Today, the 15th Day of September in the year of 2009, I received a letter from the GM of Human Resource Department informed me about my retirement due date which falls on 12-11-09. In the past two years of extended contractual employment, I received my retirement letter 3 months ahead and at the same time an offer letter for extension of service. When the GM walked into my office with only one letter on his hand, I knew what is next. So, it did not came as a surprise for this round it is merely a retirement letter. As I have worked as a contractual staff to run the QPP Department after I retired two years ago, I am grateful to my employer for given me a post retirement opportunity
Why this time ?
When I receive the retirement notice, it was about 7 weeks notice when last day of service falls on my birthday i.e. 11th November 2009. 7 is a good number for me as I have learnt several things in life which start with this auspicious number 7.To quote some examples:-
- 7 QC Tools,
- 7 New Management Tools,
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,
- 7 Days week
- 7/11 convenient store
- 7/24 etc
Also of late, the management has emphasized the approach to bring the corporation to a different height. One of the key strategies was to develop new talent. As such, it was decided to provide opportunities for those young and talented executives who has shown great potential to be a Leader for the organization.
As a head of Continuous Improvement Initiatives myself, I have to prepare for the same. Over the last two years of extended employment, I started to develop my only staff to take over my role. Over the duration of last two years, I have assigned her heavier tasks and given full authority and ownership to carry out her role. Some of her key roles were tto promote, plan and execute her duties and has to cope with all shortcomings. As her supervisor, I tried to guid her along whenever she needed to prepare her to cope with the corporate world. Over the last two years, she has proven to be successful in her new role and has shown great potential to take on new role. And the time is NOW!
Well, when the date touches 11-11-2009, also my 57th birthday, it is time for me to let go and be FREE. I will live a different lifestyle as freedom is on my side. I can fully concentrate to develop my vision in life that is to disseminate my work knowledge and the application of Total Quality Management to the corporate world; non-profit organization; small and medium enterprises; people around me and my newly acquired companion – the cyber space.
I appreciated Internet as a channel of communicating my knowledge to the needy and around the globe as it is the most powerful and wonderful media I ever dreamed of. Not only it is fast and instant, it is affordable too. The other wonderful features of Internet is it has unlimited expandability with the only one limitation i.e. imagination.
Am I ready for it? To be honest, I have a cross feeling about it. I am not 100% ready as I never had a second job or side business beside working for this organization. Although I had several opportunities offered to me during the last two years, I turned them down because I am loyal to the organization. I always cautioned myself for possible conflict of interest. But I have expected this day will come sooner or later. It could not be possible for my employer to continue my contract as the organization required new thinking.
Moving on…..
I seek to continue to share my knowledge in Business, Operations, Total Quality Management perhaps in several different forms. I will endeavor to serve this conglomerate whenever I am summoned to as it has given me amber opportunities in the past to climb the corporate ladder. And I continue to care for those staffs who have attended my training especially those in the TAG Development Program and QAT Project Teams. There is no better way than to continue to offer my service to them when they needed. Be it a new challenge or mere enhancement of their knowledge. I have served this conglomerate for 15 long years, the longest serving company I ever had in my entire working career.
To ensure my knowledge is reached out to the world, I have started to write articles about Total Quality Management, posted articles about Strategic Planning on my SWOT Analysis Blog , Business Excellence Model such as Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and am planning to expand the scope of my articles to cover the topic more periodically.
To ensure my knowledge is well distributed, I have included hyperlinks on the sidebars of this blog for you to navigate into these topics. I have categorised different aspect of my knowledge in the most appropriate category title. With this non-profit knowledge sharing, I hope to leave a LEGACYof myself to my love-ones, friends, those who have attended my training and to the world at large.
I wish you all the best in health and wealth
