Blogpost 7: End of the beginning

Before enrolling for ES2007S, I had already started learning; learning not about communication skills, but rather, its importance, as well as the practicability of taking such a course. However, my initial fears of communications courses had almost deterred me from the enrollment. You might ask, "what fears?" Well, I was basically afraid of my incompetence in open discussions. But I guess that is history. For I am now, the ES2007S-trained effective communicator! (There is some bit of exaggeration there)

Looking back at the course, I see a significant improvement in my communication skills. To better elaborate on that, I shall talk about three things. Firstly, oral presentation skills, secondly, writing awareness and lastly, confidence.




I dare say I have improved my oral presentation skills. Before this course, I wasn't aware of various styles and approaches in oral presentations. All I believed in was confidence. I thought that was enough for anyone to present well (With good language skills nonetheless). However, I learnt about Steve Jobs' minimalistic approach and could understand the memorable effect it brings during presentations. Therefore, from becoming aware of Steve Jobs' style, I have began developing my own style and approach of presentations. Also not forgetting: Learning about the styles of my peers, such as Goh Chern and Rohan who were creative and daring enough to venture into new methods. In essence, my take away points from oral presentations in this course are creativity and boldness.









Next, writing awareness. I can't say my writing skills have improved significantly over the past 13 weeks, but I believe I have an increased awareness of writing techniques and reader's dilemma. I have learnt the value of being concise and complete in writing sentences; to be concise is to be to the point and making it simple and easy to understand; to be complete is to provide sufficient information for a clear understanding of sentences. I have also learnt the readers' dilemma, that is the reader's 'want' to understand a piece of information but the 'reject' towards reading lengthy text. A counter to this problem is to be concise yet complete; easy to say, not easy to fulfill, those are my take away points from writing.








Lastly, confidence. Nothing impedes learning more than a lack of confidence, especially when the only way to learn is to speak up in this class. Thankfully, the class seemed to bond really well from the start, and that made me feel a little at ease when speaking during discussions. My confidence in speaking thus improved over the 13 weeks; having the chance to intereact with everyone in class during discussions, mock interviews and oral presentation Q&A sessions. What I learnt about developing confidence is there really isn't a need to develop it. All one needs to do is to stay at ease and you will likely be able to speak with confidence, much like speaking with friends.





Overall, I really love the lessons in ES2007S, the people I've met and the knowledge I have gained. I believe the reason why I find the course fulfilling is because we don't just learn from the "sensei", we learnt from everyone; just like this final post, there are at least 16 other perspectives to look at, and 16 other experiences to learn from. Most importantly, the skills I've learnt are definitely going to be useful as I gradually move into the working world.





Before I end, I have some or maybe just one negative comment to make. The course had covered too much in too short a time that some aspects didn't really have a lasting impression. For instance, intercultural issues seemed like a "touch and go" lesson. If possible, it would be great to really experience intercultural effectiveness through an activity!

One more thing, I realised many of our suggested curriculum changes during the oral presentations seemed to converge on the idea of extending ES2007S or to have a "long-term" approach towards communication skills training. Perhaps this would really help in having a holistic coverage of communications skill training; maybe, just maybe all of our ideas could merge into something substantial! Just my two cents!





One last thing, the wonderful lessons for Group8 of ES2007S couldn't be possible without the guidance of 'sensei' Brad! Thank you! "Arigato gozaimasu sensei!"

Blogpost 6: Reflection on Oral Presentation

"There was too much hand movements and gestures. You turn to the screen quite often. You tried to explain it too much." At least to the best of my memory, I recalled these were the comments given to me during the peer teaching session. From then on, I reminded myself the need to improve my self-awareness during presentations; I get too animated at times when I try to seek my audience's attention.

For this finale of ES2007S, I thought the oral presentation of TeamScientists was superb, relative to our previous performace during peer teaching. But on the individual level, I am not without flaws. I shall touch on three main components of the oral presentation: preparation, delivery and visual-aids.

First up, the preparation. Overall, I did not alloate sufficient time to rehearse the presentation. There was the problem of my poor time management, towards the end of this semester, which led to inadequate practice. I was aware of this, so my only attempt to resolve the issue was through running presentation scenarios in my head while I am on the train, bus and before I sleep. This method worked pretty well as a last resort.

In the inital phase of preparations, I attempted to construct my sentences and develop a flow at the moment of presenting. Apparently, it was terrible, and I am sure Emily and Joshua would agree with me. My ideas seemed as if they were rolling out of a BINGO machine. My flow...well, nothing flowed. So I took the advice of my teammates and prepared a script. At the next rehearsal, the script worked magic. By the final rehearsal, I had the points and flow embedded in my head. The take home message here: prepare a script to construct your flow.

For the preparation of slides, I personally gave it the least emphasis; I was adopting the school of thought that you are the best means to convey a message (reminded by Brad's mention of the absence of powerpoint and electronic visual aids in the past). However, what I thought was not conveyed clearly enough to my teammates; I was glad to have less reliance on powerpoint, but at the same time, I was worried that adopting such ideas could have undesirable repercussions. That brought about some delays in the preparatory work, since a fundamental methodology could not be established.

Secondly, the delivery. Before I present to the class, it was a nerve-wrecking wait. During the presentation, I was on "auto-pilot". After delivering my message, I felt relieved.

The delivery process was tough; I had to pay attention to three things while at it. These three things were minimizing gestures, reducing my tendency to turn to the screen and maintaining eye-contact. I felt a sense of achievement to have all these three things under conscious control, in addition to being fairly aware of what I was saying; I was almost on complete "auto-pilot" since I had to constantly pay attention to myself, without losing eye-contact with the audience and speaking the correct sentences.

My weakness in the delievery was most likely the lack of friendliness and enthusiasm. I realised smiling and showing excitement were effective ways to draw your audience's attention. I really have to improve on the 'smiling' part.

Lastly, the use of slidewares. Powerpoint is a useful tool, but sometimes it could easily tempt the user into over-reliance. I felt that for a first try in the minimalistic approach, I did quite well in focusing the attention of the audience on what I have to say. The only weakness I found in this approach was the lack of highly relevant pictures; it was difficult to obtain pictures that could speak for itslef, for instance, a picture on 'postcards from the lab' that could explain how the recommendation could be carry out.

Overall, I felt I did quite well for the oral presentation; I felt that I had improved a lot since peer teaching. However, there is still much to do in improving the effectiveness of my skills. Currently, my perception towards oral presentation has evolved; I now believe that oral presentation is a form of art; there is no need to conform to the norms. Essentially, oral presentations can be done in many ways with the key being creativity.

Sharing post 1: Get inspired to present!

Welcome to my blog! If you're looking for role models to learn presentation skills, I think I might have the some great videos for you!

Although these are videos that are great from my perspective, I can't help believing that you will feel the same as I do. Now, try viewing one video and you will understand what I mean.

I'll be adding more as I search through the internet! Enjoy!

The all-time good example of effective oral presentation


An example of elevator pitch


Elevator pitch competition for students

(Extra post) My mid-project reflections

I'd prefer to borrow a video to sum up what I feel, after reflecting on the process of writing the proposal with my team. This has something to do with the way I work. I believe it is a good learning experience, especially for me to reflect on my mistakes. Besides, I believe this is a good video to share with everyone.

ES2007S Proposal for further research: The Orange Paper Draft 1

Dear ES2007S classmates and Brad,

Joshua, Emily and I have formed the group TeamScientists. Here we present to you our proposal for further research. We hope you will be critical and honest with your feedbacks. As you read through the proposal, you can click on the links included to go to Joshua's blog for the 'background' and Emily's blog for the 'course of action'. We thank you in advance for your assistance.

I have here in my blog the abstract and conclusion.
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The Orange Report:
A proposal for further research into the communication needs of the scientific community

Goh Kian Leong; Joshua Kwang; Emily Lim

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1 Abstract 1
2 Background 1
2.1 Description of Scientific Community 2
2.2 Problem statement 4
3 Purpose statement 5
3.1 Course of Action 5
4 Conclusion 7
References 8

1 Abstract

The aim of the study is to assess the level and proficiency of communication skills within the science industry, in particular written and oral skills. Although the study is still in its infancy stage, preliminary results have shown that science undergraduates are generally not equipped with the proper communication skills needed for a career in the science industry. This would make the science undergraduate one of the possible reasons for the poor communication skills observed in the science industry. Researchers in the science industry are also not free of fault, as data gathered shows they are generally poor at communicating information to the masses.

In order to complete the study, the team would require additional financial and manpower resources. By completing the study, the team hopes to provide recommendations to modify the way communication skills are being taught in the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Science. This is to better equip science undergraduates who are seeking a career in the science industry, as well as improve the level of communication skills observed in the science industry.

2 Background

2.1 Description of the Scientific Community

2.2 Problem Statement

http://kanarumblings.blogspot.com/

3 Course of Action

3.1 Purpose Statement

http://puppie-pot.blogspot.com/

4 Conclusion

The study has set out to assess the level and proficiency of written and oral skills of individuals within the science industry. Preliminary research have so far indicated that there is a general lack of training in communication skills to prepare science undergraduates for a career in the science industry. Researchers in the scientific community are also unable to communicate effectively to the masses. The science undergraduate would move on to work in the science industry. Should their level of communication skills be inadequate, it would only result in great losses for the science industry.

As the study is still in its infancy stage, it is therefore imperative that more research be done before any recommendations could be made. In order to do so, the team would require additional financial and manpower resources to complete the study.

Evaluating Intercultural Behavior (My left hand and I) - Edited 1

My first intercultural conflict did not happen in school, contrary to the belief that it is probably the first time children of different races get to actively interact. My first intercultural conflict occurred at home, on the kitchen table, with my family's foreign domestic helper. I shall address her as 'auntie' Sumami. Before I begin, I would first like to thank her for being my first teacher on intercultural awareness.

It had been more than a decade since my first lesson on proper eating etiquette in Indonesian culture. I remembered the day when curiosity got the better of me and I experimented with eating with my bare hands. I had noticed Sumami consuming her meals with her hands everytime and never once did she use her left hand. So on my first attempt, I used both hands to eat, thinking it could be more efficient. Recalling that now, it definitely looked barbaric, but it was efficient; two hands putting the rice and meat together at the same time. That was my first intercultural "blindness".

I did my first left-hand eating in front of Sumami as she was supervising me to ensure I consumed my meal on time. This is the next intercultural "blindness" on my part. Her initial reaction was a frown; a clear disapproval of my actions. At first, I thought it was because I looked too barbaric, so I tried to look more suave in my actions. But that didn't help. Luckily she was patient (or perhaps because I was a child), and she told me in malay that the left hand is dirty and I should only use the right hand if I want to adopt her style of eating. Next thing I did was to wash my left hand.

I came back to the food, held the plate with my right hand, picked up the rice and put it into my mouth, with my left hand. Again, Sumami insisted that I was doing it all wrong. At that moment, I probably felt what she said was ridiculous, since I had washed my left hand thoroughly, with soap and water. In the Chinese culture, there is no clean or unclean hand, so the only problem that I identified eating with the left hand was the difficulty in coordination, since I was right-handed. So I mischievously ignored her subsequent advice.

But Sumami's talking (she tends to speak loudly) attracted my mother's attention, and she came to the kitchen to find out what had happened. My mother grew up in a kampong and is all too familiar with the cultures of the Malays and Indians who lived together in close-knit villages. Seeing what I was doing, she stopped me from continuing my ignorance and taught me why I should be using my right hand only. Apparently, instead of feeling insulted, Sumami believed I was transferring filth into my mouth as I ate with my left hand and it was for my own good to stop the unpleasant action.

Indeed the left hand is considered filthy in cultures involving food consumption with bare hands. I had the chance to find out more in school while conversing with my Malay and Indian friends. The left hand is involved in ablution and should therefore be kept away from food.

Later as I grew up, I also understood Sumami's reservations for teaching me the underlying reasons behind the avoidance of the left hand in food consumption; she was new to the workplace (my family) and had to be careful not to violate any possible preference in the family regarding what children should or should not know.
I am grateful for her patience and tolerance.

Application Letter Critique - Draft 3

Here is the advertisement from NUS Career Centre

Company Lonza Biologics Tuas Pte Ltd
Job Title Internship - QA Intern (10 May - 30 Jul 10) with Lonza Biologics Tuas Pte Ltd
Location Singapore
Date Posted Monday, January 25, 2010
Closing Date Wednesday, March 31, 2010


Responsibilities

1. Review SOPS and forms
2. Review validation protocols and validation reports
3. Review logbooks
4. Data entry for computerised systems during implementation phase (e.g. training records for Learning Solutions)
5. Administer documents on Documentum System (DMS). Load and format og GMP documents for review and approval work flow
6. Update GMP training database (SAP) as needed


Remuneration (per month): S$800

Termination notice period: 2 weeks

Company url: www.lonza.com

Please submit your application and cover letter online.

Kindly attention your cover letter to:
Ms. Chua Peng Gek
Senior HR Generalist
35 Tuas South Ave 6
Singapore 637377


Requirements

Preferred faculty:
1. Faculty of Science: Pharmacy

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Goh Kian Leong

BLK 160 Tampines St.12
#07-109, Singapore 521160

Feburary 5, 2010

Ms. Chua Peng Gek
Senior HR Generalist
Lonza Biologics Tuas Pte Ltd
35 Tuas South Ave 6
Singapore 637377

Dear Ms Chua,

I wish to express my interest in the QA internship position at Lonza Biologics. It would be a great opportunity to acquire skills in reviewing scientific documents, a crucial aspect of producing top quality scientific products. My experiences in laboratory work and education in the life science are in congruence with the job requirements of a QA personnel.

Currently, I am in my second year at the National University of Singapore pursuing a bachelor’s degree in the life sciences. While in school, I participated in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in Science (UROPS), gaining first-hand experience in independent scientific research work. During the course of the project, I collaborated with a PhD student to search for appropriate scientific protocols and validate their applicability in the project’s focus. I believe the experiences I acquired would be applicable in the internship's focus of document reviews.

More importantly, participating in UROPS allowed me to develop strong work ethics and an openness to constructive criticisms, both of which I identify to be important traits in ensuring the quality of production methods. I hope that these traits will add value to your organization.

Besides my experiences in the university, I underwent a two years' stint in the armed forces, spending one year in the Armor Gunnery Tactics Simulator(AGTS). While in AGTS, I was tasked to review and implement various training methodologies and standard operating procedures(SOPs) for army personnels. The experiences gained taught me the importance of critically analyzing documents to ensure safety and maximize the effectiveness of its intended use.

I hope that through this internship I will be able to add value to your company, while learning first-hand the responsibilities of a QA personnel. Your organization has an excellent reputation for high quality scientific products, and I believe with my lab experience, strong work ethics and openness to constructive feedbacks I will be an asset to Lonza Biologics.

I am available via phone at 88888888 or by e-mail at kianleong@nus.edu.sg. Feel free to contact me if you have further enquiries.

Best Regards,
(Signature)

Goh Kian Leong

Interpersonal Conflict - Resolved (Late post in March)

RESOLVED:

With five minutes left on the clock and a difficult person to convince, our team made the decision to not give in to his suggested changes. The reason was simply a lack of time to alter the course of action we have decided upon. Mr. A was seemingly unhappy at first, but finally accepted the group decision.

The way I chose to resolve the conflict was to explain the practical reasons to Mr. A. Not all situations can tap on using practical reasoning with little or no consideration for another person's feelings. But I think in this situation where time is short, emotions should be suppressed to a certain extent in order to facilitate team work. Moreover, we should not compromise a team effort just for the reason of displaying one's ability to convince and lead. These were the reasons for me taking a practical approach.

Perhaps the way I work could be better improved to consider the feelings of my teammates. However, I find it difficult to accomodate everybody's feelings when it comes to team work. As such, the seemingly easy way out is to adopt a stern and practical approach.

Expecting myself to take up leadership roles in the future, resolving interpersonal conflict will be one of my top priorities, in terms of training the said skill. I am starting to see how leading can be difficult, especially in resolving interpersonal conflicts. But I am willing to learn.

An experience of interpersonal conflict - Edited with solution!

It was a group interview I recently attended for a particular programme. After we had a round of self-introductions, we were split into two groups to tackle a hypothetical scenario. Each group was given twenty-five minutes to come up with a solution to the scenario's problems.

My group took about fifteen minutes before reaching a conclusion. With about ten minutes left, I was certain that the ideas were finalized and I was running them through my mind. Then came the unexpected, a member from each group was called out and their positions were swapped.

When the new member arrived, I said, "Perhaps we should do a quick run-through of the presentation and ideas." A briefing was conducted almost immediately. As soon as the briefing ended, the new member, Mr. A (for anonymity), began to share with us his views on the matter. Confusion began as he tried to convince the group to change the agreed course of action. He felt strongly that the group should adopt his ideas. However, I believed his ideas could not be incorporated into what had been agreed upon because there wasn't sufficient time. Moreover, the acceptance of the idea would have been a lack of general knowledge. For instance, he mentioned a pistol, which requires combustion, would be of high importance on the moon as a means of signalling. However, I believed combustibles were ineffective on an oxygen-deprived location. The other group members also maintained their stand on the original ideas. There was a clash of perspectives.

There were five minutes left. Our group initially required at least fifteen minutes before arriving at a conclusion. There was a new member who was not ready to adopt the group's decision. The group was seemingly upset about this conflict of ideas coupled with being hard-pressed for time. In addition, Mr. A would not concur with the group's reasoning until he managed to put across his ideas. However our group would not have enough time to analyse the problem from Mr. A's perspective. Furthermore, it was an interview to demonstrate one's capability in a corporate setting, which was a possible reason behind Mr. A's steadfast attitude when conveying his ideas to the rest. The rest of the group probably intended to display synergy and teamwork. On the contrary, Mr A. probably intended to display influence and leadership. Our conflicting objectives in the interview were the likely source of our interpersonal conflict.

In this situation, what would you do to resolve the conflict? How would you respond to Mr. A and the other group members? (In my opinion, Mr. A is outspoken and steadfast in his views)

RESOLVED:

With five minutes left on the clock and a difficult person to convince, our team made the decision to not give in to his suggested changes. The reason was simply a lack of time to alter the course of action we have decided upon. Mr. A was seemingly unhappy at first, but finally accepted the group decision.

The way I chose to resolve the conflict was to explain the practical reasons to Mr. A. Not all situations can tap on using practical reasoning with little or no consideration for another person's feelings. But I think in this situation where time is short, emotions should be suppressed to a certain extent in order to facilitate team work. Moreover, we should not compromise a team effort just for the reason of displaying one's ability to convince and lead. These were the reasons for me taking a practical approach.

Perhaps the way I work could be better improved to consider the feelings of my teammates. However, I find it difficult to accomodate everybody's feelings when it comes to team work. As such, the seemingly easy way out is to adopt a stern and practical approach.

Expecting myself to take up leadership roles in the future, resolving interpersonal conflict will be one of my top priorities, in terms of training the said skill. I am starting to see how leading can be difficult, especially in resolving interpersonal conflicts. But I am willing to learn.

About ES2007S: Professional Communication and why communicating effectively is important to me

Welcome to my blog! I'll start with a little about the course followed by my take on why effective communication is important to me!

The course begins with the fundamentals such as identifying appropriate channels and barriers of communication, followed by moving into the practical aspects of professional communication, such as resume writing and mock interviews. Throughout the module, there will be peer teaching, which could be challenging among other practical learning. Overall, it appears the module focuses on the context of job and work related communication.

Communicating effectively in my opinion is one of the most important things we do every day, apart from breathing or eating. Moreover, I am not the only Homo sapien on Earth and I need to communicate effectively so that I know what goes on around me.

Personally, communicating effectively allows me to share ideas and learn from constructive criticisms, both of which I recognize as important traits in the working world. I see communication as a bridge and effective communication as a bridge with appropriate traffic signals. If we overlook the need to put in appropriate signals, we are essentially compromising the information transmitted. The type of bridge built is just as important as it represents the communication channel used. For instance, an e-mail to ask a girl out will always be short of sincerity; wrong channel, no signals and no date. So, apart from work-related contexts, effective communication also holds importance in personal activities!

I'll end my post with another example: Correct channel, inappropriate signals and confusion.