End of Another Cycle

It's a tiring job. Another cycle is over. Thank god. I feel a bit relieved now. The last three months has been a demanding one. Late nights are common but 2 nights in particular, I had been working all through from 7 am to 7 am the next day (i.e 23-24 and 28-29 August 2008). I hope whatever the outcome of the team's hardwork is worthwhile and appreciated by colleagues and especially, the public. The next couple of days, my schedule is tight with line-ups of briefings to the private sector, universities and NGOs. It's fasting month but I hope to transmit rightfully whatever we have planned to those groups of people.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all, especially the B-team, officers in the division who completed the ER, officers and colleagues from other divisions, ministries, agencies and private sector organisations who contributed directly or indirectly in completing both Budget and ER successfully. Of course, its not 100% perfect and aimed at solving all problems faced by the people and nation. It's only a one year budget with specific targets and objectives to achieve.

Now, its time for capacity building in the division. It's fasting month, most of the officers are a bit relaxed. As such, I have planned to organise training in writing skills, modelling and presentations. Sincerely, hope all officers will participate and give full support. Happy Merdeka holidays.

Note: Learning never ends.

Managing Man

Hi guys, quite sometimes I didn't write anything. I have been busy with office work. My colleagues in the office surely will know why. The busiest time of the year. 29 august 2008 will be the D-day, not like the army term D-day but more of a celebration day after months of hard work. I know this blog is read by most my office colleagues and as such, I would to extend my sincere appreciation for the hardwork and cooperation they have shown. I know i have been hard on them at times. People say I'm a tough guy, scolding officers and pushing them to the edge. Some even had complained to others. Even the top bosses say, I'm a bit harsh on the junior officers. I didn't mean to hurt or embrass anyone. Every thing I do is in the best interest of the division and the ministry. I always appreciate those who have given their best in any undertakings.

Sometimes, I had to scold or tell them whatever things they didnt do rightly. However, may be the approach I use is not appropriate or its not the best way how things should be handled. I would like to state here that I have no grudge against anyone. If I am unhappy of things, I will just tell them directly. I don't talk behind people (gossip sikit2 adalah). I would like to be direct and be frank. Of course, some can't accept things being told direct in their face. But i thought this are how things should be done.

On the other hand, may be I need to be more tactful and handle things one to one, rather than telling them openly during meetings or infront of others. My intention was clear that others should learn from one's mistake and try not to repeat the same mistake. But again, if people can't accept things than I have to change my management style.

Having attended the Harvard senior management course, I learned lots of new things including how to handle subordinates. I promise I will try to improve myself and appreciate whatever others do. Of course, if there are things done wrongly, I had to tell them but from now on, on a one to one basis. In the meetings, I will just illustrate mistakes done, in a general manner without quoting who had done those mistakes. I need feedback from all of you reading my blog on this issue. Thanks. Happy Merdeka Day and wish all Muslims - have a fantastic fasting month.

Note: It's easy to manage a hundred cows rather than managing a dozen men.

Life is like a drama series.....

In my previous entries, I wrote a number of times about life. In this entry, I wish to discuss about life again. After all, we are going through some form of experiences in our daily life. Our life can be divided into stages i.e. from infant or toddler (which we usually dont remember anything) to early childhood, then to young kid, teenager and adulthood. But this topic of mine is more pertinent to the adulthood period, when we have already started working, say at the of age 25 and above.

The whole life can be filmed into a drama series. Each year in life can be an episode of that drama series. There are episodes of happiness, sorrow, love, hate and etc. Your happy moment will be, when something good happens to you, such as successful in interviews, going to work the first day, getting married, having your first kid, you get promoted and so on. The sorrow part will be, when you lost someone you loved, your girl/boy friend left you, you failed in interview, not successful in getting a job and so on.

Whatever happens to you either happiness or sorrow, as time passes by, you will get wiser and more matured. You learn how to handle things and not panic during demanding situations. Of course, not everything in life goes as what you have planned. You can't play God. Anyway, I dont believe when people say that they in control of life. May be what they meant is that they can manage and handle situations, rather than totally controlling their life and get whatever they wanted.

Coming back to life and drama, so what's the ending or climax of the drama. Everybody knows the ending is death. Does death means sorrow and sadness? Nobody laughs or are happy when people die. However, when you about to die will you be happy or sad? You can answer this when you are about to die. Do people know the answer way earlier before they die. I personally think one should roughly know they are happy or not at that moment. Those who have achieved their dreams and most of the things they wanted in life, i guess will die peacefully. On the contrary, the one who suffers and had hardtimes will be sad but again they may be happy to leave this world rather than keep on suffering. How about those cunning, merciless, notorious and unworthy guys? We not only can classify individuals into good or bad category but also groups of people and even a particular country. So which countries are bad and which are good. I have deviated far from my topic, better pull myself to the issue we are discussing.

Moments in your life are so beautiful and what occurs at that particular time, may not ever repeat again. Especially, your younger days, love life and watching your kids growing-up. Spend more time and cherrish every moment of your life.

Note: This blog introduced to me by Christine depicts some moments in my life. How about your life drama?

Dedicated to Work

Dedicated means devoted or committed to a particular purpose. In relation to this, how many of us are really dedicated to our work. Does the income we earn, commensurate the amount of work we do each day? There are officers who comes to work just in time to punch the card, say at 8.30 am and leaves the office exactly at 5.00 pm. On the other hand, we have officers who stay late in the office doing nothing. Do we call these people as dedicated officers? Dedicated officers mean they are committed to work and will give the outmost in completing the task given to them with quality output. We seldom find this kind of execellent officers.

Where is the mistake? The officers themselves, the recruiting department, the training center or the education system. Each and every factor mentioned above has a part to play in contributing the whole issue. The officers themselves must be able to comprehend the task give to them. If they dont understand, they must read and do research. The recruiting department must choose the right person to be placed in the right position. Sending officers with little knowledge and interest in a particular job creates more problem rather than solving the problem. The training institution they were sent before they go to their department, must instill dedication and understanding on how they should perform their job rather than providing and instigating with all kind of unnecessary trainings. Finally and more importantly is the education system. The entire education needs to be ravamped, starting from the syllabus, extracurricular activities, the style of teaching and exams. Our education system is so exam oriented. Starting from the primary schools up to the tertiary institutions, emphasis is given to the results of exams. As such, students will try to memorize and produce the best of what they have memorized. Our education system is more like a factory producing robots! This will block their mental capability from being creative in thinking.

How to be a dedicated officer? Any task given to us by our boss, we should accept it. Never say no, I cannot do it. This shows you are either trying to avoid the job or you are not good for your organization. Whatever task given to you, just accept it. In the first place, your boss is not so ridiculous. He wont ask you to design a space craft, if you are an accountant. Of course, your boss will ask you to do something related to your job description and may be you are new and with little experience, you will feel reluctant to do the job. Anway, you must accept whatever job given to you. First if you dont understand, you can ask your colleagues and your immediate superior. Morever, in this age of information, everything is available in the internet. You can do your own research.

The other important aspect, most officers, like I said are similar to robots. If the boss ask to solve a case with option A , they will only do option A and not more than that. They wont take an extra step to do options A, B and C. They wont do research and sometimes come up with a better option than that was suggested by the boss. It is not challenging the boss. Providng the best option in the interest of the organization or even in the interest of the nation depending on what kind of organization you are working for, will make the boss appreciate your efforts.

I hope those who are reading this blog are dedicated officers. If you are not, then you will change yourselves from just a mediocre to an excellent officer.

Note: Me, always dedicated to my work. Any comments, especially from the young officers out there.