Commitment, Commitment, Commitment!

In any sales oriented environment, we are faced with the question of - "Are you going to meet your target this year?".  This is the same question that will be repeated again and again in the week, months, quarters during the year.  Your boss wants to know whether your team will achieve their targets.  Other department in the organization will also wants to know whether your team can pull through and complete the target.  Basically, everybody is interested! Yes, you guys are the front-liners, you must perform! You must achieve it so that the company can go for a nice company trip next year!  You must achieve it so that we can look into getting a better salary increment next year! You must! You must! You must!

I have been telling my team that they are responsible for the livelihood of all the men and women that are working in our organization.  If we don't perform, we will adversely affect their lives, and their loved ones. If we don't perform, our organization will face scrutiny by the higher management from head office regarding the poor result.  And lastly, if we don't perform, our heads may roll - our services can be terminated! Yes, it is tough, it is a heavy responsibility but that is what you have signed up for..

And here lies the single most important aspect of differentiating the performer from the non-performer:  their unwavering commitment.  Their commitment to the cause.  Their commitment to their sales target.  Their commitment to the fact that no matter what happens, comes rain or shine, they will give their 100% to this objective.  It must not matter if you have to stay back late at night to finish off that proposal even though your husband or wife may make some noise.  It must not matter if you have to entertain your clients in the wee hours of the morning, just to make sure that you are given preference for the deal.  And it must not matter if you have to wake-up your other colleagues, who were already sleeping, for his or her assistance to make sure that your tender submission the next day will be a smooth one.

If one were to show such full commitment to the cause, most likely than not, he or she is destined to succeed.  Why?  Because by setting their mindset that nothing should get in their way between them and their success, that failure is not an option, and that if there is a will - there is a way, they will continue to attack the cause in every which way until the desirable result is achieved.  

Now if you are fortunate enough to come across such individuals of this breed, then half of your battle is won - the other half depends on you, the manager.  You still have to coach them, motivate them, challenge them and listen to them - since being human, they cannot be positive all the times.  You have to be the catalyst to make sure that their desire to achieve the objective is maintained at all times, that they are heading in the right direction, that success is just around the corner if they were to persevere.  How to motivate your staff is a whole different subject matter.  But for now, I am grateful that I managed to find a few of such individuals in my team.

(image above courtesy of Marcin Balcerzak via Dreamstime.com)

The Myth over "Parents can take care of 10 children but not the other way around!"

You must have heard it before, from your parents saying " I can take care 10 of you kids, but the 10 of you cannot take care of a single me!" I was baffled when I first heard this notion, when I was a kid - from my mom when she was angry, or irritated over something that me and my brothers had done, maybe against her wishes.  How can that be true, that the parents can take care of 10 children but the 10 children cannot take care of the parents? Although I never intent to argue this delicate point with my mom, I was pretty much sure that my mom was just saying that so that we, her children, always remember her for what she has done for us and in return, we would do the best we can to take care of her.   To me, this is just a myth..

However, just like everything in life, our capacity to grow and to be critical about something that we came across hit the nail in my head.  I have two beautiful kids, one boy and one girl, and they are truly the diamonds in my eyes.  Just the thoughts of something bad happen to them move me to tears.  I am forever grateful that God has blessed me with such gift, and I am sure for those parents who has children, these thoughts are universal.  You will do everything for your kids, up to the point that their needs are more important than that of your own, even up the point of sacrificing your life.  I am sure you have read the news about the parents going back into a burning house, just for the slight chance of saving their helpless kids or the incident where the parent going after their drowning kids, only to perish together with their loved ones.

With so much love and affection, it is with very little wonder that the parents can take care of 10 children.  In the older day where there is no TV nor the Internet, 10 kids are almost a norm.  I guess there is nothing much to do at night.  My father has 10 brothers and sisters, his father married quite young and during those time, with only living on government salary, managed to raise 10 kids.. So, 10 kids per family can be achieved.

BUT, the only caveat to this myth is this, when you have to raise those 10 kids, those kids started from infant(day 0) to the day that they have to move out (or kick out) from your house - searching for work.  That time period is perhaps the first 20+ years of the kids life, where they have to depend solely on their parents for everything under the sun, this is the period of total dependency, where the rule of the house is governed by the parents - it is either "my way, or the highway" type of stuff.  So the kids do not have any option but to abide to the rule, through thick or thin, waiting for the time to be set free.  But these are the period that the parents says "I can take care of 10 kids"..

Now, fast forward for another 10 years, if you may.  The kids are all grown up, find themselves good jobs, and some of them even wanted to start a family of their own.  They are basically now starting their own life, their own rules and their own plans.  Ask these folks whether their parents, the ones that have slaved themselves to bring these kids up in the world, are a part of their plans and most likely than not, very unfortunately, they will say - no.  They have big ideas, big dreams, they want to take over the world - and they wanted to do it their way.  This is then the part of "you 10 kids can never take care of your parents!" bit becomes a reality.  

The children are no longer living under the parents roof, no longer have to listen to the parents rules and no longer have to sweat it out. " I am an adult and I can make my own choices", and the parents have no jurisdiction over whatever the kids decided, for better or for worst, they can only pray that those decisions are made with more thoughts rather than with more emotions. This is the time that the parents may have to fend things for themselves, where they feel isolated, where they felt that their help is no longer needed.  For some, they may seek refuge in knowing that their grandsons or granddaughters are coming for a visit during the school holidays, as these new addition to the families allow the parents to reminisce about those times when they took care of their own kids.  I guess that is also the reason why grandparents are very protective of their grand kids, more then their own kids because those grandchildren will listen to them while their own kids will not!  

Such is the Circle of Life, and now I realize why one of the biggest things that you can do for your parents is to appreciate them as much as possible, while they still alive.  Go ahead, give your parents a call and tell them how much you love them.  I am sure later on, your kids will do the same for you. 

The Maid did it, Again!

My maid run away, the other day! And this is the second time it happen! Seriously, I am getting frustrated by how things are coming about with the maid issue, but I guess the 'maid running away from your home' has become such a standard thing that some of the employment agencies out there put a certain terms and agreement regarding to what extend they are liable if your maid decided to take off.

Everybody knows that getting a maid here ain't cheap nor easy. You have to spend a lot of money and sometimes things doesn't work out. And things hasn't been working out for me for the last two maids.

The first one decided to fall sick on me, she was diagnosed as having extremely high blood pressure, so much so that the local clinic here denied treatment fearing that she may collapsed anytime. The employer (me and my wife) had to take care of her instead of she taking care of us of and this went on for about three months and it was silly. She would sleep in the guest room and we were the ones that had to do the the house chores. We wanted to return her and get our money back but the agent denied any responsibility and adamant with the notion that she got the high blood pressure when she started working for us. What a load of c**p!!

She ran away when we told her the night before that we intend to send her back, I was away with my kinds and found her gone from our home. The guardhouse told me that she had a taxi waiting for her when she aborted from our lives. She took some money and fled, with her passport - however, she 'sms'ed me from Indonesia asking for forgiveness for what she did, as she mentioned that she is seeking treatment there in her hometown in Indonesia. I am equally surprised on how she managed to get back to her village without any assistance whatsoever from us.

The second maid decided to abscond last Tuesday, the day after AidilAdha. She was with us since last June and at first I thought that things are going to work out with this one. My kids like her and she seems to like the kids. The work that she was doing was below our expection but since she could take care of the kids well enough, we turned our blind eyes on her other shortcomings. We treated her well, to a certain extend like a part of the family - even my parents and inlaws also showed similar treatment. I believed that everybody meant well, since we know that being poor is hard enough, so what is wrong with showing some small compassion to a stranger..

She took off in the early part of the day, while I was already at the office. Unlike the first one, she left all of her personal belongings behind, she had only her handphone and purse with her. Her passport is still in my possession. My wife and kids were the ones that detected her disappearence and after checking, did not find anything missing from our home. She simply disappear and left us in a lurch, luckily it is the school holidays and my kid doesnt have to show up in school until January.

Based on these incidents, I have 2 important advices to anyone who is seeking a maid and wanting to keep things under control:

Advice#1: Never ever gives them a handphone, this is the first rule that you must follow. The handphone will allow them to communicate with whomever they want, whereever they want and about whatever they want. The handphone can take precedence over the kids, the house chores, etc etc. If they wishes to talk to their family back home, use your phone. Perhaps you can have that session only on the weekend and limit the call to only about 5 minutes. Once the trust is there after a few months, you can extend the talk-time. Furthermore, make sure that the maid is not making calls on other people's phone, monitor-monitor-monitor! You cannot expect if you don't inspect.

Advice#2: Never give cash to their hands. Do whatever that is necessary to make sure they do not have cash at their disposal. Their monthly fee can be deposited to an account in the bank, which you have control over. Or send back to their family in Indonesia. Or if they say they needed to buy things, you should go and buy those things for them - these things may be minor to you but you may regret them later. Why? Because the money in their hand can do wonders, because money in their hand makes them resourceful, because money in their hand makes them creative, to do things that may adversely impact you and your family. Such as buying an illegal passport from the black market so that they can leave you high and dry, buying prepaid call card to talk to their friend instead of doing their job, or even worse planning to take over your belongings while you are away.

So do yourself a favor, before you get yourself a maid - make sure that you follow these 2 simple advice. Take it from me, I have lost 2 already and I will not make the same mistake on the next one.

Of Parking and Lost Tickets

I guess it must happen to you once (for me twice) where you parked your car in a shopping mall, went up to do your shopping and by the time you wanted to pay for your parking fee... you discovered that you have lost it!! I mean you looked high and low, ask your wife, ask your kids, ask your friend, anyone that were with you to help you find this little piece of paper because you know, unless you find it, you have to pay alot of money to get out of the mall/hotel/etc...

It happen to me yesterday after my shopping in Care****. I was with my kids and by the time we wanted to go out, I discovered that I do not have the parking ticket anymore. The feeling of paying RM50 entered my mind immediately and let me tell you, that is not a good feeling - you can do a lot for RM50, especially during these 'recession prone' period that we are having.

Although the parking operator has declared this piece of information before your enter the parking lot, I believe that this matter need to be challenged. You see, the parking for at places like this is about RM1 for the first 2 hours (free if you buy someting from the main tenant of the mall), and RM1 for the next hour. By right if you clock in at 9:30 am by the time they opened and clock out by 10:30 pm when they close, you are suppose to pay RM13 for the whole day parking. Where on earth did they get RM50? Is it by default that since these operator do business in hotel where they charge you parking at RM3 per hour, they can immediately can apply the same rates to people losing their parking tickets in the shopping malls?? Is this sensible?

Furthermore, you should notice that these operator would deny any responsibilities if something happen to your car or its content. You got banged, you lost your laptops, someone scratch your car, sorry they say - your parked at your own risks. But if you lost your ticket, you have to pay us, a lot..

I believe this sort of relationship need to be seriously look into, like the amount of toll that we have to pay using the highway. We as a consumer can be penalized for our forgetfullnes or our tendency as human to misplace things, but not to such extend. It should be logical and defendable and for the parking operator to charge us based on their whims and fancy are just unjust!

So, please - next time you parked your car in those parking malls, do treat that piece of parking ticket like a RM50 note...

Of Kampong Weddings and its Values

Months of November and December are de-facto months for weddings - it is the school holidays and the also for working people to 'clear' their annual leaves. Ever since I can remember, I love the kampung weddings, simply because they are unique in every which way.

However, nowadays, most of the things are modernized - take food for example, it use to be that the food during the wedding are cooked by the family of the bride/groom, assisted by their relatives, who came from far and away, just to be part of the programme. They would slaughter the meat there, prepare the rice there, prepare the eggs to be given to the guest there, the list goes on and on and on..

Sometimes, the relatives have to be there a few days early so that they can prepare those things in time, and the bride/groom parents or guardian had to prepare a 'temporary house' to make sure that the relatives sleeping accommodations are taken care off. As a matter of fact, these are the party time for the whole families since this is among one of those occasions where the entire 'clan' were brought together to help and celebrate the wedding of one of their own.

I remember those days as late as the end 80's when my uncle got married. It was superb, even though I was in my teens then. The atmosphere is one of jubilant, togetherness, pressure, gossipping and decorative all roll into one.

Nowadays, everything seems to be catered for, because we now have money, and we want it easy. The food are catered for, the tents are catered for, the music are catered for, the 'pelamin' are catered for and the photographers are catered for. Lost were the fine touches of kampung weddings where we see the uniqueness of the society back then, lost to the current era of modernization where almost everything is now 'outsourced'.

I do hope that still in some part of our country, these traditions are still in place. It would be horrible to lose this uniqueness, since we should preserve them for our future generations, my kids and your kids, to better understand how it was used to be, and why was it that way.

The question is, is that sustainable..

We are spending too much time in front of the computer

We are a generation that boast the fact that we are very much IT litterate compared to the previous generation. Certainly he never touches a computer and I dont think he ever will. We on the other hand are innundated with everything IT, from our laptops even now to our handphone and coming to our satellite navigation (Sat Nav - for short). These gadgets to a certain extend are controlling our lives, in a sense, we feel handicapped if we dont have these devices around, we feel lost - disconnected from the world, even for one day without 'playing' with them.



The question is: is that what we are looking for, in this generation?



Are we becoming an IT society that is building something useful/meaningful or are we becoming a society that are becoming flooded with killer application that we get distracted with whatever that we wanted to do in the first place? It is very easy to sit in front of the screen for hours on end just surfing, but is that beneficial? Does that act in any way, shape or form makes us a better person?

Yes, many great teachings have mentioned that we should value time, and time is the only entity in the world that is irreplaceable. We should dictate for our own destiny how we should spend every second of our lives but more and more, it seems that these technologies are running us in circle, enveloping us with its blanket of security, bombarding us with information, that at the end of the day, you felt fatigue, not by actual work, but by moving through these maze of applications to get to what you wanted to do..

I believe therefore we should read books more then..