Thursday, February 24, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Hulk Smash
There's a new phenomenon on the streets of Singapore that's annoying me, which is people who put the Autobot/Decepticon logos on their cars. Now i'm not a Transformers fan on any level, nor a Megan Fox fan for that matter. But seriously? Transformers are totally not cool can. If nothing else, I'm pretty sure no transformer would ever take the form of your Toyota Camry.
... You know when I say things like that to my parents they think I'm really pissed off about it and they tell me to calm down. They should see how other people my age talk/write/blog about stuff that annoys them. This is... mild.
Anger seems to be such a... juvenile thing, at this age. (Mature liao leh)
... You know when I say things like that to my parents they think I'm really pissed off about it and they tell me to calm down. They should see how other people my age talk/write/blog about stuff that annoys them. This is... mild.
Anger seems to be such a... juvenile thing, at this age. (Mature liao leh)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Expert Leadership
I was at Woodgrove Secondary School yesterday, helping my mom set up for one of her training courses. It's a neighbourhood school by anybody's definition, not just mine. And yet I found myself being suitably impressed by the school in it's entirety. Not the students, God forbid. But more on the management side, and the general friendliness of the staff.
When we arrived there was someone (think it was the VP) to direct us into the carpark even though we were a good 4-5 hours earlier than when the 'distinguished guests' were supposed to arrive. He brought us to the event room, offered us both mechanical and personnel assistance in carrying equipment up and told us to come find him if ever in need. My mom remarked to me on the side that this was somewhat rare, most schools find her an annoyance that they try to ignore as far as possible.
As we were setting up the various service staff in the school came up to the room to volunteer their help in their areas of expertise, and then some. The maintenance techs helped me to set up the projecter screen and move ALOT of furniture, the cleaning lady offered to iron our table cloths and wash our fruits for us, even the principal came by with fruit juice and coffee. Lunch was provided courtesy of the canteen below and while I do acknowledge that my expectations of food that comes in a box isn't very high courtesy of SFI, it was some of the best Nasi Lemak I'd ever eaten.
I see helpful people around in my life and appreciate them, but never once have I seen a collection of such an exemplary service culture in a non-religious setting. Come to think of it I've seen less welcoming/friendly churches. My mother says that their previous principal went on to work in her organisation, and set a sort of service culture that she passed down to the next generation, which has penetrated right down the rungs of the school heirachy. When she left her legacy continued, and while I don't really know how she and her sucessor did it, the results of their leadership and attitude were clear to be seen.
I never actually believed that a good leader could inspire that kind of a +3 to morale reaction in people, and yet I saw a community that was warm and friendly to us even though we made them go out of their way and their usual jobscope with no additional benefits to them. It wasn't even in that army way of pretending to put on your best behaviour when outsiders visit the camp, this was genuine. It couldn't have been a coincidence.
Go look up Woodgrove Secondary School. It's tucked away in the top corner of Singapore, pretty much forgotten by society. It's less than 10 minutes from the Causeway. If I had to go to that school under any capacity I would be annoyed at the very least on a good day at the travel time. And I was sick yesterday. Yet somehow these people either don't seem to care, or better yet have come to embrace their friends and colleagues in that community, and left such a good impression on people who's opinion should hardly have mattered to them anyway.
There were more examples of the 'no wrong door' concept that my mother was talking about, and though I don't think I did them justice thus far I'll leave it at this. Suffice to say that I was impressed, touched even, something that doesn't happen that often anymore.
When we arrived there was someone (think it was the VP) to direct us into the carpark even though we were a good 4-5 hours earlier than when the 'distinguished guests' were supposed to arrive. He brought us to the event room, offered us both mechanical and personnel assistance in carrying equipment up and told us to come find him if ever in need. My mom remarked to me on the side that this was somewhat rare, most schools find her an annoyance that they try to ignore as far as possible.
As we were setting up the various service staff in the school came up to the room to volunteer their help in their areas of expertise, and then some. The maintenance techs helped me to set up the projecter screen and move ALOT of furniture, the cleaning lady offered to iron our table cloths and wash our fruits for us, even the principal came by with fruit juice and coffee. Lunch was provided courtesy of the canteen below and while I do acknowledge that my expectations of food that comes in a box isn't very high courtesy of SFI, it was some of the best Nasi Lemak I'd ever eaten.
I see helpful people around in my life and appreciate them, but never once have I seen a collection of such an exemplary service culture in a non-religious setting. Come to think of it I've seen less welcoming/friendly churches. My mother says that their previous principal went on to work in her organisation, and set a sort of service culture that she passed down to the next generation, which has penetrated right down the rungs of the school heirachy. When she left her legacy continued, and while I don't really know how she and her sucessor did it, the results of their leadership and attitude were clear to be seen.
I never actually believed that a good leader could inspire that kind of a +3 to morale reaction in people, and yet I saw a community that was warm and friendly to us even though we made them go out of their way and their usual jobscope with no additional benefits to them. It wasn't even in that army way of pretending to put on your best behaviour when outsiders visit the camp, this was genuine. It couldn't have been a coincidence.
Go look up Woodgrove Secondary School. It's tucked away in the top corner of Singapore, pretty much forgotten by society. It's less than 10 minutes from the Causeway. If I had to go to that school under any capacity I would be annoyed at the very least on a good day at the travel time. And I was sick yesterday. Yet somehow these people either don't seem to care, or better yet have come to embrace their friends and colleagues in that community, and left such a good impression on people who's opinion should hardly have mattered to them anyway.
There were more examples of the 'no wrong door' concept that my mother was talking about, and though I don't think I did them justice thus far I'll leave it at this. Suffice to say that I was impressed, touched even, something that doesn't happen that often anymore.
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