It's never a surprise to many that Agape Staff loves to eat. And what's interesting that had taken place in this Staff Retreat was to weave in makan as a food hunt race that purposed to help us to draw lessons as we functioned as team. We were divided into 5 teams with a leader appointed from SP. I belonged to the JLJ team (JJ + Lili + Jessica). Instructions were given to start the food hunt at Cintra Street. We wanted to Win and Complete the race well with fun. This is our focus. Interesting, along the journey, we discovered that our focus and purpose (WIN) evolved. Valuable lessons and principles were gleaned as JLJ team.
#1) We can Disagree but never to Disengage
Our team didn't begin in harmony. Soon we realised we are opinionated people with individual strong views. I believe that the team needed to have a BIG picture of the race and would prefer that the 'information list' be photocopied to the team before the race start. However, my leader JJ thought that this is not essential. Jess felt the same. I decided to submit on the basis that he was my leader and this is my team. We agreed to agree upon on the 1st Principle gleaned - ** We can Disagree but never to Disengage.
#2) Values Driven and not Just Purpose-Driven
We only know how to use the right 'terms' to describe this principle after the race when SP highlighted it in one of our sharing. On our way out to look for a taxi, we saw another team boarding a taxi. JJ was quick to comment this, "Snatch their cab". I knew JJ was joking but in our discussion, we began to ask ourselves, "Do we really want to win? If so, we do not really need any moral rules unless stated as our purpose is to WIN." With that, we arrived at what's Negoitables and Non-Negoitables. Values are non-negoitables and Policies are negoitables. So photocopy or not - this is a non-negoitable issue. We also realised that unless we have the right and God values, we will become what our 'leader' called us to be. (also the Priinciple #1 to allow this to happen)
#3) People are more Important than Programmes
At our 1st stop @ the famous Bak Chang stall, we got to know this owner, Miss Tan. She is so friendly and pleasant. We strike off a conversation immediately. We tried the different types of bak chang and red bean soup. We took photos and we talked. Ms Tan was so excited that she asked me if I am keen to see their speciality. Holding my hands, she brought me to see this very BIG bak chang and started to explain their speciality. She offered to bring it out to my team and showed it to the other team as well. Because of this Big bak chang, we were connected in hearts. Before we left, she offered to tell us that the Curry Chee Cheong Fun stall was not opened today. At this point, JLJ decided to add this into our WIN: People are not less important than the Task. Our attraction are the People instead of the food and the race, and it must be done intentionally. We altered our WIN.
#4) A Healthy Team Grows Together and Help others Grow.
We always knew this principle from our heads, but this race awakened us to move this right into our hearts. We make a mistake and moved on to a cafe name 'Da Tong' instead of a hawaker stall. Upon our arrival, we saw 2 teams there. We felt the tension and pressure hitting us immediately. One of the team actually tried to 'shoo' us away (which I thought is human sense to do that). We felt uncomfortable and uneasy. We don't like the feeling. At that point, JLJ team agreed upon - "Let's walk in the opposite direction. We will remove turf mentality and be friendly and helpful to other teams." We took time to know the waitress and conversed with them. We saw Candy + Ros walking in. We decided to ask the ladies to join us at the same table. It was a different atmosphere indeed.
We walked out blessing the aunties with 3 MUST - Peace + Health + Good Business ...
to be continued
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