Author: Wilfrid

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Diary

So This Is LASALLE College Of The Arts (Singapore)

When I was young, I often spent hours looking out of the windows of my apartment in Hong Kong observing how old structures were being torn down and new structures were being built. Back then, buildings were not that high. From where we lived – at the seventh floor – I remember as a small kid, I could see how people lived their lives in the building opposite. There were lots of illegal structures constructed on the roof top and I was used to see – through the eyes of a small boy (with lots of imagination) – how people prepared and cooked their food in the kitchens, people going in and out of the toilets, and family members arguing with each other. An unsightly scene I know but not without the charm of curiosity.

Years later, from the same set of windows through the eyes of a young boy, I have seen how pedestrian bridge was built. And I have seen how an office was built, then a hotel. It has always been a fascination to observe the different kind of machinery works together in such a slow manner. But yet, as we all know how time flies, a beautiful structure is built from ground up and suddenly we ask ourselves: wait a minute, it wasn’t there a while back.

And a while back, in the year of 2006 dated September 1st, I walked pass a construction site diagonally opposite Sim Lim Square. I was in awe when I had a peep at the site inside (picture on the left) and it was drawing me into it. The feeling is as such: life outside the fence operates as per normal while what lies inside is a big pot of mystery. Something is growing rapidly. I had no idea what it was but I took a picture anyway.

September 26, 2007, I visited Sim Lim Square and this time, I saw a beautiful building that is close to completion (picture on the right). I admired the building in great length so much so that I missed the taxi that I was supposed to flag down. I did a research at home and this building is the LASALLE College of the Arts.

You must be thinking, since from young I have this fascination of construction, why didn’t I become a civil engineer instead? Even my mother thought that I would be an engineer of some sort. This got me thinking that in life, there are three types of career – career that you fascinate (no proven track record if you can or cannot do that job), career that you have passion with (something to do with any of your hobbies that you have shown talent), and career that earns a living. In my case and in the above said order, that would be an engineer, playing in a rock band, and being stuck inside an office cubicle. If you have found a career that you fascinate since young, have passion with, and earn you a good living, I sincerely congratulate you. Please share your story with me.

In the same month when I discovered LASALLE College of the Arts, at my Godmother’s birthday party, I met someone who works in the construction business. His company does project management work – conceptually not too different from the kind of things I have done – primarily working on the “design and implementation” of condominiums in Singapore. He explained to me that this team takes in the architect’s design and contracts teams of specialists in making the blueprint a reality.

One question came into my mind. How much does it cost to build a condominium?

A 30-ish tall condominium in 3 to 4 blocks with a total unit size of 400-ish at a non-prime location costs S$70 to S$80 million to build. That works out to be an average of S$200,000 per unit. I enquired further on the cost allocation and learned that in general, 30% goes to the raw building in concrete form, 30% goes to the internal piping and wiring and utilities, and finally 30% goes to the “surfacing” (i.e. tiles and standard furniture). For prime location, expect up to 40% of allocation to the “surfacing” work. I didn’t ask him where does the rest of 10% goes to. It must be the cost of project management and the paper work I suppose. The timeline of each project? 18 to 24 months.

Back to LASALLE, I wonder if there are relevant courses that will enhance some of my art hobbies. If there is, I will let you know for sure.

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Drama Movie Reviews

The Nanny Diaries – Heartwarming Though Nothing Exceptional

When was the last time you and your friends or partner caught a show spontaneously? It is certainly not often for me. I always plan it half a day or a day in advance. But you know in life, there are just moments when you feel … just do it – however rare these moments are. In fact, I can even recall when Cynthia and I caught a show spontaneously – Nicolas Cage’s 8MM (1997) at Malacca, Malaysia and Sarah Jessica Parker’s Failure to Launch (2006) at Suntech, Singapore.

Last Sunday at AMK Hub, we wanted to check out the spanking new Cathay cineplex and all of a sudden, both of us wanted to catch a show despite the fact that we have just watched “Shoot ‘Em Up” the day before. You know what a craving for movie is like.

Looking back, I had no idea why we chose “The Nanny Diaries”. The show started in 10 minutes’ time was one. Scarlett *ahem* Johansson was another. For me at least. Strangely, or rather coincidentally, Paul Giamatti played as the jerk ass husband who seldom gave time to his family (hence the nanny came into the picture) and he also played “Shoot ‘Em Up” as the jerk ass husband who kept promising his wife on the phone that he would be back soon (hence the non-stop bullets in “Shoot ‘Em Up”). What a strong sense of deja vu.

To be fair, Cynthia did enjoy watching “The Nanny Diaries”. It is definitely heartwarming to watch a storyline of self-discovery and how one can be life changing to others. I think for those who are either fresh out of school and still ponder upon which career path to take (not me), or those whose mothers always wanted them to choose a different career (a rock star perhaps but nah), or those who are brought up by nannies because their parents were too busy at work (not me either), or those who are mothers or mother-wannabes (definitely not). In short, I personally cannot quite relate to the storyline. But I can imagine some others may.

I wish that “The Nanny Diaries” could give me more in terms of scripts and acting. It is a heartwarming movie no doubt.

On a side note, I tried very hard to recall which movie Scarlett Johansson has acted in. Somehow that video of her and Justin Timberlake (“What Goes Around Comes Around”) got stuck in my mind big time. She does have quite a number of movies under her belt, including my favorite “The Prestige”. Now I remember.

Categories
Diary

At Botanic Gardens Part 2 of 2 – Nomine Si Nescis, Perit & Cognitia Rerum

Click to enlarge

It all started with a milestone that our team has completed. Monday morning was declared as a half day holiday that was off the record. Nice! And since I needed to send Cynthia off to work anyway, I have decided to head to the Botanic Gardens (commonly misspelled by many including myself as “Botanical Garden” in Singapore) and read the new book by Paulo Coelho.

So I freed a beetle. It is always refreshing to keep in touch with nature. Back in the good old days when I was still schooling, I often head to the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens (right next to where I studied) before school started and during lunch time – to study and to relax. At times, I visited the habitat of the monkeys and the gorillas and the birds and the plant after school. I sought after the solace nature provides, always.

And on that Monday morning, I took a stroll within the garden and pondered upon many things in life. I passed by the spot whereby across the grassland lay the trees that took 30-80 years to grow and blossom – an activity that involved the production of 20 million fragrant flowers and the plant died after such an enormous effort of flowering and fruiting. The name of the plant is Talipot Palms (Corypha Umbraculifera). When my mother and sister visited me in year 2005, that was the exact time when Talipot Palms blossomed. Today, the plant looks almost dead.

Nomine Si Nescis, Perit & Cognitia Rerum literally means “If you do not know the name of things, the knowledge of them is lost too”. This is inspiring as I seldom put in effort to remember names.

First thing I saw when I got out of the car park was … the building specially made for “Orchid Breeding and Micropropagation”. I have been to the Botanic Gardens numerous times and it was the first time when I witnessed how Orchid was being bred. Did you know how Orchid is being cloned in Singapore? There are altogether four stages that took place in four different rooms: growth media preparation room, transfer room, shaker room, and culture room. What fascinated me the most was the shaker room where tons of plantlets in clear crystal jars are being shaken 24×7 by machines. According to the literature, shaking the tissue in the nutrient solution helps to improve the supply of air and nutrients to the tissue. Since the tissue has no sense of gravity, the planetlets do not differentiate into shoots and roots but rather grow into more tissue. The stronger and bigger plantlets are then planted out at the garden. Quite an eye opener.

As I approached the Visitor’s center, the sound of nature slowly overtaken by the sound of school kids. Botanic Gardens surely is a popular place for kids to spend a morning at. I read my book inside a cafe and all of a sudden, a dog barked. Apparently, the dog was disturbed by the noise generated by the school kids. At that very moment, as I concentrated on the sound of the school kids – without fully understand the language they talked about – it sounded like the chirping of birds. Lots of sound and lack of ability to comprehend what they are trying to say.

Techers fed the kids McDonald’s meal. No wonder there are obese in Singapore.

I walked along one of the lakes and witnessed something shocking. A dead fish floating on the water surface was deemed fit for the rest of the turtles to eat. It was quite a gruesome scene when the body of the fish slowly diminished as time went by starting from its tail up. There was a horde of hungry turtles, for sure. And I had just cooked a live fish yesterday for dinner. I could not stand looking at that fish any more.

Trees in the garden are a big thing. There are different kinds of trees planted within the Botanic Gardens and some are adopted by well known organisations or individuals. Back in the city, trees are just for decoration’s sake. I was in my tie and shirt and I didn’t feel quite belong to this one big happy family at the Botanic Gardens. At the city center later in the afternoon, it was a whole different story. I felt being blended in. How strange. What we wear dictates how we feel and the need to conform dictates what we wear.

Nomine Si Nescis, Perit & Cognitia Rerum and learn the names. Each plant and animal was given a surname and a given name, did you know?

Categories
Diary

At Botanic Gardens Part 1 of 2 – Finding Mr. B a New Home

One morning, right before I started the car engine and began a rather unusual morning of enjoying myself at the Botanic Gardens on a working day, Cynthia pointed at the passenger seat window and said rather calmly, “Look, there is an animal outside”. The French calls it an animal. Apparently the Indonesian refers that as an animal too. But in Chinese and in English, I would rather call it an insect. Linguistically, any living being that is not a human being nor a plant is an animal. But that blob of protein with somewhat hard shell, hairy legs, and has a size of one and a half inches in length? I would call it an insect, a beetle to be exact. (Note: Cynthia countered and asked if I would call a frog an amphibian or an animal. I was tongue-tied.)

I thought that once the car left the parking lot, the beetle would fly away. But it didn’t. It just hang onto the window as our car sped onto the highway. From the feeling of indifference came a feeling of concern. If this beetle was to fly off in the middle of highway, chances were, it would smash itself onto the windscreen of an incoming vehicle and suffer a horrible death. I did not have the heart for that to happen. In as much as possible, I accelerated gently and braked gently. It is hard to describe but I felt as thought it was no longer just Cynthia and I who were inside the car, but this beetle too – as one of our passengers. How extraordinary in such an ordinary day! Since I was heading to the Botanic Gardens, Cynthia suggested that I should free this passenger of ours into the wild.

That made sense. After all, I did not think a beetle can make its home on a highway, nor in the city. A beetle living in a concrete jungle is a dead beetle in no time. All of a sudden, I related to our new friend. A friend whom I wanted to give him a name.

Me: Let’s give this guy a name.
Cynthia: Okay. What would you suggest?
Me: Anything. You pick.
Cynthia: How about Mr. Bee.
Me: But he is not a bee!
Cynthia: Bee stands for beetle.
Me: Fine. Mr. B it is then.

Throughout the journey to Cynthia’s office, Mr. B hardly moved. Hence I inquired, “Is he dead?”

“I don’t think so. I saw him moving his legs,” replied Cynthia. “Are you sure it was not the wind,” I countered. Cynthia did not reply.

And when we finally reach Cynthia’s office, Mr. B started to move around. I was actually worried that he might lose his grip and fall off the window. But he didn’t. As I was driving to the Botanic Gardens – alone – Mr. B made a turn when our car stopped at the traffic light and he faced me. As though he was trying to tell me something.

Of course I did not hear a thing! Was I hallucinating or what?! In my mind I said to him, “Hang in there buddy. We will reach your new home soon.”

As I reached the Botanic Gardens, I got out of the car with a piece of paper, walked to the other side of the car and observed. The heat wave from the engine and the tyre was unbearable. How did Mr. B manage to put up with that? Amazing. I scooped him off and gently released him onto a vast bush area. I hope that he will find solace in this new home of his.

In life, we come across different kinds of people. Most of the time, we are indifference to their existence. We may not be able to communicate because of certain barriers, but we may be in the same journey one way or another. Our destinations may not coincide, but however brief the interaction is, it can be life changing to some due to the things we do. It is how one treats the insignificance that speak ones character.

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Shoot ‘Em Up – A Dark, Brainless Piece of Entertainment

Is “Shoot ‘Em Up” a hollow piece of crap like some reviewers say? Probably yes. Is it like a movie straight out of a comic book or a computer first person shooting game? Probably yes too. But why does it have a mixed review rather than a bad review? The key word is “entertainment”. One scene got some of the audience – I included – clapping and cheering inside the theater. The last I saw that was the ending scene of “Death Proof” – and that scene got more girls cheering than guys.

Yesterday morning, Cynthia left the newspaper opened, pointing at the movie advertisements and in a semi-sleepy-semi-demur way, she said she wanted to watch a show. Got it. So what do you want to watch, I asked. “Shoot ‘Em Up” or “Underdog”, she replied. I called up the rest of the squad (just TK really) and had no answer. Usually TK answers the “call for movie” almost instantaneously. What happened to him? Turned out that I woke him up from a 24-shift and his reply was: Underdog, are you joking? “Shoot ‘Em Up” it was then.

Though the story is downright straightforward (very implausible) with minimal opportunity for character development, the movie does keep the audience in suspense as the story unfolds slowly – at least for the first three quarter of the movie when there are still lots of questions in the audience’s head. The shooting scenes though … my God … have more “bullets per frame” than most of the other movies I have watched. And some of the ways of how a gun is shot are so creative that left me in awe. The mood is mostly dark with dirt and sweat, rats and blood. However, the scenes can be so entertainment that got the audience laughing … at times in a morbid way.

Cynthia finds “Shoot ‘Em Up” entertaining. TK calls it “an entertaining piece of rubbish”. As for me, if Clive Owen was to replace his guns with swords, that would have been made into a typical Chinese ancient story with heroes in special power (you will see what I mean in one of the ending scenes). If you want some dark and brainless entertainment and laugh your brain off after a long hard week of work, perhaps “Shoot ‘Em Up” is an option.

Categories
Jamming Session

Life Of A Rock Star Wannabe As Such (Extended Version)

(Note: What a long week! I actually fell asleep halfway typing this blog and accidentally hit the publish button. Oops. Hence the extended version.)

Last Wednesday while I was having my nice cold beer with the company of Cynthia – our bassist – the owner of the studio called me. He asked if we could postpone our jamming session for 1 hour 45 minutes. No way! By then we would not be home before one in the morning. I asked for the reason and he told me that he had a power outage and the bands just refused to leave. Now, that is new to me. If the cinema you visit has a power outage, most likely you will go for the refund and book another time slot instead. Yes?

In the end, the owner of the studio referred us to another studio that is a quarter size of what we used to have and it is entirely rundown …

(This was when I felt asleep while typing lots of junks)

… It took us a while to find it. We ventured into a part of Chinatown I have not been to. SATA? Somehow everyone excepts me know what SATA is (Singapore Anti-tuberculosis Association). And somehow, no one excepts me associates the word SATA with computer hard disks (Serial ATA – Advanced Technology Attachment that is). When we were shown where the studio room was, we could barely fit in with our guitar cases. There was a bucket underneath the air-con fan and it was one quarter filled. I wonder if Chip our drummer actually followed the rhythm of the dripping water as our beats. Kidding.

But the good thing though was that our amplifiers were really close to one another. In a way, we could somewhat hear what everybody was playing. In another way, it hurt our ear drums big time. Hobby hazard eh?

Fun time we had and we are getting tighter with our 5 songs set. Photos taken by courtesy of our guitarist’s wife-to-be … thanks Selrol! Great photos.

Categories
Music Reviews Pop Rock & Alternative

Bjork’s Volta – Chaotic Beauty For Those Who Dare To Submerge

The year was 1992 when one day my college friend came back with Bjork’s debut “Debut” borrowed from her classmate from the Mathematics faculty. I was shocked that Bjork’s debut album can be called music. To my ears, it was just incoherent pieces of tracks of … sound … with some very weird melody. What was she thinking?! Strangely, “Army Of Me” from her second album “Post” has changed my mind. Since then, I have slowly become a convert, religiously buying each of her release from “Greatest Hits” onwards.

Bjork, is an acquired taste.

Last month, I had the same feeling when I first listened to her latest album “Volta”, the same feeling as I first listened to “Debut”. What was she thinking?! Is that music? After a few tries, I gave up listening to it just like some of her recent works. Then one day, I picked up her “Greatest Hits” again – an album that I enjoy and strongly recommend to those open minded ones – and got myself … “Bjork-ized”. “Volta” does not deviate from her previous works in as much as I thought it was. Though, the full bodied to-your-face kind of bass is out. The tracks are a lot cleaner. Lots of layers of electric sound – from ship horns to seagull to sound of water and wind to Chinese instruments to orchestral sound to down right unique drum beats. In fact, the more I listen to “Volta”, the more I get to appreciate the genius of music composition. Bjork has turned her voice from merely human voice into a musical instrument, truly blended into the song with many layers of her voice all combined as one. Her voice is so full of emotion.

The opening track of “Volta” – “Earth Intruders” – starts off with powerful beats and ends with the different sound and pitch of the ship’s horns that only becomes apparent with the more powerful track “Declare Independence” towards the end. The duet track “The Dull Flame Of Desire” is a good example of how Bjork can turn something so simple and short into a full song. Below is the full lyrics of “The Dull Flame Of Desire”.

I love your eyes, my dear. Their splendid, sparkling fire. When suddenly you raise them so to cast a swift embracing glance. Like lightning flashing in the sky. But there’s a charm that is greater still. When my love’s eyes are lowered. When all is fired by passion’s kiss. And through the downcast lashes, I see the dull flame of desire – The Dull Flame of Desire by Bjork.

From the content point of view, “Volta” focuses much on internal emotion in an abstract manner. She writes about someone suffering from Pneumonia, suicide bomber, and my favorite, the powerful “Declare Independence” with lyrics as follows.

Justice. Start your own currency. Make your own stamp. Protect your language. Declare independence … Damn colonists. Ignore their patronizing. Tear off their blindfold. Open their eyes. Declare independence. Don’t let them do that to you.

Each release has earned Bjork – Icelander – an award of one sort or another. Her works often strikes me as an outcome of improvisation. It is chaotic to say the least. But to make something as chaotic as Bjork’s music into something so beautiful to listen to, there is only one person in the world who can do that.

Below is the opening track “Earth Intruders”. If you like it, try out “Innocence” as made by one of her fans.

Again, Bjork is an acquired taste. You either love it, or you don’t.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The Strategy Paradox By Michael Raynor – Quite Possibly The Best Business Book I’ve Read In These Recent Months

One day, Cynthia brought home a new book sponsored by her company written by one of her Partners and in this book, her client Johnson & Johnson is featured as one of the case studies. As always, I read the book and she gets to hear the summary. A win-win situation for the both of us.

I love reading strategy books but to finish one is a daunting task. “The Strategy Paradox” turns out to be the exact opposite of what I perceive a consulting book to be. It is full of interesting case studies, not too much into the methodology, and it is written with such a pose. Read the following excerpt and you will see what I mean.

Bowing to the limits of our station need not imply that we aim lower: a Macbeth or an Oedipus who accedes to the vagaries of fate can still be king, but he rules the kingdom very differently. Similarly, a strategy built on humility can still succeed; it just looks very different from a strategy built on hubris. This book has explored those differences and argued that a strategy of humility is a better and nobler way to think about the future of your company – Chapter 11 Reinventing Strategy.

In the beginning of “The Strategy Paradox”, Raynor brought out an excellent analogy. Tell me, what is the opposite of love? Some may say hatred. But the answer is indifference. Hatred and love has the same intensity of feeling towards a person but indifference has none. So, what is the opposite of success?

Failure?

The opposite of success is mediocrity. Being average is what many companies are contented with. Raynor pointed out that the ones that aim for greatest, the ones who aim for success has the same attributes as the ones who fail. It is due to the uncertainty that these companies fail. Traditionally, in order to succeed, companies formulate a strategy and commit to it. It is this commitment that forbidden them to adapt to the changes experienced. To resolve this, the author proposed Requisite Uncertainty. Simply put, the corporate office should focus on managing uncertainty while the operating managers must focus on delivering on commitments.

In chapter 2, the author has brought forth an interesting case study of Sony through its electronic formats of Betamax in video, MiniDisc in audio and illustrated how focusing too much on strategic success and not enough on strategic uncertainty can be disastrous due to bad luck.

The book has made clear that we simply cannot forecast the future. There are just too many variables. And some changes are too fast for us to react while some changes are just too slow (as illustrated by the example of the Viking) for us to adapt.

But there is a way out.

All we need is to create options. In chapter 7, the author brought in the excellent case studies of BCE and Microsoft. The former one consists of a portfolio of partial equity stakes that creates a strategically flexible corporation but lacks the formalized processes required to implement the approach versus the latter one that is able to pursue an options-based strategy far more consistently and so manage strategy uncertainty far more effectively.

The key to success is to acquire options that are related to the way a business is shaped. Take J&J as an example. There is a corporate venture capital arm, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) that its primary focus is to acquire business that may benefit J&J in future. To achieve strategic flexibility, one must acquire enough stake – and not too much – in order to sell off or further invest on the options as the future unfolds. There is a price to this of course. And the 4 phases of managing a portfolio of real options are create, preserve, exercise, and abandon. In the end, it boils down to how one should exercise the option (i.e. purchase the subsidiary that will benefit the overall group) or sell off the option (i.e. abandon what is not beneficiary to the future of the company).

I personally believe that “The Strategy Paradox” is crucial to those who are into M&A business (Merger and Acquisition) as well as those who are into corporate strategy. It would have been nice if Michael Raynor elaborates on the future of Sony with the Blu-ray format war against HD DVD as that would have been a true testimony to what he preaches about.

Categories
Action & Thriller Movie Reviews

Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror – Part Two Of Grindhouse

3 months ago we have watched part 1 of Grindhouse directed by Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof). I actually wanted to watch that polar bear documentary film. But TK counter-suggested to watch the “one legged hottie” instead. Cynthia leapt in joy. Guess my love for the polar bear will have to be postponed to another day.

Despite the positive critic reviews for Grindhouse, the box office result was below expectation in the US. Grindhouse was shown in a full length of 191 minutes with Planet Terror and Death Proof played back-to-back with one another. Personally, I think there is only that much blood and gore an audience can take in one sitting. Internationally, Grindhouse was split into two movies beefed up with extra scenes. Death Proof has covered the topics of forbidden sex, wanton violence, drug use, and nudity. As expected – true to the genre of grindhouse – Planet Terror covers the remaining aspects of freaks, monsters, destruction, rebellion, and mayhem. There is a trade-off between watching Grindhouse in one go and watching it in a split version. The former one is true to grindhouse style while the latter one we get to see each movie featured in full.

Let me warn you, Planet Terror is gross. This morning I woke up and when I tried to recall what the first scene was, I thought of that jar of preserved human testicles and the dude who got his balls cut. In fact, the first scene was the beautiful Rose McGowan (famous in the TV series “Charmed”) dancing sexily around the pole in skimpy outfit as a go-go dancer named Cherry Darling. Cherry Darling? What a nice name.

The plot of Planet Terror started with some military units being exposed to biochemical weapons that transformed human beings into … zombies. Soon, more people were infected and it was the destiny of the survivors to fight together and find the last safe spot in the world. What I enjoy most is the amount of humor being put into such a genre of grossness and suspense. We laughed almost throughout the show and for the record, I was not the loudest. There were some others who laughed harder than me! And the way how scenes are cut onto one another is clever. Some of the sequence are so original that make me wonder, how did Robert Rodriguez come out with that idea (like how the “one legged hottie” Cherry Darling fights with a gun attached to her missing leg)?

I think Rose McGowan is a good fit for the show. While her air time in Death Proof was limited – which is understandable given how the plot was written – she is the main actress in Planet Terror. In the TV series “Charmed”, she has gone through the journey of gaining her witch power and used it against the demons. In Planet Terror, she has also gone through the journey of losing a leg and gaining a gun and this time, she fights zombies. I can’t think of a better person to play that role.

But how does Planet Terror compares against Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof? Both movies are made with the 1970’s effect. Death Proof has a very structured storyline (2 parts involving 4 different women each) and a series of long conversations while Planet Terror focuses more on the visual effects with short, sharp dialogues. Both TK and Cynthia find Planet Terror having a higher entertainment value as compares to Death Proof. I naturally enjoy the long and deep conversations so I find Death Proof having a higher artistic value instead.

Again, if you have watched Death Proof, don’t miss Planet Terror. And if you haven’t, the two movies are unrelated though the theme is (grindhouse style and women emerge as the heroines). Not a movie for the weak stomach for sure. Lots of bodies being torn apart and plenty of blood everywhere. I can almost picture my buddy Mark faints in the theatre upon watching Planet Terror. So Mark, please stay away from this. Or you could use Planet Terror to train your tolerance of the sight of blood … at home!

Categories
Experience Sharing

Large Group Activity With Straws And Masking Tape … And A Twist

My friends from my last job, I am sure, can readily relate to what I am going to write here. Head to part 2 if you wish. For the benefit of the rest of the avid readers, let me elaborate just a little bit. In the past, some of our projects involved having a full day workshop with a large group of clients (anywhere from 20 to 80). You see, giving lecture on strategy can be boring to the participants, even if it is half an hour per topic. Having break-out sessions brainstorming on how to articulate and measure strategy can be both tiring and dry. So what we consultants did was to make their days fun and memorable. The intangible value as you may say. These are the people who have stepped out of their daily operation and have a chance to finally socialize. To us, we have a piece of deliverable to complete and we need to tap onto their brains. To them, they just want to have a good time and finally get to chat with the girl in the next cubicle near to them or near the other door far far away.

It is not until I have made a switch out of my last career do I realize what it is like viewing from the other side. Recently I have attended a team building event organized by an external party hosted at Sentosa. I must say, the event triggered a walk down the memory lane and some of the ideas that this organizer has is refreshing.

PART ONE – SELLING THE FUN FACTOR

There are many ways to get work done. Nothing beats the fun way. In the past, I was used to have a group of capable and creative consultants who took part in spicing up the events. If I am going to sell you a piece of work that involves X number of people Y number of hours in a duration of Z number of weeks and you will have this wonderful piece of deliverable that propels your organization to a higher level, you may bite onto it, you may not. If I am going to sell you a series of events and working sessions that not only will you have the same piece of deliverable, but also your team (apparently large) will have a chance to bond with one another, new ideas will be harvested from the ground (read: buy in … further read: change management) … and you can even throw in a BBQ session in the end of the day so as to boost morale. Now, that sales pitch flies, I am telling you.

To make the day fun, it is not that hard. First, split the boring stuffs (read: real work) into pieces. Make sure they are well spaced out with a 10.30am tea break (cannot be too close to breakfast nor lunch) and a 4pm tea break. If the group is new, throw in an “Icebreaker” activity. At appropriate timing, throw in an “Energizer” activity to break the monotonous of the facilitated session. Or just to re-focus the audience back onto the day’s activities. Did you know that when you gather a group of people after the lunch hours, their minds are still somewhere out there? An “Energizer” activity helps them to forget what occupies their minds and to bring them back to Planet Earth.

My team has lots of creative ideas. We seldom recycled the same activity too many times. And we always found ways to add a twist to the old games. There are many ways to carry out “Icebreaker” activity. The key is to let people get to know one another better. One of my favorites is to ask each person to draw a symbol that represent themselves on a piece of paper and within each group, go round the circle and present what this symbol means to them. In turn, we consultants got to pick people in random to present their pictures on stage. It is really not that tough to find some funny ones. Usually you can judge the reaction from the audience to see which one to pick. And don’t forget to pick up the ones from the bosses. People usually have a good laugh out of it. Of course, you can ask everyone to stick their pictures onto the walls so that people get to see what others are like during breaks.

“Energizer” usually ties back to the theme of the topic the consultants want to talk about next. Some can be as simple as a quiz with simple scoring system. Some can be as straightforward as a puzzle solving competition amongst teams. Perhaps I am an engineer in training, I love the ones that involve people building things.

Straws and masking tape are wonderful materials when it comes to building activities. Off the head, we used to have “build a bridge” or “build a tower”. The specifications are flashed out via the projectors and each team is given 20 mins or half an hour to complete the task.

PART TWO – MORE STRAWS AND MASKING TAPE

What a role reversal. Now I get to play the games that the external organizers put together! Hooray! I was excited because for the past two years or so, I only got to see people play the “Energizer” games, scratching my head and the heads of my team to think of the next better and more fulfilling game.

For one of the indoor games that we played in Sentosa, the objective was simple: build a track to keep a ping pong ball in motion. Whichever team that clocks in the longest time wins. Each team was given 1 hour to complete the task.

1 hour?! Isn’t it a bit … too long.

I was amazed at how time flew.

The twist I was talking about is not keeping a ping pong ball in motion for the longest time (though I must say it is refreshing on its own). 15 minutes into the activity, we were instructed to send 2 of our members into another team for 5 minutes and in return, we received 2 new members from a different team (hence, not a swap of team members between two teams but rather a rotation of team members). It was interesting because suddenly there was new idea injecting into the our team and those who got send away would bring back new idea from a totally different team.

30 minutes into the activity, we were asked to abandon our own track and to take over our next team’s work. That was actually quite interesting. Some of our initial reaction was … to sabotage another team’s work. But that quickly dissolved I am sure. Others worked on the half baked track in fear that we have to take over the work from then on. Of course, some of us genuinely wanted to help.

I still remember how much shock we had when we looked at the track that hardly worked. One side of the support was collapsing and we were at lost as in what to do next. I started working on the support and some others started working on the track. And within 10 minutes, we actually got a working prototype! We loved it so much that we did not want to move back to our old track – but we did have to, as announced by the organizer.

You would have thought that we all more or less built the same thing right? Well, while we all have the concept of oscillation in order to keep the ball in motion for as long as possible (according to the organizer, not many actually thought of that) and we all finished on time (our department is responsible in delivering projects … duh … job hazard), our designs varied. My team has come up with a very neat and simple design rested on table with moderate height. One team has the height of twice of ours rested on the floor. Another team went for the length. One created a very long track (about 4 meters) with a few humps. Another one made a small circular track that spiralled towards the center. I noticed that those teams that built the structure on the floor, the structure itself tended to be a lot bigger.

Another interesting piece of fact is that the result did not vary much despite such a variation in design. The timing was in the region of 40 seconds for all of us. I wonder if I can create a mathematical model based on that one day. It is a pretty fun game. Give it a try when you have a large group next time.