To MJC campers who actually know about or read my blog, really sorry for the late update(2 weeks...I know...).Been really busy attending courses and yes, procrastinating...
I, too, need to to discipline myself more...
That aside, here's the post about your camp.
The camp's the last one of my 5 back to back camp streak.
Unlike any other camps that I've done before, besides being a leadership camp, this is the first camp that I've done that is joint with the soft skill side of High Achievers.
The leaders of MJC where there to lead a leadership model(which name I forgot, was it TLC???).
My debrief points after activities, though they are essentially the same thing as what I usually teach. It's made more challenging because we have to fit these points into The Leadership Challenge’s Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®.
Shall not talk about the leadership model here though.
The camp started for the camper in the morning where to attended the soft skill module during they day time on the first day. We took over only in the evening.
When we got there, the campers were already very "high", shouting, cheering and all. Guess that's what you'll be expecting form leaders.
Took over the campers and did allocation of huts, then it was dinner time followed by the night activity--candle war.
It's a game where we just need to observe the campers. Their integrity, teamwork and planning.
Shall not talk about how the game is played.
The game is designed to tempt the participants to cheat. Also, they are given limited resources which when ran out, means they can only defend. It's up to them to decided how to play the game.
The game also very much about Choice.
"Spies" are also planted in every group to observe the group.
My group, Cool Heat, really had the spirit to have fun. They didn't care if they won. They cheer and laugh at everything and had fun.
This is the kind of spirit you should have when facing anything.
Being able to--Shake It Of.
Especially when you encounter failure and difficulties in life. Instead of drowning yourselves in sorrow, think about things you've learnt from the failure/the process, and how much fun you had during the process.
You haven't lost everything.
You learnt a lesson and you gained experience.
It was the campers choice whether they wanted to cheat.
The place was really dark and it would be really tempting to cheat, because if you really follow the rules, the game would be so much more troublesome to play.
It's to make participant cheat.
True enough people cheated, thinking that no one was looking.
We would keep quiet and just watch them cheat and only talk about it during debrief.
The point here is, in life, there are many many situations that you can cheat, you can do something illegal. Because you think no one is looking, because you think you can get away with it.
It's your CHOICE.
Can you answer to you conscience?
Will you be proud to succeed by cheating?
Do you have the integrity to play by the book even when no one is looking?
When you won't get caught?
Then again, are you really sure no one is looking?
Could it be like in the game, "hidden observers" have been planted?
Also, as a leader, what will your team think of you when they see you cheating and going for the easy way out?
You ARE modeling the way.
Do you want you team to be cheating and "cutting corners" for the easier way out when you give them instructions?
Rafting was the first activity and I was the one doing the briefing for all 3 groups doing the activity in that slot. Similarly the briefing had to be linked to the 5 practises. Chief Jeremy was there to observe. Everything went on fine, but he observed that I use "ok" very often to assure myself before I start a sentence. I need to work on that. haha...
Anyway, back to the activity.
Since they were leaders, the challenge to them was to set the time needed to plan and complete the floatation device themselves and stick to it.
There was no time reminders by instructors as we want them to be able to keep time in check themselves.
Also, since they are old enough, the "rafts" are expected to stay in one piece after entering the water.
As the timer counted down, I observed that my group lacked a sense of urgency. Something I observed and already pointed out to them on the first night.
Many were talking and sharing ideas, but they are not focus enough on the job. though everyone is working, but they are working very slowly.
Only when they realised they only had 5 mins left, then they started rushing.
This actually also one of the biggest problems of Cool Heat.
You can have a great plan, a great idea, but if it cannot be materialized in the given time, it's as good as nothing.
As a leader, you must really be able to get the team to focus and work fast.
You must always keep track of the dateline.
Know your priorities.
Think, being punctual vs being early. In this case, finishing early vs finishing on time.
Why wait till the last minute then go into a mad rush?
Have you considered, if you take things too easily till the last min then start rushing, what if you realise there's a mistake somewhere and things need to be changed?
Besides the risk of not being able to complete a task, last minute work not only compromises the quality of the product that was rushed to complete, it also leaves no room for error and changes.
I.e., even if you manage to finish things the last min, there's no room for changes/improvement/correction after completion.
Compared to, if you plan well and with a sense of urgency, complete it fast. You'll have time to do checks to remedy any errors and improvements to produce the best results.
Think. Doing good vs Doing you BEST.
Note, having a sense of urgency does not mean you rush to complete things producing sub-standard products.
After Rafting was campfire preparation. Everything went on really smoothly as expected.
My group missed abseiling due to bad weather. It's really a pity for them, many of them have never tried abseiling before.
However, when the rain stopped, we had the MOST entertaining CRC session ever!
Tabitah was so cute! Screaming and shouting "Wait wait wait..."
I got it on video.
Song session after dinner was almost entirely ran by the campers. After we practised a few campfire songs, got people to come out to lead cheers, the cheering just went on and on.
So many people where standing and stomping on the small stage we were afraid it'll collapse.
The campfire was great too(though I sprained my ankle running around the campfire. dumb me.). Though every single group did skit, which is actually what we really hate to see during campfires because usually it gets very dry and the audiences will get bored. But surprisingly, all the skits were really entertaining. The only problem was they are all too long. Except for Cool Heat's, short and sweet. Chief Jeremy was telling me, get you group to cut short their performance, we are really overrun. But I told him, not to worry because ours is short.
My Reflections:
Generally, the camp was great.
However, I think I have done better.
Half way into the camp, I was actually a little taken aback by the calibre of the campers.
I very much felt that many of them, if only the just had a bit more drive and spirit to strive of the best, they can very much be as good as any of us instructors.
This actually shook my confidence a little.
I thought, "am i good enough to have them look up to me as their instructor?"
One of the reasons cause this negative thinking could also be the fact that I was too tired and wasn't able to think well. I was question myself if i was delivering what i set out to teach.
Probably because I was too tired, I couldn't really tell if I did a good job.
Come to think of it, now that I've had enough rest, I shouldn't be thinking the way I did.
Clearly, I was able to spot their flawless and point out to them where to improve on.
I shouldn't have been shaken even by that tiny bit.
It could have affected the quality of my guidance.
Lesson learnt: Always be confident in what you do.
And, when I'm doing back to back camps, remember to sleep instead of staying up till 4 am for lame joke sessions...-.-
I wanted to do this camp despite my tiredness because I felt I needed some energizer, a really great camp, to perk me up(Hong Kah Sec did too. but I've already locked myself for this camp).
To make that burning passion in me even stronger, like what Xinmin Sec Camp did.
Also wanted to challenge myself as this camp is ran very differently from other leadership camps where we "tekan" the campers.
Also, this camp has soft skill sessions that other camps do not have.
Like I always tell my campers to challenge themselves and try new things, I wanted to challenge myself with this new style, which really proved to be quite hard.
Throughout the camp, the campers where rather laid back and relaxed.
A little too relaxed in fact(again, no sense of urgency).
The biggest challenge to me is actually instilling the sense of urgency in the campers without any punishment of any sort(without tekan-ing them). This would have been easily achieved if I used my usual style.
The objective was to make the campers think and truly understand the importance of having a sense of urgency. Therefore we only talk to them about it and leave them to think and decide if they want to waste time.
Despite the great camp, level of fulfillment for us instructors form the camp was actually not very high, as we do not see marked improvement in the campers.
It's good because it shows that these campers are really leaders.
But bad because it means that we do not see marked improvement in areas that we pointed out.
Hope campers will remember things they learnt in camp and apply them.
And work on weak areas we pointed out.
Message to Cool Heat(if anyone from Cool Heat is reading, help me get the whole group to read?):
I hope I've done a my best in leading you guy in the camp. Hope you've learnt something from the camp and from me. Hope I managed to Model the way for you guys by showing you guys what I think a good leader should be like--my monkey spirit, my passion and my determination. Hope it not just a tired guy trying to hype up himself and finish his job. Remember what I said about sense of urgency and perseverance. A good leader needs lots of determination and passion to overcome difficulties and setbacks. You guys have got what it takes. Work on the flaws I've mentioned to you guys. You guys can certainly achieve much more.
And who knows, maybe we can be fellow instructors in High Achievers or Trekkers?
Key to self improvement: Self realization.
You need to know and acknowledge your flaws before you can improve on them.
Also, something extra, now that it's 2 weeks after camp. Have you guys, not only those who are from my group, thought about this--how much have you learnt(from your instructors or from the camp generally) and how much have you brought back? Are these skill/lesson useful? Are you applying them?
Leave your comments so that I know?
Thank you.
Toilet party! haha...
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