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The Professional Learning Facilitator is an instructor certification program founded by Mohd Rizal Hassan and administered by Take Charge Sdn Bhd. The graduates of this program are called Professional Learning Facilitators (or PLFs, for short). The PLF Program was designed in response to the perceived lack of effectiveness in the Malaysian training industry.

=Concept= The Professional Learning Facilitator (PLF) was born as an idea, a concept which highlighted and strongly upheld the importance of Learning and the proper dissemination of Knowledge. The word 'facilitator' denotes 'someone who makes progress easier' (Source: wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn). This is a different concept and application to that of a trainer. A teacher and an educator may be in the same field yet they function very differently. A policeman and a soldier may both be seen as defenders of the country yet how they both go about to doing it will totally be different. Similarly, a facilitator functions very differently from a trainer.

The word 'learning' denotes the process of knowledge acquisition by the learners and by the facilitator. It highlights the importance of understanding how the students learn as compared to traditional teaching methodologies and training methods. When learning is given emphasis, then thinking is the result. The word also gives equal emphasis that the facilitator is consciously and continuously learning. This significant 2-way process of learning amplifies the core value of a PLF, which is to totally concentrate their sincere efforts to ensure learning takes place. It also reminds the PLF to be humble as they are on their own journey of discovery, learning and continuous improvement.

The word 'professional' addresses the conduct and behaviour of the PLF, that the PLF will at all times adhere to all things halal and legal in everything they do and how they do it. The word also denotes that the PLF is aware of what they do and how their actions can implicitly or explicitly affect their environment at any time.

=History= As a martial arts trainer and later a learning facilitator for a large engineering firm, Mohd Rizal Hassan had a passion for learning and sharing knowledge. Rizal was interested in exploring new methods and strategies to improve his classroom engagement and learning delivery skills. However, it was not until he immersed himself in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) that he discovered how powerful and useful it was to his career.

The strategies in NLP greatly enhanced his abilities as a learning facilitator and allowed him to be engaged by many companies within Malaysia, and later internationally. He wanted to share this success with his peers. In the beginning, he put together a workshop called the Learning Facilitator’s Toolbox. After a few modifications, he saw the opportunity to create a 3-day workshop called The Professional Learning Facilitator (PLF) program.

This workshop integrated classroom engagement skills, learning delivery skills, and business approaches that a brand new facilitator would need. The program would introduce and enable the participants in the Take Charge Learning Facilitator System.

The very first corporate workshop was held at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) on the 29th of December 2010 and saw 25 participants attending. The first public workshop was organized on 14 Feb 2011, also at IIUM.

Among the early graduates of the program were Zuhairi Mohd Nopiah (Founder of Law of Universal Attraction), Haji Azmi Abu Bakar (SMART Knowledge Consultant), Fauzul Naim Ishak (FINE Academy) and Sofiyah Satuyah Rasin (Oasis of Odyssey Solution). The program was well received and saw several iterations with new PLFs being produced. Yet, Rizal saw a camaraderie and cooperation missing from the mix.

That opportunity came in June 2011 when he was approached by a government agency for a project. It entailed designing a multi-topic competency program and enabling the agency’s internal trainers. Rizal gathered together those PLFs he felt he could depend on to share the effort and income from the project. It would also serve as a good practice ground for those new PLFs to perform. Unfortunately, the project never took off when the said agency changed their priorities. But, the idea was too good to be put aside.

=PLF Family= On 16 November 2011, a new batch of PLFs was born. Among this group were Heliza Helmi (Akademi Fantasia), Nura Muna Abdul Halim (Nisa’ Malaysia), Hakim Md Nor (Suria Horizon) and Mohd Nadzrin Wahab(EnSync Learning).

This group’s eagerness to achieve Mastery in the Take Charge Learning Facilitation System drove them to come up with an event where they could have Rizal for a whole day to coach and audit them all at the same time. Thus, the PLF Showcase was born. The initial idea was mooted by Nadzrin but was developed, expanded upon and managed by Muna with the resources of her organisation, Nisa’ Malaysia.

It eventually became a two-day, public program for free that would feature 10 PLFs on stage, sharing the best of their knowledge. Although the event was initially intended to run at the DBKL library, some logistical complications saw it being moved to the Shah Alam PPAS Raja Tun Uda library.

On the 28th and 29th of January 2012, the very first PLF Showcase ran to a crowd of more than 100 people. The PLFs got their opportunity to present, as a PLF, in front the public for the very first time. They got honest feedback to improve their performance. And also, for the very first time, the largest number of PLFs gathered in one place and discovered that there were more of them than they had realised. Buoyed by the energy of the event, Rizal made a very important announcement on the 2nd of February 2012. The most important part of his announcement was that the PLFs are now a Family. The second part announced the creation of the PLF Lab concept, where any PLF can run a free 3-hour session to help upskill their fellow PLFs. The PLF Labs is a concept like no other; PLFs sincerely sharing among PLFs, organised at any time, any where, by any PLF. Thirdly, he declared that the showcase will be held quarterly throughout the year. All talks during the showcase will be video recorded and placed on a dedicated website to help promote the PLFs and their services to clients. This was the beginning of a self-sustaining ecosystem that would produce, develop and support PLFs throughout their careers. The PLF concept had at that point evolved from a mere program to a self sustaining support group which we affectionately refer to as the PLF Family. PLF Showcase 2.0, the second iteration, was held on the 28th and 29th of April 2012 at the same venue and was an even bigger success with many firsts. This time, 12 PLFs rocked the stage, witnessed by more than 150 people. It also

saw 5 PLFs attain Mastery, the first time ever in a PLF Showcase. This was also the first PLF Family event to get airtime on the TV Hijrah talkshow “Assalamualaikum”, hosted by Amin Idris, who is himself a PLF. Fauzul Naim Ishak and Maria Marzuki represented the Family during the ‘live’ interview. It was around this time that Rizal announced that the Family would be establishing a Foundation to assist PLFs who want to attain expensive learning certifi-cations, but don’t have the funding to do so.

The PLF Family began to pick up speed following this and more new PLFs joined the fray. The biggest contributor to PLF interaction is the dedicated PLF Family Facebook Group. Every single day, PLFs report their successes, share their knowledge and give and receive support from each other. As a Family, the PLFs always looked forward to seeing each other, either by attending each others’ programs (often even helping out), organising Labs or even just visiting their homes. It seems that every time the Family gets together, something new gets created. This was exactly what happened at Kompleks Mahasiswa Universiti Putra Malaysia on the 27th of July 2012 when a group of PLFs was attending Rizal’s ad hoc 2-day workshop on NLP, Hypnosis and Business Planning. Instead of just learning, they immersed themselves in a fruitful discussion that gave birth to a new methodology called SOIF, a more positive alternative to the time-honoured SWOT. Rizal and Muna took it upon themselves to refine it further and develop it to become far more robust. It was applied and tested by various PLFs to different audiences in different learning topics. As a result of all this testing, the very first SOIF Coach Certification Program was conducted in Bangladesh on the 19th of September, 2012. The 2nd SOIF Coach Certification Program was conducted in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan on 25th September 2012. Thus, when the next showcase (PLF Showcase 3.0) was organised on the 17th and

18th of November 2012, it was no surprise that the PLFs gave birth to something new again. This time, they formally announced the creation of International Professional Learning Facilitators Sdn Bhd (also to be known as PLF International), a learning provider that would act as an outsourced marketing arm for all of the PLFs. Also revealed is the monthly eMagazine

titled “The Learning Circle”, which would be published online, primarily for the PLFs, but also as a way to brand the PLFs to the world. On 29th of December 2012, the PLF Family celebrated their 2nd anniversary as commemoration of the PLF Program that produced the very first PLFs. Now, it seems that the sky is the limit for the PLF Family. As new members join its ranks, this motley crew of people bound by a common purpose and the love of learning gathers speed, intent on becoming a force to be reckoned with. The idea that began as a dream has grown into a full blown reality with many more achievements planned ahead, InshaAllah. As of now, we are Family. The PLF Family.

=Activities=

PLF Convention
The PLF Convention is held annually to discuss the future growth of the PLF Family. The first iteration was held on 19-20 July 2014 at the Institut Latihan.

MaulidurRasul
=International Professional Learning Facilitators Sdn Bhd=