Romans8.28

He makes all things beautiful in His time.

Image by DarkWorkX from Pixabay. Poster designed by Lydia Gan.

Discipline

Leading Insolent Staffs

My company do engage youths to assist during events. I have come across young people who are diligent, punctual and co-operative. We appreciate such workers and will engage them for future projects. 

I have also met young workers who regard event work as an avenue to have fun and meet more friends, attitude is very slack, do not follow instructions and expect managers to cover their roles while they walk around chit-chat with other colleagues of their age.  They gives kind managers headache! The impatient managers would terminate them immediately without explaining the reasons. 

I believe in education and giving people a chance to perform. Since young people need the exposure and training, I put in extra effort to remind them to follow instructions, provide them a clear expectation of professionalism and explain the reason behind the work requirements; when time permit. I hope these young people learn and improve.

Some of them are receptive of feedback and appreciative of my efforts. But there are insolent ones that talk back, simply refuse to follow guidelines and label us as demanding or naggy. They show contempt towards senior staffs or managers, see operating procedures as unnecessary work and have no intention to improve the quality of their work. Bad attitudes can be displayed from people from all age group. However, my experience tells me that older workers are more responsible, proactive and they know their place generally.

What happens when leaders condone bad attitudes of their staffs?

A team's standard is as good as the weakest member. Staffs with bad attitude might affect the overall team performance as they refuse to do the work required. They influence others negatively. The manager's job is to ensure everyone follow the process and event goes smoothly. If one of the team member refuse to comply, the manager might lose respect from other immature staffs, making it harder for the manager to lead the team. I have seen people with bad attitude gang up, and refuse to co-operate or bully good staffs or managers who are trying to do their job dutifully. Eventually the good staff left. The quality of the work in the company goes down the drain.  It is essential for management to handle the problem of bad work attitudes early. Bosses have to be very supportive of managers educating and disciplining the staffs.

As much as we want to coach staffs with bad attitude, there is only a few chances we can give to show that they are serious about this job and putting their best effort to improve their behavior and quality of their work. Afterall, we are all employed for a purpose to do a job well.

Being a manger is not as easy or glamorous as it seems. The most important goal is get the team on same page to ensure the project completes successfully.

Confidence or Cockiness?

What is the difference between confidence and cockiness?

Confidence emerges from in-depth observation, wealth of knowledge and real-life experience. One can be humble yet confident of what they are doing. A confident person is humble to listen, adjust and learn from  situations.

Cockiness or arrogance boils from an ultra-inflated ego. Arrogant people insists they are right without the details of knowledge to back them up. However they do not make the effort to discover the truth for themselves. They insist they are right based on pride. They just want to prove they are better from the people they rebel towards (higher authorities) or the people they compete with (peers). Making decisions based on arrogant mindset can cause huge mistakes.

It takes wisdom to be confident and identify people who are confident.

For employers, choose staffs who are confident in their knowledge, professionalism and commitment level. They are confident as they are aware of their worth and ability to contribute to the company.

For experienced employees, please chose bosses who are confident to discuss knowledge and experience with you. Arrogant insecure managers will not appreciate your knowledge or experience. In fact, they are most likely to feel threatened by you.

Treating others

The golden principle of treating others as one would wish to be treated.

7 Types of Clients to Avoid

My stints as designer and event planner provided opportunities to work with various people. I have the pleasure to work with excellent clients who are timely paymaster, organized, reasonable, give clear instructions and appreciative. I have also seen clueless, inconsiderate clients who would delay the confirmation of project till last minute. Last minute work might lead to additional cost, unnecessary stress and errors due to lack of time for preparation. Thus, I came up with this list of red flags which we should be aware of.


1. Clients who has no respect to timeline. They do not consider the time people need to get work done. They expect things to be done immediately for them but they procrastinate when the ball is on their court. Almost all of their deadlines are "yesterday".

2. Clients who refuse to commit. They do not pay deposit and/or sign contract. They delay payment for months or refuse to pay at all.

3. Clients who will cause you to make losses. They only pay for 1 thing but expect 2 other items to be given free to them.

4. Clients who will burn your relationship with your good staffs and vendors. Some clients are bullies or liars who cause your valuable people to quit.

5. Clients who has no integrity, they flip words and do not honor what they promise.

6. Clients who are fickle-minded; they keep adjusting the project requirements, but refuse to pay for time and effort for the changes made.

7. Clients who have very tough projects but refuse to pay higher for the risks involved, they just want to push their own accountabilities away and point the blames to vendors.

While it is hard to find perfect customers, we have to safeguard our interest.  Consider the costs, risks and frustrations of dealing with potential bad clients seriously before we agree to work with them.

Honor

Etiquette of feeding stray cats and dogs

Being responsible with feeding strays and managing your pets

 

I designed this poster to create awareness on etiquette of feeding stray cats and managing pet dogs poo. Email me if you need the high-resolution file

Recently I adopted the habit to feed the stray cats. There are a number affectionate cute cats in my neighbourhood. 

One night, while giving surplus steam fish to street cats near my home, a guy approached and thanked me for feeding them. As I spoke to him, I got amazed that there are a group of residents who had been feeding the stray cats dutifully for the longest time. I got introduced to the group and they graciously taught me the proper ways of feeding the strays. Goodness! I wasn’t aware that a simple act of feeding the strays could have dire consequences. 😿

While we are engrossed in the kind act of feeding the strays, it is essential we maintain the discipline to serve them food on containers or papers; and clear it up after the animals had finished eating. Leftover food attract pests, and it will cause unhappiness among people staying in the community. The pests and mess of leftover food will cause people to complain to the authorities about the strays and cost the lives of these innocent animals. We have to keep the environment clean so that the animals and residents can reside together in harmony. Please avoid letting our “kind” actions cause the strays to be culled. 

Cats are really smart. When I carry food to feed them, they will suddenly appear and gather around me. They know instinctively. I learnt from the group to lead the strays to a less crowded area before feeding them. Some people are uncomfortable with animals, thus we try not to feed the strays at high human traffic areas. 

This group of animal-lovers residents also donated money regularly to get the stray cats in our vicinity neutered. This greatly helps to maintain the population of the cats and prevent the existing ones from being culled. This bunch of animal lovers are open-handed, big-hearted who truly inspires! Wish more people will be caring, kind and considerate like them! 😻

Happiness is Infectious

 

This image makes my day!

8 Indoor Activities for Wheelchair bound Elderlies

8 Wholesome Indoor Activities for Seniors on Wheelchairs

During our weekly date with my parents, I would usually bring them the park for Vitamin D sunlight, shopping or meals at random restaurants.

Since I become a trainer 2 years ago, I make an effort to plan engaging wholesome activities for my parents. I try to include activities which stretch their brain cells and practice their fine motor skills while we spend quality time together.

Both of my aging parents require wheelchair to move around, hence the activities selected have to take this in consideration.

I find that it is easier to plan indoor activities for mum as there are more varieties of sit-down activities for females. Ladies can do flower arrangement, sewing, origami, beading, cake decoration, art and crafts... The list goes on... but there are limited tools for our elderly men. This is especially obvious when they are not highly educated. Sudoku, crossword puzzles or learning a new musical instrument would be tougher for them.

For my father, I chose items which are not kiddish, feminine or western; so he would feel comfortable using them. The following are some of the suitable tools which keeps my retiree dad occupied at home. They prevents dementia or degenerative aging. Some of these games are fitting for elderly ladies too!


1. Memory Game

A very simple memory game to play with old folks.
 

I bought it from a push cart.

2. 3D Model Building

Building a cool Jeep gives my dad a great sense of accomplishment.
Planes, tanks and architecture models are available as well. Very affordable.

We intend to paint it together one of these days.

 

3. Tangoes Game

Dad gets creative as he think of ways to form the shapes with limited pieces given.
Solutions are provided in this booklet.

This game set is suitable for the elderly as it is thick enough for adults to hold and
magnetic features to prevent the Tangoes from dropping. Brilliant for long-distance travelling.

This game can be played when the senior is alone.

4. Wooden Block Puzzles

The pieces are labelled with numbers.

5. Building Game

Plastic construction toys that joined by magnets.
Fun way to get the mind and hands working!

6. Coloring

Retro-themed coloring activity book "My Kueh Lapis". 

7. Calligraphy

Dad practicing Chinese calligraphy using papers that can be reused.

I intend to introduce western calligraphy to him.

8. Mahjong

All time favorite social strategy game!
My mother-in-law plays Mahjong with her siblings weekly.

There are definitely many more ways to maintain an active healthy lifestyle, feel free to share additional senior activities ideas to me. 😊

Learning Wisdom

CNY 2019

祝大家，猪年大吉, 万事如意!

Today marks the start of school and first day of work for 2019.
What are your thoughts as we begin the new year?