Beautiful Success on EdPEx Sharing Day

 Hello all. 

May I summarize what was shared the other day when key speakers from universities/faculties offered their learning from using EdPEx (modeled after Baldrige's Education Criteria) ka. 

1. Key messages for me include ability to do/have/hold onto the following:

     - See big pictures of the world down to one's own country and institution, 

     - Have mutual understanding of the vision, missions (and values) of their universities and faculties for development of humans, country, and the world, 

     - Stay sustainable in offering their quality education, and 

     - Link and integrate key issues and actions strategically toward the goals set

2. Key focuses are about contexts and self assessment to identify desirable directions and strategic actions with key groups and connections from processes to results.

Ven. Prof. Dr. Phrakrupalad Paññavorawat (Hansa Dhammahaso), Director of International Buddhist Studies College (IBSC) Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University gave one very unique example and on the whole, I think it was the best session of the day loei ka.

It was about the specific context of his institution and the ability to integrate the dhamma with the real world by basing on อริยสัจ 4 the 4 noble truths and elaborating them through mindfulness, wisdom and morality to identify self assessment and core competency for good governance, and Voice of the Mind (VOM) and Voice of Customers (VOC), etc. He stressed the importance of 'people' like the crucial role of the leadership team to serve as role models and meaningful inclusion of workforce and key stakeholders concerned.

Mindset was stressed and in fact repeated in most of the sessions for each institution to feel the urge and responsibility to join hands to achieve the missions and vision.

3. Preparing for a half-an-hour presentation to the assessment team on site visits was far more challenging than I thought ka. I couldn't thank enough for having the 'right' presenters share their experiences. 

Dean Pornanong Aramwit from Chula's Pharmaceutical Sciences called for the synergy of her team for the best presentation to be given. She prepared her own powerpoint slides with 45 edited versions and rehearsed to be sure it went for the exact half-an-hour slot with key messages coverage! 

Dean Terapatt Vannaruemol from Mass Communication, Chiang Mai University, put their faculty expertise to the full use to come up with a detailed script for him to follow. Before then, a short clip was shown about the faculty achievement with him in rap style to end with the word 'EdPEx'...what he used before and cut short for 'icebreaking' with the assessors.

Both are proactive, enthusiastic and determined to present only the best. They are fun people too ka, revealing their secrets of going into 'mutelu' like outfit color of the day, seating position. 

I was helping moderate the session and observing the audience's attention and laughs with my full happy heart kaa!

Let me end here with fun from the whole learning ka.

From personal to partnership stories

 Sawasdee to all ka! Lots of different things to do these days and I wish to share one personal story and one on Thailand-US partnership ka.

- I saw another musical 'แฟนฉัน' late last week and liked it a lot ka! However, at the end of the show, I think I was far too excited to take pix without knowing that I lost one gold earring ka.

The loss made me feel upset but it reminded me of my sister's late husband's advice when she forgot some stuff at a shop ka. 

'Think of it as a gift to someone who may be in bad need to make use of it.'

It made me feel even much better loei ka.

- Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the JFK Foundation in Thailand and I attended it as the most recent board member ka. It was set up in memory of JFK on the very day when he was assassinated. I hope the Foundation continues to promote education and social development, enhancing the Thai-US partnership ka..

The roundtable had several interesting sessions and several key messages I got were:

      - The US and Thailand haven't been as close as it should and can be. The US has focused its interest on Vietnam and Indonesia, distancing Thailand from being included in its new initiatives and visits.

      - Internally between the political parties and within the State Department, there are conflicts against each other except one common agreed issue on China. Yet, without engaging Thailand enough for decades, China has become closer to Thailand.

      - We need to lessen our dependence on China for our tourism and export like durians.

      - Thailand's own challenges are about structures like economy which needs to be more attractive, decision on some specific aspects (military cooperation) needs to be made, not tend to sit on the fence.

Any comment mai ka?

 

Mindsetting and IZN for IROs

 Hello to all and hope it's a great Monday for you na ka.

I was in Tagaytay, Philippines to help conduct several workshops relating to IZN -- internationalization, to a group of International Relations Officers (IRO) from quite a few countries who are members of AIMS (Asian International Mobility for Students Program), organized by SEAMEO RIHED ka.

Let me share with you what I learned from this trip and set of activities ka:

- 5555! for me, especially ka. At Filipino immigration, though the line wasn't that long, I overheard one couple say, 'we're senior citizens. let's go there.' I looked where they went and saw a sign which read, 'senior citizens'. 

Immediately, I said to myself to try as I wasn't so sure it was meant for what age up. Like in Thailand, even with a special track for the elderly, I was told that it was for 70 up ka. 

I fit for the track kaa! couldn't help but ask the officer about the age and she said it's for 60 years old up ka in the Philippines. I could fly through easily:))!

- For the IRO day, we three from our 6-person TPopPlus team were there, designing the whole program and facilitating several ka.

       - The first one was to conduct our 'Mindsetting session'. Originally, people tended to call it 'Icebreaking', which could unfortunately equate to fun only without much content ka. 

We had 3 main activities for 6 big groups (about 12-14 each) starting from 'pick a card' for them to share their feelings about the AIMS program (past, present, and future), and our elaborate-from-gender game. .

My deck of cards consists of 170 cards and though we said it wasn't a gift, we lost one which was sort of expected so I was prepared ka. I feel the cards must be too attractive to resist!

The lessons learned were valuable for all to know a bit more about themselves and their mindsets, collaborative working environments, positive observations and comments made, etc.

      - The second was broken into 3 stations (Big picture, mentoring and coaching, and mental health) and I took care of one about the big picture IROs need to learn and practice for them to contribute to the success of their missions and visions. 

Even with the best assistance from my TPop team and the keynote speaker turned into a key-takeaway person, it was tough to repeat the process (without a microphone and powerpoint) talking, group activities, and rating three times!  Couldn't imagine my life without the other two ka

It was amazing to see the eagerness and willingness of the participants to go through the 3 stations.

     - The third was the culmination of what was learned all day for participants to come up with 'supersonic shuttle' being the big picture about IZN and their role as IRO's. 

Unbelievably after a very long day, the groups retained their energy to the max to come up with fascinating ideas and presentations. We couldn't be happier to see that they included in their shuttles keywords like vision, mission, growth mindset, stakeholders, hearts/passion, and diversity ka.

I was so happy too not to find any keyword on 'budget' which was raised quite often during the station activities since attitudes and shared goals are more needed to get started before discussing money matters.

There was some confusion in announcing the winners. But we simply took it a minor mistake to take our little gift back ka! happy atmosphere and happy participants ka.

We laughed so much and talked among our own group that part of the exhaustion is from laughing ka.

Our extensive plans and my sleepless night before the workshop started paid off ka.

summary from 'inclusion'

 Hello all. As earlier said, I wish to share the summary of a booklet I just read.

This book entitled, 'Inclusion' is a collection of recent articles related to inclusion published in Harvard Business Review ka. I like how they put it as, '....smart, essential reading on the human side of professional life....'  Love the 'human side' kaa!

Here are the highlights from my view na ka:

- Six traits that distinguish inclusive leaders from others are: visible commitment, humility, awareness of bias, curiosity about others (open mindset), cultural intelligence, and effective collaboration. For me, out of these traits, awareness of bias and cultural intelligence must be stressed since we don't really touch on these qualities as much na ka.

- Social belonging is essential so for inclusion to work, we need to create a sense of belonging...what I think is helpful for people to collaborate and eagerly put more effort for their offices/shared goals.

- Microaggressions (insensitive statements, questions, or assumptions) are'..... based on a simple, damaging idea:Because you are X, you probably are/are not or like/don't like Y.' 

Some of the examples could sound 'hypersensitive' and distance inclusion. I think it depends on the circle we're in and personal preference as well ka. The article pointed out words like, 'blacklist', 'Man up' and some sentences like, 'That's insane, that's crazy' when talking about mental health; or 'Do you have a husband/wife?' instead of 'partner'. We need to use it with thoughtfulness yet we should not be far too off balance, over or less sensitive ka.

In any case, if we realize we have said some sensitive words/sentences, we should pause, ask for clarification, listen for understanding, apologize, and follow up as needed. It's the process of 'learning, evolving, and growing.'

- One statement I think is useful when in doubt is to say, 'I'm not sure what you meant when you say.......' ....nice way to put it for more mutual understanding ka.

- Inclusion starts with belonging is an article that stressed the need to know one's own self to have empathy for ourselves and others.  

- Storytelling helps raise our awareness about our unconscious biases, and how we look at disability and marginalized people.

To be an inclusive leader after all, start from the leader to learn and be aware of his/her own biases, actions, and expressions na ka.