Birds of the Same Feather Flock Together

When I learned this idiom 20 years ago, I thought it means that people with similar interests will stick together. But it gives me a different experience lately while I was preparing for MY Challenge 2010.

Many people have always reminded and cautioned me to not recruit part-timers in any of my productions simply because they will not be fully committed to the job assigned to them. I disagree because I always believe if we really want to do something, regardless of whether the job is big or small, or whether we already have a full-time 9 to 5 job, we will do our best. Therefore, I do not mind working with part-timers if they are really good. I mean I do not mind working with very good part-timers. To avoid misunderstanding, I always give the person the benefit of adult during the interview before I recruit them into the team. I will tell them the job descriptions and what I expect of them. I will also give them the task sheet and the deadline when the tasks must be completed. As leaders in their very own departments, they are expected to not only follow my direction and instructions, I also expect them to propose a detailed progress plan for the departments. They then have to monitor the progress and report to me weekly so that I know what they are doing falls in the compliance of the event direction. I also want to see follow ups being done as this is not only a way that they communicate with their team or external partners involved, it is also to gauge whether the plan works or not.

I am very proud and blessed to have so many ex-students to volunteer to help out in my recent production. Besides that, I am also very lucky to have recruited some other people to manage certain areas for me. I have been working with Pang and Hew since previous productions and have since developed some mutual understandings on how certain things work. I have definitely no complaints when it comes to working with them. To the new recruits, it will take them some time to get used to my style and expectations. Meetings have been conducted to explain the preparations and event direction for the production, and everyone was expected to carry out the tasks assigned with immediate attention. It is therefore very disappointing to discover that some of the team members are not enthusiastic and/or proactive enough to handle these assignments.

Before I put the blame on others, I shall look at myself in front of the mirror first. Have I not monitored my team close enough, or have I not given them enough training nor clear instructions of what I expect of them? I shall give them a last chance. In this coming meeting, I will remind everyone again what I expect of them. If they can't cope after this, I have no choice but will have to ask them to leave the team. I have no time to babysit such people or to handle such emotional situations. I would rather spend time doing it myself than chasing after people to get the work done for me.

I have plans to form my own dream team for future productions, I only want efficient, capable and committed leaders in my team, nothing else. Are you the one?

Logo of Hotlink MY CHALLENGE

Since the day I met up with The Star, things have been going on fine, better than I expected.

Celeb Image Gallery has agreed to be our image, make-up partner by taking care of all the models during the photo shoot. They will also sponsor the winners with make-up courses. Most importantly, Josephine from Celeb Image also introduced the boss of Dragonfly Studio to allow our photo shoot to be done in his studio. He also allows us to use the facilities in the studio at Bandar Sunway.

Today, I went to KDU University College to meet Dr Chia and Mrs Chan. It was again another fruitful meeting, where we managed to drag in Pat Chua from PCB to understand the concept of MY CHALLENGE and to see how KDU Education Group can benefit from this collaboration. I expected The Star to give me a call today but later did I know that they have postponed their meeting with the COO to next Monday. I told Ann Marie that this has ruined my weekends. Until I meet The Star again, I will have to make sure that everything is still moving. Mrs. Chan and Datin will be going with me to meet The Star next time. I am so looking forward to the meeting next week.

Taking MY CHALLENGE to greater heights

It has been a very exhausting week but definitely very fulfilling. I spent many days nailing down the details of the competition with my team, fine-tuning on the design work of our marketing collaterals and meeting more sponsors and business partners. It's not easy to be both the producer and director of a mega-event like MY Challenge, especially when you are also working for a regular Monday to Thursday part-time/full-time job. I am doing my best to cope, dividing my time among various tasks, prioritising the crucial assignments from the urgent ones, meeting all deadlines, etc..

Today is the first Monday of April and I was meeting The Star to discuss the collaboration opportunities for MY Challenge. I was meeting all the top guns in The Star including their Group General Manager, Calvin Kan, Managing Editor, June Wong, Head of Advertisement Sales, Chua, together with my best friend, Ann Marie. The meeting went on smoothly with some questions directed to us while we were explaining the concept of the competition. I guess, from their expression and gestures, they love the idea - the idea of having a multitude of events under a grand championship, giving an opportunity to so many people to shine! June and Ann shared with the rest how they see their children developed over the years by joining the competitions. I was very appreciative of their generous remarks and supportive comments. That makes working for Paramount Championship something worthwhile. The sweat, the tears, the frustrations, the sleepless nights......I sincerely hope that we can work with The Star as I see that these are great people who will help bring MY Challenge to greater heights.

I pray to GOD.....to decide the best for us.....Amen...