Pealing layers of passion from exchange

Hope the heat won't be too disturbing to handle when staying out na ka.

Last week, I had another opportunity to talk with a group of students at Mae Fah Luang University about 'exchanges'. Even though I've been giving talks on this topic for years, I thought hard how to relook at the ways we've seen and managed it ka. 

As my focus has increased to be more concerned about the mass especially through Internationalization at Home (IaH), my added objectives were for students to realize that IaH is everywhere on campus for them to benefit, and how to get ready to maximize the exchanges abroad, and how the AI world would impact our lives (brought Alexa to show to them ka!). I also came up with several new cases, one on depression and another on macro management to help them think of linking big pictures ka. 

My question a while ago to MFU students was, 'Do you think once you graduate, what you've been learning will be applicable? Why?' 

Now I changed my question to, 'Whatever you're learning now, do you think it won't be outdated for the changing world? Why?'

Wanted them to think and get ready...... moving away further from being too 'sabai' ka!

Anyway, that isn't my key sharing (but couldn't help telling you about it na ka:))!)

The programs the organizers crafted were for me in the morning and for two alumni (one is a blogger and the other is a scriptwriter) to share how their exchange experiences have changed their lives. Sometimes I felt that this statement is sort of 'too casual expressions' but not for these two ka. Too bad I didn't talk to them that much and with a little follow-up on the script writer, I'd like to share it here ka.

This script writer, Nong Title, was in public health and felt it wasn't what he really liked. He developed the love of photo taking and when an exchange opportunity knocked on his door, he decided to take it up to enroll in a course on, "Film making Technique" to explore his own passion. It led him to be clear that 'public health wasn't his thing.' so he started learning more about different aspects concerning film making to find that he would prefer writing to shooting pix and films. He read 20 novels before starting to write with his thinking of  'I just write it because I want to share the story!'

Currently at a very young age, he has become a director, screen writer, script writer for series under GMM 25 and short story writer. He sent me a link to watch a series he helped with the script, 'เขามาเชงเม้งข้างๆหลุมผมครับ'. It was my very first time to watch such series, which opened my eyes about the younger gen's world ka!

My learning from interacting with him is:

- Many of our kids still follow choices of study their parents favor and it shows that our younger ones give a high priority for them to please their old folks.....I consider it 'a very sweet tradition' we still see ka.....though on the other hand, it could be time for parents to learn more how to help their kids identify their passions.

- Self-assessment to find one's passion isn't easy and Nong Title said then he was really 'เพลิน' (got carried away) whenever he took pix even subsequently, it wasn't his top priority! 

- 'Act on it' when one feels he/she has found the thing that makes them 'เพลิน'!

- 'Perseverance' to learn hard to make sure the passion is really right though it could change in time.

- We, the older versions, can pick up much learning and understanding simply from watching the current series, which offer imagination, thinking, social lives, expectations, and interactions across generations.

It was real real fun and interesting to talk with him and I hope to talk more with him some time soon ka.

Happy Tuesday na ka.

Innovation!?!

Hello all! I disappeared not because I was very busy na ka. Normally, I would have an urge to write when I found something that struck my mind ka. In fact, I do have several the past weeks and they're little things. Now that those little things have added up, my writing gland knocks on me ka.

As you've seen from the subject, I have several stories about innovation ka....this term has been mentioned over and over again.....and it's with highest expectations (chai mai ka?) for us to see the performances and products of the new ministry of higher education, science, technology, and innovation! I for now am living with lots of questions, yet with some optimism na ka.

The other day when I talked with a senior administrator of an organization, he was telling me about a story of the US that came up with a space pen while Russians used pencils which were simple and so very cheap. Though I read a bit further to learn how pencils aren't that practical, this little story (most science-related people may have known decades before) ignited my thought ka. 

Do we tend to look for more complicated solutions while some easier, simpler ones could work at some stages of our tasks?

Then I went shopping at Big C near my house to be impressed with its parking ticket system. I've been there occasionally and seen several changes. It started like many others to man 2 people in one booth, one for the incoming and the other for outgoing. After a while, I saw a ticket machine for us to pick it up when going in and so only one person manned the booth for the exiting cars.

This time, we no longer needed to pick up the ticket from the machine. We just drove through. What we had to do was to buy at a certain amount specified and present the receipts to get free parking.

I liked it much better than the previous ways of working ka:

- The steps for shoppers were reduced to just one from 3 earlier....picking up a ticket, taking some time to go and get receipts stamped at specified counters which could be on different floor(s), presenting our stamped receipts at the exit. It turned to be a 'One-stop Service' for customers.

- The supermarket could decrease their people to man at the entrance, at specific counters and to stamp receipts as well while they could maximize the use of their staff.

Could this be regarded 'innovation'?

Yesterday, my friends and I were sharing our assessment experiences from one's SME project. We discussed how necessary for a super small-size company to follow Baldrige Criteria and how feasible for them to come up with innovation. 

After all, it has to go back to the overall contexts and keep creative yet simple to work on innovation!

Stay cool kaaa! 

Fearless

Hello all!

I've listened to a book summary, entitled, 'The Fearless Organization' by Amy C. Edmonson, 2019. I repeated it several times and so I feel this is worth sharing ka.

The title of the book attracted my attention because I tend to enjoy reading more about 'fear' and it could be because personally, I think I'm not a brave person who gets scared of many things easily and it could double looking into our unknown future ka.

The start of the summary was self explanatory, mentioning about a young nurse who had been through some training to take care of premature babies. Even with worries about the risk that could happen to the twins, she decided not to bring the issue up to the doctor. This was because the week earlier, she overheard this doctor belittle a nurse who gave him suggestions. Good thing nothing happened to the babies but there could be other situations in all sectors that could cause damage or deaths.

This book leads the readers to see how important it is for leaders to engage their employees by making sure that the environment is 'psychologically safe' for all to feel safe to express their views or voice their concerns without feeling scared of not getting accepted. Even when their suggestions aren't taken up, a simple 'thank you' is encouraging for more positive offers to come.

The author mentioned about the Volkswagen scandal which seemed to become the world's largest automobile company for its sales to the US ..... only to be found several years later that the way it worked to pass the strict emission tests of the Environmental Protection Agency of the US was a hoax. One reason behind it was that the CEO ruled the company by fear to the extent that no one said nor reported anything when some may have spotted that something was wrong with the system. This allowed a group of over 40 people who was involved to change the coding of the software to produce and sell many more cars to reach the target set by their CEO.

When I heard this story, these terms popped up were, 'unrealistic projections (proper involvement and ownership of employees needed), integrity of senior leaders' team (good governance), fear of losing jobs or targets (insecure workplace); quick fall from decades of world-known reputation (money-ruled world), Not-my-business to report (no shared values/ownership)'.

Another story cited was about the 'Toy Story' team who honored 'candor' as the most important when they gave comments by being honest; sharing views about the program, not person; offering suggestions, not prescription; and trying to give the best what they think instead of finding faults with what they've seen.

Lots of implications can be discussed from the three stories mentioned above especially when linking them with our Thai culture of giving far too importance to seniority and authority most of the time. Our senior leaders need to have more 'humility', which is pointed out as 'admitting to employees that they don't know' to open a psychologically safe zone' to engage employees to share their thoughts, continue learning about uncertainties to keep up with the changes, and to team up for innovation through diversity of views and suggestions.

With much less fear, collective synergy to cope with the VUCA world will be more significant and forceful ka. 

keywords I get from this book summary  are, 'psychological safety, humility, and candor' ka. 

Happy Songkran and hope it's cool kaa!