Leading to Khon Thai 4.0

I'm not sure if I've told you that I'm now involved in a project to help monitor and assess the management-side of a huge project, funded by the Research Council which has changed into another name under the new MHESI (heard that it's changed its acronym to be MHSRI and read each letter out kaaa....my goodness! this will confuse the people again and we could hear people pronounce..... เฮ็ด เอ๊ด.....mai ka?)

Anyway, coming back from my sharing after having attended a one-day session when researchers from Bangkok went to Chiang Mai to present the progress of their projects (sub-projects).

This Project is one of the five mega-projects called, 'Spearhead' meaning that the Principal Coordinator (PC) has freedom to manage the block grant given with high tendency to have a 3-year grant system to ensure continuity. 

The first sub-projects (basically younger researchers below 40 years old) range from Future Studies of the urban living and relations of home, temple, and school; to corruption, China's influence in our economy, and beliefs of the digital gen.....eventually and hopefully the subsequent research will lead to clearer shape of the desirable Khon Thai 4.0 ka.

The day started with a session from 'Thailand's future from philosophy and history dimensions'. This set stage for all to have some similar background on what's existed. 

My learning ka:

- I like it this way, knowing how tough a big research project is with its processes that could be much longer than just one year. Another feature that drew me to be involved is the PC's freedom to design and manage. I favor freedom in designing and taking actions as it opens up our minds from traditional and far too structured formats we've seen which frequently could have blocked creativity and new approaches of working in our different world ka. 

- The idealistic definition of 'Khon Thai 4.0 consists of intelligence, thinking and doing abilities, sufficiency, discipline, honesty, volunteerism, and responsibilities. It seems far too ideal to be true and at least this Research aims to create some ripple effects to our society to start with. This impact makes me feel more agreeable to the overall project ka.

- It was real sanuk to follow the thinking of 'Traditional generation' (gen older than Baby Boom). Their sharing  about our Thai roots could help bridge our past with our present and future, knowing better who we are and what have shaped Thais to be Thais ka. I learned that we have most terms about 'lying' in the world (making me think of 'heart' which has over 700 in Thai ka!). History also confirms how deep the corruption has been in our roots including LGBT.

- Love the engagement of younger researchers with high capability and passion to do research of this scale.

- Enjoyed the questions and comments given to the researchers which could play a good part for further exploration, thinking, and analysis ka. Even though at this early stage, it was hard to see the expected results, some earlier requests/ queries could lead researchers to be more aware and see how to incorporate/integrate crucial issues to make their research more complete!

- Learning about the neo-digital citizens' behaviors and thinking could help us live more productively and harmoniously with our younger generations whose ways of life have moved far from us and cross-generation understanding is beneficial to us all......older generations need more adjustments to get to the younger ones' hearts, I think.

Happy Sunday ka.

views about education and work from Industry

Great Monday to all ka. Last week, it was as if I had taken up a full-time job again though it was two different projects that happened at the same time ka.

Let me share with you the first one which ended its two-year project on ‘Capacity Building of the GMS-UC (22 university members from CLMVT without China). The finale was for Rectors from this University Consortium and quite a few came.

For this last activity, we designed for all to share reflections from expert teams, participants, and representatives from non-GMS countries especially ASEAN Secretariat and Japan Mission. In addition,  we had two keynote addresses for us to  gain some food for thought from a liberal arts college President (unfortunately, he couldn’t come due to a college crisis) and Khun Jeremy Osterstock, Chairman and Managing Director of Exxon Mobil (EM) Ltd. (who’s on the Fulbright Thailand Board).

May I summarize some key points he made ka:

·      Starting from what I like best ka – Khun Jeremy has a slide with three intersecting circles. On the top circle is business needs, down left ‘capabilities’ and down right ‘personal interests’. He then shows that the top circle of business needs can move away from what we are good at and now that it’s moving fast and could be to the point that we don’t know how to do it nor could we keep our personal interests alive as before. It’s a big ‘HOW’ to our own selves and our universities to realize how the change affects the way we learn and offer learning ka.

·      We have to maintain balance between professional and vocational skill development as he sees that our countries are still in much need for vocational graduates. On the other end, social norms with bias for universities over vocational education require attention for more balance as classic industry is here to stay.

·      World challenges have driven his company to help train the next generation since they need to change their skill sets for them  and communication is high on the list (repeated several times ka!)

·      He shares that Esso hasn’t focused on traditional ways of training only as it has included some approaches like Bootcamp, Debate, and EM Talk.

·      More importantly, employees and he himself must have accountability in their own self-guided learning and micro learning through digital platforms fits well. Besides reading, he watches TedTalk, becomes a member of LinkedIn CFO Group to see what others are learning and how he can put it into use.

·      Leaders need to create experiences and cultivate culture with a sense of purpose….what the younger generation finds attractive to work with!

·      We should focus individuals and interactions over processes and tools, working software over documentation, collaboration over negotiation, and response to change not plan.

·      On strategy, leaders need to take it with vision and inspiration alongside cultural management.

·      Career ladder model is evolving and career path should be seen differently since things have changed so much.

·      For him personally, he has trust in his company when he has to move to a different duty. He thinks the company knows and sees his potential ka.

One last point I recall when talking with him before the session, I asked him about his experience as a teacher of biology, physics, and chemistry for 3 years. He said one lesson he learned was as a teacher, one has to ‘love the kids, not the subjects’ ka.

One more will follow soon.

Learning from a visit to Savings Bank

Last Friday I had a chance to visit the Government Savings Bank (GSB), organized by the MHESI's office of the Permanent Secretary. The GSB was selected because it has got a Thailand Quality Class and Thailand Quality Class Plus on Customers.

Here are what I've got from the visit ka:

- Leadership is the first key success factor as is evidenced by some bold steps taken like changing the mindset of the staff not to hold too tight to 'being part of the government service (even as a state enterprise)', presence of CEO all through training, learning sessions with frequent follow-ups (this is significant in our Thai culture as it seems quite a few CEOs have too much to focus on, too many ceremonies to attend, etc. so their attention spans to learning could be quite short).

- Even when officially GSB started the TQA journey in 2015 to get a TQC in 2018, much credits need to be given to its former CEOs  and the whole team as they have had some other quality efforts to identify customer groups and to nurture team spirit.

- What has been on the highlight for me personally is that their 3 customer segments (from rounds of discussions and try-out's) have enhanced their true understanding and strategic actions on genuine 'customer-centric approach' they earlier expressed. 

- Its newly established research center to be its war room, implement big data will further drive GSB to be a fact-based organization. Its workforce is now aware that their strengths are in the grassroots economy and there's a need to make known to the public what GSB can offer beyond traditional savings for kids.

- The Bank has collectively exerted so much energy and time on building understanding, creating core groups, communicating to all concerned, while learning from consultants and getting new tools in place. Its partnership with OTQA has led to fruitful results as well.

- I'm amazed to learn that they have more younger gens working at the bank (over 60%) and happy to see how they empower the younger for more exposure and ideas. I believe this is another great approach for the younger to build new bonds with their customers, young and old alike. 

Feel like learning more about their workforce in further details as they are key to the overall success too and it's interesting to learn of their passion, alignment with the Bank's directions and how the younger gens project on the future of GSB ka.

Enjoy the rest of Sunday na ka.

Tough life with tons of lessons

Hello again!

I had some stories about one Fulbright alum who has allowed me to write ka.

He was from a farmers' family who had to help pay family debts and strive to successfully graduate and got a Fulbright grant for his master's and now is working as a safety trainer at a construction firm in the US.

I was amazed to learn of his big dream to work at UNDP to help with international development work, lessening poverty. He finally was able to have his internship there at least ka. 

After his education and training, he has become fascinated with leadership and so he acquired more knowledge and skills from a series of training, enough to think he was ready to start offering training by himself. He aimed to have 100 participants for his first training at a 4-star hotel in Bangkok. It turned out he only got one participant who paid only half the fees charged. 

In despair with almost no participants and with hotel costs to cover when he rarely had any money left, he offered the training for free to get over 70 joining in. He was in debt having to pay for the hotel....yet, while he was telling his story, he added that a friend had helped negotiate with the hotel for some cost reduction. 

Highly positive person with gratitude mai ka?

At another training, one lady kept feeling down. He shared his own struggle and told the participants that he got a bank statement that very morning, showing that he only had 20 baht in the bank. He said even as a university graduate and a Fulbright awardee, he was only able to rent a place for 2,000 baht with two neighbors who were cab drivers and construction workers. He asked the lady to look into his eyes to see if he was hopeless. He was able to encourage her to turn it into some favorable opportunities. He said she felt much better and has done great since!

Powerful story sharing na ka!

A little story that I also remember ka....he said once he didn't even have money to buy meals as he was asking for help from his sister who would transfer some the next day. Having thought of a commemorative banknote of 100 baht that he got as a gift, he went to a senior asking for an exchange to a regular bank note. The senior gave him 1,000 baht without taking the commemorative one!

What a nice example the senior has done for him to follow.

Slowly through networks of participants, he has finally built his reputation to have a little company of his own for 'Proactive Leadership'. He had another big dream to pursue his doctorate in the US but decided to enroll online and work in the US instead.

In the US, even his title is 'Safety trainer', he has managed to integrate 'proactive leadership' into all levels of staff. His family background and tough experiences have become his asset to share with blue collar workers. I'm sure he'll continue to inspire them while lifting them up to another stage of work and life development ka.

His 'linkability' to integrate his passion in leadership and his own life stood out!

Many lessons I could draw from his stories:

- Dare to dream big (not me for sure kaa:))!)

- In every stressful situation, there are beautiful paths and people so stand firm to fight positively.

- Keep thriving with grace and gratitude even in time of scarcest financial resources.

- Nothing is easy and life-long learning following one's passion finally pays off!

- We can learn to 'pay it forward' having been exposed to excellent models!

There are many more lessons for sure from only these few stories and I can't stop feeling proud of him ka. 

Jigsaw approach

Hello all, the past Friday, I was a judge to choose students (Chula hosted this round) for a regional forum in November, hosted by SEAMEO RIHED and MHESI (a little concern when people start feeling familiar calling it มเหสี instead of เมซี่)

The theme is “Redefining Student Mobility in Disruptive Era” with 4 sub-themes namely, Redefinition of student mobility, Main challenges and obstacles, How disruption affects mobility, and Choices and expectations.

I was happy to learn a new technique which is called, 'Jigsaw Game'. 

For this approach, 16 students from 8 member universities  were divided into 4 groups called, 'home group'. In each, they had to discuss who to handle one of the 4 sub-themes mentioned earlier. Then, they went to talk with others under the respective sub-themes. They were asked to share and discuss each sub-theme and summarize their key points on a flip-chart. When time was up, everyone went back to their 'home group' to learn and share what they had discussed.

By so doing, everyone had a fair share of the key points while learning how to communicate in their own and with other three representatives. Whatever they picked up would be an input for each of them to prepare an individual 3-minute talk in the afternoon.

My role was to observe their leadership while discussing with the two groups. 

These are what I learned ka:

 - Some with strong leadership could dominate others in his/her group, making it difficult for others to share their views.....sorry to say I think of our Thai senior administrators in some circles and sad to see how true leadership is lacking!

- When the composition of the group was friendlier, leadership shone from most members and could help generate more ideas and fun creativity.

- Listening well was really valuable while ability to continue discussion or cut in would need to be enhanced.

- When going around the group for all to express themselves, some managed to help draw key points for the whole group to deepen their discussions--- this is a valuable skill to sharpen for many!

- Sharing their topics from drawing lots was different from speech contest and picking those who could deliver clearly being themselves was important. Those who appeared to be 'natural' got our attention right away!

- For the 3-minute talk with 2-minute questions, two stood out for the coverage of the topics, great ideas, and sharp thinking to answer the impromptu ones....and definitely, confidence in a sabai sabai way to deliver the prepared talks.

 - I feel quite a few still look at the universities and mobility in more traditional ways despite technological support. So I told some of them to be bolder to think differently ka.

- It struck me to think that no one thought of mobility as a self-assessment tool to know more about themselves ka! We need more reflections sessions in our projects and activities mai ka?

Happy Monday na ka.