Team Enhancement in Singapore

The frequency and timeliness of the posts to our blog are inversely related to the number of Master’s courses we are working on. Right now Steve has three and I have two on the go so we have plenty of writing projects underway and deadlines to meet eery three to four days. Needless to say, the blog is suffering. This past week I had the wonderful opportunity to be part of a full day workshop with our Singapore team. My dear creative friend and mentor, Dr Su Min Lim, with a little help from myself, took us through some fun and very visual discussions to bring the team to a more wholistic understanding of the work they are called to do. We started the day by dividing into three teams, randomly picked by Su Min who did not know any of the participants. Using picture cards as cues each one talked about the passions that drive them and then the teams looked at their common passions to come up with a team name, a logo and, of course, a poster. The next sessions looked at the concepts around wholism and what defines “good health” for ourselves, our homes and our teams. We had a great lunch together at a little boutique type restaurant and a chance to visit so Dr. Su Min could get to know the team better. The afternoon sessions looked at potential areas of conflict for a team and a process for identifying the root causes that need to be addressed in order for a team to move forward, using the visual of a Tree of Despair and a Tree of Hope. In order to do some vision casting, each team created a front page for the New Straits Times for Oct 3 2024 and it was really exciting to see their visions drawn out on paper. The final session was geared towards identifying the steps that would need to be taken to reach these goals. The Singapore team has heard about the CHE approach that the teams in Cambodia and Philippines are using for a few years but this was their initial exposure to this oral, graphic and participatory type of learning. The first time they were asked to draw their response they were a bit taken aback but by the time the first posters were up they were all into it and we had a great time sharing. I am so looking forward to meeting with them again soon to see how they envision using this strategy to make their own lives and work more wholistic.