Having gone through years of schooling, we are all very familiar with academic learning, the process of acquiring information through the study of a subject without the necessity for direct experience, in which the learner plays a comparatively passive role. Experiential learning is the process of learning through experience and is more specifically defined as 'learning through reflection on doing'. Experiential learning is much different from academic learning. Experiential learning focuses on the learning process for the individual. One makes discoveries and experiments with knowledge firsthand, instead of hearing or reading about others’ experiences.
Experiential learning activities are based on several experiential methodologies, resulting in more interesting and social engagements than standard learning activities. Through experiential learning activities, employees can develop and apply analytical skills to conceptualize the experience, as well as decision-making and problem-solving abilities to put the new ideas gained from the experience to use.
Dynamic Team was founded in 1995 in Malaysia. It started its experiential model of 80 percent outdoor and 20 percent indoor, when Dynamic Team transform its training model from 80 percent indoor and 20 percent outdoor, it incorporated a new entity in 2000 name Dynamic Team Holdings. Dynamic Team Holdings is one such prominent experiential learning organization that uses experiential learning methodology to conduct training programs, i.e., learning through unique design games that genuinely stimulate functioning or dysfunctional teams’ situations. The goal of implementing or building such an environment is to allow participants to engage in resolving the issue as they go through the process, therefore providing a learning principle for how to address similar situations in the workplace environment in the future.
The training curriculum of Dynamic Team incorporates martial arts philosophy. It constantly suggests or promotes the application of mastery, which is tied to the idea of ‘I must change first, and then the thing will change.’ The firm shares this since they have observed that if the change principle is not discussed; many team members would fall into a denial state when they don’t achieve the desired results. And, in the process, when they are in denial, they wouldn’t like to be corrected. Without correction, this will lead to a righteous altitude, and over a period of time the team will end up as a RIP team. By linking it to personal mastery, Dynamic Team proposes that members go on a journey into themselves, which it refers to as self-discovery, because only through self-discovery will they be able to break the vicious cycle of being right, righteous, and rip. Therefore, the first step towards this whole process is in this process is to increase their awareness and alertness of all of their actions.
Again, learning the concept is simple, but when Dynamic Team incorporates it into an interactive learning game, the lessons become more profound. The firm actually promotes its first experiential learning game, the ZB, at this point. In this simulation, the firm essentially intends to evaluate one’s reflexes, similar to martial arts, when managing change. The participants will be tested with one change that is happening in the situation in the first round, and Dynamic Team will see how they reflect before increasing the number of changes from 1-5, 5-10 changes happening simultaneously, and testing their reflexes.
Many people can manage 1-2 changes that occur, but when the changes reach the number of 5-10, many of them are zapped in the process because they are unable to reflect or react to the changes that occur. So, the ability to act when several changes are occurring in the same environment is put to the test. “Participants are trained to watch for changes akin to a crisis, because the Chinese character for crisis, rendered Wei Ji (危机), is written with two words known as danger (危) and opportunity (机), which signifies that in every dangerous situation, there is also an opportunity to achieve a breakthrough”. adds Simon Ng, Master Trainer at Dynamic Team Holdings.
The Journey of Excellence
As founder of Dynamic Team Holdings, Simon’s professional career began as an international schoolteacher, specializing in physical education while also teaching Taekwondo as a Black Belt instructor.
During his seven-year stint at the International School, he held the role of head of the physical education department. His role and responsibility at the time were to organize physical activities for all school-age children, as well as inter-school tournaments. That’s when Simon realized he had a passion for building winning teams in sports. Thereafter, he left the teaching profession and joined a family-owned business, involved with the printing and advertising industry. And subsequently, he left the family-owned business and went into the life insurance industry. It was then in the journey of life insurance when Simon was exposed to the different types of training programs that develop the right attitude towards achieving success and breakthrough results.
His opportunity came by when he first encountered his mentor, and a great teacher, Robert Kiyosaki. It was his first exposure to and understanding of what experiential learning is all about. He recalls approaching Robert after the training program and telling him that he aspired to be an instructor like him. Robert gave Simon insights on how to become an experiential learning instructor whereby his journey from there began.
Significantly, Simon attended one of the most effective breakthrough courses in Singapore, where he participated in a training program led by a karate master on how to lead a training program based on karate philosophy. And, as a Taekwondo instructor, Simon was able to incorporate both the taekwondo aspect of the training as well as the use of diverse martial arts to develop a similar training program focused on experiential learning with martial arts as the primary focus. To take this forward, Simon started Dynamic Team Holdings.
Owing to his strong base with the international school, the key clients were all the international students doing outdoor training programs. Therefore, the model or the training program was 80 percent outdoor and 20 percent Indoor. Following that, an opportunity presented itself when one of the children recommended the training program to his parent, who had the intention to conduct the training for his company. Since the target audience has switched from a group of teenagers to a group of corporate team members, the challenge was to lower the amount of outdoor activity and balance it with indoor activities.
That’s when Dynamic Team began to reposition their design as 50 percent indoor and 50 percent outdoor. After employing that concept for 3-4 years, there was a greater need to conduct the training program indoors rather than outside, as it began to raise the target audience up to the management level or C suite. Dynamic Team was able to redesign and reframe the training program to the point that it became increasingly indoor-based versus outdoor, and its flagship training program, known as building high-performance teams through team power, is now 80 percent indoor and 20 percent outdoor with 3 levels of progression.
Dynamic Team Holdings now operates from 3 offices in Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan to serve customers throughout Asia and Greater China. The Empowerment of the Black-Belt Team, its signature product, has effectively transformed teams in 12 countries across the region, including Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, China, Philippines, Myanmar, and Cambodia. Over 150 corporate clients from various industries such as oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, banking, FMCG, and more have supported Master Trainer Simon Ng as their trusted expert and partner in implementing sustainable, impactful team transformation training across their enterprises.
To date, more than 50,000 Black-Belt Graduates have successfully graduated from the program. This program earned the 'Creativity Award' from Motorola University in Schaumburg, Chicago, and 'Most Innovative Learning & Development Provider for Corporate Team Building' by the Ministry of Information & JT Frank Academy. In 2017, Dynamic Team was awarded as one of the Best Teambuilding Training Providers by Human Resources Online. And as it forges ahead to reach new heights, the Dynamic team is keenly looking forward to having a strong foothold in other Asian countries, especially in India, Thailand, and Indonesia.
The training curriculum of Dynamic Team incorporates martial arts philosophy. It constantly suggests or promotes the application of mastery, which is tied to the idea of ‘I must change first, and then things begin to change
“Our mission is known as Experiential Wow means that in every engagement that we have with our clients, participants, and stakeholders, we would like to give them a wow effect, and envision being the most preferred training provider in high-performance, team development”, concludes Simon Ng.
Simon Ng, Master Trainer, 4th Degree Black-Belt Instructor
Simon Ng Teck Meng is the founder of Dynamic Team Holdings, an organization that believes in innovative training for personal development through experiential and participative learning. Simon Ng was recognized for his creative and impactful learning experiences by Motorola University at Schaumburg, Chicago. Simon also holds a 4th Degree Black-Belt Instructor Certificate in Taekwon-Do. He developed and founded the 'Empowerment of the Black-Belt Team', a comprehensive and experiential program designed to develop a spirit of 'oneness' and team cohesiveness among participants.
He emulates the principles of the various 'senseis' which are the foundation of Martial Arts, as his core training methodology – an equation of participative and output learning. Simon himself is a Martial Arts practitioner and teacher. 'The Empowerment of the Black-Belt Team' program which takes a holistic approach to lead people and organizations to excellence makes people realize the need for Team Power, change, and commitment to survive these trying times. Simon believes that Corporations and Institutions today need to shift from 'Management of Crises' to 'Leading by Vision and Mission'. But before an organization can make this transition, the people must be a cohesive team.
Simon strongly subscribes to active learning which makes the learning process fun and an ‘adventure’ instead of the conventional passive classroom style of ‘I lecture, you listen’. The only means of maintaining participants’ attention and retention in seminars or workshops is through participation – an active interaction between facilitator and participants. This is an open secret, the secret of The Black Belt Leader!
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