Reflection


My interpersonal communication problem happened during my internship at People’s Association (PA), under the Chingay 2015 event. I was the festival assistant (just a nice name for interns so they’ll take me seriously actually), in-charge of logistics and volunteer management. A typical day of work for me was interaction with volunteers, external vendors, and of course my supervisor - I shall address her as Mini. 

The problem happened a night before the actual festival went live, during the final mass rehearsal. The usual drill was for me to prepare the rehearsal materials, such as the lyric sheet. Up until the final rehearsal, there were still changes to the lyrics and audio of the performance. As such, changes will have to be made for the lyric sheet for VIPs like Ministers of Parliament and guest performers. Unlike any other lyric sheets, those for VIPs have to be printed on specific papers with PA’s logo preprinted on, which can only be done in a particular office in the HQ, where the office is located. 

I was told by my supervisor that she will call security to grant me access for the office so I can print the final copies. It was 2am in the morning, while I waited outside the security post, suppressing my entire being from fighting with the security officer. It turns out that Mini had forgotten to call security about this issue, and has went back home to rest her tired eyes. She failed to pick up any of my calls. I do not blame her though, given how absolutely busy she was during the day. As such, I was stuck outside the office, with an extremely important task at hand that I cannot complete as my supervisor happens to be a very competent being. 

Alas, this is the story of how I struggled outside a security post for the night, desperately trying to explain my situation to a security officer with my barely literate Mandarin, while Mini sleeps at home, peacefully. 

In case you were wondering, yes, I did get scolded the next day, and no, I did not stay there the entire night. 

Comments

  1. Unknown22 February 2018 at 05:30

    Hey Kohmin,

    Thanks for sharing this experience with us! Such a miscommunication is very common in any workplace. I used to face such issues on an almost daily basis while serving the army. That feeling of getting stuck without the "tools" to complete the task at hand while a dateline is imminent is certainly something uncomfortable.

    As such, I would recommend some solutions to the problem or if such a situation occur again:

    1) Double confirm with the other party to ensure that he/she will take care of the situation on his/her side before it gets passed down to you. This method usually ensures that both party would be involved and know what needs to be done. An example of this being used by me was during the army. For instance, I needed a vehicle for a training exercise the next day and instead of just applying it online, I would personally call the sergeant in charge to ensure and remind him to get it prepared for me the next day.

    2) Take things in your own hand! I feel that we might be too passive with things and assume that things would fall in place for us very frequently in our workplace (I am guilty of this too!!). Therefore, it might be better for us to be a little more proactive and try to solve the situation at hand ourselves! That way, we might be more inclined to get the task completed with any means necessary.

    This are just some of my thoughts on the situation and it is definitely not the Gospel Truth. Do let me know if there are things to be clarified alright!

    Thanks and take care!!

    Best regards,
    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brad Blackstone22 February 2018 at 18:49

    Thanks for sharing this conflict scenario, Koh Min. It's a clear problem scenario from your internship (though there are some verb tense inconsistencies).

    I'm happy to see proposed solutions from your peers have started to appear.

    ReplyDelete
  3. YunYue ~27 February 2018 at 18:51

    Dear Koh Min ,

    Thank you for the sharing your workplace interpersonal conflict! I could relate to your situation as i have been placed in a similar situation before.

    Perhaps you could tactfully "remind" your manager by double checking with her on the situation, whether she has informed the security to allow you to access the office. Alternatively, maybe you could get your manager to write a note or authorization letter that you could show to the security as a proof in case it slipped her mind.

    I hope that my recommendations would be able to help you when you encounter such situation in the future!

    With Regards,
    Yun Yue

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown28 February 2018 at 00:14

    Hello Kohmin,

    Thank you for sharing with us.

    We feel that to avoid this kind of situations in the future, communication and confirmation are essential.

    Firstly, you should address the difficulty that you have faced which has caused you to fail to carry out the task.

    Secondly, discuss with the supervisor on how you guys could avoid this situation in the future. For example, to countercheck with each other before carrying out a task, especially if it requires access grant.

    Lastly, learn from other people's mistakes so that you will not be the one to repeat the mistake.

    Best regards,
    Evonne, Michelle and Shafique

    ReplyDelete

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