Average is the New Exceptional

Embrace average. :)

It is the end of the journey

[Readers beware: Since it is the last official entry, and that the 2 minutes during class is just simply too short to fully express what I wanted to say, I will just type all my thoughts into this single entry. (: ]

Photo Credit: http://wvs.topleftpixel.com/05/08/02/

And it is time to embark on a new journey.

It is been an awesome 13 weeks, especially with the company of the wonderful classmates, along with the engaging discussions and activities that we all had. There was hardwork, but we had fun along the way. There were disagreements, but we ended up walking away happy. There was anxiety, but we managed to put up a good show afterall.

The 2-to-2 Project Meeting and Dinner at Kent Ridge Hall

I have showed this picture in the previous post, but I really wanted to show it again, because it is really rare that I totally enjoyed myself in the process of the school project and we really had so much fun. I couldn't thank my project team members enough for the wonderful experience that they have given me.

The entire project may be like walking up the stairs, but it is my awesome friends that made the whole process FUN! (:

Certainly, besides the fun, there are so much things that I have learnt through this project experience. The project has gave me an opportunity to interview an authoritative person, which is something that both Sheau Shiuh and I haven't done before. It is indeed to our surprise that both the Vice Provost, Professor Tan Thiam Soon, and the Registrar, A/P Ang Siau Gek, attended our interview session simultaneously. Definitely, at that point of time, both of us (at least myself) were intimidated, but we had to keep our cool and stayed confident. It was fortunate that both of them were friendly and receptive towards us, and were willing to hear us out and provide us with the answers that we were searching for.

Working through Google Wave has also been an unique experience. I believe the use of such collaborative platform has brought certain degree of convenience to us and allow us to meet virtually, as well as working on the same document at the same time. I remembered that we made use of Wave to edit and typed out of proposal drafts and it was really easy because the edits were all real time and so we could work on different parts within the same document, and vet each other's work at the same time. Of course, I will not forget the few times we tried to initiate small talks and conversations on wave and we typed random stuffs on the pages. =)

During the class discussions, I also realised that everyone has very different options and I learnt that it is important to have an open mind and listen to what everyone has to say. I could remember vividly during one of the lessons, that was a heated discussion on whether to print the documents on single side or double side, and there were pretty much different voices with regards to which option. Even within different organisations, there were different practices with regards to that.

It was also a wonderful experience to work with Hu Xuan for peer teaching. To be honest, as much as I always believe there's many parts that I can improve on, I am still pretty amazed about the amount of things we could do despite the extremely short time frame and I really appreciated working with Hu Xuan and her utmost effort in ensuring that things were as best as it could.

The workload of this course is just extremely heavy. However, it is precisely this heavy workload that binds us all together to embrace the challenge and enjoy each other's company along the way.

Hu Xuan, Xiao Xing, Jonathan, Berwyn, Wan Ting, Jun Xiong, Wang Chen, Lynette, Calvin, Sheau Shiuh, Melvis, Yongwei and Ms Lim, this course has not been enjoyable without anyone of you and I thank all of you for adding colours to this class and it has really been a wonderful experience with everyone of you! THANK YOU! =)

When you have to talk and talk and talk

And so, after all the talking, it is time to reflect.

But before reflecting our oral presentation, I would want to first thank my awesome team for the wonderful experience throughout the whole project. The entire process has been really enjoyable and it could not have possible without the awesome team members, Sheau Shiuh, Melvis and Yongwei.

The 2-to-2 Project Meeting and Dinner at Kent Ridge Hall

Okay, I shouldn't digress anymore. Through this experience of delivering a formal oral presentation, I managed to discover my strengths and weaknesses when I am delivering my presentation.

I believe that I am able to react very quickly to circumstances, and I realised this through the Q & A session. When being posed with questions, I realised I was able to react to them and answer them fairly quickly. Although I am not aware if the reply itself was convincing, but I was able to put my answer across in a confident manner. I guess this will be essential in my future presentation as this will enhance my credibility as a presenter.

During the presentation itself, I thought that my gestures were appropriate and were able reinforce the points that I wanted to make. Although it wasn't deliberate, I realised that my fingers were showing the numbers to the audience while I was talking about some figures and numbers. Certainly, it may or may not be a good thing to do, but I thought that at least I was able to make my point stronger through such hand gestures. In addition, I was able to make my speech much less monotone through such use of gesture.

Having said that, I think I was not able to fully conceal my anxiety during the presentation. I realised that my talking speed was faster than usual, and I couldn't stop myself from repeating myself and my words. I thought I showed signs of obvious signs of anxiety initially, although it was better along the presentation, but the anxiety could not subside completely.

I have learnt quite a bit through this experience as well. I realised that really much better to look at more friendly audience as they will be able to calm me down better. In addition, I also learnt that presentation slides are important to enhance my presentation and the overall appearance. In addition, I learnt that display of team effort in the presentation is important to increase the credibility of our case.

All in all, I believed that I have gained from the this positive experience and I certainly look forward to my presentation video. =)

Cultural Differences

Cultural differences may pose a vast barrier to effective communication. Having different opportunities to travel overseas, I had the chance to interact with people from various regions. It is sometimes surprising that despite the similarity in the heritage roots, there are still differences in the work culture between people of different regions.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go on an student exchange to this nearby Asian country last spring semester. There were also few others NUS students who were on the same trip with me. However, unlike my course, the courses that my other NUS friends took were more project-based and they had many opportunities to work with the locals.

Being a city that was that was known to have high work efficiency, the locals indeed portrayed their efficiency in their projects. However, this had frustrated my friends who were their project mates. The locals are used to start their discussion and work at the very last moment before submission and they will work through the night before handing in their work to the lecturers. Unlike the locals, my friends were mostly accustomed to working towards the deadline and making progresses along the way. This hence led to misunderstandings, as my friends saw that as the lack of concern about the project; while on the other hand, the locals did not see the need to start early. No doubt, the projects were eventually completed but many unhappiness could have been avoided if there was this understanding of the cultural difference right at the beginning.

Perhaps, if I am in my friends’ shoes, I will most probably feel the same way as they did. After all, we were grew up in the similar environment and will most likely have the same attitude and sentiments towards work. I will probably be just as frustrated and irritated by their work attitude as my friends because I too will want my final product to be as perfect as possible.

Indeed, cultural differences will lead to misunderstanding if it is not carefully handled. Therefore, it will be important for us to understand and appreciate the differences that we have. After all, it is such differences between different cultures that make our world a much more vibrant and interesting place, don’t you agree?

Application Letter

The job description taken from the website of the company:
Analysts fulfil a multitude of roles across the business. To become an Analyst, you need to have performed well in your undergraduate degree and possibly have a Masters. For a full-time role, work experience gained through internships will be an advantage. You should be highly numerate, with strong communication skills. Fluency in more than one language is an asset for some roles and the ability to work as part of a team is essential.


My Application Letter

[My Address Here]

2nd September 2010

Roy Powers
Human Resource Department
[Company]
[Address of the Company]

Dear Mr Powers:

I am writing to apply for the position as an Analyst in your organization. I got to know about the position opening during the recruitment talk at National University of Singapore last Wednesday and I am interested in working for this position.

As a graduate from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Science degree majoring in Physics, I have been exposed very much to quantitative analysis and have developed acute sensitivity to numbers and am able to make logical deduction from the data sets given. The position requires strong research and analysis skills and I believe that my training in the field will allow me to perform and produce useful results for the organization.

I appreciate your time in reading my application letter and I look forward to your reply. I have attached my resume in the letter. Please feel free to contact me at [my HP number] or email me at [my email address] should you need me to furbish you with more information. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,




Tan Da Yang

The Origin of Job Interviews

My friend posted this on Facebook and I thought it is pretty funny actually. =)

Communicating in Teamwork

Picture source: http://cache2.artprintimages.com/p/LRG/15/1576/RQMDD00Z/charles-schulz-peanuts-teamwork.jpg

When working in a team, effective communication is important to ensure that there will be no unnecessary misunderstandings and everyone will finish the project happily at the end of the day.

Mr. Z was part of the project team for an event and he was in charge of a particular segment of the programme. During every meeting, he assured everyone that his segment would be fine and he had an ambitious plan to make his segment a success. When the plan was presented to the team, many members in the team found the plan to be overly ambitious and wanted to make changes to his plan. Furthermore, many parts of the plan were vague and there were very little details about the execution of the programme.

However, being stubborn, Mr. Z refused to change and edit his plan, and he decided to work on the segment alone. From then on, Mr. Z provided very few updates on his segment; even when he did, it was lacking in details and the rest of the team were not able to figure out what he was trying to do. Before the event, he merely gave orders to the members of the team and commanded them around with very little specific instructions. Eventually, his segment of the event turned out to be an awkward moment and he kept quiet and laid low for the rest of the days.

The working experience for both the project team and Mr. Z were very unhappy. From the planning process to the execution, there was very little relaying of the programme details and discussions between Mr. Z and the rest of the project team. The rest of the team had to follow his instructions blindly since they had very little idea about what Mr. Z was trying to do. The project team was further frustrated as the instructions from Mr. Z were unclear. At the same time, Mr. Z was angry with the project team as he thought that they were not helpful during the actual day.

It is often important that instructions should be relayed in a clear manner and sufficient details are provided. In the scenario described above, Mr. Z refused to provide any details and thus communication between the team and Mr. Z broke down. When there are very little details available, it makes it difficult to clarify any possible doubts since there is nothing to clarify about in the first place. In the case of Mr. Z, the team had to guess and figure out his intentions. When instructions are unclear, people often have to depend on their own interpretation and perception to carry out the task and this may deviates from the original intention.

It didn’t help that Mr. Z was commanding the rest of the team, instead of asking them politely. Given the prior frustration from the lack of understanding about the project, the project team was already unhappy with Mr. Z. Right before the event, Mr. Z pushed the team around to get things done and used an aggressive tone when he was relaying the instructions. Furthermore, it didn’t help that the instructions were brief and short, and this further led to the anger of the rest of the project team. The use of the inappropriate tone will also lead to further misunderstanding between people, and in this particular case, the team felt that Mr. Z was being bossy and this made it hard for them to work well together.

Both Mr. Z and the rest of the team could have sat down and discussed about the issue. Perhaps, if Mr. Z was willing to put in more effort in giving more details and state his point of view clearly, the rest of the team might have been more accommodating towards him and more willing to work alongside with him.

However, it takes two hands to clap. Perhaps the team themselves did not try to communicate well with Mr. Z as well and discuss the issues with him. What could have the team done to improve the working relationship with Mr. Z and save themselves from the awkward situation?