Changemakers 2012 - Chung Cheng Leadership camp 2012 26th-29th (Fighting your inner-voice and the Procrastination-Demon)

Hi guys....
First, I really have to apologise for this looong over due post that should have been up more than a year ago...
Well... I had been really busy with work...dance...camps....DJ-ing...travel...and for a period I wasn't in the right state of mind to write a constructive post....and then I got employed full-time...teaching...more travelling......even more busy.... Really?
NO. That's all just excuses from the Procrastination-Demon.
Time and again the thought of completing this post popped up just to be dismissed by the Procrastination-Demon. NO. MORE.

A series of events that happened early last November set me thinking. About LIFE...and what I have been doing with mine (such a heavy topic...lol). I decided I need CHANGE and really start doing things I've always wanted to do. This can go on an on...but let's not bore you with it...

Back to something related to "Leadership".....
With my new outlook in life, I booked a flight to Europe for my first solo adventure at the end of December...

The trip was not only to see the world but also for self-discovery... I remember saying in an earlier post that reflection and self-realization is key to self-improvement. Travelling solo is amazing for that. =)

I realize I might be repeating a lot of things I've said in the older post if I were to only write about the camp(which was already drafted not long after them camp). I believe you've probably read those so I will not be writing about the camp. Besides, it's probably too late. I hope you haven't forgot what you learnt during the camp. Especially lessons about YOURSELF.

This post is about "Everyday Leadership".

First, watch this: The Bystander Effect - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4S1LLrSzVE

I URGE you to watch it again even if you have watched it before.

Done? What would you have done?

Rule #1 - I ought to help someone that is clearly in distress.
Rule #2 - I ought to do what others are doing. - TO CONFORM.

Which is your inner voice? Or rather, which one usually wins?

This is a video I wanted to share with you guys either during the camp or slightly after, when I first saw it (there are many other similar experiments on youtube). While in Europe, I was reminded of the video.

I flew to Munich to meet a buddy of mine and in between, I flew to London to meet a girl(she's your senior from Chung Cheng!) I really wanted to know but have never met in real-life(one of the young and crazy things to do. =D).
London was also when I REALLY spent time ALONE. Rediscovering myself.

When you travel alone, all your senses heighten. In a foreign land, alone and vulnerable, you'd either be: Really nice, helpful, smiley and friendly to everyone, treat everything with an opening mind and be ever welcoming to all experiences; or, you be all weary, apprehensive, scared and sceptical about everything. I chose the first.

You want to be really nice, helpful, smiley and friendly to everyone because you hope everyone will be the same to you. You are alone in a foreign land. YOU NEED IT. Treating everything as an experience make you happier, because you will never be on the losing end. You always, learn something. After all, I'm a pretty big guy so I can take a little risk.
"The world out there isn't really that scary. Not everyone is out there waiting to take advantage of you. There are tonnes of people willing to help you." - Some other solo traveller wrote this(she's a girl in her early 20s!), and it is soo true!

I'm writing about this because this was my experience as the person in "distress" - the one that needs help. During my short 2 weeks in Europe, I asked countless people for help. I wanted to explore, get lost, talk to people and find my way again so I did not depend on my smartphone. Did not use the GPS or call anyone unless it was meeting them. I asked for direction to places, A LOT. Asked random people on the streets if I could borrow their phone to make a call because I did not have an overseas line.
NO ONE, declined to help.
NO ONE, waved their hand at me and walk away in dismissal....until...
I asked if I could borrow a phone from a group of 3 Asian guys(probably Taiwanese, Chinese or HongKong-er) in London, Oxford Street, in English.... the guy I approached did not even utter a word after I finish asking. Instead he just waved his hands and walked away with his 2 friends. I could tell from the way they looked at me as they walk away that they think I might be trouble. -.-"
There I stood thinking, I thought I would be easier getting help from Asians since I am Asian too???

This set me thinking. This, this "wave-hand-and-walk-away" crap happens a lot in Singapore doesn't it!? What's wrong with us?? Many of us are weary. Afraid of being cheated. I'm not saying it's bad to be cautious, its is important to exercise caution to protect yourselves. But very often our so called fears cannot really be justified. Do you really have that much to lose by helping? Why are we like that? Are we desensitized? Or have we been cheated one too many times? Or just that we have heard too much?
We need a REALITY CHECK.
The truth is this, when someone runs away with your phone after you tried to be nice by letting him make that "important call", it will be plastered all over your Facebook, Tweeter, Whatsapp and any other platform that helps you SPREAD THE NEWS. You want everyone to know.
But in a normal case, where the guys makes the call and returns you the phone, looking eternally grateful, you are not going to post: "OMG, I LEND A STRANGER MY PHONE FOR AN URGENT CALL AND HE RETURNED MY PHONE AFTER HE MADE THE CALL! SO NICE!!!"

The bad-stuff spreads wide as fast, but the "good", is deem as normal and no one really talks about it. Because guess what? IT IS NORMAL - this means normal people, in our normal world is not out there waiting to cheat us and run away with that iPhone5s or S4 that we worked so hard and saved-up to buy. But of course, know where you are and what you stand to lose, don't be stupid.

Our response to things around us very much depends on our past experiences; what we hear from our friends and loved ones. What they will do when in a similar situation. It's our innate need to CONFORM, to be able to RELATE. It's is human and hence that's how the majority of us behave. Most, if not all of us are AFRAID TO BE DIFFERENT at some point in some given scenario.

You camp was title - CHANGEMAKERS. Leaders stand out because they dare to be different. They took the LEAD and created that change - see how that first person TOOK THE LEAD to help that lady lying on the floor and suddenly there is a CHANGE. A "new group" is created, the group that helps, and others start to help too. How that lady saw something wrong and wants to help. But only FOLLOWED after seeing someone else helps first.

Which one are you? Are you willing to be different? Be judged?

We can talk about this more but it will be too long and draggy than it already is. Instead of just me talking, leave a comment.
Let's play tennis.=)

P.S.: All of you should have graduated from Chung Cheng right? HOPE EVERYONE's DOING GREAT!!=)

21st-23rd May 2012 Unity Sec 1 Camp

It's been sooooo long since I've updated this blog. But now since I've graduated(FINALLY!) and have more time on hand, maybe I should start writing again....

It's the time of the year for Unity Sec 1 Camp again!! YEA! It's the 4th or 5th time I'm doing this program!
So many times I can remember. Maybe Olivia/Yatie (i hope i got the names correctly) from my first batch can enlighten me on that. But anyway, same time of the year, same school, same program but different campers!

For those who have been waiting for the post, Baloo maybe? Really sorry for the late update, have been really busy with camps and stuff... Let's get started...

Well, first, its really good to be back with family at Trekkers League, all the fun at camps with the students and fellow trainers...tiring, but fulfilling. I hope all the students had as much fun as I did and very importantly, learnt something from the 3 days.

This years Unity Sec 1 program is a little different from the past. The neighborhood hike/amazing race was on the first day instead of the last. This of course meant that we had more time to bond and know each other while we moved from point to point during the hike, however it also meant that sometime was needed to "warm-up" and the the team together. As a results, less check points were covered despite the same amount of time given. Luckily, the time and distance traveled was still sufficient to observe and know the group better. I hoped the members of Baloo did get to bond and know each other better from the hike too.

Over the 2 days, my little monkeys continued to monkey around (what can I say, they are with the Roaring Monkey...lol....), playing and running around, disturbing and playing jokes on each other even during briefings before games. I had to scold them and my co-trainer, Farah, usually such a soft-spoken nice lady,  also had to scream at them. Well, I guess that typical of Sec1 students? I was probably more mischievous then.

3 days really isn't much and the fact that I was stationed at the abseiling station on the last day did not help. I wish I could spend more time with them, but I guess I can say that I'm still happy. We made a pact to that Baloo will behave and do our best and end the camp with a bang. I'm glad to say with the noise I heard from the group and the feedback from Farah and the other trainers, I'm Happy. =))

It's now 2 weeks plus after camp and like it or not, I'm here to remind you. Don't just remember all the fun you had in camp. Remember the lessons learnt. Self-believe and focus. Who cares if you are in the Normal stream now, if this Big Monkey here managed to get where I am now, you little Monkeys can too. Like I've said, some of you have already begin to realize how important it is to stay focus on a task and believing that you will succeed. Remember what we went through during Helium Loop?? How I had to impose a punishment for not completing the task in time? Remember how easy was it to finish it eventually?? You just have to WANT TO DO IT. I can't be there, no one can be there to keep pushing you and forcing you to focus. Don't be discouraged by little set backs, DON'T STOP BELIEVING. because I still do. =)
JIA YOU BALOO!!!

Baloo, ever been called the Strawberry generation?? Looks good on the outside but soft on the inside, can't take any pressure? To tell you the truth, this term "Strawberry Generation" started when I was about your age. To me the Strawberry Generation is nature by our circumstances, being over protected and over spoon-fed. Having everything done and given to you. Challenge that! I AM NOT A STRAWBERRY! When things are done for you, given to you, that is a bonus. You don't need it. We you greet your teeth and fight back, with you work for something, work hard for it, the results will be so much more fulfilling.
In your case, that would be to study hard!!! That's your basic duty as a student isn't it??!

I hope I'll be back next year for another Sec 1 camp and I'll hear all of you telling me how well you're doing!

And....by special request.....
123 321 BALOO BALOO NUMBER ONE! B. *four claps* A. *four claps* L. *four claps. O. *four claps* Oooo. *clapssss* B A L O O. *four claps* BALOO BALLO ALL THE WAY! WE BALOO HERE WE BALOO THERE WE FIND OURSELVES A CAVE, A CAVE, A CAVE CAVE CAVE! 💜

1st - 3rd June 2010, Chung Cheng High School (Main) Leadership Developement Program

C – Committed ( with passion we learn)

C – Confidence ( with pride we progress)

H – Honourable ( with integrity we live)

M – Mentally tough ( with perseverance we strive)

S – Servant Leaders ( we lead by example)

HI BOBS~!!! It’s a just about a week now after our camp, hope everyone’s doing great! ^_^

It’s been sometime since I did full, overnight camps, let to say leadership camps. So I was really looking forward to the camp. A camp is a learning journey for both the instructors and campers. With each camp, we encounter a different group of campers, different problems and have different ways to solve them.

This camp was a special one. Many of the activities are in fact rather new even to me. Some are combination of a few activities to make it more challenging for the campers. Also because this is a leadership program, there were more activities that require camper’s thinking skills, initiative, communication skills and command & control.

River challenge was modified by adding a building challenge to it to test the ability of campers to give clear specific instructions.

Games with a point required campers to come up with a new game with a learning point and then conduct the game for the cohort. A test of organisational skills, briefing, execution, command & control and debrief.

Besides the activities, there’s something new for me in this camp as well. Though it’s not my first leadership program, but it’s the first time having “non-student leaders” in my group. Despite having everyone introduce themselves during the ice-breaking session, I did not realise this because there were a few others who also did not hold any leadership position yet. This turned out to be a problem.

In Leadership Programs, much more is expected of the campers. Stricter, campers expected to be more proactive, self-motivated...etc... This is usually a little too much for the “normal campers”. In usual cases I’d be able to motivate those that are not so driven to press on, however, I fail to realise the needs of this small group of campers. The root of the problem only came to my realisation on the 2^nd afternoon when I decided to pull them out instead of stopping the whole group. After Shuko, the camp chief spoke to them while the rest of the BOBs carried on with planning for Games with a point.

This is really a lesson for me. 2 years back when I was really seasoned with regular camps, I’d probably realised the problem and fixed it on day 1. But that’s no excuses. Because I was too excited to see what this group of leaders, BOBs, handed to me are capable of, I overlooked that small group. Something I should really remember not to do in future. On the other hand, handling a “different” group like this is a pretty interesting experience as well.

That’s about it for personal reflection....now let’s talk about BOB?

GREAT CAMP BOBs~!! But....I’m going to nag again... PLEASE STOP THAT PUSH BUTTON SYMDROM!! Once that’s out of the way, you guys can really go far. There are some really, really, promising individuals in BOB. You know who you are. ^_^

I believe you guys know what to do, what right. The something that’s lacking is perseverance, believe and some guts. No matter how good a plan is, if it cannot be carried out, it stays in your head, nothing is going to happen. The starting is always the hardest, if you know it’s right, push on, like what I’ve told Xin Hao. He did try to encourage others to take the lead, but gave up after just a few tries. Push on for what you believe.

Be more confident. A leader is not someone who knows everything, someone who does not commit mistakes. A leader is someone who makes responsible decisions and ready to face the consequence of his/her decisions whether it turns out good or bad. He/she is HONOURABLE and ACCOUNTABLE. A leader doesn’t need to be the best.

A leader is one that makes the best work seamlessly together to achieve greater things.

In case anyone’s wondering why keep a blog on camps, it’s for REFLECTION. It’s for me to think and condense my lessons learnt from. For me to know my weaknesses so I know where to improve. If you guys read the post on MJC’s leadership camp, there’s more on “reflection”. Know your weaknesses, that the key to success.

OH YES! Please do leave comments? I wanna know what you guys think about the camp too! And, maybe even how I fair?? And yes, it ok to criticize. ^_^

I'm STILL ALIVE~!!

HEY~!!
haha...
i'm still alive and kicking!
lol...
sorry for not updating for soooooooooooo....... long...
wonder if anyone still reads this...
Anyway,
been really really busy TRYING HARD to juggle studies and DANCE~(WEE~)
concert's in less then 2 weeks!(wonder how's ticket sales...heard it's not really that good>.<)
on 15th march at national lib drama centre.
been dancing almost everyday...and last week, everyday.(literally)

just came back from diving trip over the weekend...quite a sad trip cos my dive buddy, instructor MAO pang-seh me...T_T

anyway...
that almost sums up what i've been doing lately? kinda no life?
NO. DANCE is LIFE. lol.

Hope everyone's doing fine~!

Han quan, Ye An and kayying, NO!
I REMEMBER ALL OF YOU.
XINMIN Leadership camp!
haha...

Management with Humour Lect 5

"NEEDs"-Motivation to work.

One need to be motivated and willing in order to do a job well.
One of the most important role of a leader is to motivate his team to perform to their best potential. To motivate means to make the team willing to put in high amounts of effort and work towards a common goal.

People are motivated by “Need”. The need to get better that what you already are. The need to live better than you are living. Need to affiliate with others. Need of sense of achievement....etc. If a leader is able to make the team see the need, and make them want it badly, the team will be motivated to work. However if the team is satisfied with what they have, there will be no motivation to get better.

Needs, according to Maslow's can be classified into higher(“spiritual”:social, esteem, self-actualization) and lower(physiological (hunger...etc..), safety) needs.
When the lower needs are not satisfied, one usually will not consider the higher needs. When you cannot even have full meals a day, you wouldn't think about things like getting famous.

The lower needs are usually the more powerful motivators. Eg. When you are dying of hunger, you can even forgo safety and try to get food that's dropped on the road. But would you give your life for something like fame? I believe for most people, the answer is, “no”.

The need to affiliate is another powerful driving force. Humans, as emotional beings have desires for interpersonal relationships. Very often, people are willing to stay working at a place because they have friends there, they like the culture there. To these people, the good relationship with colleagues is the motivation to stay on and work hard.
Eg. When I was working as a camp facilitator under a certain company, even though all of us working together under the company knows that we can easily find other companies that pay much better, we still stayed on because we enjoy working with each other.

Management with Humour Lect 4

Here's a little something for you guys to read if you too border and have nth better to do...
something I wrote about managing people for my management module.
We can discuss this if anyone's interested. haha...

Understanding behaviour is very important in human management. To make majority of the people feel happy under your management, you have to be able to understand how and why they behave the way they do.
Humans can behave very differently when they are alone compared to when they are with a group. People can also behave very differently when they are with different groups.

People often conform to a certain way of behaving with they are with different groups at different places to avoid conflicts and also not to look “out-of-place”.

Very often, the behaviour of a person is linked to his attitude towards something.
Everyone has a way of looking at themselves and others, the cognitive component; how they feel about something, the affective component; how they intend to behave, the behavioral component.

What's interesting is, even though everyone of us have a certain way of looking things, how we look at ourselves, what we perceive to be the right thing to do. But very often under different circumstances, we often do not do what we think is right or what we originally intended to do. This, is cognitive dissonance.

We always gave ourselves excuses and reasons to do things different from what we believe in and sometimes even what we know is wrong. This is exactly because we want to look “normal” with the group. This is like peer pressure.
It can be good and bad.
If the influence is good for example, a lazy employee placed in a very hardworking work environment will be “forced” to work hard.
On the contrary, if a hardworking employee placed in a very lazy and laid back working environment can “turn-lazy” so as to fit in.

Last paper tml~!!!!

YEAH~!!!
IT's FINALLY OVER~!!!

tml's my last paper...
then it's gonna be dance dance dance and prob a bit of piano and guitar~!
b4 my lousy result kill my joy!
haha...
hope everyone's doing great!

Exams probably over for everyone le rite?
Hope u guys did well!

YEAH~

I'm still alive/Management with humour Lect 3

Hi ppl...
sorry for being dead for so long with the lag of updates...
been dancing alot and busy with essays projects and stuff....
exams round the corner!!! in 9 days!!
and after that it'll be dance everyday cause competitions coming up and a performance too~
haha...
hope everyone's going great!
those in sec 2 hope yall did well for ur streaming!
sec 3, hope yall did well too so you can play hard this hols. Next year's TEH year for yall!

well...
here's a little something for you guys to read...

Leadership styles and having the right person for the job

An organization can have many different structures and with these different structures come different ways of management.
The different structures also makes the job scope and work load of the the employees different. From highly specialized, in which employees of a specific department do only one kind of work to one which is diversified. In which one employee can have many different jobs.
From highly centralized, where there's little autonomy and decisions are mostly made by higher management while employees have little say; to highly decentralized, where employee at given much more autonomy and more say and chance to make decisions.

Highly specialized can improve productivity by eliminating redundant “actions” as everyone know has to worry about doing their small part right.
Highly centralized management will make decision make very fast and efficient.
Highly diversified job scope ensure employees do not get bored of their job.
Highly decentralized management give employees more autonomy and a bigger part to play thus possibly giving them higher job satisfaction.

However, it is not the type structure that determines the success of the organization. Rather, it is whether the structure employed fits the people with in the organization. Whether the management can work with the particular kind of structure and whether the employees are comfortable and able to derive satisfaction from working this way.

This is where Human Resource Planning comes in.
Not only must one know when and where to bring in talents, where to put them.
Job profiling can be done to find the best person to fit the job or vise-versa.
This is important as if the wrong person is given the wrong job, he will not be satisfied and this will decrease productivity. He may not be able to do the job well either.
E.g. If someone who does not like decision making is given a job under a highly decentralized management structure, he will be satisfied as he's forced to make decisions.

SORRY~! Been MIA-ing~

Hey....

Haven been updating lately....
Sorry if any one's waiting for me to post...
Noticed the significant drop in number of hits...

Been really busy...
Just got back from dance class...

Went to Tioman for advance open water course over the weekend and only got back on monday evening...Then went for dance chalet the next day....got home this afternoon...took a nap...then went for dance class...
SHag~ but I'm LOVIN IT!!

DANCE. EAT. SLEEP. REPEAT.

Anyway, I hope everyone's doing great! And doing their best.
I'm trying to be my best too~
Hope I'll be able to post more meaningful stuff for you guys to read soon~

GO Monkey Spirit!

So busy with school.....

Hey...
been a long time since I last posted...
sorry guys if anyone is waiting for my next post...
have beeb really busy tryign to study for tests...
it's CA week...
term break's coming...
hope i'll have time to update soon.....

hope everyone's doing fine~

Management with Humour Lect. 2

Decision making and Choice.

A problem may exist but it is not a problem unless you are aware of it.
Also, you choose what problems you have in life. You yourself decided if something is going to be a problem to you.
Ask yourselves, " Can I live with the problem?".
If you can, then it is no longer a problem.

After analyzing the situation and having decided on an alternative to resolve the problem,
things do not end here. A manager has to make sure everything goes according to the new plan and do follow-ups.
Evaluate the outcome. Was the plan effective? Has the problem been solved?
If it is not, new measures need to be taken to solve the problem.
This is especially important today with the ever changing world.
Situations are ever changing and so are the problems. A manager has to follow-up regularly with consistency.
If a manager is inconsistent, his subordinates will have problem following his lead.

Just like treating an illness, solution to a problem has to address the root of the problem and not just the "symptoms".
Addressing the problem only on the surface is only a short term solution.

Dwelling too much on trying to get the best solution, you will realize every solution has it's problems and end up not being able to decide.
Every solution brings with it a seed of the future problem.
Problems will keep appearing.
That is why we need a manager.
Very often, there is no 'Best' solution/outcome for a problem.
The manager has to decided if it is "good enough" and "can I live with the problem?".
Not "giving up" and pull out of a situation early enough because you do not want to waste all the effort that has been put in can result even more lost.
Just like in the stock market, people decide to buy-in even more instead of selling, when then prices are dropping.They do so because they do not wish to lost the money they have invested by selling off their position at a lower price.
Very often, this kind of mentality causes them to go bankrupt.

Dayang Adventure: DAY 1

Day one wasn't much actually.
Zedong and I got to the dive shop at around 0810.
Waited for the rest to come while we packed our diving gear.
As soon as everyone arrived and we were ready to move, we loaded everything on the
a van and we're on our way.

Passed the custom an arrived at Johor at around 11am.
We stopped for and early lunch at 1120.
The place we had lunch was interesting.
The food were laid out buffet style.
We took what ever we wanted to eat, and after we sit down, the waiter will come over and write
us the bill according to what we have taken.
Wonder how they actually charge...
I ate alot as this would be the last meal before we arrive at Dayang for dinner.

After lunch the van then took us all the way to Mersing without stopping.
Much of the road was just straight down all the way to the horizon.
The journey wasn't really comfortable when though the van actually has a TV for us to watch.
It was really packed as we have lots of equipment with us.
When we finally arrived at Mersing after the near 2 hour journey on the van(as usual, zedong had motion sickness and he slept through the journey),
we couldn't wait to get of as our butts were aching.

When we arrived at Mersing, the boat was already waiting for us so we boarded immediately.
The boat ride lasted nearly 6 hours and was really bumpy due to strong winds and choppy waters.
The boat wasn't really big so we couldn't go fast also due to the water condition and the fact that we are going against wind.
As the waters got more and more choppy as we got out into the open sea, the boat ride seem more like a roller coaster ride. haha..
I sat on the side of the boat, enjoying the wind and I could see clearly how much the boat was tilting.
Sometimes a little scary. But fun!
I stay on the out side of the cabin almost the time,
when the wind blowing salt water at me and later drying it off,
by the end of the journey, I was literally covered in salt.Haha...
Some of us slept a bit during the journey, it's just so long.When I got up, there was white line of salt running from my neck all the way down my right arm. lol...
Zedong slept through the journey after staying awake for the first 40mins to 1 hour after taking his motion sickness pills.
I tried to take a nap but couldn't really fall asleep with the the occasional splashes of water and the boat shaking so violently.
But because some of us were not sleeping, we saw dolphins as we were nearing Dayang!
Though sadly, they were too far for my camera to take any clear pictures of them.
But I took pictures of the beautiful sunset behind us. haha...

When we finally arrived at Dayang, it was already 8pm.
Unload our stuff, checked into our dorms and snacked while waiting for dinner.
After dinner we chilled and had a little guitar/song session before we called it a day.

That's pretty much for Day1~

Going trekking tml!!

Management with Humor Lect. 1

Hey, it's been sometime since I last updated.
Been busy with school.
Well, I realized before I post about the Dayang trip, I can actually shared this.
This post and a few more to come are actually part of my project for my module, Management with Humor. We are required to write a 300 word learning journal after every lecture for the first 5 lectures as part of our project work which is worth 60% of our results of this module.
As I was writing, I thought, ,my learning out come might be useful to some of you guys interested in leadership stuff. So here it is.


The lecture started with the lecturer telling us about how his book, “Management with Humor”, was turned in to a course by “chance”. This reminded me that in life, you need that little bit of luck for success. Also, many things we do/create for a certain cause, may result in something unexpected. Just like when the Internet was first “invented”, no one knew it can do so much and cause so much impact.


Many of the things I've learn from the lecture can actually related to my experiences and an adventure camp instructor.

Different places have different management systems. The style of management largely depends on the work culture of the place and the character and personality of the people in the system directly affects how the systems functions. This is why when we enter a new environment, be it work, school or society, very often we need time to get use to the culture and they way things work.

It's just like how you can find your things in you “untidy” room initially but not after your mother tidy it.

Different people have different ways of working and thus managing different groups of people would also require different styles. Just like how every camp is different.
I can never use the same style to interact and handle campers from different schools and age groups.

The manager needs to be able to bring his point across accurately in order to be efficient and effective. “Fear” may be able to people work more efficiently, but coupled with unclear instructions, it will still result in ineffectiveness. (just like example of cleaning toilet in the lecture) A manager asked the cleaner to clean the toilet and make sure anytime he checked the toilet is spotless. The cleaner worked very hard to make sure it is spotless. To make sure it's stays that way all the time, he locks the toilet.
The task is completed.
But this is not effective.
It has totally defeated the point of having a toilet and cleaning it!

Humans are emotional beings. How we feel directly affect our productivity. Everyone likes to feel recognized and valued. And when we feel recognized and valued, we are more driven to work because we do not want to be a let down and thus increase in productivity. The opposite is also true.
Just like when campers feel that instructors really cares and believe in them, they show improvement and perform better.

All, if not most of us always choose the conventional way of doing things. It's human nature. We choose the safest way—the one that many have used and proved to be the best.
However, with the ever changing world today, what works today may not work tomorrow. Managers have to be innovative, to be able to stop, think and come up with new ways to solve problems.

BACK FROM DAYANG!

Hey~
It's been sometime since I last updated.
Sorry~
The blog is still ALIVE!!

Just got back from the expedition on Sunday night.
Haven't updated yet because I missed 2 days of school.
Really busy trying to catch up now.
haha...
I sure I can do it...
GO MONKEY SPIRIT!!!
I must!

The trip was great!
The natural cliff abseil....trekking...diving....
Everything was COOL!!

I'll be posting about each day of the trip soon as soon I catch up with school.
Or when I can squeeze time to do it.
So stay tuned~

Thank you for your support to Roaring Monkey~
YEAH~

FIRST DAY OF SCH!!

YEAH!!
SCHOOL WAS GREAT!! haha...
Especially the last lecture on "Management with Humour"
The lecture was really interesting and the prof was a great speaker!
But, first day and I already ahve project to do.
haha...

and...OMG....
it's 2.22 am now...
just got back home not long ago...
checking my backpack for tml's trip...
woot...
the one i've been talking about.

well, going to MIA for at least 6 days.
will update on the trip asap.

Wish me luck~

Beginning of a new chaper. Is this the end? When will be the next time?

For the past few days, I've been looking through the camp photos and video I have.
Some of my old blog entries.
Blogs of campers.
Reminiscing.

School is going to start this coming Monday.
4th August 2008.

Wanted to do that last camp from Monday to today.
28th-30th July 2008
Wanted to mirror Zedong or Baoyun.
Wanted to mark this point in my life with something dramatic or at least something really memorable.

But, sadly, CANNOT.
Zedong can I had to go for diving lesson.
Leaving for Dayang for a recce/exploration trip next Tuesday.
The lesson ended at 1030pm.
By the time we got back to Choa Chu Kang, it was 1137pm, the last 975 was gone too.
Not only couldn't we attend the last campfire,
we could not go in to crap with the instructors for the last time too.
I was intending to write this post in JBac, where I immerse myself in the atmosphere there.

It is a pity I couldn't end it the way I wanted.
However, it may just be a good thing too.
It's not like it's really the "full-stop" in my "career" as an instructor.
It's still in me.
I'd probably still do camps when I have the time.
But, this "imperfect ending" will probably make sure I'll be back for more camps.
Because I'll be reminded that, "there wasn't an ending"

I wonder when will be the next time....
The next time I put on the instructor T....
The next time I wash the toilet at JBac...
The next time cheering with campers....
The next time I feel like throwing up blood because of campers....
The next time I cannot sleep because I need to do sentry....
The next time I have a campfire...
The next time I hear, "Instructor, when can we wash up~?!!?".....
The next time.....

So many memories....
The fun with campers.
The fun with instructors.
The lame joke sessions at night.
The problems campers give me.
The happy faces of campers.
The improvement you see in the campers.
The....


I'm sure going to miss camp.

Don't worry.
I'll continue to post on this blog.
Stories, show recommendations and reviews, outdoor stuff....etc...
Though there won't be can camp post for sometime...


P.s: was looking at uni schedule....maybe September 20th - 28th can do camp! lol...

Taggie replies.

Racy: Hey~ haha...yeah... long time no talk....glad you're doing well. ^_^

Amanda: haha....yeah....the injury sucks... I'll be going for diving lesson later think it's going to hinder me.... and the expedition next tues day, hope it's not going to stop me from doing anything.

Rena: Hey... haha... Well, it's company policy to protect campers and mainly male instructors i guess. Things like campers getting too attached to instructors, feeling betrayed when instructors get busy to talk to them, sch or parents no happy about campers being too close the instructors, more extreme cases of camper being raped by instructor(seriously i dunno how true this is)....yadayadayada......
I dun really care cos I believe I'm not the type that female campers will go crazy over, and if remaining in contact means that I can continue to influence them positively, why not?
I know I may not be the best role model, but I hope my campers can learn form my positive side.
I think i explained in one of my post. but for got which one...
BUT, it's different when we get hunted down by campers(as in somehow find our emails and add us), which happens really often...haha...so... yea...

23rd-25th July 2008, Greenwood Pri P5 Adventure Camp

After slightly more that two weeks from rest from full camps, finally back to doing full camps.
But the camp that just ended is probably going to be my last camp.
School's starting next week. Going to miss camp days, miss the people and the fun we've had together...
Shall leave this for the next post or something
For the past 2 weeks, I've only been doing 1 or 2 day events here and there and going to JBac to help out in a camp.
Been taking courses these past 2 weeks too.

Well... let's talk about the camp now...

The camp didn't start well for me actually. It's the first time ever that I dreaded the start of the camp so much.
My mood wasn't right due to some personal problems.

I thought I wouldn't be in the mood to be handling 40 little monkeys, but for this camp, there a change in the system.
Instead of the usual, where the 2Ic is the station IC and only the IC follows the group.
Both Ic and 2Ic follows the group. Making the handling of campers much easier.
And apparently, according to the camp operations, the campers are quite good, so I thought it will not be so bad after all.
But on Monday I starting dreading the start of the camp again, all the way till Wednesday when the campers arrived at the campsite.

I didn't want to push away the camp just because of my mood because I though that it is irresponsible to do that.
Just because of some personal problems, if I pushed away the camp only 1 or 2 days before the camp started, the company would have a hard time trying to find replacement.
Plus, my troubles had nothing to do with the camper or the company.
I cannot affect them because of my personal problems.
I had to do what I had to do.
I locked myself for this camp, so I am responsible.

The weird thing is, when the students arrived and when I took over my group, the moment I realised there are "problematic" campers in my group, my drive came back.
Though probably not 100% of what I usually have for camps, but I felt motivated for the camp again.

The camp started with Ice-breaking which lasted slightly longer than 1 hour.
I made sure the ice breaking session was done well because--lesson learnt from Jurong West Pri camp...

Generally, the camp went on quite smoothly besides the fact that the hand full of "problem" kids giving me problems throughout the camp.
The 5 of them were constant up to some monkey business and they had very short attention span. Most of the time they did not listen to briefing and debriefs. I had to stop activities or briefings so many times just to talk to them.
Despite many repeated reminders and they still carried on their ways, they are primary school students after all, they need constant reminder.
It was really unfair for the group, having to stop and waste the group's activity time or wash-up time juts because of these few students -- look at the big picture. Don't neglect the majority for that small minority.
On the last night, I left them alone and spoke to the rest of the group only after debrief.
The few of them were blatantly lying on the floor and sleeping. Not wanting to do their reflections or listen to the debrief. So I kept them back to finish everything after I let everyone go.

Some of the activities that are especially worth mentioning are River Challenge and Command and Conquer.

River Challenge was our first activity.
The task was to get the whole class from 1 end of the "river"(the Milo pond) to the other in a given time.
On their first try,they took 18 mins and got only 8 people across because the wasted a lot of time getting in and out of the water and deciding who sends the floats and PFDs back.
Though in fact, around 13 people already went across, some of them just wanted to play more and didn't care about completing the task. So after the got out of the water and took of the PFDs, on subsequent trips, the wanted to send the floats back, so time was wasted for them to put on the PFD again, getting into the water then send the floats back.
Alot of time was wasted this way.
Largely because they didn't plan well and stick to their plan when they were given the time. Also many of them were only thinking of whether they got to play.
Had to make them learn.
So I cut the activity and debriefed them on their first try.
Wanted to prove to them how much better it would be if they planned and stuck to it. And also how much better it would be if they worked as a team.
Wanted them to know the importance of having a shared vision in a team.
I gave them the plan, told them the record timing and that usually it would only take 20mins for a class of 40 to finish the task.
Then challenged them to finish it, to prove to themselves that it can actually be done in 20mins.
In the end, the task was completed in 20min 30 sec.
Hope they learnt from that experience.

Command and Conquer is worth mentioning because of the the team spirit they showed. Especially the girls.
Command and Conquer is a game where the kids get to play with water bombs.
The task was to take out their opponent's castle or people. The number of water bombs each group/each person has is actually limited. You would expect the kids to want to throw the water bombs themselves but the girls and a few boys in my group surprised me.
The group was split into 2 smaller groups and we played against another group.
When 1 sub group ran out of water bombs I went over to the other group and ask, "hey, our other group has ran out of water bombs to defend or to attack, we are a group right? You are allowed to pass them some water bombs. Do you want to do that?"
Without any delay, they immediately handed a few water bombs.
The team work and spirit they showed really surprised me.
Maybe the debriefs really got into them.

My reflections:

After camp, for some weird reason I actually felt better.
Maybe the injury to my hamstring helped a bit too.
(I injured my hamstring AGAIN during campfire. Got sabo-ed to come out to do split during campfire. Thanks to my lousy mood I think I forgot to tell them I'm injured. 3rd time this month. It never got to recover totally. This time it serious. I couldn't walk or stand after that and also for the next day. It's stupid, but I didn't want to disappoint the kids. Passion/stupidity is going to kill me one day.)
This sounds stupid. but it was so painful I couldn't think of any other thing. Then I suddenly though to myself, what's been bothering be for the past weeks, suddenly I'm not thinking of it just because of pain. Maybe it doesn't mean so much after all??

Guess what I can bring away from this camp for myself is that don't run away from things. You'll never know what's installed for you. Maybe you'll feel better after that. It may not be the camp that really made me feel better but it's a fact that after the camp I feel better.

I'm sorry that this post may sound negative to you readers out there. But I hope you guys can understand and learn from this.
I'm not afraid of showing/sharing my feelings, even some of the more negative ones.
Even when I know that some of you(I'm not flattering myself) might look up to me as a leader of some sort.
What I hope you guys see is not just the negative side of me. But my willingness to face up to the problem and to solve the problem. Not run away from it. Some of you who have been talking to me might know that it wasn't easy for me either. It was really a mess and I was really quite lost.
But what's important is that you have to face the problem.
For those who still think that a leader needs to be perfect, this is what I think--a leader need not be perfect, no one is. You just need to have the courage to face your problem.


For those who are actually worried for me, if there are any,
sorry for making you worry.
Though it wouldn't harm if you dropped a few comments or taggies?hahha...
to let me know you're reading too...XP
I'm ok. Just that I'm still recovering form the hamstring injury.
Hope I'll recover in time for diving class tomorrow evening and for my expedition next week~


P.S.:
Thank you Jesslyn for what you said to me. It really helped.
HuiMing, thank you too^_^

Back from camp!

Yo!
Back from camp!!
hmm....blog seems to be dying...
wonder how many ppl are still reading...haha...
cos no comments or tags....
but at least I know there are still a few that are reading....
as long as anyone still reads, I'll write.
haha....
anyway, before I go on to post about the camp I just had with Greenwood Pri,
taggies reply...


Daniel: o. THAT daniel. lol....hi.

Samuel: sorry....which samuel r u? camper? which school? or instructor???>.<

pokpok: yo! lol... haha...i'm ok. wa abt u?

Jiahui: haha....hey....yea....it was painful too and showering with that hand like that was worst.... ur banned lifted??

evelina: hey. i'm doing ok. you? hope all's ok for u too.

jesslyn: haha...i'll try... passion and stupidity is going to kill me someday. lol...


ok...
that's that...

stay tuned for the post on Greenwood pri camp.
comign soon...

5-7th July 2008 Meridian JC Leadership Camp

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...