RCY Strategic Review Exercise

Our consultant, Mr Eric Ng, was superb! He started us off with some group activities e.g. getting us to form a circle and then sit on each other's lap. I could not do this as I am still recovering from my fracture. We also had another one in which we had to hold hands and then pass a round rope which hung across our body from one person to another. Through these activities, he emphasized on the importance of communication, trust, support, foresight and vision as well as staying focused and taking care of each other.

He organized an activity in which we looked into our thinking preferences We were grouped under 4 different colours according to the choice of cards we had selected in best describing ourselves. He also showed us a video and introduced to us the whole brain approach by Ned Hermann. I must say I am very inspired by that - the fact that all of us have a natural thinking preference -

The A-quadrant Analyser (Blue): Logical thinking, analysis of facts, processing numbers
The B-quadrant Organiser (Green): Planning approaches, organising facts, detailed review
The C-quadrant ‘Personaliser’(Red): Interpersonal, intuitive, expressive
The D-quadrant ‘Visualiser’ (Yellow): Imaginative, big picture thinking, conceptualising

Many of us were in the Green (13), Red (13) and Yellow (12) quadrants. Understanding the whole brain approach would also allow to see how people think and work. The quadrant model would allow us to better understand each other, that there could be unity in diversity and how we can tap on each other's strength. We must be open to each other's ideas and try to stretch ourselves in the different areas. E.g. I am more inclined towards 'Yellow' and I can stretch towards "Green" when the occasion calls for it.

Eric then showed us another video on a group of children trying to play soccer but were not successful. Through the video, he made us see the importance of knowing the goal, being passionate about the goal and having ownership of the goal. I think this was very crucial before we set out to plan in our discussion panels on SWOT as it made us see the importance of setting clear goals as well as taking ownership on the goals and to work as a team.

After that we were grouped into 6 groups to look at the SWOT of various areas:

1. General Issues

2. Membership

3. Training and development

4. Morale and Motivation

5. Projects and Activities

6. Organization Structure

I am proud to say that within the 2 days of discussion, we had looked at the SWOT effectively as a team (HQ admin, YOs, VIs) and a long list of recommendations was drawn out. I must say that the participants were very enthusiastic and were passionate in looking into ways in improving the RCY. Though it was a long and tiring weekends, I must say that I had benefited a lot from it. I also managed to know my room mate, Ms Linda Chan from AMK Sec, much better and look forward to collaborating with her unit. I had also managed to talk to Ms Betty from Holy Innocent Primary in holding a cadet-link activity. I am really looking forward to the possible changes from our list of recommendations!