Don’t we often ask our friend or others to describe someone – whom they know – who is coming to meet us? Is he tall or short; slim and thin or chubby and bubbly? Or how glad we are, when finally had the opportunity to meet-in-person someone whom we’ve worked with remotely for quite sometime or talked on the phone before. They say putting a name to the face makes conversations alive. 

From the late 1990s till 2009, I worked with many colleagues and clients all over the world remotely. I worked or spoke on the phone with them for a number of years without seeing what they looked like. In those days smart devices and social media have not yet exist, if they began to exist it wasn't widely used.

I had one story to share: one day, someone, a tax expert, from our headquarters (in Geneva) whom I worked with for tax-related matters for countless projects for almost 10 years came to Sydney, and one of his intentions was to meet me in person. 

The day came. In the first hour he stepped into our office he requested to be brought to where I was in the office. At last, face-to-face we met after so long; we chatted away about this and that, and planned for a dinner. It was while we walked toward the dinner place that he told me that he was surprised to see what I looked like (in terms of age). He'd imagined me someone older, perhaps in late forties or fifties (I was in my late thirties then). He assumed I must be in that maturity age range because of the way I demonstrated my professionalism all this time. Nevertheless, it was a very happy occasion; seeing him in person made a great impact. To this day, I still happily remember him as one of the most enjoyable persons to work with even when working on most complicated matters (i.e. cross-countries taxes)!

Now, about professionalism. We talk about it endlessly, sometimes thoughtlessly. Expect it, demand it to be in every one and in every business. But can anyone describe it eloquently – what is actually professionalism?

I often wonder myself. 

Professionalism could mean different thing to different people. Perhaps, it is easier to answer it, if we allegorically imagine “professionalism” as a human being. What does “he/she” look like?

Again, describing what professionalism looks like can be as abstract as describing love. But not to Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430). He can describe what love looks like vividly: What does love look like?  
 It has the hands to help others.
 It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.
 It has eyes to see misery and want.
 It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.
That is what love looks like.

Brilliant and timeless description. To me it can also be a perfect description for professionalism.

If you look at it closely: the work of the hands and feet is related to discipline and commitment, while the work of the eyes and ears is referring to empathy.

If I may elaborate further – the work of the hands and feet is the task of management, to get things done, and done well; while the work of the eyes and ears is the role of leadership, to understand the human side of work and businesses.

In business – nowadays, everyone in business is in “service” business – it is a mere lip-service if it is without discipline and commitment. And without empathy, it is no less than the business of capitalists or utilitarians. In both settings, professionalism is either deform or no form and face altogether.  Any one with skills or talents will never flourish working in and for such businesses.

What does professionalism look like, then?

Borrowing from St Augustine's description on what love looks like, this is what professionalism looks like to me:

It has the hands to work and deliver commitment with diligence and discipline.
It has feet to hasten to guide, support others in the team, and foster team spirit – bring out the best in    them and do something great together.
It has eyes to see if others are overburdened with work and in need of relieve, or emotional support.
It has the ears to hear their issues, difficulties, and challenges, and deal with them kindly.

Perhaps you prefer the description that St Augustine gives about love for professionalism to mine. Go ahead and do likewise. After all, professionalism and love do look alike, don't they! So, go forward unafraid even in these tough times, even if you just lost your job or your business, show your professionalism. I am sure with such an attitude you shall find it again. For whatever you do, you will do it well. Someone like you will be sought-after!

On reading the article I recently published, entitled "Intellectual Journey: Somewhere, where your value lies..." intellectual-journey-somewhere-where-your-value-lies.html one reader, Jennifer, who just entered into a workforce a month ago, sent me comments. She told me how the article aroused her mind and started to look at her situation at her workplace: She viewed her work environment as pleasant. Her colleagues were fun. This made her feel comfortable. 
 
Then she began to feel cautious about her getting too comfortable:  I am worried I would want to work here for a long time and never learn new things, let alone improve my skills.
 
She has the point. Many people – already in their 50s or almost in their retirement age – never change job. They only do one thing – their first, and is going to be, their last job – at one place, in the only company they’ve ever worked for. By the time they realised, it’s just too hard to start a new thing again.
 
Why did they do that in the first place?
 
Precisely. That’s what Jennifer has anticipated. They are too comfortable, until they are afraid of doing something new in their career-life. They are chained to their one and only role for life!
 
The next question is – are they happy? 
 
Not all of them. Happiness is very subjective. 
 
Perhaps, the right question would be: Is what they do meaningful? Had they reached their potential – by making use the best of their talents?
 
A most possible answer would be: Not really. It is only a job, and it helps pay the bills. 
 
That’s right. They see themselves only as “making a living” machine. Talents and knowledge have no place in their working life. To them only money speaks. 
 
Sadly, they’ve missed the boat, as Franklin D. Roosevelt says: Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.
 
“I am afraid I will be too comfortable. They are too nice”.
There’s nothing wrong being too comfortable. And certainly, it is something to be thankful for to have nice people around the office. Nice people are getting fewer in the world that is too crowded and materialistic. If such thought arises, they can always remind themselves: What would I value most in my life at work?
 
If they value knowledge and experience, in order to grow, then they must ever-ready to explore and make this as their higher purpose at work. Not necessarily keep changing organisations, but like young sailors on a ship destined to sail on uncharted sea, they must keep their mind open and learning spirit aglow. Those with such a mindset will sense when is the time to grow branches, and nurture their tree of learning.
(Note: I worked for one organisation for more than 15 years, but undertaking roles and projects that  required well-rounded skills, in multiple regions, and stationed in three different countries)
 
The other comment that Jennifer made was: Perhaps, someday, I too will not be able to resist the temptation of pursuing material value. 
 
Again, there’s nothing wrong with that. What makes it unhealthy is that when they start focussing on it and forgetting that material value only last for a time, and worst it never satisfies the mind. 

Saint Pope John Paul II counsels young people that through our work we don’t simply make more, instead we become more. We use work to shape us, refine us, help us uncover our gifts, and make us a better person day by day (Andreas Widmar, The Pope and The CEO).
 
Becoming more: Armed with well-rounded skills, opportunity seeks us
Perhaps young professionals in their blooming youth argue: But I need more (and more money), my needs (and wants) are increasing!  
 
Sure thing! In this enticing, consumerist world – who isn’t untouched by such temptation? 
 
Still, don’t be easily provoked by it. Be wise in making the decision and don’t be deceived. Whenever you can, resist the temptation for changing job just for the sake of more money.

I came to understand this truth from experience: When we learn – especially on-the-job – subjects or skills that are complementing and reinforcing, we acquire well-rounded skills. And when we do the work (no matter how ordinary) that uses these combined skills naturally we will bring outstanding result. 
 
If we do this consistently, and sprinkle that with passion, honesty, and integrity – I bet you – giving our best is not hard at all. In fact, it’s our second nature, and it becomes our “hallmark”.

​In this hyperconnected world, it’s not impossible that the outstanding works we constantly do spread out among our associates in our industry. If that happens, we don’t really need to seek opportunity. Opportunity seeks us! Along with it, usually, is a career advancement topped with sweet incentive. 
 
Sounds fantastic? 

How would I know, I do the right thing?
In an inexperienced mind another question might arise: How would I know, I do the right thing?

Well, I am not trained to read someone’s future.

But one way to do this is, by questioning oneself: Would I be more if I take that job, or “only” to make more? 

However, if the answer is to be more and also to make more – then this really is a rare case when someone out there has truly valued your expertise, therefore offered you something that you deserved to receive. 
 
If so, what are you waiting for? Go and get it!

Stay connected.
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​Sometime ago, I came across a story retold by the late Archbishop of New York, Fulton J. Sheen, it goes: One day some horsemen were crossing a dessert; they stopped at an oasis for a drink. Suddenly out of nowhere there was a voice: “Fill your pocket with pebbles. Tomorrow you will be sad and glad.” They obeyed the voice. The next day, they found in their pocket the pebbles have turned into diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and the precious kinds. They were glad. But they were also sad. Why?

They didn’t take more! That’s what happened with education, skills, and knowledge. We place a low priority on attaining it.  Even if we have it, we don’t take much effort in putting it into good use to let it grow and mature. We are not used to with a slow process to let it turn into remarkable competence and experience. How ignorant are we of its great value! 

SUCCESS – HOW DO YOU DEFINE IT?
Nowadays, that’s the attitude of most of young and very talented individuals. To them success is defined as attaining big job, fame, and deep pocket instantly. Do you want to make use of their talents? Allure them with such things – you’ll get them easily. Their inexperienced minds are unable to see beyond worldliness and material values. How shallow is the river of their views! To them the quicker they acquire success in the measure of material values the brighter they perceive their future is. Unfortunately, that’s is not so.  

SOMETHING MEANINGFUL 
What makes one’s career exciting and what one does meaningful is not doing the work that uses only technical skill or the know-how, but also its complementary know-why – an experience-based skill that is acquired overtime through patient learning in pursuit of excellence. However, unless someone who has sailed over seven seas shows them the way, these young and talented individuals will be forever misguided and never reached their true potential.

INTELLECTUAL JOURNEY – LOOK AT SUCCESS BEYOND WORLDLY MEASURE
For this purpose, on Wednesday, 22 May 2019, I was invited to attend an evening gathering and asked to give an inspirational talk by PT. Adicipta Carsani Ekakarya (ACE) www.ace.co.id, the centre excellence of PT Adicipta Inovasi Teknologi www.ad-ins.com – a 19-year old ICT company specialising in creating and developing web-based system for multi-finance business.

In that wonderful evening – attended by 30 millennials: software coders, developers, programmers, a software trainer; HR and operations team, and two senior management leaders of PT ACE –I took them on a journey: An intellectual journey that helped them look at the world and success not in material sense, but in values that are beyond measure. How?

My 20-year experience in the global ICT business arena concludes that when embarking on a new job, their focus should not on the monetary offer (only) but how their contribution at work be valued; and if they will be given opportunities to learn new things, while putting their raw skills and talents into good use till they become perfect.

And when the number of digits in their salary offer is more appealing than the importance of turning their skills into great competence, they should step back and ask their inner-self: where does my true value lie? And remember that they should fill their pocket with “pebbles” that someday will turn into uncorrupted treasure of knowledge – for this is key to thrive and rising to higher level in this competitive environment.

That evening was only a brief talk but my sincere thanks to ACE’s senior leadership team: Djimmy and Daniel, for inviting me to their gathering and introducing me to (some of) their millennial team.

My hope is that from now on they will look at success from a different point of view, and start to live a life at their work in a completely new way.

​All the best. May our intellectual journey go on. 

Till our next voyage!

Photos Credit: Fourteena would like to thank Daniel for his "hidden" talent in taking these photos with excellent quality.

Stay connected. 
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​ TO BE PROFESSIONAL in every way is not just for those who wear smart suits and sit in a fancy office of a high rise building with the latest smart phone -- flying in and out attending many customer meetings, here and there.

PROFESSIONALISM is even much more needed to serve others in need, in a hospital environment as doctors, nurses, front-office staff, marketing, and other back-office functions such as hospital administrators, HR, finance, logistics, laboratory, and so on ...

INTELLECTUAL JOURNEY
Today (Wednesday, 29 May 2019), I took 13 key team members of Rosela Hospital (Karawang, West Java, Indonesia) from cross-functional roles on an intellectual journey: making them explore within themselves what it takes to be a professional that delivers excellent services for others.

And I reminded them that Rosela Hospital is not a green building by the main road of Karawang City. Rosela Hospital is its people -- its skills, experience and capability -- sweetly packed and displayed in their professionalisms!

RECONNECT WITH THEMSELVES
In the journey, they also learned about themselves: assessing what their strengths are and what skills they need to make their strengths shine.  Example -- a doctor who knows all his/her medical stuff, but has no or weak skill in communication will not going to perform best. Or a nurse who knows all his/her nursing techniques but has no idea how to collaborate with others is not going to make a great team in an emergency department.

WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A PROFESSIONAL
Towards the end of the journey, they were able to spell out what it means and what it takes to be a professional. Some comments include: it takes alignment to collaborate in harmony with each other -- all across the board -- reaching the shared goals, changes the mindset -- from fixed to growth mindset, puts into practice what they've learned while keep on learning; knows not only the strengths but also weaknesses and eager to develop new skills to overcome the weaknesses. Ready to return to work with ever growing  spirit!

They also learned that to grow means to keep on learning and making Rosela Hospital a place of growing and learning, and serving with all their hearts!

All the best Rosela Team -- till we meet again for the next self-development and enhancement forum!​

Karawang, West Java
​Wednesday, 29 May 2019

In Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, Alice's adventure began when she saw a white rabbit and chased him till she fell down into a hole. In this "hole" -- down down down -- she met with sort of mischief characters and adventures. 

One of the characters she met was the Cheshire Cat. Alice asked the Cheshire Cat, who was sitting in a tree, “What road do I take?”

The cat asked, “Where do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
 
“If you don't know where you want to go, then it doesn't matter which path you take.” 

Aren't we all sometimes like this Alice? The Cheshire Cat was right, if we don't know where we want to go, any road we take wouldn't matter much. But when we are given a responsibility -- to lead a team, to generate a certain amount of revenues, or to start a new business opportunity -- not knowing where we want to go is a fine recipe for wasting time, effort, and money. 

Julie Zhuo -- the product design VP at Facebook who started her career at Facebook in 2006 as its first intern, promoted to a rookie manager in 2009 at the age of 25, and now she manages hundreds of people --  made strategy as one of her key areas of growth for her as a manager. 

She said in her recent article featured in MIT Sloan Review: ... “The core problem was that I didn’t really understand what strategy was. Because nobody had ever explained it to me, I figured that being strategic was simply engaging in high-level product and business discussions.”

Further she explained: “What a strategy actually entails is a set of actions designed to achieve a particular objective. It’s like a route designed to get you from point A to point B…”

Business Sense and Business Strategy
Unlike Julie, these five team members -- Yenny (HR leader), Nova (Sales leader), Shakina (Sales), Fahmi (e-Commerce) and Sandy (Technical) -- at PT Wira Arta Telematika (WAT), were very fortunate, they were given an opportunity to undertake a special coaching program on business strategy, since January 2019. This special coaching program, in six "one-on-one" sessions via a video call,  was a continuation of their previous coaching journey -- read their story here its-only-a-beginning-they-come-together-as-a-team.html

In this journey, while deepening their business sense, they experiencing interactive discussions on intertwined topics related to strategy that are relevant to their roles and responsibilities at work and to the business environment of PT WAT.

Strategy has never been an easy topic. Moreover, usually it will be the subject for senior management, directors, and C-suites.  But why is this idea for the core team and young professionals of PT WAT?

Because Agus TEH, the owner of PT WAT, wanted his team to be more creative and to let them lead from the bottom up. This in fact is very great idea, in this millennial age, millennial-employees are tended to be productive when they are embraced and became a co-creator of any new initiatives that companies may have. 

Beginning with understanding what strategy is -- and what is not --  why strategy is necessary to guide their business activities down to their personal objectives; using selective strategy frameworks -- they learned how to develop their own strategy. 

Understanding and creating a strategy is one matter, but turning their strategic initiatives into actions is a different matter. This coaching left nothing to chance. They were also trained to learn how execute the strategy and measure the results, how they know if they are going to be successful.

New skills and knowledge in strategy
Finally, a strategy, no matter how great if they can’t communicate it clearly, is useless. 

So, it was on Thursday, 2 May 2019, the team (unfortunately Nova and Sandy were unable to attend) demonstrated how to be a good communicator — communicating their strategy to their team members, to align with theirs in order to achieve their common objective.

In these three months, I've seen such tremendous development in them. Especially in their business sense and customer relationship skills. They, now, realise whatever they do at work must aim at contributing to achieving a shared goal, either directly or indirectly -- and that in itself can bring small and big impact to the business. 

FAHMI, who is responsible for WAT's e-Commerce business, who always had one-hundred-and-ten-ideas, but he didn't know that ideas must be turned into action -- and ideas must have a direction that lead to a goal -- a common goal. Understanding strategy has made him a more critical thinker and doer rather than "dreamer".

Delivering a great customer experience example is from SHAKINA, a sales executive, who learned in this Strategy Coaching that to be valuable she has to find what her products/ services uniqueness. To her this means her responsiveness. In fact this was acknowledged by a VP of her major customer, telling how he likes to deal with her, so responsive, that she will pick up the phone before it rings twice. 

Another example worth mentioning is from SANDY, a network technical engineer -- who used to be quite passive -- learning that creating an excellent external service for customer may lead to a revenue generation -- on one Saturday afternoon, Sandy received a WhatsApp message reporting a technical issue from one of WAT major customers, he didn't hesitate to follow up with a call, he even went extra mile by going down to the site to check the problem out. That Saturday, not only he solved the problem but he also found a new sales lead for his sales team.

While YENNY, the HR team leader at PT WAT, learning that a great company has a strong internal team -- a team that respect and support each other. As part of her strategic initiatives in creating excellent internal services, she encouraged and involved others in making a decision. She put that into action in the recent company's yearly outing, when the grand plan had to be altered due to the weather's issue, and a situation called for a quick decision, she assumed a leadership role -- successfully she solicited everyone's opinion, and together she led them made a happy decision.

And NOVA, as sales team leader, she used to have many things to do and want to do them all without realising that these may not have the same direction, if there was a direction at all -- in other words they are pretty disjointed activities. Understanding business strategy has sharpened the way she analysed the situation, worked and collaborated with her team smartly — creating a “value-creating activity” that her customers begin to see and appreciate. 

A gate to excellence
Most of them agreed that understanding the strategy not only helping them to be more focussed, but enabling them to see how their activities (internally and externally) at works are closely connected and intertwined. Therefore if each of them do his/her part well, the results are going to be amazing. 

I wish them all the very best, and may with their newly acquired skills and knowledge they can be more than what they think they are. And may like Alice their experience at work be a real adventure worth telling for many years to come!

My sincere thanks to Agus TEH, Managing Director of WAT, and to Imelda TEH, Finance Director of WAT, for trusting their valued team members to journey with Arc Australia Consulting since August 2018.

 Here are some pics from our final meeting on Thursday, 2 May 2019.

It’s already the nineteenth day of 2019, yet, it's never too late to say thank you.

Truly, 2018 has been a great year, seeing some of our friends reaching their potential, others finding their hidden skills and talents and putting them into good use and perform well!

One friend asked me: "What does actually Arc Australia Consulting stand for?"

I was rather stumbled at that question. I pondered it a while and traced back what I and Arc Australia Consulting have done since I created it in October 2012 so far.

Now, I can simply say, "People and knowledge. We enrich people's lives and enhance their values at work through knowledge."

Knowledge is the nourishment for the mind. My only hope is to see, they,  people whom I intellectually journey with, find purpose and meaning in their lives: whatever they do at work they find it worth doing, and whatever worth doing is worth doing well. 

Yes, that's our strength: People and knowledge. I nourish people's minds with good knowledge to enable them to do well and put the right use of their talents. And I inspire them to live a life to its fullness.

Echoing what the late Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines, says: "The Business of the business is people. Recognising them and honouring them as individuals ...". He believes in people -- he believes they are the key  to the enduring success of his company since its inception in the early 1970s. 

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF 2018
I've journeyed with 20 young professionals from PT Kairos Utama Indonesia (Kairos) and PT Wira Arta Telematika (WAT) through an executive coaching program while continuing my support to the team at Rosela Hospital on their accreditation process journey.

My exciting moments? Spending four-days behind a closed door helping WAT's CEO and Finance Director formulating their business strategy and charting a map for WAT's business' growth.

KICKING OFF THE NEXT COACHING JOURNEY
Next week (21 January 2019), a core team at WAT will be continuing their coaching journey with me with one goal: helping them achieve their 2019 business plan. 

And here are some GREAT MOMENTS in 2018 -- one year in Arc Australia Consulting's life (in reverse chronological order)

 “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all so much. You’ve made 2018 joyful and wonderful!"

Who can forget how an epic movie series of The Lord of the Rings begin to unfold? Well, it was all because one ring -- the Ring, that rules all (other twenty rings) -- that one daunting task falls on a young hobit Frodo. Frodo who inherits the ring had to bring it back to its origin, Mordor, to be "unmade". To be destroyed. Was he ever alone in his long and dangerous journey to Mordor?

I am sure we, who watched the movie or read the book, have no issue to remember, how nine sorts of individual stepped forward -- four hobbits; a future king; an elf; a prince; and a dwarf, and a wizard -- and united by one noble purpose, they pledged their service to guard Frodo to Mordor. Together they formed the "fellowship" of the ring. Was it the end? Of course, not! In fact, it was only the beginning of their long and winding journey. 

The fellowship at WAT
 It was purely coincidence that the management of PT Wira Arta Telematika/WAT (www.wiraarta.com) chose nine of its team members to carry out a journey -- an intellectual journey through an executive coaching program. 

These nine companions come from different backgrounds: three from sales, Nova, Shakina and Masfill; two from product management, Sifa and Fahmi; two technical, Jeckson and Sandy;  one HR, Yenny; and one from finance/accounting, Renita.

The journey begins. From September 2018 till November 2018, Fourteena of Arc Australia journeyed with them; once every two weeks they had a one-on-one meaningful conversation via a video conference with Fourteena to discuss their bi-weekly activity, share their highs and lows or express their personal as well as professional needs and receive well-thought out advice and be enlightened. 

The journey to unfold their hidden skills, qualities and knowledge
SIFA moved from a sales role into product management a year ago.  She has a strong product knowledge and a good relationship with principals but she didn’t have business acumen or “business sense”. She didn’t know the importance of connecting her product knowledge with business strategy or thinking strategically to find ways to help business performance by leveraging her product knowledge. 
She wanted to do more, but she had no idea what else can she did within her capacity.  The coaching helped her learn how to connect her product knowledge with business; work with the sales team to create activities to promote and sell products and services effectively in line with the company business objectives. 

NOVA, a newcomer at WAT since February 2018, was appointed as sales team leader with eight sales team members. She has a good sales management skill, but she was unaware the importance of establishing a good rapport through building a relationship with her team. Further, her lack of leadership skills made it difficult for her to unite eight of her team members as one. She didn’t realise that her and everyone’s performance is the “team” performance, not an individual achievement. The coaching taught her how to build a team spirit; turn an individual work into a collective effort; sharpen her leadership skills and become a “people’s person” – she also learned how to use her empathy and be a good listener. And most importantly how to appreciate her team – direct their collaborative efforts to achieve a common goal, make them feel that what they do matters and show that she sincerely cares. At the end of the coaching period she shared one good news that her team has achieved their business target. That's excellent, Nova!

The Great Duo
FAHMI whose expertise is in product management especially in e-Commerce worked independently. Being a quiet person and rather lacked of confidence, he had a difficulty to initiate conversations. In dealing with new business opportunity that needed his support, he wouldn’t mind to join a customer meeting but only at the beginning of the sales process, and the rest he’d rather work behind the desk and passively wait and see. Also, he was too self-centred and self-sufficient – he thought he needed no one to accomplish his work. It took him just a couple of coaching sessions to make him realise that being open and reaching out could work wonder. And during the rest of the coaching sessions, Fahmi was able to change his attitude and see that collaboration and team work are the way. Through collaboration with his team members he was able to be more creative and innovative in his undertaking and achieved a greater result. Not only that he found joy at work and was able to work in harmony with other team members, in fact because of this, his self-confidence also increased. 

MASFILL, a care-free sales person, worked independently. He never thought that he was part of a team, bigger than himself. No doubt, he was hardworking but the way he worked was aimless – he did his sales activity without planning and strategy; no sense of purpose and priority. In his sales undertaking, he relied more on relationship with his customers than his skills and selling strategy. Often being “too-customer-oriented”, he took thought-less actions in order to close the business – sounded un-professional. Sadly, he didn’t even know what professionalism was, let alone how to be professional. The coaching has transformed Masfill, from a care-free and thoughtless individual into a professional who built his new sales skills through his willingness to gain knowledge through diligent self-learning and collaboration with his team members, especially the product managers. In fact, just before the coaching period was ended, Masfill and Fahmi teamed up wonderfully, and two of them successfully closed a huge deal for one of Masfill’s major customers. 

Well done and many congratulations to Fahmi and Masfill, the great duo at WAT!

SHAKINA joined WAT as a sales person in July 2018; coming from the retail industry, she had no IT background and lacked of confidence in selling. No initiatives how to create a meaningful sales activity. Her daily sales activity started with making cold calls to any potential customers. Many of her calls were ignored. Her time wasted. Even if she had a positive response, she was unable to give accurate information, often, she made an “un-checked” commitment which she can’t deliver, creating an unpleasant reputation for herself.  Shakina was almost losing confidence, seeing her other colleagues performing while she was struggling. Through the coaching, Shakina learned how to manage and prioritise her accounts, be more selective in pursuing the business opportunities. Aside from that, Fourteena guided her how to be an insightful sales person and a team player; build a good relationship and trust with both customers and other team members at WAT. During the three months coaching period, Shakina’s performance improved drastically. Best of all, she achieved her first revenue target. That’s amazing, Shakina!

JECKSON is a technical leader with two engineers reporting to him. His leadership style was “command and control”. Being too task oriented, he hardly had meaningful conversation with his team, communication was limited only to give instructions or check the status of the work. Although his team members did a good job but he wouldn’t be able to bring the best in them. With such a command-and-control style, Jeckson limited his team’s creativity. The coaching changed the way he led his team; he instilled discipline and collaborative spirit, held a regular team meeting, became more attentive to his team’s needs, encouraged them to take initiatives and trusted them. In such a short time, this approach brought a great result – not only that his team members became more responsive and pro-active, but also took their responsibility seriously. 

SANDY, a passionate and talented engineer, confessed that he was a very reserved person; he didn’t know how to communicate well. This affected his work. When invited to customer meetings, he found it hard to express his thoughts articulately. It made it even harder as he never learned the importance of being well prepared in those meetings. He just turned up. This affected his confidence. How he wanted to be confident and know the “secret” how to build relationship with anyone. Through the coaching he learned how to prepare well in a meeting and express his thoughts with confident. And before the coaching period was ended, Sandy has found the “secret” how to initiate a meaningful conversation as a means to build relationship with anyone: customers, team mates as well as friends outside his working environment -- and this made him a happy and confident person.

RENITA is responsible for accounting- and finance-related duties; she does many unrelated work activities from generating invoices, book-keeping, managing account payable and receivable, to preparing documentation for tax purposes and so on. Unfortunately, she didn’t organise her work well. Being disorganised, she was not able to handle multi-tasks. When multiple urgent works were suddenly presented to her, she easily got panicked. Even her thoughts were scattered – she can’t communicate effectively. The coaching helped her how skilfully organise and prioritise her work in order to manage her time well and overcome her panicked mood. Further, she learned how to communicate effectively by focusing on the purpose, organising her thoughts and expressing them logically both in writing and speaking; and how to develop a listening as well as a writing skill. Now, Renita is able to cope with her work very well. Never panicked. In fact, she became more creative and pro-active, even her boss noticed this difference!

YENNY, the first HR staff at WAT, is responsible for all HR-related matters. She has a sense of working purpose, good at managing her work, and also has a good knowledge in HR administration and management. However, she lacked of people’s skill. When dealing with conflict, she was not able to dig deeper and take a closer look at the behaviour of someone who was involved in the conflict or causing a certain issue; assess if the behaviour was professional- or personal-driven; or as an impact of business process- or operational-issue. Through the coaching sessions, Yenny learned how to be more assertive through listening with heart to improve her ability to discern people’s behaviour, motivation, and intention; and learned how to take the right course of action that is objective, transparent, and efficient.  

The nine companions. Coming together as a team
The three-month coaching period has just ended on 29 November 2018. These nine individuals – like the nine companions in The Lord of the Rings -- have come together as a team -- united by one shared purpose, to build the future of WAT to be a "capability-rich" company, here and now. It is only a beginning.The road to success is still far ahead of them – but travelling together as a team will make it all the difference, ...in fact, a great business strategy that is very, very hard to duplicate also starts here.

Echoing what Henry Ford says: 
                                         Coming together is a beginning
                                         Keeping together is progress
                                         Working together is success …

Arc Australia Consulting wishes Sifa, Nova, Masfill, Fahmi, Jeckson, Sandy, Renita and Yenny the very best: "May the work of their hands flourish and bloom like roses in their hands!"​

Every enterprise needs to know where it is heading. And it needs a map. Not any map but a strategy map! 

STRATEGY FORMULATION PROCESS. For four days (24-28 July), using clear analysis, intellectual frameworks and  interview approach, Fourteena of Arc Australia worked with Agus Teh, Managing Director of PT Wira Arta Telematika along with Imelda Teh, its Finance Director, guiding them through the strategy formulation process, in order to develop a comprehensive and concise business growth strategy blueprint for PT Wira Arta Telematika, an ICT company founded in 2001 — specialises in networking and security — based in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

MISSION INTO ACTION. Creating a strategic plan is one thing, making it happen is another. Fourteena also helped Agus and Imelda communicate the newly created strategy to all their team members in their first “all-hands” meeting held on Thursday, 2 August 2018.

BEING PART OF WIRA ARTA -- group presentations. In addition, Fourteena encouraged Wira Arta team to present in their own words, what it means to be part of Wira Arta. How they should contribute to the success of Wira Arta, here and now.

EVER FORWARD & ALL WAS FUN! It’s been a real joy working with Agus and Imelda and their team members at PT Wira Arta Telemetika. They are now ready to embark on a journey towards the bright future of Wira Arta Telematika, here and now. Ever forward...

Many thanks from Arc Australia Consulting!
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​Jakarta, 24 July - 2 Aug 2018

About PT Wira Arta Telematika www.wiraarta.com
​It is a growing ICT company, specialises in networking and security. Founded in 2001, Wira Arta has its proven existence, known for its technical excellence, local resources and cost-effective solutions. 

Supported by its technology partners such as Cisco, Juniper, Fortinet, and other market leaders in networking and security devices, since 2001, Wira Arta has delivered custom, smart, and proven solutions for businesses that span multiple markets and industries.

​

Delivering outstanding performance not only takes technical skills but also requires collaboration spirit from team members with certain qualities. 

Unfortunately, someone’s qualities aren’t always on display. Only professionals with great leadership mind bother to find out what their team members’ qualities are. How? Through meaningful conversations. In fact through it, they also connect people, and together they create a collaborative environment where the team's qualities can be put to their best use. 

In August 2017, the management of PT. Kairos Utama Indonesia, an IT outsourcing company and a Microsoft Gold Partner in Indonesia, for the second time selected 11 of their valued team members to be coached for three months (21 August to 21 Nov 2017) by Fourteena of Arc Australia.

These chosen 11 were all hard-working professionals; their ultimate goals were entirely on results: meeting deadlines, revenues, KPIs, or improving customer satisfaction, etc. Were they successful? They were. But they can't be forever pursuing results as individual contributors when they have others under their responsibilities. If they keep doing so, at some point they will be exhausted.

Indeed, at the beginning of the coaching stage, some of them felt lost, less motivated, and incapable; some didn’t know anymore what to do to get their own and their team performance better. Others thought good was enough. Day in day out, they carried out their routines for a purpose that they themselves cannot spell out. 

​This article features their journey to change: from individual contributors into leaders and effective team leaders or managers.

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Building relationship is critical to achieve sustained team performance.
ANDREW leads finance and HR teams. He’d been frustrated by the way his colleagues responded to his requests for any information needed to complete his work. It takes two to tango! For he only relied on emails and rarely engaged in conversations with others, let alone facilitate meaningful discussions, even though they were only a few desks away. What was in his mind? He thought he’d done his best by sending reminders. Result? His reminders mostly ignored and to him work became a boring routine. 

The coaching opened his eyes: it takes more than emails to get the work done; it takes an open heart to take the first step and initiate a friendly “hello”. 

“I realise that relationship must be built not through emails but good, face-to-face communication,” concluded Andrew.  That’s it! By end of the coaching period Andrew found that a real conversation did make his work more enjoyable. 

NATALIA, as a senior HR staff,  her responsibilities include recruiting, organizing a corporate learning, and looking after the welfare of all staff at Kairos. 

However, often, Natalia, boxed people in; she didn’t develop the cultures of inclusiveness, of openness and of team work: she was only comfortable to talk or work with those whom she thought she could get along with. For this, she was seen as someone who had no empathy, unfriendly and inefficient.  

The coaching inspired Natalia to be a better person. She became a friendly person: she took effort to greet others and initiate an open and honest conversations; she even embraced differences. Soon she realised that each person offered something special, thus her/his need and "story" was worth listening; and through the conversations she found solutions to people's issues. Natalia has developed not only communication skills (including listening), but she also learned how to understand people. 

Broaden knowledge through pro-activeness
As a finance analyst, NANI is tasked to prepare financial-related reports and generate invoices. She had no idea how to present her reports beyond showing her Excel spreadsheet. To her, figures were merely data to be placed on the correct side of a balance sheet and giving presentations increased her anxiety. She never realised it took more than Excel spreadsheet to interpret the numbers into business language understood by audience without a finance background. The coaching inspired her to be pro-active and creative in finding qualitative support information either through talking with other team members or reviewing the commercial agreements herself. 

Six weeks into the coaching period, Nani’s new style of reporting and presentation impressed her management. Her knowledge broaden: she knew how to link data with business performance -- this made her report meaningful and presentation compelling. Toward the end of the coaching, Nani was not only able to coach her junior colleague but also appointed by her management to overseeing the finance department of one of Kairos’ subsidiary companies. 

From individual contributor into effective leaders and managers
DIAN, sales manager with three sales members, was skilful in forging relationship with customers; but sadly, she didn’t employ the same effort with her own team. Achieving the revenue target was her only focus. Even when it meant she closed the sales herself – “to speed up the deal” she said – rather than giving her team the chance to try their best.  Team building activities such as sales review meetings or account management development were hardly conducted. Though she constantly delivered the sales target, however if this situation continued, soon, Dian, who positioned herself as the backbone of the sales team, will be worn out, and the sales activities at Kairos become stagnant.

The coaching helped Dian see clearly that all along she acted as a “lone ranger” and an individual contributor. The impacts were negative. As they suppressed the growth of her team and blocked her own path into leadership and management roles. 

One good news is – just before the coaching ended, Dian was able to move away from her old mindset and determined to restore her sales team.

KRISNA leads four (4) divisions: infrastructure, internal IT, Data center operations, Operation support – with more than fifty (50) team members both full-time and contract-based staff. Krisna had been too focused on his own work. Hardly he spent time with his team. His four divisions operated in silos. Occasionally his team member approached him for help, but only for solving technical problems. 

Krisna felt there was “something missing”. He didn’t know it was more than “something”. It was a huge gap that disconnected him from his team members. The coaching helped him see what he needed first and foremost: building relationship with his team, tapping into their potentials, and molding them into a winning team. Like Dian, Krisna realized that it was mandatory for him to change his mindset – from a competent contributor into management and leadership roles.

Krisna, who since the beginning of the coaching has started exercising his leadership combined with management skills at the end of the coaching session said: “I am now ready to expand my team and lead them with confident.” That’s the spirit, Krisna!

TOMO is responsible for managing 11 support team based at the customer site. Daily, Tomo and his team were very occupied in the attempt of fixing errors. They worked independently. Some of his less-experienced team members often struggled alone – frustrated, they became less motivated; usually with heavy heart they agreed to take on more tasks. As team leader, Tomo only prioritized his own work; he didn’t cultivate a collaborative and learning culture. 

Through coaching, Tomo found his new self, leaving behind his old way of working and stepping into management and leadership roles: earnestly he gave special attention to the needs of his team members – both technical and personal, including developed their technical skills. The result was remarkable. 

Before the coaching period was ended, Tomo gained trust, respect, and fellowship; this resulting in astounding team-work spirit: his team members became enthusiastic at work to the extent of willing to stay late when duty calls. They worked more efficiently and were always cheerful. Even the customer saw the changes and they too were happy. Good work, Tomo!

ICHWAN has four (4) team members reporting to him. His role is both managing support and delivering project(s). He was dis-organised in the support area – this was understood as it had no established process. He was not in the habit of holding a team meeting. His team worked alone while he himself was always on-the-move and had no time to manage or oversee his team’s activities; or develop his team technical skills. 

Before the coaching,  Ichwan hardly had a meaningful communication with his team members let alone building a team spirit. Team performance review was not existed. He had no idea how his team delivering their support services. No performance monitoring. No means of giving them appreciation or sense of pride.

The coaching opened a new way of managing and leading his team. Determined to be a good role model, Ichwan instilled discipline in himself and become organised: he scheduled a weekly meeting and created a tool that help him track his team activities. And as a newly born leader he also spent time with his team to develop their skills through team building and knowledge sharing. Just before the coaching was ended not only his team's spirit renewed but their technical skills were also improved. They enthusiastically support each other -- when Ichwan was not around, they were able to back him up. And now, they are more than ready to improve their performance as well.

"The coaching made me see the big problem is not big enough, because we can solve it as a team," said Ichwan.

Trust and friendship bringing their projects back on track
ARIE, a system analyst with a team of nine developers and one technical writer, undertook a complex project with 12-month delivery period. His challenges were keeping the project on track and his team committed. He did his best, but inevitably in the middle of the project execution three of his developers left and this disrupted the project progress. 

At the beginning of the coaching program, Arie was losing his confidence. What’s more one of his newly joined team members thought the project was too complex and wanted to quit shortly after his assignment. 

The coaching helped Arie understand what was lacking. Guided by Fourteena, he was able to form a close relationship and develop a collaborative spirit with his team. In a short while he gained trust and friendship. Apart from getting back his confidence, he also discovered new skills in leadership, team management, and persuasion. Even the new member who was about to quit decided to stay and wanted to be part of his team again in the next project. Best of all, he kept the project on track! 

AGNI, a project manager with 14 team members comprising system analysts and programmers. His team undertook multiple projects concurrently.  Like Arie, his main difficulties were keeping his projects on track and his team interested. About 30% of his projects always delayed. Despite good planning and control he employed, in the midst of project delivery certain members of his team always distracted – they became less motivated, lack of disciplines, moreover tired with the routines they no longer took deadlines seriously. 

Though he regularly scheduled a team meeting, but it was strictly to review the project progress or solving technical issues. He held no meaningful dialogues, took no notice of   any emotional concerns. The coaching opened Agni’s eyes that building strong relationship and giving each of his team member a sincere attention were the only ways to overcome his chronic issues. 

Infusing the sense of belonging to an "invisible" team
NIA, a team leader for Operation Support Vendor, IT (OSV-IT), manages about 42 support service staff; employed on a contract basis and stationed at a client’s 25 branches throughout Indonesia. Team performance had been good. However, being located off-site and previously managed by a former support vendor (took over by Kairos in 2014), this team didn’t have a sense of belonging. 

To Kairos management, the OSV-IT team were invisible and vice versa. The management only “heard” their performance through Nia’s monthly report.  Overtime, this could affect their team spirit and impact their service quality to the client.  Therefore, integrating the OSV-IT team into Kairos’ family was critical, as this will give Kairos management a visibility into her team performance and an opportunity to provide leadership and directions, and most importantly recognize their good work. 

For some time, Nia had no confidence and ideas what to do to bring them closer. With Fourteena’s guidance and encouragement, Nia’s confidence developed and ideas emerged. During the coaching period Nia successfully facilitated two site visits by the Kairos senior management and organised six members of her team to sign their contract renewals at Kairos’ head-quarters. A sense of belonging was no longer an issue.

Technical skills alone are not enough ... it takes a good sense of humanity also
ARIF, a newly promoted system analyst, worked with six developers and undertook three projects concurrently. Unfortunately, one of his projects had been long overdue. This was due to lack of project control and the departure of his main contributors in the midst of project execution.  

Though he knows well how to create a solution and allocate tasks but he didn’t set strict timelines and milestones. With his customer, he didn’t know how to say “no”: he kept taking additional features without adjusting timelines (man-days) or applying additional charges.

Relationship with his team members was very task-oriented, he never paid attention on his team’s feelings. His team worked quietly as they were told -- no interactions among them.

Through the coaching sessions with Fourteena, Arif began to see, being a team leader didn’t mean that he must “know it all” and "command and control". Instead he should create a culture of openness where he welcome inputs and ideas from everyone in his team. He started to have a regular meeting and facilitate a lively conversations in which everyone participated.

As a result, his team members felt understood and valued; they were more committed to the project and worked not only efficiently but happily. Finding the spirit of leadership in himself, Arif’s confidence improved; he even no longer hesitant to say “no” to his customer. 

At the end of the coaching, Arif shared: “I know that despite all of technical skills required to complete a project, there’s also a soft skill – a good sense of humanity –  that help me complete the work with good result”. That’ wonderful, Arif. You got it! 

Nothing is too difficult 
Well, nothing is too difficult for those who are willing to excel. It takes only a willing heart, an open mind, and determination to put into action what they've learned. In three months these 11 professionals discovered new capabilities. They no longer focusing only on the goals but most importantly, also on  people to achieve those goals together! Yes, together!

Once again, many congratulations to them all ...
Read the previous Kairos team's journey: a-transformation-moment-all-they-need-is-just-a-little-light.html