Whitespace Management Consulting

Harmonising Work and Play

Learning to work and play at the same time at Ho Chi Minh last week.

Not gonna wait for retirement to play. Neither work till I can't play no more.

How are you harmonising your multiple priorities?

Work and Play at Ho Chi Minh.

Satisfying to facilitate Leaders as Coaches for this group of managers.

When is the Student Ready?

The Chinese proverb, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear," is one that has always resonated with me. This week's Developing and Empowering Your People workshop was a beautiful reminder of this truth.

Over the two days, it was personally rewarding to me to witness a cohort of managers who came ready to learn. They demonstrated a genuine spirit of curiosity and growth by:

😀 Participating actively throughout the sessions, both asking thoughtful questions and contributing their perspectives.

😀 Freely sharing real workplace situations, both their successes and struggles, and leadership dilemmas with openness and honesty.

😀 Making full use of their learning journals to capture insights, with some even highlighting key ideas to deepen connections.

😀 Remaining fully present throughout the programme, choosing engagement over distractions from phones or laptops.

😀 Taking photos of the recommended books, eager to continue learning beyond the workshop.

😀 Sharing thoughtful personal reflections and meaningful takeaways at the end of each day.

😀 Most significantly, choosing not to blame their reporting officer or their teams for the challenges they face, but willing to look inward and ask, "Is my ego the hindrance?"

As I listened to their check-out reflections after two days, I was moved. Hearing several participants acknowledge how their own assumptions and habits might have been getting in the way and expressing a sincere willingness to practise what they had learned was a real privilege to witness.

In that moment, I felt profoundly grateful.
These experiences remind me why I continue to do this work.

There is a second part to the proverb that is quoted less often: "When the student is truly ready, the teacher will disappear." To me, that is the true measure of learning, not just what happens in the classroom, but what continues long after it.

I look forward to our follow-up session, where I hope to hear stories of how these managers have translated insight into practice, and leaning into lasting change.

Afterall, knowing is not doing.

Painting Our Canvas of Life
This morning's Walk the Talk was organised by MentorsHub, where I have been serving as a strengths coach since 2021. The network supports undergraduates and young graduates through mentoring and coaching, helping them navigate the transition from university into the working world.

Meeting fellow mentors and coaches was a timely reminder that mentoring is not a top-down, one-way journey. As we shared our experiences, we reflected not only on our own paths but also on the privilege of walking alongside the next generation. Conversations with the mentee alumni offered a refreshing exchange of perspectives, keeping us connected to one another's different seasons of work and life, and reminding us how our perspectives evolve over time.

More than 30 years ago, when I was an undergraduate, my own journey was far from easy. I worked part-time to pay my university fees, and many days were incredibly exhausting. Looking back, what sustained me was not simply perseverance, but a deep grounding in my spiritual life, a quiet confidence to lean on God's strength rather than my own.

I also remember with deep gratitude the mentors in my church who journeyed with me, offering wisdom, encouragement, and hope during some of my dimmest days.

Reflecting on what it means to pour into others, my takeaway is that it does not require us to have "made it" in life, reached retirement, or feel completely equipped. We do not even need to have all the answers.

Often, what mentees remember is simply that someone was there, someone cared enough to be present, to listen, and to walk alongside them.

This is the masterpiece I envision life to be, that each of us adding brushstrokes to one another's lives, sometimes in ways we may never fully realise.

Lessons from the Dining Table

The dining table offered many lessons on love and sacrifice when I was a child.

I was born into a humble family. Making ends meet for a family of five children on a single income was no easy feat for my late father.

There were many days when I noticed that all he ate was plain rice with warm water, while dishes were laid out on the table for the rest of us. When he returned from overtime work, he would occasionally bring home supper, and we children would gather eagerly for what felt like a real treat. Looking back now, I realise that those nights could have been his payday.

It is easy to give to your family when you have plenty.

It is easy to offer the biggest piece to your children whilst you have the other pieces.

It gets  difficult to keep giving when you have little.

Thanks, Pa, for the sacrifice you taught me:

❤️Give even if you may have close to nothing, for love is what you have left on the table.

Happy Father's Day!

'sday

Presence Beyond Preference

When words fail to express what you truly mean, the picture takes over. It has a way of depicting what is hidden, lurking in the corner, buried beneath the surface, or floating above you. Especially when a picture is abstract, there is more than one way to interpret it, as each person sees it differently.

Spending an evening at the Gajah Gallery at the Singapore Arts Museum reminded me of the quote from John Keatingm, the English teacher from the movie “Dead Poets Society”:

“Medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for."

Humans are whole beings, and our decisions involve both the logical and analytical, as well as the intuitive and holistic aspects of our thinking and processing. One without the other handicaps our decisions, making them too skewed and simplistic.

In reality, we do tend to lean towards one or the other according to our preferences. When we coach, we engage the whole of the client. To stay present to the person in front of us, we need to tune into both sides of our thinking.

⚖️ When our presence is heavily hijacked by rational thinking, we risk becoming overly analytical or rigid in our interpretation. Coaching may then be reduced to a cognitive exercise that risks losing opportunities to notice unconscious cues, experience integration as a whole person, and support embodied transformation for the client.

❤️‍🩹 When our presence becomes over-empathetic, we risk losing perspective through emotional immersion. When we become acquiescent, we lose the opportunity to challenge, expand awareness, and awaken the client.

Like standing in front of each artwork, there is no single right interpretation, only an invitation to notice what emerges. The question then is not whether we are rational or intuitive, but whether we are aware of which part of us is taking the lead. What are we noticing, and what might we be missing? Not to judge, but to be present. Not to fix, but to awakening awareness.

Well, when you really enjoy your work, even breakfast talk is about organisational development, change management and addressing mental models.

Catching up with ex-colleague from my previous consulting company. Exchanging our views about how interventions differ in different cultures, sectors and countries. And, what difference AI has made to our role.

Well, what is your breakfast talk about?

☕️

"It didn't feel like you were there for just 3 years." That was one unanimous remark made by my ex-colleagues of more than 20 years.

We all agreed that we had a great time working together during that era. We enjoyed the camaraderie and creating the kind of work that we found meaningful, though it was no doubt an intense period.

We caught up for almost 4 hours and felt we could go another 4.

🌞 What made it meaningful for you in your past work experience?

🌞 What does your top 3 ranking look like?

🌞 What is something that you would do differently if you could go back to the same era?

🌞 What new awareness do you glean about yourself as you reflect on the above?

Counting Blessings!

There is a long list of personal gratitude even as I wrapped up the 3 cohorts of 18 days workshops for senior leaders. I first worked for this organisation when I graduated 3 decades back and I remember fondly:

🌳I first applied to work at the sea sports club but it put me in a unique role that many would not have experienced – a Government Matching-Making agency!

🌳The leaders then provided me opportunities to try different roles and that landed me in 4 roles in my 10 years there – Career Opportunities!

🌳My CEO then delegated me to attend government-wide policy making meetings on his behalf and I found myself, a young officer, in a room filled with chiefs of ministries and stat boards and the head of civil service – Building my Courage!

🌳I was made to front global news media on the initiatives for singles – Training ground for skin of a rhino!

🌳I was sponsored a year-long postgraduate Learning Organisation (LO) programme that set my passion for Organisational Development – A path I still love today!

🌳The opportunities to work on social and community development were aplenty – A Lifelong Skill!

🌳Most of all, I made great friends of whom I still keep in touch with till today – Enduring Friendship!

As I facilitated the programme with co-facilitator Thomas, Dean of SIM Centre for Systems Leadership, I am grateful that we can teach and learn at the same time, in this learning campus!

Thank you, ex-colleagues and new ones for trusting us with your 18 days, it meant a lot to me!