Karaoke rules!
I didn’t realise when I came to East Asia that I would be asked to sing quite so much – in South Asia one is expected to sing, especially with communities who use songs as a means of communicating important messages, and so I had one song – Ten Green Bottles (if you don’t know it google it – its simple, without much of a tune and everyone can join in….) which I brought out on request.
But here in East Asia it is a different ask – pick a tune (but it has to be on the computer), stand on a stage, read the words from a TV screen whilst at the same time trying to make it look like you are comfortable with hearing your voice through a microphone. But what I learnt from my recent experience at the RC staff retreat, is that you can do almost anything with the right kind of support – being part of a team should give you the kind of support you need to try anything. So me singing ‘knowing me knowing you’ IS possible with the backing support of my colleagues! and of course some humour added into the mix helps everyone feel better (well done Cherian!)
So as we go into a period of change I want to put into practice my karaoke rule – try something new and different, even if it’s not comfortable, with the support of your colleagues!
Oh, and do more karaoke!
Have a great month,
Sarah
Dear All,
What should we do with all that inspiration?
I meet inspiring people every day, they have the ability to focus my thinking, help me understand situations, keep me motivated and make me cry.
David and I visited the South of Thailand last week, and met a number of people who are really making a difference. A widow from the conflict who has started her own Batik business as a way of getting herself out of the house and now she sells all over Thailand, a professor from Prince of Songkla University, the first University graduate from his village, who is now supporting his community based fishery business, a woman who lost her son in the conflict who has done interviews on TV and works with community radio telling her story so that others will understand the impact of conflict.
Each are leaders in their own way, each has used their experience to benefit others and have turned challenging and difficult experiences into a positive.
I see Oxfam staff who are also inspiring too. Staff who really believe in the values and commitments of Oxfam – who want to role model them and take them into their everyday life. Staff who work long and hard to try and achieve the best quality programming they can. Team work, commitment and effective communication are all hallmarks of Oxfam staff.
With SMS we are entering a period of change, I do think the vision for SMS is inspiring and what we are trying to achieve will bring greater impact to poor people.
I know that sometimes we will look at these changes in a ‘not-so -positive’ way – because its difficult, will take time, will take more work , may not achieve what we hope – But we need to turn our thinking around, and be inspired by all those people who are really inspiring, and have turned a negative into a positive. We also need to role model this and ensure that SMS is at the centre of our thinking, planning and communication.
Bejamin Zander encourages us to look at everything as an opportunity (do watch the video link below) Benjamin Zander – Art of Possibility clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTav0D3YIN4
and so lets use all that inspiration to make things happen.
Have a great month!
Sarah
Happy New Year everyone!
So I am almost back at my desk after a wonderful holiday with my family in the UK – you maybe heard about the snow – it was amazing and turned everything into a quiet white wonderland – my family’s house is at the top of a hill and so we were stuck at the top for 4 days until we could get the cars out – I loved it but my mum was frustrated as she wanted to do last minute Christmas shopping!
I believe this will be a year of opportunity – in the Gender Leadership Programme we were talking about opportunities – often we have to make our own opportunities, ensure that we look at situations positively, look for the good angles of things that happen to us – have a positive outlook (hard sometimes I know) but it really does open up challenges and choices and we have to decide whether to take them or not.
For me personally, I have some goals for this year – practice my diving (have already done 2 dives this month), run more often and faster (I have done one 10k race in the UK this year and will be in Lumpini Park on Saturday morning running a 10k for Cancer Care) and tackle a half marathon (later in the year), climb Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia, my sister is coming to Cambodia for 2 months to work as a child care assistant and so for once she will be close by (I must make the most of her) and learn to sail – so that’s how my holidays and weekends will be spent!
So what about work – well done everyone for all you achieved over the past year – we have made so much progress – in our programmes and systems. Our priorities continue to be building programme quality and as the Regional Centre we must continue to work hard at supporting country programmes – providing the best quality support we can. I know I can rely on your hard work and commitment.
I expect us to continue to work well together as a team ,support and share and communicate – so remember, I can’t read minds – if there is something you want me to know, please tell me!
Your feedback is always welcome!
All the very best,
Sarah
Despite having studies contemporary religion at University – to be honest I don’t think about religion that much in my everyday life – that doesn’t mean I don’t believe but I am not a institutional practicing believer…. But recently I went to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel (OPT/I) for our Programme Leadership Team meeting and there world religions collide – you are forced to think about and confront issues which you think you have considered but really know nothing about. Oppression, discrimination, prejudice, fear. In East Asia we expect natural disasters, events we can prepare for but can not stop – but what I saw in OPT/I was people pitched against people making their own personal disasters. Liveihoods destroyed, communities divided, movement restricted, lives lost. It is difficult not to make judgements – who is right and wrong – but what really struck me is how people continue to get on with their lives – yes I know most people do not have a choice, but they do it with such grace and lack of bitterness, it makes me wonder if in the same situation I would be as generous – I doubt it! I really felt that more than ever, organisations like Oxfam need to listen to affected communities, because the ideas for solutions usually come from them and our job is to facilitate and support not impose, in order to enable change to happen. In Gaza, the people I met wanted their story to be told – they were asking to be remembered, to be recognised and although that is not nearly enough, it is all of our responsibilities to enable poor people’s voices to be heard. It certainly reminded me that Oxfam is a facilitator and supporting from the sidelines is probably one of the most powerful things we can do. And back to religion, strangely it was important to me to visit Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus, as we approach Christmas – so I did and was glad to see people from all faiths gathering, sharing the experience, spending some time I hope reflecting on a place of beauty in a world of chaos. Best wishes for the festive season!
Dear all,
I am just back from leave (yes I know I am always on holiday) but this leave was special – I have had ‘learning to scuba dive’ on my list of things to do for at least 5 years, so it is always an achievement to complete something that has been so awaited! I liked the idea of diving – that peace and beauty but when I actually got to it, the class room work was OK – well at least I could understand most of the calculations and homework was something I could do (and I secretly luvvvv tests) – but then came the swimming pool practice -when I thought I would feel safe – but actually the water was murky and crowded and my new mask with lens kept fogging up – I panicked and thought I wouldn’t be able to do a sea dive….
The next day came – I was sooooooo nervous – I haven’t been that afraid for a long time – but with something to prove and the rest of the dive group being 20 years old or less, I did feel that I had something to prove – that striding off into the sea with all the equipment (tank, etc.) was scary but exhilarating – finally I was in the sea!! Going down the first time was muddled and a bit scary but once on the sea bed I could finally start to see the appeal – fish swam past – actually up to my mask – they were amazing colours, the sea anemones which were bright, brilliant blue – amazing – the eels that hide under the rocks – scary but wonderful to see….although I hated taking off my mask (yes I know – mad – but it can be done – I was made to practice again, again , again) yes I enjoyed it and as I reached the surfaced after my first dive my instructor said – I said you would end up smiling – he was right – I wanted to practice more – learn to breathe better – be able to control my actions more – just be a better diver immediately……typical – run before I could walk!!
But it is great to learn something new – something that requires drawing on hidden reserves, experiencing something one has never done before – facing fears, drawing on that courage that makes us what we are….makes the achievement greater but also reminds me that taking risks should be part of our life and whilst doing what we know is comfortable and safe, pushing the envelope is what we all should be doing – ok I’m not asking you all to learn to dive (unless you want to…) but urging you to think outside of the box, take the risks that will make your work and approaches better – test things – follow your ambitions – follow your dreams……….
Always happy to hear about your dreams….
Sarah
My life on (or is it in) a plane….
I love to travel, good job really, as I travel a lot! A plane is most used form of transport, and if I don’t visit Suvarnabhumi airport at least every other week I start to worry!
I love to visit our country programmes and I make sure that I do a field visit to each country programme every year – just a drop in the ocean I know, but at least it ensures that I meet staff and partners and communities regularly and I meet inspiring people that I can talk to others about.
Recently I have been travelling to meet different stakeholders; in Hanoi in June I attended the World Economic Forum Asia – listening to the trends and challenges from a business perspective – this experience made me smarten up the way I talk about Oxfam – to the point, no jargon, what’s the impact? – I also attended a dinner hosted by the Vietnam President and sat in the room as Prime Ministers from Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam – so much power and influence in one place – we really do need to step up our work with the private sector.
A few weeks ago I attended the Oxford China Business Forum in Beijing, – the first meeting between Oxford University in the UK and key business leaders in China, including the Governor of the Bank of China, the forum discussed the impact of the financial crisis on China and the lessons learnt and how to take that learning into the next decade.
It struck me that we know and understand the issues that are discussed by business leaders and what we need to get better at is linking our thinking and theirs in order to get the whole picture and then see where our interventions can be more effective and where the opportunities really are.
Last week I was in Delhi for the first time since I left 3 and a half years ago, to spend so time with RD Biranchi and the team to see how we can work together better, using and sharing expertise and thinking – it was a useful reminder for me to see how different country contexts affect our ability to programme (for example Afghanistan and Pakistan) and how difficult some environments are to operate in.
Now I am sitting in Hong Kong having just had a meeting with the global PR company Ogilvy and their digital influence team to discuss our social media strategy and later I am having dinner with the CEO Asia of Prudential and I am now preparing for the OI Programme Governance Groups meetings which I am chairing for the rest of the week – I am looking forward to supporting to the 2 new groups through the SMS process.
So I know the inside of planes very well – the best seats – I know every airport in the region – the best shops and where to buy last minute sweets to take back to the office – but best of all I feel like I am part of the region – part of a dynamic, challenging but really great region.
Dear all,
I am just back from Cambodia, where we travelled to the field and I was accompanied by Mamadou Biteye, the Regional Director for West Africa. We both enjoyed the trip, it is always good to get out from behind my desk and sit in the back of a bumpy vehicle taking in the sights and sounds and views of people on the ground.
But it got me thinking about how we support each other – you might not believe it but sometimes is a lonely job being Regional Director and having someone to talk to who understands the job and some of its challenges can be really helpful, not to mention quite comforting. So we all need to look around for where we can get support – of course your line manager should give you support and guidance in how you do your job, but often peer support can provide a space to discuss issues in a ‘safe’ environment – we all need to moan sometimes! And of course friends and family are used to giving us advice and support whenever we ask for it.
So what is my point? Make sure you get enough support – in your work and in your life – life is too short to do it alone – we all need people around us to laugh and cry with……..and make our burden lighter!
And talking of support – Arif has gone to support the emergency response in Pakistan – its great that we are able to often support to South Asia and of course will ask for help in return when we face our next emergency!
Have a great month,
Sarah
Dear all
I can’t believe its a whole 4 weeks since I last wrote to you – many thanks to all of you that gave me feedback on this way of communicating with RC staff.
I do hope that you looked at ways in which you can get your views across. I hope also that you have used your performance reviews to listen to feeback from your line manager and discuss how we can support you better in the year ahead. Your objectives are a way to map out your work priorities for the next year and are important in being able to review your progress over that year – please do spend some time getting your objectives right – also make sure you have an objective which focuses gender and women’s righs. I attach my objectives here for your information.
The last few weeks have been a challenge for all of us in different ways – thank you all for your flexibility and support – the RC managed to carry on its work (pay staff, do performance reviews etc) whilst we worked from home. We have been thinking about how, with the Thailand Country Programme, how we can continue to address issues of poverty and inequality here in Thailand. We are also continuing to develop contingency plans so that we are ready if there are problems in the future (lets hope not) and we will be discussing them with you soon.
The BRMT had an awayday this week – we have one every 6 months and its a day to review progress on plans, reflect on our successes and sort out any problems and challenges – we do this away from the office so that we can just focus on our work and spend time working together as a team – we find it very useful and I would encourage other teams to do this at least once a year – discuss it with your line manager – I am sure there is money in the budget for this! Anyway, we talked about support to country programmes, how we spend our budget in the RC (what we spend on ourselves and what we spend on support to programmes), what we think are regional programmes – its great to have the time to work on these issues together. If you want to know more about what we discussed please ask your line manager.
At the end of the day we took some time out to consider what inspires us. As leaders we look to many sources for inspiration – to give us ideas, motivate us and remind us why we do what we do – I found it very interesting to hear who and what inspires BRMT members;
The communities we support
The programmes we have helped to develop and the people who have been involved
People we meet
What we learn about ourselves
Music and those who make it
Our family, friends….
BRMT shared personal reflections and experiences – why not ask them who inspires them? They certainly inspired me!
Have a great month – I am going to Oxford on 11th June to attend a Leadership course at Oxford University’s Said Business School for 3 whole weeks (I am so looking forward to this as its been part of my PDP for the last 2 years and I couldn’t attend last year because of the emergency responses) and then I will attend the Programme Leadership Team meeting (so more about that next time) – so I will leave you in the capable hands of BRMT members!
Sarah
Dear all
If you think back to the Regional Centre retreat we talked alot about communication and how we can all improve the way in which we can communicate. We all have a responsibility to improve our communication and I suggested I should have a regular communication with regional staff – so here is my first attempt!
Ways to get your views across
I hope you all know that your views and opinions are important to the senior management team (BRMT – Business regional management team) – just to remind you that the senior managers in the Regional Centre are David, Suchada, Kang, Arif, Amir and Cherian – we meet every 6 weeks to discuss and make decisions about everyday business of the RC and support to country programmes. Your manager should update you after each BRMT meeting and tell you about any developments or changes which will effect you.
If you have concerns or suggestions you should talk them through with your line manager. Take the opportunity of your regular one to one meetings to talk through what you would like your manager to know and understand about your work and working environment. I have one to one meetings with all my line management reports at least every 6 weeks – sometimes more often – and we discuss how their teams are working, changes which need to be made, successes and things that need to be improved.
You also have the opportunity to join the staff association – this is a forum where staff meet together to discuss issues which effect them. Representatives of the staff association meet with the RD and RHRM regularly to have the opportunity discuss issues relating to working in the RC. The staff association is an important channel of communication – do support it!
Use the RC staff meetings to demonstrate your successes, get feedback from colleagues, ask for advice!
If you don’t feel that you are being heard, you can always talk to me! I take all feedback seriously.
Leadership in the Region
Decisions about the strategic direction of the region are made by the Regional Management Team (the BRMT and all Country Directors) and we meet together every 6 months. We take an overview of the work of the region, monitor progress and impact. All the RMT are involved in decisions which directly affect the region.
The RC team
As you will all be aware, there have been some staff changes in the RC. All new staff are very welcome and we hope that you will enjoy working for Oxfam!
We welcome Lek (Finance Coordinator) and Jeab (Contract Accountability) to the Business team – many thanks to Eugenie for her hard work over the past month and her handover to Jeab. Nun has joined as L&D adviser in the HR team.
We also welcome new regional staff based in country programmes – Susi (Regional Humanitarian Logs), Puspa (Regional Food Security), Tatak (Regional Change Lead – Building effective governments) all based in Indonesia. We must work hard to ensure that staff based outside Bangkok feel that they are part of the RC team and included in staff meetings and other activities.
It is a great opportunity for us to have join staff join the team – they come bringing new ideas, new enthusiasm – they may challenge the way we do some things – and we should look at that as positive – as by changing and evolving we do our job better.
Celebrating success
And finally, we have completed the Ketsana response in the Philippines and the Pandang response in Indonesia – well done to all those who were involved in those responses throughout the last 6 months – the fact that the responses have been successfully completed is a credit to the vision and hard work of all those involved from the very beginning and the effectiveness of our Regional Emergency response team approach.
Feedback is valued
So this is the end of my first ‘from the laptop of the RD’……..I will put the next one out at the beginning of June. Let me know what you think!
With best wishes
Sarah
We are just back from the Regional Centre Retreat – something we try to do once a year – it helps to have some time to reflect on our achievements and also try and ‘out’ some of the challenges (although thats not always that successful) but also do something new together. Well this year was mangrove planting and I don’t think we expected it to be quite so muddy although we were rather ominously told to bring very old clothes to wear.
So donning our old clothes and brown synthetic socks we were off into the mangrove forests, soon to be up to at least our knees in mud – we planted 200 new plants which in 2 years time will be helping to bind together the coast line and allow animals to roam freely.
But what did this activity do for us? I don’t think it was a quick fix for the team, our challenges still remain, but what we were was brave enough to try something new – to get out there and do something different – to stretch ourselves – to get out of our comfort zone and that we should recognise and celebrate!
What’s it to be next year?
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