Critical Reflection on SEM2902

Being in an engineering field, limits my chances of improving my language and presentation skills. Before attending this course (Interpersonal and Work Communication), I wasn’t confident of my own presentation skills and had to read from the presentation slides if not I would have a script written before every presentation. The feedback was of cause not good because of the lack of eye contact with the audiences and not being fully aware of my own nonverbal behavior like for example standing on one leg while reading from the slides which can prove to be distracting to the audiences.  Everybody has realized the importance of communication and therefore, they want to be a better communicator. It has left no field untouched, be it in business, medical, Arts or Law, or even engineering it has become a must.

This course has enabled me to be able to understand more about the different type of communication skills which can prove to be helpful. In terms of presentation, it has made me understand the importance of target audience, preparation of PowerPoint slides and delivery, just to name a few. For every presentation, firstly, I need to identify the target audience and always try to speak clearly and use words they can understand. For example when presenting to business students, instead of using words like binary I can replaced it with the number “1” or “0” to have them understand it better. Secondly, the slides cannot be too lengthy because the audience is only capable of holding three or four points in short term memory. Giving them too many points and they will forget everything. Lastly, one of the tips which Garr Reynolds gave for delivery was to make good eye contact with the audience and never to turn your back on them. Because when your listeners see your eyes scanning their faces, they feel invited to engage with you. They feel encouraged to signal to you how they feel about what you're saying with nods, frowns, or skeptical raisings of their eyebrows.

 

In terms of communication, this course has enable me to be more aware of the verbal and nonverbal communication detail which consists of a complete package of tone, expression, hand and eye movements, postures and gesture which should all be interpreted along with the speech. With that, I am able to identify the different nonverbal communication cues and react accordingly to the situation, making me better at communicating. But no matter how good I am with communicating, there are bound to be conflict among people. Taking the Thomas-Kilmann conflict mode instrument we can measure a person`s behavior in conflict situation and then respond to the conflict. For example if I am acting as a mediator, I will have to find ways to pull the avoiders into the negotiation and to tame the competitors. It can help me to understand their preference in dealing with others and how they can adapt their behavior comfortably to work with others who have other preferred working style. These are just some of the few skills which I have learnt from the course that can already improve my communication skills with others, which could affect my Johari Window as well. Before the course, I was kind of shy and would often avoid actual face-to-face talk unless it is important. But as the course progresses, I found that I was starting to engaged in conversation little by little with the importance of having interpersonal communication made clear to me, thus, widening my open area in the Johari Window. The open area is the most important quadrant because when people know more about each other, the more productive, cooperative and effective they are when working together.

 

After going through SEM2902 (Interpersonal and Work Communication), I cannot stress enough the importance of having good communication skills and the ability to communicate well is not only an essential life skill, but arguably the most important one when I am in the working society.

Critical Reflection on Project Learning

The Project topic which my group and I have been working on was “Miscommunication within university project group”. We have decided on this topic because we feel that it is something which many of us can relate to in the future when we are in the working society. Good communication is essential to maintaining an efficient workplace, Miscommunication can lead to employee conflict, a drop in morale, turnover etc and in certain cases, neither side of a miscommunication issue is aware of the problem until it is pointed out to them. Therefore, it is important to know what can be done when such situations occurs.
 

For the presentation, I would be talking about the video which we had done regarding about our topic and explained what is happening, why it had happen and lastly the solution to solving the issues faced in the video. I started my presentation by connecting back to the statistics which Kok Zheng had mentioned earlier, to allow the audience to understand how important and relevant our topic is to them. After explaining the situation in the video, I then proceed with the solutions to how the situation could have been properly handled with the used of what we have learnt like the Johari window, verbal and nonverbal communications etc. In our presentation we provided a few solutions for miscommunication and one of them which I am talking about that is related to our video is, of cause communicating more. Open communication is essential for building team trust. Everyone in the team needs to talk to one another in an honest and meaningful way. For example, in a meeting all members in the team have a chance to talk about their progress, and discuss about the problem which they are facing. This time spent face-to-face is an important part of getting to know each other. It also creates opportunities for team members to talk, and to help one another solve problems. With this, it helps to widen up the open area within the Johari window within the team because the Open Area is the most important quadrant, as, generally, the more your people know about each other, the more productive, cooperative, and effective they'll be when working together. After which I will pass on to Rati with other solutions methods which can also be applied in real life situation and lastly the conclusion.
 

 On the actual day of presentation, I know that I had not done a good job because I was nervous which lead me to forgetting all the points which I had initially wanted to elaborate on. In the end, I had to rush through the points without elaborating much on them, thus, not providing enough supporting details. Another point which I should take note of is my movement. Because during the presentation, I was constantly moving in front of the audience which can prove to be distracting to the audience as they could lose their focus. I have learnt a lot from this presentation in terms of delivery for example I should avoid reading from notes or the slides as I tend to focus my thoughts on the notes, thus losing contact with my audience. Reading can also reduce my voice to a monotone, removing energy and enthusiasm from my delivery like what some of my peers mentioned. Instead I should directly address my audience which is much more engaging. On the other hand, some of my peers and team mates were very good as they were able to maintain good eye contact with the audience at all times, not reading from any script and their pacing was good as well and these are a few factors to being a good speaker. The other thing which I think I need to learn from them is being able to have a good pace as I believe with good pace we are able to communicate clearly and effectively, thus, drawing the attention of the audience as well.   
 

Lastly, from this experience I am able to understand myself better in terms of my own strength and weaknesses for presentation and I could work towards them to improve myself to become a better presenter. Like how others would think of Steve Jobs, who makes a presentation look effortless but that polish comes after hours and hours of practice because nobody is born knowing how to deliver a great PowerPoint presentation. Expert speakers hone that skill with practice. With all of the being said, I believe I still have a lot to learn and improve in terms of my presentation skills.