Listen To Learn

Good listening is truly where effective communication begins. It's suprising how few people really listen well, but successful people, more often than not, are the ones who have learned the value of listening.

I must admit that at my age, I am learning hard on how best to listen well to people, learning the real art and skill in understanding the real needs and problems of the other person. In my work as a risk manager, I need to have good listening skills to provide better solutions, risk management and protection programme to the enquired parties.

Not only we must be able to listen well, we must practise active listening. What is active listening ? It is an attentive approach, affirmation of understanding (ok...I understand..yes etc), noting with eye to eye contacts coupled with right questioning skill to understand the fact of the matter shared (it is not belittleing or judging the contents of sharing bu rather trying to understand deeper).

A fact need to be understood...people everywhere love to be listened to and they almost respond to people who listen to them. Listening is one of the best techniques we have for showing respect to others.

One leader also shared with me many years back...God gave us two ears so that we can listen more than we speak, as we have only one mouth. Further, we can close out mouth, but our ears are open 24 hours. This affirmed the importance of listening.

Spent more time to learn how to listen better, we will soon find out that we could learn so much from others.

How Important Is Education ?

I used to receive comments saying that having high qualifications may not be the best option to be successful in life. These comments normally came when comparing the success of non-educated millionaires or even the example of Michael Dell and Bill Gates were put forward. So, it is really true that one may not need education to be successful ?

Before writing further, I have searched for the simple definition of education from Wikipedia. It says;

"Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom."

Further indepth...it clarify,

Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization). Education means 'to draw out', facilitating realisation of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, sociology and anthropology.

From the above definition, it is clearer to understand that education is a very wide understanding for human perfection in life where many disciplines can be taught. I believe different person will learn their skills or knowledge in different ways; some through watching, feeling, sharing, listening, working, sleeping or dreaming. The main school system normally provide a direct education of read, write and calculate for students and also also marked their success through examination.

Some special students may not have the liking to go through the usual channel of examination as they may be better in certain of type of skills; singing, playing musics, giving speeches, sports etc. These special students could also become very successful giving proper care and attention.

Going back to the initial remarks on people without education could also be very successful can be understood that even those people without education had also received some form of basic education at least on read, write or calculate at young age. The more difficult question to answer would be higher qualification...

Well, I would choose at probabilities to attempt in answering the question.

1. It is a fact that more people became successful when they received proper education programme at least to higher education. Yes, there are also many (but the overall number may be small) those who only complete secondary schools achieved successful status. But how about those only complete only primary or kindi ? Yes, there are still a group....then how about those never learn to read, write or calculate ? I do not recall of any...(may be few...but these people also learn the basic skills on their progress to success).

2. Higher education is only a ticket to let one enter a intermediate level of life however...it does not guarantee one's success as there are other factors to look upon. It is usually hope that education forms a foundation for one to at least able to work independent on its way to success.

3. What else...huh ?...one successful in life must not just evaluate on monetary ground...it must include family upbringing, generation sharing, morality, contribution to the society, legally based and spiritually blessed. Example : A King of Gangster is also successful in terms of monetary ???

Last but not least...I believe only those who learn education (not only in classroom also including society at large) seriously and able to apply as much of its principles to gel it with learning experiences in the real environment and never stop to educate themselves throughout their journey to success are the one who have higher probabilities to reap their fruits at last.

Our journey of life is a lifelong learning (education)....

Remembering Birthdays

Beside our wife, kid, parents/inlaws and brothers/sisters' birthdays, the next important birthday to be remembered is our Bosses' birthdays. In my line, my core customers' birthdays are also a must.

Actually remembering somebody's birthday is good and it helps in appreciating the person. Whether they are close or far, if we could at least send a text message, I believe it will brighten one's face when receiving it. Nobody will forget their own birthdate...unless they are insane. Therefore, it is my practice to remember as many birthday as possible as to appreciate them as my friend.

So, yesterday evening, I celebrated my two bosses' birthdays together with my staff at the club. All of us have good time (though I felt dizzy and blocked nose) as we chatted on all kind of topics (laughing all over). The birthday cake (cheese strawberry chocolate) was from Tom's and I have to admit that it is the best cake that I have tasted this year...yum..yum..yum.

Actually, it is our office's culture to celebrate staff birthday as to share the joy of their birth and strengthen our bonding through this simple gathering.

So, how many birthdays do you remember ?

Key Employee Retention Programme

These days, one of the hottest commodities in business is a skilled staff. Employee retention is key to continued success for any company, regardless of size. The following suggested points (which I learnt from one article) are good for consideration as positive inputs for your strategy to retain your key staff/team member.

Step One
Determine what motivates your individual employees. For most employees, money is not the key issue; relationships, fulfillment and recognition are.

Step Two
Notice how much recognition an employee needs. Some employees can go years without praise, whereas others will leave after six months.

Step Three
Understand that many employees are motivated by their social network at work. Encourage activities that make your employees feel like valued members of a team.

Step Four
Realize that incentives don't have to be huge. A surprise gift certificate for the local ice cream parlor in the weekly paycheck will generate positive feelings.

Step Five
Make benefits more accessible. If your company reimburses tuition for college courses, have a college administrator come to your company so employees can find out about classes and programs.

Step Six
Consider telecommuting, job sharing and other flexible working arrangements.

Step Seven
Offer profit sharing incentives to encourage longevity.

Step Eight
Create clear career paths at the company.

Puzzle of Integrity

A statement from Stanford Encyclopedia on Integrity :

Integrity is one of the most important and oft-cited of virtue terms. It is also perhaps the most puzzling. For example, while it is sometimes used virtually synonymously with ‘moral,’ we also at times distinguish acting morally from acting with integrity. Persons of integrity may in fact act immorally—though they would usually not know they are acting immorally. Thus one may acknowledge a person to have integrity even though that person may hold importantly mistaken moral views.

Just like "telling a lie". A lie is a lie..reflect your integrity and sincerity. Sometime, people says they need to lie for good reasons...do you agree ?

Yes...it is definitely wrong...and it is a sin to lie whether it is good or bad...therefore we must confess and ask for forgiveness.

One must have the courage to stand up truly, sincerely and face with whatsoever consequence...

Little children are pure, direct and sincere...and that is why Jesus says...to enter heaven, we must be like the children...pure in heart and mind...and it is easier for an elephant to grow through the needle head than a rich person to go through heaven doors..

The next time we lie (whether for good or bad)...please remember the consequences.....the crumbling down of our integrity walls....

Have blessed days ahead.

Keeping Silence

Lately I have noticed that one of my staff would normally keep his silence whenever we are having discussion and occassionaly noting heads. This can be an art of communication that one must not ignore. However, such act of silent is golden can really piss your mind off and I do not mind to admit from my own perspective. As a proactive person, I totally discourage such approach and it seems that this act could be viewed as intelligently ignorant approach to stay silent and ignorant.

When a person is asked to comment or share, it is very disrespectful when one chosen to be silent. Nevertheless, I would also try to understand from the person's view that he may be just without any ideas to say. Thus, the silence ! This is further translated to his below par performance for the past 6 months. However, I am hopeful that one could take positive approach in whatever cisrcumstances and transform the situation in order to have a fruitful two ways communication.

Teamwork

I am still struggling to finish my slides on TEAMWORK. Talking about it is easy but as you want to put in as presentation slides and share with your team members...that is where the challenges rises.

Many of us would think that teamwork is really important...but do not know where to start...always thought that the other party should be a better team player. The real fact is that we must start with our ownself and how we could be a better team member to others. Of course as we progress about teamwork...almost everyone would like to be the leader...as thinking that being the leader...you get less tasks but getting members to move around.

Is it true ? I do not think so...as being a good and dynamic leader, it is harder than expected...a lot of self sacrifice needed here. You would need to work our a good plan and then work that plan out properly. You need stay later than the rest and motivate the rest of the team member to work smarter. Of course if you have a strong team member...every task will be made easier..but then again, when having a strong team member, you must be able to manage the expectation as if not...they will change the leader..

So...one must be prepared to be a strong, dynamic, energtic and committed leader orelse you shall meet the end of the road soon..

Hai...now continuing preparing good presentation for my team members...