LW Seminars - Leadership with Purpose

My kids finally asleep, now's a great opportunity to make a brief blog entry on my latest training seminar with Dr Lawrence Walter Ng - Leadership with Purpose.

Now, it was two years ago, specifically on 9th and 10th July 2007 that we first had the opportunity to meet up with Dr Lawrence, who was engaged by our company as part as a long term goal to transform our organization to the next level. I even got an autographed copy of his book on "Passion for Extraordinary Performance"!

Heh, heh. Actually, I've encountered him before, back in the days when I was just a school boy of around 14 or 15 years old (back when Dr Lawrence was just Lawrence). It was during a public course conducted by him to promote his A Star Student Program. Ah, who would have guessed, as fate would have it, for us to cross paths not once, but twice many years later. I have a strong feeling that this would not be the last time I met him.

Anyway, back to the present. Upon registration, Kelly, his assistant, handed me my copy of training material and briefed me on what to do next, that is, putting on name tags, writing name and initial on notes and file, and also a bit on "training fung sui" and "discussion fung sui" (which is basically the house rules for arrangement of table and chairs during the two key phases of the discussion).

We sorted ourselves out evenly between 5 tables, with roughly 5 people to a group. My first sitting partnered me with Steven Yan, Ai Ling, Jerry, Moey and Clement. In the last seminar, I was team leader of our team "Rebex" so this time I was happy to change to a supporting role. This was just a temporary group, as throughout the day, we would further change groups a total of 4 times. I guess that this was to simulate real-working environment where we'd get involved with different teams from time to time (the key was to learn to add value to each team all the same).

Dr Lawrence, right from the start, put on a energetic display of charisma that never gave the audiences' mind a chance to go astray. Full of confidence with a flawless delivery, with a real dedication to the seminar. Now as a Manager, I learned that we did our part in the preparation to provide Dr Lawrence with some personal details of our staff, so he could better identify with each individual on a personal level. And this he did and use throughout the course of the seminar, demonstrating a powerful memory and the ability to use the information at the right time. How else would a total stranger to the organization know about the fine details like Jackson's passion for his durian orchard, and my Six Sigma Black Belt qualification?

Well, throughout the seminar, we aimed to collect points in order to graduate by the end of day 2. Additionally, we had to ensure that the average points were above a minimum target as well, otherwise everyone would not graduate. The way averages worked, this means that no matter which group you were in, your contribution towards the entire class ultimately works to towards the success of the entire group (just like in real-life). The training material was new, though there was an exercise in the beginning to assemble a jigsaw of the motivational poster that we used in the first seminar (the yellow one). However, I can say all of the material here is new, so the new members who did not attend the first seminar would not feel left out, and the returning members would not feel bored from "more-of-the-same" syndrome.

We formulated our team "mission statements" and practiced team cheers, which made extensive use of hitting on the tabletop with our palms. This too, incidentally, was how we "applauded" our fellow team-mates as well as those from other groups. In general, we either applaud a successful effort with "GOT PASSION" cheer, or encourage a challenged team with cries for "MORE PASSION". This is a good exercise for team support.

We played a game, where everyone was required to cross over from one side of the room to the other. The only condition is that no one was allowed to walk the same way twice. So each one of us tried to be creative to hop, skip, spin, waltz, (and so on, I'm running out of verbs) to get across and earn points. I managed to moonwalk across (small tribute to Michael Jackson)...! :)

After morning break, I bid farewell to my team leaders Jerry and Ai Ling, and moved to a different table under the helm of Lye Yin and Thye (leaders were fixed, team members were mobile). I regrouped with Steven and Clement from the previous table, with a new member to the team (Mr Wee, our GM). Time to learn the new policy and team cheer. And of course, collect more points. It was with this team that we participated in the "break a pencil with your forefinger" challenge, which was easy once you knew the technique and had the correct mindset. Of course, you need to aim your strike, otherwise you would cause injury to your friend holding the pencil (as Steven and Lye Yin found out the hard way).

Throughout the seminar, Dr Lawrence made good use of video clips from various movies, like Patch Adams, Gladiator, Alexander, and Independence Day (those are some I could recognize). These served to illustrate demonstrations of good leadership skills (and also using a scene from Joe vs the Volcano to show an example of poor leadership. Where there is Yin, there is Yang, so you must always show both sides of the coin). Another example of good applications skills (knowing when to apply a certain technique is as equally important as knowing the technique itself).

In no time, it was time for our buffet lunch at the Sommerset Cafe on ground floor. We had a quick meal and proceeded back to our training venue on Level 7, for a chance to add value and earn more points for our team before the next "reorganization". Thanking Lye Yin and Thye for their guidance, we then changed tables once again. My next team was lead by Cheng KY and Elene, with Mr Wee coming along from the old table, and Ang CK as a new member to me. After the "orientation", we proceeded to play the "animal game" where each of us were assigned a different animal class. Well, I was going to be chicken for awhile....

The goal was to group with other members of the same species (after being double-blind folded, of course - you think it would be that easy in a Dr Lawrence seminar?). And this was to be done by making the corresponding animal sounds of course. So the chickens go "buck-buck", ducks go "quack-quack" (chinese duck apparently go "ak-ak"), cows go "moo-moo", cats go "meow-meow" and finally pigeons make a sound that goes some thing like "screw-screw" (try to keep a clean mind here). Obviously, with no pre-determined leader, and everyone making their own animal sounds, the result was utter chaos that would probably drive Old McDonald to the lunatic asylum in the long run. To make matters worse, some of my chicken group was confused by the actual chicken call required. To me chicken = "buck-buck" but to KS Ng, chicken = "cock-a-doodle-doo" (Rooster?). Ah well, if you can't beat them, join them, as long as this helps towards the team goal (I hope this doesn't break any rules). 2nd round, same game, we thought we got our strategies all figured out, but there some unseen forces trying to pull us out of whack (Chinese 7th month is over, so it must be the Seminar assistants). This goes to show that your team will always face challenges to pull you apart. Luckily, we have KS as the chicken leader to hug everyone closer to keep us from breaking apart.

Next lesson was on the 4 patterns of an individual - the King, Warrior, Magician and Lover. My initial impression (and misconception) is that every one was classified into either one of the four. I thought I was a pure warrior (judging on how Dr Lawrence described the car and tabletop of a typical warrior personality). However, we played a game where each of us went around and ticked on each others workbooks, on our impression of that person. Thus, we found out, at least in that group, what was the general opinion and impression about ourselves. I discovered that I was ~49% Magician, 26% Lover and 25% Warrior (0% King....). With this in mind, we all made our own commitments on where to improve. The secret is to be ALL FOUR at the appropriate time and situation, as demonstrated in a short video clip from the movie Alexander (starring Colin Farrell). This is what was known as the X-factor.

The last change of table for the day brought me to the table of CC Tan and KT Kong, where I was reunited with Steven from my first and second table. New member was NK Goh. This was a nice table - their team cheer only required us to hit the table 6 times.... :) Rack up more points. I got a chance to get involved by getting up on stage and speaking like either one of the 4 patterns, and changing on the fly at the cue from Dr Lawrence. Hah, something like changing channels on Astro, but I managed to adjust my speech accordingly (still need lots and lots more practice though).

We then also explored the topic of breakdowns in communication, which sometimes were unintentionally caused by our own accidental actions. After a voting session by our peers, I found out my biggest points were for "moody face", "silence" and "being to general". I totally agree with them.

Before we went home, Dr Lawrence conducted a quieter session for us to get in touch with one another. With appropriately selected soft background music, we told our partners what we liked about them, and apologized for any accidental wrongdoings in the past. Extended further to members of our family, in a moment of silent emotional decision....

Well, that was it for day 1. We all had our "homework assignments" to collect more points, which included adding value to someone we knew via SMS, phone call or face-to-face, highlighting key points in our notes, and making a write up (updating my blog is not the only reason I'm writing this, you know....).

Day two begins in less than an hour. Time to get changed and ready, and get ready for change!

Anyway, do check out more on Dr Lawrence's seminars at : http://www.lwseminars.com and his blog on http://drlawrencewalterng.blogspot.com.