Final Reflection

After reading through my first blog post, I realized that I have a premature understanding of what effective communication is about. After three months of blogging, writing formal letters and painstakingly trying to thread the group report together, my understanding towards effective communication has definitely increased.

I mentioned in the first post that effective communication is needed to ensure that ideas are conveyed accurately to obtain the intended outcome. However, I realized that effective communication goes beyond the mere transmission of knowledge to your targeted audience. This is because people are not robots, they have their own thoughts or views that they are passionate about, disagreements might arise if there is a conflict of interest.

I had gained valuable experiences on how to communicate with my fellow project group mates, Matthew and Wai Pheng. As our group is made up of individuals with diverse cultural background, our working styles are very different and disagreements frequently arise. Hence, as the group leader, I had learnt how to be more assertive so that things could be completed on time and learnt how to compromise (in a good way) and be empathetic when my group members face problems in their work. I also realized that it is important to voice out your concerns and address any doubts to prevent misunderstandings.

In addition, I had also learnt to understand that emails may not be a good form of communication and I appreciate face-to-face meetings or phone conversations. This is because it is difficult to trace email responses and it is difficult to obtain a prompt reply as compared to face-to-face meetings or phone conversations. Intentions or tone of emails could also be misinterpreted. Nevertheless, the group project has served its purpose well as it has taught me how to build a good working relationship with my project group mates.

It is also interesting to revise and pick up new skills on formal letter and resume writing. Skills such as how to write minutes, business letters and resumes will definitely prove useful when I enter the workplace in the future.

One of the things I enjoyed the most is blogging. As blogs are personality-driven, they help me to understand my course mates better. It is also an avenue where creativity could be displayed and with all the pictures, video or music sound clips that come along with posts. Who knows, blogging can one day be a useful tool in the business world? Due to its immediacy and power , it is a convenient tool to promote one's business or showcase one's products. People may find these blog posts and start developing a feel for who you are. A relationship begins and from that springs greater opportunity - personal or business - depending on your goals.

One of the most important things I have learnt is that communication takes two forms, verbal and non-verbal. I am now more conscious in the way I write, always bearing in mind of the 7Cs, and also in the way I present myself after picking up so many pointers from the oral presentation. Though I have not really reached my goal of being an effective communicator, these skills will be useful for me if I put them into practice.

Finally, I want to say a big thank you to Christine and course mates. Thank you for being so understanding and I enjoy learning from all of you! ☺ You all are a brilliant bunch of people! ☺