Ms Chan Hsien Hung
General Manager, Management Office
The Challenge
When the premier logistics solutions company Yang Kee started planning its new 5-year road map, they decided to engage Bootstrap. They wanted an experienced facilitator and practitioner to walk them through the brainstorming process, instead of attempting it on their own. “We thought of Dr Lynda Wee because she has the necessary experience and is wise enough to guide us,” says Mr Chan.
Thus began the learning journey as Bootstrap worked with the local-turned-global logistics company over two projects. The first was for leadership training in 2013 while the second combined teamwork with strategic planning for their five-year-plan.
The challenge: How to enhance leadership effectiveness? What is Yang Kee’s 5-year Plan like for setting key priorities and allocating resources?
The Catalyst
To ensure that the workshop meets the objectives and the level of understanding of its participants, Bootstrap prepared thoroughly beforehand. The team engaged Yang Kee in several discussions in order to understand their Business Model. “Dr Lynda Wee really stretches to meet your requirement. If we were to just take the blueprint from WDA, and use that as a template for training, my gut feel is that it would not have met our needs. Our participants would not grasp what’s required,” says Mr Chan.
Bootstrap was able to contribute to what the company wanted to achieve together, by going beyond what was expected. Yang Kee was impressed with the attention, passion and drive from the team. “There are a lot of training professionals out there. However, Bootstrap can resonate with us, localise in our context, and reflect that in their sharing,” explains Mr Chan. What also made an impression were the key notes put together by the Bootstrap facilitators at the end, which captured the important ideas during the sessions.
The Change
The leaders at Yang Kee are very positive towards Bootstrap’s training. During the workshop, leaders were motivated to own what they had learnt and be at the forefront of leading their teams.
“We further benefit by continuing with the momentum after our training. We summarise the training and have a town hall session,” says Mr Chan. During the session, they engaged their 200 staff who were mostly blue-collar workers, so that management would not be the bottleneck.
Rather than depending on the “number one top boss” to decide everything, the staff started taking ownership of the company. The staff took away important lessons which they built on and turned into a new form.
“Bootstrap has a significant impact on us. An SME needs a consultant that has all the experience to point them in the direction that they need to go. We need to take a hard look at this, no matter how busy,” says Mr Chan.