The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption and economic hardship around the world. Many businesses were forced to close their doors due to mounting losses. However, some firms were able to weather the storm by adapting to the new reality and launching new initiatives.
Leadership and teamwork were essential to the success of revival strategies. This was the message delivered by a renowned leadership coach at a workshop on Saturday, which was attended by team leaders and staff from various companies in Cambodia.
Andreas Vogiatzakis, named one of the 100 Most Influential Digital Leaders in the Asia Pacific region in 2017 and one of Malaysia’s 100 most inspirational LinkedIn icons, conducted a Strategic Thinkers Effective Communicators Workshop at the Singapore (Cambodia) International Academy in Phnom Penh.
The People Development Program was organised by AMVPLUS Academy in partnership with the Malaysian Business Chamber of Cambodia and SCIA.
The leadership coach urged the audience to be prepared to change their attitudes and approaches in order to be successful leaders.
“Change is necessary because it brings transformation. The butterfly will not come out unless it goes through all that transformation and that transformation is not always easy, many times. It’s very difficult.”
Vogiatzakis pointed out that there are no shortcuts to achieving one’s goals.
“And what I always say is that everybody wants to go to paradise, but nobody wants to die. Well, there is no magic. If we want to change, if we want to build transformation, and if we want to be better people, better parents, better mothers, better fathers, better spouses, husbands and wives, better employees, better CEOs, we need to do better leaders. And it’s not an easy game, it’s a fun game but it takes determination and discipline. And so we need to embrace change. There is no other way to become better,” he said.
He said that the three key elements to win and thrive in the ever-changing world are to think strategically, communicate effectively and present convincingly. The workshop discussed the media landscape, fundamentals of strategic thinking, effective communications and convincing presentation.
Talking about strategic thinking, he said: “Strategic thinking is all about the intentional and rational thinking process. Any human being can be a strategic thinker. We just need to put discipline into it and analyse situations in a different way with intention and reason. When we want to outline mission goals, it will help us to gain clarity.”
When asked about the objective and outcome of the leadership workshop, the Malaysian Business Chamber of Cambodia president Oknha Tan Khee Meng told Khmer Times: “We have been receiving a lot of requests from members for organizing leadership training, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s time for the company management to reshape themselves and embrace the new challenge after the pandemic. The rationale of this workshop is to add value to the members by bringing a leadership coach from overseas.”
He said MBCC wanted to help its members to enhance their staff capability, especially in the field of strategic thinking, and effective communication.
“We have a very good mix of the audience for this round. We have many of our members who have been operating for a long time in Cambodia and the good thing is that most of the staff who attended this workshop are Cambodians. We want to help Cambodians build their capacity. The event also attracted non-members who are also Cambodians and from various sectors, including hospitality, banking, insurance and schools. It showed that everyone, especially the Cambodian young generation is very hungry for skill hunting, effective communication and strategic thinking,” he added.