Values Driven

When I arrived in New York on Monday, I knew two things:

1. I am thankful for being amongst some of the best women entrepreneurs from around the world.

2. I am thankful for embarking on the journey of lifelong learning.

In the span of 3 years, I have been recognized 3 times.

– Best Personal Brand Award
– SkillsFuture Fellowships Award
– Stevie Awards for Women in Business

With each award, I always remind myself this: it isn’t about what I’ve achieved; but how I can inspire others to achieve.

You can get started by being recognized by your peers.

Then work your way up to being recognized nationally.

And then being recognized internationally.

But remember, with greater recognition comes greater responsibility.

So go make a positive impact, dream big, and fly high!

🎉 I am totally excited to be the The Stevie Awards Bronze winner in the Female Solo Entrepreneur of the Year category.

🙏 I would like to thank my loved ones, mentors, clients and strategic partners for being a part of this awesome journey!

Delighted to be able to mention about beautiful #Singapore in my acceptance speech. Look forward to journeying with even more SG companies too.

I’m lucky.

When I went through a crisis of my own.

👐 I had my network of support
🌈 I was able to see the opportunities
🌞 I managed to rise above it all

But not everyone is that fortunate.

Which is why I’ve always reminded myself to be kind.

Because everyone is fighting their own battles.

When I first started Dream Catalyst 8 years ago, the naysayers were plentiful. #grateful to these naysayers for they helped me see with greater clarity my “why” of forging my path. #grateful to the small group of champions whose encouragement and support provided the impetus to always move forward.

I coined the term Dream Catalyst around 15 years when I was going through a painful period. I told myself I will continue to believe in possibilities of dreams and also to continue being a catalyst to help others actualise their brighter better bigger dreams too. It was my mission statement.

Grateful to have the opportunity to partner awesome clients who allow us to value create.

Looking forward to continue journeying with progressive business leaders and teams to intentionally design a business culture blueprint for success and which allows their teams to thrive.

It’s a wrap! Thank you Lifelong Learning Institute for the opportunity to partner you for this year’s #lifelonglearningfestival2017. Thank you Learn SG for supporting our Growth Series of 8 different sessions for personal development and professional growth.

As a consultant and learning facilitator, it gives me awesome joy when others embrace learning. There’s lots of other things one could be doing after a working day. Yet the participants made time to learn and some of them have been consistently attending all the sessions in the series.

Facilitating 8 evening sessions within 4 weeks was at times a stretch for us because some workdays started at 5am. Yet when evening time arrives, the #smiles and #enthusiasm of the participants energises us!

Participants also took the time to write us emails to share their thoughts on the sessions. These made our day as their sharing helps us to continuously value create in what we do. Here are some insights received:

• On behalf of my friends whom I asked to join me in these workshops, I would like to thank you & your team of various speakers/facilitators/co-ordinators/cameraman, for all your efforts in making the workshops possible.  You and your team have truly been amazing! I must say that throughout my career with various MNCs, I have been sent to various corporate trainings both abroad and here locally, and none, I must say, can surpass the way your workshop is conducted.  There was never a moment I felt bored in class!  You truly have outshined all other Speakers/Facilitators that I know!
• Appreciate all you efforts in making these events a successful and fulfilling ones. Your events are the most beneficial and wow to me..short but useful. Thank you very much.
• You leave a very good impression on us with your welcoming big smiles at the entrance and throughout the classes. It’s not easy especially after a long day work. So thank you for this.  =) I have been very blessed by the teaching & sharing of Bernadette’s knowledge,
  Hopefully we will have opportunity to meet again or work together in future soon. She remind me of “Oprah” somehow.

Thank you to our 5 co-faciliators who are experts in their respective fields Phoon Kok Hwa, Michelle Ow, Terence Chiew, Lyn Wong and Yeo Xi-Wei, #awesometeam who supported tirelessly the administrative & logistical requirements Yvonne Chua, Jasmine Chang and and TS.

And of course, thank you to the 8 groups of #awesomelearners who participated actively and shared joyfully with each other. Collective #wisdom, #synergy and #lifelonglearning rocks! Much love!

I started my watercolour painting lessons in 2012 and through the years, have gifted the paintings to family and friends and kept a few for myself. I also plucked up the courage and auctioned off a few to raise funds for various charities with great outcomes.

I painted this in 2013 as a surprise birthday gift for my boyfriend. It’s the largest painting I have ever attempted and took the longest to complete. Was pretty amazed at my patience in doing a repetitive action, it took 4 hours to paint the blue scales on the dragon.

It was a birthday gift well received and loved. He wanted to get it nicely framed but I refused. I did not think it was worth it to spend the money so I went to buy a cheap frame from Ikea instead.

Through the years, he’s gently broached the topic and each time, I have said no. Then finally, a few weeks ago, I said yes. Based on recommendations, we brought it to Framing Angie. Angie gave a few suggestions for the types of frames and we chose one.

When the shop contacted me that the painting was ready for collection, I was curious as to how it would look with the new frame. When I saw it, I turned to my boyfriend and said “I can paint”.

Through the years, I have received numerous compliments on my paintings. Yet I have never acknowledged nor recognised my own worth as an artist. Hence my reluctance to spend money on a frame that complements it.

It also got me thinking about the topic of how do we ‘frame’ our own worth and value to the people we meet and work with for professional value creation.

It became a discussion focus during a coaching session for a client a few days later. This lovely client is an absolute joy to journey with. She’s diligent, hardworking, solutions focused and exudes joy in her being and doing. My question to her was how does she ‘frame’ what she does to her management that highlights the value that she creates.

By ‘frame’, I do not mean boasting nor being an ’empty vessel that makes the most noise’.

By ‘frame’, it means how do we share in a way that connects the dots to link the various actions, activities, strategies etc implemented to the performance and growth of the company or to value creation.

For example, a number of the key initiatives she has implemented has an impact on the continued growth of the company. It was part of the strategy that she proposed in her annual operations plan. In our discussion, she realised that she has not updated her management on the progress and how the various intiatives are coming along nicely.

An assumption employees often make is that “my employer/ manager/ business leader” will know and recognise the value I bring to the team. Often times, they do. At times, they could be so caught up with their own work agendas that they may not have connected the dots.

In his book Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm and Confidence, Dr Rick Hanson an acclaimed clinical psychologist shares that “the mind is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.”

Bearing this in mind, it certainly helps for us to value our worth and choose a frame that highlights the beauty of what we do.

We had so much fun at our previous radio interview that we were back at Mediacorp for a second radio interview yesterday with Keith De Souza on 38Live The Breakfast Club.

We chatted on one of our fave topics “Value Creation at the Workplace”.

How can we value create at the workplace? How can employers create an environment that allows their employees to thrive? These are some of the insights we shared during the show.

For the full interview, you can listen here: Value Creation at the Workplace.

I love birthdays and I love the number 7. So today calls for much laughter and joy as Dream Catalyst celebrates our 7th birthday!

As I reflect on this special day, this quote by Charles Bukowski comes to mind. “The Free Soul is rare but you know it when you see it basically because you feel good, very good when you are near or with them.” 

When I first came across this quote, my thought was “what if we create more opportunities for souls to be a free soul?” Then surely, we will amplify the magnitude of goodness felt. So that the free soul is no longer rare, but exists in abundance.

I am glad that starting Dream Catalyst provided me with opportunities to do exactly that. To create a better world for all by helping businesses, teams and individuals to build a positive work culture. In so doing, may we continue to be amplifiers of goodness.

Thank you for being a part of our awesome journey!

Future Education – An International Conversation, a closed door event organised by SMU Wee Kim Wee Centre. It has been an exhilarating two days and privilege to be included as part of the group invited for this conversation.

The 20+ participants came from different parts of the world with varied experiences and backgrounds. We have strong views and dreams of the future of education. It is a topic that resonates with me!

Prior to starting Dream Catalyst, my time was spent mostly in some form of educating and mentoring. Working with youth and parents, and then moving on to the corporate sector as a training consultant.

On reflection, even when I was an events management executive and advertising and promotions executive, what gave me the greatest joy was personal development and helping others to do likewise.

The love of learning and learning how to learn changed my life, and also saved my life. When life was in a dark phase, learning equipped me with the tools and strategies to manage my emotions, shift my mindset and take critical action steps for positive change to happen.

Today, as Dream Catalyst, I have the joy of continuing to make a difference by journeying with businesses, teams and individuals to create a positive work culture. This happens when they embark on a journey to learn, relearn and embrace what’s learnt.

As I engaged in the conversations and soaked in the presence of collective wisdom gathered in the room, my heart sang in a joyous tune.

By desiring to bring forth the beauty that is within, we shine our brightest with harmony and peace.  And that’s what I believe in, embrace fully and seek to achieve each day. 

I thought it was apt and poignant that the event ended with us being invited for the 2nd Annual Ikeda Peace and Harmony Lecture: Re-thinking ASEAN, the problems and prospects for regional peace. The speaker Dr Leticia Ramos Shahani spoke on the future of our ASEAN community.

The client is the foundation of any new and repeated business’ success.

As a consultant and trainer who provides consultancy and training solutions for companies on building positive client experiences as one of our business growth recommendations, I am naturally more aware and attune to the service standards I receive in my daily living.

Because I interact often with service teams, I understand the difficulties and challenges faced by them. As such, I strive to be a good client.

When I experience positive customer experience, I will (1) thank the staff and share my experience with them and (2) make the effort to write in to the management to commend the staff.

And I would like to encourage you to do likewise. We are often quick to complain but truly slow to praise. It can make a difference to that employee who made the effort to provide excellent service. On one occasion, after I wrote in to commend a manager and her team, the business owner gave the whole team an increment in salary. I learnt this when I bumped into that manager and she joyfully related the story. It took me just 20 minutes to craft the email, the outcome (unexpected) was absolutely worth it!

In this quiet economy where customers have myriad of choices and are tightening their belts, it pays to pay attention to your customers.

What puzzles me is the companies who do not even bother replying to the commendation emails that I sent. The email address and the intended recipient (either business owner, manager or customer service feedback) will be accurate as I would have checked that with the service staff.

If your customer has made the effort to write in to commend your staff, this is an excellent opportunity to strengthen the relationship and create brand loyalty. It is also an excellent opportunity to recognise your staff member and strengthen employee engagement.

The following is an example of a reply that I recently received.

Dear Bernadette,

Thank you for shopping at Takashimaya and your kind compliment towards our promoter, Ms Liyi, who attended to you on 25 September 2016. We are very glad to learn of your wow experience shopping with us.

We had since, conveyed your appreciation to Ms Liyi and had also share to the Department of your compliment toward her during our morning briefing.

Thank you again for shopping at Takashimaya and we look forward to serving you again soon.

Thank you and regards,
Eugene Chin
Sports Department
Takashimaya Singapore Ltd

It felt great when I read the email as I am glad to know that Ms Liyi’s effort was recognised. It is excellent how it was shared with the department as this would be a refresher reminder to the team on providing positive customer experience.

What’s telling is that it also demonstrates the importance that Takashimaya places on customer experience. I was told to write in on the general feedback form found on Takashimaya website. My email was then passed onto the relevant department.

As a customer of Takashimaya, this reply reinforced the positive feelings I have of shopping there. It increases the likelihood of me repeating my experience and recommending the place to others.

In this quiet economy where customers have myriad of choices and are tightening their belts, it pays to pay attention to your customers.

When your customers do write in, please reply to them.

If it is a compliment, you will strengthen the existing relationship. If it is a complaint, you have been given a chance to turn your upset customer into a fan. Either way, it is an opportunity to create a positive moment of truth. Seize it.

For ways to design a positive and engaging customer customer experience, contact us to find out more.