Final Reflections in Learning - ES2007S

This course has definitely helped me become more aware and patient when communicating professionally or socially, especially in intercultural communication. Of the many lessons, the one on personal branding struck and stuck by me. I had always thought that personal branding was something done to bring benefit to yourself (as you get recognized and remembered). However, Dr Radhika's lesson on USPs and how we can use it to positively impact our bosses and colleagues with our USPs opened my mind to the impact on others. Part of personal branding, brand promise was also something that I did not consider beforehand. All along, I thought that personal branding stopped at the job interview. Once you get shortlisted and passed the interview, yadda, you're safe and you're done with "personal branding"! It's done! How wrong was I to think of it as something so simplistic!

        In addition, the personal feedbacks given to us for our application letter was extremely useful! Prior to this, I roughly knew the outline and necessary information that I had to include when writing one. However, none of those prepared me for the actual moment when I had to write one! Despite submitting a white paper and having a red one back, the multiple detailed corrections really helped me a lot in pin-pointing the things I often miss out; such as basic yet crucial skills like paragraphing and substantiation.

    Although most things in this course ran smoothly for me, I found intercultural communication the most challenging. Being one who is used to getting things done fast and efficiently, I found it most challenging when I had to work with someone from a different culture and background. All along, I preferred working with locals as having someone from a similar educational and cultural background greatly facilitated the development and progression of ideas. For ES2007S, when we had to work with foreign students, much time has to be spent on explaining things that we thought were common knowledge. Although the process was frustrating initially, it taught me to be more appreciate and aware of my own culture and nation. In particular, what Singapore has to offer in relation to other countries like China and Korea.

         Discussing about Singapore from a more macro aspect, such as its social and transport policies has also made me appreciate Singapore a lot more. Being small, having a good geographical location and a decisive government have really allowed us to enjoy rapid progress and a high standard of living as a whole. Other countries might not have this luxury that we enjoy. The many things that we take for granted, such as good infrastructure and transport, are actually considered a luxury to many others. Although these might seem like menial things, being aware of these little things that we commonly take for granted, allowed me to communicate better cross-culturally, as I am more patient and understanding of differences as a whole. Of course, the process of explaining everything from scratch to others had definitely groomed me in this aspect too.

     Besides one-to-one intercultural communication, my one-to-many communication was continually polished by the numerous presentations that we have. Together, these soft skills and awareness about others and myself have definitely made me a more grounded and confident communicator as my mind has opened up.