Orchan Consulting | Asia Sdn Bhd

Fix Your Process, Not the Person Source - www.bloncampus.com Your employee made a mistake. He apologised and you went on with your usual business. He does it again. Now you are upset. Your own boss calls, says, “what’s going on”? You say, “it is Michael”.  He is now toast.  He may not get a good raise, ever. Your boss may not let you, even if you try.  You blacklisted Michael in your own mind. He might quit soon. Actually though, he is very good. Now, consider this … Most mistakes are made by employees who are trying to follow processes set up by managers. Often, it is easy to make mistakes because of the process that has been set up. Review the process together with the employee and see what can be done to make mistakes less likely. When Michael made the first mistake, you should have taken responsibility. You should not have even let him apologise. And when your boss called ...

Truth! Be it brand planning, curating messages for effective public relations plans, managing organisational change, or navigating your way through a crisis, truth is what resonates best and holds things together most effectively.  As they say, the truth will always prevail. Be on the right side of it. 

Happy Chinese New Year 2020 | Year of the Rat

What makes a shopping mall visit a worthwhile experience especially for hard-core shoppers, is the fact that the mall has established itself as a fashion hub, and it’s where you can get some great quality stuff you might not get elsewhere. This is the case at Ipoh Parade; a wide range of fashion and accessory stores; some unique to the mall – but all contributing to a great fashion retail experience. Something special, a little different from elsewhere, and definitely something for the newly refurbished mall to shout about. What makes this publicity approach different was that these weren’t the common brands that you would find in shopping malls around Malaysia, but local brands and 'mom & pop' stores that sell good quality clothes and accessories. The outlets include Hot Street which offers great contemporary men clothing, Beyond which houses a variety of hip-hop style shoes and bags, and the Unlimited Trend Store which offers t-shirt lovers the opportunity to cu...

Getting Through to Millennials Commentary by Jeevandran Raghavan Millennials may be the world’s most love-to-hate generation at the moment. But is this disdain towards the youth a new dynamic? Far more surprising is that, throughout the century, the inter-generational criticisms have been remarkably similar. From complaints that the next generation are both too cautious and yet downright dangerous, too worried about the world and at the same time too self-absorbed to care. Most of these qualifiers aren’t distinct to millennials. We can go on-and-on about how different ‘millennials’ are compared to the rest of the generations, but we can’t deny the fact that millennials are creating substantial change in how work gets done, as they work more in teams and embrace technology more. Their social mind-set, however, is also a significant factor. Coupled with the socially-minded millennial comes their desire to be creative. Millennials have grown up in a time where info...

Training in 2020 | New Courses Available Craig has been 'downunder' for a couple of months working on some projects. One of these has been conceptualising and designing new corporate training courses for the first quarter 2020. As we work with a wide variety of clients and providers in delivering robust and meaningful training for their needs, we spend time to examine new course concepts and graduated delivery options. From this, several new courses have been developed, and are now ready to be shared with clients and participants. 

In Case of Promotion, Break Glass? What to Do When You/Your Peer Becomes the Boss?  The nature of the workplace climate is very akin to that of … (for lack of a better word) nature itself. There are constant shifts which revolve around the organisational structure, such as personnel changes, retrenching of departments, and even promotions amongst colleagues – all of which could potentially disrupt familiarities which we have established for ourselves. The onus is on us to realise the effect of these changes, and respond accordingly. For instance, how should you approach the situation differently when your peer is now your boss / when you are now your peer’s boss? When a relationship shifts from peer-to-peer to employee-to-manager, it is imperative that both parties accept the new role that is established. As coaching and evaluation of employees are a part of managerial tasks, a certain degree of “social distance” between both parties should be in place, to e...

Need Drugs? | A New Perspective on CSR I personally hold the view that CSR should be a behind-the-scenes initiative, done out of the goodness of ones’ heart, without the need for publicity. Multinational corporations issuing larger-than-life cheques for a few thousand ringgit, taking orphans to lunch at a fancy restaurant – it’s all good, but it’s usually for the publicity. My cynicism aside, the publicity opportunity, and the stakeholder outreach, is valuable. It showcases the contributions an organisation makes to its wider community, and most importantly, it shines some light on the recipient (either person or organisation) – who are often underrepresented not only in society as a whole, but in media opportunity to share their story. But what happens when you are on the wrong side of the law? Traditional media are not going to support your activities; or are they? Today’s news in Australia, in the heat of the bushfires, just goes to show ...