Communication is probably overlooked a lot in this part of the world. Mostly because we view creative professionals with some kind of disdain. I think it's the most important industry. The way you communicate can make or break you. The foundation of the most famous religious groups are...texts, the right or wrong interpretations have brought joy and peace or have set civilizations on fire. James worded it wonderfully in James 3:5-9
5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
8 But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Communication is the process of conveying information, ideas, or feelings through various means, including verbal and non-verbal cues, to create shared understanding. It involves a sender transmitting a message, a receiver interpreting it, and the exchange of meaning between them. To communicate, you have to understand, process, include your opinion and respond. This is so important because we are creative beings. In a world where mundane tasks are being optimized by AI, your ability to have a unique perspective, contribute meaningfully, and creatively redefine how things are done or structured and communicate that is a skill that's in high demand. Creativity and communication.
Naturally I'm the team member who springs into action to lead, structure how we are going to approach a task or problem, brainstorm, test our theory, restructure, brainstorm again, delegate tasks, and monitor progress. I've been doing this since I was a student leader, so give or take 7 years of experience with teamwork.
You know what really gets on my nerves. The non-contributors; those who say yes to everything you suggest but don't come up with anything themselves. (Screams in lack of communication: Insert snapchat sound lol). It's either they have no interest in the project, aren't motivated enough, or, the most common, THEY ARE SCARED TO SPEAK UP!
And I don't blame them; our educational system is structured to lash you (literally) when you give the wrong answer, so I'm not surprised we have a whole generation who are scared to put their hand up to answer a question or contribute. Most of the time the environment matters; if you put these same people in a more flexible and creative environment where effort is rewarded rather than perfection, you will have a lot more leaders and contributors.
But we don't live in a perfect world, and we won't always have perfect situations. In the corporate world you can't wait till you have the perfect boss, colleagues, and institution to bring out the best in you. You have to learn to cultivate your best despite the environment. That's what resilient crops do; whether rain or shine, they grow.
How do you practice sharing your opinion or contribution?
I find this problem a lot with my colleagues who have two to three years of experience, sitting in a room of colleagues who have decades of experience, and they think, "What do I have to say that they don't already know?" "I don't want to sound stupid."
The thing is people will assume a lot of things about you until you speak. Exactly why we have interviews, get it? And I hate to break it to you, but keeping quiet all the time is not a sign of intelligence either; the most popular AI tools are ones that talk back to you … a lot. What does this mean? Communication is relevant. People are looking for feedback and your input? The world is full of unasked or unanswered questions.
Silence is death as a young professional. You slowly become a wallflower... no one notices you... no one assigns tasks to you.
It's true that your results should speak for themselves, but if you're not careful, you run the risk of someone taking credit for your work while you look lazy.
I read the story of a young woman who was naturally quiet. She never contributed at work. One day after a Zoom call, she forgot to log out and overheard her supervisors discussing letting her go because she hasn’t said anything in meetings since she was hired. No contribution, questions, or suggestions. She began practicing talking in the mirror and speaking up in meetings, a minute at a time. Not long after, she was comfortable speaking up, and she was retained after her probation.
If you have a quiet personality or a phobia of speaking up, here’s a tip from an extroverted girlie: no one tells you bravery feels like fear. My heart pounds too, my fingers get sweaty, my throat gets tighter, and my voice is more squeaky. Most of the time I struggle to gulp, and you can hear me breathing heavily, but I do it anyway; I talk through the fear. And it gets better once you start.
Here are a few tips for contributing to teamwork as a young professional
1. Ask questions. “I don’t understand what that means; can you please elaborate?” It can be scary. Truth is I have been there, and you’re probably thinking, “This seems like such an important meeting with high-level officials; I don’t want to draw them back by asking such a silly question.” Well, that’s all it is, a thought. Ask anyway; that’s how you will figure out what on earth they’re talking about. If you can’t ask in the meeting. After the meeting, sit with a senior colleague and ask. What you will gain is clarity as you participate further, rather than trying to look like you know what’s going on.
There is this weird thing going on now about “Steeze,” which basically means “keeping up appearances so you look cool, appear mysterious, and look smart” lol (excuse me for the laugh—insert Snapchat sound: If you don’t get it, just move on, lol). That’s the silliest thing you can do as a young professional. If you’re already thinking about how to maintain your steeze, just stop; you don’t have any. People with real steeze and aura own it; they don’t pretend it. It’s a part of them.
Anyway, stop being silly and get off your butt and do something! Am I annoyed? Yes, because this kind of behaviour feeds the “typical Gen Z” stereotype, and it’s not helping the rest of us, it's already tough out here. Focusing more on appearances rather than doing the actual work. Anyways, I digress… next point.
2. Ask questions that lead to more clarity. But don't stay stuck in asking questions. I had a teammate who would always ask leading questions that presumed the project was going to fail but would never contribute to solving the issue. Don't do that; if you already have an answer to the question, ask and give your suggestion. Be a solution; don’t always probe the project for what you think won’t work.
3. Offer to moderate meetings: The first time I moderated a team meeting, it was a disaster. I kept skipping the program outline, and I was corrected a lot, but I got better at it with time. Make your mistakes early and get better. If you don't want to look stupid now by trying, I assure you you will only look stupid later. So start trying now. Think about it this way. No one sees a baby trying to walk and calls it stupid or lazy. It's a baby. Most of the time, your team is impressed by your contributions and the responsibility you take up, no matter how small, rather than your silence. You're definitely not being paid to keep quiet.
4. Contribute your opinion: This can be very dicey. After reading a lot about the product, project, or program, contribute what you think about the topic in meetings. This is how you can contribute.
Show appreciation for the work others are doing.
Suggest a different way to do it, or bring up a new idea.
Ask clarifying questions that would bring about more results, for example, what about X and X's target market? How are they getting served? They seem to be left out.
Support what someone has already said. “That’s a great point, and I agree with Adam on that. I was just thinking about the same thing and how that can support the campaign in underserved communities.” Even if that’s the same thing you were thinking, it’s definitely better than silence, and most of the time it’s encouraging that the team shows some kind of agreement on a topic.
Disagree. Don’t be scared to disagree if you don’t support what someone said, but don’t just disagree; have a reason why you don’t agree and suggest something else. This might be tough as a young professional, but practice makes perfect. It’s important you learn to disagree. You’re not at work to please people; you’re at work to work.
Ask for feedback. After your first month, request feedback from your supervisor. Don’t wait till it’s too late. Set up a review meeting at specific timelines, ask your supervisor if they are impressed with your performance, and ask for suggestions on how you can do it better. It’s good to look like you know what you’re doing all the time, but people have more experience than you, and sometimes, unless you ask, you may never get an answer. It can also be an opportunity for you to get some informal correction, such as “You fidget a lot during meetings,” “You are not quite fitting the required dress code,” etc. Fitting in is important, but not more important than doing your job.
Practice makes perfect, and in a new environment it can be very tricky. You may not want to do too much to look weird. There’s a balance between contributing meaningfully and contributing just anything so you seem like you are not a wallflower. Well, people can see right through you. Make it a point to say at least one thing in a meeting, read the room, build your confidence, don’t be afraid of feedback, and know yourself, your skills, your potential, and your value. This is important because sometimes people might project wrongly on you and make you doubt who you are.
Remember the bullies in high school or primary school? Newsflash, they graduated too, and they are also in the workforce. So yes, you will find bullies, people who want to make you feel insignificant for having just 1-3 years of experience. People who already carry resentment for Gen Z and filter everything you’re saying through the fact that you were born in 2001, so you must be spewing nonsense, and people who are downright mean because they have a bitter life.
But you will also find people who are kind and compassionate and will give you the grace to make mistakes and to learn. The presence or absence of any of these kinds of people should not affect how you show up professionally. At the end of the day everyone receives a pay cheque; you lift your head high and work, being proud of your role as intern, NSP, associate, or assistant. CONTRIBUTE, show working, and always be ready to learn and unlearn.
One of the ways you can practice sharing your opinion is to write. Write about WHAT YOU THINK! Whether it's about football, relationships, life, or food, just write a page or two a day. Practicing voicing your opinion on things rather than overthinking if it sounds good or if it looks like what everyone else is doing will help you be more creative. And no, creativity is not for people who are professionally creative; even as an athlete, accountant, or engineer, your creative abilities will set you apart.
Crowdpen has started a challenge where you write everyday for the rest of the year; it can be a poem, a story, a piece about football, an outlet to vent about that annoying colleague at work… Anything. Don’t worry about writing perfectly; just start writing. You get people to like your post, comment, and share. Find your community and build a portfolio. I actually want to see someone start a football community on Crowdpen lol.
You can find the link to Sign Up and search the hashtag #100storiesbefore2026.
If you join this link, let me know by just tagging me. This is the link to my Crowdpen profile, let's follow each other.
And for people who might not want to write everyday. You can post a 2 minute video of you practicing speaking about any topic, whatever it may be and you'll find a healthy community to critique and give you feedback.
I’m challenging you to write every day and build your creative skills; you’ll need it, trust me. Learn to trust your voice and be confident in your opinions; develop a tough skin for comments and critique. Here is what Ghat GPT says about writing everyday to improve communication, cognitive skills and confidence
Writing daily—especially with the intention to become more opinionated, confident, and articulate—has powerful, compounding benefits. Here are the key advantages broken down:
💬 1. Clarifies Your Thinking
Writing forces you to structure your thoughts clearly.
It helps you understand what you really believe and why.
You learn to spot vague or contradictory ideas and replace them with clarity.
🧠 Result: You become more decisive and confident in expressing your views.
My experience with this: This is so true because since I started writing on Crowdpen (This is not an Ad). I've become more opinionated and assertive in what I believe or stand for. Let me give you some background. I love X(Twitter), a while ago I realized I was becoming increasingly agreeable to a lot of rage baits, tabloid nonsense and I always agreed with other peoples opinions, I didn't feel confident to speak my mind because I was used to not saying my mind online. This was worrying because i usually fell trap to misinformation and I became subject to other peoples thoughts and that scared me. My world was being formed around what other people thought and not what I really thought. So I started writing more and being less scared of pointing out something I don't agree with. This helped a lot.
🗣️ 2. Sharpens Communication Skills
Daily writing improves vocabulary, sentence structure, and tone.
You learn to say more with fewer words—this is crucial for persuasive communication.
✍️ Result: You get better at making your point clearly and concisely in conversation or in writing (emails, meetings, public speaking).
📢 3. Builds Confidence in Self-Expression
Sharing your thoughts consistently (even privately) trains you to be less afraid of judgment.
Over time, you start trusting your voice more and worrying less about how others will perceive it.
🔥 Result: You speak up more often, assert your thoughts, and defend your views when needed.
💡 4. Strengthens Opinions with Evidence
Writing regularly encourages you to research, question assumptions, and back your opinions with facts or experience.
This makes your views more grounded and persuasive—not just emotional reactions.
📚 Result: You become a thought leader rather than just an opinion holder.
🧱 5. Builds Discipline and Mental Toughness
Writing daily develops consistency and discipline.
You learn to think and create even when you don’t “feel inspired.”
🕒 Result: You grow a habit of showing up for your thoughts and ideas—like training for your mind.
🧘🏽♀️ 6. Reduces Anxiety Around Speaking Up
When you’ve already “worked through” an idea on paper, it’s much easier to share it aloud or in public.
You’ll feel like you’re repeating something familiar, not inventing it on the spot.
🌱 Result: Reduced hesitation and more confident participation in discussions.
🚀 How to Get the Most Out of It
Set a time (e.g., 15–30 min each day).
Pick themes: daily prompts, current events, controversial ideas, or values you believe in.
Share (if possible): Blog, X/Twitter, LinkedIn, or just a writing group. Public feedback helps polish your ideas.
Review past writing monthly to spot growth and refine your voice.
End of Chat GPT answer!
The truth is, you get better at whatever you practice. If you practice keeping quiet because you don’t want to be criticized, I have news for you! You’ll be criticized anyway! You have to grow up, because people who don’t know anything love to critique and talk and talk you down. Your opinions will slowly give way to other peoples thoughts, you slowly become a consumer of other peoples thoughts and that impacts your self awareness and sense of agency as a person, which will slowly affect your confidence.
Write!
"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." - William Wordsworth.
"A word after a word after a word is power." - Margaret Atwood.
"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." - Louis L'Amour.
"Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go." - E.L. Doctorow.
Day 1