Before I continue blogging, I have a confession to make. I am not very good with my language and hence you might find some grammar mistakes.I will try my best to improve my language for your reading pleasure and most importantly myself. Please inform me by commenting and help me in improving my language. Or if you are shy, you can just tell me secretly :)
During my NS days, I was fortunate enough to be posted for admin duties, serving under a high-ranking officer as his personal assistant. I know many would tell me that I had a slacker vocation but I feel that I have learned many more useful skills while serving under admin than those who had to sweat it out firing the big guns. The most important lesson I learn was the importance of effective communication.
As a personal assistant, my job was to assist the commander in his daily works but most importantly, ensuring that his messages were passed down correctly to the ground. At the start, I was unsure of how to carry out my duties. The other higher ranking officers in the camp looks daunting and I was hesitant in approaching them to get things done. This resulted in low efficiency in my job and it was largely due to the fact that I was not proficient in many communication skills.It was then that I learn the importance of effective communication skills in a working such as mine.
I began to observe how those who are able to get the job done more effectively and I realized that many of them talk to different people in different ways. Even if they are the same kind of message that needs to be passed down, the way in which the message is put across is different for it to be more effective.
For example, if I would to ask a Sergent to get things done, I would just Email him formally and tell him exactly what needs to be done. He would get the message that the task is important and he will need to to get it done well. However, if I would to approach a high ranking officer, I would be a bit more friendly and suggest to him that if he would have done things in a certain way, it would have better effects and it would look better on him. He would feel good about himself and be more willing to do what he is told to do.
Employing different channels of communication, I manage to effectively communicate with the other parties whom I need to get the job done. I believe that this also applies to my everyday life. The different channels of communication will also need different set of communication skills to be effective and hence these effective communication skills are important for me.
During my NS days, I was fortunate enough to be posted for admin duties, serving under a high-ranking officer as his personal assistant. I know many would tell me that I had a slacker vocation but I feel that I have learned many more useful skills while serving under admin than those who had to sweat it out firing the big guns. The most important lesson I learn was the importance of effective communication.
As a personal assistant, my job was to assist the commander in his daily works but most importantly, ensuring that his messages were passed down correctly to the ground. At the start, I was unsure of how to carry out my duties. The other higher ranking officers in the camp looks daunting and I was hesitant in approaching them to get things done. This resulted in low efficiency in my job and it was largely due to the fact that I was not proficient in many communication skills.It was then that I learn the importance of effective communication skills in a working such as mine.
I began to observe how those who are able to get the job done more effectively and I realized that many of them talk to different people in different ways. Even if they are the same kind of message that needs to be passed down, the way in which the message is put across is different for it to be more effective.
For example, if I would to ask a Sergent to get things done, I would just Email him formally and tell him exactly what needs to be done. He would get the message that the task is important and he will need to to get it done well. However, if I would to approach a high ranking officer, I would be a bit more friendly and suggest to him that if he would have done things in a certain way, it would have better effects and it would look better on him. He would feel good about himself and be more willing to do what he is told to do.
Employing different channels of communication, I manage to effectively communicate with the other parties whom I need to get the job done. I believe that this also applies to my everyday life. The different channels of communication will also need different set of communication skills to be effective and hence these effective communication skills are important for me.
hello (:
ReplyDeleteWhile reading your post I found myself silently agreeing with so many points you raised! haha!
It is so true that for communication to be effective we need to talk to people in a manner that suits them. It's so important to understand one's audience.
I tend to converse in English a lot (being embarrassingly weak in Mandarin), but while working with people who were more Chinese-oriented, I realized that my habit of only using English in conversations came across as being 'snobbish' to them; they simply felt more comfortable when spoken to in Mandarin, or at the very least -Singlish :P so I had to consciously inject more Mandarin and Singlish terms into my speech when interacting with them.
It's cool that you managed to figure out the specific ways of communicating with people of different ranks in the army, to get things done efficiently and effectively. Looks like soft skills do come pretty naturally to you!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteIt was an enjoyable read.
It is really very crucial that we adopt differenct approaches when we talk to people of different backgrounds. The trick here is when to do what. When we talk to bosses, I think we need to speak up to them to show our respect for their authority. However, while talking with fellow colleagues of the same ranking, one should adopt a different approach. The core of these approaches is sincerity. It agitated me when I saw people who did not bother to communicate with the cleaners with sincerity and respect. Some of them are even highly educated university students and staff. How sad it is.
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ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteWhen approaching higher ranking people, what I try to do most of the time is to include some small talk, "Had your lunch?", "How's your day?". This way, I can thaw the ice and become friends with them. Same with cleaners, janitors and security guards. Everyone should treat everyone else with sincerity and respect.
$W?h0w$
I never did admin job like that before. It seems everyone in the army use emails frequently in Singapore( I am not a Singaporean). I am not good at writing emails as how to format for different people and how to sign for various emails. Maybe we can talk a few mins on that.
ReplyDeleteI glad most of you all have an enjoyable read. However, I am no natural in soft skills although I had got through my army with it.
ReplyDeleteI think that many times in our life, we really have to wear a different mask while dealing with different people. Its not like being a man of many faces which says something but meant another but rather altering how we actually interact with others. Its like choosing characters in Street Fighter to counter some other character that your opponents might be using. And all these different characters requires a whole new set of skills which we need to build on.
Thanks, Xing Quan, for this entertaining and well-focused post. Your NS anecdote demonstrates very aptly the value of good comm skils. You do, as you warn us about, demonstrate many language weaknesses. These are not insurmountable. But they require your attention:
ReplyDelete1) I am fortunate enough... >>> I was fortunate enough....
2) that I have a slacker vocation >>> that I _____ a slacker vocation
3) I have learned much more useful skills while serving under admin than those who sweat it out there firing the big guns. >>> I learned many more useful skills while serving under admin than those who had to sweat it out firing the big guns.
4) As a PA, my job was to assist the Commander >>> capitalization?
5) I began to observe how some talked to others and being able to get the job done more effectively. What I realized was that many of them talk to different people in different ways. Even if they are the same kind of message that needs to be passed down, the way in which the message is put across is different for it to be more effective. >>> lack of clarity
6) review all your verb tenses!
Effective communication is based on respect and sincerity, and I think that they are the most important attitudes we should have when trying to communicate with others.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, when dealing with different kinds of people, I fully agree with you that using different ways under different situations would be more effective.However, this kind of skill can only be obtained by practicing in real life situations and learning the module ES2007S alone is far from enough.
Hope that we all can apply the principles and tips we have learned into real life situations. Try to be an effective communicator in life!
Oh, one suggestion for your blog post is that you may try to avoid using short forms like "NS","PA" etc. These short forms can cause confusion and make the post not easy for the readers to read.
ReplyDeleteHi Xingquan!
ReplyDeleteI cannot help but agree more to your point of talking to different people in different ways. Definitely, be it tone or language, different people have different ways of conversing. Hence, to be able to converse with them effectively, it is always a plus point to be able to talk in the same manner as them. For instance, while speaking to hawkers in food centres, it is definitely easier in Mandarin or even dialects.
It is great that you managed to learn the importance of communicating effectively through many personal experiences. Thanks for the great read! (: