Loss Prevention Asia (LPA) Conference, 21-22 August 2023, Kuala Lumpur Convention Center

Forum, Day 2: "Safety in Environment, Social & Governance (ESG)" - A conversation with Samuel Chadwick (DNV), Professor Ronald Wiley (Northeastern University USA), Suripno S (Pertamina) & Hasnor Hassaruddin (PETRONAS)

🏹🎯 Teaching your Children Archery

 

Jom bawak anak2 memanah!

Although he only recently started, it’s interesting seeing how Muawiyah develops his archery skills over the weeks with Coach Fera.

It’s a great platform for children to learn focus, precision in technique, hand-eye coordination, and even emotional self-control. In recent classes, Coach also indirectly teaches Muawiyah on the discipline of patience and restraint: relax, and don’t force the bow. Forcing only distorts accuracy, and the key to landing good shots is to remain calm. 

Being five years old, his body size limits his draw length so he can’t shoot more than 8 metres for now; so now it’s about focusing on the foundations and basics of the techniques. Looking forward to see him grow in his over the years!

Learning Archery is highly encouraged in Islam. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ once passed by some people of the tribe of Bani Aslam who were practicing archery. The Prophet ﷺ said, 

ارْمُوا بَنِي إِسْمَاعِيلَ، فَإِنَّ أَبَاكُمْ كَانَ رَامِيًا. ارْمُوا فَأَنَا مَعَكُمْ كُلِّكُمْ

"O Children of Ismail! Practice archery, as your father Ismail was a great archer.” He further added, “shoot, and I am with all of you!”

(Al-Bukhari)

The Prophet ﷺ said,

ارْمُوا وَارْكَبُوا وَلأَنْ تَرْمُوا أَحَبُّ إِلَىَّ مِنْ أَنْ تَرْكَبُوا كُلُّ مَا يَلْهُو بِهِ الرَّجُلُ الْمُسْلِمُ بَاطِلٌ إِلاَّ رَمْيَهُ بِقَوْسِهِ وَتَأْدِيبَهُ فَرَسَهُ وَمُلاَعَبَتَهُ أَهْلَهُ فَإِنَّهُنَّ مِنَ الْحَقِّ

Practice archery and practice riding. That you should practice archery is more beloved to me than that you should ride. 

All forms of entertainment that the Muslim man engages in are considered wasteful play, except for his shooting of his bow, his training of his horse, and him playing with his family, for they are from Truth.” (At-Tirmidzi #1637)

He ﷺ also said, 

الْمُؤْمِنُ الْقَوِيُّ خَيْرٌ وَأَحَبُّ إِلَى اللَّهِ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِ الضَّعِيفِ

“The strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than the weak believer” (Muslim)

He emphaszied, repeating three times: 

أَلاَ إِنَّ الْقُوَّةَ الرَّمْىُ

“Verily! Strength is in archery!” (Muslim)

Forum: "Sustainable Living For A Safer Work Environment" - HSE x PSM Carnival, SKA Auditorium 15th August 2023

 

Alhamdulillah, Huge thanks to the SKA HSE x PSM committee for offering me an opportunity to contribute to the event. It was an honor to play a part in facilitating such an interesting topic with these panelists to gain valuable insights and learnings from them. 

Six highlights and takeaway Points: 

1. "Sustainability" is about fulfilling our needs without jeopardizing or harming future generations. Laying the foundations for our future generations to flourish, thrive & prosper after us.

Think the big picture - we should be driven for a cause much bigger than ourselves!

2. When it comes to safety, put aside ranks and designations: we are equals and need to care for each other as human beings who want to go home safely. And to achieve that, you will always need the human touch on the ground. OIM Effendie shared that the key is to remove "power distance", to build relationship psychological safety.

OIM shared inspiring examples of how he would invite contractors from workboats and vessels to come and host them at the platform, provide hospitality as "tuan rumah", with some of them feeling grateful and honored, because "it's their first time on a platform". Little touches of kindness go a long way. 

3. Despite elaborate programs on competency upskilling, education, and raising awareness, when we look at Incident lessons learnt and HSE alerts, there's a sense of Deja Vu: same takeaway points, same lessons learnt. 

The problem isn't the quality of education; it's the attitude towards the knowledge. Knowledge will only be useful if you step up to ACT on it consistently. 

4. Especially when it comes to safety, Achievement is a double-edged sword: It can be a powerful motivating driver, yet at the same time, once we have attained it, there's a danger of being complacent and letting our guards down -  the "we made it" syndrome. 

Our panelist shared that a leader admitted in hindsight, that once they were given huge awards for stellar performance, it all went downhill from there because they started becoming too lax, and their performance slipped. 

5. "It always starts with ME, and it must come from my heart". If I cannot convince myself on the importance of sustainability, safety, and if I'm not passionate about saving lives, then how can I expect to convey that to others? 

6. At the heart of it, it's about love and care for our colleagues. We all love to come home safely. We all love to have good health & positive well-being. Therefore, if we truly uphold our religious values - to Love for others what we love for ourselves - then we will extend the same care towards those around us ❤️

Two hadiths come to mind. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said,

تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي تَرَاحُمِهِمْ وَتَوَادِّهِمْ وَتَعَاطُفِهِمْ كَمَثَلِ الْجَسَدِ إِذَا اشْتَكَى عُضْوًا تَدَاعَى لَهُ سَائِرُ جَسَدِهِ بِالسَّهَرِ وَالْحُمَّى

"You see the believers, in being merciful among themselve, loving each other and being kind amongst themselves, resembling that of one unified body: If any part of the body falls ill, then the whole body shares the sleeplessness & fever together."

(Al-Bukhari)

لَا يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ حَتَّى يُحِبَّ لِأَخِيهِ مَا يُحِبُّ لِنَفْسِهِ

"None of you has complete faith, until he loves for his brother that which he loves for himself" (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)

#hse #safety #sustainability #forum #changeforthebetter 

💡 SKG16.3 Process Technologists Community of Practice (COP) #2 - 10 August 2023 @ Sabah International Convention Centre, Kota Kinabalu Sabah

Alhamdulillah a really nice COP Gathering with the Process Technologist fraternity at the awesome new SICC. Am super proud of our Sarawak Assets (SKA) team for being the biggest contributor to this gathering, with 4 out of 5 of the technical paper sharings coming from team SKA. Am particularly proud and inspired with Hillry, our graduate engineer who’s barely been in the team for a year, and here he is with the courage to step up to share the outcome of his GHG-reduction optimization study for his first COP. That’s no small feat - Reflecting back, my first ever COP paper was presented after 10 years working. 

To me, the Community of Practice (COP) concept is one of my favorite aspects about working in PETRONAS.  

COP’s are specialized groups or fraternities categorized by their professional areas of specialization (e.g. Process Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Procurement, analysts, Project Management)  as a platform to share best practices, lessons learnt & breakthroughs in the industry. 

The key that makes it so effective is that it’s a sharing platform “by practitioners, FOR practitioners”. We aren’t necessarily experts, neither are we objectively the “best” or even “correct” at everything. Just practicing and sharing to learn. 

By simply opening up a platform for discussion, and having participants with an open willingness to share their experiences, it opens up a whole world of discovery when it came to real-life application on the ground from our own friends who go through similar challenges. Hearing from each other inspires us differently: “He managed to overcome that - and if he can do it, i can too!”; or "her technical sharing made me realize that it’s actually not as difficult as it sounds. I think I can do this!”. 

All of these provide valuable, actionable insights, simultaneously expanding our network of resources of others whom we can seek support, guidance, and mentorship to collaborate, that further cement and complement the theoretical lessons we learn in an academic environment, which are usually more one-way delivery.

On top of all of that, one of the best and most valuable long-term fruits of COP is the positive networking between engineers, technical professionals, and managers across all regions. 

But a platform like this will only be as effective as its practitioners to keep it alive. 

And for that, Alhamdulillah, am grateful to be part of this active group COP SKG16.3 Process Technologists. Although our fraternity is comparatively small (less than 50), we were also among the most active COP’s, ranking second in the organization. Terbaik lah gais. Kudos to the awesome members for their continuous active participation, keeping the spirit burning, and playing your role to elevate each other’s morale and make it a great place to work. 

🧠Smart people = Lousy Negotiators? 🤔

 

Interesting: Smart people don’t make good listeners, hence lousy negotiators

In his book “Never Split the Difference”, author Chris Voss says,

“Really smart people often have trouble being negotiators”.

Wait, what? 😱
Why?

Because they think “they’re so smart they think they don’t have anything to discover. Too often people find it easier just to stick with what they believe. Using what they’ve heard or their own biases, they often make assumptions about others even before meeting them. They even ignore their own perceptions to make them conform to foregone conclusions. These assumptions muck up our perceptual windows onto the world, showing us an unchanging—often flawed—version of the situation.” (End Quote)

The point the author is making here is: For geniuses, their smartness becomes a handicap from becoming good listeners: and therefore becomes a barrier from becoming effective negotiators.

Aha, so the problem here isn’t intelligence. The problem here is ARROGANCE: when our intelligence gets to your head that we consider ourself superior than others, to the point that other opinions or perspectives are just discarded or ignored.

Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “a person with an atom’s weight of arrogance will not enter Paradise! Arrogance is to reject the truth, and to look down upon other people” (Muslim)

It’s one thing to be smart. It’s another thing to be Mr. Smartypants.

So, what DO great negotiators do?

“Great negotiators are able to question the assumptions that the rest of the involved players accept on faith or in arrogance, and thus remain more emotionally open to all possibilities, and more intellectually agile to a fluid situation.”

It’s possible be very smart, AND simultaneously have the humility to listen with an open heart and mind.

One of the most inspiring examples to me is the tabi’ee Muslim scholar, Ataa bin Abi Rabah:

“A young man came to me to inform me something (of knowledge), therefore I kept silent and listened, being fully attentive, as if I have never heard of it before, even though I have actually known about that matter before this man was even born!” (Siyar A’lam An-Nubula 5/86)

Interesting, when you put things in perspective: the key to becoming an effective listener - and by extension, a great negotiator - is humility.

Even more interesting when we consider that this is also the primary leadership characteristic of what Jim Collins defines as “Level 5 leadership” in his book, Good to Great.

Is Humility some kind of secret superpower?

I believe so. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:

وَمَا تَوَاضَعَ أَحَدٌ لِلَّهِ إِلاَّ رَفَعَهُ اللَّهُ

“No one humbles himself for the sake of Allah, except that Allah raises his status” (Muslim)

🍛 “Kau tak tahu berkat tu kat mana..” - Keberkatan dalam teguran ikhlas

Pernahkah anda terima teguran atau nasihat yang pendek dan ringkas - Tapi somehow, nasihat tu lekat dengan kita? Dia punya berkat tu, kekal lain macam.

Satu teguran yang masih segar dalam ingatan saya, berlaku lebih daripada 15 tahun yang lalu, sewaktu makan malam bersama di satu kedai di SS2 Petaling Jaya. 

Yang berikut salah satu kisah peribadi yang saya sendiri alami. 

Waktu tu saya ingat, saya makan sangat bersepah. Dah habis makan, lebihan makan atas pinggan. Ada nasi, serpihan tauge merata atas pinggan.

Sahabat saya menegur. “Bro, nak tegur sikit boleh?”

Ok. Masa tu, saya terfikir: Nasihat apa tu? Nak cakap nasik akan menangis hari kiamat? Macam dah biasa dengar. Takpe, kita dengar dulu. 

“Baik, silakan bro”

Dia kata, “makanan ni, elok kita habis kan, bagi licin. Sebab Nabi ﷺ kata, kita tak tahu berkat tu kat mana.”

Wow. first time saya dengar nasihat & dapat tahu tentang konsep ni: Kita tak tahu di mana berkat dalam makanan kita. Bila semak semula, jumpa riwayat asal dalam Sahih Muslim. Anas meriwayatkan:

أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ إِذَا أَكَلَ طَعَامًا لَعِقَ أَصَابِعَهُ الثَّلَاثَ، قَالَ: وَقَالَ: إِذَا سَقَطَتْ لُقْمَةُ أَحَدِكُمْ فَلْيُمِطْ عَنْهَا الْأَذَى وَلْيَأْكُلْهَا، وَلَا يَدَعْهَا لِلشَّيْطَانِ، وَأَمَرَنَا أَنْ نَسْلُتَ الْقَصْعَةَ، قَالَ: فَإِنَّكُمْ لَا تَدْرُونَ فِي أَيِّ طَعَامِكُمُ الْبَرَكَةُ

Rasulullah ﷺ apabila selesai makan, Baginda akan menjilat ketiga jarinya sambil bersabda: “Apabila suapan salah seorang daripada kalian terjatuh, hendaklah dia bersihkan kotoran (atau habuk) padanya dan kemudian memakannya. Jangan biarkan makanan itu untuk syaitan (dimakannya)”. 

Juga, Baginda berpesan kepada kami agar membersihkan sisa makanan yang berada di atas pinggan (habiskan). Baginda bersabda, “kerana sesungguhnya kalian tidak tahu pada bahagian mana daripada makanan kamu yang mengandungi keberkatan." (Riwayat Muslim, #2034)

Bagi saya, hadith ni membawa "paradigm shift", mengubah perspektik kita dalam cara kita approach makanan: Kalau anda tidak cermat dalam menghabiskan makanan, maka sebenarnya anda menzalimi diri sendiri dengan melucutkan diri daripada keberkatan Allah. You are oppressing yourself by depriving yourself of Allah's barakah!

Semenjak hari tersebut, saya tanamkan dalam diri satu komitmen peribadi: pastikan setiap kali saya makan, pinggan kena licin. Clean sheet. Kalau pegi buffet, ambik makanan yang nak makan sahaja, pastikan habis semua. Kalau "tak best"? Ha, siapa suruh amek banyak2. 

Kalau tengok makanan berlebihan kat ofis, memang rasa geram. Kalau boleh nak tapau. Mentang2 pakai bajet kompeni, sukahati je order lebih2 and buang. Ugh. Berkat tu oii. 

Skarang dah ada anak, masih teruskan komitmen mengamalkan sunnah ini. Walaupun makin mencabar, biasa lah anak2 ni, mood & citarasa diorg ni susah nak bajet. 

Sedikit demi sedikit, saya mulai sedar, bila kita konsisten dalam usaha meraij keberkatan dari Allah, tabiat ini makin lama menjadikan saya lebih husnu dzon - berbaik sangka - dengan Allah. Barangkali, banyak nikmat dalam kehidupan saya yang datang disebabkan keberkatan yang dikurniakan bila kita prihatin cermat menghabiskan makanan. Hidup dengan optimis, syukur.

Walaupun tabiat ini menjadi antara penyumbang utama kepada berat badan saya (Note to self: Umar pernah sound, perut boroi tidak semestinya tanda keberkatan 😝), dan walaupun ahli keluarga saya selalu perli saya ni macam “DBKL” - time macam ni, kita kena ketepikan ego. Janji Tuhan itu pasti, dan keberkatan Allah itu itu amatlah berharga. Berbaloi kena perli. Sabo je la.

Berbalik kepada kisah sahabat saya ni tadi. Walaupun nasihat beliau sangat ringkas, tapi akibat keikhlasan beliau menegur saya dengan penuh hormat dan hikmah, saya mengamalkan sunnah setiap kali makan, dah lebih daripada 15 tahun (and counting). Masha Allah. 

Seperti kata-kata Nabi ﷺ: “Barangsiapa yang memulakan suatu perbuatan dalam Islam suatu sunnah yang baik, lalu diamalkan orang selepasnya, dituliskan bagi pemulanya pahala orang yang beramal denganya, dan tidak akan berkurang daripada pahala mereka suatu pun.” (Muslim)

Jarang dapat berjumpa sahabat yang bagi nasihat macam ni. Nikmat yang besar walhamdulillah.

Peristiwa ini menjadi pengajaran peribadi yang penting dalam meraih keberkatan: bukan sahaja dalam aspek pemakanan, tetapi dalam keberkatan bila menasihati dengan ikhlas. 

Persoalan yang saya selalu audit diri saya - dan saya rasa patut kita semua tepuk dada, tanya selera - adakah KITA sendiri menjadi sahabat yang baik kepada sahabat kita? 

Kadang2, kita yang mengelat menasihati sahabat2 kita. Takut diorg tak suka, takut diorg sentap and left group lari. Kita hanya nak “play it safe”, just buat diorg hepi hepi, tapi biar mereka hanyut dan terus menerus buat kesalahan. 

Kalaulah kita ikhlas menasihati sahabat, kadangkala ungkapan ringkas, teguran yang baik, dengan izin Allah ada potensi besar untuk mengubah hidup mereka. Tak perlu pun ceramah panjang2 atau ijazah berjela-jela. Hanya perlu ikhlas dalam da’wah & dalam amar ma’ruf dan nahi munkar. Kemudian, serahkan kepada Allah. Let the barakah flow. Dia yang akan tambah keberkatan, mengikut Hikmah-Nya dan Fadhl-Nya. 

Semoga Allah jadikan kita istiqamah dalam menasihati ahli keluarga dan sahabat2 kita.

What is your “wake”? What effect do you have upon others? - Recognizing value and impact of the morale effect.

 

One of our senior engineers recently resigned. It was a big loss to the organization, having lost someone very technically competent, experienced and possessing very effective people skills, one whom we had high hopes of becoming our future leader.

But what I found inspiring about her was the intangible value and impact she carried with her. It wasn’t only her technical capability, but she had another rare, amazing quality: She was able to inspire others around her.

Everyone who has had the experience of working with her, all of them always report an overwhelmingly positive working experience. From the juniors who found her as a very patient and encouraging teacher, to her peers who always enjoyed her company and cheerful vibe, to the other fellow seniors who consistently enjoy technical discussions with her very effective curious questions that made us think. All the while always maintaining a pleasant demeanor, and not being condescending. Her questions and comments always made us think. 

Looking back, one could say that her presence multiplied the creative and intellectual capacity of those around her.

During her farewell, one of our seniors said that at one point in the early years of his career, he contemplated resigning from the organization because of some negative experiences. But after he had the privilege to work under her as his senior, he had such a great experience that he changed his mind and decided to stay. That was 4 years ago. Basically, he’s still with us today, because of her. If you want to reframe her “value”, you could say that all of his past contributions to date, including those he will continue to add in the future, we can attribute it to her. 

Now, that’s impact. 

On the other side of the spectrum: how many people do we know of, who are very technically competent at what they do, yet seem to leave behind a trail of destruction in their wake? Those who become toxic influences in their environment? 

When people “deliver results” but burn bridges along the way, there are a lot of severe intangible consequences. 

In his book “Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality”, author Dr. Henry Cloud shares his experience mentoring a CEO of a company. His VP in sales was great at delivering business results, but there was only one problem: he had a problematic, “strong” personality that, although was driven and ambitious, tends to disrespect, running over them and seem to upset everyone around him - including two VPs who expressed their intention to leave because of this guy.

The author highlights that although it might “seem” on paper that the VP is “delivering”, but what we must consider is the expense that he is incurring: how many hours are wasted with people complaining about him? Stretch that out over the years, multiply that with the hourly rate of the manhours? How about the lost opportunity of what the people could have done if we hadn’t had to sort out these internal problems? Or the cost of finding two new VPs to replace those who are about to leave? 

Finally, he asked “Do you STILL feel like he is such a great deal?”

One of the roles of leaders is to have an appreciation to the morale effect of our team, and look beyond their individual contributions. 

This is where the author makes his point: The Wake we leave behind. The morale effect.

“Just as we leave the effects of our work behind in results, we leave the effects of our interactions with people behind in their hearts, minds, and souls. We leave a wake of people behind us as we move through their lives and their organizations. We leave a wake behind as we move through the lives of clients and partners.

We leave a wake behind as we move through our relationships with vendors and other alliances, as well as our entire industry. So, we must look out over the transom and ask ourselves, “What does that wake look like?”

Would (the people we interact with) say that their experience with us has left them better off for our having “moved through their lives,” or would they say that it has left them worse off? Did they consider it a blessing that they were associated with you, or a curse? What is the nature of the wake? Are they smiling or reeling?

Are they more trusting after working with us? Are they more fulfilled as people? Have they grown as a result of being associated with you? Do they feel better about themselves, and working with others? Did they learn from you and feel lifted up and encouraged? Were they stretched and inspired to become more than they were before they worked with or for you? Did your relationship cause them to produce more? Or, are they wounded? Less trusting? Feeling put down, cheated, or manipulated? Disappointed, let down, or lied to? Are they angry and just waiting for a chance to get even? Do they feel inferior, like a loser, or ashamed because of how you interacted with them? And the big question: “Would they want to do it again?” 

(End Quote)

This made me contemplate, to ask myself: As a leader, colleague, subordinate, a parent, a husband, a friend. One that I feel all of us SHOULD ask ourselves: 

What impact are am I leaving behind? What does MY wake look like? Have I made their lives better? 

So, my friend, what is your wake?

💡 Brilliant Class Activity - The Debate: “In order to improve the retention of what we have learnt, we should..”

This was hands down my favorite class activity throughout the recent Managerial Excellence training, occuring towards the end of the course. It was an exercise in quick brainstorming, elevator pitch presentation, team upskilling, active listening, and a mega plot twist we didn’t see coming, that totally subverted our expectations and challenge our ways of thinking. 

The premise of the activity was built upon The Forgetting Curve, conceptualized by the 19th century German psychologist, Hermann Ebbinghaus: information is lost over time when you don’t try to retain it. 

In other words, whatever you learnt throughout this course, if you don’t put in any deliberate effort, you will most likely forget everything. All that money the company has invested in you to be here would have gone to waste. We’re not talking about months or weeks - we’re talking DAYS, here. 

So, what would you do to retain it? 

There were 5 tools: 

1. Recruit an Accountability Partner - recruit a mentor or coach figure to “pressure” you, give some general direction. Think of this person of a bootcamp instructor or gym coach. 

2. Coaching Conversations - setup 1:1 conversations with your superior to plan out your leadership approach, goals and future plans

3. Learning Club - setup a “community of practice” within our course groups to share ideas, best practices and lessons learnt

4. On-the-Job Actions - walk the talk, immediately put those teachings into action at work

5. Teach Back - schedule a knowledge sharing session(s) with your team to convey what you’ve learnt

So here was the class activity: 

Step #1: Each team was assigned one tool. Our team was assigned #5: Teach Back. Now, what you have to do is brainstorm within the team a “poster” and 1-minute elevator pitch about why your team’s retention tool is the BEST. 

To prepare yourself for step #2, we need to make sure everyone within the group understood and was fully committed to it, because every single person will be doing the elevator pitch to other groups. 

Step #2: Present your elevator pitch with the rest. One member from each team will form a small group to present to each other. Each of our team members did the pitching to other teams, listen to others and provide feedback: “what went well” (appreciative feedback), and “even better if” (constructive feedback)

Now that we’ve given the best elevator pitch we can muster up, and listening to other group’s ideas, we get back to our own teams.

Step #3: Plot twist! Now that you’ve heard other teams, discus why OTHER team’s tools and proposals are potentially better than ours, and look for the value of the other ideas. And don’t cling to your own ideas!

This was a brilliant twist and subversion, pulling the rug under us that forced us to undergo a complete paradigm shift:  challenging our own previous thinking (despite the initial zealous effort in pushing the idea why ours was the best), forcing us to see things differently of the advantages of other ideas, by putting our egos aside to look for faults and flaws in our ideas. In the end, we could see the pros and cons of all ideas, and come up with a strategic approach on which one we should prioritize, and understand the potential shortcomings.

After giving it much thought, what’s so awesome about thie exercise is the additional “life lesson” takeaway - This scenario is that it simulates scenarios that can totally happen in real life: Having the tables turned completely. 

We might be in one department, face “problems” with another department - only to then transfer to that very same problematic department! We might be putting so much passionate effort in one project, only to be transferred out or have that project delegated to others. We might be frustrated with certain leaders, only to be promoted to their position and suddenly now experience first-hand why that job was so challenging, and made us empathize why they may have behaved in a certain way. We might be having brutal confrontational negotiations with a contractor, only to have that person resign, then join our organization and become our boss!

The Life Lesson here? Be humble. Yes, be passionate about your ideas, give it your best, and make the best of what you have. But don’t cling stubbornly to your past, don’t burn your bridges along the way, and be ready to move on, empathize with other perspectives and correct yourselves - the tables might turn at any moment. 

Genius exercise 👏🏼. Bookmarked for future ideas 😄

Being a Leader: Managerial Excellence (ME) Training Cohort #7, 25-27 July 2023 Le Meridien, Putrajaya

 

Alhamdulillah, am grateful for the opportunity to join this training, which provided a nice jolt of motivation, multiple “a-ha!” moments, sparked lots of practical ideas and a newfound ambition to play our part in becoming drivers to make our organizations a better place.

Leaving the training, here are some takeaway thoughts:

1. Walk the talk - What’s Knowledge without action? Don’t just become content hoarders. “Information becomes KNOWLEDGE - personal, embodied, verified - only when we put it to use. You gain confidence in what you know only when you know that it works. Until you do, it’s just a theory” (Tiago Forte, “Building a Second Brain”) It’s only when we implement these stuff, try them out, that it becomes genuine piece of knowledge. And it’s only when we apply them consistently, make mistakes and learn from them, that we accumulate WISDOM.

2. Make time - We get it, everyone’s busy. We’re too busy reacting with day to day challenges. How are we supposed to find the time to implement this stuff? After all, some of these As Tim Ferriss said, i*f you “don’t have time”, you don’t have “priorities”*. If these frameworks and tools are important for us, we have to prioritize and make time.

3. It’s going to be Difficult. You will need courage - This will all seem intimidating: Consistently giving and seeking for feedback; learning to entrust our team, let go of our control to let them flourish, opening up and being vulnerable; coming to terms with how our “good intentions” might have accidentally sabotaged our team’s productivity and intellectual capacity. It’s scary stuff, and our tendency is to be overthinking it, until it paralyzes it from taking action. So we “not-so-accidentally” drown ourselves in the “busy”-ness of our work to give ourselves an excuse. We need COURAGE to step up.
   
And here’s the thing about courage, as Nelson Mandela said: “I learned that courage was not the ABSENCE of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who CONQUERS that fear”.
   
4. Be the leader your organization needs - Perhaps there are some of us who haven’t had good role models of a “great leader” in the past. Maybe we’ve never had a leader who instilled a good culture of feedback, and preferred isolating himself. Perhaps we’ve always had bosses who had poor psychological safety. Perhaps it’s difficult to imagine what it’s like to have a high-performing leader who ALSO implements psychological safety, when bosses seem so micromanaging and hawking your mistakes without setting clear goals and directions. Fine. We get it. Let’s cast that aside, and now that some of us are in the driver’s seat, let’s be the leader that our organization needs. Let’s be that role model that we’ve always wanted. Let’s aspire to leave behind a legacy of an inspired workforce.

5. You will be criticized: So learn to Fail fast  - as a leader, any decision you make will have room to be misinterpreted and misunderstood. When you leave ideas open for the team to brainstorm and propose solutions, there will be some who think you are just “taichi” and not do any thinking. When you provide direction and guidance, there will be critics who will say you are micromanaging. When you challenge the team, there will always be naysayers who will say you are being unrealistically demanding.
Aristotle said something interesting: “there is only one way to avoid criticism: Do nothing, say nothing & BE nothing”
   
You can never please everyone, so don’t try. What you DO want to do is have the humility to listen and always be flexible for improvement.
To me, it boils down to this cycle:
Be clear in your intentions and goals, be transparent with the team what you are trying to achieve (don’t just keep those intentions to yourself), always practice active listening, seek feedback, pivot and re-adjust where you need to, then go back to step 1 with intentions.
   
6. Bonus: Apply them with your kids, too! - I’ve always been fascinated how parenting has so many similarities with leadership. Turns out that, all the tools, mindsets, and approaches of a successful leader at the workplace, are also the same tools, mindsets and approach of good parenting. From identifying (and capitalising) their strengths, to acting listening & providing psychological safety, to having a more mindful approach to giving and seeking feedback - so many useful tools that can also help make out the best in our little ones 😊

👀 Are you always on your phone or laptop during meetings?

I'm noticing a very troubling (and frankly, annoying) habit during physical meetings, trainings and even face to face conversations: people constantly staring into their phones, and on their laptops  checking emails and Teams. 

The problem is that there is almost a demand for this behavior. People want to be seen as someone who's responsive and always contactable. No matter the circumstances, you can count on me to respond. 

The flipside, thought is that habits like these that destroy meeting productivity and render them a "waste of time" - habits that create distrust and doubt that people are truly present, let alone actively participating.  And for face to face interactions and conversations, habitually staring into screens are just straight up disrespectful. 

Here's an interesting and refreshing excerpt I picked up from the book “15 Secrets successful People Know About Time Management” by Kevin Kruse:

“Do you check your phone for text messages or emails during business meetings? 

If you answered yes, research from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business suggests you are annoying your boss and colleagues. Their study found: 

✅ 86 percent think it’s inappropriate to answer phone calls during formal meetings.

✅ 84 percent think it’s inappropriate to write texts or emails during formal meetings.

✅ 75 percent think it’s inappropriate to read texts or emails during formal meetings.

✅ 66 percent think it’s inappropriate to write texts or emails during any meetings.

✅ At least 22 percent think it’s inappropriate to use phones during any meetings.

Why do so many people—especially more successful people—find smartphone use in meetings to be inappropriate? It’s because when you access your phone, it shows: 

1. Lack of respect. You consider the information on your phone to be more important than the conversation in the meeting; you view people outside of the meeting to be more important than those sitting in front of you. 

2. Lack of attention. You are unable to stay focused on more than one item at a time; the ability to multitask is a myth. Lack of listening. You aren’t demonstrating the attention and focus that is required of truly active listening. 

3. Lack of power. You are like a modern day Pavlovian dog who responds to the beck and call of others through the buzz of your phone.

To make the most of valuable time spent in meetings, participants should mute and pocket their devices and leave them in their pockets."

(End Quote)

Be Present. In body, heart, mind and soul. Regain your respect, attention and power. Play your part to make that session flourish and make the best of it. 

Productivity Strategy - Getting used to being messy?

 

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” —William James

I remember reading this surprising productivity tip from the book “The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller - One of the greatest “thieves of productivity” is Fear of Chaos. A fear of being so perfectionist, & cannot cope living with messiness.

“One of the greatest thieves of productivity is the unwillingness to allow for chaos or the lack of creativity in dealing with it.

Messes are inevitable when you focus on just one thing. While you whittle away on your most important work, the world doesn’t sit and wait. It stays on fast forward and things just rack up and stack up while you bear down on a singular priority. Unfortunately, there’s no pause or stop button. You can’t run life in slow motion. Wishing you could will just make you miserable and disappointed.

The truth is, it’s a package deal. When you strive for greatness, chaos is guaranteed to show up. In fact, other areas of your life may experience chaos in direct proportion to the time you put in on your ONE Thing. It’s important for you to accept this instead of fighting it. Oscar-winning filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola warns us that “anything you build on a large scale or with intense passion invites chaos.”
In other words, get used to it and get over it."
(End quote)

In practice, what this means is that we must learn to be less of a perfectionist. Accept that we cannot 100% achieve everything. We have to train ourselves to adapt to the chaos and live with the messiness, as we try to achieve our main goals. Or else we will be constantly “firefighting”, responding to problems and constantly be unhappy with ourselves as we live with matters being unresolved.

In our interview with Ustaz Shareef El-Arbi on The Barakah Effect, we ask him about his “secret” of time management: How does he balance between between his full-time career, managing his family, regularly conducting multiple islamic classes, giving da’wah, as well as continuously seeking knowledge?

His first response: “you will always fall short in one area or another because everything has to be at the expense of something else. The more you pursue dunya, the more you will neglect the akhirah. And the most you pursue akhirah, the more you will neglect your dunya”

What an enlightening and unexpetected response! In a few words, he demonstrates, in practice what is meant by the words of the Prophet ﷺ:

مَنْ أَحَبَّ دُنْيَاهُ أَضَرَّ بِآخِرَتِهِ وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ آخِرَتَهُ أَضَرَّ بِدُنْيَاهُ فَآثِرُوا مَا يَبْقَى عَلَى مَا يَفْنَى

“Whoever loves his worldly life will harm his Hereafter, and whoever loves his Hereafter will harm his worldly life. Thus, prefer what is everlasting over what will vanish.” (Sahih Ibn Hibban #709)

It’s all about making a deliberate conscious choice of what you can strategically afford to “let go”, and what you need to focus your efforts in, where you can add the highest value and the best impact.

I noticed I have to make this “trade-off” choice in multiple different day-to-day circumstances at the workplace and at home. For example, if we’re focusing on being fully present and participative in physical meetings or trainings, then the necessary trade-off is that we aren’t “always on” our laptops to be responding to emails and virtual messages. We don’t get to be that responsive guy who’s always available. The other trade-off: we have to Brace ourselves with potential overwhelming list of unread messages, emails and surprise "urgent" requests that came in when our laptops were left unattended 😂.

Also, Office hours are limited. When you choose to spend time in one area, then the trade-off is that you have less hours in other areas. For example, in my role as a manager in the workplace, I have to juggle multiple different tasks: Setting goals, coaching and mentoring others, measuring performance, attending conferences and seminars to explore new solutions and ideas, engaging clients, exchanging feedback, reviewing and approving your team deliverables, performance reporting with our superiors, getting to know your team, hiring new staff, and your own personal competency development.
It’s the art of juggling between “where should I put more emphasis and priorities”, “what can I afford to miss?”, and “what is best for my team and I in the long term?”

It happens for parenting, too. For example, If we want to allow our children with the freedom of creativity with their toys, or to learn being independent, such as eating by themselves, then in the meantime, we have to learn to accept that the household will be in a complete mess as they try, learn, and make mistakes. And as parents, it's about knowing “when” and “how” to strategize the cleanup afterwards.

It’s okay to be messy. Let them judge. You do you.

Do you struggle with perfectionism in handling multiple responsibilities? What trade-offs do you have to make? How do you decide?

"Best Male participant" award for Hello! Top Talent Onboarding Program - 13 July 2023, PLC Bangi

Wow, that was unexpected, Masha Allah. I received award as Best participant for this course today at the beautiful campus of PETRONAS leadership center in Bangi, getting a copy of the book "Originals" by Adam Grant. I've enjoyed listening Adam Grant's podcast channels "Work Life" & "Re-thinking" and am looking forward to read his work here: "A great idea is a great start. But it's what you do next that counts - how to make change happen, champion originality and encourage others to think differently, and get new ideas to stick". 

Alhamdulillah, am also grateful for the privilege to have been nominated for this program and to connect with other identified Top Talents across the organization. 

Love the message inserted here, too. Being "top talent" isn't a brand. It's not an entitlement or a right. It's a journey we need to continue building on. We have a responsibility to drive our teams together, develop others so they can excel beyond us, and be the change the organization needs towards a sustainable future.

Looking forward for exciting challenges ahead! 

Strategizing the Human element in innovation & change

 

Upstream Energy Efficiency Management Workshop - Double Tree, KL (5-6 July 2023)

As we set higher aspirations to move our organizations towards innovation, progress, and change, especially towards ambitious goals such as Digitalization and Sustainability targets such as the Net Zero Carbon Emmissions (NZCE) by 2050, I feel that the most important - and often overlooked - strategy, is the human element.

Throughout attending various conferences, discussions, and reading up the subject matter, I started seeing some common patterns, and this is what I’ve learnt so far. Here are 9 perspectives of how we can strategies the human element towards steering change:

1. Understand and Empathize the Resistance to Change - it’s natural. People will always fear the unknown and have a tendency to stick to what’s familiar: Even if the familiar isn’t particularly good, or the alternative proposal is objectively better.

2. Key: Building Trust - Don’t just bark orders and expect an overnight revolution. Take the time to listen, understand their pain points, and let your actions demonstrate respect & care. Trust will make people go the extra mile.

3. Tailoring your Communication - Adjust your language & style to meet the audience. Technicians relate better when things are simple. Management loves facts and figures. Engineers want to understand "why" & "how". Tapping of wisdom from Ali bin Abi Talib: “Speak to people according to their understanding and level of knowledge” (Al-Bukhari).

4. Demonstrate Cohesiveness, collaboration & Collective responsibility - One excellent example we heard was when a leader gave assurance to his team by openly declaring: “If anything goes wrong, it’s on me. I will take responsibility”.

5. Embrace "failure" as a part of a learning journey, not something to penalize or demonize others!

6. Keep things simple: Progress, not perfection - It’s more important to make iterative, strategic changes than revamp everything. Something I learnt: “Standardization” isn’t necessarily a great thing if it slows everyone down, or forces other teams to ascribe to things which aren’t applicable for them!

7. Don't get too distracted by the novelties of “new” innovative frontiers. Focus on Value and Prioritize with the big picture in mind: Don't allow "nice-to-haves" override the priority of our core jobs and the need to strengthen fundamentals first!

8. Determination, perseverance - Change is difficult; we will be facing a lot of pushback and resistance. That’s life. These are times when organizations need us to step up with the courage to act & be steadfast.
Bruce Lee once said, “Do not pray for an easy life. Pray for the strength to endure a difficult one”.
   
9. Think Sustainability: Set up systems, not just individuals - People will change. How will you set up solid working systems that continue to thrive, even if core team members change?

#innovation #humanbehavior #leadership

🐝 The Believer is Like A Bee

The Prophet ﷺ said, 

وَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ إِنَّ مَثَلَ الْمُؤْمِنِ لَكَمَثَلِ النَّحْلَةِ أَكَلَتْ طَيِّبًا وَوَضَعَتْ طَيِّبًا وَوَقَعَتْ فَلَمْ تُكْسَرْ وَلَمْ تَفْسُدْ

“I Swear By the One in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the parable of the believer is that of a bee:

It consumes and produces what is pure and good.

When it lands on a branch, it never breaks or spoils (it).”

(Narrated in Musnad Aḥmad 6872; graded Sahih li ghayrihi according to Al-Arna’ut)

Amazing Hadith! I recently heard this hadith for the first time, and there’s so much deep insights defining the Muslim identity:

1. 🌺 Consumes what is pure - 

Bees knows what they want, and are very selective to extract exactly from the flowers they stop by: nectar and pollen. They know what to filter out, and don’t take “additional souvenirs” beyond their needs. Likewise, a believer sees with insight, using their values and principles defined by the Quran & sunnah to selectively extract the goodness out of their environment: the people they meet, the places they go, the content they consume, the sights and sounds they experience - and they filter out the unnecessary, bad stuff. 

    

2. 🍯 Produces what is pure - 

From the nectar they extract from the flowers, their stomachs partially process the nectar with some enzymes, where they regurgitate it back out back at their hives as honey. It’s this processing that give honey the natural healthy remedies. Likewise, a believer takes from the environment, “processes” it through the lens of iman, and therefore through his words & deeds, produce that which is pure and beneficial for others around them - a blessed presence (mubarak)! 

Interesting fact: The European honeybee pollinates three-fourths (75%) of the fruits, veggies & nuts that we eat!

Furthermore, what’s so interesting about bees is that they have a somewhat ‘subconscious’ symbiotic relationship with the flowers: They help spread out the pollen and pollinate the flowers. They don’t do this consciously, but it’s a byproduct of them effectively being so nimble as they travel from flower to flower. Likewise, believers, through their positive conduct - adab and akhlaq - always leave a positive beneficial trail in their wake, inspiring optimism and productivity whether they realize it or not. 

    

3. 🍃 When it lands on a branch, it never breaks of spoils it -  

Unlike parasites which leech of their hosts, bees are quick and nimble and leave their hosts completely unharmed; they extract what they need and they go. In fact, through their pollination, actually bring MORE benefit their hosts in the long run, more than what they actually receive for themselves.   

As believers, we should strive to meet this standard: When we interact with others, don’t burn your bridges, sever your ties, or cause harm to others. Even if you can’t improve or enhance, then at least don’t cause harm to those around you!

Mastering Q&A - What I observed & learned from Rashdan

 

This week, I've had the pleasure of attending three separate Q&A sessions handled and answered by Rashdan, GM head of Technical Excellence OE & Skill Group Advisor. In all three sessions, I bombarded him with questions (something he remembers quote fondly), and in my view, he handled all of them really well, answering them professionally with class & cool. 

Handling open Q&A is a very difficult task, especially when leaders are confronted with an emotional crowd, a difficult situation such as a reorganisation and/or disgruntled employees. 

I've always thought of Q&A sessions as the factor that tips the scales of leadership engagement session effectiveness. If done well, it can help bridge understanding, create an atmosphere of trust, and ultimately inspire collaboration. If handled poorly, it will just create resentment and bottled-up frustration, widening the gap between leadership and the rest, or end up in frustrated people regretting to ask questions anymore. 

Observing his approach, here are some things I learned :

1. Open & transparent

This is what I appreciate most about his answers that make him standout: Transparency & generosity. He doesn't just give out dismissive "standard management answers" or "taichi" answers that just hand-off responsibility to absent parties. 

He comes prepared. He generously gives out glimpses of "what happens behind the scenes", always sharing a "sneak peak of what's to come", revealing thought processes & considerations of why certain decisions are done the way that they are. 

In doing so, it paints a much more holistic picture and provides deep, valuable insight, bridging the understanding and appreciation with leadership. 

While we may not necessarily "agree" with everything, we can ultimately appreciate & respect the well-meaning intentions, and can get behind to support. 

2. Respectful listening & psychological safety

I hope more leaders, teachers and parents develop this. Throughout his Q&A, he never gives condescending remarks or dismisses the question, rather, he listens till the end and shows appreciation for the question(s). 

Inviting, respectful and inclusive. 

3. Empathy: show, don't tell. 

Sometimes we hear people who say "I hear you, but.." - then proceed to make statements that makes us wonder if they even bothered to listen.

Not this guy, though. He recognises the frustration of the questioners, summarizes them to demonstrate his understanding, relates to them, then provides insight to directly address the concerns. 

4. Keep it cool 😎 - Develop emotional control 

This is really quite remarkable. Throughout the entire session, somehow, he consistently maintains a demeanor of calmness and cheerfulness, almost never losing that smile, or showing signs of annoyance or anger. 

So, not only does he handle Q&A like a boss, but he leaves the session coming off as just that bit more likeable, in the process. 

What sorcery is this 🤣