paperless and engaged

It's been a hectic week and I'm glad I got to be a little more digital using 'mentimeter' as my tool for several workshops I conducted recently ka.

Several months ago, I shared with you about a summary of the book, 'Managing Up' which talks about boss types and how to handle them. Somehow, I love it so much that I started playing around with it. With the use of mentimeter and its app to have a radar chart, it turned out to be a good effective tool to get views from the team what type(s) they thought their boss could be from advancer (result-oriented), harmonizer (survival), evaluator (detailed-oriented), and energizer (project initiator)….the parentheses are from my own understanding and not that self-explanatory though!

After while I was describing each type of the bosses including possible positive and negative traits, I asked them to take pix for reference as they all would have to do a series of exercises I prepared. The picture I saw when almost all in the room took pix from my ppt was fascinating to me. Then I asked them to rate the boss types of their director. This tool made it very safe for all to express their views since they used their smart phones to vote while the director looked on. I forgot to ask the director if one vote there including this very big boss' opinion too:))!  

My lessons drawn from this exercise are:

- This could be an effective tool to engage people (especially Gen M) and get their honest views.

- It requires boldness of the boss to allow it to happen. Several young staff told me  how happy they were to be able to express their thoughts. (It was so funny a few weren't so pleased after I took a break for lunch when they still wanted to 'play' through this tool.') 

- The boss could use the results to improve oneself where it could become too extreme for the team in such a context.

- It opened a floor for me to share my experiences both as a boss and a staff, sharing with them what I didn't understand until I became a senior and what I vowed not to do after having been through some unwanted manners or treatments. I think it wasn't much about my former bosses that mattered to them. It was the real stories that they knew weren't made up that were seen valuable.

- The team realized a little bit better that those who are bosses have to go through much more tough times than they could imagine ka. This should create a little more cooperation, sympathy, and synergy of the team too ka.

- When using smart phones as learning tools, my frustration to see participants listen less and play more was gone!

It was so fun for me too!

Happy weekend ka.

Listening with Happiness workshop

I didn't write the past week even there were things here and there na ka. Plan to summarize them and add on one workshop I went as you can see from the subject ka.

As you may recall, I've been working with SEAMEO RIHED under its GMS-UC (Greater Mekong Subregion-University Consortium) with funding support from Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund. I was in Laos for several days to team up with a Japanese expert of the project to focus on teaching and research for the group.

My learning was:

- Lao PDR has grown so much in terms of tall buildings and department stores that I could hardly recognize Vientiane then...yet, the people remained gentle and kept their slow-pace life.

- The participants were asked to identify key areas of their teaching and research that needed further improvement/ help.The Thais came up with the issues on 'Outcome-based learning' and 'Research management'. The two will be helpful to all in the region for they allow universities to consider working continuously throughout the value chains of teaching and research. It requires synergy, not silo; and one macro picture together. Leadership to manage the big picture and overall directions is crucial.

I also had an opportunity to attend a 3-hour workshop on 'Listening with Happiness' the past weekend ka. My niece and I decided to go together.

The workshop started from having us sit in a table-less circle, followed by grouping us in 2, 3, and twice in 5; and then back to the big group. It was very helpful to move around meeting new people all the time.

I was reconfirmed that listening attentively could be done when all my focus was with the ones I talked with and with the absence of my smart phone ka. I thought of my earlier coaching session that stressed the importance of, 'be present, be there!'

This workshop saw different generations from BB to X and Y. It was great to learn how the younger ones thought. One in my group was saying that she still didn't know what she wanted because 'every time I know my work cycle, I get bored and want to move on!' On one hand, I was amazed how fast the younger generation learned. On the other, I'd love to ask her some questions like why she thought she knew everything about the jobs and how her creativity could be used to better the jobs in other dimensions. I thought of a key role of leaders as mentors and coaches loei ka.

After we were done listening to all in the group of 5, we were asked to close our eyes and pointed to the one we thought was 'the diamond of the group' to move on to a new group and discuss why we thought of the respective persons as 'diamond'. One told us that 'the diamond' she chose was a chief who had to help handle 4 out of 30 team members suffering from depression. Another said she was impressed with how honest the person was to him/herself to stand firm and lead the life as wished.

I felt that our society could be more supportive and open for our younger generations to learn about themselves and choose what they hope to pursue. One young girl said her parents didn't know much about her sufferings because she didn't want them to worry. This also showed how caring this girl was. If both sides could make time to listen attentively and expect to hear stories that can be so differing from what they are used to hearing, they could express more about their real selves and needs for better support and advice.....not easy but very possible! 

In addition, listening well could nurture healthier relationships. One girl said she would go back to talk nicely to her parents as the exercises made her realize it was unnecessary to go against her parents most of the time.

The workshop leader said it was projected that as high as 70% of the people would suffer from depression. Knowing how to listen well would sure help a whole lot ka.

I thought of Fulbright Thailand, which is planning to focus on 'depression'. Listening could be a tool too.

Lots to learn every day na ka.