the public and at that time my communication skills are not as awesome as they are today (yea i'm SUPREMELY humble). However as most guys will tell you during those 2 years you often get thrown into the deep end and so I had to learn such skills 'on-the-job'.
Seemingly minor things like eye-contact, how you stand, the tone of your voice are all important in getting your message across. Throw in a joke somewhere, share an interesting anecdote; these can help capture people's attention. The most important thing I learnt was to understand your audience, speak at their level, observe their reactions and react accordingly.
Today as I am being formally educated of professional communication I know these things to be termed as "non-verbal communication", "feedback" and removing "barriers". It gives perspective to all my prior experiences.
Looking to the future I have no doubt such communication skills, be it formally cultivated or ingrained by trial and error, would no doubt continue to serve me well. As a future civil engineer I would be expected to work with people of different specialties, skill sets and backgrounds. A typical construction project would involve mechanical and electrical engineers, architects and city planners, contractors who may not even speak the same language; all of whom need to understand each other perfectly if the building is to remain upright at the end of it all.
Historically significant and potentially valuable, that is why effective communication skills are important to me.
I agree with you Faizal! That is, the importance and value of effective communication, be it verbal or non-verbal, will definitely impact all of us. Just like the way a building is constructed; communication is the foundation where people build their trust and faith on. Effective communication will ensure that this foundation is rooted deep and from then on lay down the platform where ideas grow.
ReplyDeleteFrom just a few of the blog posts I've read, it is obvious that people really think differently and on different levels. Communication will become more than a tool for us to know each other, but also a way to TEACH and LEARN from one another. In fact, trying to understand each other's style of writing and generate the right ideas from a blogpost will by itself be
demonstrating effective communication. =) Thanks for the great read!
As a fellow civil engineer, I can understand how essential effective communication skills would be to you when we go out into the working world (not long now).
ReplyDeleteI agree that terms like 'non-verbal communication', 'feedback' and removing 'barriers' gives perspective to our own experiences because we deal with communication on a daily basis. Everyday, we learn how to use words to better bring across the ideas (that may sometimes sound much better in our head than when we say it out). It does not matter how many mistakes we make because it is from these mistakes that we learn.
By the way, I really like your style of writing. It is clear and succinct.
Hi Faizal, your experiences resonates with mine. Similarly, the journey of learning good English was hard for me too. I was from a Mandarin speaking family and English is more of a second language to me with respect to my mother tongue. It took me a lot of practice to reach the stage that I am today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the various forms of non-verbal communications like eye contact, appropriate jokes and awareness of the state of the audience.
Well, learning never stops. I believe that this course will help us all to improve in various ways and allow us to adapt better in the working society.
Hey Faizal!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post! I think it is an art in present times to write simply and yet communicate your message across to your audience! Like Michelle, I like your style of writing!
You mentioned that for two years during your NS days, you had been thrown into the 'deep end' on many occasions. Somehow, I've got the feeling that it is the deep end that made you swim hard towards today's awesomeness! It is in trying times that you grow the most. From my few interactions with you through lunch, I see that you are quite masterful in slotting the timely joke into a conversation! =)
Hope we can hear more of your 'deep end' stories from you over lunch! See you tomorrow!
Sup Faizal,
ReplyDeleteI loved your post and the main thing going for it is its practicality. In a word, practicality is your fort! In addition, you findly were able to find perspective in your past experiences in the armed forces, and that is pretty admirable; because reflection and restitution are hallmarks of Confucius, Buddhism, Shintonism, Zen, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and a host of other religions and even non-religions. Even self-styled non-religious self-help gurus preach these stuff, and you are putting it into practice here in PC.
You are on the right path and will ultimately find yourself in better professional communication landscapes in your life to come.
Live the dream
Thank you for the fine post, Faizal. It is clear, concise and well-focused. Like other commentators, I like the way you connect your current learning with your past experience. The example of your training job in NS is a perfect example to use to illustrate how you were thrown into prof comm, and it satisfies me that you can now reflect on that experience within the framework of our discussions.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few minor language problems in your post. let me use one paragraph to show how you could improve:
Seemingly minor things like eye-contact, how you stand, the tone of your voice are all important in getting your message across. Throw in a joke somewhere, share an interesting anecdote; these can help capture people's attention. The most important thing I learnt was to understand your audience, speak at their level, observe their reactions and react accordingly.
>>>>
Seemingly minor things like eye-contact, how ONE stands, and the tone of ONE'S voice are all important in getting ONE's message across. Throwing in a joke somewhere and sharing an interesting anecdote can help capture people's attention. The most important thing I learnt was to understand MY audience, speak at their level, observe their reactions and react accordingly.
Thanks for your effort!
hey thanks everybody for reading my first ever blog post. Yea I like my style of writing too. hahaha...
ReplyDeleteBut it is my first blog post after all and the first time using this kind of platform to communicate. A largely unexplored medium for me who knew it could be so vibrant. I'm pretty sure there is still a lot to be learnt.
Its nice to know that my experiences are not unique and I guess thats one of the best way to learn; From each other. No doubt I will reflect on the comments made here and in other blogs and look to see how I can improve the quality of future posts.
Watch this space!
Hi Faizal,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I can relate to what you mentioned because I did experience something similar as well. I guess most people will go through the same phase as you did, because some time in life, we'll all have to learn the importance of communication. In your case of course, it was probably from NS! :)
Will definitely be watching this space! :D
Cheers!