Sunday 26 June 2016

PRO-ACTIVE RECOGNIZE OPPORTUNITY THROUGH CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS

Pro-active Recognize Opportunity Through Creative Thinking Skills

Synopsis: 

To thrive in an uncertain, complex and volatile world, pro-active recognition opportunities through creative thinking lens is a must. The good news is that this skill is learnable and trainable. This workshop should assist the participants enhance their efforts to systematically find sustainable solutions and learn new ways to recognize new opportunities. Hence, its main intention is to cultivate systematic and scientific thinking to expand the individual’s current knowledge threshold through a series of games and activities. By honing this skill, the individual will be able to internalize with little or no thinking.

Deliverable:

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:
1.     Pro-actively recognize opportunities with new lenses of enhancing value from the customer’s perspective in line with the company’s business objectives
2.     Readjust their radar for new opportunity, if necessary.
3.     See the invisible link of the mindset with behavior and culture
4.     Identify key ingredients involved in “creative” thinking cycle
5.     Understand blind spots and mental blocks that inhibit creative thinking
6.     Practice creative thinking through a series of exercises, activities and games
7.     Internalize with creative thinking skill
8.     Use Target Condition to overcome challenges that can expand their individual knowledge threshold
9.     Recognize the importance of using creative thinking for further improvement
10.  Use creative visualization to overcome challenges
11.  Prioritize the core challenges that prevent you to reach your next target condition
12.  Use 5 Whys to iron out the roots cause of the issues
13.  Use matrix to shape their behaviour
14.  Use Value Stream to solve the roots collectively
15.  Define the real cause that is closely associated with value arising from both the internal and external changes

OUTLINE
Day I
Icebreaker
MODULE: 1
Thinking & Innovation
Thinking is a skill
How to cultivate thinking and Innovation?
What are the tools and techniques we can use to develop thinking skill?
Exercise of Spotting Opportunities
Recognise opportunities through 5Rs


What are 5Rs?
How those 5Rs being employed through Innovation Implementation?
Games

MODULE: 2
Causes and Consequences
Seeing the invisible
People, Process and Performance
Outcome and Process
Define Opportunity
Games
Value Stream Mapping
Metric shape behaviour

MODULE: 3
Expand Your Current Knowledge Threshold


Use Moving Target as Direction
Metric measurements
Identify Core Challenges?
List down what are the likely possibilities
How to reach to the next level
Games

MODULE: 4
Thinking, Action & Habit
Understanding deeply about the relationship between the above
Mind our business
Conscious Competencies to Unconscious Competencies
Learn and Grow
Games

MODULE: 5

Mental blocks that prevent Creative thinking

What is creativity
Detailed discussion of those blocks
Blind spots
Bondages
Past Experiences
Exercises

Sum up / Q & A / Discussion
MODULE: 6

Mindset and Attitudes

The following issues will be covered:-
      a.   Problem Solving Skills
      b.   Empty your mind
c.              Pursuit of perfection
d.              Culture of empowerment
e.              Conscious to unconscious competencies
f.                Innovative, multi- dimensional perspectives
g.              Creative Visualization technique

MODULE: 7

Embrace Change
Repetition is the key to mastery
Mastery, Departure and Breakthrough
Games


Sum Up/ Q & A
Key take-back messages


END OF DAY 2



Sunday 19 June 2016

SUCCESS MEASUREMENT

SUCCESS

This is what most of us want but it is so loosely used and many times the real true meaning becomes confusing, unclear and misleading to certain extent. People are constantly finding quick and easy ways to attain it without being able to sustain it. That’s may be the reason why many people enter into rat race. How many of you agree with my humble view? Worst still, its meaning becomes subjective and everyone is trying to give its meaning at their individual’s convenience.  Consequently, it seems impossible to accurately measure the level of success. This issue forms our central discussion of this article?

To measure our progress/of success accurately, first we need to ascertain where is our starting point? It is also the best practice to begin with the end in our mind. Then use our vision and strategy as our means to reach our ultimate end. In this instance, our ultimate end, in the long run, is vague due to our BIG DREAM to achieve perfection  may sometimes seem impossible to achieve.

However, its main function is to serve as an inspiration to help us move forward. What is clear and important is for us to attain or accomplish our immediate target. To move to the next level of success, we need to overcome our immediate obstacles along the journey. These obstacles arise mainly due to our current knowledge threshold and unknown factors surrounding us.

Consequently, we have no choice but to carry out initiatives that can accurately ascertain what are the unknown, based on our testing and not based on our assumptions gathered through our past experiences or bondages. To remove these biases, we need to truly know who we are and effectively solve our immediate obstacles that prevent us from going to our next target condition. In other words, we need to discover what the real issues that we are currently facing before we can overcome them effectively even if it is from our own blind spots. Otherwise, it will haunt us again and again until the real issue is solved.

By now, trust you are able to see the issue of purely relying on our underlying assumptions which may not be true in the new situation. In the nutshell, it is difficult to see our own blind spot. The only way is to carry out experiments to determine the scientific outcome we want before we can then truly reach our next level of success.

By then, the next plan need to be drawn and our next obstacles which are likely to be different from what we initially encountered. Through experiment again we test our assumptions and gather feedback, check and study them again. Finally, we will then decide to adjust or adapt to the new situation. The similar process will be used continuously to improve until perfection is achieved.

For illustration purpose, I use my 3Bs’ business model which I began with Blog at my late 40s. That formed my tangible product to carry out my experiment based on my hypothesis that I can produce what the market’s needs and requirements at that material time.

ABILITY

I have successfully overcome the numerous challenges and managed to get my blog alive and spread it widely to reach my audiences all over the globe. I then move to my next target condition to publish my Book after I successfully overcome many different and new obstacles. Fortunately, my faith and passion truly pull me over all the obstacles to get my first eBook, Better Than The Best, out few years ago. My subsequent books were produced with greater ease as I have expanded my knowledge threshold. The ability is built by doing or practicing it frequently. That’s the way I build my second habit. Previously I always focus on mastering on numbers which help me to understand its story beyond the numbers as I was in the corporate world for nearly 30 years. Now, I stay focus on mastering words and combining my strength of using both numbers and words to make my life more enlightening.

INSPIRATION

In order for me to reach out to a wider audience, I need to overcome new obstacles of getting more publishers in different segments to publish my articles regularly and establish myself in my new and upcoming trade. To keep my inspiration high at all material times, I need to constantly shift my mind to view things at its appropriate perspective to keep me moving forward. In this manner, I do not have to bother much how people look at me. To me, it is far more important for me to see how far I have reached and what I need to do in order for me to head closer to my vision. That is to be who I want to be. I used reflection practice to measure my real improvement by connecting the missing dots backwards. I will then fulfill the true outcome and my achievement in term of numbers of my published books, articles, training programs and networking I had built over these years.

DIRECTION

I trust you are able to see direction is far more important than determination and dedication. We need direction to guide us to moves towards our intended goal. I then realized that I need to expand my current knowledge horizon to cater for next level of height before I can overcome my next bigger challenges. This is the way to acquire a growth mindset, which is the greatest assets within us. This growth mindset enables us to strengthen our health and wealth. However, every successful person needs to pay a price, in term of sacrifices, hard works and perhaps pains and endurance. By adopting the appropriate mindset, we can truly enjoy every moment at each and every stage as it gives you different sensation which is far beyond words.

It is worth for you to walk through the journey yourself to taste this self-fulfillment and satisfaction. To master any skill, we need to basically put it into practice regularly until it becomes part of us and becomes habitual. Knowing is not sufficient, you need to do it. By doing it regularly and you will condition your brain to automatically trigger with no or little thinking.  

In short, I have discovered my new profound formula which can truly measure your success with scientific way and can be even sustained with certainty, as follow:-

S    =   A x I x D

Where as

S =Success
A = Ability
I = Inspiration
D = Direction

Friday 10 June 2016

FINANCE FOR NON FINANCE PROFESSIONALS

Objective:

This program is designed to impart basic knowledge to line managers about some common management financial reports to enable them to carry out simple analyses so that they can identify the health of operations and trigger their concerns for making improvement in their own areas of responsibilities.

Deliverable:

By the end of this program, participants will be able to:

1.     Understand the various financial implications that are pertinent to management control and be able to measure effectiveness of operations
2.     Differentiate between the usefulness of financial accounting and management accounting reports
3.     Analyze the financial ratios to identify the company’s financial strength and weakness so that they can create appropriate strategic plans to achieve Company’s vision;
4.     Carry out simple analyses measuring returns using ROI, opportunity cost, stock management and inventories control ratios through both financial & non-financial KPIs
5.     Make use of the 9 pointers to have quick overall brief of the company

Key Topics:

1.     Essential financial management terminology, information and tools
2.     The importance and limitations of using numbers to predict, plan and control
3.     Essential Financial Statements (Balance sheet, P&L account, Management accounts, Cash flow Plan, Operating Budget Plan etc) and integrated with company strategy and vision;
4.     The relationships, usefulness and limitations of each component of Financial Statements with real-world class cases & what to look for.
5.     Gain financial discernment and confidence to positively impact on bottom line
6.     Understanding the Big Picture of doing Business and enhancing business acumen in management
7.     Looking beyond numbers for completeness and holistic management approach.
8.     9 Pointers of Financial Analysis; Qualitative, Qualitative and External Aspects
9.     How to achieve Progress, Profitability and Prosperity in today’s rapidly changing world.
10.  Main Types of Non-financial Ratios ( understanding rejection rate, waste ratio, complaint ratio, warranty ratios and delivery on schedule ratio ) to use to analyze the underlying causes and benchmark 
11.  Understanding the difference between core competencies and capability
12.  Understanding, analyzing and using Financial Ratios in management
13.  Cash Conversion Cycle, Free Cash Flow
14.  Work more effectively with their organizations’ financial personnel
15.  How to response to the rapid changes to External Factors (Market Driven) to stay ahead


Day 1:
Icebreaker

I. From Vision to Financial Success
  • From Vision to Financial Plan
  • What is Finance management
  • Build, Measure and Learn
  • Value creation, eliminating waste & creating flow
  • What are the 5Rs

II. Fundamental Accounting Concepts Explained
  • Back to Basics
  • What is financial accounting all about
  • Essential Financial management terminologies and tool
  • Real time quantitative insight to the performance of business processes
  • Enable the management to make corrective action and be in control of the processes

III. How to read, analyze and interpret the Financial Statements
  • What are the major components of the financial statements
  • The relationships, usefulness and limitations of each components
  • Real world class cases
  • What to look for
  • Story beyond numbers
  • Major Financial & Non-Financial Ratios

Day 2:

IV. Holistic Approach
  • The 6Ps
  • Vision & Strategies
  • Looking beyond numbers for completeness and holistic approach
  • Unleashing team potential
  • Cause and consequences
  • Growing your leadership and lean practices  
  • Aligning with Your Business Objectives

V. Qualitative Aspects
  • Integrity
  • Culture of empowerment
  • Core competencies vs capabilities
  • Energy
  • Intelligence
  • Multi-dimensional perspectives

VI. Big Picture
  • Alignment the required behaviors with your business objectives
  • Business acumen
  • Sustainable Shareholders’ value
  • Role in big picture
  • Pursuit of perfection

VII. Other key Considerations
  • What is C.C.C
  • What is FCF
  • Transformation Plans
  • Business mindset
  • Adaptability
  • Opportunities
  • Key Drivers
  • Priorities







Sunday 5 June 2016

ATTAINING WEALTH IS A CONSCIOUS CHOICE

Brian Tracy says, “You are not born a winner; you are not born a loser, you are born a chooser.” This also applies to attaining wealth. “Knowledge, skills and decision making processes ultimately determine your level of success.” James Oh

Since you have decided to live a purposeful and meaningful life, you might as well grow your wealth exponentially at the fastest and highest rate possible. Therefore, it is appropriate for us to make an informed and intelligent decision right in the first place.

There are plenty of ways to build wealth. You can choose the one that you are comfortable with. Examples are through new business, job, investments and etc. Attaining wealth simply means that you need to generate income that is much larger than your expenses.

It is a learnable skill to make appropriate decisions in managing your personal finances. It is basically the choice you make on every money matter.

Similarly, would you agree that life is a choice? Every day, we have to make many decisions, one way or the other, knowingly or unknowingly, impliedly or expressly. No action is also a decision. If you do, what will you choose?

Let assume that you are given two companies to invest and you tell me which one is a more viable business;

Assuming that company A with sales revenue of USD 100 million but with no profit. However, company B with a profit of USD 20,000 out of USD 100 thousand sales. Which company is a more viable business? Of course the answer is A.

You may ask why? Profitability is actually a measurement of efficiency, efficacy and effectiveness whereas the revenue is a measurement of market catchment. Company B with small market catchment can be easily removed from the market, no matter how high the profit is. Does it make sense to you now? In short, company B may die off easily. Hence, company A is more valuable than company B.

YOUR CHOICE HAS EFFECT ON YOUR WEALTH

“May your choices reflect your hopes and not your fears?” Nelson Mandela.

In short, we need not only look back and get experience from our pasts but look forward and see hope in our future. No one can live life without hope and faith. Meanwhile, stay vigilant, resilient and look around to find means to grow wealth explosively and exponentially. Most importantly look within ourselves and find our self through listening to our inner voice. Stop thinking too much and just go where your heart takes you.

By doing so, you will then turn away from your worries and focus your energy in building your wealth instead. Bear in mind that worry will not add any value to your issue, but it will drain out your time, energy, resources unnecessarily. Therefore, it is wiser to use these saved resources for other useful purposes.

By knowing our true selves and passions, we can then serve with utmost might and without much effort. This is because we will truly enjoy what we are doing. That is exactly what we want from life and we must be grateful with what life is giving us.

Otherwise, we are just swimming against the current and feel unhappy all the while. Our Conscious Choice will determine what our choices will be and we will never regret what we have chosen. We will respond to it without any resistance and objection. In fact, we shall make the best out of it, making us lack nothing. We will either chose to live now or never. Because there may not be any second chance.

At times, it may involve simple choices and at times it may be a difficult one. You may look back and think a situation more complicated despite it being a simple one. Be cautious with our thoughts. The greatest enemies we have to overcome on the way to success are not lack of ability or lack of opportunity but fears of failure and rejection and the doubts that they trigger.

Our mind is like a garden, we either grow flowers or weeds. The choice is yours. Make yours a conscious decision. Act wisely and boldly.

You may ask yourself honestly several questions below:
  1. Is your mind your slave or master?
  2. Is your vitality equal to the universe?
  3. Are you aware that the way life treats you mirrors the way you treat yourself?
Your answers to the above indicate how you are wired. Mental wiring is the mental conditioning, education, life experiences, institutional learning and external influences in the course of life. People knowingly or unknowingly wire themselves up for success or failure, accomplishment or disappointment. And they are not aware that their false beliefs, concepts and learning are destroying their opportunities, and fullness of self-expression.

At times, we do not want to make a stand, but rather find an easy way to resolve it. It is worthy to note that it is easy to compromise, but it comes with a cost, at times it may be very costly. The easy way may not be the right path. The right path is usually the narrow lane and not like the highway. But the truth is that the choice is very much dependent on the individual's past experience, background and other reasons best known to him.

To make our discussion much clearer, below are the two examples:

i) When it comes to matters of life and death, do you seek the best doctor or the cheapest doctor? I guess any normal and rational person will firstly opt for the BEST because they want the specialized knowledge and precision. This is because you can't afford to compromise after all, there may not be a second Chance.

ii) Another good example is planes. Do the engineers or technicians do a thorough and precise check before certifying the plane fit to fly? Absolutely yes! This is because we cannot afford to let the plane drop from the sky. Here, is another clear example of no compromising on standards.

So what about in life when it involves loved ones? Do we compromise on that or insist on the best? There is always a "cost" hidden, implied or express for every choice we made. We either pay it now or later....later always being the higher and longer and sometimes bigger price.

What would you do for those matters that affect you most? Compromise or do your best? What cost might be reasonable for your loved ones?

CAUSE

You have to be clear how your decision affects your life. So, you tend to be the master of your mind to stay in control. You will then be more conscious and cautious of your choice. This is because you will exercise your discretion wisely knowing that it will somehow affect your wealth as well. You will either adjust and align with the new reality and keep yourself relevant at all times. Stay ahead and keep abreast of the new development and grasp every opportunity that comes along.

This is because we rarely do what we “should”. We do what we “must.”  Creating wealth is a must. The harder you work, the luckier you get. When the winds of change blow, you will build windmills instead of walls. By strengthening your mind, you are more capable of making best use of every opportunity to progress and build your wealth. In this manner, your chance of growing explosively is much higher. You know from inside that the cause is far more important than the consequence. This is because the cause will determine the consequence of each decision you made.

CONSEQUENCE

The consequence is something you can see, just like the tip of the iceberg. Success is the result of your sacrifices, efforts, hard work, actions you put on your every action. All these are hidden. It is a natural result of the accumulation of your tiny decisions you made each day. Every day you waste is a day you will never get back! Now is the best time to get to work. Time is essence of growing your wealth explosively from every resource you have at that material time and the focus you made by directing all these resources to the area which have the highest potential growth in term of product, magnitude and opportunity in the long run.

“Wealth is not the goal; the goal is what you can do with your wealth.” Brad Sugars.

COMMITMENT

Making a commitment to your purpose, mission and goal is having a life of richness that comes from nurturing, caring relationships and from seriousness in pursuing your dreams and goals.

It is impossible to have commitment without involvement. To put yourself in control of your life, you either make a promise and keep it or work to achieve your pre-set goal. By following through your commitments, you are establishing your honour, courage and strength to make yourself ever more responsible and respectable. You must understand that the power of your commitment lies in the strength that comes from doing what you say, making something happen, and living in a way that is true to your beliefs. Such power of honouring your commitments will enable you to develop the attitudes and habits that give you what you desired in life.

I must confess that my achievements are mainly due to my commitment to everything I desired in my life. I can sense that my commitment provides me the necessary power and propellant to live in a way that is true to and befitting the values and what matters in my life. So, don’t just gain ground, gain height and depth.

CONDITIONING

To achieve that effect, we need to strengthen and recondition ourselves to learn and practice the newly desired attitudes, mind-set and skills.

No matter what expertise you acquire, you will probably agree that conditioning plays a huge factor in how you perform. If you are not conditioned properly, you will never achieve peak performance in the area you seek! In short, conditioning is a process to equip a person to achieve excellence in that particular area of expertise.

Have you ever pondered why the small rope can hold a huge elephant?

Well. The truth is when they were very young and much smaller; their master tied them up with the same rope, which was strong enough to hold them at that age. As they grew up, they were conditioned to believe they cannot break away and escape due to their past failures. They believe the same rope can still hold them, and so even as adults they never try to break free.

It is amazing to think that these animals can choose to break free at any time, but because they believed they could not, they remain stuck and shackled right where they were. These powerful and gigantic creatures have limited its present abilities by the limitations of its past.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life holding onto a belief that we cannot do something or anything, simply because we failed at it once before? How many of us refuse to attempt something new and challenging because of our so called inhibited mind-set?

I failed to enter Form 6 in public school due to the National Policy, but luckily I did not fail to make an attempt to continue my studies despite strong objection from my family, due to our financial constraints. I chose not to accept the false boundaries and limitations created by my past to pursue my future.

COURAGE TO CHANGE

Do you have the courage to do all the necessary changes about your financial status? If you don’t, how do you expect your finances to change? The secret of financial freedom is the courage to make changes.

You must not think courage is the absence of fear. In fact, courage is having the audacity to take steps in the presence of fear. Therefore, it is normal and understandable for anyone to experience fear, phobia, discomfort or displeasure when making changes.
Many still lack courage to effect changes despite knowing that they have the calibre and consistency to effect change.

Acknowledge your feelings but move forward anyway. Regularly pick a new behaviour or thought pattern and focus on it every day to ease your discomfort. Begin now so as to build a new professional, positive and profound habit.

What lies ahead will always be a mystery. Don’t be afraid to explore, dream and discover.

Remember always that a man’s world is the projection of his mind. When his mind is weak, he sees a problem. When his mind is balance, he sees a challenge. When his mind is strong, he sees an opportunity.