As corporate learning and development practitioner, I always believe that workplace academy is a national treasure. It lives, breathes, and inculcates leadership skills into those bright young men and women who enter the gates and go through the structured immersion process. It doesn't matter whether they are involved in the military, business or civil service, It is a hands-on competency based training for frontline leaders in every profession, from both a practical and theoretical perspective, into an extremely relevant work tool.
During my recent countryside tour at Batu Gajah in Perak, I came across two prominent institutions, the Fire and Rescue Academy (Akademi Bomba dan Penyelamat) Malaysia for Wilayah Utara Malaysia, responsible for firefighting safety training & technical rescue (www.bomba.gov.my). The other is Youth Development Academy (Akademi Pembangunan Belia) Malaysia, under the Ministry of Youth and Sports, providing community leadership, various entrepreneurship development for youth (jbsn.gov.my/en/apbm-batugajah,html).
I remember as a youth leader during my tender age that disciplined people who engaged in disciplined thought and take disciplined action: this framework captures much of what separates greatness from mediocrity. Disciplined action means that we begin with a framework of core values (be), we meld those values with knowledge and insight (know), and finally we make situation-specific decisions to act (do). My seniors & gurus taught me that leadership begins not with what you do but who you are. It is then enforced in training.
During my tenure as a Director & Head of Management Development, Malaysia Airlines Academy answered the question “Can leadership be learned?” with the training whether we like like it or not, we are a leader. The real question is whether we will be an effective leader. I realised that Malaysia Airlines then also addressed a question that I have been wrestling with: Can leadership capabilities be developed and strengthened? Towards the end of my tenure at MAS Academy, I'm convinced managers must be teachers to youth.
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