Sailing Through Choppy Waters

If the wars and other crises we face today represents the rough and choppy waters, I believe that we are in the same sea though traveling in different vessels. My wish and actions are that we keep sailing with compassion towards eventual peace together.

Since 2021, I have gotten to know more about shipping and the teams of people who literally keep ZIM afloat – account  managers, sales coordinators, trade managers and more. In 2024, the invite came to lead the virtual training for their customer service managers around the global. From the first briefing in March to summary of the programme in September, I am reminded again and again that irrespective of race, culture and language, our willingness to learn and put our best foot forward is never just for the feedback scores we receive.

As much as I find it hard to put into words the overall experience, I wrote the below in part upon request from NGG who wanted to share this business in their upcoming newsletter. NGG is the consulting group specializing in business and organizational solutions, with whom ZIM trusts with their transformation and learning interventions.

“Just visualize this global fleet of customer service teams from ZIM, an Israel-based shipping company, all navigating different waters but united by a shared pursuit of Excellence. Across 40 training sessions, we had the privilege of working with these diverse teams of over a 100 participants (from Colombo to Ho Chi Minh to Montreal to Santos to name a few port cities). Their professionalism, proactivity, and personal touch were evident in our interactions. They were eager learners, asking insightful questions and sharing valuable experiences.

Despite the challenges ZIM HQ team faces, their commitment to service quality and staff support never wavered. My partner NGG displayed the same tenacity and resilience to provide steadfast support to ZIM, ensuring smooth sailing throughout the journey.

Join us and let’s sail forth toward a horizon of lasting excellence and smooth waters, where every customer/human interaction is a chance to navigate success with confidence, authenticity, and unwavering dedication.”

Today is the Jewish New Year and in NGG’s newsletter, it also included:

“…a great summary by Noa Goelman-Shalom- Head of Global Learning & OD @ ZIM about a project at ZIM during a year of war (delivered by Woon Peng Ziady) :

I am excited to share the highlights of our recent training program for our customer service managers across the globe, which proved to be a remarkable success thanks to the dedication and expertise demonstrated by the NGG team and the wonderful Woon. The success of a training program depends on its ability to answer needs, shift the mindset, and create the right motivation within the participants to change and acquire the tools and skills. All of that came to life in this training program. Starting from the tailored design up to the session facilitation.

I want to express special gratitude to Woon, for her unique ability to engage with each participant, providing personalized attention that enriched the learning experience for everyone involved even in the virtual platform, and her ability to show the true value of the learning materials. Her professionalism had a great impact on the effectiveness of the program.

Thank you again for the partnership hope that we will have new opportunities to explore new learning needs and design new programs 😊

I am humbled by her words but more than anything, I am grateful that I could share knowledge to the participants and that they took the time to engage and learn together with me.

Heritage Month 2024