On 15 July, Young SMOU (YSMOU) organised a Youth Development workshop on Cross Cultural Communication and Building Successful Relationships.
Almost 20 youth members gathered on the online interactive workshop to learn about theories and techniques on how to interact and communicate with people of different personalities in varied situations. The session included a role-playing segment where participants could put themselves in scenarios, and learn how they can identify behavioural cues and respond in an appropriate way.
One of the speakers shared on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, which includes factors such as ‘Power Distance Index’, ‘Masculinity vs Femininity’, and more. The theory helped the youth understand differences in culture and values between other countries and societies. Participants also manage to equip themselves with basic skills to manage conflict more effectively through exchanges and role-playing dialogue with the speaker, who is also a psychologist by profession. Learning to recognise characteristics of uncooperative people and identifying solutions to work with them, can help to reduce situations of conflict and result in a more satisfying work or social environment.
The session was a fruitful one where the youth took away practical knowledge and useful tips from the 2 hour workshop.
“It was a great experience learning about different cultures and how to communicate appropriately without offending any parties. As we (seafarers) work on board vessels with nationalities from all over the world, the knowledge will definitely help me to communicate and work hand-in-hand with others for not just the smooth operations, but safety of fellow seafarers”
Nick San, 2nd Engineer
“One of my key takeaways from the workshop is that we need to be open and accepting, acknowledging that everyone is different and learning how to better interact with others. It was a fruitful session and thank you YSMOU for organising this.”
Allex Ang, 2nd Officer
