CDD Department Retreat 2013

We had our department retreat at RC yesterday afternoon. I thought it would be a fun session together but to my disappointment, it was far from fun.

It started with Director giving us an opening on the organisation's directions in response to the 5 challenges (the externalities) and what the organisation's strategic thrusts (as addressed in the WMP) are. Lastly, he talked about the 6 strategic themes. What he has shared was nothing new to me because I recently prepared the pointers for CE's message for the coming Corp Plan Seminar; the points were the same. But then it was good for him to share these with the rest of us.

We did break into a few team discussions and come up with ideas on our work, our values, etc. And that was it. There were certain things which I want to remember:

1) Video on this thai soccer team from nothing to something. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU

2) Hierarchy of Choices

He shared that, many times, we tend to jump to the secondary choice, i.e. the "how" to do but we forgot to question our purpose. The purpose needs to be aligned to the core values so that we can do the job well. The core values of the organisation need to be what we believe. Our values need to be aligned with that of the organisation. Ok, I may not be paying full attention but I know that this model is a good reminder for me when embarking on any projects, be sure about the purpose before jumping to the strategy.

Actually I was kind of looking forward to the retreat though we did not get go to any interesting places like other departments, but thought at least for once we could get together and have some fun, out of the work context. Sad to say, it was quite a boring retreat. Nonetheless I was still glad to have ended the day with my regular badminton sessions with my friends!