I received feedback from a groupmate that I should blog more, so here goes.
Today’s Leading People and Group’s (LPG) class was quite interactive. We covered a real-life case on giving feedback in a cross-cultural setting. This time, a lot of Asian females (including myself) spoke up because we could relate to the case.
During the break, a delicious English breakfast spread was waiting for us - this was because it’s British-Irish week at the moment. We had grilled tomatoes, scrambled eggs, sausages, luncheon meat (er, shouldn’t it be bacon?), baked beans and toast. I’d also have liked sauteed mushrooms, but overall it was satisfying.
Back in class, we played a game involving two classmates who had to achieve a goal, one being given only negative reactions via the hurling of crumpled paper at her if she went in the wrong direction (she failed to find the object) and one being given only positive signs via applause and cheering (she found it quickly). It demonstrated that purely negative feedback is less useful and makes people stop doing things and withdraw, while positive feedback encourages them to explore more, discover new things and thus achieve their goals.
At the end of the class, our professor picked me to demonstrate how good feedback had to be about something that the recipient can fix. So, for instance, telling me that my leadership capabilities are limited due to my short height (just as an example) would be useless.
I told him, “Well, you could pull my legs more often” and he said that was a subtle response. I don’t think most of the class got my pun. Interestingly, after class, the professor told me that he’s studied humour and again complimented me on what I said. I told him I can be quite punny but have realised that in a setting where English is not the native language, my puns may not be understood. He said even in an native English environment not everyone might get it, but those who do will appreciate its cleverness. This has been the most unusual compliment I’ve received so far.
I am now wondering how humour has become a topic that PhDs/professor types are studying. Surely it is useful when working with people, but I had no idea that humour would be taken so ‘seriously’ :)
And to those who’re wondering, I’m not offended at being called ‘short’, and I assured the professor as well about this after class.
After class, as part of our groupwork, we gave each other feedback. It was a very constructive exercise. We had to critique every group member on what we’d like them to do more, continue doing and to do less off.
Not surprisingly, my groupmates said they’d like to see the creative side of me more often, M mentioning that when I do come up with ideas it’s like ‘popcorn’ in the making. It was great to hear that, but it can be difficult being ‘creative’ when most of the topics in P1 are quantitative - and I’m not talking about ‘creative accounting’, Enron-style ;-) However I will try to step things up. I also told them that in my Asian workplaces we don’t try to speak up forcefully, but I agreed I could be more assertive. So far, my biggest unique contributions seem to be made at LPG classes. I can’t wait to get to Marketing in P2.
My groupmates had no major issues with me, which may be due to my non-confrontational approach. (According to test scores I am strongest in the area of collaboration and quite low in confrontation). However I assured them that from work experience I can be confrontational if someone is being a prick. I have not had any, erm, prickly issues in this group so far. They also told me to worry less about studies because they think I’ll do fine, and I should party more. I told them it’s all linked - because I am concerned about doing reasonably well, I don’t go out as much.
And, in other news … I intend to write to my dream company by this evening. My dream situation is to get interviewed and accepted by them, then I don’t have to go to Fonty in P3 and back to Singapore in P4 and P5 to look for jobs in the Asian region. If I receive an offer now, I can relax on the job hunt in Asia and go to Fonty in P4 and P5! However I’ll be realistic and prepare for the worst.
And speaking of preparing for the worst, I didn’t do too badly for my Microecons quiz, though someone I know had nearly full marks and I won’t be surprised if there were others had full marks. I wasn’t sure about a point and made an assumption, but not much damage was done. I think many more of us are feeling the love from our Hawaiian guest professor, too. My only worry (yes, I still do that!) is that we’re graded on the Z-curve so even if I scored over 75%, if everybody else scores 85% or 90% then I am at the bottom!
But never mind … now it’s time to focus on next week’s Finance graded assignment and quiz!
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