James Choles
Hi there! I'm a manager, trainer and aspiring coach. I work for the British Council in Singapore.
Location Singapore
Activity
-
James Choles made a comment
Strength: Building trust and rapport by listening, observing, responding.
Challenge: Suspending judgement and gathering information before evaluating someone’s behaviour.
-
James Choles made a comment
I don’t think that was a ‘difficult’ conversation at all. Sure there were some frank exchanges of views but it never felt disrespectful to me. I also admired how assertive Catherine was and how she was able to flex to Mr Kapoor’s focus on targets.
-
James Choles made a comment
A much better conversation, but I still get the feeling that Maria’s inner control freak is liable to break out at any second.
-
James Choles made a comment
I’m going to be a bit controversial here: I think Maria is a terrible manager. Top down, condescending, inflexible and frankly, just plain rude. I’m glad I don’t report to her!
-
James Choles made a comment
I see conflict not as something to avoid but actually quite productive. Often it’s an important phase that we need to get through in order for any meaningful action to take place. It also shows that people care.
-
James Choles made a comment
And I have to mention one of my all time favourite quotes: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. (Habit 5, Stephen R Covey)
-
James Choles replied to Greta Galeazzi
Great point Greta. So how can we convince people that facilitating dialogue is time well spent?
-
James Choles made a comment
Dialogue for me means exploring differences while finding common ground along the way.
‘‘When some people agree and others don’t, that is a reality to live with, not a problem to solve.’
-
James Choles made a comment
I try to show that I’m really listening by commenting on what I’m hearing, seeing and feeling. Eg: ‘You said you’re feeling frustrated. Could you tell me more about that?’ Or: ‘What I’m hearing is…’
-
James Choles made a comment
I think the chair (and perhaps others) needs to articulate what’s going on. Something like: ‘It seems that we’re all presenting the figures in different ways. How could we make our updates more consistent?’
And also, this is the first time the team is meeting in person. To not have some introductions is just weird!
-
James Choles made a comment
I also think that technology has affected my meetings at work, and often for the better. With polls, chat, annotation and breakout rooms it is now much easier for everyone to contribute.
-
James Choles made a comment
The first question about purpose is such a good one, and again something I think most teams don’t discuss nearly enough. One for my next team meeting perhaps!
-
James Choles made a comment
In case study 2 a more relaxed approach to timekeeping, but as several members of her team have already aired their frustrations she needs to be better at flexing and start on time (or choose a different chair).
In 3 a deference to hierarchy and lack of safety/trust in the group. Or perhaps his manager told him to keep quiet? Either way I’d have a chat with...
-
James Choles made a comment
Wow, a lot to chew on here! In the teams I’m part of I see a lot of assumptions being made about the factors above. What’s needed, I think, is a team charter, where the group agrees on ways of working, communicating, making decisions and so on.
-
James Choles made a comment
I think my behaviour changes according to the level of trust in the teams I’m a part of, and the ‘psychological safety’ I feel when speaking my mind. In some meetings I can be more candid than others.
-
James Choles made a comment
Group dynamics is an area that fascinates me. Really looking forward to week 3!
-
James Choles made a comment
Thanks Phoenix, good summary. My biggest takeaway this week was the platinum rule. And the easiest way to find out how people like to be treated is simply to ask them.
-
James Choles made a comment
I think the important thing to note about communication styles (and this is also true for assessments like DISC or people styles at work) is that we are a mix of all four styles, but naturally have a preference for one of them. As someone with a people focus it just takes more energy for me to communicate with someone with an ‘action’ style, say. We also need...
-
James Choles made a comment
I tend to communicate in an indirect way, and (over?) use qualifiers like ‘quite’ and ‘a bit’ to take the edge off statements.
With close friends and colleagues it’s all about what we in England call ‘banter’, ie making fun of people or situations in a lighthearted way.
However, I’ve had experiences where other cultural groups find this banter...
-
James Choles made a comment
I think watching these videos side by side was a great learning experience. It was extra special to see my colleague Josie in the second clip!
-
Love that quote Liz!
-
James Choles replied to James Choles
For me it all starts with home and family, and wanting the very best for the people you love and care about.
-
James Choles made a comment
I wouldn’t say this was a bad first impression, but it was certainly uncomfortable. Min Li and Claire have totally different communication styles, and this shows up in their posture, facial expressions and tone of voice, among other things. First impressions last, and a lack of trust could be a possible consequence of this.
-
James Choles made a comment
I lived in China for many years and found that learning just a bit of Mandarin gave me a completely new sense of Chinese people and how they view the world. It was also fun talking to taxi drivers about football :)
-
Me too Gemma.
-
James Choles made a comment
For me it’s being endlessly curious about other people’s differences while holding firm to the common humanity that we all share.
-
James Choles made a comment
As a manager, I’ve found one of the best (and simplest) ways to follow the platinum rule is to ask people how they like to be managed. And other questions like: how do you like to receive praise? What’s the best way for me to give you constructive feedback? And so on.
-
James Choles made a comment
I would like to them to be respectful, curious, polite, friendly and positive.
-
James Choles replied to Jemimah David-Makeri
You’ve put it in a nutshell there Jemimah. Great answer.
-
Thanks Lillian :)
-
James Choles made a comment
I’ve really enjoyed this first week. Thanks to Shalini and the team and my fellow learners for their great comments!
-
Ask, don’t assume is the big takeaway for me here.
-
James Choles made a comment
Metaphorically, it might be useful to put on a pair of ‘intercultural glasses’ and then use the LENSes to help navigate any new or challenging situations.
-
James Choles made a comment
The first quote really resonates with me. I’m uncomfortable with the word ‘men’ in the second.
-
James Choles made a comment
I feel a bit sorry for Liana here. She was asked to forward all billing information to the regional office which she did, in a polite and timely manner.
I think her manager is totally wrong to ‘blame’ Liana here. However, it would be worth arranging a meeting with the regional team to explore how both sides contributed to the problem and agree expectations...
-
@PhoenixFry Good question. I think this understanding would develop naturally over time. A good start might be to say: “This is how I prefer to communicate. How about you?”
-
James Choles made a comment
If it’s unconscious how can we be aware of it? :)
-
Right! The differences are what makes us interesting
-
@AlessiaDeMeo Great comment Alessia
-
James Choles made a comment
One stereotype I’ve noticed as we’ve all shifted to WFH is that ‘old people can’t use technology’, or phrased another way that ‘young people are more tech-savvy.’
-
James Choles made a comment
Absolutely stunning video.
-
James Choles made a comment
Culturally, each one of us is unique. How, then, to identify the values of each person we interact with? Make a good guess? What if our guess is wrong?
-
@AdannaNwosu This is fascinating, Adanna. Do you kneel before elders yourself? How does it feel?
-
@GemmaConnell I totally identify with your comment Gemma!
-
James Choles made a comment
Honesty, fair play, treating others with kindness and respect, politeness, caring for animals and the natural world.
-
James Choles made a comment
My wife is Chinese and has a very different cultural identity to me. One point we can never agree on is how direct to be.
For example, in Mandarin it’s perfectly acceptable to say something like ‘Give me a coffee’, which is far too direct for my ear. Likewise, my wife gets exasperated with the roundabout nature of British English - ‘I don’t suppose I’d be...
-
For me, most of the conflict we see around the world is ultimately the result of cultural misunderstandings. So I guess in my own small way I want to be better at avoiding and resolving these kinds of conflicts.
-
James Choles made a comment
It’s a real eye opener to see just how many strands there are to our cultural identity. But I wonder: do some strands matter more than others?
-
James Choles replied to Nilay Sit
I love your last line, Nilay!
-
James Choles made a comment
I’m old enough to remember a world without the Internet (I didn’t send my first email until I was 19!). This is the biggest difference I notice between myself and younger (Gen Y and Z) colleagues.
-
James Choles made a comment
I love this idea of a fluid cultural identity. I was born in the U.K. (with French ancestry) so feel both English, British and European. And I’ve lived abroad for so long now that maybe ‘global citizen’ is more appropriate?
-
James Choles made a comment
This is a great activity (and so many brilliant responses!). My three words would be: language, history, community.
-
James Choles made a comment
Hi everyone. I’m James, based in Singapore. I’m here because I want to know more about CQ and be better at managing multicultural teams. In the last 12 months I’ve line managed people from the UK, Serbia, Canada, Iran and India!
-
James Choles replied to jenny jones
Quizzes are great Jenny, and learners love them. I use Mentimeter or Kahoot.
-
James Choles replied to Huiqing Tao
@HuiqingTao Good point. I agree with the video that technology can actually lead to greater collaboration between learners. However, I think it's also right to think about the possibly negative consequences of tech, particularly when it comes to interpersonal (F2F) communication. The key, I think, is to get the blend right.
-
James Choles made a comment
Hi everyone. I've just finished BLE 1 and am looking forward to putting some of the ideas from that course into practice. Nice to meet you all.
-
James Choles made a comment
Good article, and this is the crucial point:
"The effects on teacher workload are typically ignored in education strategy and policy documents, in the false assumption that going online is cheaper. It can be, but only if it is managed in a long-term and innovative way, which it rarely is."
-
James Choles made a comment
For older educators and learners (and as a Gen Xer I place myself squarely in that bracket!) this is all very useful stuff. But are digital skills really going to be an issue for Gen Z (born after 1996) as they enter the workplace? More important for that cohort, I would have thought, are interpersonal and 'soft' skills.
-
James Choles made a comment
I like the collaborative nature of the task and the peer feedback using Twitter. Without suggested timings it's hard to assess how doable the activity is, though.
-
@AaronWinters I'm inclined to agree, Aaron. For sure let's use social media and other tools to extend or complement the learning experience. But in the classroom I think the focus should on be face-to-face communication - discussing, collaborating, completing tasks, solving problems.
-
James Choles made a comment
Something that my colleagues and I have been exploring is the idea of 'Bitesize' or micro-learning, often enabled by technology. Here Mindgym has been an inspiration, and especially their white paper on how to make learning stick: https://themindgym.com/whitepaper/
-
James Choles made a comment
Interesting section. The key point for me is to let the learning outcomes drive the design process. What do we want learners to be able to do at the end of the session that they couldn't do before? And how can technology best help them do this? Looking forward to some answers in the following sections.
-
James Choles made a comment
As a course and curriculum designer I'm really looking forward to this week!
-
James Choles made a comment
The thing that really stood out for me in this section is (the importance of) self-reflection. In my context we typically ask learners to do this by writing, but I really want to experiment with audio/video.
-
James Choles made a comment
Hi Diana and Neil. So far we've talked a lot about the benefits of blended learning, for both educators and learners. But are there any downsides to this digital shift? Thanks.
-
James Choles made a comment
I think I've gained more self-awareness this week, and of the areas where I'm lacking. The digital literacy audit really helped here. I've also become familiar with tools (e.g. iObserve) that I'm definitely going to try and use in my training. As usual, it's also been great to read the comments and learn from my fellow course participants.
-
James Choles replied to Amin Neghavati
Excellent links, Amin. The Google game is pretty fun, and I learned a new word! ("Internauts").
-
James Choles made a comment
Great checklist, but how realistic is it for us as educators to come to grips with all of that? Is it a case of picking and choosing what’s relevant, or perhaps outsourcing it to someone in a digital or learning technologist role?
-
James Choles made a comment
I agree Geetha - there were some areas that I hadn’t even thought about.
-
I agree Eileen. In our context I think it would work particularly well for things like presentation skills or even cabin crew training.
-
James Choles made a comment
What I like about this course so far is that we're learning by doing (always the best way). I also like being part of a digital learning community, and reading and reflecting on all of your great comments.
-
Here in Singapore we deliver a course on Writing for Social Media, where adult learners tweet and craft Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn posts in real time. They love it!
-
Good point Sarah. But I would suggest that the time learning to use the technology is actually time well spent?
-
James Choles replied to roy heath
Not sure how old your learners are Roy, but why not get them to prep and run the digital resources themselves?
-
James Choles made a comment
This activity really made me think. I also like that it helped to embed the five key benefits of blended learning. Quite novel to email us our responses too - I haven't seen that before.
-
James Choles replied to Aura Piha
One digital tool that we've started to use here in Singapore recently is Mentimeter: https://www.mentimeter.com/
It's a great way of making meetings, presentations or workshops more interactive (participants use their phones to comment or ask questions which the presenter sees in real time).
I especially like the quiz function, and the element of...
-
James Choles made a comment
A few random thoughts from me:
1. I'm enjoying what I've seen/read so far.
2. It would be helpful if links could open in a new tab rather than navigating away from the page.
3. Adding a glossary item seems to be a little bit complicated ;)Onwards!
