Playing with matches

Thursday 3rd September. I tried an experiment tonight. I wanted to put across some of the challenges associated with complex organizations. Two issues form the core of problems inside organizations: dependency and statistical fluctaution. To avoid an abstract discussion, I divided the participants into two groups. Each group has to "process" matches by using a dice to move matches from one player to another. This shows that playing with matches can be a good way to learn about management!

Developing Strategic Thinking

Last night, I develivered a series of courses on strategies for MBA students. As strategy is an abstract concept, I used the "Beer Game" to put a few key points across. This is a game that can be used for team-building, appreciating the importance of customer service, developing leadership skills, developing strategic thinking and many more. Like all games used in training, it is the debriefing that matters the most. I attach a few photos of the occasion.

Counselling students

An interesting night the other day. Five students from KUIZ, who were finishing a Diploma in Business, came to my house looking for advice on furthering their studies. My approach is straightforward:
- Decide whether you want a job that is halaal / haraam
- Decide what is your desired lifestyle (routine, travel a lot,.....)
- Decide whether you prefer to deal with people, paperwork or numbers
- Decide whether to do a degree that is specialized or general
We had a good discussion. I discouraged them to do certain courses that have no longer any future and I discouraged them to go for courses that are "hot potatoes" today but with no job opportunity when they will enter the job market.....

Keindahan Islam

Saturday 20 June 2009. I was invited to talk about "Keindahan Islam" for 1 hour and a half. Finding the camp in Gombak was challenging enough but I thought I was going to talk to Management and Science University (MSU) students. It turned out that the audience were 85 PTPL students. I surprised everybody by conducting the whole thing in Malay. My Malay is okay but I normally only use it with family members or close friends. This is the first time I actually do a training in Malay. As the topic has the potential to be "boring", I decided to turn the session into a game. I asked two questions and wrote the answers on two pieces of paper. I then divided the group into smaller groups and they had to guess the answers. I then went to group to group and discussed their ideas. I think it worked quite well.