Reflections on 2020

 Hello all!

I skimmed through a short article on, 'How to reflect on 2020' by Susy Jackson, Editor at LinkedIn News and I found one statement I really like which reads:

"Instead of considering it a lost year, Whitney Johnson says to look for the “gems” of 2020 that might guide you in 2021."

May I share my gems of 2020 ka:

1. New knowledge and skills: 

- Create and carry out  (with some good help kaa) a podcast 'Learn Plern Plern' and tomorrow will be its 30th episode kaaa!

- Follow quite a number of podcast and youtube programs on business and tech issues

- Use Zoom for meetings, family get togethers, and teaching a class

2.  Tightened relationships

- Continue to see family and friends in person or virtually whenever possible and get connected/reconnected with friends from near and far!

3. Better 'lintegration'

- Try to link and integrate essence from business to internationalization (IZN), internationalization at Home (IaH), and EdPEx to come up with more thoughts, systems, and diagrams to share.

Yours la ka?

As 2020 has been so stressful to the max, I'm sure we'll see a much better year in 2021. Let's be very hopeful with full positive energy, physically and mentally to move on with great strengths for many beautiful learnings and successes ka. 

Happy 2021 na ka.

How to Lead

Dear all, amid rising festive moods, COVID-19 seems to want to stick around us na ka. In any case, life goes on and I have some little thing to share ka.

I just got a book entitled, 'How to Lead' by David Rubenstein, who I follow watching his interviews on youtube ka. 

The book is an easy read and though many chapters are what I've watched already, I  enjoy digesting them again ka. 

David Rubenstein has come up with a few attributes he repeatedly hear from the people he interviewed, which are,"Luck, Desire to Succeed, Pursuit of Something New and Unique, Hard Work/Long Hours, Focus, Failure, Persistence, Persuasiveness, Humble Demeanor, Credit-Sharing, The Ability to Keep Learning, Integrity, and Responding to Crises."

In addition, I like the quotes David Rubenstein has selected so let me re-select a few I love most na ka.

Bill Gates: "I don't think it's important for me to be remembered specifically. I do hope that infectious disease is largely eliminated as a problem, so that nobody's having to talk about it and people can focus on other issues. That would be a huge, great thing."

Warren Buffett: "Look for the job that turns you on. Find a passion." 

I also like it when Jeff Bezos said about Warren Buffett who talked about himself that 'he's good if he makes 3 good decisions a year.'

Oprah Winfrey: "Your legacy is every life that you've touched.......it's how you use your life to be a light to somebody else's"

Indra Nooyi: "If you're willing to make all the trade-offs that you need to make, you can have it all." 

General Colin Powell: ".....give them (subordinates) every opportunity to be successful. Leadership is all about-- inspiring followers."

Condolezza Rice: ...what her father said to her, "If somebody doesn't want to sit next to you because you're black, that's fine, as long as they move." Don't be disabled by people who may have prejudice.

Antony Fauci: ''You don't dictate to people. But if you let them know what your vision is, hire the best people, and then don't get in their way, those are the qualities of a good leader."

Ginne Rometty (IBM): ".....one of the biggest traits I look for is curiosity."

Any of the statements you like most mai ka?

Have a very Merry Christmas ka.

What is Leadership?

 Happy Monday kaaa! After a long weekend, some could feel fresh to start working again. Even as a semi retiree, I was feeling the holiday was kind of long na ka:))!

This week, I'd like to share what I captured from 7 episodes on leadership where I got ideas, comments and tips from leaders, potential leaders of different gens to share in my podcast programs na ka. I tallied to see what common keywords could be seen ka.

I got 5 top keywords....turned out to be 6 and the last 2 tied ka. 

The most frequently mentioned in priority order are employee engagement, execution, direction, deep listening, and big picture and relationship building ka. 

More are on soft skills with a focus on people dee loei na ka.

Let me also share some sources I've been using when producing this Leadership series, which consist of both Thai and foreign ka:

- Harvard Business Review - Management Tip of the Day (programmed on Alexa to listen daily ka!)

- Recent summaries of books from Summary.com I subscribe ka....still enjoy listening more than reading them and love quite a few ka.

- The Standard - Secret Sauce Podcast from Ken Nakarin

- Mission to the Moon - both daily Facebook live and podcast episodes

- Eight and a half by Tong Kaweewut

- Podcast 'How Leaders Lead with David Novak'

- Others ccasionally like Fast Company, Medium, Financial Times, etc.

See how you like these sources na ka.

My leadership from others' perspective

 Hello all! Feeling like having more festive moods already mai ka?

Next Tuesday, my podcast episode follows a request from my honorary podcast technician ka. She said she'd love to hear what others thought about my leadership. Without much thinking, I agreed to do it as the final episode before the overall conclusion ka. 

It was sort of challenging but knowing that nothing would do anyone any harm was really great ka. So I chose 3 people, a team member from my Ministry of University Affairs days when I first started working in a leadership position as director of international cooperation, the second from Fulbright Thailand, and the third was a Fulbright's Board member ka.

My selection was based on how one chooses the person(s) to write recommendations ka....those who know me quite well and straightforward.....yet, know how to talk about our weaknesses in the subtle เนียน ๆ way ka 5555!

I didn't expect much at all and it was so fun listening to their reflections ka. 

On the whole, my former team members thought of me about creativity and opportunities given. One said my weakness was that I wasn't fit for a government service career (it showed that clearly na ka nia! I didn't realize it much at all until I joined Fulbright kaaa!) and that being so much focused on international cooperation details, I didn't touch on the planning side at the macro level sufficiently.

My Board Member talked too nicely about me....really kind of him ka. I learned what the expectations of the Board were ka......he expected the COO to listen to the Board's suggestions and wanted the person to prepare well to be able to readily offer the most related info for the Board's decision making. He highlighted the need to seek friends and allies on the Board to make it easier to work efficiently and effectively ka. 

Would you want to have this similar exercise if you've already retired or well before your retirement about your leadership mai ka? Yes or no and why ka? Sanuk dee ka.

Happy long weekend ka.

Leading in time of crisis

 Hope all is well na ka.

Today, my podcast episode is on, 'Leadership in Crises' so I think it'd be nice to share a part of it with you na ka.

This is from my friend back from Teachers College, Columbia day ka. Kevin Quigley was (the last) President of Malboro College, Vermont who had been through a huge crisis the past several years. Like quite a number of liberal arts colleges and universities in the US, numbers of students were smaller and smaller while the expenses were high, among other reasons in our changing world. Heard that about 500 of higher education institutions were closed and it was time for Marlboro too ka. This situation, in fact, happened well before the COVIC-19 ka.

Preparations were made by Kevin to make sure that his team and students would be secure.  In addition, he had to work closely with his Board, supporters, and the community, etc. for the best options possible. In any case, after some tough rounds of discussions with several key potential partners, he finally managed to negotiate successfully for Marlboro to be part of Emerson College in Boston. This means, those decided to move on this track would sure have a place to work/study. 

This is only a background for you to go to read what Kevin has shared on his leadership in this hard time ka. I think this could give some thoughts for many. Who knows, eventually, we could see similar situations in our country's universities too.

Here's what Kevin shared ka:

Leadership in crises, whether across cultures or not, requires at least three things:

1.  Knowing exactly where you are:  understanding as best you can what are your circumstances, clearly, honestly and objectively...and without any illusion.  And given that understanding of where you are and what are your available options.

2.  Communicating clearly and frequently:  it is essential that leaders in the midst of crises communicate clearly and regularly with all key stakeholders whether they are trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters.

3.  Modeling appropriate behavior:  most people pay much more attention to what leaders do and how they do it rather than what they say.  This requires leaders to be steadfast, hopeful while acting with the greatest possible honesty and integrity and expressing empathy regarding how the crisis is affecting people. 

He said after all the efforts made,  อุเบกขา (let go and stay calm....my own translation ka!) would be crucial ka! 

I like his reflections especially อุเบกขา ka. Once the leader has tried his/her very best for the higher purpose beyond him/herself, whatever happens is beyond one's control! 

Over to you who are interested na ka.....what do you think ka?

President's views on his leadership

 TGIF mai ka? For me, it's quite chill these days ka.

As some of you know, I'm hosting a podcast program, called, 'Learn Plern Plern' and I've started a series on leadership, which I found very crucial in our university administration.....in fact, in all sectors ka. 

I had an honor to get a contribution from Professor Tan Tai Yong, President of Yale/NUS College, Singapore. He kindly reflected on his experiences and shared the following ka:

The challenges of leading in a university.

 

·       Leadership authority at universities does not come from electoral mandates or hierarchical structures;

·       Often, academics are appointed to positions – Heads of Depts/Deans/Vice-Presidents, etc, based mainly on seniority, inclination or interest;

·       Appointments are usually rotated, and trajectory is not necessarily one-directional

·       Faculty tend to prefer consultative/democratic approach, instead on top-down

·       Then, there is the diversity of university communities – faculty, staff, students

·       Students change; and have specific issues that may differ across cohorts

·       The university has many stakeholders – governing boards, the government, parent, the public – and they all need management;

 

What do I see as my roles as a leader?

Showing direction and How to get there

·       A leader is expected to show the direction, set goals, and develop an agenda and action plans to achieve the objectives and goals. This entails the ability to see the big picture, and to articulate vision, mission and purpose.  Your colleagues look to you to see where you are taking them; it is important to know what that destination is.

·       To be able to provide direction, a leader needs foresight – the ability to see likely outcomes of a situation - understand the lessons of the past, the realities of the present and likely consequences. of a decision for the future.

·       Knowing where you want to get to is important, but knowing how to get there is even more important.  You need to have a plan, and know how to execute that plan. 

·       A good leader needs to be able to deal with the nuts and bolts.  You need a good clear head for planning, understanding of operational issues, structures and management of resources – budgets, human resources, infrastructure, etc.

·       So, a good leader must be able to “zoom in and zoom out”.

·       A leader needs to be “political”; by that I mean the ability to balance interests and needs of different groups of people, allocation of resources,  prioritisation; which battles to fight; what to let go. 

·       A good leader will have the ability to view situations from integrated, holistic position;  need to have an astute understanding of issues involving ethics, power and values, and understand how decisions in one area and impact on other areas, and often have unintended outcomes.

Develop people; build teams

·       Leadership is not a one-man/woman show. A leader cannot do everything himself, and should NOT always be leading from the front.

·       A good leader therefore needs to build teams of complementary strengths;

·       In this regard, having self-awareness is critical - know your own strengths and weaknesses, and then draw on the strengths of others to make the shortfall in your own abilities and capacities;

·       Teams become effective when there is belief and commitment; building trust (in the leader as a person, and in his/her vision) is important.  

·       Your colleagues may not agree with your decision, but they should not doubt your intent and purpose. Personal integrity and honesty are important attributes in a leader.

·       In a university setting, which is usually flat and democratic,  communication and persuasion are critical.  The leader needs to convince rather than coerce compliance. The need to secure buy-in is very important, and especially critical if you are leading change; need to get people to embrace these changes, even if these changes are likely to be disruptive and uncomfortable.

Build Community

 

·       The university is an organisation; it is also a community, a community of study and learning. It is an organisation that works best when it is undergirded by a functioning, vibrant community.

·       What holds this community together? The community is held together by common purpose, culture and values. Members of the university community are not born into the university; the choose to join a university and then develop bonds with it.  When a university is successful, people proudly identify themselves with it as faculty, staff and alumni.

·       Communities are not built solely on structures or rules and regulations. These are important, but communities are built on shared beliefs and values.

·       In building community, empathy- putting yourself in the shoes of others – is an important attribute;  empathy stems from a humility that expresses itself in the ability to listen and understand.

 

The above observations are gleaned through my personal experiences of the myriad of roles I have assumed in the past.  It was on the job training for me.

This is what struck me most when he talked about his mistakes ka:

I don’t always get it right, and have made mistakes and have had to adapt and often learn from bad decisions and judgements.

 

But, I have found that openness, the willingness to listen and learn, and the ability to conduct myself with humility, honesty and empathy, through which I try to earn the trust and respect of the community I belong; these are attitudes that have served me well in many situations. 

Any comments mai ka?

Questions about your own self

These days, I continue to listen to a podcast program called, 'How Leaders Lead with David Novak' ka. In fact I've always found some lessons to learn.

Today, let me go for something light but powerful from my view ka.

David Novak always asks his guests these questions....not the exact wordings na ka:

1. What are the three words that would best describe you?

2. What is one thing that not so many people know about you?

3. If you can take the place of one person for a day, who would that person be?

Could you answer the questions right away? I found it quite hard to give a prompt response since I had to sit back and think about it ka.  The three questions could be a good game to use for each of us and for team building to share their unknown/little known sides that they want to share....will be quite amazing and could be quite impressive too ka.

Will share my answers in the next email ka.

Stay well na ka.

Language learning and teaching

 I was interviewed a short while ago what I thought about language learning and teaching. Looking back, I wasn't sure if I answered the questions but the interviewer was kind to say I did ka. 

This is what I'd like to share today na ka.

For me personally, we've gone beyond the traditional ways of language proficiency to think and act more on the skills we wish to get out of the language learning process ka. 

I drew two three-circles-overlapping diagrams to clarify my answers. 

The first was to include key issues for global competence so on the top circle, it was diversity, the bottom left and right are inclusion, and belonging accordingly. The overlapping space is to fill in ‘Leadership with respect’ ka. 

The second was to see the top circle on ‘Intercultural learning system’. On the bottom left and right are ‘International partnership system’ and ‘KM system’. I believe that IZN has been taken for granted and it needs to have some kind of systematic approach to make it more powerful to drive institutions to their visions. Because of this thinking, systematic IZN can be used to gain wisdom for sure ka. 

When combined both circles, we'll have leadership with respect and wisdom via IZN, the qualities we wish our younger generations and all learners to acquire besides their language proficiency and teaching skills ka. Actually, it can go beyond language to the quality of our global citizens into the future. 

What do you think ka?

 

Two experiences, two extremes?

 Hello all....happy for many to say TGIF tomorrow na ka. 

I have two little stories to share ka!

Customer experience to buy online: I decided to buy 3 sets of back pillows to get 20% off and had two sent to my house while the other to my sister's. To be sure, the communication was through messenger and email (old people like me use email to confirm too kraaa!)

You could guess that things didn't happen the way we wished it to be which is fine with me ka...human errors happen all the time. I ended up having 3 sets at my house and my sister got hers. So instead of having to send back, I decided to buy the 4th. 

When asked how much, it turned out to be much more expensive than what we got earlier and there wasn't much room to even negotiate. The admin only said the company would pick it up soon.

After I decided we no longer wished to buy it anymore, I wrote to suggest that they could be more charming handling the case while having less costs. Only the word 'ka' was the answer!

Any comment mai ka?

On another experience when my friends and I wanted to have a little birthday celebration at Baan Ya Hom (บ้านยาหอม) ......sounds so right for my age mai ka? 5555! I texted at night to get a very speedy response, asking what kind of experience I expected. I told the person there would be 3 birthday girls so if cake could be prepared, it'd be more than enough. 

We were thrilled to get like 2 pounds of orange cake that was more than enough for us. It was delicious and we appreciated the warm thought.

It was a surprise as there was no charge for the cake ka.....we felt real grengjai and I texted to thank the person/owner mung ka? with pictures of the three birthday girls ka. 

Happy not because it was free, but the kind thought and prompt action were truly appreciated na ka.

Sure will try to go back when I can....and in fact, I should really write on TripAdvisor ka!

Stronger foundation into the future through University 4.0?

Swasdee kaaaaa! I just got back from a seminar on 'University 4.0', where 3 participating universities (Chiang Mai U/CMU, Khon Kaen U/KKU, and Prince of Songkla U/PSU) gave their final presentations of the months' efforts using foresight to look into the future of their universities.

The three universities have come up with their own preferable futures to be implemented one way or another according to their contexts and readiness, which could be quite detailed to share so let me highlight some of the issues plus my own thinking as usual ka!

Foresight exercises lead us to think more transformational and it seems time and efforts are needed to be more bold and imaginative even some have emerged for us to see like one university aimed to go from .edu to .org, .com. and .biz  while one looked more closely into the subregion with China as the dominant player for GMS. The other one stressed the forms of physical to virtual campuses with a variety of program choices and DIY.

On the whole, things will be changing and universities must be agile to keep up with the changes, if not ahead of it in some aspects. Still it was pointed out and I can't agree more that our universities love to stand alone when synergy is seriously needed for us, our higher education/ our country to stay stronger. 

What makes them think and behave so, I really am not sure ka!

On generational issues, I like it when Ajarn Mor+ Avudh Srisukri said for the more senior to simply share their experiences for the junior to get started and let the latter pursue their thinking and build their world with the most updated knowledge the senior can't possibly catch up!

Khun Veerathai, former Bank of Thailand's governor, gave sharp comments focusing first on values propositions of the universities, turning out to be subsequent lively and productive discussions.

Time to recheck our own values propositions from the national to university/ faculty/departmental levels ka. 

Several other key questions were, 'What to do when education seems to be torn apart in pieces?', 'How could we take advantage of our being trusted by the society to prepare our next generations for their unknown future?', 'Have we thought of how to maximize sharing economy platforms?'.

Any issue to get started as a sandbox with the least rules yet risks contained to a certain level and success can be scalable (similar to the one kids play quite freely yet, with some to help monitor?)

Again and again, the term, 'mindset' popped up ka. 

I think we must move further away from 'top up', which may be outdated so the notion of seniors, leaders, and faculty ' know better with experiences’ to be more about student engagement for them to co-design what’s likely to be relevant and dynamic for constant change.

Self awareness must be integral as part of the education processes and outcomes and perhaps start from older generations to identify effective ways to guide the younger and for the younger to explore themselves more readily.

Trust in the universities can be highlighted to help coach our younger ones on self awareness and can be joint lessons for all involved la ka! 

Hope the more seniors can serve as favorable role models of future-oriented citizens too ka.

One missing link as always since people tend to take internationalization/IZN too lightly,  human-to-human relationship building, intra-university/international collaborative networks,  and shared platforms have yet to be heard!

Any comments mai ka?

Courageous Culture and Leadership

 Finally, I have a summary I listened to that I really love to share ka! 

The title is, 'Courageous Cultures' by Karin Hurt and David Dye, 2020.

In our 'traditional' Thai working culture, we still get lots of safe silence as the default over consistent contribution and that's why I think this summary fits so much for 'sort of older/more classic leaders and organizations ka.....sorry if I offend some people na ka.

The authors give the following 5 reasons for the silence, which we may know well mai ka?

1. People don’t think leadership wants their ideas.
2. No one asks.
3. They lack confidence to share.
4. They lack the skills to share effectively. 

5. People don’t think anything will happen, so they don’t bother.

Only these five items make me think of how hard to create a favorable environment for individual and organizational development laew na ka. This isn't to blame leaders ka.....it's everyone's responsibility to reach for shared organizational goals plus one's own accountability to their learning and sharing. 

However, leaders can also help nurture courageous cultures by: 

1. Show a bit of their own vulnerability to build trust ....  no one knows all so show it loei ka!
2. Manage performance by offering consistent performance feedback and raise issues directly 
3. Advocate for your team to show that you can influence others
4. Experiment to show your boldness to try new ideas and fix it when it doesn't work
5. Make timely decisions .... quite a few of our leaders 'buy time' by delaying their decisions, worsening the situations especially in our speedy world of changes na ka.

6. Share credit .....this is really needed in our culture too ka....some leaders take it for granted, noting that it's their team's responsibility. I think leaders need to be more aware that their teams do yearn for more positive energy and encouragement from occasional recognition na ka. 

Before it gets too long, let me just add one more component about 'Respond with Regard' ka. This is to build momentum when we get ideas and react to show our respect while improving our team's strategic thinking to generate more ideas.

Simply put in my own words na ka... it's for the leaders to show their thankfulness, let the team know what the process would be, and then welcome them to do it again and more often ka.

In fact, we can turn the statements around into boxes for leaders to tick and check themselves too na ka nia.

Elon Musk's thinking

It's Saturday already na ka.....so fast ka!  

These days, I'm really hooked following news of 'Mission to the Moon' on Facebook ka.  On Oct 12, they shared Elon Musk's thinking which I found very interesting....so interesting that I had to go to 'Medium' to get to read the full article ka. 

I watched several interviews about him before and to me, Elon Musk is extremely intelligent/genius....a man who doesn't like to sleep and wishes he could have many more hours to work!. Um! doesn't sound right to me on this aspect ka.He's known for his extensive reading and working with top-level thinkers as well. 

Read and mingle with deep thinkers!

 

He is CEO of deep tech companies like Tesla and SpaceX. We're familiar with the names and some products like its electric cars. I don't have much knowledge about satellites but saw the numbers a while ago.  From my search, it's now around 775 satellites for internet access/Starlink sent from SpaceX and I think the news I listened to related to this effort of his too ka.

Thomas Oppong wrote 'Elon Musk's Rule for learning Anything Smarter and Faster' on Sept 29....a 4-minute read! Time spent even on reading means more these days as there're lots to digest. Something I have to improve about my egroup messages too ka so I have bolded under each main paragraph this time na ka!)

Be concise with key learnings to share! 

As for his two rules: here they are ka:

Rule #1 make sure you're building a tree of knowledge!

Identify the different parts of the tree with the trunk as strongest to understand the fundamental principles, e.g. the trunk and big branches, before you get into the leaves/details or else there is nothing for them to hang on to.

'Rule #2 you can't remember what you can't connect!

Whatever he works on, he's super ambitious like setting up SpaceX to go to the Moon/Mars. Before then, he needed more funding and so he tried to identify connections of this project with the rest of all the companies he set up to finally sort out his funding challenges. 

Like any new system, get a solid hold of the foundation and link it properly, it'll grow exponentially!

 

This Facebook news program quoted Henry Ford''s statement which reads, 'If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.'

Then, the key anchor, Khun Rawit Hanutsaha (Srichand CEO) added on Elon Musk's'"first principle thinking", giving an example that it was like building a rocket which must not be based on NASA's investments. Rather, Elon would ask how to build one, what components did it need? How much would each component cost? He doesn't care to see what others have done which ends up having his own products much cheaper than NASA. 

First principle thinking to think anew as if we were the first to do it could be powerful!

How do you like his thinking ka? what lessons have you learned mai ka?

Happy weekend ka. 

Values check exercise

 Hello all. Time flies fast especially when I feel quite busy ka....anyone shares this feeling mai ka?

For this weekend, I have a little exercise for you all to think and do ka. This is what I drew from a book summary I listened to entitled, 'The Blueprint' by Douglas R. Conant and Amy Federman, 2020 ka. There's one section the authors mentioned about one's values and I think this is a very good way to learn more about our own selves by ourselves and from our close circle ka. 

Here's how you can do it following these steps I created na ka:

Personal	Professional	History

1. Fill in the blanks with 2 names under each column..... the persons who you consider are your idols/role models. 

- Personal and Professional.....leading the life/ways /work you admire ...only for the History are those already passed ka. 

2. Identify common qualities under each column and then across the columns

3. See what qualities/values stand out

4. Share with your close circle without giving your own analysis and ask them what they think from 2-3 ka.

5. Collect all to come up with your own complete version as wished ka.

I did it and amazingly I learned about myself how I care for gender balance, futuristic leadership, selfless leaders, and simple ways of life ka. Yesterday, my former colleague who knew my list said it seemed to be 'servant leadership'.....I got one more to add and sure will ask around to get more ka.

Hope you'll try na ka.

Happy Friday ka. 

Sanuk TQC Sharing Session

Yesterday, I attended a sharing session of two Medical Schools (Rama and CMU), which have been awarded Thailand Quality Class (TQC). It was so fun that I couldn't help write to share it ka.

Learning I got na ka:

- Love it when the Dean from Rama Med School said, 'TQC/TQA is seen as a gimmick and should not influence over essence on heightening quality' whereas the CMU Med School cares more for the progress made and seen over award.

- Big picture is essential and it isn't limited to the senior leaders, but for most, if not all in the organization to understand. 

- Communication skills are important, which could go along with storytelling, joint hands-on sessions, and other 2-way communication tools like townhall.

Using the right media could be highly effective. CMU Dean said YouTube viewers rose from 2,000 with him as presenter to over 500,000 when younger ones were in it!

- Context remains the key to realize what's available and reachable that will serve our missions, vision, and ultimate goals being a medical school in a university. 

- Rama medical school has its policy on diverse workforce that could lead it to come up with lots of innovation. 

- Knowing one's core competency means the optimal use to the best advantages of the school. In case of Rama, its strengths on networks with the private sector have allowed them to cooperate in many ways from solar roof panels to medicine production. CMU Dean said partnership with a selected few private companies are sufficient and suitable in its context/location.

- Leadership stays on as the most crucial element to direct, inspire, offer moral support to the teams.....with personal actions like personal visits, hands-on for OD, etc.

- Alignment with universities and support from them must be well-attended. 

- Agility is proven during the COVID-19 when the whole crews team up to achieve their medical missions for the good of the public....became selfless too.

- Work flow analysis has become one of the tools to identify gaps, pain points to initiate new modes of handling some key issues.

- Continuous Quality Improvement has been in the blood stream of the CMU team to stay energetic, engaged, and productive. 

I wrote out of my note yesterday without much in sequence na ka. Hope it's clear enough ka.

Cheers to the two Deans, Med Schools, and Universities kaaa! Sanuk maaaak!

Impressive participation

Happy Monday to all na ka.

Last week, I had a workshop to link internationalization (IZN) with EdPEx (in this case, they’re now looking for the higher up scores at 400 ka).

Have a few things to share here today:

First of all, since this group was science-oriented, I found it a bit challenging so my first section of the talk was about the world trend basically in science including the 10 breakthroughs this year.

Yet, I tried two new things ka.

            1. Using a little fortune reading about networking to break them into small groups…… I found it fun to see them being so alert and participatory kaaa! This little trick worked for this group ka!

            2. Showing this clip for them to try to discuss possible links with cross-culture! Please follow this clip na ka. You’ll love it kaa! It’s Meryle Streep who showed her unique talents!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8TSBw5JiWE

 

Several participants helped answer and I was AMAZED to learn kaaaa!

            - To understand cross-culturally, we need to look more closely and to understand the contexts so we know what the situations actually are.

            - Their faculty has a lot of capabilities besides sciences that others don’t know. This could be something they should make it known to others while maximizing the use for the development.

 

I was really happy to see the two tricks worked even when I thought the second one could be tough but it exceeded my expectations ka.

 

Secondly, it was impressive to see that many senior leaders were there and the dean herself was sitting on the floor with her groupmates to do the tasks assigned with full attention.

 

I also noticed that the technician listened attentively from his control station while following some exercises he could do from there ka….isn’t it something you don’t really see that often mai ka? Again I was really impressed ka!

Lastly, they found it different not to sit in a classroom style. Rather in a huge circle of chairs. It made them feel more relaxed and engaged ka, I think….the style I prefer too ka.

 

Happy heart till now ka.

If I die!

 Hello all! Don't be shocked with the subject na ka....I just think that this is a nice game to share ka. 

Last weekend, I reunited with two wonderful buddies back from my days at the Ministry of Education over 3 decades ago. Since we three have been friends for long, I started asking them what would pop up on their minds if I died and we each shared our thoughts of the other two ka. 

I also thought of the 7 Habits book which started with a funeral to ask this similar question to check what we'll be leaving as legacy.

I feel many Thai people don't really think much about it mai ka? 

My learning from this little game is as follows ka:

- The first thing of us three was about the quality of fine relationships like sincerity, prompt connectedness even with infrequent get togethers, generosity, and kindness. 

- It is quite effective when each is quite open to talk about 'death' as I feel some could feel quite uncomfortable, and when we ask the ones who we consider 'true friends'.

- The answers can tell us what we may not have thought of before so it's quite interesting to show why we keep some people closer to our hearts ka. 

- More significantly, we three didn't touch anything about our work achievements at all ka! 

What do you think ka?

Diversity

 Hello to all ka.....hope you're enjoying your long weekend na ka.

A little bit about my podcast episodes to share na ka....last Tuesday and tomorrow, I'll share my thought and stories about 'Diversity', which has 'stretch meaning'  drawn from Baldrige/EdPEx to get started ka.

It was unbelievable how long it could be so I have two episodes on this particular issue, the first focusing more broadly and the second on Thailand ka.

For those who aren't so familiar with the definition, it is as follows ka: 'Personal differences among workforce members that enrich the work environment and are representative of your hiring and student communities.

I focus more on this part about the differences which 'address many variables, such as race, religion, color, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, age and generation, education, geographic origin, and skill characteristics, as well as ideas, thinking, academic disciplines, and perspective.

Quite a few stories told were from my own experiences!

Can't just tell from the look .... when a Japanese-American friend felt very frustrated as he got lots of compliments about his English proficiency, a little Thai girl speaking English with her mom was mistaken (by me:)) as a foreigner. A few Thai schools hire blue-eye teachers to gain parents' confidence in their English programs when not every farang can speak English

Don't judge from education level....I was sharing about my maid who got only Grade 6 certificate. Yet, she knows so many things I have no ideas about. I turned on the section for her to listen too and she blushed....I believe she felt a bit shy yet proud ka. 

Care a bit more for changing contexts ..... to me, the term 'dek dek -- เด็ก ๆ' is so cute to show how we care for our younger ones but it turned out that once I was repeatedly asked not to call them so. I thought Thais staying abroad for a long time must have forgotten how it meant to our hearts. When in Thailand, I still prefer calling the junior ones dek dek and to date, I do with my students who are almost 60:))! They love it ka. 

However, time has changed a lot. These days, I'd want to ask the younger gens for their preference and I'll follow without any reservations ka. 

Listen to learn..... Once we had a cleaning day with street cleaners to combine lunch and discussion. It enabled us to learn more how excited/ frustrated they felt as we served hamburgers for lunch. More interestingly were their opinions and stories.... how they felt awkward to sit at the same table with the highly educated.  One shared that she felt people didn't trust that street cleaners could be neat to use the restrooms as she saw facial expressions occasionally which made her upset.

I also got to read a research article on, 'The Unintended Consequences of Diversity Statements' by Sonia Kang, et. al in Harvard Business Review, March 2016. It was very interesting to learn that people of color 'whitened' their resumes to be called for interviews like changing a name from 'Jing' to 'Jenn' or dropping the word 'black' from "Black Engineering Students' Association". Half of applicants of color still did so to apply for entry level jobs and twice the number were invited for interviews than the ones that didn't tone down their resumes!

After all, one takeaway I wish to encourage my podcast audience is to go with respect and increase awareness of our own bias and sense of discrimination to promote diversity. Eventually, besides being role models for global citizens, it could potentially lead to creativity and innovation.

Will have to start working on my next episode laew la ka...any suggestion mai ka?

Plagiarism and Harassment

 Happy Monday ka.

I was busy managing my next podcast episode this morning and will record another this afternoon to realize that what I shared the past weeks hasn't been shared here ka.

On plagiarism, I've got some great help from Fulbright Thailand. My former colleague has come up with infographics in both Thai and English so if you're interested, please let me know and I'll share with you ka.

I told a few stories to go along with several definitions to stress how we are so very much into copying without feeling and knowing that it isn't the right thing to do....as it has been part of our context in the education settings even ka.

This also happened to me personally when my former colleague (Khun Chotima) and I wrote a book chapter that took several years to publish. An ajarn from England asked me to consider taking it back or write one. Another junior told me not to use that version as I could plagiarize my own work which is also wrong. Complicated dee ka. Fulbright Thailand has used some software to check the application essays. If found that over 15% is copied, the person will be put on its black list ka.

I ended this episode by trying to lead listeners to feel the pride and dignity from doing the work by our own selves, thinking also that we would suffer if others copy our work and claim it as their own. Hope some audience would find it helpful ka......I don't know how many have listened for sure but at least the programs stay on!

Harassment is another issue that's so sensitive to our Thai culture. I feel so bad and don't find it funny with the remarks about appearance, dirty jokes, and the ways some talk shows treated their audience. This is tough and it took me a long while to craft the script. 

Again, with help from 2 junior friends (Dr. Romyen from MFU and Director Lakhana from MHESI), I was able to do this episode with confidence, mentioning about #MeToo, what to be considered 'unwanted' verbally or non-verbally....anything that makes us feel uncomfortable and yet, be more aware where and who we talk to since it could mean something different. 

What was added from the two was about how to manage it...by not thinking that it's our fault and it isn't our responsibility for the one who harassed us, by saying it out right to the person, by looking for policies of our universities and agencies, by recording in detail, by talking with friends about it and by reporting to our superiors. In any case, all senior leaders have to make sure that the workplace and institutions are safe enough for the harassed to report the cases. 

In Australia, the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency-- TEQSA has worked with organizations concerned to come up with its policies, examples, and procedures to take actions for all. Wish we could have such practices in place too ka.

Got a few positive comments about the 2 episodes on plagiarism and harassment, which were encouraging. These universal standards could well be integrated with IZN and IaH loei ka.  

Any comment mai ka?

Help plan training and learning

 There's an article I'd like to share as learning and development through training poses as our continued challenge ka.

Got it from https://hbr-org.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/hbr.org/amp/2019/10/where-companies-go-wrong-with-learning-and-development under the title, 'Where Companies Go Wrong with Learning and Development' by Steve Glaveski, Harvard Business Review, October 02, 2019 ka.

Key points I got na ka:

• Bryan Caplan, author of The Case Against Education, says in his book that education often isn’t so much about learning useful job skills, but about people showing off, or “signaling.” I like it because it's sort of a Thai way of saying 'I did', 'It's done.' without much about the outcomes and links to the work.
• People learn best when they have to learn. Mandate busy employees to attend a training session could make little alignment to their needs. I think this is so true when we indicate specific courses and hours of training without looking into what's truly needed in our organizations and what matches our team.
  
• “The Forgetting Curve.” by German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus, is really interesting and it's an aspect to consider....he found that if new information isn’t applied, we’ll forget about 75% of it after just six days. 
• Lean learning is needed to help acquire/remember what we've learned by learning the core of what is needed to learn, applying it to real-world situations immediately, receiving immediate feedback and refining our understanding, and repeating the cycle. 
• The author also adds that effective learning could include activating peer learning (I think the more we share, the more we remember what we've learned and could better put to use), personalized content, ongoing support, and outcome checks.

On the whole, I think quality HR team is crucial and in the government sector, this needs total reform. It needs to move away from traditional ways of thinking and acting....attendance, routine assessment and promotion, number of hours training , far-too-specific courses for all positions (one size fits all kind of things???), etc.

Instead, HR dept. could plan with more realistic thinking about learning effectiveness along with the organization's vision and mission as well as needs in the future and of individuals. I like it when it talks about ongoing support, not just to tick 'yes, it's done' and to be far too rigid for specific tasks the persons are responsible for. It'd be great to look at the big picture and ability to see the links of one's excelling in knowledge and experiences with needs of the organization collectively. Could try various methods, even peer's role as coach/mentor, not just traditional ways of training and evaluation ka.

Time for new thinking and consideration for the Next New Normal na ka!

IZN of medical education

 Happy Monday ka. 

Earlier on, I read an article (Internationalisation of medical education is now vital by Anette Wu, Geoffroy PJC Noel, Betty Leask, Lisa Unangst, Edward Choi and Hans de Wit  20 June 2020, University World News) that convinced people in the circle that it's time to really focus more on internationalization of medical education as it could be an effective mechanism to enhance global health....."ensuring that future physicians practise medicine within a global frame of reference.........provide the foundation and framework for international leadership and collaboration and provide physicians with skills in cultural competencies, ultimately improving healthcare worldwide and thereby enhancing Global Health."

Frankly, I was glad to read it because it isn't easy to discuss IZN with the medical and science circle when it comes to the firm belief that their own disciplines are already international by nature. Blame it on myself for not being able to find the sound and concise justifications too ka. 

Then, over the weekend, I read another article entitled, 'Internationalization of Medical Education—a Scoping Review of the Current Status in the United States' by the same group of authors, published by Springer on August 5, 2020 ka. (Medical Science Educator https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-020-01034-8) I think it's a real useful one to share for higher education as a whole ka. Let me point out several ka:

1. From 2000 to 2018, the three themes indicated are institutional partnerships, international learning at home, and student mobility programs.

2. I like it a lot when the authors discussed motivations for IZN which could include quality improvement, provision of access, competitiveness, growth, and financial profits.....yet they stated that the main focus has to offer a professionally relevant education that prepares all students to be interculturally proficient professionals and citizens is the responsibility of the disciplines.

3. Medical schools have to 'prepare all medical graduates to meaningfully contribute to society as professionals who practice locally but are also global citizens'  They need to learn more about 'how to build a larger global medical community using modern technology and social media led by institutional partnerships' as well.

4. Efforts have to be made to ensure that students are able to appreciate the full spectrum of healthcare systems and collaborative opportunities worldwide. More is also needed by medical schools in the US to stress international and intercultural learning outcomes for all students, and on how to teach and assess these outcomes at home under Internationalization at Home (IaH) ka. 

In all disciplines, the key points raised are worth considering with actions ka. 

Cross-culture, innovation, and self-evaluation

My podcast theme today is to share some cross-cultural stories I consider very classic.....by the term 'classic' I mean I keep repeating it until I feel embarrassed as some may have heard them a few times ka. In any case, I continue telling the stories:))!

I shared three stories but the short one is about 'How are you?' shared by one American grantee who ran to help his student who was injured from playing on the sports day. The response to his 'How are you?' was 'Fine, thank you!'....so automatic that it sounded like a parrot speaking English ka. 

When thinking about it further, besides our way to learn English by rote, it's also our own 'feeling grengjai' not for others to feel too worried about us too na ka. 

Khon Thai narak ka.

This made me think of a panel I joined in yesterday on 'Innovation of Educational Administration in the Transformation Era', organized by the National Institute for the Development of Teachers, Faculty Staff, Educational Personnel, Ministry of Education. I was fascinated by the huge area and facilities for training and have seen many opportunities for such space and investment ka. 

I was really impressed with Dr. Wiriyah Ruechaipanit, a panelist who created 'Eduzones'.....my first time to get to know him. He's critical about Thai education and there're quite a few points I wish I could have had more time to talk with him ka. He said whatever he said that got a lot of negative comments, it meant he was successful in doing so. His example was when he wrote about the rights of students to wear their hair longer as it was about their heads. It turned out he was bombarded by a good number of school administrators....some said Dr. Wiriyah isn't even a teacher and how he could know about schools, etc. I thought of a Nobel Prize Laureate who told us to be ready to be disliked when we do something important and different. 

Dr. Wiriyah also said our educational system blocked kids' creativity as administrators and teachers are so used to staying on rules and regulations. We all hear about it often, can't agree more....yet, I think actions to lessen the degree of our education community to be in the rule game aren't that obvious, nor powerful. Quietly, I was happy that our universities have more autonomy and freedom than schools though again, some tend to play by the rules out of their habitual practices.

What I've got out of this panel was that the three panelists (me included) shared the same ideas ka:

- Khon Thai narak mak with lots to share and impress others so we need to know our own strengths and optimize them. 

- When talking about innovation, it's about each and every school administrator to know themselves in order to know how best to become more creative and innovative while learning how to interact and encourage others to be so as well. 

- Diversity and inclusion are still the keys to ignite more ideas and creativity that have to be linked with the change of mindsets to look beyond one's own specialization and sectors.

- As usual, I emphasized several things ka....looked into our own cultural traditions to see what to rid or lessen. The administrators have to be models taking up some universal standards especially issues related to plagiarism and harassment ka.

- Another reminder was that 'Innovation and transformation' must be taken up seriously as appropriate, not because it's been in the trend and they thought it was a must to follow!

I left the conference feeling that even though MOE has tried coming up with advance thinking and guidelines, it has had huge gaps in terms of forward looking, thinking, deployment, and communication as it's still held so tight to cultural traditions it must eradicate ka.

Sharing about Quality Journey

Happy long weekend ka!

Recently, I had an opportunity to moderate a session for two faculties (Chula Med and CMU Nursing) that got a Thailand Quality Class (TQC).

It was so funny I felt the urge to write about the Q&A. I put it in a different format as this isn't formal like what one has to write on behalf of the Working Group on Quality Development toward Performance Excellence.

It's in Thai so my few foreign friends won't be able to read it na ka, sorry about that ka.

Comments welcome and hope the sources cited could be useful for some to study further na ka.

Please follow this link  which will start with the following na ka:

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Comments welcome ka.

Never 'over communicate'

Good morning to all ka!

I have something hanging on my mind that can't go away so let me share with you here na ka.

After recent meetings and discussions with several circles, I think we need to create mutual understanding with our higher education community on these matters ka:

1. We must make clear what roles and responsibilities each one has from the Government to the Ministry and Universities, plus quite a few committees and sub-committees set up.

It seems in our circle, the roles are unnecessarily overlapped and so the management for implementation is confusing....in fact, confusing from the planning on!

The best is for us to 'lintegrate' (link and integrate) the ideas and efforts for each level to take up under the roles they are tasked with. Through this approach, IZN policies can be deployed down to the units like International Cooperation successfully. At the same time, various channels must be built for inputs to be drawn from 'bottom up' for realistic missions to be accomplished!

2. The creation of universities on the basis of 'University Autonomy' and 'Academic Freedom' must not be overlooked by national authorities. We've been great to manage proper distance between the national policy and implementation levels, allowing our universities to grow intellectually. Necessary national support in terms of global networks and trends, quality and quantity monitoring and synthesis plus access to resources is essential still and must be taken up seriously ka. 

3. Internationalization (IZN) is far from being understood in all levels and sectors so much more work needs to be done to answer 'Why IZN?'

- Ideally it's for embedded qualities of what our humanity needs in time of working alongside with AI like respect, caring, empathy, and resilience.

- It's to nurture needed soft skills for our citizens to become highly humane and capabilities, which could include leadership, collaboration, creativity/curiosity, agility, and interpersonal management; all with cross-cultural skills to reinforce the skill strengths.

- IZN will boost deeper understanding of international/universal values and standards like plagiarism, gender, harassment, helping us to be ethical, professional, and decent.

- Such qualities and practices can lead us to become innovative while enhancing favorable growth for sustainability of our peoples all over the world and our mother nature in its literal sense.

- IZN policies must generate benefits to our future stability where our younger generations will have to survive healthily in every possible dimension. They're the key stakeholders to engage in our national ambitions and directions. 

- Definitely, competition and competitiveness have to be embraced. Yet, we need to care for the mass of our population who too have to be groomed into quality citizens through diverse intercultural experiences in diverse sectors beyond university walls.

- IZN brings us to the world and brings the world to us (including pools of talents) so we can sail into the future in a less unknown situation. It needs imagination, boldness, and foresight to cross over the current brick and mortar, the one-shot event/project, and individual boundary for own success. 

IZN is both a means and an end that should be integrated into all missions synergistically and collaboratively from national to university and community settings dai loei ka.

Taking up IZN is still tough and this reminds me of a Japanese company I visited decades ago and summaries/stories I've listened to. One similar message sent out is, 'Never over communicate'....keep repeating your company's philosophy, keep talking about your history and thinking, keep mentioning the values that make the organization exist.

Here I am, keep communicating and over-communicating about IZN ka.