Effective communications are very important to me in my everyday life-from family, to school, to CCAs, to work and internship. I firmly believe that this ES2007S professional communication class will be fruitful and will be able to contribute to my holistic development as an undergraduate.

In NUS, I feel that the 3 best modules which I have taken so far is GEK1006 (Dynamics of Interpersonal Relational), HR2002 (Human Capital Resource) and PL1101E (Introduction to Psycology). This is because I find that these modules helped me in various ways to understand human behavior, and they inculcate me with some of good habits that contribute to effective communications. I really enjoyed and benefited from these 3 modules in dealing with daily challenges and conflicts, and highly recommend to all NUS students regardless of the faculty they are in.

In the context of CCAs, I have participate in many different activities since secondary school and one fundamental lesson I have learnt is that effective interpersonal communication is essential in dealing with conflicts and the management of expectations. Just a short introduction about myself: I was in National Police Cadet Corps (NPCC) and dragon dance in secondary school; canoeing, dragon boating and canoe polo in junior college. I was also previously from Officer Cadet School (OCS), Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association (SAFSA) dragon boat team, National Team for canoeing and dragon boating during the two years which I have served in the army. Currently, I am a cheerleader in NUS cheerleading team. Through involvement in these CCAs, I constantly seek to challenge myself physically, mentally and emotionally, as I am required to work purposefully with unique people from all walks of life. Without effective communications, I am positive that I will not be able to work well in any of the teams.

In my everyday life, I love to interact with people and always seek to be the strongest in my field with the intention that I can be of help and service to others. However, this pure willingness to help is sometimes being misinterpreted as negative hidden agendas by some. I believe that by having strong and effective communication skills, misunderstanding of my intentions can be lessened. That being said, I recognize that it is also not possible to completely remove all negative interpretation by everyone I work with because there are bound to be dissimilar opinions and biases that exist between humans. Ultimately, I believe it is how I deal with these ever-present skeptics that will make me a stronger and better follower and leader. I truly enjoy overcoming these challenges involved in interpersonal communication. I have undoubtedly benefited from all the different obstacles in CCAs, academic and everyday life.

I understand that for effective communications to occur, one must first understand the essences of it. In addition to this, to constantly and consistently practice the good habits which then will be reflected upon one’s action. Personally, I hope that this class will further enhance and equip me with the right set of skills and mindset, to embrace future endeavors with more courage and confidence. I wish to work more effectively and efficiently with as many people across different fields as possible for the betterment of my country. My ultimate aim is to be a better person for my family and my country.

 chew said on January 24, 2012 at 5:28 PM  

Testing..

 Candice said on January 27, 2012 at 8:52 PM  

Hello Chris. It seems like you do enjoy doing those modules that study the human relation. Pretty interesting selection of modules. You participate in a myriad of team sports/activities which would naturally require the use of communication, rehearsed or unrehearsed within and outside of the activity.

I understand your situation of being misinterpreted as much as you do not wish to be but it is inherent in man's nature to compare and degrade others to elevate oneself. There's nothing wrong with that as it ultimately raises one's own self-valuation. Taking it on a more positive note, it is good that you are aware of such social forces and not let it get to you. I believe these challenges do mould you to become a better, stronger person. Keep the faith!

Definitely, understanding effective communication is one thing. But practicing what you've learnt is a whole new thing all together. I particularly like Chee Kian's last phrase on his post "time to practice what we preach" as it shows some form of commitment to live out what he has acquired. I'm sure with the right motivations, some effort on your part coupled with the life skills gained along the way, you will turn out to be a fine, young chap with very honed interpersonal skills!

 Rina Malathi said on January 28, 2012 at 3:10 PM  

Hi Chris,

Good choices in modules. I remember you discussing about that in class on thursday. It's good to hear that you've benefited from the classes.

Just as Candice as mentioned, I too understand how our actions can be easily misinterpreted. After all, when we speak (or listen), our attention is focused on words rather than body language. But our judgment includes both.

 terence said on January 28, 2012 at 5:41 PM  

Hi Li Yuan!

Yupx, having known you since OCS days, i can see that you have an attitude for constantly seeking challenges and pushing youself to your limits. You radiate positiveness with the way your write. Your mood is really infectious in class!

I do agree with the Candice and Malathi that people tend to misinterpret willingness to help as having hidden agenda. With the right set of know-hows, i believe that you can overcome this and get your intentions over correctly to the intended party. Stick to your principles! :)

 gangrui said on January 29, 2012 at 12:46 AM  

Hello Li Yuan!!

The point you raised regarding your willingness to help being misintepreted as a hidden agenda i believe its quite a common thing because i have experienced it before. The feeling is quite terrible because its as if you have been maligned.
Hmm so far in class i feel that you are a very sincere and ethusiastic person. When you talked about your cheerleading experience the other time i could really feel your energy!! i guess you are really suited to be one because cheerleaders always have to possess high energy levels to wow the crowd!!

 G-Man said on January 29, 2012 at 6:20 PM  

Hey Chris,

I see from your long list of achievements you're quite the driven person (in spite of dubious hand injuries...). In any case I also noticed that you're quite the social person in terms of interacting and now I know why! I can also totally relate to how communication is important while working in groups because sometimes information and intent can often be misconstrued due to ineffective communication. Hopefully we don't have that problem while working on our peer teaching project, eh?
Cheers.

 liyuan said on February 2, 2012 at 1:45 PM  

Hi Candice,

I think I’m more used to rehearsed communications because I realized that I would most probably end up offending my teammates regarding training issues if I speak ‘from my heart’. On the point of being misinterpreted, I think we all need to be aware of what are others’ feelings of us, as this form the basis for non-verbal feedbacks. The tough part is to balance some of these negative feedbacks, accepting them without being too affected emotionally. And I totally agree with what Cheekian has on his post "time to practice what we preach". Though I have had many conflicts arising from miscommunications previously from CCAs, I never gave up on practicing active listening and good communication skills. I still engage actively in interpersonal interactions and communications so as to know myself better along the way, and what are the critical communication skills that I need to improve.
Lastly, I wish to thank you for your frank opinions and kind encouragements!

Cheers
Chris

 liyuan said on February 2, 2012 at 1:45 PM  

Hi Malathi,

I really enjoyed taking those modules, especially Psychology. Sometimes I do wonder if I’m in the wrong faculty! Back to reality, I reckoned that it is too late to make any changes to my course of studies. Well, I’m glad that I was given the opportunity to take and have taken those modules!

Just some points to share, in the link that Ms Lim has shared with us on Facebook, www.speakingofchange.blogspot.com, Carol mentions that some people are unaware of how or why they made the judgment, hence they are unable to filter out their biases. At the end of the day, different people have different set of judgmental criterions based on their unique upbringing and experiences. I think it is really not possible to create a good impression on everyone you meet. For example, a slouching posture might occur to someone that you are sloppy, whereas another might empathize with you because he/she understand that you might be suffering from physical disorder, or that you are just tired from a long day of hard work. On our part, we need to be aware of the different perspectives people might adopt and consciously manage their expectations of us.

Cheers
Chris

 liyuan said on February 2, 2012 at 1:46 PM  

Hi Terrence,

Those were the days where we led regimental life, training hard so in the name of military deterrence and peace. Initially I thought I have been through the worst phase of my life, having graduated from OCS, the jungle survival training where we go starving for 9days in the jungle of Brunei. When university life just started, I got a cultural shock and it took me awhile to get adjusted back from military life. It is really heartening to see fellow army friends around in NUS!
I find the materials from the the link that Ms Lim has shared with us on Facebook, www.speakingofchange.blogspot.com very relevant to understanding how people work, behave, think and formulate their judgment. I hope it will of help to you too if you do face any cases of misunderstanding of intentions in the future. Thank you for your encouragements, I guess I will let time prove my sincerity and to remove any doubts about my intentions. Stick to my principles!

Cheers
Chris

 liyuan said on February 2, 2012 at 1:48 PM  

Hi Gang Rui

I really do enjoy cheerleading as it teaches me a lot of things, like having to smile even when your stunts fail during a performance. When I took the psychology module last semester, I realized there is something called the facial feedback hypothesis where you will feel happy if you hold the physical expression of being happy (which is smiling). Previously when I was in year 1 and 2 whenever I have issue with coping with school work, I would constantly remind myself to smile to myself so as to be more positive about life. Now that I know it really helps, both mentally and emotionally! Your smile is very bright and genuine too, so I supposed you must be feeling happy most of the time! Workload is beginning to get heavier, so let us not forget to smile more and bring the happiness to everyone around us!

Cheers
Chris

 liyuan said on February 2, 2012 at 1:48 PM  

Hi Govin

Although my achievements may seem long, I have my own regrets. One of which is for not being able to do well academically in NUS. Therefore, I was not shortlisted to go overseas for Student Exchange Program. I had always wanted to go overseas to live, study and work. Well, I have just missed my chance of studying abroad. Anyway, let’s be frank and open in any of our discussions, and I’m sure we will not have much issues with our peer teaching. Looking forward to working with you my friend!

Cheers
Chris