Docent retreat and the 5 new strength i discover of myself...
Today I woke up late and got to my Docent retreat late. Oh, I am also a volunteer with the Singapore Zoological Gardens Docent (http://www.szgdocent.org) as the head of Recruitment and Training or RATS as what we commonly term it in the organisation.
The retreat is meant for the executive committee to plan out what to do next for the year and also a time to look at where we are and how to move on, how to motivate others forward as a volunteer. This retreat was unlike the previous years. We have a professional trainer and had tried to compress as much information as we can on leadership and team efforts. A compressed course which also teaches us a handful of stuffs on the technique used to trouble shoot problems in the organisation. To think of what we really want in life, the importance of mission and vision and how these things can help us reach what we want. How powerful dream is and how a clear vision can get us to work towards our goals. All of these through various interactive games and explanations.
Some of it mey not be new to be but it had certainly helped me to further fine tune what I want in life. As in my previous blog, my life rotates around this sentence, "To create a sustainable lifestyle and culture". Whatever I do will not deviate away from this general guide. Afterwhich, I had two of my ex-trainees whom have graduated successfully as a docent last year. I shared with them on my vision in life and also how the organisation operated and why I had started this up and how it drives me on. It was really a great sharing session. It sortof boosted my confidence on tomorrow's tasks.
oh, I've recently bought a book call "Now, discover your strength". It's a great book and it had an online accessment of about 180 questions and not allowing you to take more than 20 seconds for each question to judge what your strength is. It also brought out a very valid point, about our vocabulary. If we really sit back and think, we actually have a whole list of vocabulary words on negative attributes that we used to describe people of ourselves. But when it comes to naming of strength, it is so much lesser. We usually hear, "People skills", "sales skills" and stuff like that. But all of these description are so, vague. Hence, they have taken out 34 theme of strength that people have and used the survey to allow the candidate who sits through the surveys to be able to access their top 5 strength and work on it. I was surprised to find mine. They are in order of the strongest to the weakest;
Communication
You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. This is your Communication theme at work. Ideas are a dry beginning. Events are static. You feel a need to bring them to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid. And so you turn events into stories and practice telling them. You take the dry idea and enliven it with images and examples and metaphors. You believe that most people have a very short attention span. They are bombarded by information, but very little of it survives. You want your information-whether an idea, an event, a product's features and benefits, a discovery, or a lesson-to survive. You want to divert their attention toward you and then capture it, lock it in. This is what drives your hunt for the perfect phrase. This is what draws you toward dramatic words and powerful word combinations. This is why people like to listen to you. Your word pictures pique their interest, sharpen their world, and inspire them to act.
Relator
Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people-in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends-but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk-you might be taken advantage of-but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.
Woo
Woo stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Some people shy away from starting up conversations because they worry about running out of things to say. You don't. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet-lots of them.
Self-Assurance
Self-Assurance is similar to self-confidence. In the deepest part of you, you have faith in your strengths. You know that you are able-able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important, able to deliver. But Self-Assurance is more than just self-confidence. Blessed with the theme of Self-Assurance, you have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgment. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This authority, this final accountability for the living of your life, does not intimidate you. On the contrary, it feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. This theme lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else's arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other themes, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course.
Strategic
The Strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It is not a skill that can be taught. It is a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allowsyou to see patterns where others simply see complexity. Mindful of these patterns, you play out alternative scenarios, always asking, "What if this happened? Okay, well what if this happened?" This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. Guided by where you see each path leading, you start to make selections. You discard the paths that lead nowhere. You discard the paths that lead straight into resistance. You discard the paths that lead into a fog of confusion. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path-your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your Strategic theme at work: "What if?" Select. Strike.
Interesting findings I'd say. For those who know me, what do you think?
haha...signing off for today....taZzzzzzz
The retreat is meant for the executive committee to plan out what to do next for the year and also a time to look at where we are and how to move on, how to motivate others forward as a volunteer. This retreat was unlike the previous years. We have a professional trainer and had tried to compress as much information as we can on leadership and team efforts. A compressed course which also teaches us a handful of stuffs on the technique used to trouble shoot problems in the organisation. To think of what we really want in life, the importance of mission and vision and how these things can help us reach what we want. How powerful dream is and how a clear vision can get us to work towards our goals. All of these through various interactive games and explanations.
Some of it mey not be new to be but it had certainly helped me to further fine tune what I want in life. As in my previous blog, my life rotates around this sentence, "To create a sustainable lifestyle and culture". Whatever I do will not deviate away from this general guide. Afterwhich, I had two of my ex-trainees whom have graduated successfully as a docent last year. I shared with them on my vision in life and also how the organisation operated and why I had started this up and how it drives me on. It was really a great sharing session. It sortof boosted my confidence on tomorrow's tasks.
oh, I've recently bought a book call "Now, discover your strength". It's a great book and it had an online accessment of about 180 questions and not allowing you to take more than 20 seconds for each question to judge what your strength is. It also brought out a very valid point, about our vocabulary. If we really sit back and think, we actually have a whole list of vocabulary words on negative attributes that we used to describe people of ourselves. But when it comes to naming of strength, it is so much lesser. We usually hear, "People skills", "sales skills" and stuff like that. But all of these description are so, vague. Hence, they have taken out 34 theme of strength that people have and used the survey to allow the candidate who sits through the surveys to be able to access their top 5 strength and work on it. I was surprised to find mine. They are in order of the strongest to the weakest;
Communication
You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. This is your Communication theme at work. Ideas are a dry beginning. Events are static. You feel a need to bring them to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid. And so you turn events into stories and practice telling them. You take the dry idea and enliven it with images and examples and metaphors. You believe that most people have a very short attention span. They are bombarded by information, but very little of it survives. You want your information-whether an idea, an event, a product's features and benefits, a discovery, or a lesson-to survive. You want to divert their attention toward you and then capture it, lock it in. This is what drives your hunt for the perfect phrase. This is what draws you toward dramatic words and powerful word combinations. This is why people like to listen to you. Your word pictures pique their interest, sharpen their world, and inspire them to act.
Relator
Relator describes your attitude toward your relationships. In simple terms, the Relator theme pulls you toward people you already know. You do not necessarily shy away from meeting new people-in fact, you may have other themes that cause you to enjoy the thrill of turning strangers into friends-but you do derive a great deal of pleasure and strength from being around your close friends. You are comfortable with intimacy. Once the initial connection has been made, you deliberately encourage a deepening of the relationship. You want to understand their feelings, their goals, their fears, and their dreams; and you want them to understand yours. You know that this kind of closeness implies a certain amount of risk-you might be taken advantage of-but you are willing to accept that risk. For you a relationship has value only if it is genuine. And the only way to know that is to entrust yourself to the other person. The more you share with each other, the more you risk together. The more you risk together, the more each of you proves your caring is genuine. These are your steps toward real friendship, and you take them willingly.
Woo
Woo stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Some people shy away from starting up conversations because they worry about running out of things to say. You don't. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet-lots of them.
Self-Assurance
Self-Assurance is similar to self-confidence. In the deepest part of you, you have faith in your strengths. You know that you are able-able to take risks, able to meet new challenges, able to stake claims, and, most important, able to deliver. But Self-Assurance is more than just self-confidence. Blessed with the theme of Self-Assurance, you have confidence not only in your abilities but in your judgment. When you look at the world, you know that your perspective is unique and distinct. And because no one sees exactly what you see, you know that no one can make your decisions for you. No one can tell you what to think. They can guide. They can suggest. But you alone have the authority to form conclusions, make decisions, and act. This authority, this final accountability for the living of your life, does not intimidate you. On the contrary, it feels natural to you. No matter what the situation, you seem to know what the right decision is. This theme lends you an aura of certainty. Unlike many, you are not easily swayed by someone else's arguments, no matter how persuasive they may be. This Self-Assurance may be quiet or loud, depending on your other themes, but it is solid. It is strong. Like the keel of a ship, it withstands many different pressures and keeps you on your course.
Strategic
The Strategic theme enables you to sort through the clutter and find the best route. It is not a skill that can be taught. It is a distinct way of thinking, a special perspective on the world at large. This perspective allowsyou to see patterns where others simply see complexity. Mindful of these patterns, you play out alternative scenarios, always asking, "What if this happened? Okay, well what if this happened?" This recurring question helps you see around the next corner. There you can evaluate accurately the potential obstacles. Guided by where you see each path leading, you start to make selections. You discard the paths that lead nowhere. You discard the paths that lead straight into resistance. You discard the paths that lead into a fog of confusion. You cull and make selections until you arrive at the chosen path-your strategy. Armed with your strategy, you strike forward. This is your Strategic theme at work: "What if?" Select. Strike.
Interesting findings I'd say. For those who know me, what do you think?
haha...signing off for today....taZzzzzzz
posted by Wilson Ang a.k.a ShamU at 2:46 PM
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