Saturday activity

This is how I look and feel last Saturday morning.


Depressing...

It's supposed to be my precious day off... but some wise guys my day job management decided to have a team building course at Marriott Putrajaya.

Normally I start work at 8am, but because it's a team building activity, ALL employees were required to be at the office by 7.45am to take the bus to Putrajaya together. Attendance was compulsory...*sigh*


At the entrance of Marriott- note that we had to wear the company shirts.



The course was conducted by this Dato' Lawrence Chan Kum Peng of Personal Development Leadership Management Corporation (M) Sdn. Bhd(he claimed that he didn't buy the Datukship).


Dato' Chan and his team



We were each given a workbook and the first page he blew his own horn listed his accolades. Besides being an author of some best selling books, he is the recipient of numerous outstanding awards including: -

• Top Sales Achievement Award (USA) in 1972.
• Best Sales and Training Consultant Award (USA) in 1973.
• Distinguished Leadership Award (USA) in 1984.
• "The Outstanding Young Malaysian" Award in 1985 by Junior Chamber Malaysia and Business Times as the main sponsor.
• Silver Medal of Honor for Outstanding Achievement and Dedication to Personal and Professional Goals (USA) in 1984.
• Inductee of the world famous "Hall-of-Fame for Distinguished Leaders" (USA) in 1986.
• Certificate of World Leadership (Cambridge, England) in 1987.
• Honours List of International Leaders in Achievement in 1988, Cambridge, England.
• The very prestigious "Certified Speaking Professional (C.S.P.)" Designation (first and only Asian to be awarded) by the National Speakers Association, USA in July 1988. This designation is awarded to certain dedicated professionals with proven track records of continuing speaking excellence. There are only 300 professional speakers and trainers in the world who have earned this professional designation.
• The title "Most Admired Man of the Decade" by the American Biographical Institute, USA in 1992.
• The "World Life-time Achievement" Award by the American Biographical Institute, USA in 1993.
• Due to his outstanding services and contributions to numerous Malaysians, Society and Country in April, 1995, The Sultan of Perak and the 9th King of Malaysia, Sultan Azlan Shah, on his 67th birthday conferred the "DARJAH DATO' PADUKA MAHKOTA PERAK (D.P.M.P.)" which carries the very prestigious title of Dato' to him.
• In December 1997, the International Biographical Association, Cambridge England, honoured him with the title "The International Man of the Year 1997".
• He was conferred the Fellowship Award of Institute of Marketing Malaysia presented by Her Royal Highness Sultanah Hajjah Kalsom, The Sultanah of Pahang.
• In January 2004, he was appointed as an Advisor of Institute of Marketing Malaysia by Dato' Seri Rafidah Aziz, Minister of International Trade and Industry
  

Sounds quite powderful impressive.

Anyhow, the main activities are actually playing some specific games to boost the coorperation among the colleagues. We were divided into 6 teams: Achievers, Best, Champion, Dynamic, Excllence, First and we were given the choice to rename ourselves. Being in team Best, it was quite natural that we re-christened ourselves BEST OF THE BEST. Some were more adventurous with names like Flaming Champion, Dynamites Team, Soaring Eagles and Funstatic 18(sounds quite adult-orientated). Team Achievers decided to stick with the name. We also had to make our own flag and do our own battle cry/cheer(typical part of team building).


Our flag- it does look like we're selling kacang hor...

I wasn't involved in making the flag but for the battle cry, a couple of the team mates were asking me for ideas. So I try to incorporate the Maori Haka(inspired by the BODYCOMBAT® 13 cooldown) into our batter battle cry. After showing them what I had in mind, they thought it was a bit too hard for the old people in the team complicated for everyone. So I modified it into something easier which went:

Best of the Best(hands hitting the elbows like the cooldown- no wide leg stance anymore)
We'll pass all test(raising right hand to the side)
We're always the Best(two thumbs up)
And we'll beat the rest!!!(right fist onto the left palm while stomping the right foot)

Actually this is the revised version. The original version I suggested was:

Best of the Best
We'll beat the rest
We''ll pass the test
and whip their ass!!

Too bad the team couldn't appreciate such poetry and it was shot down.


I was asked to lead the cheer...

To cut the story short, at the end of the day we were truly the BEST OF THE BEST. We had 5 games to play and the only two games we didn't do that well were the first and the last while the remaining games we basically whipped the other teams' arses rear ends. Flaming Champions ended last, Achievers didn't achieve much, Soaring Eagles failed to soar, while the Dynamites blasted themselves away. The stiffest challenge came from Funtastic 18 but eventually we just showed them how to have fun and still win.


We are the BEST OF THE BEST!!

Overall, I think it's a wonderful effort to get EVERYONE together, but MUST WE DO IT ON A SATURDAY? By the time I went back home it was almost 10pm, never mind how the good the food was. I was SO hoping the country manager would announce that the winning team will get one day off on Monday...