Orchan Consulting | Asia Sdn Bhd

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha From all of us at Orchan, we wish all everyone celebrating a blessed Eid Al-Adha.

Moving on from Covid | Perspectives from the Communications Industry Commentary by Craig J Selby Yes, I said it, the C-word! Which, I promised myself to avoid at almost all cost. Reality is, we can’t. Not us as individuals, businesses, or collectively as society. But, at some point we have to say “fark it” and find a way to move forward. Pivot, pivot, pivot! For us at Orchan, this moment was in the first week of lockdown. In fact, we pivoted the H-E-double-L out of it, as best we could. Fortunately so, too. A realisation that it wouldn’t be the two (2) weeks as initially reported, that no matter what happens, our world has tilted (yes, I should have said pivoted; but that’s another “catch all phrase” that I consciously wish to avoid over-using). What was / is to become of us, our Agency, and our role in the bigger picture? We ‘pivoted’ – consulted and advised more, ran webinars, and continued business development in emerging sectors that are less...

Clients and training participants still ask me "can you sweep a crisis under the carpet"? The simple answer is NO! Avoiding the issue simply is not an acceptable part of the playbook. If an issue or crisis has emerged, tackle it professionally, head on, and immediately. Allowed to fester, others can take control of your narrative. That will never end well. Avoidance is NOT a strategy! 

Everyone loves a celebration, and what better celebration than a wedding. Some years back, Orchan was engaged by renowned Penang jeweler, Amee Philips, to help extend the brand footprint outside of Penang, and to support the businesses strategic marketing initiatives.  A designer at heart, Amee has developed her business over the years. Now with two (2) showrooms; one (1) in Penang and another in Kuala Lumpur, she needed to curate something more than just stunning jewellery.  Enter some new perspectives, and the  Amee Philips Wedding Registry. The registry concept created a new way of buying gifts suitable for weddings, birthdays and other life celebrations. The Registry allows the recipient to showcase to their friends the best gift for the occasion. This innovative way of buying gifts reduced time spent on thinking over what gift to purchase for your friends of family and reducing the chance of buying the wrong gift. In early October 2010, Amee officially...

Blast from the Past | Red Bull Racing F1NALE  To say that the F1 weekend ended on a bittersweet note is an understatement, especially for avid fans. What started off as an action-packed week, with numerous calls to schedule interviews with Red Bull Racing drivers – Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen – and garage tours, ended with sweet victories as they made history to become the final F1 Sepang winners (or at least until the next F1 takes place again). Prior to the race, Daniel and Max took some time out for some light-hearted off-track challenges. From trying to match fruits and herbs to their names, to making tropical drinks with the aforementioned ingredients such as cili padi (ehem, Daniel), it was absolutely fun witnessing them and their bromance outside the race track. Check out the video below for some laughs! For the full video, click here . When they sat with the media to talk about their fondest memories here, Daniel was quick to respond with “winn...

Interns, Take Note | Communication Matters, Especially in the Communications Industry Yes, it’s a bit of a moan, but it’s also some very considered advice for interns approaching potential mentors and employers. So, sit up, take note (read to learn), and then activate. With luck, your success rate will increase. Some may say to me, “OK, boomer”, which I am certainly not! I just have minimum expectations from a university-educated student which are extremely realistic (and which Universities claim to instill in their graduates). What I am is an employer, and a communications specialist. What you are is a communications student and (potentially) graduate. What that tells me is you should have mastered basic communications and etiquette by the time you approach an internship or employability! This is not an unreasonable expectation – based on prior experience of your classroom colleagues “Hi there!” is not an acceptable email introduction, esp...

Innovating HR Tech Through Collaborations | Protecting Migrant Workers Earnings Migration is an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety, and a better future. Faced with limited job prospects, an ever-increasing number of workers migrate abroad in search of work. In Malaysia, migrant workers are aplenty, but are often excluded from the traditional banking sector, as they may not meet the requirements for a bank account. In early March, Instapay Technologies reached out to us to launch their collaborative platform and system with Mastercard, as a financial inclusion tool for migrant workers. We edited company collaterals and curated new materials for Instapay. At the beginning of July, Instapay’s partnership was officially launched, and this received considerable media coverage, especially from financial and fintech portals. Instapay Technologies collaborated with Mastercard to launch their e-wallet accounts with a linked debit card and remittance servi...

Understanding the Ten (10) Types of Post-Covid Organisational Innovation Commentary by Jeevandran Raghavan Innovation can take many forms. Understanding the types of innovations available for an organisation to pursue can help discover others that are suitable for a business. By looking at successful innovators, we see that they are adept at finding breakthroughs given any opportunity. The main point here being innovation isn’t some mystical process carried out by a select few. Doblin’s 10 Types of Innovation model is based on the framework of Larry Keely and Ryan Pikkel, after in-depth research into how innovations are derived.   They divided the different types of innovation in the following three (3) categories: Configuration, Offering, and Experience. The resulting strategic framework is used to analyse competition, find new business opportunities, and is also applicable to personal branding strategies. In this post, we explore one of the three categories of...

Pivoting Online | Tertiary Education During the Lockdown Interview between Dr Craig J Selby (Orchan) & Philip Gan (Taylors University) An area of extreme passion for Craig is tertiary education. Having started his career as a tertiary educator, then as an educational administrator and leader, and now edutechpreneur, Craig's interest can be considered an almost lifelong obsession. In this interview, Craig gets to interview a long-established professional contact and friend, Philip Gan from Taylors University, to explore how the Covid lockdown has to some extent pivoted tertiary-level teaching to online, and what that meant for the student journey. But it's not as cut and dry as that; not only is online delivery a two decade old practice, there is a plethora of other facets of education to be examined, including assessment, value of the 2020 academic year, and the future of online and distance learning, to name but a few. It is a long video (40 minutes), but a ...

Stay Prepared!  Government responses to Covid took the world by surprise, so many of us have experienced a crisis impacting our business, but that doesn't make us prepared for another. Constant evaluation of risks, planning for contingencies, and developing outcome-oriented responses remain paramount considerations. A crisis can strike at any time. Just because a brand has successfully negotiated a prior crisis, doesn't mean that another one won't hit, and hit in a different way. It's essential to always have a Crisis Management Plan and Crisis Communications Plan in play for that very possibility. Each crisis we experience, directly or indirectly, is a learning curve and a teaching tool for teams and brands. Analyse what you did well, and understand your shortcomings. These form part of your key learnings, and contribute to the evolution of plans that can shape our response to future incidents. 

Impact of Organisational Culture on Change Management Commentary by Jeevandran Raghavan Organisational culture is 'how we do things around here'. Therefore, organisational culture will affect how leaders manage and implement change. It will also influence how employees perceive and experience change. Understanding culture will determine the most effective way to lead change. If the perception is that of top-down, conservative, risk-averse, and compliant culture; then leaders will need to flesh out all the change details and be prepared to hand-hold employees through the change. They should not expect a lot of employee collaboration per se and instead should expect employees to comply. The key is to adapt the change approach according to what works with the existing culture. Changing a culture is a large-scale undertaking, and eventually, all of the organisational tools for changing minds will need to be in play. On the other hand, change management ...

#FailureToCommunicate Truth is, technology is not always our friend. But it's not our foe either. The onus is on us to initiate and continue communication.

Adapting to Remote Learning in Higher Education Universities and colleges were once buzzing cultural hubs of research, teaching and learning. This unique ecosystem was impacted significantly by Covid, forcing higher education providers to pivot online, at least for the time being. Tough decisions included cancelling in-person classes, providing ‘on-the-fly’ training for online delivery and learning, all while alleviating fears and reassuring stakeholders. These accelerated changes within higher education mean Covid is considered a "black swan" transition catalyst. For years, higher education has retained a mostly traditional format through brick-and-mortar infrastructure and face-to-face delivery.   The challenge then is to identify how to continue delivering high-quality education. How do we reassure faculty about the channels of teaching, and students' about the quality outcomes from remote learning? Higher education providers need to explore s...