POST # 2: Observation of team behaviour: intercultural and interpersonal communication

Ever wondered how many different kinds of people you come across in your daily life? There are those who always like to be the centre of attention, and can chatter all day long just to keep the attention going, whereas there are others who would believe in the phrase “Silence is golden”. Some go with the saying “work fast, or forever hold your pace”, while others would argue “slow and steady wins the race”.

We belong to a world consisting of people of different cultural backgrounds, different mindsets, different ideas, different opinions and different methods of working, and thus I'd say

“Our strength should lie in these differences and not just in similarities”.

I myself am experiencing a diverse cultural interaction in my student life. I am an Indian, currently studying in a university of Singapore where I'm required to work with students from China, Vietnam, Singapore, U.K, U.S et al, and I'd have to say it's been GREAT fun. Learning about different cultures and interacting with different people made me realize how true the saying "Variety is the spice of life" really is.

While working in a multi-cultural environment, differences in each individual team member’s perspective are bound to arise. But what we must remember in such a scenario is that the common bond that links us all is nothing but the team we represent.

Clearly while working as a team, it is the job at hand, that needs to be given utmost priority, and in order to ensure that it be done effectively, what is necessary is that there be a healthy exchange and intermixing of ideas and a good level of understanding between each member of the team. This is only possible if each person learns to respect his or her team mates. We must learn to put aside prejudices and preconceived notions, be courteous and respectful of each other and participate actively in each discussion. And most importantly, we should never let language be a barrier, which is often the main cause of all the awkwardness. Only then will we be able to make diversity our forté and not our weakness.



Thus to summarize I’d like to quote:
“Coming together is the beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success”.

Indeed effective team work can move *mountains* glaciers

POST # 1: Communication and teamwork: why they are important for me

“Birds do it, bees do it. Even educated fleas do it...”

Don’t let your mind wander. What I’m talking about in this context is communication!

Communication has been part of our lives since time immemorial. Whether it’s about the spoken language or the written language, man has always felt the need to communicate.

In fact I’d say even a common language is unnecessary for communication. Even early man would make do with simple hand actions. Of course, in those days there was nothing much to communicate about, other than “sleep”, “want food”, and perhaps “scratch head, there’s a flea stuck”!

Jokes apart, in today’s era, almost every walk of life requires us to work in a team or a group, whether it’s in university life where group projects and discussions will be an everyday matter, or in our professional lives, where your boss might just hand you over with a problem one day and expect your team to come up with solutions, the next.

For instance, in my final year in high school, we, the members of the student council, were in charge of organizing a major event in school, without any help from the staff. So right from collecting funds, arranging the decor, printing the invites, making the souvenirs and putting up the final show, all were managed by dividing the work equally amongst us, and making sure everyone's ideas were implemented, which was only possible through effective communication and teamwork.

While working in a team we might have to work closely with people of different cultures and backgrounds, dissimilar ideas and contrasting points of view. It is in such scenarios that effective team communication comes into play. And in order to get the best outcome of the job at hand, the essential thing needed is collaboration and cooperation. Through teamwork and collaboration, each member can co-operatively work on the project, solve problems, negotiate and resolve conflicts easily.

In other words, effective team communication is what will bridge the team together, maximize the group performance and voilà, you’ll create genius!

I came across an interesting video about Understanding The Importance Of Team Work and communication - Ants Building A Farm Over A Two Week Period (In fact more than the video, it were the quotes, shown intermittently, that drew my attention)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKucprXVGMU&feature=related