Figure: Spiral of Experience- http://www2.fhs.usyd.edu.au/arow/arer/004.htmLeadership development is enhanced when experience involving the 3 different processes of Action- Reflection- Observation. We can also relate this message to our everyday life. It means that if a person acts, observes the consequences of his actions and reflects on their significance and meaning, he has truly learnt from an experience.
I could feel a sense of satisfaction when I saw my group’s completed survey report. There was all our blood and sweat in those twenty plus pages of diagrams and words. While it has been tedious, I realized I discovered more about myself while working in this group.
One of my tasks was conducting the interview with the manager from Campus Security. This was my first time doing it, and frankly, it was rather nerve-wrecking! I have seen people conducting interviews on television and I had this initial assumption that it would be simple- I would ask questions and just note down the responses. I was wrong. Audio recording was prohibited, and as I was the only one from my group at the interview, I knew I could only count on myself. The fact that I write awfully slow did not help much. Though I had rehearsed the questions beforehand, there were times when I needed to make changes like rearranging the sequence of the questions. Interviews, as I found out, are dynamic conversations and not what I perceived as a simple question and answer sessions. The worse thing was trying to decipher the scribed notes that I had hastily taken down during the interview. It took me 3 hours to read my horrible handwriting.
Working in a group has the advantage of being able to create many ideas during brainstorming sessions. As they say, ‘the way to create good ideas is to have many ideas.’ On the other hand, too many ideas sometimes hinder a group’s progress, especially when people tend to be overly protective of their ideas. Nonetheless, I believed that I have done a fairly decent job of balancing the need to let my group mates speak their mind and to share my own opinions. I would listen to them express their ideas first before I explained to them why some things can/ cannot be done. To avoid any miscommunications, I would normally paraphrase and ask the speaker whether I understood his/ her point. Having created numerous unnecessary misunderstandings that almost resulted in wrecked friendships, I firmly believe in seeking first to understand, then to be understood. And understanding others means to listen actively and to clarify my doubts before I speak my views.
It was interesting to note that our group was a small intercultural group on its own. LN was from China, ML was from Malaysia and I was a local. Through close interaction with them, I realized that there were indeed differences in the way we behaved. No textbook could have given me the real world experiences of intercultural communication. Through this research project, I appreciate the importance of intercultural communication and the need to be empathetic, assertive and patient in order to manage intercultural interaction effectively.
My professor used to tell me that what we have gained cannot be taken away from us. It is the experiences from doing this research project that mark this passage of time that I will treasure, and the experience gained would definitely serve me well when I step into the corporate world.
One of my tasks was conducting the interview with the manager from Campus Security. This was my first time doing it, and frankly, it was rather nerve-wrecking! I have seen people conducting interviews on television and I had this initial assumption that it would be simple- I would ask questions and just note down the responses. I was wrong. Audio recording was prohibited, and as I was the only one from my group at the interview, I knew I could only count on myself. The fact that I write awfully slow did not help much. Though I had rehearsed the questions beforehand, there were times when I needed to make changes like rearranging the sequence of the questions. Interviews, as I found out, are dynamic conversations and not what I perceived as a simple question and answer sessions. The worse thing was trying to decipher the scribed notes that I had hastily taken down during the interview. It took me 3 hours to read my horrible handwriting.
Working in a group has the advantage of being able to create many ideas during brainstorming sessions. As they say, ‘the way to create good ideas is to have many ideas.’ On the other hand, too many ideas sometimes hinder a group’s progress, especially when people tend to be overly protective of their ideas. Nonetheless, I believed that I have done a fairly decent job of balancing the need to let my group mates speak their mind and to share my own opinions. I would listen to them express their ideas first before I explained to them why some things can/ cannot be done. To avoid any miscommunications, I would normally paraphrase and ask the speaker whether I understood his/ her point. Having created numerous unnecessary misunderstandings that almost resulted in wrecked friendships, I firmly believe in seeking first to understand, then to be understood. And understanding others means to listen actively and to clarify my doubts before I speak my views.
It was interesting to note that our group was a small intercultural group on its own. LN was from China, ML was from Malaysia and I was a local. Through close interaction with them, I realized that there were indeed differences in the way we behaved. No textbook could have given me the real world experiences of intercultural communication. Through this research project, I appreciate the importance of intercultural communication and the need to be empathetic, assertive and patient in order to manage intercultural interaction effectively.
My professor used to tell me that what we have gained cannot be taken away from us. It is the experiences from doing this research project that mark this passage of time that I will treasure, and the experience gained would definitely serve me well when I step into the corporate world.
7 comments:
Hi Jimmy,
I agree with you that while the lack of ideas may hinder the progress of a project, too many ideas may also cause us to lose focus on the main objectives. Many a time, we are in the position of a interviewee and often we break into sweat trying to answer the questions directed at us. From an interviewer viewpoint, it may not be easy as well. Even though the questions may have been prepared beforehand, as seen in your experience, the questions still have to be altered to follow the direction of the interview. Indeed, communication is dynamic!
Cheers
Ho Teck
It is a tough challenge to conduct an interview by yourself, especially it is your first interview. The interviewer has to actively listen and accurately take down notes on what the interviewee has said. He also has to process the interviewee’s answers and maybe come out with more questions on the spot. It would have been better if you have brought along a group member to assist you taking down notes, to prevent missing out any important points. Nevertheless, it is an experience gained and you should be more prepared in conducting other interviews.
I am sure the interview has been a fruitful one although I have never been in the position of an interviewer face-to-face with a person. The closest experience I had to this was doing survey feedback calls to interview customers on a new range of products.
Having said that, similar rules also apply when conducting phone interviews. It would not work if I ask customers questions and take my time to write out their feedback while they stayed on the line. There is this natural tendency for them to get frustrated as time is lost waiting for me to write them out. Hence, I would say that the development of some short- hands would be useful in helping to speed up the writing. Another way is to print out a list of possible responses and tick when appropriate. All in all, I am pretty sure you have learnt a lot from this incident of the interview which can further improve yourselves.
Hi Jimmy,
I apologize for not being around for the interview; all of us should have been there.
I agree that having too many ideas flying around can deter us from keeping the original objective in mind. And I do concur that each of us had our individual ways of doing things. It was a good learning experience to encounter these differences.
You've certainly practiced the communication principles that our course teaches us during the course of this project, and it was great working with you. We still have the presentation to go. :)
As your blog title says, let's 'jiayou'!
Mei Ling
To Mei Ling,
Oh my you shouldn’t think like that my friend! We decided to split up the work so that we could get things done faster. Since I was allocated (or rather, I volunteered for it!) the interview, there wasn’t really a need for the rest of the team to be present. Besides, it created an opportunity for me to improve and prove that I was capable of independent work too. This experience also showed me that both of you had faith in my abilities, which motivated me a lot!
In addition, though it was my first time conducting an interview, it made me realized the need to overcome my fear of failure and to learn to use it as a path to my greater knowledge and success. As Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” If my interview was not successful that time, I would have found out what went wrong with that interview. I believe everyone must be willing to harness the power of failure, in order to succeed.
Jimmy
ES2007S Group 2
To Mei Jie,
Yes it was a great experience and served as a lesson on what to do and what not to do for interviews. From there, I also found out how comfortable it was to be at the other side of the table. That would be a goal for me: to always be on the side of the table where I was asking people questions instead of being the unfortunate guy at the other side. Trust me, it was so much nicer to sit at the right place!
Personally, I thought that phone interview would be harder to conduct. The phone eliminates the body language, and sometimes it is really hard to find out if a person means what he is saying just from his voice, tone and pitch.
The development of some short-hands would be a wonderful suggestion Mei Jie! That would improve my writing speed tremendously! Thanks!
Jimmy
ES2007S Group 2
To Qiyuan,
Yes it was a very tough and challenging task. Yet I thought I handled the interview quite well and I was able to rise to the occasion and was willing to demonstrate the courage to do something new alone. There was also a relentless willingness in me to let go of the fear of possible failure and the unknown. This way, I was able to develop skills which can allow me to confidently tackle challenging problems, generate creative solutions, and learn and adapt from mistakes made in the future.
To clarify, my group divided our work in the hope that we could finish our project faster. The rest of them were actually busy doing the other vital parts of the project too!
Until I develop my short- hands, I will not be ready to conduct any interviews right now! I would still be writing too slowly to get any important details!
Lastly, just to share, there are actually more than just preparing questions and reading up on the interviewee before the interview. For instance, I initially contacted the interviewee directly, who referred me to another person. That person requested for a formal note from our supervisor stating her endorsement of this project. (Mrs Richardson, I forgot to thank you for the prompt responses that allowed me to conduct the interview during the mid-term break! Thanks!) This made me originally thought that David Letterman would have an easier task leaving his fruit basket at the GE Building! (If you are not sure of this incident, you can view it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8xk360Kzcc).
It turns out that the staff was actually very friendly and helpful. As Letterman said, they were just doing their job, and I was just doing my job. But to be honest, they provided much assistance to our project.
And do not forget that we will have to do some follow ups after the interview. I have to send the interview transcript first for them to vet through, and the report when it is completed so that they can see the recommendations we have.
Just something to share about interviews!
Jimmy
ES2007S Group 2
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