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| "Jacked Up" by Bill Lane (Jack Welch's speechwriter) |
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| Jack Welch's autobiography |
My interest
in effective communication was generated some years back after reading two
books. One, the autobiography by Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric
and two, a book by Bill Lane, speechwriter for Jack Welch at General Electric. The two biggest lessons about communications
which I learnt from these two books were
1) The concept of “candour” in the
workplace where ideas and thoughts are exchanged honestly and candidly between
employees and superiors.
2) An effective presentation should be crafted
with the audience in mind. The presentation slides should be kept simple as the
focus of the presentation is how the presenter communicates his/her ideas and not
the slides.
These two
concepts are simple in theory but difficult to achieve. Looking back at the numerous
projects/presentations I have done over the years, there are times where these
two concepts were able to be put into practice and these were the few occasions
where the project concluded with good results. Through my experience, effective
communication in a group yields three desirable effects.
1) Reduces misunderstanding between
team members
2) Boost morale
3) Enables all to complete assigned
tasks more efficiently
However,
there is also countless times where the end result of a project work leaves
much to be desired. Upon reflections, the main reason is usually attributed to
poor communication within team members. The desire to eliminate such
disappointments is what compels me to join this course.
Therefore,
at the end of the course, I hope that I will emerge as a better all-round
communicator which will aid in me being a better team player.
Last of
all, Happy Lunar New Year to all and I shall take my leave to enjoy my reunion
dinner!
