Competency + Attitude = Extraordinary Performance

In a special seminar last Saturday, I had the benefit of listening to Ms Helen Seibt, founder of the IDC Group of Companies (www.idc-training.com) which is involved in a wide range of businesses covering training, engineering, plant technology, bio-degradable products and flora and fauna. During her talk entitled "Attitude is Everything", she shared with the participants on how she overcome all odds and barriers to transform IDC to what is it today.

Eleven years ago, when she first set up IDC as a language training centre, her business income was not enough even to cover the monthly rentals. The Asian financial crisis in 1997 had caused the East Asian economies to go into a recession. However, seeing the strong determination to succeed of a young enterprising businesswoman, the shoplot owner allowed her to be in arrears. This opportunity enabled her to continue until business conditions improved later on. Today, IDC occupies two adjoining business units in the Amcorp Trade Centre in the city of Petaling Jaya. The lesson learned here is that "It's not about the choice you made but the chance you take!"

Helen is an avid backpacker and despite her busy business schedule, she could still find time to go off alone to somewhere to learn and experience life. Her toughest expedition was when she embarked on a journey to Tibet and then to the Mount Everest Base Camp. Without any specialized training nor any idea of how difficult the journey would be like, she managed to reach her destination within 10 days. The lesson learnt here is that "Attitude conquers altitude".

Where does Helen get her strong desire to achieve and the determination to succeed in both her personal and professional life? The secret of her success lies in the application of techniques pioneered by Success Motivation International, USA (SMI) which she learned through the SMI's programs of "Dynamics of Successful Management" and "Attitude is Everything". With Helen as an ardent believer and practitioner of SMI techniques, therefore it is no wonder that IDC holds the sole rights to represent SMI and markets its programs in Malaysia.

In competency management, Helen possesses the core competencies of achievement-orientation, continuous learning, and goal-orientation. A person who has knowledge and skills is not enough as that person is only technically competent to do a job. For the same person to perform excellently and achieves extraordinary things, that person has to also have the right positive attitude and behaviors too.

In short, Competency + Attitude = Extraordinary Performance.

25 Knowledge Nuggets from Blue Ocean Strategy Workshop

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to attend a 1-day workshop on introduction to the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) organized by the UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was well facilitated by Jason Hunter, Director of Training, UCSI Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Centre.

I've read the BOS book and also attended a half-day seminar conducted by the one of the authors, Prof. Chan Kim, way back in 2006. From the BOS workshop yesterday, I gained further insights and learnings about the BOS concept and process.

From my 1-day exploratory trip, I've uncovered the following 25 knowledge nuggets:

1. BOS is about strategic thinking and not about strategic planning.
2. BOS is about seeing/observing things around you and not about looking ahead.
3. BOS is about focusing on your non-customers and not about listening solely to the voice of existing customers.
4. BOS is about understanding the pain points of the non-customers and not about the pleasure points of existing customers.
5. BOS is about reducing pains and not about increasing pleasure for the customers.
6. BOS is about searching for alternatives and not about improving existing products/services.
7. BOS is about applying outside-in thinking and not about adopting the inside-out approach.
8. BOS is about having a paradigm of "We don't know" and not about a mindset of "We know".
9. BOS is about problem creation and not about problem solving.
10. BOS is about making sense of the uncommon sense and not about uncommon nonsense.
11. BOS is about reducing costs and raising value and not about cost reduction or value enhancement.
12. BOS is about supply-side thinking and not about demand-side thoughtings.
13. BOS is about focusing on users, purchasers and influencers and not about users only.
14. BOS is about simplicity and not about complexity.
15. BOS is about breaking away from the pack and not about staying with the herd.
16. BOS is about creating a new industry and not about new products/services.
17. BOS is about value innovation and not about value improvement.
18. BOS is about asking WHY and not about answering WHAT.
19. BOS is about value creation and not about value addition.
20. BOS is about prioritising utility over price and cost structures.
21. BOS is about having strong stomach and heart to eliminate and reducing familiarities and not about finetuning acts within the comfort zone.
22. BOS is about having ardent desires, strong commitment, enthusiasm, hard work, staying power and flawless execution.
23. BOS is about exploration and not about efficiency.
24. BOS is about aligning the 3 propositions of value, product and people and not about having one or two of the other.
25 BOS is about looking for opportunity all around us if only we search for it in the right way.

From the above, I believe that for an organization to successfully navigate BOS pathway, it should possess the core competencies of strategic thinking, value creation, emotional intelligence, learning orientation, respect for diversity, integrity, accountability and achievement orientation.