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?