Tiger Dance for the Year of Tiger

A friend of mine has invited me to the show `Woohoo'. At first I was very sceptical as I do not normally go for Mandarin movies let alone local production. However my friend of mine said that this movie has a good rating. How wrong was I as my perception changed when I saw the movie. It has a good plot with meaningful message that relate to day to day happenings.

`WooHoo' (the tiger dance) is a tradition practised in a small village in Kuantan, Pahang. The elder who knows `woohoo' is not longer able to perform as it is taxing on his age. His filial granddaughter wanted to please his grandfather (the elder) put up an advertisement for young `woohoo' players. There are 5 youngsters who have applied to be `woohoo' players. They have to undergo intensive training and they even be penalised for not following the terms in the employment contract. It was eventually revealed that they are not going to be paid for their services. One of them wanted to turn back. However, he was touched by the village people who are simple and yet truthful. Of course, the road to success was not an easy one as the only `tiger head' was accidentally destroyed by the mischievous kids in the village. Guess what, the 5 `woohoo' players managed to pull through and put up a splendid show. Well that would not be possible without the team work of all the villagers.

The message is such `why fight it, when you can make the best out of a bad situation. Every cloud has a silver lining.' How true when the villagers set aside the differences and put their effort in making the event a success despite the setback of the `tiger head' being destroyed.

Is then the tiger dance a new dance? Well, it is not actually a new dance. Tiger dance originated centuries ago in China. It has a style and choreography that is similar to a lion dance. The dancers athletic prowess, martial art skill and coordination are what counts.

To mark this Year of the Tiger, what other dance but the tiger dance is most apt.

Hope the Year of the Tiger brings with it an exciting year ahead and opportunities for one and all.

Feng Shui Seminar

`Succeeding in Turbulent Times' is what we expected in the year of the metal tiger.

I have personally attended the Feng Shui Seminar by Joey Yap on 16 January 2010. Below are the pointers for consideration:

The Feng Shui masters have given us an update of the expectation in the year of the metal tiger. We usually believe a good start of the year is tantamount to good happenings in the year ahead. Questions include the following:

o When is the best time to start work in the year?
o When is the best time to get marry?
o How to enhance the existing relationship for married couples?
o When is the best time to receive the God of Wealth?
o The general expectations for the year.

Is Feng Shui an art or a science? Well your guess may be as good as mine. Basically Feng Shui is the movement of the stars. Every year the star position changes and as such the outlook is different due to the changes in the stars position. We have to establish first 2010 Flying Stars Diagram. Once the Flying Star Diagram is determined, one can superimpose it to the house and even the face to establish the best sectors. As an illustration in year 2010:

South West - 5 Yellows
North East - Grand Duke
North - 2 Killings

In Feng Shui, there is a sitting position and a facing position. If we sit in the North East, we are facing the South West.

In Feng Shui, we also have to consider the Chi, be it in the interior or exterior of the house/working area. To the Chinese, Chi is the ever present force that circulates and move to the environment both indoors and outdoors. Chi is everywhere and wherever Chi settles it brings with it a special kind of energy that attracts extreme good luck.

Human Chi differs in quantity and quality from person to person. Often Chi currents get blocked causing ailments that result in negative outcomes. Thus techniques are developed to enhance human Chi through meditation and special breathing techniques.

Enhancing human Chi alone is deemed insufficent. One also has to live in harmony with the environment. Thus the Chi of the human body has to be in harmony with the Chi of one's surroundings. Household Chi and Human Chi have to flow smoothly, one in rhythm with the other. Today we know that this harmonious interaction of the two kinds of Chi defines what good Feng Shui is all about.

Something for sharing.

A matter of choice

In today's world the difference between success and failure is not whether we can recognize our strengths and weaknesses. Today the real long term competitive edge is the ability to maintain positive image. Not merely that, it is the ability to sustain the positive image and outlook in life in order to achieve our long term goals and mission.

There are indicators that we should consider when we position ourselves either as winner or loser. Are we always looking positively at situation or should we be prepared for the worst? It is similar when we look at a glass of milk, is it half full or half empty? It is merely a matter of choice. It is up to us to decide whether the choices that we make will be fruitful or fruitless ones.

We sometimes will have setbacks in life and things do not work the way we expected. Don't be afraid of failure. It brings knowledge that something didn't work. Try something new - we can always go back to what we did before. Looking back at history, it took Edison 10,000 experiments to get the light bulb right and Alexander Fleming failed with the experiment he was doing but discovered penicillin.

More importantly, it is a matter of choice between success and failure.
Something for sharing.

Monday Blues

When Monday comes and you seem to drag your feet to work, looking forward to Friday again. Sounds familiar as you are not alone as there are millions of working adults worldwide who are hardly motivated at work.

Let me relate to some incidences today, Monday.

LRT breakdown due to technical problems
Working adults rely on the LRT as their convenient way of transportation. Just imagine the crowd at the LRT stations when the trains broke down due to technical problems. There is no alternative means of getting to work. What a terrible start of the day particularly on a Monday. Monday blues. Since LRT play such an important role in the day to day transportation, steps should be taken to ensure that incidences of breakdown be reduced to a bare minimum. The transportation system should be more reliable and in doing so, the number of cars on the road can be significantly reduced when the working adults opts for LRT and leave their cars behind at home.

Annual Adjustment
Today is the day when we have our notification for the annual adjustment. You win some and you lose some, as the saying goes. There are some who are happy and some who are not. Whatever it is, it depends on how you look at a situation. Has anyone ever seen a genuinely contented look on an employee who had just received the notification? Probably not, as humans are never satisfied with what they have. However, all is not lost yet. Tell yourself you are still the best and one day you will be rewarded accordingly.

Receipt of Calendar
I have had a pleasant surprise when a colleague of mine presented me with a calender. The calender is not available for free and you have to purchase for it. I am indeed thankful not so much for the calendar but the underlying thought behind it. My colleague could have given the calendar to someone else. However, he chose to give me one. Very appreciative.

So at the end of the day, was it a Monday Blue or a Monday Cheer?
Leaves it to your imagination. Well.

Scarce Commodity

Diary and calendar are hard to come by these days. Corporations have in their effort to cut cost are not longer printing diary and calender. Gone are the days when diary and calendar are given out freely as an advertising tool.

Listed below are some of my requests for calenders:

Incidence 1
A colleague of mine has given me calendar from an Optical shop. The calendar was only given on collection and when purchase was fully made.

Incidence 2
A friend of mine has purchased exceeding RM150.00 at a Pharmacy shop. When she requested for the calendar which was to be given for purchase of RM150.00, she was informed that the stock was no longer available. It would indicate that the printing of the calendar was low or alternatively the demand for it was great. Well, I would leave it to your guess.

Incidence 3
Guess what, I was on the line with an business associate when I did mention that it was difficult to obtain a calendar let alone a diary. This business asociate took immediate action to get me a calendar.

How thankful was I when I have obtained 2 calendars, one to be placed in the office and the other at home.

Something for sharing

Decision Making in Job Offer

A colleague of mine was headhunted by a recruitment Agency for a key position in a established organisation. However, my colleague did not take up the offer for reasons best known to her/him. Did my colleague make the right decisions? We can make a right decision wrong. In the same token, we can make a wrong decision right. It all depends on what motivate staff. Among the motivation factors are the following:

Self Actualisation
Job satisfaction and recognition. Today, employees want rewards for their performance and they too want the Management to recognize their contributions and efforts in their work. If organisations want to see better performance from employees in order to achieve their vision, then they must be prepared to provide everything to reinforce them.

Safety
This what we term as job security.

Physiological
This includes pay and basic needs support (welfare). Rewards such as performance bonus, free transportation, meals and accommodation have boosted employee morale to be more committed and dedicated to their work. Using Maslow's theory of needs, we will understand what drive us to work harder for our material needs. Monetary rewards are the best option for employees who have to meet their basic needs. Besides monetary rewards, good working conditions are also a necessity. The organisation also has to consider the walfare of its employees.

Sometimes we may have encountered a similar situation whereby we have to make a decision on a job offer. What is the worst thing that could happen? If the worst thing happened, what would you do? Where could you go from this? From whom could you get support? `Follow your heart' may be a good option.

I will end with a smart quote `Low paid work is not necessarily either a stepping stone to greater things or a sentence to life drudgery.'

Human Management

We will be able to make an impact in the Organisation if our human management skills are good. We also will make good managers if we exercise effective human management. Well it is easily say than done.

Let us look at two pertinent issues, behaviour and character.

Behaviour change
If we have staff who are constantly late to work, it may be considered as a behaviour. To address a behaviour, we have to exercise tact in saying `You are an excellent worker, however your punctuality is something you may need to look into.' In this manner, we are addressing the behaviour of a staff and it can be changed.

Character change
Let us look at the story of a scorpion and a frog. A scorpion was seeking the assistance of a frog to carry him across the river. The frog was afraid of being stung but the scorpion pleaded with the frog. The scorpion reassured the frog that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown as well. Finally the frog agreed to assist in getting the scorpion across the river. Nevertheless, in mid river the scorpion stung the frog, dooming the two of them. When asked why, the scorpion explained `I'm a scorpion, it's my nature.'

The moral of the story is that it would not be possible to change nature. Likewise, a character of a person cannot be changed. In the same light, if we will to say to our staff, `You are late habitually, a late person'. What we are doing now is addressing the character of a person which cannot be changed.

From the above illustration, when we are exercising human management skills we have to diplomatic particularly in our choice of words.

Something for sharing.

Organisation Set Up and Changes

2010 is in the 2nd day and new year resolutions seems to be the talk of the town.

The country as a nation talks of what lies ahead in terms of economic and social developments. Developers, bankers and agent look at the property market and the outlook for the coming year is going to be challenging. Developers are going to give double-digit disocunts for some of the most prestigious and attractive projects.

What we are seeing are plans by the governments and the large players in the industry to spearhead the economy. However, we have to look at the organisation as a whole and the role it plays in realising the objectives of the government.

Let's take a look at the organisation itself and the proactive steps to take in changing the organisation.

Look at the selection process for hiring staff
This is critical as the hiring of the incompetent or unsuitable staff may lead to more problems later on. HRD needs to be more aggressive in sourcing for the right candidate by being more proactive rather than reactive when a vacancy exisits.

Develop an on-site development for staff
Off-site development programme such as seminar, courses and team-building only contributes about 20% towards staff development. Off-site development programme may be a good break for the staff at times. As an illustration a staff will feel more motivated and having the energy recharged after a course break. However on-site development is still the key. If a staff has been identified in a certain area of work eg negotiation, then the Company should take the staff to the next level of negotitation.

Encourage people to disagree
If an organisation is sharp in decision making, then once and for all kill off the culture of `yes men'. An organisation will proceed faster when is receptive to changes and opinion. Do not stick to the old traditional way of doing things, be more innovative and accept changes in the process.

Understand people better by means of psychology
The science of understanding how people behave, think and feel may be the answer towards solving problems as are all people related. We can't change people. We can only alter their behaviours. To change their behaviours, we must change their feelings and beliefs.

Motivation of staff
Pride is a powerful motivator.

The subject has remained something close to our heart.

Last but not least, happy new year 2010

What To Expect in 2010

The new year 2010 has started.

What do we expect of 2010? Here are some of them:

Sugar Price Increase
The sugar price increase is inevitable due to the rise in the price of raw commodity on the world market. Well, we just wonder whether there is any chain reaction in that the price of other goods will be increased accordingly. Does it mean the consumption of sugar will be reduced with the increase in the price? If that is so, it may be a blessing in disguise as sugar intake should be reduced for health reasons.

Service Tax for credit and charge cards imposed on basic and supplementary
With the imposition of the service tax, it would be prudent to cancel the additional cards. A individual should be a holder of two cards only, one Visa and one Mastercard. Does it really control the spending? We really doubt as it will depend on an individual's lifestyle. Gone are the days when we flash our cards to indicate our status in life. These days, the more cards holding means the more indebted a person is.

Cigarette price capped
It may means no longer cheap pack of cigarette as the price is capped at RM6.40 per pack of 20. Does this move helps to curb smoking? Smokers will still go for it despite the price cap. Smokers are just addicted and it would be hard to kick the habit.

Malaysia Day declared a National Holiday
It is good in the sense that we recognize the day as a National Holiday. Yes September 16 is a national holiday.

GST Bill debate
GST Bill will be debated in Parliament. If passed, a 4% rate will be imposed on all purchases except for essential items. Does it burden the public as we have to pay the GST of 4% for all purchases? The pros and cons are to be reviewed and evaluated carefully before the implementation of GST Bill.

These are really school of thought.