I would like to voice out an unpopular address with regards to an ongoing and ever-increasing epidemic issue occurring amongst executives attending formal trainings, especially my brothers and sisters in PETRONAS: the Failure of Mindfulness and Being Present.
I have noticed that throughout courses, seminars, technical trainings – and even the meetings occurring in the office – people are busy with their mobile phones, checking and responding to e-mails, aggressively responding to their WhatsApp and Skype messages, and shamelessly checking their Facebook/Instagram feeds throughout the session(s). As a result, they are not actively benefitting from the session at hand, or adding any value whatsoever to the proceedings, and their attendance and apparent signatures are only superficial indicators of their physical presence. What value is the certificate of attendance if your mind was half-way around the world most of the time?
During meetings and discussions, those who are guilty of this, they barely ever contribute anything, and when their input is sought they will nonchalantly ask “huh? Can you repeat” and the whole quorum has to waste time backtracking to get them up to speed for their lack of attentive participation.
It’s made worse when bosses themselves are guilty of these habitual distractions – and in some cases it’s very obvious that it’s an evasion technique to avoid responsibility or accountability because they are “not involved” as they are catching up on messages of their school classmates WhatsApp groups.
I find it appalling that this behavior is at its worst during technical trainings and seminars – barely any participant these days seem to be actively participating and learning. Come on guys. The company invested money in you to upgrade your competency – by the course fees, logistics costs and by literally absorbing the manhour cost of your absence from the office to attend – so we owe it to ourselves to demonstrate some professionalism and integrity to discipline ourselves to make the best in benefitting from them.
And again, it’s made worse by bosses who “lead by example” and just instruct their subordinates to attend meetings and escape during training sessions. Show some respect to the organization and your subordinates’ professional development.
Unfortunately, even on a smaller scale, this annoying trend of habitual distraction also happens amongst others on very personal levels during one-on-one conversations: whenever their phone vibrates, they immediately steal a 3-second glance to read their notifications and whatsapp messages (iPhone users are often guilty of this, as the screen lights up). And then they get derailed from the conversation completely. This is very disrespectful on a personal level, let alone a professional environment.
A reminder to myself and to others: yes, you're "busy". I get it. But there is a time and place to be checking emails and entertaining distractions. But be honest with ourselves and uphold standards of professionalism and respect to be present when the situations call for it – BE PRESENT.
And the same applies towards communication between our family members. Perhaps even more so.
Communication technology was designed to ENHANCE communication, not make it worse. It should INCREASE productivity, not turn us into narcissistic habitual creatures of mass distraction.
Entertaining distractions is your decision – so make the responsible choices.
Yesterday (28 February 2019) was the last day for our batch of Chemical Engineering interns from Curtin University, including the one pictured here, Gibson Tan.
Although I did not have many opportunities to work together with him, those few chances that we did - as my scriber and preparation technical report for 3 HAZOP studies - he performed exceedingly well beyond expectations : demonstrating sincere dedication in his work, providing deliverables ahead of schedule, even staying up late up to 12am on his 2nd last day of internship to finish up the report - even though we never expected that of him.
And for that, I issued him an official Focused Recognition endorsed by both our Staff Process Engineer and our boss.
But beyond those surface achievements, little to his knowledge, I was also inspired and personally learnt a lot from him.
As a person, Gibson was very humble, a self-admitted introvert in addition to also being a very authentic person in sharing his thoughts.
He keeps subconsciously feeling convinced that he is ‘inadequate’ for the job – but that’s also what fuels his passionate determination to keep learning, keep inquisitive, and subsequently develops and grows as a person.
He is always asking for feedback at every turn – how can I improve, any suggestions, what should I do? Can I get your advice? Etc.
While others might (incorrectly) find this “annoying”, as a coach, I was actually very impressed and inspired to see such sincere and genuine devotion to self-mastery.
And there is strength in willpower to be learnt here: Instead of allowing his feeling of insecurity to demotivate him and beat himself up, instead he channels it as a way to prevent himself from being complacent and thus drive him towards continuous improvement.
It's interesting to note that I observed that his humility also inspires him to be a strong team player amongst his fellow interns to.
As I reflect my current professional experience working 11 years in the industry, I begin to ponder upon my own personality and attitude, especially as we grow out of our fresh grad “underdog” mindset, and develop into “seniors” in the field – there is always a dangerous tendency to resort to complacency and subconsciously develop feelings of superiority over others, perhaps even escalating into the jaded “entitlement mindset”.
When this happens, we gradually lose the humility and hunger to learn, and we settle down on our own bubbles and comfort zones. And potentially evolve into the toxic "grumpy old fella".
As Bill Gates said, “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose”.
And in a podcast I listened to recently by Game Changers titled “the three temptations (i.e. Traps / Pitfalls) of Successful People”, they listed the following :
1. They stop working on themselves
2. They stop thinking big (i.e. having higher ambitions)
3. They abandon the basics
In the limited experience working with Gibson, I began seeing in him many traits that we should have, as we gain mileage over the years : don't let progress or perceived success get to our heads. Stay grounded, stay humble, stay hungry, be grateful for what you have, give back and develop others.
And on the point of “gratitude” and “giving back”, I should also take this opportunity to address an epidemic issue in the corporate world, which is their attitude towards interns.
Many people tend to negatively perceive interns as “temporary junior cheap labor work-horse”.
I, on the other hand, have always believed that interns are potential leaders of tomorrow, who are only one step away from becoming us: and we have a powerful opportunity to groom them. The internship they have provides a limited window of impression they have towards the corporate world, environment and culture – in our case, the oil and gas industry, the engineering life, and most profoundly, within the national oil company. This window will determine if they will be inspired to do great things, or dread working life. So what mark have we left on them?
I remember in my internship, I was blessed with seniors who were very patient, supportive and encouraging to take the time to teach me.
And with all of that in mind, I personally make it a point to consciously invest time into coaching and developing interns.
The Blessings of Allah are not for us to keep – if we are grateful, we share.
And to those who think “But I didn’t have a great internship or any good seniors” – well, here’s your chance to break that cycle and be the change that our future leaders need.
We wish all the best to all our interns and success for all their endeavors.
Inspiration can come from the most unexpected places, if you seek it.
