Resolving Personal Conflicts

Personal conflicts occur so frequently in our daily lives, that would be almost impossible to try to resolve every single one of them. Everyone has their own unique ways of dealing with conflicts, but what I personally feel about conflicts is that they arise due to differences in personalities and way of thinking. Hence, so when we resolve personal conflicts, we are actually resolving personal indifference and getting one another to compromise.

A personal conflict I would like to share happened during my attachment stint when I was in polytechnic. During the first week, I had lunch together with the rest, and the root of the conflict sprung from the fact that all of my co-workers smoked, whilst I am a non-smoker. Needless to mention, I was fed up with the fact of being a passive smoker for 1 week, and I declined their invitation for lunch subsequently with various excuses.

Well, I got 'exposed' one day when I 'caught' was having my lunch in an air-conditioned shopping mall by a few of my co-workers. Later back at the office, one of them casually asked me why I was there. I managed to evade further questioning with some quick excuse, and from then on, they did not ask me along for lunch. Till this day, I still think they had the impression that I did not like to eat with them, which I did not attempt to explain because it was just a short term issue as I would not be seeing them once the attachment period was done.

Importance of effective communication skills

The principles behind effective communication techniques are easy to understand, and the techniques are not difficult to acquire. Moreover, it is by no doubt that effective communication skills are vital in our everyday lives. As most of us would embark on our career in a junior managerial position, there would be subordinates and superiors that we are both answerable to at the same time. I believe nothing would be more demeaning than having both parties chiding your poor communication skills, which reflect adversely on your professionalism.

Work aside, other social gatherings that calls for effective communication may include wedding dinners, entertaining clients, or even a casual dinner with prospective in-laws. A careless remark could have its repercussions, be it as trivial as making ridicule out of yourself or manifests into loss of business opportunities. Unless we decide to become hermits and live in recluse, there is no way we can avoid communicating with other people around us.

Being able to communicate effectively is often much easier said than done. Good listening and analytical skills are far more important pre-requisites we need to acquire before we can effectively bring across communication through any channels. The ability to communicate effectively not only enables the intention to be understood clearly and appropriately by people of different walks of lives, but also minimize the chances for misunderstandings and conflicts that can arise.