A week or two in Asia
The last couple of weeks have been an interesting experience in my life as Director of Manchester Business School’s suite of MBA programmes. I took up this post relatively recently and, as part of my role, I have oversight of our worldwide MBA programmes. We have offices around the world and this month I had my first opportunity to visit our Singapore and Hong Kong regional centres.
The plan was to spend a day in Singapore then a couple of days in Hong Kong and, indeed the plan started well. I arrived in Singapore in the evening and met up with my colleagues Tudor Richards and Susan Moger who were in Singapore delivering a workshop to support the Perspectives of Leadership module. 
What I find interesting is that I spent more time and had a more in depth conversation with Tudor and Susan in a hotel lobby in Singapore than we’ve managed to have in the last 6 months! What I learnt from Tudor and Susan during that conversation was invaluable but also I’ve since reflected on that whole experience of spending a couple of hours chatting in a hotel lobby. There is much talk of having ‘quality time’ with friends and family but I wonder if enough thought has been put into the notion of ‘quality time’ with colleagues. Whist I am not an advocate of enforced socializing at work what I was reminded of from my evening with Tudor and Susan is that time spent with colleagues but without a specified agenda can be extremely valuable. Our conversation drifted from topic to topic, there was no expectation that we would ‘sum up ‘ or ‘agree action points’ but the evening was incredibly valuable. So, from that evening I’ve sent a ‘memo to self’ .. I’ve decided to schedule at least a couple of hours a week for ‘quality time’ with colleagues .. no agenda, no fixed purpose just an opportunity to listen/chat/learn. If any reader of this blog wants to join me in some ‘quality time’ just let me know … and the nearest hotel lobby to MBS is The Palace and I’ll buy the coffees!
Of course the main reason for my visit to Singapore and Hong Kong was not to sit in hotel lobbies but was to visit our regional offices. So, at my first stop in Singapore I met our Centre Director Ms. Lim Bee Ing and her colleagues. I also spent an evening with a group of MBAs who are currently going through the blended learning programme in Singapore. I was particularly encouraged that several of the MBAs who I met in Singapore are hoping to come to the UK to study some of the elective courses with our full time MBAs over the summer. 
As we move the programme forward, there will be more opportunities for MBAs from the full time and blended learning programmes to work together so feedback on how our MBAs would like to see such an integration take place would be welcome. I should also mention that Bee Ing took me for a fantastic lunch which included one of my all time favorite dishes, Chili Crab .. thanks Bee Ing!!
After my day in Singapore it was time to move on to Hong Kong. The intention was that I would spend two days in Hong Kong, a day to spend some time in the regional office and a day to officiate at our annual graduation ceremony and meet our alumni chapter in Hong Kong. Well the plan started well, I spent a most informative day in our Hong Kong offices in Central and am particularly grateful to Ms Christina Siu our Centre Director in Hong Kong for providing me with a real insight to the MBA educational landscape in the region and for introducing me to several of our current Hong Kong based MBAs and to our Hong Kong alumni chapter .. oh and for introducing me to the Hong Kong delicacy of ducks’ tongues and indulging my dim sum cravings!!
Following on from my day in the Hong Kong office it was time for the highlight (apart from the food!) of the trip .. the graduation ceremony. A graduation ceremony is the symbolic end to undergraduate or postgraduate study and, for me, being in attendance at these ceremonies is the best part of my job. We were also fortunate in that this year’s MBS graduation ceremony in Hong Kong was held in the Star Room of the Langham Place Hotel in Mong Kok. 
Well of course it was so apt that the ceremony should be held in a venue called the Star Room .. the stars of the day were those MBAs who were awarded their MBA degrees that day, it was a wonderful day and I felt privileged to be there.
So, that was the end of my Asian adventure .. or so I thought! I had heard news that there had been a volcanic eruption in Iceland and that it was affecting European flights but it was not until after the graduation ceremony that I began to realize the implications of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupting! I was due to fly out of Hong Kong straight after the graduation ceremony but quite quickly I realized that this was not going to happen. Of course my first reaction was great, a couple more days in Hong Kong and indeed it gave me the opportunity to go and browse the street markets and even get my hair cut! But 3 handbags later and with a growing awareness that I may not be getting home any time soon I realized a different strategy needed to be adopted.
In these sorts of ‘crisis’ situations I believe there are 2 approaches, wait or react. Well I’m not so good at ‘sitting tight’ so therefore, I adopted a rather ‘gung ho’ approach, rejected Air France’s offer of a flight 10 days in the future and instead decided to ‘head west’ and try and get back to somewhere/anywhere in Europe. Whilst I have heard many tales of poor customer service during this crisis I have to say that almost all I experienced was a willingness to help. Air France realized they could not help me so gave me a full refund on my return flight, I then booked on ELAL to Tel Aviv and then on to Madrid but when I got Tel Aviv ELAL were able to offer me a direct flight the next day to Luton .. together with a full refund on my Tel Aviv – Madrid flight! So, I got back 6 days later than expected, with 3 new handbags, a new haircut and having had an unexpected day in Tel Aviv which gave me the opportunity to wander around Jaffa which is somewhere that’s been on my ‘must visit’ list for years. The only disappointing service I had during this whole experience was a Madrid Hotel refusing to give me a refund .. but it was amazing how quickly they changed their mind when I informed them I’d be raising their customer service policy on Trip Advisor!
So, that’s what I’ve been doing in April .. lessons learnt .. spend quality, face-to-face, time with colleagues, be prepared to change plans when the situation demands it, online media allows the individual to ‘have a voice’ .. oh and next time I see ducks’ tongues on the menu I’ll pass!
