Testimonials
Amal Al-Sabti
I had the pleasure attending Module 1 of Public Policies and Strategic Formulation that was facilitated by Whee Jim. This module was part of a large-scale training program for the Directors-General in Oman’s public service. It was a great opportunity for us to reframe our thinking, challenge our assumptions, and take ourselves outside our comfort zone.
At the beginning, we thought we knew what public policy making and strategic thinking were all about. But Whee Jim helped us reframe our thinking and beliefs, and showed us that it was really about constantly trying to keep pace with changes in the environment. Policies need to keep changing and evolving. Even First World economies are facing unintended and unanticipated consequences of earlier policies, which threaten to derail their aspirations and development.
I appreciated how Whee Jim took us through multiple international experiences of success and failure. He was able to break the ice and get the best from all of us. His ability as a facilitator was beyond our expectations. Thank you so much Whee Jim.
Yeo Whee Jim
I have had the pleasure of working with Whee Jim on a one-week module of a leadership programme for a group of Vietnamese central and provincial leaders. The programme was organised by the Chander Academy of Governance (CAG) and Vietnam’s National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA).
Whee Jim brought to the table his many years of experience handling complex public administration issues in the Singapore Government and those of other countries such as Bhutan. Together with his ability to create a conducive space for learning and moderate discussions amongst the Vietnamese leaders, Whee Jim played a major role in helping our participants take away many useful and practical lessons.
Displaying great sensitivity to the local context, Whee Jim’s approach was refreshing. Notwithstanding the language barrier, he orchestrated simple yet practical ways of coaching our Vietnamese leaders to reframe their thinking and work better as a team. He effectively engaged them in discussions, pushed them to think more critically about issues and encouraged them to start tackling challenges by learning from one another’s best practices. With his in-depth knowledge and insights of the ASEAN region, Whee Jim’s blend of using professional and personal stories with theories and frameworks greatly enhanced the learning experience and cemented our leaders’ learning.
Based on my formal and informal interactions with Whee Jim during and after the programme, I highly recommend Whee Jim should you need a consultant for public administration or a facilitator for your leadership development programmes.
Yeo Whee Jim
The Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) of Bhutan engaged Whee Jim for a range of large-scale, complex HR initiatives to bring some transformative changes in Bhutan’s Civil Service.
Whee Jim brought to the table his extensive experience formulating and implementing HR policies at the systems-level with sharp personnel management instincts. We could see that these competencies were hone by years of hard work – making tough decision to sieve out the outstanding performers from the underperformers, in service of building a culture of high performance.
Armed with a high level of cultural and emotional intelligence, Whee Jim went out of his way to understand our local operating context and creatively develop an effective and fit-for-purpose assessment framework and process that was sophisticated yet user-friendly.
We were impressed by Whee Jim’s ability to build a high level of trust and engagement with several very senior stakeholders from the Government. Whee Jim conducted himself very professionally. He was able to listen actively, quickly internalize diverse concerns, astutely recommend practical solutions and roll things out very quickly – we imposed tight deadlines with Whee Jim successfully met. His work has contributed greatly to RCSC’s efforts to strengthen the quality of civil service leadership.
The RCSC would like to thank Whee Jim for his service to the civil service and wish him the best in all his future endeavors.
Senior Government Officials from Indonesia
Nanyang Technological University Singapore and BAPPENAS Indonesia
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Yeo Whee Jim
Wonderful and amazing discussion with Jim. Innovation in the public sector needs to be energized for agile public services.
One of my top favourites. 🙂 Wish to have further fruitful discussions with Mr Yeo.
So interactive. Very happy with the way of presentation, giving examples, and answering all questions in a simple way.
Very attractive sharing.
Smart, cool, and presentation was very good.
Great sharing.
Thank you for the learning method.
Yeo Whee Jim
Best session so far. Nice conversation. Like Charlie said, such an enriching and enlivening conversation. Thank You.
I like the way Jim encourages participants to take action in class. I wasn’t feeling sleepy for even a minute. And this makes his lecture so exciting and interesting.
Nice presentation and well-managed for class participation.
Very active in your session! Thanks for sharing your valuable knowledge and opinion with us today!
Great interaction with participants!
Love the way he did the presentation and the discussion session.
Interesting topic, useful information, easy to understand, and good interactive class.
Thank you for your data and the experience that you kindly shared with us.
Jim drew lots of participation from the class. I like his lecture style.
Yeo Whee Jim
Whee Jim facilitated an Action Planning Workshop for AGO for the management group, which was conducted in a hybrid setting, with participants who attended in-person and some dialing in virtually.
Whee Jim was effective in conducting the workshop, and showed strong interpersonal skills in constantly engaging the participants to provide their responses during the workshop. He was able to keep the energy level of the workshop high throughout the session, and connected well with the participants. He was able to keep the atmosphere light with his sense of humour, but made sure that each participant did their part during the breakout sessions by assigning clear roles and managing the time well.
His personality and adaptability helped to create a conducive environment where participants were comfortable to share insightful feedback. His past experience in the public sector also stood him in good stead in understanding the culture and norms of public sector agencies.
Ms Wong Hsien Hui
Assistant Director, Special Education Needs Division, Ministry of Education, Singapore
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Yeo Whee Jim
Whee Jim was the facilitator for our team-building workshop, which helped us to think deeper about our place in the wider Singapore context, and how we wanted to move forward together as an organisation.
Through two half-day workshops, using simple tools like Zoom and Google slides, Whee Jim got us to:
1. Articulate different perspectives and tensions to manage,
2. Refine and reframe our focus, and
3. Commit to making changes.
He did this skillfully by creating a safe and non-threatening environment that empowers everyone to speak up and share authentically from their own experiences.
Thank you Whee Jim for your dedication to what you do, and for equipping and inspiring us for the next step of our journey!
Yeo Whee Jim
“Why have a facilitator?”
The prototype from the initial design thinking is important – but is not foolproof. In a 4-hour workshop with 10 participants, an experienced and assertive facilitator like Whee Jim helped to steer our team’s conversation from finger-pointing to how I could influence the situation differently. Those often in silence, also spoken-up. We came out as a slightly open team with tangible follow-up actions.
Always a pleasure to work with like-minded professionals like Whee Jim who wants to make a difference with his presence.
Yeo Whee Jim
Dear Whee Jim
On behalf of my team, a very big thank you for the two specially curated virtual strategic planning workshops that you had facilitated for us. These two sessions had been both insightful and authentic conversations.
Given the current challenges posed by the global pandemic situation, which resulted in the paradigm shift and had inevitably impacted philanthropy in many unexpected positive ways. We are now more aware of the need to align and adjust ourselves with NTU priorities and in our communication with the various stakeholders in our next 2 to 3 years’ strategic plans. In tandem, to build on the current talent and resources at UAO and establish an organizational culture that encompasses high gold standards with passion, trust, respect, collaborative learning and forward-thinking amongst colleagues and to lead by example from the leadership team to the rest of the staff members.
Warm Regards
Siaou-Sze
Yeo Whee Jim
A Christian halfway house, The Helping Hand’s Board engaged Whee Jim to facilitate a series of Board conversations. In our mind, we needed to have these conversations to decide on the way forward for our organisation, while revisiting some fundamental issues to continue to stay true to our Christian mission.
I must admit that some of us had reservations about having deep conversations on important issues virtually. Not that we had a choice, given how we could not meet face-to-face. I am happy to report that we managed to achieve this over 3 half-day virtual workshops, backed by lots and lots of behind-the-scenes pre-workshop preparations. Thank God for Whee Jim!
What I really like was Whee Jim’s unwavering approach of clarifying our intentions, and designing a simple yet effective process for our conversations. Whee Jim also showed us that there was no need for fancy tools – just good old Zoom, Google slides, and the occasional Mentimeter.
Bringing to the table his extensive experience in facilitating strategic conversations, Whee Jim was really effective in conceptualising and framing issues in a simple, clear, and helpful manner. I particularly liked that Whee Jim did not push us any fancy frameworks and complex theories – we just relied on first principles, rigorous analysis, and above all, good old common sense.
Working closely with Whee Jim throughout the Board conversations, I am struck by how empathetic, sensitive, and adaptable he has been. I boil it down to Whee Jim’s ability to listen deeply and read visual cues while having the courage to help us course-correct in service of our conversations and our objectives, which continued to morph along the way. It takes a confident, astute, and experienced facilitator to do just that!
It has been a joy working with Whee Jim. We are thinking of continuing our engagement, as our Board thinks through how we can start to work hand-in-glove with our management.