Self-improvement

Self-improvement: Week 1 entry: "The communication channels that carry organizational messages include face-to-face conversation, telephones, email, public speeches, memos, ..."


Week 2 - Diversity

I have worked in diverse groups for pretty much all the positions I have worked so far. So, I value diversity very much as it allows us to provide more solutions to a problem. People's culture, age, and gender make them see the world in different ways. These perspectives are a key to creative thinking.

In one of the special projects I worked at my current company, I was working with a very diverse group consisting of a representative from lean manufacturing, certification, quality, and also a person from human resources. The purpose of the project was to streamline the certification process. The main goal was to reduce the overtime and prevent firefighting that people were doing to get things done at the last minute. The VP of Engineering sponsored this project.

My role was to provide the engineering approach to the certification process and management. I have always enjoyed working with people from different cultural backgrounds and disciplines. I was able to provide fresh and new ideas to the problems as I was the youngest in the group at the time and also a relatively new employee in the company compared to other people there. It is always a very rewarding experience to educate other groups how my function works and fits the overall picture.

The benefit of working with different groups is that you get different perspectives on an issue and you also learn how different organizations function and come together. Sometimes, the most challenging part is to communicate the value and intent of your organization to the cross-functional groups you are working with.