Claire worked in a chemical company during her internship a few months ago. She was placed in the Quality Assurance (QA) department and worked with her supervisor who had joined the company not long ago.
Her supervisor is a quiet man and Claire found that she had difficulty communicating with him. Hence, the instructions that the supervisor gave to Claire were often incomplete and this had led to numerous complaints on Claire’s poor performance from the QA department. This created a bad impression on Claire and her supervisor often put the blame on her when things went wrong in the QA laboratory. Claire was absolutely vexed by this issue.
It was one day when the supervisor came into the laboratory and reprimanded Claire for her poor work performance in front of everyone. Claire was sick of being maligned by her supervisor and she voiced out her displeasure to the people in the laboratory after he left. She began to spread rumors about her supervisor and made everyone believed that her supervisor was an incompetent person who kept pushing blames to her. It was not long when Claire’s supervisor found out what Claire had done to him. Ever since then, their relationship was even more strained.
How do you think Claire should handle the issue in the first place? What can be done to improve her relationship with her supervisor?
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Effective communication skills
“I can hardly hold a proper conversation with him, it’s like we are of different frequency!” Does the above sounds familiar? You probably might have experienced such similar frustrating situation before, only to end up avoiding a conversation with him the next time. Hence, to be able to communicate effectively is important and vital in our daily lives.
I believed that cultivating effective communication starts from home. I always feel that there is a special bond within my family. They are the ones who shower me with their never ending love and concerns. However, this ‘special bond’ may break if there is no effective communication with one another. Ineffective communication may leads to conflicts. If the conflicts are not resolve, they may result in resentment and eventually the family relationship becomes an unhealthy one.
Effective communication add values to work, be it creating a positive first impression, attending job interviews, or interactions with my bosses and colleagues. This is important for me as I will be entering the workforce soon after graduation. Being able to communicate effectively is beneficial for me and the people around me at work. At work, I will be meeting people from different age groups, backgrounds, cultures and personalities. By expressing my thoughts and ideas effectively, unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts can be minimized. I feel that acquiring the skills to communicate properly is equally important as the qualifications that one posses. It differentiates myself from others and further enhances my employability.
Good communication skills include being an active listener. I think that paying attention to the person speaking to you is a form of respect to him or her. The whole conversation will be pointless if one does not practice active listening.
Lastly, I would like to say that effective communication is like a life-long ‘education’. We never stop learning and it takes experiences and practices to improve our communication skills. Through this course, I hope to improve my interpersonal skills and to become an even better person each day.
I believed that cultivating effective communication starts from home. I always feel that there is a special bond within my family. They are the ones who shower me with their never ending love and concerns. However, this ‘special bond’ may break if there is no effective communication with one another. Ineffective communication may leads to conflicts. If the conflicts are not resolve, they may result in resentment and eventually the family relationship becomes an unhealthy one.
Effective communication add values to work, be it creating a positive first impression, attending job interviews, or interactions with my bosses and colleagues. This is important for me as I will be entering the workforce soon after graduation. Being able to communicate effectively is beneficial for me and the people around me at work. At work, I will be meeting people from different age groups, backgrounds, cultures and personalities. By expressing my thoughts and ideas effectively, unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts can be minimized. I feel that acquiring the skills to communicate properly is equally important as the qualifications that one posses. It differentiates myself from others and further enhances my employability.
Good communication skills include being an active listener. I think that paying attention to the person speaking to you is a form of respect to him or her. The whole conversation will be pointless if one does not practice active listening.
Lastly, I would like to say that effective communication is like a life-long ‘education’. We never stop learning and it takes experiences and practices to improve our communication skills. Through this course, I hope to improve my interpersonal skills and to become an even better person each day.
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