Learning & Innovation
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM
The unique challenges of downward trek
Last Thursday, I related to you half of the story of our upward trek to Peak 2 of the regal Mt. Maria Makiling as part of the wellness cum teambuilding of the MPIG Team of the First Philippine Holdings Corporation plus some friends and family.
Congratulations to those who successfully conquered Peak 2 and hordes of limatic or bloodsuckers along the way. Bunny Gerochi’s account: “When Amy Agaton, Bunny, Jay Lopez, Rico Demanzana, Romy Cabral and Ernie Albano got to the peak (hooray!), Art, Vicky and Chrissie de Guia, Charlie Agonos, Jo Rac, Roel Espinosa and Oca Arizabal were already there. They were sitting on a large blue plastic mat. Vicky exclaimed, “Bun, you’re so dirty!” Jay changed to a new outfit. Bunny and Amy refused to change any clothes for fear of limatic attacks. They feasted on power bars, Jelly Aces, Gatorades and water. After some time, they started to talk about going down since dark clouds were coming. (Does anyone remember what we saw at the top?)”
Let me finish the other half of that story before we discuss those valuable lessons that we learned from the experience. We all thought that going down will be much easier and faster. Not at all! Going down was as tricky as going up since we were taking the same trail.
The difference were that, one, we knew, more or less, the trail by then. We could anticipate the up and down paths, the bends, the steeps and other unique turns.
Two, the terrain has become more familiar. Somehow, we were able to recognize certain rocks, leaves, tree roots and others. We seemed to know exactly where the limatic and lipa shrubs were plentiful.
Three, the top-down view was clearer and we could see farther than a few meters into the direction we were going.
Four, we have already tested some footholds and hand support and were more confident using them.
Five, the limatic were not anymore as annoying and scary. We learned to live and let live.
Six, we started to notice the view, the trees, the birds, and individual leaves and flowers. At one point, Ben Liboro was elated to see the beautiful purplish flowers of the jade vine. Our guide, Dante, said that those plants thrive way up the trees, not easily visible to human eyes and its flowers are, indeed, rare.
Seven, at one high and steep 90o part of the trail, I lost my foothold and slipped. Dante was able to grab my right hand and I hang there for something like an eternity with my body swinging and banging at the side of the mountain. Dante told me to let go of my walking stick and grab a protruding root with my left hand. Then he lowered me slowly to a solid rock two feet below. Enjoy pa rin!
Finally we caught up with Tintin Arizabal, Rod Salazar, Ben Liboro and Bon Asis who turned around at Station 22. The most strenuous part of the downhill trip was what was the easy trail upward. Going up, the easy trail (Stations 11-20) seemed to be even grounds because it was wide (one or two meters at different areas) and defined with small rocks and fallen leaves and one could easily see about 10 meters ahead. Going down, the trail actually sloped down steadily and, after a while, our toes simply wanted to get out of our shoes.
At a certain point, we knew we were almost back to where we started and the challenge has left us and all we wanted was to have our late lunch.
Mt. Arayat, Mt. Pulag, Pico de Loro, Mt. Banahaw and Mt. Apo beckon and offer unique challenges.
(Moje is president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corporation and facilitates self and team development programs. Her email address is moje@mydestiny.net)
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Climb your way to team and personal wellness
THE MANILA TIMES
Business Times p.B.1
Thursday, August 19, 2004
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/aug/19/yehey/business/20040819bus11.html
LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Climb your way to team and personal wellness
LET me take you via another route in our Journey on Entrepreneurship.
When you are going south along South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the regal silhouette of Mount Maria Makiling presents itself after the Santa Rosa Exit and you start to relax. You are almost at the end of the superhighway and you now measure time in terms of the size of the mountain. When you can see the trees, then it is time to take a turn toward Laguna or Batangas.
I’ve always wondered what would be the view from the mountaintop. The last time I climbed it to some distance was when I was in grade four and, as a brownie, I participated in the First World Scouting Jamboree. Many details of that experience are fondly etched in my mind and heart.
So when First Philippine Holdings Corp.’s MPIG team, led by Art de Guia and Ben Liboro, nonchalantly talked about going on a mountain trek as a team-building activity, I was elated. The original plan was to conquer Mount Pulag in Mountain Province. Seli Vicente cautioned us to first take a baby climb since all of us were neophyte climbers.
After much preparation by Seli, Roel Espinosa, Marvin Masilang, Charlie Agonos and myself, a group of 21 eager and optimistic climbers met at the gate of the forestry department of the University of the Philippines Los Baños in the early hours of July 31st. The first order of the day was some stretching exercises. Loot bags containing water, Off lotion, alcohol, Alcogel, ear plugs, Jelly Ace, hard candies, energy bars, trash bag (as raincoat) and hand gloves were distributed.
Some tips were given such as: Walk with a buddy for safety and support. Cover as much part of your body as possible. Use Off and earplugs for protection against limatic, and if these small leeches attach to your cloth or skin, simply dust them off. If they bite, pick them up or sprinkle alcohol or Alcogel to get rid of them fast. Team-building instructions were given, then final reminder from Bon Asis: Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints and share nothing but memories.
We took four-wheel drive vehicles along rough rocky road up to Aguila Base or Station 11. Then, the trek began.
The first 10 stations were pretty easy trails except for the limatic. There were a lot of bantering among MPIG Team Art, Ben, Seli, Roel, Charlie, Amy Agaton, Bunny Gerochi, Ernie Albano, Jay Lopex, Rod Salazar, myself and family and friends Romy Cabral, Oca Arizabal, Rico Demanzana,Vicky de Guia, Chrissie de Guia, Didith Sinda and guide Dante, except for Tintin Arizabal who was bitten by the limatic on her left foot as early as Station 15.
At Station 20, we caught up with each other and we dusted the limatic off each other. Everybody was discomfited by the limatic but still excited about the climb. Only ten more stations to Peak 2.
The climb started to slope to 60-75 o, the limatic population increased and the trail turned muddy and slippery. Likewise, some trails border on cliffs where you could not see what’s below. We now needed to use our gloves to hang on to roots, branches and whatever for support.
At Station 22, we rested as one big group for the last time in our upward trek. Again, there were a lot of storytelling and sharing of tips on how best to climb and battle the limatic. My body ached all over, my knees wobbled and I gasped for precious oxygen. I wanted to quit, but my mind wanted to move on to test my capability some more.
The climb would now have exciting discontinuous 90o slopes. Jay, Ernie and Seli, short of carrying my body, had to pull me up and prop me on my butt to enable me to move on. The distance between some steps were simply too wide unless we find small protruding branch or root or firmly rested rock for foothold.
Between Stations 23 and 24, I told the guys to go ahead because I was slowing them down and I couldn’t go any faster. I was also feeling sick. If not for the limatic, I would have simply thrown myself on comforting beds of leaves, twigs, flowers and mud. As I rested on a fallen tree trunk, Dante asked me, “hihimatayin na po ba kayo?” Later, Seli told me I looked drained and pale.
That was it. I have reached my limit. I decided to go down. After Station 20, Dante and I joined Bon, Tintin, Ben and Rod who started their climb down after Station 22.
(Next columns, we shall read about the poignant experience of the MPIG team members and the equally thrilling climb down and lessons learned. Abangan! Chrissie de Guia describes the experience as “Exciting!”)
(Moje, president of Paradigms and Paradoxes Corp., facilitates self and team-development initiatives. Please react to this article through moje@mydestiny.net)
Business Times p.B.1
Thursday, August 19, 2004
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/aug/19/yehey/business/20040819bus11.html
LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
Climb your way to team and personal wellness
LET me take you via another route in our Journey on Entrepreneurship.
When you are going south along South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the regal silhouette of Mount Maria Makiling presents itself after the Santa Rosa Exit and you start to relax. You are almost at the end of the superhighway and you now measure time in terms of the size of the mountain. When you can see the trees, then it is time to take a turn toward Laguna or Batangas.
I’ve always wondered what would be the view from the mountaintop. The last time I climbed it to some distance was when I was in grade four and, as a brownie, I participated in the First World Scouting Jamboree. Many details of that experience are fondly etched in my mind and heart.
So when First Philippine Holdings Corp.’s MPIG team, led by Art de Guia and Ben Liboro, nonchalantly talked about going on a mountain trek as a team-building activity, I was elated. The original plan was to conquer Mount Pulag in Mountain Province. Seli Vicente cautioned us to first take a baby climb since all of us were neophyte climbers.
After much preparation by Seli, Roel Espinosa, Marvin Masilang, Charlie Agonos and myself, a group of 21 eager and optimistic climbers met at the gate of the forestry department of the University of the Philippines Los Baños in the early hours of July 31st. The first order of the day was some stretching exercises. Loot bags containing water, Off lotion, alcohol, Alcogel, ear plugs, Jelly Ace, hard candies, energy bars, trash bag (as raincoat) and hand gloves were distributed.
Some tips were given such as: Walk with a buddy for safety and support. Cover as much part of your body as possible. Use Off and earplugs for protection against limatic, and if these small leeches attach to your cloth or skin, simply dust them off. If they bite, pick them up or sprinkle alcohol or Alcogel to get rid of them fast. Team-building instructions were given, then final reminder from Bon Asis: Take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but footprints and share nothing but memories.
We took four-wheel drive vehicles along rough rocky road up to Aguila Base or Station 11. Then, the trek began.
The first 10 stations were pretty easy trails except for the limatic. There were a lot of bantering among MPIG Team Art, Ben, Seli, Roel, Charlie, Amy Agaton, Bunny Gerochi, Ernie Albano, Jay Lopex, Rod Salazar, myself and family and friends Romy Cabral, Oca Arizabal, Rico Demanzana,Vicky de Guia, Chrissie de Guia, Didith Sinda and guide Dante, except for Tintin Arizabal who was bitten by the limatic on her left foot as early as Station 15.
At Station 20, we caught up with each other and we dusted the limatic off each other. Everybody was discomfited by the limatic but still excited about the climb. Only ten more stations to Peak 2.
The climb started to slope to 60-75 o, the limatic population increased and the trail turned muddy and slippery. Likewise, some trails border on cliffs where you could not see what’s below. We now needed to use our gloves to hang on to roots, branches and whatever for support.
At Station 22, we rested as one big group for the last time in our upward trek. Again, there were a lot of storytelling and sharing of tips on how best to climb and battle the limatic. My body ached all over, my knees wobbled and I gasped for precious oxygen. I wanted to quit, but my mind wanted to move on to test my capability some more.
The climb would now have exciting discontinuous 90o slopes. Jay, Ernie and Seli, short of carrying my body, had to pull me up and prop me on my butt to enable me to move on. The distance between some steps were simply too wide unless we find small protruding branch or root or firmly rested rock for foothold.
Between Stations 23 and 24, I told the guys to go ahead because I was slowing them down and I couldn’t go any faster. I was also feeling sick. If not for the limatic, I would have simply thrown myself on comforting beds of leaves, twigs, flowers and mud. As I rested on a fallen tree trunk, Dante asked me, “hihimatayin na po ba kayo?” Later, Seli told me I looked drained and pale.
That was it. I have reached my limit. I decided to go down. After Station 20, Dante and I joined Bon, Tintin, Ben and Rod who started their climb down after Station 22.
(Next columns, we shall read about the poignant experience of the MPIG team members and the equally thrilling climb down and lessons learned. Abangan! Chrissie de Guia describes the experience as “Exciting!”)
(Moje, president of Paradigms and Paradoxes Corp., facilitates self and team-development initiatives. Please react to this article through moje@mydestiny.net)
Thursday, August 12, 2004
The unique challenges of downward trek
THE MANILA TIMES
Business Times p.B1
Thursday, August 12, 2004
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/aug/26/yehey/business/20040826bus6.html
LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
The unique challenges of downward trek
LAST Thursday, I related to you half of the story of our upward trek to Peak 2 of the regal Mount Maria Makiling as part of the wellness cum teambuilding of the MPIG Team of the First Philippine Holdings Corp. plus some friends and family.
Congratulations to those who successfully conquered Peak 2 and hordes of limatic or bloodsuckers along the way. Bunny Gerochi's account: "When Amy Agaton, Bunny, Jay Lopez, Rico Demanzana, Romy Cabral and Ernie Albano got to the peak [hooray!], Art, Vicky and Chrissie de Guia, Charlie Agonos, Jo Rac, Roel Espinosa and Oca Arizabal were already there. They were sitting on a large blue plastic mat. Vicky exclaimed, 'Bun, you're so dirty!' Jay changed to a new outfit. Bunny and Amy refused to change any clothes for fear of limatic attacks. They feasted on power bars, Jelly Aces, Gatorades and water. After some time, they started to talk about going down since dark clouds were coming. [Does anyone remember what we saw at the top?]"
Let me finish the other half of that story before we discuss those valuable lessons that we learned from the experience. We all thought that going down will be much easier and faster. Not at all! Going down was as tricky as going up since we were taking the same trail. The difference was that, one, we knew, more or less, the trail by then. We could anticipate the up and down paths, the bends, the steeps and other unique turns. Two, the terrain has become more familiar. Somehow, we were able to recognize certain rocks, leaves, tree roots and others. We seemed to know exactly where the limatic and lipa shrubs were plentiful.
Three, the top-down view was clearer and we could see farther than a few meters into the direction we were going.
Four, we have already tested some footholds and hand support and were more confident using them.
Five, the limatic were not anymore as annoying and scary. We learned to live and let live.
Six, we started to notice the view, the trees, the birds, and individual leaves and flowers. At one point, Ben Liboro was elated to see the beautiful purplish flowers of the jade vine. Our guide, Dante, said that those plants thrive way up in the trees, not easily visible to human eyes and its flowers are, indeed, rare.
Seven, at one high and steep 90o part of the trail, I lost my foothold and slipped. Dante was able to grab my right hand and I hung there for something like an eternity with my body swinging and banging at the side of the mountain. Dante told me to let go of my walking stick and grab a protruding root with my left hand. Then he lowered me slowly to a solid rock two feet below. Enjoy pa rin!
Finally we caught up with Tintin Arizabal, Rod Salazar, Ben Liboro and Bon Asis who turned around at Station 22. The most strenuous part of the downhill trip was what was the easy trail upward. Going up, the easy trail (Stations 11-20) seemed to be even grounds because it was wide (one or two meters at different areas) and defined with small rocks and fallen leaves and one could easily see about 10 meters ahead.
Going down, the trail actually sloped down steadily and, after a while, our toes simply wanted to get out of our shoes.
At a certain point, we knew we were almost back to where we started and the challenge has left us and all we wanted was to have our late lunch.
Mount Arayat, Mount Pulag, Pico de Loro, Mount Banahaw and Mount Apo beckon and offer unique challenges.
(Moje is the president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and facilitates self and team development programs. Her e-mail address is moje@mydestiny.net)
Business Times p.B1
Thursday, August 12, 2004
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/aug/26/yehey/business/20040826bus6.html
LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino
The unique challenges of downward trek
LAST Thursday, I related to you half of the story of our upward trek to Peak 2 of the regal Mount Maria Makiling as part of the wellness cum teambuilding of the MPIG Team of the First Philippine Holdings Corp. plus some friends and family.
Congratulations to those who successfully conquered Peak 2 and hordes of limatic or bloodsuckers along the way. Bunny Gerochi's account: "When Amy Agaton, Bunny, Jay Lopez, Rico Demanzana, Romy Cabral and Ernie Albano got to the peak [hooray!], Art, Vicky and Chrissie de Guia, Charlie Agonos, Jo Rac, Roel Espinosa and Oca Arizabal were already there. They were sitting on a large blue plastic mat. Vicky exclaimed, 'Bun, you're so dirty!' Jay changed to a new outfit. Bunny and Amy refused to change any clothes for fear of limatic attacks. They feasted on power bars, Jelly Aces, Gatorades and water. After some time, they started to talk about going down since dark clouds were coming. [Does anyone remember what we saw at the top?]"
Let me finish the other half of that story before we discuss those valuable lessons that we learned from the experience. We all thought that going down will be much easier and faster. Not at all! Going down was as tricky as going up since we were taking the same trail. The difference was that, one, we knew, more or less, the trail by then. We could anticipate the up and down paths, the bends, the steeps and other unique turns. Two, the terrain has become more familiar. Somehow, we were able to recognize certain rocks, leaves, tree roots and others. We seemed to know exactly where the limatic and lipa shrubs were plentiful.
Three, the top-down view was clearer and we could see farther than a few meters into the direction we were going.
Four, we have already tested some footholds and hand support and were more confident using them.
Five, the limatic were not anymore as annoying and scary. We learned to live and let live.
Six, we started to notice the view, the trees, the birds, and individual leaves and flowers. At one point, Ben Liboro was elated to see the beautiful purplish flowers of the jade vine. Our guide, Dante, said that those plants thrive way up in the trees, not easily visible to human eyes and its flowers are, indeed, rare.
Seven, at one high and steep 90o part of the trail, I lost my foothold and slipped. Dante was able to grab my right hand and I hung there for something like an eternity with my body swinging and banging at the side of the mountain. Dante told me to let go of my walking stick and grab a protruding root with my left hand. Then he lowered me slowly to a solid rock two feet below. Enjoy pa rin!
Finally we caught up with Tintin Arizabal, Rod Salazar, Ben Liboro and Bon Asis who turned around at Station 22. The most strenuous part of the downhill trip was what was the easy trail upward. Going up, the easy trail (Stations 11-20) seemed to be even grounds because it was wide (one or two meters at different areas) and defined with small rocks and fallen leaves and one could easily see about 10 meters ahead.
Going down, the trail actually sloped down steadily and, after a while, our toes simply wanted to get out of our shoes.
At a certain point, we knew we were almost back to where we started and the challenge has left us and all we wanted was to have our late lunch.
Mount Arayat, Mount Pulag, Pico de Loro, Mount Banahaw and Mount Apo beckon and offer unique challenges.
(Moje is the president of Paradigms & Paradoxes Corp. and facilitates self and team development programs. Her e-mail address is moje@mydestiny.net)
Thursday, August 5, 2004
Tap your collective intelligence
THE MANILA TIMES
Business Times p.B1
Thursday, August 05, 2004
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/aug/05/yehey/business/20040805bus5.html
LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM
Tap your collective intelligence
SOMEBODY from Peregrine Systems declared that the only reason that company is still around today is that at the bottom of the hierarchy, there are people who cared enough to make it so. I say, Amen!
To continue our Journey on Entrepreneurship, you need to realize that when God so scattered brain power, He did not confine it to few persons in management or your most trusted employees. They were generously distributed all over your system, at all levels with different intensity and uses. Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences identified eight distinct intelligences. This makes everybody in your organization useful and significant, brainwise.
Likewise, your very influential people are not the people around you or in the boardroom. They are your employees who serve your customers. They are your employees who implement your plans and make things happen. They are your employees who are intimate with the minute details of your business. They are your internal customers—the ones who receive the outputs in your value chain and pass them on to your external customers.
In all your innovation initiatives such as an Abandonment Retreat, therefore, it is important that the ones who work in final stages of your processes, operate your system, convert your outputs to inputs, deliver your product and do after sales service should be major participants. They are the ones who would know if something is working well or if something is out of sync systemwise. They are the ones who could sense the unexpressed needs and expectations of your clients.
Rita Shor, corporate e-business manager at 3M Corp., wrote that 3M’s innovation success subsequently relied on long-term, individually directed exploratory research projects instead of the traditional “inventor in the lab.” One such initiative is the Lead User System developed for 3M by MIT professor Eric von Hippel.
This system, adds Ms. Shor, balances the needs of shareholders and management (with their bottom-line-oriented view of the world), against the needs
of “fuzzy footed” innovation developers (where micromanaging spells an immediate kiss of death).
“Lead User Teams are made up of four to six individuals with a diverse set of skills. Teams and members from both technical and marketing functions are necessary. Depending on its focus, a team might be populated with members from procurement, manufacturing or any other functional area. All team members are taught techniques of creating profitable solutions to unarticulated customer needs, well in advance of the competition. Teams are allowed to report to management on their own term.“
Ms. Shor intimates, “This initiative requires trust all the way around.”
Ms. Shor quotes 3M CEO William McKnight who said more than 50 years ago in favor of independent R&D programs, “As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. Mistakes will be made, but if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it is dictatorial and undertakes to tell those under its authority exactly how they must do their jobs.“
(Moje, the president of Paradigms and Paradoxes Corp., designs and facilitates innovation and organization development initiatives. For comments and questions please email her at moje@mydestiny.net)
Business Times p.B1
Thursday, August 05, 2004
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2004/aug/05/yehey/business/20040805bus5.html
LEARNING & INNOVATION
By Moje Ramos-Aquino, FPM
Tap your collective intelligence
SOMEBODY from Peregrine Systems declared that the only reason that company is still around today is that at the bottom of the hierarchy, there are people who cared enough to make it so. I say, Amen!
To continue our Journey on Entrepreneurship, you need to realize that when God so scattered brain power, He did not confine it to few persons in management or your most trusted employees. They were generously distributed all over your system, at all levels with different intensity and uses. Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences identified eight distinct intelligences. This makes everybody in your organization useful and significant, brainwise.
Likewise, your very influential people are not the people around you or in the boardroom. They are your employees who serve your customers. They are your employees who implement your plans and make things happen. They are your employees who are intimate with the minute details of your business. They are your internal customers—the ones who receive the outputs in your value chain and pass them on to your external customers.
In all your innovation initiatives such as an Abandonment Retreat, therefore, it is important that the ones who work in final stages of your processes, operate your system, convert your outputs to inputs, deliver your product and do after sales service should be major participants. They are the ones who would know if something is working well or if something is out of sync systemwise. They are the ones who could sense the unexpressed needs and expectations of your clients.
Rita Shor, corporate e-business manager at 3M Corp., wrote that 3M’s innovation success subsequently relied on long-term, individually directed exploratory research projects instead of the traditional “inventor in the lab.” One such initiative is the Lead User System developed for 3M by MIT professor Eric von Hippel.
This system, adds Ms. Shor, balances the needs of shareholders and management (with their bottom-line-oriented view of the world), against the needs
of “fuzzy footed” innovation developers (where micromanaging spells an immediate kiss of death).
“Lead User Teams are made up of four to six individuals with a diverse set of skills. Teams and members from both technical and marketing functions are necessary. Depending on its focus, a team might be populated with members from procurement, manufacturing or any other functional area. All team members are taught techniques of creating profitable solutions to unarticulated customer needs, well in advance of the competition. Teams are allowed to report to management on their own term.“
Ms. Shor intimates, “This initiative requires trust all the way around.”
Ms. Shor quotes 3M CEO William McKnight who said more than 50 years ago in favor of independent R&D programs, “As our business grows, it becomes increasingly necessary to delegate responsibility and to encourage men and women to exercise their initiative. Mistakes will be made, but if a person is essentially right, the mistakes he or she makes are not as serious in the long run as the mistakes management will make if it is dictatorial and undertakes to tell those under its authority exactly how they must do their jobs.“
(Moje, the president of Paradigms and Paradoxes Corp., designs and facilitates innovation and organization development initiatives. For comments and questions please email her at moje@mydestiny.net)
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