Culture, Communication, and Me

On Saturday night, I was at Orchard road to experience a festival that we know as Thaipusam, a major religious festival celebrated by the Hindus in Singapore. It was a truly fascinating event, with spirit-lifting music and vibrantly coloured costumes encircling the whole stretch of road. While the event did cause a substantial volume of traffic congestion along the streets of Orchard, passersby certainly did enjoy a change in atmosphere that this event brought along. To add on, this is probably the only festival where major road closures occur along this prime district.

The narration above shows aptly an intercultural scenario that occurs in Singapore. While primarily populated by Chinese, Singapore is a nation that is populated by citizens of different race and religion. There is a high chance in which the people whom we meet, the people whom we listen to, the people whom we speak to may all be of a different race, religion or nationality. With that, it makes considerable sense to me that I should take an extra effort to enlighten myself with the culture differences between me and that of my working counterparts.

While we are familiarised with what we know as IQ and EQ, a theory on cultural quotient (CQ) has been proposed. This is a study postulating that understanding the link between a person’s cultural background and their behaviour is imperative for successful business management. The way we react towards an American, a Chinese or an Indian have to be different so that we will not send out the wrong signal and cause any unnecessary misunderstandings. To maintain effective communication, one has to identify with whom they are talking to and react accordingly. We certainly do not want to give a hug to a Chinese on a first meeting!

Everybody comes from a different background and culture. Irregardless of our unique traditions, we should take some time off to familiarise ourselves with the rich cultural background of whom we are working with, only so can we better interact and work with them.

Why words can be better.

Since birth, a baby will cry to draw attention, a child will smile to show his joy, and an adolescent will shout to display his frustration. Communication is inherent in us and anybody who wants to denounce this fact will find it hard to do so. Similarly, it is the same fact as to why communication is so important to each and every one of us and mastering it should be something mandatory rather than supplementary. Without good communication skills, I can at best let my loved ones know that I love them. With good communication skills, I can let them know how much I love them; in any forms that I deem fit and in any ways I like. Having an exceptional communication skill is essential for anybody who wants to do well in his life.

The other mandatory skill that any successful person would posses is teamwork. No one exists alone and because of that everybody has to learn to work with each other, whether you like or dislike the people whom you are working with. While it is enjoyable to work with people you like, working with people whom you do not like certainly shows a level of character in yourself.

It is also notable that effective teamwork comes with effective communication. Delegation of work, discussion of work, reflections after work all requires good communication. One can work all day but if he does not relate what he has done to the rest, none of his teammate will be able to continue or add on to his work. Without a decent level of teamwork and sufficient amount of communication between each teammate, progress would be hard and intangible.

Sometimes, actions do not speak louder than words.