Support Team

Chronological Journal version 2.0 - LPM Support Team

I made another attempt to create a chronological journal to help learners to write their reflection.  However, one word of warning is that reflection is PERSONAL!

Lesson 1 (5th Feb 2014)
Having taught Support Team for a few rounds I chose to start the lesson by teaching the class on how to produce a mind map for the topics taught in the module.  I felt this is necessary as learners usually find difficulty in seeing the structure in modules taught.  Refer to the images below for the mind maps produced by each group.

Besides that, I observed a few learners tried to make sense of what the module is all about.  As time is running out, I decided to cover the following topics which anchored on the first chapter which is Conduct Team Planning Activities:

• 
  
• Mission

While many are very clear about mission i.e. How to get to where one wants to be, most of the learners had problem articulating what is vision.  As a result, I got response such as core values, goals etc.

At this point I explained that Vision provides direction as to Where one wants to be.  It communicates the purpose of a business.

Lesson 2 (6th Feb 2014)
As a continuation of lesson 1, I decided to explore the use of mind map when teaching to UK 1.1 Organisational policies and procedures that apply to team planning activities.  Please refer to the diagram below.


In my approach to create a conducive and interactive learning in the classroom, I chose to make do with the white board and the learner's guide as my teaching tools.  Instead of downloading information to the learners I probed them for definitions, examples, and experiences.  On top of that I shared the following with the class to highlight to them the importance of reflecting what is relevant to one's experience and knowledge when writing a reflective journal.

• Orgnanisation structure - all the organisation that I have worked with since graduation are Small, Medium Enterprises and all of them are in the Training and Education industry.  Besides that I shared that all these companies are structured by function such as sales, marketing, finance, operations etc.  After which they are either structured by products and by geographic location.  For example, Mastereign Enrichment structured their sales personnel according to geographic location with a few of them in charge of the Eastern, Western, Northern and Central Singapore.  CET, SENSE on the other hand structured their administration and marketing staff according to courses which is ES WSQ, Service Excellence and LPM. 
• Organisational culture - from a perspective of an adjunct trainer, an organisation culture is determined very much by the grooming standards and the expected behaviour in dealing with public; learners and others.  As a form of identification, name tags are provided.
• Goals and objectives - I was once asked by my lecturer while doing Diploma in Adult Continuing Education to identify my industry and I was quick to respond "Training".  To this, she asked me to redefine my industry.  I was asked to visit websites of training institute such as SIM, NTU and NUS to name a few. I came back to her and told her that I am in People's Development industry.  With that I set on a new mission; to inspire and motivate learners to be accountable of their own learning and personal development.  With that I am also determined to upgrade myself with essentials skills to ensure that I remain relevant as an Adult Educator.
• Organisation policies - could not have agreed with the learner about effective policies being flexible, comprehensive, coordination, clarity and ethical. To quote an example how I got myself into a sticky situation between a service provider and its client as they have different expectations and policies with regard to make-up lessons and assessments lacks clarity and poor coordination between the two parties.

At the end of the session, I decided to explain techniques of writing journal after which the class is required to write a group journal of the session. As expected, conflict arises with regard to the content, structure and even format of the journal.  At this point I stressed that journal is a PERSONAL affair.  It is therefore natural for one's journal to be different from others.  As expected also, many of the journals produced by the groups appear like a diary which merely outlined the events of the session and lacked reflection.

Lesson 3 (12th Feb 2014)
I continued producing a mind map as a teaching aid for the lesson. We continued with the following topics:

• UK 1.2 - The relationship between high level strategy and the development and implementation of team plans and processes 

On Trends and Issues, I provide examples related to the training industry of the following factors that may impact an individual or team performance:

- Competitor activities - discuss with the class the competitors of SENSE which includes Association of Muslim Professionals, Jamiyah Business School etc.
- External networks of human resources and business professionals  - provide example of my involvement in the Adult Educator Network
- Political, Economic, Social and Technological changes (PEST analysis), added Environment - explains that in training, legislative changes initiated by the Ministry of Manpower affects me as an Adult Educator for example the mandate for all WSQ trainers to attain a complete ACTA certification; share how Economic changes affect the training industry and that there is a trend for people to upgrade their skills and knowledge during the economic downturn;discuss with the class that the current social landscape has changed due to the influx of foreign talents into Singapore; shared with the class of how teaching practices has evolved caused by technological innovation and development for example online quiz, online discussion, e-learning etc.

 Explained to the class the importance of using the SWOT Analysis to determine the feasibility of any of the strategic business plan.

• UK 1.3 - Communication techniques and channels relevant for disseminating information regarding team activities, services and products

Explained to the class the various components of the Operational Plan which may include:

 - Structure of the project team
 - R

• UK 1.4 - Individual role and accountability for leading team planning activities
• UK 1.5 - Team member roles and accountability for team planning activities

At the end of the session, I addressed question pertaining to the written assignment. Now, a stack of assignments awaiting to be checked and marked.

Social Learning for Cognitive Development

Social learning theory by Bandura is developed based on the belief that learning is a cognitive process that occur in a social context which can happen purely through direct observation.  To explore social learning theory for my Leadership and People Management program, I have used the following three types of modeling stimuli by Bandura:

• Live model - an actual person is demonstrating the desired behavior

• Verbal instruction - an individual describes the desired behavior in detail and instructs the participant in how to engage in the behavior

• Symbolic - modeling occurs by means of the media, including movies, television, Internet, literature, and radio. Stimuli can be either real or fictional characters.

I have explored the above stimuli and the following are my findings.

LPM Support Team Lesson 1 - 7th Jan 2014

For the first lesson, I used the Symbolic modelling stimuli i.e. the use of video clip.  In this clip, Gandhi was seen speaking to a large audience selling out his principle of non-violence and how to use them to oppose the South African government’s new laws.  Prior to showing the clip, learners were asked how Gandhi inspired a Shared Vision in this clip.

Learners watching a video on Gandhi's speech addressing the audience with regards to General Smut's new law.

I had incorporated the Think-Pair-Share technique for this activity.  After watching the video, learners are to write their observations of Gandhi's speech in inspiring his vision of non-violent resistance.

Learners writing their observations of the Gandhi's speech

Learners sharing their observations with their peers.

After sharing with their peers, learners are encouraged to share their observations with the rest of the class.  The following are some of the points highlighted during the sharing session:

• Gandhi is seen as someone pious - I asked the learner to quote exactly what Gandhi said or did in the video for him to make such claim.  At this another learner mentioned that matters concerning religion was brought up by Gandhi when he said, "General Smut's new law claim that only Christian wedding is valid".  I informed the class that my interpretation of that statement by Gandhi was simply an example of how the people of India during his time was oppressed by the South African government.  On hindsight, my learner might be right to his claim that this is one of the agenda to convert the Indians to Christians.  Therefore, the statement by Gandhi has a religious connotation.
• Gandhi made his people feels that he was in this battle together with them when he repeatedly using the words "us" and "we" to refer to himself and the Indian audience. 
• Gandhi wanted to show the colonialists that they are trustworthy as they "have no secret".
• Gandhi's value of non-violent resistance is obvious when he responded to a demand to "kill a few officials before they disgrace one Indian woman" by saying "in this cause, I too am prepared to die but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill".  What follows is the following monologue that inspires the audience:

"Whatever they will do to us, we will attack no one, kill no one.  But we will not give our fingerprints, not one of us.  They will imprison us, they will fine us.  They will seize our possessions.  But they cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.  I am asking you to fight their anger, not to provoke it. We will not strike a blow. But we will receive them.  And through our pain, we will make them see their injustice. And it will hurt, as all fighting hurts. But we cannot lose. We cannot.  They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body not my obedience."

C-VAT.... what's that?

To begin with, I do not know that C-VAT stands for Cultural-Values Analytical Tool until a few days ago. Thanks Sofiyan. I guess many can imagine the confusion when I was told to take the online test before conducting my first Leadership and People Management module a couple of months back. The 3 reports generated as a result of the test; Basic Report, Leadership Report and Coaching Report, did not help.

However, all those change when I realised that it is part of my job as a LPM trainer to explain those reports to the learners.  I cannot help but admit that 'one learns better when one teaches others' as I get a better grasp on the material.  Speed browsed through their website at www.c-vat.com, C-VAT is stated to be a powerful psychometric tool to review a person’s value, useful for workplace to identify talent’s capability. 

Reviewing my own reports, I discovered that my leadership style is of High Supporter.  This conclusion is made based on the following findings:

• Planning and Organising (9)  

React to circumstances rather than plan or anticipate. Works well if team members can help anticipate and provide suggestions.  Does that mean I am a high supporter who needs more high supporters?

The advice is to take into account long-term planning.  To consider the use of tools such as schedules, calendars and work files as reference to lead a team.

• Sociability (15)

Fairly sociable and maybe extroverted at times.  Those who know me will definitely refute violently to this finding.  Having seen who I am now, many may not believe that I was once an introvert who prefers to be a loner.  However, the love for my job changed that. I cannot have agreed more when it was mentioned in the later part of the report that one's traits can change. 

• Time (13)

I cannot find any explanation this finding.  I wonder if adapt to changes slowly explains this attitude of mine towards timeliness.

• Tolerance Ambiguity (7)

Meticulous leader who expects details to be thought of and looked after.  Operate with caution and require specifics and details before making decisions.  Get frustrated when not furnished with all the information required so I  need to explain to others why the information is needed, how they are important and how they can play a part to make the project/team successful. 

• Exposition (14)

I generally able to express well.  This is developed over many years of being a trainer.

• Hardwork (15)

May face difficulty in getting people to do what you intend. Sometimes put in the efforts by rolling up my sleeve to do the work myself and on other occasions, I may find better solutions to getting the work done without the hard work required.  I know I am committed to any projects that I have agreed to undertake. I believe this is called trap or conflict behaviours according to the report. 

• Goodwork (14)

May prioritize other attributes in work delivery over quality, and may neglect to ensure how well the work turned out.  This make me thinking 'isn't quality of work is related to being meticulous' and a score of 14 not high enough? - I am just baffled. Anyway, I shall include the advice provided in the report for 'neglect to ensure the quality of the finished work'. 

Make an effort to understand stakeholders' expectations for the results/ quality of work desired. To benchmark my own work against the standard in my organization. Set expectations on myself to achieve beyond what is expected so that I can fall back on the acceptable standard. Another way is to enlist the support of colleagues who have a high quality of work to vet through work as a gatekeeper. 

• Politics (5)

Do not see the underlying dynamics beneath human relationships and is generally trusting towards others. I tend to believe what people around you tell you and reveal your emotions openly. You are also likely to make assumptions and jump to conclusions. Guilty, guilty, guilty and yes Christina I am gullible :-)

For this, I am advised  to practice restraining the outward display of my emotions too readily. Try not to react immediately to others' words and take some time to think through my emotions before making an appropriate response.  I am really working on this and teaching Emotional Competence really helps.

• Dominance (9)

Flexible in your approach as a leader and may not assert my authority or enforcements enough. As such, you may face difficulty steering others cohesively towards the desired goal. What? May not assert my authority or enforcements enough?  The computer system that generates this comment have not seen my temper hit the roof top yet.

Consider the use of 'Management by Objectives' (MB) techniques or communicate goals clearly from the start so that team members know what they should be achieving and do not give in to requests to unnecessary 'changes' to the plans.

• Finish Job (16) 

A persistent and determined leader and is able to go the long haul in seeing through things to the end. I take challenges in my stride and is able to keep focused on the end goal, showing tenacity even at times when others lose motivation. This I cannot deny.  Took my A-levels 3 times more for personal satisfaction to complete what I had started.  Completed my Master in Instructional Design and Technology in 6 years and still wondering if should pursue my PhD. At this point struggling to complete my Diploma in Adult Continuing Education.

To divide that task into smaller, more manageable milestones for others. 

•  Affection (20)

Tend to be ruled by my passion and interest on certain subject matters, and may be able to influence others with my strong belief and passion. However, may not be able to motivate others to the same extent as what drives me personally. Others may find I am overly emotional or biased on some subject matters.

Team members may react negatively if they perceive I am making emotional/ subjective decisions. I may want to distance myself from things that I have a deep interest in or get a second opinion on the judgment I would like to pass.

• Empathy (15)

Generally understanding towards others and situations. 

May want to remind myself to focus on roles and responsibilities within the organizational context and make an effort to delegate objectively according to ability, availability and job scope, even if they are personnel whom I may not share a close personal relationship with.

• Loyalty (19)

Value loyalty and tend to entrust work to those closer to me. May have an "inner circle" who are my first options to tap on when something needs to be done. I tend to entrust tasks to them in times of need and feel obligated towards them in return. When I need support or assistance, I tend to appeal to the fact of the long term relationship that I share.  In reality, I try to complete any tasks on my own unless absolutely necessary and if I do, yes I will appeal to my "inner circle".

• Status (12)

I am motivated by recognition, rewards and praise to some degree and may act/behave in ways that will reward me so.

• Abstraction (12)

Tend to use a pragmatic approach and may value actual applications as more important than ideas that may not come across as practical. This may become a disadvantage when I dismiss good ideas for their lack of immediate practicality.

May want to surround myself with people with ideas will complement me in this area. Some ideas may not be what I feel are immediately applicable, but I may want to give those around me the freedom to experiment, explore and find practical purposes for their ideas. This can help to contribute to new breakthroughs as I lead.

So how can I help my learns based on the findings of their C-VAT Personal value profile? The Personal Value Profile (PVP) allows me to understand the inner clockwork of my learners.  This in turn would make it easier for me to help my learners as they are able to raise their level of self-awareness and reframe their beliefs from the profile.  With this profiling survey, I can then, as a trainer, identify their training needs and help them map out an action plan to attain their personal and career goals.