HAPPY NEW YEARS BUDDIES !

Together with my two assistants, Siti and Mazlina

• Last week I had a heart-to-heart session with 30 Federal Government Officers at a renown hotel in Sibu. My slot is part of a course namely “PENGURUSAN KENDIRI DAN MEMBINA BUDAYA KERJA CEMERLANG DALAM ORGANISASI ”.

• Instead of a conventional 3 hours ceramah, I designed my slot into multi-diciplinary sessions which incorporated brain storming, reflections, team work, sharings, games , dynamic groups discussion, confession dan singing etc. The purpose is stress free but hands on and experiential learnings aim to upgrade oneself in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude corrections.

• The session started with an animated powerpoint showing the US Bombers dropping atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki which reduced them into mere rubble. Then after 30 years, the two cities developed to be the two most modern cities in Japan. We admire and salute the the Japanese of their sheer hard work and determination.

• Then back home in Malaysia in the 80s. Tun Dr. Mahathir was not happy with the rakyat performance. Being contradict to our Japanese counterparts whose loyalty to their orgainsation is so dominant that it stimulated the then Prime Minister to launch the “Look East Policy “ in 1982. Then came the campaign “Bersih, cekap dan Amanah”, “Kepimpinan Melalui Tauladan”, “Wawasan 2020”. Pak Lah arrived with “Plan Integriti Nasional” in 2004. Now and then thouands of courses were conducted on Etika Kerja ; Penerapan Nilai Islam ; Budaya Kerja Cemerlang ; Persyarikatan Malaysia ;Tonggak 12 ;
Program Nilai Murni ; Pusingan Tempat Kerja ; Pejabat
Perkhidmatan Pelanggan dan lain-lain.

• High expectations were raised when Bersih, Cekap and Amanah was introduced in 1982. But almost three decades later, the civil service is still stuck in a quagmire of inefficiency and corruption.

• Why ? Why ? Why ? The participants put their heads together digging for the answers. What caused the integrity deterioration among the Malaysians ? We discussed and checked on individuals, leaders, systems and procedures. We focused on results. Results are everything.

• A general conclusion suggested that disgusting attitude “ Kepentingan diri didahulukan, Wang Ringgit diutamakan !” seemed to be the main culprit.

• The participants agreed that if one keeps on doing what he is doing, he will keep getting what he is getting. So he needs to change his behaviour. Focus on performance and look for corresponding results.

• The all fun-laughters-high ESQ slot ended with an Integrity Pledge that read:

If you make a commitment – Honor it
If you make a promise – Keep it
If you set a goal – Achieve it

If my sharing of this sounds sensitive to any one of you, I BEG FOR YOUR PARDON. In order to get a better life, we need to design one. Unfortunately many of us spend more time and energy on our grocery list then we do planning our future. Sorry buddies.

BYE-BYE BUDDIES. BYE-BYE 2009
READY FOR 2010 RESOLUTIONS CHALLENGE ?