Looking Up ... For Now ....

After a three-month period of observing and learning the itsy bitsy as well as the larger issues in my workplace, I thought that I've seen and heard enough. I finally made my move.

It has been our, both my boss and I, to let the world know the who and who of my workplace. The culture of not showing up in HQ or not joining any meetings or not becoming a committee member or participate in trainings and assignments should end as soon as we come. It is our mission to let the world know what kind of human resources we have.

One effort to do that is by making any opportunity for our staff of going to HQ or different branch whenever my boss or I receive an invitation. So sorry to say that many people have said, 'Who? We've never heard of him.' whenever I mention a staff name. 'Networking' probably is a luxury for many employees.

In the teaching department, it is mandatory for me and the CSO to be the evaluators for the teachers. So far it works even though we both have to make sacrifices like going home late. My CSO lives in Tangerang so I can understand that going home after 9 can't happen too often.

Researching, trying out and gambling are in my blood. How's so? For the past two months, I have launched two programs to get more students which will benefit the branch in the long run and provide benefits for the student and the employees, too. With my boss' blessings and the director's words (his words were: make money, money, and money), I have created programs to be implemented in the branch and ONLY in my branch during school holiday. All I asked were two: blessings (which I already have) and a promise from everybody that they'd support this money making program (which can also mean that my academic officers should work from 8.oo to 21.00 while they're making as much as 1 mil per week from this program or any employee who can gain benefit just by asking a client to join a class).

I try to find out how the customers response to these programs, the new slots (08.00 - 12.00), the different materials and the pricing. This means what? NEW materials, NEW form of placement test, NEW system (listing, receipt format, mechanism. Basically? It's the whole standard operating procedures) and NEW pricing. I know, I know. I've really gotten myself into trouble so deep that I have had headaches this past weeks. But what the heck. All the 'normal' and 'standard' mechanisms have proven unsuccessful. I need to think outside the box. Waaaaaaaaay outside. And that's what I'm doing. And, there's good news. There will be a class next week. Just one. But that's a start. I do hope more will come.

To prepare for these holiday programs, I gave a small presentation to everybody. And indeed, I had to talk about basic marketing. Very basic one. And today, I let my officer present for the needs analysis procedures. I don't think that this branch has had a lot of gatherings besides their three-monthly ones. I could see that from the employee activity schedule. I don't think my officers present a lot too so I guess this is a start for a bigger presentation for a larger audience. All they need is just some mentoring because they certainly have the knowledge and creativity. I do hope that their getting used to presenting can be a useful skill in the future.

Everything seems to be looking up now. I remember what the people in my previous branch had said. They said,'Miss, if you go there, we are sure that the branch would be more successful.' Oh gosh. For the sake of my present branch, I do hope that they are right.