Final Reflection on my CG1413 Journey......

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.Working together is success." 

                                                                                                                          -Henry Ford

CG1413 taught me practical skills which are of utmost importance to be successful in life. Our lecturer, Ms Goh, was always there to guide us and encourage us.

In the first few weeks, we learnt the principles of effective communication and teamwork. These principles were helpful as we worked on our projects in teams with members from different racial and cultural background.

Communication was an issue in the earlier stages. I think that active listening and clarity in speech are most important for effective communication. Consequently, with the help of the principles of effective communication we started understanding each other better which helped us in sharing our ideas and working together in teams efficiently.

Being the team leader of my CG1102 team, I had the responsibility of the performance of my team. I tried to keep up the morale of my team by inspiring them. I also tried my best to take everyone’s ideas into consideration; however, there were times when I had to make decisions which were not agreed upon by all. I think that’s where the challenging part of a team leader lies. The principles and the checklists always reminded me of my duties and helped me to improve in areas where I lacked.

Meetings form an important part of teamwork. I tried to arrange meetings taking into consideration everyone’s convenience and planned the meeting agenda carefully keeping in mind the goals as well as the time frame. In the beginning, I wasn’t good at conducting meetings but as the journey went along I identified my mistakes by reflecting upon the meetings based on the criteria and improved upon them.

In my CG1413 project, we had effective meetings and collaborated our work efficiently. We had some trivial conflicts which were resolved peacefully. Overall, I think it was a good learning experience.

My presentation skills have also improved and I have become a confident speaker. Video-taping the presentations and reflecting upon them helped me to identify my mistakes.

Blogging helped me to analyse things critically and write efficiently using the 7 Cs. By commenting on the blogs, I learnt to write constructive criticism. This skill is desirable and I still need to work upon it.

Overall, I have learnt social skills (effective intercultural and interpersonal communication, team work, presentation and writing skills) from the module which would be useful to me throughout my life. Learning is a continuous process and I will continue to improve upon my flaws in future.

Note: I would like to thank Ms Goh and all my team mates for being supportive and understanding making it a memorable experience which I would surely cherish in my future.

Reflection on Oral Presentation 2

My team Dr. Bug had Oral Presentation2 on Thursday, 25^th March, 2010. The aim of the presentation was to create awareness amongst the people about antibiotic misuse and to convince the government bodies to adopt some measures to curb the problem.

 

The evaluation of my performance in Oral Presentation2 will be divided into 3 main points:

• verbal skills
• non-verbal skills
• content

I think that my verbal skills were good as I had a good projection of voice. I used correct pronunciation and suitable pauses which enhanced my fluency. Unlike Oral Presentation1, this time I made sure that I avoid the use of informal words and slangs. However, I feel that my pace was a bit faster at times which should be taken care of. I think that I was a bit hesitant as times because every time I had a new point to discuss. So it took me time to adapt to the new topic. 

With regard to the non-verbal skills, I made use of hands and gestures to my advantage to explain my points efficiently and effectively. I maintained proper eye contact with the audience as well as an appropriate posture. But this time I was looking at the slides a lot which is undesirable.

In terms of content, I was well-versed with all the topics in the presentation which boosted my confidence. I tried to convey the best of my knowledge to the audience. However, in the Q & A session I referred to the MOH proposal considering the public point of view. I should have answered the question taking into consideration that there was a mixed audience (public and MOH).

On the whole, I made some improvements from the last presentation. I was also confident during the presentation. However, I still need to work upon some flaws to do better presentations in future.

As a team, my team was successful in achieving the objectives of the presentation. We conveyed our message effectively to the audience through an innovative presentation style. Our transitions were smooth and our audience responded well to the presentation. However, we exceeded the time limit so we must work upon excellent time management.

Reflection on Project Meeting 1.An analysis of my criteria for meetings.

After talking to Ms Happy, I realised that my blog about the project meeting 1 wasn’t up to the mark. So, I am writing this blog in which I will reflect upon the project meeting 1 and add on to the previous reflection.

Before reflecting upon the meeting I would like to introduce you to my personal checklist which I keep in mind while analysing the meeting and it's importance:

• Preparation
• Effective Communication
• Participation
• Meeting Etiquette
• Timeliness
• Success

Before going for a meeting it is necessary for all the members to know the agenda of the meeting and prepare themselves accordingly. A meeting where the members lack preparation is likely to be unsuccessful. My project meeting 1 was good in this regard as all my team mates were well prepared for the meeting which helped us in our discussions.

Clarity in the voice helps in conveying the message effectively. Here comes effective communication into play. I think my team needs to work upon clarity because I felt that sometimes we weren’t very clear in expressing our ideas to our teammates.

The main purpose of a meeting is that all the members discuss things. Participation of all helps in taking everyone’s viewpoint into consideration. My team still has a room for improvement in this regard because I feel that all the members were not participating actively.

Timeliness and punctuality are important factors. The meeting should be able to accomplish its objective within the allocated timeframe. We managed to complete all the tasks listed in the agenda in time. Moreover, everyone was punctual.

Meeting Etiquette includes being polite in words and behaviour along with being an attentive listener. We must show respect for everyone’s opinions. I think our team was well mannered and listened to everyone’s ideas patiently before expressing their views.  We showed due respect to each other even while expressing our disagreement to some idea. The opening and closing of the meeting by the team leader (me) could have been better. So, I need to improve myself in this regard.

Success of the meeting is the most important factor. A meeting must be able to accomplish its objective and stick to the agenda.  Our meeting was successful and we managed to complete all the tasks in the timeframe allocated.

On the whole, the meeting was good. We still have to work upon our flaws to have better meetings in future.I would like to thank my teammates for being so understanding. 

:) :)

Reflections on CG1102 Project Meeting 1

I, Juncheng and Khoa had our first CG1102 meeting on 12^th February, 2010. I felt that the meeting was quite productive and we managed to complete all the tasks listed in the agenda.

Reviewing the video helped me get a greater insight into what the flaws were and in which areas we require improvement. I think the choice of the venue was not good because we could not observe each other’s behaviour properly which hampered effective communication.

As a team leader, I tried my best to ensure proper participation and that every person has a voice in the final decision. Before the meeting, I asked all the members to prepare for the meeting and come up with their own ideas. The ideas will then be put forward by each member and finally the best idea will be the perfect blend of all our ideas. I think this way of working really helped as we managed to save a lot of time and hence greater efficiency.

One thing which I realised after watching the video was that everyone was not equally involved in the discussion. I also think that we could have discussed a bit slowly giving everyone the chance to think and negotiate before finalising things. I feel that I was reluctant in accepting someone else’s idea.  At times, I interrupted in between the conversation when someone was talking. But I just meant to clarify my doubts before coming to any conclusion.

We were very focused on our work. We also got confused about the feasibility of our idea but at the end we decided to consult our tutor after we were done with the design so as to make sure that we are heading on the right track.  

On the whole, the meeting was good. However, there are certain things which we need to work on and hope to have better meetings in future.
:) :)

Thanks to all my group mates for their support.

Resolving Interpersonal Conflicts

Conflicts can arise between any two people who disagree at a point. A clash of interests, values, actions or directions often sparks a conflict. But the biggest problem is how to resolve a conflict.

I would like to share with you my personal experience. When I was in 10th standard in school I had a team project. My team had 4 people who all were one of my best friends. We didn’t elect a team leader as we felt that all of us should hold equal importance.

As we moved ahead with our project, we realised that one of the teammates was slacking around and not efficient in her work. Whenever we allocated her the task she would dilly-dally and never complete it before deadline. One day we tried to explain to her the problem and told her that it should be a team effort and she needs to work upon it. She seemed to have misinterpreted our constructive suggestion and retaliated back saying that she need not learn from us.This resulted into a big verbal conflict. She took it as an attempt to offend her and started avoiding us. She didn’t speak to any of us properly and failed to attend the meetings. It really affected our work as well our personal life. We felt that she overreacted to the situation and made a big issue out of it. We knew her since so long still she couldn’t understand us. Our project work became stagnant. All our efforts to explain her went in vain. Things didn’t seem to get any better which lead to ineffective teamwork.

At that point of time we were confused as to how to resolve our problem. We didn’t want that problem to jeopardise our friendship. What should we have done at that point of time?

Should we drop her from our team?

Should we make an effort to resolve our problem?

Should we wait for her to make an effort and come to us to resolve our issues?

Should we find any other alternative?