Management Tips for Successful business

Life is beautiful- Put on a happy face and smile at life

2011-06-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

Many people seek happiness the wrong way. Either they think there’s nothing they can do against external circumstances, or they just sit there and wait for Luck or Destiny to come to their aid, thinking someone else can show them the way. They could wait for a very long time, because that kind of mentality never accomplishes anything. You create your own happiness, and it depends solely on you. The first thing you have to do is decide what you want to do with your life, and set at least one goal for yourself.

It doesn’t matter whether you set material or spiritual goals. What does matter is that you have a direction to follow. Once you determine what your goals are, don’t count on anyone else but yourself to reach your destination. Do everything you can to move forward with your plans. Think, speak and act in ways that bring you closer to attaining what you want, if only for a few minutes a day. That will keep you on the right track.

Each day that passes without you thinking, speaking and acting to further your objectives is a day lost. But if you keep your mind focused, you’re sure to succeed. Don’t wait for events to become favourable, or for other people to come along and help you. Just do what you need to do, at your own speed, and be constant in your efforts. That way you’re sure to reach the shores of happiness. Give up on the idea of Luck or Destiny – your life is what you make it! Don’t wait for life to start smiling at you. Instead, put on a happy face and smile at life!

Abdul Kalam urges solutions to make N-plants safe

2011-04-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

India’s former president and nuclear scientist Dr APJ Abdul Kalam said the world should identify solutions to make nuclear power plants safe rather than deciding against them.

“Just because the Titanic sunk, the world did not stop building better ships.

Similarly we need to work towards improving technology and ensure nuclear power plants are safe. There will be accidents, but we need to work towards removing the hurdles, rather than go back,” said Kalam addressing a group of children at the JSS International School in Barsha Dubai.

Stressing the need for nuclear power, the man who was instrumental in India’s second series of nuclear tests in 1998 said: “We need nuclear energy, especially since it is clean energy.”

Even as workers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant are struggling to contain the radiation leak from the nuclear fuel rods, the world has started to debate on the safety and future of nuclear power plants. Opponents of nuclear power have already started to call upon governments to stop all future plans to build nuclear power plants, especially in earthquake prone areas. According to reports, Tepco the operator of the Fukushima power plants says it will take another six to nine months before the crisis is resolved. People living 20km around the plant have been evacuated.

Kalam who asked students to dream, work hard and persevere to achieve the goal, answered a series of questions that were thrown at him.

Answering a question on corruption Kalam said: “Corruption is an evil that has to be eradicated and is the biggest challenge India is facing. I would advise each and every child to go back home and tell your parents not to be corrupt.”

Indian Corporate Story

2011-04-05T03:51:00.000-07:00

Time Management Tips for Project Manager

2011-03-15T23:25:00.000-07:00

Good time management is very important to a successful project manager.

The best project managers ensure they are productive for most of their time and avoid time-wasters at all costs. Here are some tips for project managers that can help you manage your time more effectively.

Create the Plan

What does this have to do with time management I hear you ask? Well, if everyone knows what they are doing and have a plan with regular milestones to focus on, you as project manager will spend a lot less time dealing with issues brought about through a lack of clarity.

Remember the 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule (or the Pareto Principle) is the idea that by doing 20% of the work you can produce 80% of the benefit of doing the whole job.

The value of this for a project manager is that it reminds you to focus on the 20 per cent of activities that matter. Of the activities you do during your project, only 20 per cent are important. Those 20 per cent produce 80 per cent of your results. Identify and focus on those activities.

Not Just Status Updates

It’s best to avoid team meetings where you go round the room asking each person to give a status update. These meetings have little value and waste time. Instead, spend that time focusing on risks, issues and opportunities. Use the team to brainstorm solutions and create ideas.

Team meetings should have an agreed agenda that you stick to. If you schedule an hour for the meeting, make sure it lasts for an hour and no longer.

Take big issues off-line if they are likely to cause a meeting overrun. Don’t make everyone sit through lengthy technical discussions that don’t involve them. Setup a working group to focus on the issues and report to the team at a future meeting.
Stop Micro Managing

Avoid delving into the detail of the work. With software development projects, it’s not necessary for the project manager to get involved at code level, leave this to the developers. You’ve selected the right team for the job. Let them get on with what they are best at, while you concentrate on steering the project to a successful conclusion.
Don’t do the Work

Many project managers make the mistake of getting involved in “doing the work.” Avoid this at all costs. Managing projects is a full-time job and taking your eye off the ball (even for a short period) can lead to problems. It may be tempting to carryout a few tasks when a deadline is looming, but leave this to others while you get on with managing the project.

Create a To-do List

E-mail fixation is a modern-day problem that can distract you from doing the tasks you need or plan to. Creating a daily to-do list keeps you focused on achieving your objectives. Scratching tasks from your list creates a real sense of achievement and drives further activity.
Summary

Time management is a basic skill for project managers. If you can’t manage your own time, how can you expect to manage your teams? Ask each day what you did to move the project forward. Plan your next day, what will you do to ensure your project continues along the straight and narrow. Plan your time, manage your resources with a light touch and communicate effectively. With a little time management, project success should come easier.

A Few Ways to Make Life Changing Decisions

2011-02-24T03:28:00.000-08:00

Most people don’t know the profound effects of making decisions. Often times, we go through life oblivious to what thoughts we are thinking and what actions we are taking. Every single decision we make in our days shapes our current reality. It shapes who we are as a person because we habitually follow through with the decisions we make without even realizing it.

If you’re unhappy with the results in your life right now, making the effort to changing your decisions starting today will be the key to creating the person you want to be and the life you want to have in the future. Let’s talk about a few ways you can go about making life changing decisions.

1. Realize the power of decision making.

Before you start making a decision, you have to understand what a decision does. Any decision that you make causes a chain of events to happen. When you decide to pick up a cigarette to smoke it, that decision might result in you picking up another one later on to get that same high feeling. After a day, you may have gone through a pack without knowing it. But if you decide not to smoke that first cigarette and make a decision every five minutes to focus your attention somewhere else when you get that craving, after doing this for a week, your cravings will eventually subside and you will become smoke-free. But it comes down to making that very first decision of deciding whether or not to pick up that cigarette.

2. Go with your gut.

Often times, we take too much time to make a decision because we’re afraid of what’s going to happen. As a result of this, we go through things like careful planning, deep analysis, and pros and cons before deciding. This is a very time consuming process. Instead, learn to trust your gut instinct. For the most part, your first instinct is usually the one that is correct or the one that you truly wanted to go with. Even if you end up making a mistake, going with your gut still makes you a more confident decision maker compared to someone who takes all day to decide.

3. Carry your decision out.

When you make a decision, act on it. Commit to making a real decision. What’s a real decision? It’s when you decide on something, and that decision is carried out through action. It’s pointless to make a decision and have it played out in your head, but not doing anything about it. That’s the same as not making a decision at all. If you want to make real changes in life, you have to make it a habit to apply action with your decision until it’s completed. By going through this so many times, you will feel more confident with accomplishing the next decision that you have in mind.

4. Tell others about your decisions.

There’s something about telling other people what we’re going to do that makes us follow through. For example, for the longest time I’ve been trying to become an early riser and whenever I tried to use my own will power, waking up early without falling back asleep felt impossible. So what I did was I went to a forum and made the decision to tell people that I would wake up at 6 AM and stay up. Within two days, I was able to accomplish doing this because I felt a moral obligation to follow through with my words even though I failed the first time. Did people care? Probably not, but just the fact that there might be someone else out there seeing if you’re telling the truth will give you enough motivation to following through with your decision.

5. Learn from your past decisions.

Even after I failed to follow through my decision the first time when I told people I was going to wake up early and stay up, I didn’t give up. I basically asked myself, “What can I do this time to make it work tomorrow? The truth is you are going to mess up at times when it comes to making decisions and instead of beating yourself up over it, learn something from it. Ask yourself, what was good about the decision I made? What was bad about it? What can I learn from it so I can make a better decision next time? Remember, don’t put so much emphasis focusing on short term effects; instead focus on the long term effects.

6. Maintain a flexible approach.

I know this might sound counter-intuitive, but making a decision doesn’t mean that you can’t be open to other options. For example, let’s say you made the decision to lose ten pounds by next month through cardio. If something comes up, you don’t have to just do cardio. You can be open to losing weight through different methods of dieting as long as it helps you reach your goal in the end. Don’t be stubborn to seek out only one way of making a decision. Embrace any new knowledge that brings you closer to accomplishing your initial decision.

7. Have fun making decisions.

Finally, enjoy the process. I know decision-making might not be the most fun thing world to do, but when you do it often, it becomes a game of opportunity. You’ll learn a lot about yourself on the way, you’ll feel and become a lot more confident when you’re with yourself and around others, and making decisions will just become a lot easier after you do it so often that you won’t even think about it.

Anything you decide to do from this point on can have a profound effect later on. Opportunities are always waiting for you. Examine the decisions that you currently have in the day. Are there any that can be changed to improve your life in some way? Are there any decisions that you can make today that can create a better tomorrow?

Delegate to the one with the most to lose and not to the one with the most to gain

2011-01-16T03:54:00.000-08:00

Stop what you are doing; take the time to teach somebody to do a task. You all save a lot of time in the long run.Delegate to the one with the most to lose and not to the one with the most to gain.Share credit with others. Your people will respect you and work more productively.

You can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility for delegating a task to some one else. If you picked the right man, fine. But if you picked the wrong man, the responsibility is yours- not his.If he works for you, you work for him.

Delegate to relive stress and give yourself time to deal with more strategic issues. Four eyes see more than two.

Give meaningful work to your high-potential people. It’s the best way to groom an able successor. It is those underneath who can hold you up. Do not keep a dog and bark yourself.

Delegate to motivate ambitious employees. That’s how you keep good people on the payroll. One can pass on the responsibility, but not the discretion that goes with it.Delegate tasks that will improve the skills of your people and prepare them for higher level work.For the best results, choose a busy man, the others have no time.Delegating decisions saves you more time in the long run than delegating tasks.

Sense of duty is useful in work but offensive in personal relations

2010-08-05T04:26:00.000-07:00

Personal relations are the important things forever and ever, and not the outer life of telegrams and anger. Every great achievement was once impossible until someone set a goal to make it a reality.

Nothing shakes the morale of an organization as much as the sudden lowering of the boom on an individual without prior notice to improve his deficiencies. God and the devil are an effort towards specialization and division of labor. If one thinks one is beaten, one is. If one thinks one dare not, one does not! If one wants to win, but thinks one cant, it is almost a cinch one will not.

Contrary to the belief that workers are not interested in their company, most employees want more information relating to their role in the company. It is important that employees identify with the company that they are feeling part of it and not just a number.

Keep a lid on jolly jokers. They can derail team efforts and morale very fast. Remember there is little friendship in the world and least of all between equals. It is essential to state policies of recognition for jobs well done, rewards for ides, a policy of promotion from within and news publicity for accomplishments.

Do not debate with jolly jokers about the value of their hummer. Instead, show how their behavior is disrupting work. A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. To find out what staff members think, meet them. These sessions should deal specifically with performance and be an opportunity to exchange thoughts, insights and suggestions for improvement.

Heart of Gratitude

2010-05-30T00:16:00.000-07:00

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.
A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.
Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"
The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

I wrote: "Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it."
Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?
Moral of the Story:
Be thankful for what you have.. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.
When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.
Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence.
Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling…
And even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it!!!
Enjoy your day with a heart of gratitude.

The Unlearning Organisation

2010-05-24T00:46:00.000-07:00

Professor Adrian Furnham :

Do you recall the learning organisation? It was the magic bullet of its time. Nearly 30 years ago a planning director of a large corporation argued in the Harvard Business Review that organisations, like people, had the capacity for learning and evolution.

Organisations could learn from their mistakes. But they had to capture their insights. They needed a memory and a way to get access to it. This might have inspired the concept of knowledge management.

Most people have had experience of the amnesic organisation where the same errors are made repeatedly. Or the ESN organisation, which seems very slow to learn.

But is the problem learning or unlearning? Dennis Sherwood, an innovation guru, argues that certain organisational cultures seem powerfully against new ideas, practices, structures and strategies. They have a problem letting go of the old and stopping doing what is familiar. If (and if only) the environment were stable; if things were like they have always been; if customers didn’t change in their needs and expectations. If original processes and structures remained efficient…then no problem. But otherwise the unlearning, the anti-innovation, the non-creative organisations become anachronistic, inefficient and incompetent. In short, doomed.

What characterises an unlearning organisation? First, they see process, policies and the like as fixed not temporary. To be fit-for-purpose means being aware of sell-by dates. It means understanding that what works at one time (low inflation, minimal competition, key targets) does not necessarily work now. It means constant review to ascertain appropriateness, fitness and efficiency. But unlearning organisations like rule-following not rule-breaking, continuity not change. And neither evolution nor revolution.

Second, the unlearning organisation seems prepared to innovate only in the face of failure, even catastrophe. They stop gaps and make-and-mend. They don’t look to improve on processes even when they work.

Third, they seem slow to praise but quick to chide. They seem not to realise that if things do not go according to plan this can be seen as a good learning opportunity, rather than a disappointing failure.

Fourth, the unlearning organisation is driven by the tyranny of the urgent. They claim they have no time for imagining, for exploration, for blue skies thinking. If you don’t put innovation, development, progress in the diary you won’t get it.

Unlearning organisations are hard of hearing. Their customers and their staff give feedback, make suggestions, point out problems. But no-one is there to listen. The unlearning organisations has no process to learn from their staff, by introducing tools such as climate surveys, and no fora to discuss and reward good ideas.

Unlearning organisations are often characterised by internal competition and secrecy rather than co-operation, openness and sharing. Yes, you guessed it they have silos not networks; staff don’t see themselves as part of the organisation as a whole; they don’t like sharing information, resources and especially risk.

Unlearning organisations default on none yet it can’t be done. They specialise in a range of expressions and phrases which are all pro status quo and anti change. ‘Let’s try it’; ‘Why not?’, or ‘Let’s us have a go’ are not part of their vocabulary.

Unlearning organisations are super-good at evaluations and judgement. It may be one of the few things they really do quickly. But often too quickly. They know how to kill an idea before it can really develop. They know it is best to stop any innovation before it can become obviously appealing.

Unlearning organisations don’t have innovation or creativity or imagination as competencies to be selected for, manage or rewarded. Such attributes are not really seen as important. Indeed they are often thought as dangerous and undesirable.

Is the concept of innovation core to the organisation? Does the board, the top team or even senior management think it is central to their survival, competitive advantage, future profitability? Is there a process to manage innovation? The answer in unlearning organisations is the ever familiar concept: NO!

Manager of Special Projects in unlearning organisations is a euphemism for side-lined senior managers who won’t go. The process of successful innovation requires the forming and managing of project teams tasked with driving the business. There is a skill to picking them and managing them that unlearning organisations never deliver..

But most of all the unlearning organisation is characterised by pervasive risk-aversion. The status quo is comfortable and apparently secure. The world is stable, predictable and orderly. Alas that is an illusion. the unlearning organisation does risk badly. Its expectations of the success and failure of innovation are both wrong.

Analysing Your Boss

2010-04-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

Professor Adrian Furnham

Most managers want to know how to manage certain of those more problematic staff: the chronic dissenter; the demotivated clock-watcher; Job’s comforter; the neurotically fragile. A great deal of time and effort, energy and worry go into trying to understand and motivate direct reports to be productive.

But the really smart manager spends as much time managing upwards. By definition, your boss has greater power and status than you. Bosses may or may not have broader wisdom and more experience but (nearly) always they have more power and influence and certainly more command of resources. They certainly are likely to have a great influence on you promotability, bonus pay and, indeed, quality of life.

Really shrewd managers learn to handle their bosses. The success of this strategy depends entirely on an understanding of the individual concerned. And this is much trickier than understanding reporting staff because managers mostly have much more data on those below them than those above them. Often, managers chose their direct reports; they have access to their files; they may even have valuable psychometric test information on their personality and motives. They certainly have much more daily contact with them. The quality and quantity of data that managers have is often extensive, while a remote (physically or psychologically) boss may be very difficult to know. Managers probably have up to 50 times more contact with their staff than with the bosses who maybe in a different building, city, even country.

But what are individual bosses really like? What are their ambitions and values? Who do they most admire or loathe in the organisation? How do they manage upwards? And what pressures are they under? What rewards do they most value – promotion, bonuses, education, time off? What gives them most stress? Are they themselves high flyers or ceiling reachers? Are they totally trustworthy? And, even, are they sane?

A simple but effective way to begin managing upwards is to understand the abilities and personality of one’s manager.

A. Ability

How bright is your boss? Ignore qualification, rank and reputation: in assessing bosses, the question to ask is how fast they are on the uptake? How quickly and accurately can they comprehend a report? How good is their vocabulary, written skills and articulateness? Can they “tumble-numbers”, read a balance sheet? The real test is in the unfamiliar, not the familiar. It’s called fluid intelligence. Experience leads to crystallised knowledge, but is only really useful in a stable world.

Those with bright bosses (that’s IQ not EQ) may find them a little intolerant of those less quick and perhaps poor at explanation. Reminding them of this can be done in a flattering way and may help everybody. These bright sparks tend to be more accepting of change, more interested in data and, of course, more adaptable and flexible.

Below-par bosses may take particularly sensitive handling. They resist new ideas and are frightened of bright young things from university. The really dim ones don’t even know that they are dim. They need a lot of help and support. Give them “suggestions” and show them how to do things. But don’t make them too reliant on you… they may hold on to you too hard and prevent your progress if they need you too much.

B. Personality

There are essentially five personality traits that require close attention. The first is perhaps the most tricky and almost a taboo to talk about. It’s neuroticism or, if you prefer, "negative affectivity". The stable boss copes with stress well, but the neurotic boss can be anxious, moody, thin-skinned, touchy and brittle, always pessimistic and worrying. Neurotic bosses are often unpredictable and need constant help, reassurance and calming down. They can have self-defeating characteristics that need looking out for, lest they defeat you as well. Neurotics are supersensitive: to the environment and others’ feelings. In that sense, they can be very compassionate, but their sensitivity makes them prone to low self-esteem, guilt, hypochondriasis, even obsessiveness.

The best way to manage these bosses for you own mental health is frankly to leave them. The cost of being a part-time therapist may be simply too high a price to pay.

The second important characteristic is extraversion. Extraverts are active, expressive, impulsive and sociable. They can also be risk taking, showing a worrying lack of reflection and responsibility. They are prone to make mistakes; to trade off speed for accuracy; to have too many brainstorming groups and parties; and to search for the elusive break through. Extraverts need not have their enthusiasm dimmed, but they need watching. They need to have their impulsivity tempered by more considerate judgment. But they also need lots of stimulation and variety to keep them comfortable.

Introverts are not shy, inadequate: they just don’t have the need for excitement that extraverts show. They tend to be more difficult to read because they prefer not to go to parties or meetings or give talks. They think first, speak later (unlike extraverts, who do it the other way around), and may seem slow and ponderous. They may seem cold, but that is just their discomfort around others.

Introverts trade off speed for accuracy. They may be helped by having an extroverted spokesperson. They prefer listening to talking and have a preference for “cold” over “hot” media: they prefer letters to meetings; emails to brainstorming sessions. Understand their likes and dislikes and you become more trusted and liked yourself.

We all like our managers to be conscientious: to be efficient, organised, reliable, responsible, dependent, thorough and prudent. Often they make the same demands of us, which can be a little exacting. But they get things done. Conscientiousness is a predictor of business success. It comes from upbringing and values. It is related to the work ethic and one’s conscience.

Conscientious managers can be rather tight-fisted and intolerant and they can be risk-adverse. But beware imprudent managers. They are lax with time, money and their personal responsibilities to others. They don’t follow through. They don’t pay their bills and they can be wildly incautious about all monetary and security issues. They may take time off when it suits them and be both indulgent and impulsive. They may appear as if they feel that ‘the problem with instant gratification is that it takes too long.'

An imprudent, unreliable manager needs watching. They need lots of backup… but ultimately they probably need managing out of the organisation… for everyone’s benefit.

The fourth personality dimension of salience is agreeableness. Highly agreeable managers are lovely: they are appreciative, forgiving, generous, kind, trusting and sympathetic. Their staff experience them as altruistic, modest and straightforward. Needless to say, they are well liked and have a reputation for being a good manager.

Those low on agreeableness are much less likeable. They may be cynical and sarcastic, argumentative and challenging, inconsiderate, suspicious and unhelpful. They tend to want to be admired and to be “somebody”. Their vanity and habit of putting people down make them unloved, unrespected and quite simply disagreeable. If their disagreeability is matched by great abilities, they may be forgiven their unkindness’s. But it is more likely that disagreeable managers get where they are through lies, nepotism or exploitation. If any of the latter, the best strategy is to leave or get them out of the way.

The fifth personality dimension of importance is one clearly related to creativity and intellect. It’s called openness to experience. Managers who score high on this dimension tend to be artistic and curious, imaginative and insightful, original and creative. Typically, they have a wide range of interests and are quite “intellectual”. Often, they are thought of as unconventional and a bit “arty-farty”. They like variety and novelty, but can scatter resources. For some, they are impractical dreamers: optimistic, energetic but unfocused.

Open managers are not fuddy-duddy. They embrace changes and are sensitive to the teachings and ideas of others. They are also aesthetically sophisticated. Some jobs call for little imagination and in those they are a handicap. But the real pains are managers who score low on this dimension. They tend to express both discomfort and perplexity in reaction to novel experiences. Their rigidity and lack of curiosity can be misunderstood as resistance. To help the less open manager, one needs to provide practical suggestions and new ideas. He or she needs to be helped to be more attentive to what is going on around them. They have an impoverished fantasy life and very conventional ways of thinking and behaving. Those scoring very low on this dimension are very hostile to new ideas, but those mid-way may come really to appreciate the new ways of thinking that you feed them.

If you have a bright, stable, agreeable, conscientious and open boss, celebrate your good fortune. If not, start practising you upward management skills!

Leadership Fundamentals

2010-03-16T01:11:00.000-07:00

Professor Adrian Furnham:

The fundamental characteristics of the human species have powerful implications for the nature of leadership at work. And you don’t have to be a pseudo or crypto sociobiologist (from Venus or Mars) to accept the points.

First, we are social animals: we live in groups. We need/like/prefer the company of others. We like to be included and fear exclusion. We punish with ostracism; with solitary confinement; with abolition to the ends of the earth.

But, being social animals, we need to learn from a very early age to get along with others. Adults have to go to social skills training or emotional intelligence facilitation classes. Those who somehow did not pick up the knowhow of getting along have to go to remedial classes.

Social skills are about perception, charm, flexibility. They are about reading others, amusing them and being aware of how one is coming across. They are about “reading the signals” that others emit verbally, vocally and visually. They are about thoughts and emotions. The EQ movement put emphasis on being able to understand and manage your own and others’ emotions.

Leaders need social skills. They need to be attractive to others; to be able to persuade and charm them. They need to be comfortable around others. More, they need to know how to get along with others who are different from themselves; older and younger; of different education and ethnic backgrounds; friends and enemies.

Some leaders have few social skills. But they never last in the media-sensitive, free market economies. They tend only to be found in corrupt or bureaucratic countries and organisations where politics, force and power determine abilities rather than market forces or the democratic forces of all stakeholders.

Getting along with others starts to be learnt in kindergarten. As does the second fundamental skill: getting ahead of others. Every social group has a status hierarchy. This can be seen in the toddler playground as easily as it can be observed in the boardroom. Some people learn to get ahead: to be among the chosen; to command respect; to be listened to. How many leaders have been head prefect? And head prefect in a school where they have been elected by the scholars, not the teachers: a subtle but important difference.

Every organisation – however seemingly opposed to the idea – has its status hierarchy. The cabinet has “First Among Equals”; monasteries have abbots; orchestras have conductors.

Leaders are chosen on many factors: their ability, charisma, believability; articulacy. You get ahead in different groups through possessing different factors. One “competency” to be Pope is ‘holiness’, a characteristic somewhat specific to that job.

Leaders have to learn to exploit their talents: to be likeable, electable and therefore powerful. There is a skill to getting ahead and another to staying ahead. Apart from the Stalinist method of actually exterminating the opposition any aspirant leader needs to know how to get ahead.

The third feature all social groups have is a belief system. They are ‘religions’ of a sort and they fulfil various functions primarily to give meaning to the capriciousness of life. All ideologies serve a purpose. The more successful the ideology/religion, the more it speaks to the deep and fundamental yearnings of human beings. People need a positive identity, a good story of their past, a sense of mission, etc.

Equally, at work, people need pride in their product, their company, their achievement and their history. It is the job of a leader to tell a good story; to make the past a glorious struggle and the future a certain journey.

There is a difference between spin and ideology; between PR and a belief system. The former are fickle and cynical; the latter are coherent and usually believable.

Leaders need more than a story, a good line or a hopeful message. They need an ideology for their times, their people and their circumstance. Hence all the Mission-Vision rhubarb of recent business gurus. It seems leaders had forgotten this aspect of their stewardship: the ‘meaning-making’ function.

Often the circumstances dictate the appropriateness of the ideology. Today it’s called situational leadership. But there are also enduring themes to all ideologies: justice, honour, equity and so on.People die for their beliefs: a fact manifest from the earliest times to today’s suicide bombers. People will endure great hardship and deprivation for a belief system.

Good leaders know how to exploit, explain and explore beliefs. A great leader gets an ‘ism’ if they are lucky. Hence, Thatcherism, Fordism, etc. Their beliefs are coherent, timely and communicated with power and conviction.

So you want to be a business leader? Here is the test: what is the evidence that you have and can and will get along with others (all others) you need to deal with at work; get ahead of the pack including other board directors, competitors and the press; espouse a timely, coherent ideology relevant to the company, the product and the employees.

Intel to create 10,500 jobs

2010-02-25T23:49:00.000-08:00

Washington: Intel has announced plans for it and other companies to double their hiring of college graduates, creating more than 10,500 jobs. It is working with a range of venture capital firms to organize $3.5 billion in investment in technology, reports Reuters.

Otellini has estimated the annual paychecks would total more than $1 billion. According to him, the chipmaker has organized a group of 24 venture capital firms to invest in technologies to create economic growth and jobs. "The members of this alliance have committed to invest $3.5 billion in promising clean technology, information technology and biotechnology companies over approximately two years," Otellini said in a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank. "As part of the alliance, Intel Capital will participate with its own $200 million commitment."

Venture capital firms involved in the initiative include Advanced Technology Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Bridgescale Partners and 21 others.

The companies involved in the hiring of new college graduates include Accenture, Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Dell, eBay, EMC, General Electric, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Liberty Mutual Group, Marvell Technology Group's Marvell Semiconductor, Microsoft and Yahoo.

Public banks yet to fill 22,000 vacancies

2010-02-25T23:42:00.000-08:00

New Delhi: Despite a recruitment overdrive that saw government-run banks adding around 15,000 people last year, over 22,000 posts are yet to be filled, reports Economic Times.

As per the Finance Ministry's data, around 11 public sector banks including Punjab National Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of Baroda and Central Bank of India are currently facing shortage of staff. "Banks have full operational and managerial autonomy regarding manpower planning and recruitment. The filling up of the vacancies is an ongoing exercise and banks make their recruitment as per their own needs," a Finance Ministry official told Economic Times.

However, though banks are facing an acute manpower shortage created by large scale superannuation, they are not willing to expedite the selection process. "There is a need for specialist officers, clerks and probationary officers. We'll be soon hiring around 1,250 clerks, but you need to get eligible candidates for other posts," said a senior official with PNB.

Banks are also looking to hire employees in sectors such as agriculture, economist, Planning, Research, Legal, Security and Information Technology. But, the recruitment process in almost all public sector bank takes around six months.

Oriental Bank of Commerce, which has already recruited 1,290 people this year, plans to add another 1,600 this year. "We are looking to hire around 400 specialist officers. But you need to get the right candidates," said a senior official with the bank. Other banks are also firming up their recruitment drive and have already initiated the process. According to the Director of Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), M Balachandran, the staff shortage may far exceed 22,000. "The banks have more stringent in their recruitment process, but given the expansion that banks are looking for they'll far exceed these numbers," he said.

10 reasons why people quit jobs in IT industry

2010-02-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

Bangalore: With the worst behind and signs of positive demand for outsourcing and offshoring from the U.S. and European markets, which account for about 80 percent of Indian software exports, the IT industry is gearing up for a gradual recovery in the new year. But Indian IT industry still continues to face the problem of attrition, especially when companies are now offering strong pay packages to make up for the lost ground. What really drives employees to jump jobs? Is it only due to bad bosses or there are other reasons involved as well?
SiliconIndia surveyed people from the IT industry to find out top 10 reasons why people quit their job in IT industry. While we were sure that organization and management play a crucial part in the decision, there were many other reasons as well which may have become more relevant in recent times. "While most people including the managers are of the opinion that majority of people leave because they are unhappy with their compensation, nothing could be farther from the truth. There has been enough research done globally and across industry segments to prove that unhappiness with compensation is only one of the many reasons that people think about quitting," said Puneet Jetli, Senior Vice President and Head - People Function, MindTree.

1. Mismatch between the promised job and the situation on hand

Employees are often promised certain things on what exactly the jobs consist of but after joining the company they find out a completely different picture. It becomes painfully clear to the new hire that the company played a bait-and-switch game and now they are trapped in doing something that they don't want to.

2. Limited opportunity for personal growth and skills

"Every ambitious person is looking to further their career in the shortest possible span of time. Hence despite being in a high growth sector if there isn't ample opportunity for reasonably quick vertical or lateral growth; then it is usually time to move on," says Pradeep Thomas Abraham, Managing Director of Paytronic Networks limited. The most successful employers find ways to help employees develop new skills and responsibilities in their current positions.

3. Boss too much to handle

Prashant Hannovar, Manager of Human Resource of NextBiT Computing has had a fair deal of experience in dealing with different kinds of candidates. He says, "Employee leaves the organization because of a manager's leadership style or bad management style. Employee leave because of managers who puts the blame on the other employee, making others a scape goat, a Micro manager-who is known for having no trust/confidence in self and on the team."

4. Lack of recognition of the good work being put-in

Individual accomplishments should be considered by the company and should be pointed out in praise that will help to further increase productivity, make the employee feel appreciated, and create an example for other employees to follow, knowing that they will be rewarded. "Many employees who have quit and answered the exit interviews have revealed on not getting recognized despite of hard work/good Performance," says Hannovar.

5. Management freezes raises and promotions

Money is not always a very important category for people to quit, but it definitely ranks high. Many employees quit the Organization as they get better compensation/salaries with the competitors. Also with the salaries, many of the Techies (engineers) today are offered Onsite opportunity too. This is the normal phenomena in the IT Industry which nothing much can be worked out.

6. Poor work culture/work ethic

Another important factor that results in undesired attrition is the bad work culture. Bad work culture constitutes unhealthy political work environment where you can find lot of rumors/grape wines, partiality, favoritism, lack of trust, lack of good HR best practices like restrictions imposed on the employees on clothing, leaves and many more.
7. Inability to maintain/achieve a healthy work-life balance

In the light of the recent trend of laying off huge number of employees, many employees (who are not fired) feel the heat of too much work. Sometimes they find themselves doing the work of more than two people which often result into work taken home and extended office hours. Too much work often creates stress which can force the employee to quit
8. Lack of Feedback Mechanisms

Lot of managers don't provide the proper feedback at regular intervals on the employee performance. Many employees look for feedback which helps them to grow in their career. Lack of feedback makes an employee or the team members frustrated, feel out of the team or lost, which leads to the rise in the attrition level in the organization.

9. Lack of decision-making power

A lot of managers simply do not know how to delegate effectively. This results in undue micro management by the immediate superior that shakes the faith and self confidence of the employee. A manager should empower employees and allow them the freedom to make suggestions and to take decisions.

10. No fun or enjoyment in job/ unchallenged

Two scenarios can fit into this. One is when employee becomes dull of the daily routine. Same job, with same skills and everything becomes dull, then it's time for employees to move on. The second scenario can be when employee don't feel challenged with the current job. Employees sometime need more responsibilities and work to challenge their skills or they leave in hunt of another job for fresh challenges.

There are many more reasons which may be valid from person to person but these are the top ten reasons which the IT industry must really look upon to improve on to reduce attrition. "The only way to work on retention is to pro-actively focus on establishing policies, practices, systems and culture that help reduce triggers on these counts,"

10 mistakes that bosses makes

2010-02-22T11:38:00.001-08:00

Calling the boss H - Hitler, A - Arrogant, R - Rascal and I - Idiot caught everyone's attention in Naukri's TV commercial, would you do the same if given an opportunity? Even though it was just an advertisement, it did reflect the plight of employees in the IT industry. We conducted a survey to find out top ten mistakes that even good managers and bosses make.

So I am listing below the top ten mistakes which are very common amongst bosses.

1 - Micro-management
Sometimes when bosses assign work to an employee they don't completely trust that employee will be capable of completing the work. They underestimate the ability of the people they hire and end up offending the employee. "According to me, the number one mistake is, not effectively identifying the strengths of the employee, thereby micro managing or not delegating or not trusting the employee's judgment. A good boss is one who brings out the best in the employee," says Sharda Balaji, Founder of NovoJuris Services.

2 - Using improper mode of communication
Some bosses have this weird sense that since they are boss they should order people around and create a military kind of environment. They feel the stricter the things are the better things are organized. If an employee is late for some deadline, then the boss starts labeling the work or the employee himself.

3 - Leading through intimidation
This is one of the worst kind of mistake that bosses make. They feel that if an employee is threatened to work they will perform better. What the boss does not realize is that employee under such pressure end up losing interest in work and will meet the deadline just for the heck of it. Such employees then would only do what is asked from them and will never happily give hundred percent to do something good for the company.

4 - Lacking empathy for employee's situation
There are sometimes when employees do make excuses to take leave or when they come late. But not every reason is an excuse. Bosses end up thinking that their employees are always making excuses and do not showing any consideration for employee's situation

5 - Becoming inaccessible to your employees
An employee wants to contact his boss for something important but he is busy with other things and does not give any weightage to employee's problem and hence he is scared to approach his bosss.

"I have had some experiences at one of the company I worked with, where the manager was just not approachable and accessible. I could not expect any kind of guidance from him. It would not be wrong if I say that he was too busy caught with meetings (not accessible). He was also not approachable at the same time because of bad temperament and everything depended on his mood," said Prashant Honnavar, who is a Manager of HR at NextBiT Computing.

6 - Not providing guidance or motivating employees
An employee should always have something to look forward to. A good manager knows how to motivate employees to make them perform better but for this they have to spend some time with their team. In today's IT work environment many of the managers have no time to spend with the team due to day long meetings. As a result they miss out on understanding a team member's problem at work and providing the right support and solutions for the same. Failing to support and understanding a team member will lead to recipe of resignation. A manager should always have the practice of having one on one to know more about the team member, and then provide right feedback at the same time to motivate with the right attitude.
7 - Not providing a clear picture - Transparency
Many times work is assigned by bosses to employees without clearly telling them the complete picture. Boss should always maintain transparency with their employee to make them understand what exactly they are doing. "If bosses start informing their team about the correct scenarios and maintain transparency about a project, then the employees will work more willingly and meeting the deadline will no longer be a concern of the boss alone," said Juilee Joshi, who worked as a Technical Support analyst at BMC software

8 - Insecurity about their post
Some bosses prefer to do things alone rather than taking teams help as they are unsecure that someone will provide better solution, and thus they get a sense of insecurity about their post. "There is something unique about Indian bosses. They get this superiority complex about their position and I fail to understand why. There are many extremely capable folks who like to remain in the 'individual contributors' role because they do not enjoy people management," said Balaji. "You can deal with an egoistic boss, a demanding boss, an impatient boss... but the worst kind is the one who is insecure."

9 - Trying to be friend as well as boss or showing partiality
This is the trickiest part of the boss-employee relationship. Some of the bosses try to maintain a perfect balance between professionalism and friendship but it does not always work well for the company. Employees might become lenient in submitting at deadline or boss might start expecting too much from employees since they are good friend as well.

Another part of this equation can be showing partiality or favoring certain employees over others which create negative vibes in the team.

10 - Making fake promises
In order to motivate employees many time managers make fake promises of promotion or goodies but when the time comes they just stall it. This de-motivates an employee a great deal and might backfire badly on the company.

There are many other mistakes that bosses commit but we felt that these are the top ten reasons. You may think differently and have your own reasons. We would like to hear the top mistakes that your boss makes. Do let us know

5 mistakes that may get your CV trashed

2010-02-20T08:24:00.000-08:00

In the current situation, it is very necessary for people to know the mistakes than can cost them an interview call. In an article published on Rediff, Kshpira Singh highlighted the five most common errors. These are outlined below:

A cluttered CV

CVs where people simply put all possible information and expect recruiters to scroll through them to find out relevant details. The only destiny these CVs have is getting the 'delete' key pressed and landing up in the trash bins.

HR people get hundreds of applications for a single position. They don't have the time to sift through your CV and see if each candidate suits their purpose. So, it is your job to make your CV as user-friendly, so that they can find the information they are looking for in a single glance.

Grammatical and spelling mistakes

Grammatical errors and spelling mistakes not only look shabby, but they reveal a lot about one?s attitude. If a HR manager receives a business proposal with grammar and spelling mistakes, the first thing he would think is, "Is this person really serious about the business?"

Similarly, a CV with grammatical errors and spelling mistakes will suggest that he does not care enough for this opportunity, you are lazy and you do not have an eye for detail. Nobody wants to hire an employee with any of these characteristics. So it's a given that such CVs are headed to the rejected pile.

Past failures and/or health problems

Your CV is not the place for you to talk about past failures or health problems, so keep them off paper. Some people may argue that almost everybody has the sense not to write about failures and health problems on CVs and while I agree with them, it's been known to happen.
So this pointer is for those who do commit this mistake. Take a look at your CV again and if you have addressed any of these problems directly or indirectly, it is wise to edit them out.

Current or expected CTC

Many people have developed the habit of writing about their current salary or expected salary on a CV, as they assume that all prospective employers are going to ask about it, or that most job notifications require it. It is advised not to mention it on the CV, unless specifically asked to do so.

Vague/unclear contact details

Picture this situation -- you have a menu card from a nearby restaurant in front of you. You like the dishes they serve and the price is right too. You are impressed by the fact that they deliver within 10 minutes. You pick up the phone to make a call, but are not able to find the telephone number on the menu card. You look a second time, but you are still not able to find it. You're hungry and there's another menu card from another restaurant right in front of you, which looks equally good.

What will you do? Won't you immediately place an order with the restaurant that offers a number and ask them to send the food ASAP? Later, you may realise that there was a phone number on the first menu card, hidden somewhere in a corner, but the opportunity is gone now. You may land up in a similar situation if your contact details are not clear or not easy to find for employers. Some other things to note here are:

? Provide a phone number where potential employers can talk to you directly and don't have to go through your parents or friends.
? Keep the e-mail addresses formal - mostly a combination of your first and last name
? Keep the e-mail address small and uncomplicated to avoid any typing mistakes if employers decide to contact you online.

Writing a CV is not a difficult task. The best person to do it is you. The only thing you need is to analyse your candidature properly and present it well. You will need to draft and re-draft your CV many times before you are finally happy with it.

Coping with the Stress of Job Insecurity

2009-10-11T01:30:00.000-07:00

We all now work in an insecure working environment. The old ‘cradle to grave’ mentality of a secure job for life has been replaced by the reality of the 4 R’s.

•Redundancy
•Redeployment
•Retraining
•Retrenchment
Here are some things you can do to reduce the stress of job insecurity:

1. Meet regularly with your boss: make sure your boss has regular progress reports of what you’re doing well; ask
for feedback regularly … and accept it non-defensively;

2. Network throughout your industry; join professional groups where you can contribute your expertise;

3. Increase your visibility across business units: write for your newsletter; make a presentation; chair a staff meeting; involve yourself in groups outside your own ’silo’ (eg social club; Equal Opportunity; discussion groups);

4. Communicate with others at work; do your colleagues know what you’re doing? ….and what you do well??;

5. Notice when someone looks snowed under and offer support. Team involvement is a highly-prized behaviour in most organisations;

6. Do an audit of your skills, interests, values and motivations so that you have a clear idea of the best fit job for you;

7. Have a career goal and a plan to get there. Remember: if you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you’ve got there??

10 Ways to Solve Manage Job Stress

2009-10-11T01:11:00.000-07:00

Minor sources of job stress may include equipment that doesn’t work or phones that don’t stop ringing.Major stress comes from having too much work or not getting along with your manager.Any type of stress can cause you to become unhappy and less productive in your job. Here are some options for lowering your job stress levels.
1. Identify the problem source
Whether it’s an unrealistic workload, job insecurity, office politics or a hostile work environment, you need to figure out what’s making you miserable at work and then you can take steps to deal with it.
2. Meet with your manager
In addition to your formal appraisal, meet with your manager every six months to talk about your performance and your job. Use this meeting as a chance to clear up issues that may be causing stress for you. Discuss and clarify what’s expected of you, where the company is going and how you fit into that as well as your strengths and areas for improvement.
3. Manage your time
Make a list of tasks you have to do and tackle them in order of importance. Do the high-priority items first. If you have something particularly unpleasant to do, get it over with early and you will enjoy the day more. Drop tasks that aren’t truly necessary to the bottom of the list or eliminate them entirely. Avoid scheduling things back-to-back or trying to fit too much into one day. If your employer offers a course in time management, sign up for it.
4. Have a hobby
If you feel the stress building, take a break. Try walking around the block or get involved in some other activity that is relaxing and gets your mind off work. Also try to get away from your desk for lunch. Stepping away from work to recharge will help you be more, not less, productive.
5. Develop friendships at work
Cultivate allies at work. Just knowing you have one or more co-workers can listen while you off-load will reduce your stress levels. Just remember to be there for them when they are in need.
6. Delegate responsibility
Let go of the desire to control or oversee every little step. You’ll be letting go of unnecessary stress in the process. You don’t have to do it all yourself, if other people can take care of the task, why not let them? In the long run, it doesn’t take more time to teach someone else than to always do it yourself.
7. Unplug
Leave work at work. Make a conscious decision to separate work time from personal time. Avoid checking work e-mail at home. When with your family, for instance, turn off your work mobile and put away your laptop.
8. Keep a log
Make a list of all the demands on your time for one week. On a scale of 1 (not very intense) to 5 (very intense), rate the intensity of stress that each demand causes. Pay attention to events that you ranked as very stressful. Select one of them to explore and implement a solution and then focus on the others.
9. Take advantage of your options
Find out if your employer offers flexi hours or job sharing for your role. The flexibility may alleviate some of your stress and free up some time.
10. Seek professional help
If your life feels too chaotic to manage, talk to a professional. You can speak confidentially to your doctor, a psychologist or a trained counsellor through your company’s employee assistance programme.
Final Thoughts
Put it in perspective. Jobs are disposable. Your friends, families and health are not. If are really unhappy and the suggestions above haven’t helped, it may be time to start looking for a new job.

How to Feel Happy at Work--7 Secrets of Workplace

2009-07-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

What accounts for the difference between "Oh crap, it's Monday" and "Thank God it's Monday"? It's your happiness. And, for your own emotional and mental health, you need to feel happy at work.
It all boils down to seven habits that can change everything about the culture of your workplace.
1. Show up fully and commit with all your heart
At work, we think of home. At home, we think of work. Time to stop that. The first step toward a TGIM workplace is being present and accounted for at work. Thinking about being elsewhere leads to resenting where you are.
While you are at work, commit to work with all your heart. This is what I call throwing your heart over the bar--committing 100 percent to the moment and task before you.
2. Communicate clearly
Use powerful and positive language about what you will do and the attitude you expect from others. If a TGIM workplace is your goal, take the time to make your communications clear on every level.
3. Go beyond the job description
Going beyond the job description happens when you pitch in and help others at work without expecting reward. Willingly share the load. If you're caught up on your tasks, help someone else who is crunching for a deadline. Instead of feeling like it's an extra burden, you will actually feel like you play a bigger role in your company than you ever did before.
4. Don't tolerate dysfunctional behaviors
Establish a zero-tolerance policy for talking behind another person's back. Then give each other permission to address conflict head-on, out loud, courageously and honestly. Create a trusting and open environment and watch the dysfunction ebb away.
5. Clean up your messes
Relationships are built on trust. Without that foundation, there is no basis for a relationship. We breach the trust each time we don't do what we said we would do. But here's the thing--that breach can be healed quickly IF you come back and clean up the mess. Acknowledge that the results are not okay then make a commitment to make things right and prevent a recurrence.
6. Live a life of profound service
Once you place yourself in the service of those around you--your family, your colleagues and your customers--every moment becomes imbued with purpose and significance. You will feel GOOD.
As you drive to work, begin thinking about how the work you do is serving others and contributing to their success and happiness. This is the essence of true service, and the key to a workplace that draws you happily back, Monday after Monday after Monday.
7. Celebrate
Every project consists of little steps and little victories along the way. Recognize and celebrate them in both large and small ways. Build a system of celebrations and rewards--quarterly, weekly, daily--and follow through like your company's life depends on it. Because, (psst) it does.
Acquire these seven habits and spread them through your workplace. Then be sure to notice the first Monday your hand reaches for the alarm--and you smile. You can love your job and feel happy at work if you follow these 7 secrets. Article Source: http://www.bestmanagementarticles.com

Motivating Your Team in ‘Tough Times’

2009-07-16T01:32:00.000-07:00

The challenge to motivate the worker of 2009 is thus a major one. So how have the management gurus responded with new techniques to repair and rebolster motivation? The answer, it seems, is not a lot. Ideas in motivation get repackaged, renamed, rebranded, but fundamentally remain the same as ever. The fact that we know some of the key factors in motivation, however, has surprisingly not prevented many managers ignoring them.

Some of the more popular motivational techniques currently employed are the following:
· Give employees the information they need to do a good job. Make sure they know their priorities and give them the appropriate tools and training for the job. For some, this can be expressed in the jargon of setting key objectives, or key result areas. Despite much talk, a high number of people still cannot articulate very clearly, if at all, what their key objectives are.
· Give all employees as much meaningful work to do as possible. The less intrinsically interesting the work, the more motivational is anything done to encourage job enrichment. This often means job rotations, job sharing or job enriching. Also, to enrich jobs may make employees less efficient – but more happy.
· Pay people what they are worth. Consider market forces, predatory competitors as well as individual contribution. Consider what insurers call replacement costs. Most people benchmark their salary more regularly than do their employers. Feeling inequitably paid – that is, paid less than the market rate – is sure to make them very unhappy and demotivated.
· Offer employees a share of the profits. Let them feel part of the organisation as one of many stakeholders. Lots of companies talk about this, but few do more than token offers. There are many ways to ensure that employees feel part of the family – all on the same side – but these are rarely done at lower levels.
· Demonstrate as much as possible a commitment to long-term employment, career development and promotion from within.
· Reward commitment manifest by loyalty and continuous performance. Most companies now do the opposite, punishing loyalty. It is deeply alienating to believe that no one, apart from yourself, is doing anything about your career.
· Provide regular, specific feedback to all staff. If necessary, write notes to employees about their individual performance. Make sure each knows what their boss (and customers) feels and wants. Ask the average employee when they last had 30 minutes with their boss discussing just their performance and few will say this has happened in the past five years. Giving progress reviews is cheap, easy, important and motivating.
· Publicly recognise and personally congratulate employees regularly for good work and, more specifically, after the good work occurs. Celebrate success: create heroes. The army does it, and so do politicians. Many British companies find the idea faintly embarrassing, or are scared that they may create jealousy.
· Foster a sense of community or teamwork. Include recognition as part of morale-building meetings that celebrate group success. Make it apparent that most people at work are interdependent. You don’t have to do fire-walking or outward-bound courses. It is enough to provide opportunities for people to meet, talk and share together. Propinquity is a powerful predictor of joint liking and co-operation.
· Be accessible to employees. Establish easy-to-use channels of communication, both formal and informal. Make sure they are kept open and communicate real, salient information about the company and the department. Do the MBWA (Management By Walking About). This does not mean sending lots of e-mails. It means being physically and psychologically accessible, within reason. It means not punishing those who want to meet you.
· Ask employees for their feedback and their ideas, and involve them in decisions that affect their jobs. Reward them for good ideas that, when implemented, improve both individual and group efficiency. Genuinely listen to them – most of them are at the coalface. Publicise the rewards given to those with good ideas.
· Pay attention to individual differences and personal needs. Ask each employee what motivates them and consider a cafeteria of well-equilibrated reward to choose from. Consider their free-time activities and create opportunities for them to use these skills in activities at work. Just as we have flexitime to suite individual preferences, consider other aspects of free choice.
· Use performance appraisals and behavioural measures as major criteria for promotion. Make it clear that rewards are contingent on progress, that the equity principles apply in the organisation. The astute reader may be tempted to ask: so what in the dozen points is really new? The answer is, nothing really. Motivational techniques get rediscovered and readvertised, but they have been known for hundreds of years. Fads and fashions in the management consultancy world seem to dictate which particular technique is seen to be the most powerful and popular. Old ideas get repackaged in the jargon of today. Some are more fashionable at one time than others.

Drop in staff morale increases security threat

2009-07-03T04:05:00.000-07:00

Malicious action from disgruntled employees is the highest impact, but lowest likelihood staff-related event, writes Jay Heiser, research vice-president at Gartner. However, organisations can expect to experience internal security problems as staff reductions in turn reduce morale. Undoubtedly, there will be malcontent about reductions in stock or bonuses, outsourcing or redundancy.
Brain drain is likely to occur as employees are laid off or outsourced, and some will choose voluntarily to leave.
Huge amounts of sensitive data is already being squirreled away by people who are concerned about their future employment prospects, and that they might not have a job tomorrow, particularly in The City and on Wall Street. As unease spreads through other industries, previously loyal employees will start bringing memory sticks into the office and collecting design documents and engineering material, contact and customer lists, best-practice documents and whatever else happens to be available on their laptops.

Where previous generations of employees would clean out their desks, today's wired workers will clean out their digital desktops, storing gigabytes of content on their personal hardware. Employees who feel they are getting a raw deal may have a propensity to steal data, possibly delete information of value to their employer or commit other acts of sabotage.

Ultimately, there is only so much that can be done to save the morale of employees within a struggling business. Realistically, employees have always leaked huge amounts of data out the door, but this issue needs to be addressed. Few organisations have actually told their employees what information is not appropriate for them to treat as their personal property, so it probably is a time when HR and IT managers need to consider making a new policy and communicating it to their employees. However, that will only result in a minor stemming of the data leakage flood, so organisations that cannot stomach the 'loss' of data need to consider putting in technical controls.

Accentuate the Positive

2009-03-22T03:07:00.000-07:00

Professor Adrian Furnham :In the old days the lay person’s idea of strategic planning could be boiled down to four relatively simple steps. First you did a brutally frank, objective analysis of who, where and why you (the organisation) were at the point you were. This could be pretty depressing but was considered essential... It was a reality check. You had to confront reality and own up to your “manifold sins and wickedness”. Not all doom and gloom of course, but usually a call to action.

Then you painted a picture of where you wanted to be. This was usually more uplifting as an exercise, but one was constantly reminded to be realistic; to take into consideration changes in the customers, the workforce and competition. Futurology can be fun. It can waken the optimism in one. It can help the creative juices flow. Only the old, sour and bitter are nihilistically pessimistic at this phase.

The third phase was to try to list all the forces that were on your side. That is, the factors that would facilitate the happy metamorphosis from current (grim) state to that (highly desired) future state. The list may be long or short and could include any set of factors like the quality and quantity of your knowledge workers to the brand reputation.

Sometimes the list of positive factors looked pathetically thin and weak. Often they could be boiled down to one or two factors that included luck as major feature. Sometimes they seemed more about competitors’ weaknesses than own strength or more statements of fact about the market.. And, very occasionally, the list was so long and robust that all one hoped for was the status quo in perpetuity.

The fourth and final phase was to identify the list of factors – economic, psychological, physical, historical and such like that prevented or inhibited one going to the promised land of plenty, profit and prosperity. Like mapping the present this could all get rather gloomy as the list grew and grew. But there you are.

Having drawn your map you were then encouraged to focus on the negative, the restraining forces, those factors which supposedly prevented one from reaching one’s desired goals. The idea was to attack the virus, eliminate the cancers, destroy the enemies (within and without). One had to pinpoint the problems and attack them systematically with energy and focus.

The idea was that the strengths would remain and it was the weaknesses that had to be attacked. Then two things happened. First, the PC, anti-pessimistic thought police baned all negative language. No-one, no group, no organisation had weaknesses. They had developmental opportunities. Setbacks, handicaps, failures were to be rebranded in the somewhat naïve belief that this would help people deal with them. But second the world changed, some time around the Millennium. We saw the birth of positive psychology and the whole focus changed. The spotlight was moved from the dark to the light. From the can’t do to the can do and from weakness to strength. People were encouraged to concentrate on the potential of strengths such as optimism, creativity, and kindness to enhance happiness, efficacy and adaptibility at the individual and organisational level.

Positive people live longer and have more life and job satisfaction. Positive organisations have less absenteeism, fewer accidents and greater productivity.

So the whole emphasis shifted to boosting the immune system. It was and is a sort of alternative medicine. It is a celebration of strengths not an investigation into weakness.

The process now starts with positives. Without hubris or bias you are encouraged to investigate, on an individual, group and organisational level, your strengths and how to boost them. So you are encouraged to be thankful and to teach others how to be likewise.

Further a positive mental attitude is thought to be amazingly healthy and self-fulfilling. Thus optimism begets success as much as pessimism does failure. Cardinal virtues are talked about in business seminars. And we hear about forgiveness and trust and joy and words heard more commonly in the pulpit than on the PowerPoint slide. There is more emphasis on emotion than in the old days. Heart has replaced head. And this chimes terribly well with all the interest in emotional intelligence.

So is the coldly analytic, problem-solving strategist a thing of the past? Did they do themselves and their client organisations a massive disservice by focusing on all the wrong things? Or is this simply the pendulum swinging back slightly? Only time will tell.

How to sell goods and services in a crisis

2009-02-26T00:40:00.000-08:00

In a crisis, consumers generally start to rein in their spending and save more – just in case. But how should companies then market their goods and services in a downturn? In a new working paper by Insead professors 'Paddy' V Padmanabhan and Pushan Dutt called 'When to push the panic button?', the authors drill down on the impact of economic crises on consumer behaviour in different categories of products and services in developing, as well as developed countries.
Padmanabhan, a professor of marketing, says companies should not just focus on industry metrics as that would give a "very incomplete picture of what's going on".
Market share is not a good indicator as the money that consumers once spent on your products and services is not necessarily going to your competitor.
"So from a marketing perspective one of the things that firms have to do in a crisis situation is start getting a better handle of not their share of the market but their share of the wallet and start figuring out what is the consumer's wallet, what are they spending on, in the crisis how is the share of wallet now changing across brands, across categories," he says.
"And that will give you a sense of how you might go about figuring out what you should be doing in a crisis."
The paper looks at how the consumer's dollars are spent in four categories: durable goods or big ticket items such as cars, TV sets and photography equipment; non-durable items – food, electricity, gas and so on; semi-durables; and services such as education, health and finance.
Within those categories, spending patterns can shift – with expenditure on cars predictably falling, while spending on bicycles increases in terms of durable goods. In the case of non-durables, spending on food increases, whereas spending on electricity and gas falls.
"Consumption of durables or expenditure on durables contract significantly and they contract the most," Padmanabhan says, "whereas consumption of non-food (items) contracts, but contracts a lot less."
And there are not just differences in consumption patterns between categories. These also vary across different types of economy, depending on whether it is a developing economy or developed.
"If you are in a developing economy, what you see as the durable goods share, actually goes down and goes down remarkably," Padmanabhan says.
"Non-durables share actually increases and that is what happens in a developing economy. And the idea would be things like food are a necessity. People still have to spend and they will do that. And so the share relative to your income actually goes up."
"What is interesting is when you look at developed economies, food is a necessity but what the data show is that services are a necessity in those markets as well. So what you do find is share of durable goods going down, share of non-durables going up, but share of services also goes up. So in that sense, food or non-durables would be a necessity in a developing economy, but non-durables and services are necessities in the developed economy."
It is a complex picture, but one which companies need to get to grips with. Dutt, an assistant professor of economics at Insead, says per capita consumption takes a smaller hit in developed countries, "whereas in developing countries it's much larger. Plus the hit that it takes persists for much longer periods of time for developing countries as compared to developed countries."
"One of the reasons for this is that credit markets in developed countries are much better developed, whereas they are thin or missing in developing countries. So therefore when a crisis hits, consumers actually lose access to financing and borrowing. So what they do is they really cut back on their consumption expenditures because they are also not aware of how long the crisis is going to last."
The bottom line: companies need to figure out how badly they are going to be hit, both in terms of the sectors they are operating in, and the local context in terms of the country they are in.
"If you look at the share of the wallet pattern in Hungary, it's going to look very different to the share of wallet pattern in, say, Vietnam or India," Padmanabhan says.
For global companies operating in both developing and developed economies, this will create an added level of complexity. If yours is a global firm, "you cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach to managing the crisis," Padmanabhan says. "You have to understand the category you're in, you have to understand the country you're in and realise your strategies for coping with the crisis. You do need to reflect on this divergence." Price wars should be avoided and managers should take care when trying to figure out what is happening to sales as they combat the impact of a crisis on sales. "If you just pay attention to income or pricing metrics and try to make sense of what's happening to your sales, you're going to make mistakes, because what we show is the crisis…has an independent impact," Padmanabhan says.

"And if you don't correct for that accordingly, firms could make very, very bad decisions," he told Insead Knowledge. "You might create a price war where you don't need to."
"If you are a firm, you're trying to understand within the crisis situation, when my sales are plummeting, to what extent should I adjust my prices," Dutt adds. "So I have to make a pricing decision, and right now it's extremely important because things are extremely volatile. In stable environments, if I make a pricing mistake it's not very important. But in today's environment, it's a matter of life and death. You'd better get your pricing right."

You may also have to take consumption smoothing effects into account – this is when consumers try to balance spending and saving – even though the paper did not actually find much evidence for consumption smoothing. "In a crisis situation, prices are the easiest thing to change," Padmanabhan says. "Companies typically respond by reacting with prices when you have a crisis situation.
But what this shows is in fact you have to be very, very careful in using prices. You have to figure out what is going on and how people are smoothing the consumption." "Don't just look at price elasticity. Don't just look at income elasticity," he says. "Understand that there's also a crisis component to sales and you need to be able to put all these three things together. If you don't, you can draw the wrong inferences."

While the paper actually focuses on the impact of currency crises on consumer behaviour, the authors believe the research is still valid in today's banking or credit crisis.
Currency crises are "easier to measure", as you just need access to exchange rate data, while a banking crisis in "slightly more tricky" to measure as you would need to look at bank grants and at what the Federal Reserve is doing.
"However, you can think of both of these as really negative shocks to a particular country," Dutt says. "Both of them have been shown to have a similar impact on GDP growth rates

Business - When your Process incorporates principles , the word failure no longer exists

2009-02-23T00:54:00.000-08:00

Now this all sounds very basic ... and many of know, it all out there will say "I have it all worked out". This is one of the biggest mistakes anyone can make. An inadequate Process is generally THE primary cause for the high levels of failure in business. Statistics show that 98% of Network Marketers fail, 96% of Affiliate Marketers fail, and only 1-in-20 businesses survives and prospers beyond 3 years. Often people will say "I was under-funded" or "the market was not ready". Fact is, if you have a sound Process in everything you do, you can avoid failure.
The Managing Your Risk ... and Profits Guide in the Full Program provide a simple premise which you MUST incorporate into your Process:
“Yes, I am willing to spend a little bit to find out, but I am not willing to put my whole business at risk”
When your Process incorporates principles like this, the word failure no longer exists. Rather you have executed a function as part of your Process and can build your business in line with your funding and market acceptance. If you're funding is insufficient or there is no market acceptance, then your Process will ensure you don't go charging ahead throwing good money after bad. Rather, it will help you formulate an alternative strategy for getting to where you want to go.

Successful Business -Your Process is EVERYTHING

2009-02-21T23:13:00.000-08:00

When any person first starts up their business, they generally end up making a lot of mistakes, some of which can be very costly. And as we progress through our business lives, we continuously learn new lessons as everything is always changing around us.
A simple fact about business is that you CAN minimize the costs which flow from mistakes, quickly adjust to changed circumstances, and capitalize on new opportunities when you have a Process for doing so.
Your Process is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT MARKETING INVESTMENT you will ever make and should be your First priority.
"Great companies have been built and continue to prosper BECAUSE they have a great Process, NOT because someone gave them a quick solution to a problem.” This is very true. No business can hope to grow without a Process. Without it, you will be spending money on campaigns without knowing if they work -- staff would arrive at work and wander around without direction -- opportunities will come your way and you won't be able to effectively recognize or capitalize on them, etc.
The same applies if you are a one-person operation. You have to work at making whatever you want happen and that requires a Plan with a step-by-step execution strategy (your Process).
It’s not something which "just happened". We had to “plan” everything ... and then execute what was required using a series of procedures. You have a process in all you do as well, including taking the time to read material such as this in the hope that you can pick up some ideas for improving your way of life.
Life works in strange ways. Just as you think you have it all worked out, something can happen to set you back. So you need to continuously review and fine tune your Process so you can more easily respond to changed circumstances.

2008-08-31T06:50:00.000-07:00

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."
What he had written was: "Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it."

Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Moral of the Story: Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

Invite others towards good with wisdom. Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1,000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

Great men say, "Life has to be an incessant process of repair and reconstruction, of discarding evil and developing goodness….

In the journey of life, if you want to travel without fear, you must have the ticket of a good conscience."
The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling J
And whats even more beautiful is, knowing that you are the reason behind it.

Admitting that you’re wrong is not a bad thing. In fact, it can be a very good thing.

2008-08-31T00:34:00.000-07:00

As you can imagine, businesses and employees don’t like to admit mistakes for many reasons. Employees may fear losing their jobs, or looking incompetent in front of both the customer and their boss. Businesses don’t want to give back money that’s already been taken in, they fear admitting a mistake will lose them a customer.

So why is admitting a mistake so important?

The goal of a business that is trying to improve should be analyzing problems, and understanding why they occurred. Admitting a mistake is a crucial part of kicking off this process. It puts it out in the open for everyone to see. As a company, the goal should be to reduce the number of mistakes made. Hiding or ignoring mistakes can lull a business into believing they’re much better than they really are.

Admitting a mistake disarms the customer, and turns a combative situation into one where they believe (and rightfully so) that your goal is to help them. The tone of the conversation usually changes, and the exchange can even become friendly. It gives you the opportunity to turn the problem into a learning experience full of valuable information that can prevent future issues, and it gives you a shot at turning an unhappy customer into a satisfied one.

By the way, we see people all the time try to tell a customer that they’re wrong. Unsurprisingly this is a recipe for disaster, especially when the customer is absolutely right. Even if the customer is wrong, there is likely another variable that can be discovered. Perhaps the pricing is misleading, or the policies are too complicated. Perhaps a competitor filled your customer’s head with misinformation. Don’t dismiss your customer’s instincts, they’re upset for a reason.

Take any opportunity to communicate with your customers, and turn it into something valuable. Regardless of who is right and who is wrong, even apologizing to the consumer about the problem (even if it isn’t your fault), can begin to diffuse a difficult situation and turn it into a learning experience.

Lastly, and this is for all of your business owners and managers out there. Coming down on your employees whenever there is the slightest customer issue, or having a zero-tolerance policy regarding mistakes IS a mistake. Attitudes like this not only destroy morale, it squelches open communication within your organization. It prevents you from what needs to be done to improve your business, ultimately keeps your business maintaining status quo, and provides every opportunity for your competition to pass you up.

Are Your Top People Ready To Leave You?

2008-08-04T00:28:00.000-07:00

How can I tell if my best employees are getting ready to leave?

Why would they want to leave?

How can I keep them?This article looks at how to tell if you're in trouble, and what to do about it

Top 10 Clues Your Best Employees are Leaving

* They start dressing better
* They take lunches at different times
* Their production drops off
* They seem "quiet" or "down"
* They request vacation one day at a time
* They are "sick" more often
* They stop championing their positions
* They stop volunteering
* They get more incoming phone calls than usual and number 10
* They ask you for a reference

Why Would They Want To Leave?

Most employees cite "money" as their reason for leaving. In some cases this is true. However, we know that money is a satisfier, not a motivator. As long as an employee receives what they consider adequate compensation, more money won't buy more production. And lack of more money won't drive them away. Many departing employees use money as their excuse for leaving because it is a "safe" answer.

How Can I Keep The Good Ones?

People stay with something until the pain of staying exceeds the expected pain of leaving. Most people who are really good at something have a low 'pain of leaving' because they know they can find something else. The trick to keeping them is to minimize the 'pain of staying'.

The factors that add to the 'pain of staying' are well documented. People who are under appreciated or unchallenged won't stay around long. Here are several authors' points of view on what you can, and should, do to retain employees.

Management Tips for success

2008-08-04T00:04:00.000-07:00

Anyone can steer the ship in calm waters. What will set you apart in your career is how you perform during the tough times. Don't become complacent and relax just because things are going well. Plan ahead for the downturn.

Don't Limit Yourself. The difference between leaders and managers is that leaders do not set limits on themselves. There are enough people trying to limit what you can do. Don't be one of them.

Leaders create change. If you lead, you will cause changes. Be prepared for them and their impact on people within, and outside, your group. If you are not making changes, you are not leading.

Practice what you preach. To lead, you have to lead by example. Don't expect your people to work unpaid overtime if you leave early every day. Don't book youself into a four star hotel on business trips and expect your employees to stay in the motel off the freeway.

You Can't Listen With Your Mouth Open. Your associates, your employees, your suppliers, your customers all have something of value in what they have to say. Listen to the people around you. You will never learn what it is if you drown them out by talking all the time. Remember, the only thing that can come out of your mouth is something you already know. Shut up and learn.

Change Or Die. Your business must change to survive. As much as we wish it would, nothing stays the same. Some industries change faster than others. Some markets are more fixed. To stay in business, you need to watch both and change as they do, or before.

Appearance Does Matter. It may be a sad commentary on our superficial society, but appearance does matter. Whether it's the packaging on your product, the first impression you make when calling on a new client, or your company's web site people notice how things look. They care about how things look and make judgements about you and/or your product based on appearance.

Get your people involved. It's a lot easier to get employees to stand behind a company decision if they have the opportunity to participate in the discussion. Management still has to make the decision. but if they have had the opportunity to make their point of view known employees are more apt to stand behind the ultimate decision, even if they don't agree with it.

People Aren't Mushrooms. Mushrooms grow very well when kept in the dark and fed horse manure. People, on the other hand, function better when they are kept in the loop and given straight info.

The Best Product Doesn't Always Win. Just having a better product is not enough. You have to let your customers know about it and why it's better. Then you have to convince them it is better.

Dare to Dream You can't move forward if you are always looking back. You can't find new solutions if you believe 'it can't be done'. Have the courage of your convictions and go after it.

Train Your Supervisors The key to your business success is the productivity of your employees. The key to employee productivity is their perception of their immediate supervisor. Invest in training your supervisors and managers. It will pay off.

The Man Rules

2008-08-03T23:31:00.000-07:00

At last a guy has taken the time to write this down

Finally, the guys' side of the story (I must admit, it's pretty good.)

We always hear "the rules" From the female side.

Now here are the rules from the male side.

These are our rules!

Please note: these are all numbered "1 "

ON PURPOSE!

1. Men are NOT mind readers.

1. Learn to work the toilet seat.

You're a big girl. If it's up, put it down.

We need it up, you need it down.

You don't hear us complaining about you leaving it down

1. Sunday sports It's like the full moon

or the changing of the tides.

Let it be.

1. Crying is blackmail.

1. Ask for what you want.

Let us be clear on this one:

Subtle hints do not work!

Strong hints do not work!

Obvious hints do not work!

Just say it!

1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.

1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That's what we do.

Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.

1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument.

In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.

1. If you think you're fat, you probably are.

Don't ask us.

1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one

1. You can either ask us to do something

Or tell us how! you want it done.

Not both.

If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.

1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials.

1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.

1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings.

Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have NO idea what mauve is.

1. If it itches, it will be scratched.

We do that.

1. If we ask what is wrong and you say "nothing," We will act like nothing's wrong.

We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.

1. If you ask a question you don't want an answer to, Expect an answer you don't want to hear.

1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine... Really .

1. Don't ask us what we're thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball or golf.

1. You have enough clothes.

1. You have too many shoes.

1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!

1. Thank you for reading this.

Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight;

But did you know men really don't mind that? It's like camping.

Pass this to as many men as you can -to give them a laugh.

Pass this to as many women as you can -TO GIVE THEM A BIGGER LAUGH

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2007-12-31T04:21:00.001-08:00

'Talking too much' is top job-interview mistake

2007-10-28T06:06:00.000-07:00

Talking too much is the most common interview mistake that job candidates make, according to 36 percent of recruiters who completed the ninth edition of the quarterly Executive Recruiter Index, released by Korn/Ferry International, the premier global provider of executive search, outsourced recruiting and leadership development solutions. Other common mistakes cited by recruiters include lack of knowledge about the company or position (22 percent), over-inflated ego (16 percent) and appearing overly confident (9 percent). Additionally, more than six in ten (62 percent) recruiters agreed that anything more than one week is too long for a candidate to consider a formal job offer, with almost a third of them (29 percent) indicating that the appropriate amount of time is even shorter. "Executive-level candidates are unquestionably more polished and sophisticated today than ever before, so it is remarkable how many basic interview etiquette mistakes are still made," said Charles Tseng, President, Korn/Ferry Asia Pacific. "Although small, these mistakes can often mean the difference between getting the job and being passed over." The survey also examined various regional differences as they relate to job tenure. In both North America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), recruiters agreed that two years is the minimum acceptable amount of time to stay with one employer. In South America and Asia Pacific, however, one year is the minimum amount. The rapid pace of growth and hiring in these emerging regions is likely responsible for this difference. When asked why executives leave companies after short periods of employment, bad cultural fit emerged as the leading reason in both South America and Asia Pacific, whereas responses were more mixed in North America and EMEA. Finally, recruiters worldwide agreed overwhelmingly (87 percent) that executives should disclose that they worked somewhere for a short amount of time, rather than omit the position from their CV/resume.

Increase your attractiveness to women

2007-10-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

1) Learn how to hold eye contact for longer than her.

If you see a woman that you find attractive, and she looks back at you, DON'T LOOK AWAY. Most guys become very self conscious and look away as soon as a woman notices them. This is a HUGE mistake.

If you want to communicate all the right things, you need to show IMMEDIATELY that you're not afraid, and that you're not at all self conscious about the fact that you are checking her out.

A good exercise is to walk through a mall for a few hours and look DIRECTLY at every woman you see. Walk into every store, and look directly into the eyes of every single woman you encounter... and DON'T LOOK AWAY UNTIL AFTER SHE DOES.

Do yourself a huge favor, and don't open your eyes really wide and smile like a serial killer while you're doing this exercise. Women don't tend to enjoy that.

Just learn how to hold eye contact with a woman until she looks away...

This is very important.

2) Use confident posture.

Most men I see hold themselves in a way that says "I am not very confident about myself or anything I'm saying".

And most of the guys I know who are chick MAGNETS hold themselves in a way that says "I'm the dominant male in this situation... I own this place".

Suck in your stomach, hold your head up and back, pull your shoulders back, arch your back... and generally hold yourself like you're the most powerful person you've ever seen or heard of.

Yea, I know these sounds dorky, but do it anyway.

You'll probably feel strange and self conscious at first, but not to worry.

If you continue to practice your confident posture, you'll soon become comfortable with it. And more important, you'll attract attention from women.

Remember, women aren't interested in finding another average Wuss Boy. Women aren't ATTRACTED to WUSSIES.

Carry yourself like a manly man, and attractive women will notice and have INSTANT positive unconscious reactions to you.

3) Use SLOW, CALCULATED movements and gestures.

Watch a few James Bond films. And while you're at it, check out "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels".

Have you ever noticed that James Bond never looks like he doesn't know how to act? And that he never fidgets or behaves nervously?

Everything James does is a little slower than is should be. He's just too cool.

Try learning how to turn your head slowly, how to blink slowly, and change facial expressions slowly... and how to gesture slowly.

This makes a huge impact on how others perceive you.

This kind of body language transmits the message: "I'm so comfortable in my own skin, it hurts".

4) Confident voice tone.

Most people speak with weak, squeaky voices that convey the message "I'm not confident... I have no self esteem".

This turns women off. Big times.

If you want to attract beautiful women, you're going to need to take a few lessons from Barry White.

Learn how to speak with a deeper voice. Learn to speak from down in your chest and stomach. Add more bass to your voice.

Also, learn how to speak slower... and how to articulate every word better. Become comfortable pausing... it creates anticipation. Most guys talk too much, too fast, and feel like they need to talk because they're nervous. Don't do it! Learn to lean back, relax, and become comfortable with the tension that comes from silence.

If you work on communicating with your BODY AND VOICE that you're a confident, sexually aware, stud- muffin guy, then all the techniques you're learning from me will work TEN times better.

As you know, I really believe that it takes a DEEP understanding of how and why ATTRACTION works between men and women before you will actually begin to "GET IT" at that deep level in your GUT... which leads to ACTION.

How People Buy - The 4 Steps from Problem to Purchase

2007-07-11T05:54:00.000-07:00

Did you know that every single time we make a purchase we do the same four things? Did you also know that the world's most successful businesses are now organizing their corporate structures around helping customers with these 4 basic steps? It is no longer enough to just understand the value of your products and services. You must understand the actions people take once they decide to find a solution to their problem to ensure you are not missing out on big opportunities to satisfy your customers, and build customer loyalty.

Let's assume for the moment that someone knows they have a problem, and they've decided they want to solve it. There are 4 steps to finding a solution that people always follow:

1. Search for things that could address the need or want

2. Decide on a solution and set out to get it

3. Take it and get it ready to use

4. Use it

All problem solving can be broken down into these four basic stages. Here's a more familiar way to look at it:

1. Go shopping

2. Place an order

3. Take delivery

4. Start using it

Let's look at the four stages in a little more detail.

Go Shopping

Think about the last time you needed something. What did you do first? I was fixing the brakes on my son's bicycle the other day, and needed an extra hand to pull the brake handle. "Hey Logan, can you come pull the brake handle?" I asked someone around me for help. I wanted a new cell phone plan because I learned that my bill was regularly twice as high as my fiancés. "Honey, what company do you use again?" Her response: "I think I have a pretty good plan, but why don't we go the mall and ask someone who actually knows. There are at least 4 cell phone stores there". So we did.

Searching for solutions generally starts with asking your friends, family or co-workers. If you're still not sure you seek out an expert for more advice. You may even test-drive, or try on a few things to see what you like best. Finally you pick something you either like, trust or recognize from the suggestions offered.

Place an Order

Placing an order can be as simple as "I'll take this one". It can also be a complex series of decisions on options, delivery methods and payment options. When I placed an order for my new cell phone, they wanted to know if I would like to add a case, how I wanted to pay, and if I would like them to transfer my contacts over from my old phone to my new phone.

When I worked with equipment for utilities and industrial plants there were dozens of ordering options for different voltage levels, cabinet types, communications equipment options, system configurations or configuration services, wiring harnesses, the list goes on. The sales people didn't even know all of the available options. There was a separate orders team to guide customers through the ordering process and ensure they got a solution that fit their needs correctly.

Take Delivery

So after the order has been placed, someone needs to fill your order. With my recent cell phone purchase the same person who sold it to me and took the order then took my old phone, went to the back room, and came out a few minutes later with my new phone. It was all set up complete with all the contacts from my old copied onto it. I have no idea whether he did it himself or handed it to a technician to do. Frankly, I don't care. I just know my salesman took care of it.

In the industrial world, taking delivery is a little more complicated, but it follows the same basic steps. Instead of going into the back room, the equipment is ordered from a factory, and team of people are engaged in building and configuring the equipment. Shipping is then arranged with the customer including transport and cross-border customs clearing. On first deliveries the customer often comes to the factory to do some tests and provide formal acceptance. Some changes are almost always made at this point. After shipping the first ones to the installation site, an engineer is often deployed to help set it up and ensure everything is working correctly. All part of the delivery process.

Use It

And finally you get to use it. But the story doesn't end here, there's more. Remember when you got that brand new PC home? You got it set up, you started using it, and then you tryed to print out that first piece of paper and nothing happened. You tried everything you could think of and still nothing happened. Enter Customer Service.

Even after things are delivered and paid for, people still need help. If you get good help you are happy, and you go back to that store and recommend them to your friends. If you get bad help, or no help, you may never go back there. You will also probably make sure everyone you ever meet looking for something similar knows to stay away from that company because they will cause them nothing but pain. After all, that's what happened to you.

A pleasant experience with the Customer Service team after you buy something is often the difference between loving and hating the people that sold it to you.

Summary

Whether we realize it or not there are 4 steps we all go through every time we purchase a product or service.

1. Shop for potential solutions

2. Decide and order something

3. Get it

4. Use it

It is not enough to have a great product or friendly customer support. You must address all four stages of the customer decision making process if you hope to build a long term relationship, and a long term business. Remember all successful businesses help themselves by helping others.

Do your employees trust you?

2007-04-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

Do your employees trust you?: "Do your employees trust you? This article in The Seattle Times suggests they probably do not. They trust their co-workers and they even like their job for the most part, but they don't believe that their managers are making the best decisions. This is especially true when it comes to decisions made about them.

I have two questions for you to think about:

1) Does it matter that your employees don't trust you?
2) How do you find out?

I believe the first question is the easier one to answer - YES, it matters very much. The two biggest reasons why it matters are related - PERFORMANCE and Profits.

Their Performance
I guarantee you that you will not get top performance out of any employee who does not trust you.

f they don't trust you to make the best decisions AND trust you to look out for their best interests - they feel they have to do it themselves. The time they spend doing that, or thinking about how to do it, takes away from their production, their quality, and their creativity.

Okay, be a Type A, or a 9,1 on the GRID. You may be able to push performance levels up, but you can't keep them there. Without the employees' trust you won't get that spark of creativity from them that is so important. They won't innovate that one little idea that could have kept you ahead of your competitor.

Your Performance
Let's face it. The performance of your employees reflects heavily on your own performance. After all, Management is the ability to get things done through others. If you can't get top performance from your employees, how can you prove to your boss that you are a great manager?

If your employees don't trust you, you probably aren't going to trust them too much. You will end up spending your time, and you are short of that already, checking up on them. That time could be better spent elsewhere, couldn't it?

Profits
We just documented the time wasted by both the manager and the employees because of lack of trust. You can measure the cost of those wasted hours, but the bigger cost is lost innovation and creativity. Profits are not made by doing a job well. They are made by DOING IT BETTER.

It doesn't matter too much whether that is by "Continuous Improvement" or by sudden change. All that really matters is that it happens. Your competitors are going to find newer, better, cheaper ways to do things. If you don't, you'll lose customers and then lose profits.

Question Two
Question two may be a little harder to answer (how can I find out whether they trust me?), but here are some suggestions:

Ask Them
One of the simplest ways to get an answer is to ask direct questions. You probably have someone in your group whom you trust. Don't ask them how they feel, instead ask them how the group feels. Don't try and isolate comments about specific individuals. Concentrate instead on group impressions. You will be surprised at what you can learn.

Listen to Them
When you ask an employee a question, really listen to their answer. It's almost like reading between the lines. If they start to tell you something and then stop, that is a pretty good example that they don't completely trust you.

Be Less Formal
Get out of your office. Management by Walking Around (MBWO) really does work. Not only are people more apt to approach you in "their territory," but you will hear and see things that never make it into the reports that come into your office. Besides, when your employees see you walking around, they begin to see you as a person, not just as "the boss." It's a lot easier to mistrust "the boss" than to mistrust an individual.

Developing a successful corporate culture

2007-04-04T11:24:00.000-07:00

Developing a successful corporate culture: "Surely this is like saying nine out of 10 executives believe that breathing out is as important as breathing in! The two are inextricably linked – the one without the other has limited use (to put it mildly!).

The report goes on to say that fewer than 10 per cent of companies currently succeed at building high performance cultures. Now that doesn't surprise me!

One of the main reasons is that they are not sure how to. Culture is often seen as 'soft' or 'touchy feely', whereas in reality it's actually the hardest part of management.

Why? Because it deals with attitudes and behaviours which all seem a bit vague. It's much easier to talk about territories, product life cycles, sales targets, margins and advertising budgets. They're 'real' and 'tangible'.

So how do the best businesses develop a culture that creates competitive advantage? There are no easy answers, but here's a few pointers from the stuff I've seen:

Pointer 1: Understand your current culture
One delegate at a conference I spoke at, came up to me after and explained although he found what I talked about on culture fascinating, he was troubled.

'We don't have a culture at our place,' he explained.

'You do,' I replied.

'We don't,' he assured me.

I sugge"

Simple tips calm stressed students - Features

2007-04-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

Simple tips calm stressed students - Features: "Managing commitments such as school, work, activities and a social life can take a toll on students, so many have created their own ways of staying sane and limiting the negative effects of stress.

There are many causes of stress, but a leading one for many people is relationship problems.

'It is very important to constantly assess your relationship with yourself and with others,' said Robert Howard, a Chico State psychology professor. 'You should use yourself and others as a source of comfort.'

Besides relationships, Chico State students connect being stressed with the large amount of work in their classes and with participating in co-curricular activities.

Senior Lauren Foster is the director of Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship and is enrolled in 15 units at Chico State. She said her schedule is a lot to handle, but she has figured out how to manage her time to fulfill all her responsibilities.

'I make a lot of lists and go to the sauna at the Chico Sports Club pretty frequently,' she said.

Having a job outside of school can lead to added stress.
"

Not all users have the same goals-- Most successful people are just like all others in the world

2007-03-07T10:02:00.000-08:00

Sit quietly and imagine what attaining a goal will feel like in all its details. Doing so is a great motivator. Identify what you want and go after it. Be aggressive and prepared to butt heads with people along the way.

Use your body and your voice to make a statement about who you are and what you want.

At least once a year, evaluate your goals. Some of them may no longer life. Compliment and reward yourself for your accomplishments. You deserve it.

Hard work and being good on the job aren’t enough. You have to be smart. Once you have reached a goal, set a new one and start to achieve it. Let your superiors know when you are ready for a new challenge.

If you’re stagnating at work, get a new job or get on the board of a non –profit organization. Risk takers stretch the boundaries- both of themselves and their organizations. Uncover your productive beliefs and ride them in to success.

Make mistakes. Not stupid mistakes, but well- intentioned mistakes. Good bosses won’t mind, because they know innovation requires failure. Analyze setbacks. Be especially keen to find out whether your attitude, personality or operating style is getting in the way of success. Don’t eliminate all stress from your life you need it to help you meet deadlines and make personal bests.

Engage yourself in a hobby. It’ll aid your career and peace of mind- immeasurably.

Don’t concentrate on just being at the right speed. Focus instead on being on the right road, and heading in the right direction. Sometimes your body is testing you to be aware of a problem. Pay attention.

Challenges, including setbacks and disappointments, benefit us in numerous ways. Mistakes, for instance, teach us about ourselves. The most successful people know themselves well. Rejection isn’t personal. Accept it and get on with life.

Pick an area you love in which to excel

2007-02-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

To succeed in long term, we must operate in harmony with a moral code or timeless values. Sometimes we have to give a little to get what we want. But never compromise on big things.

Most successful people are just like all others in the world. What sets them apart is that they have identified a talent and worked hard to make good use of it. Man is always more than he can know of himself, consequently, his accomplishments, time and again, will come as a surprise to him.

Tips to enhance your goals

Pick an area you love in which to excel. Your passion will generate enthusiasm and energy that will move others.
You create your reality through beliefs.
Identify your beliefs, both productive and unproductive.
Strive to be the best—but not at the expense of others.
Change your reality by identifying and analyzing unconstructive beliefs, and then inserting new beliefs in their places.
Frame your goals positively, and make them specific and measurable.
When setting goals, decide what you want and when you want it.
Produce a harmonious system of goals.

Be scrupulously honest in all your business dealings. Your reputation for integrity creates opportunities for you.

How to enhance your Goals

2007-02-23T00:38:00.000-08:00

Today we can discus, how to enhance your Goals. As you know the life is full of distractions. Hundreds of objects dance before our eyes luring us towards themselves. Innocent beings, engulfed by such temptations, spend their lives chasing these numerous goals. They achieve some, but in this mad pursuit, they lose sight of numerous others that may be more important than those achieved. It is therefore necessary to set our priorities, make them the focus of our lives and then create a system, an action plan, for reaching them. Towards this end, you should take stock of your overall ambitions in life and come up with comprehensive lists of goals.

List your values and goals
List your skills and Attributes.
Be honest with yourself and see whether they fit your dreams.

For success is all about playing to your strengths.

The goals that you achieve and those that are difficult to achieve provide a challenge and fill you with immeasurable energy and drive to achieve them.

So today itself, make it a habit to set challenging goals.

Real achievement lies in identifying your inner dreams and desires and working to make them true.
You have at least one talent, and probably more, that sets you apart from others.

Success is never what someone else wants for you. It’s what you want. “Whatever you can do, or dreams you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius and magic in it. Begin it now”

How An Invisible Enemy Is Spoiling Your Life

2007-02-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

You have an enemy. It is a cruel enemy, full of cunning and without a care for you or your ambitions. It is relentless and it will never stop wreaking havoc with you by spoiling your dreams and plans for a better, happier life. It has one purpose: security. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. But you will feel the pain it causes unless you know how to fight it.

The name of this destructive, invisible enemy is? Fear

Let me make a guess about you. Throughout your life, you’ve had many fantastic opportunities come your way. Each time an opportunity was presented, somehow, some way, you missed out. And if you’re like me, the frustration was compounded when others seized the moment and made the most out of an opportunity you rejected.

Here’s another problem: as the years go by, you look back on these occasions with regret. You think about chances missed, about a path never chosen that could’ve lead to a garden of happiness and fulfillment. A different life, a life you dreamt of, a life you dearly wish that you had lived. But alas, you chose a different path, a path chosen by the many. A secure path bereft of excitement and adventure, but also bereft of risk and danger.

The secure life is. A life where you know where you are and what tomorrow brings. This is the path chosen by the majority of people and of course, when you choose to follow the majority, you get what the majority get: a secure, but risk free life, where happiness levels are minimal and excitement and fulfillment are virtually non-existent.

Security. Safety. Conformity.

So, why didn’t you take the path filled with risk, adventure and excitement?

What stopped you from choosing a different course in life, a life – if you’ll be totally honest with me – that in your heart of hearts you really wished you were living right now?

It’s all to do with your invisible enemy fear. Fear is like a computer virus. Once fear has invaded your mind, it will spread its destructive influence throughout all areas of your life. Your imagination in particular, is susceptible to its force. Imagination is one of your most powerful forces and it can either spur you on to great things or it can corrupt each and every opportunity that comes your way by giving vent to your fears.

Let me give an example. You’ve been given an opportunity to do the job you’ve always wanted. However, you’ll need to relocate to another area on the other side of the country. It’s a big chance, you’ll earn a very good salary, you’ll do something you enjoy and you’ll grow and develop far more than you could in your present role.

Sounds good doesn’t it? But fear will rear up like an angry cobra. You’re trying to make a change and it is determined to stop you. It will begin a series of negative appraisals: you might not like the new area; the job is difficult and might place too much of a demand on you; the family might not want to move – on and on and on. Sleepless nights. Sweats. Shakes. Suddenly, the move doesn’t sound THAT good. After all, things aren’t too bad now, are they? Why change?

It’s relentless, tormenting and cruel. Fear is persuading you to choose the safe secure path. It’s setting limits on your happiness by robbing a wonderful opportunity from you. Each time it succeeds, a chance to grow and experience more from life vanishes.

It is so important to recognize how fear does this to you.
If you don’t, you risk looking back down the safe path from the flat fields of security, full of regret about the life you truly wanted but your invisible enemy robbed from you. And it is an enemy that will feel no remorse about it whatsoever.

Until next time.

Detect potential problems before they occur

2007-01-21T09:13:00.000-08:00

Without a standard, there is no logical basis for making a decision or taking action. In quality control, we try as far as possible to make our various judgments based on facts, not on guesswork. The slogan is – Speak with Facts.

Quality management is a philosophy that seeks to prevent defects in products or services rather than relying on inspections to sort out defects after they occur.

GOOD, BETTER, BEST, NEVER LET IT REST, UNTIL THE GOOD BECOMES THE BETTER, AND THE BETTER BECOMES THE BEST.

The ideas of control and improvement are often confused with one another. This is because quality control and quality improvement are inseparable.

The competitive advantage is now in your ability to KEEP customers and build repeat business.

Everybody believes in good customer service – in theory. The real difference develops when people actually commit to carry out their intentions.

Customer service is dependent on three things

· Customer friendly policies set by the organization executives

· Training offered to the staff

· The attitude of the staff about their organization as generated by the way their company treats them.

No one has to tell you about how important quality is to your company; you see the results of it or the lack of it, every time you have a satisfied customer, or when your competitor’s market share increases.

DETECT POTENTIAL PROBLEMS BEFORE OCCURE.

Icrease the perfonrmance of your employees, manager need to establish his credibility

2007-01-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

In our company we are all waiting for a manager who can perform better and it will benefit the organization in the form of improved results. Increased performance, what I meant will also mean better performance in less time. In other words increased efficiency overall.

I Human beings possess immense capacity to perform. What is seen is only a minute portion of the capacity they actually possess. To this end, managers need to learn the art of increasing potential of their employees.

According to my opinion to icrease the perfonrmance of your employees, manager need to establish his credibility, set and communicate goals and expectations, give feedback on performance and facilitate work, know leadership skills, motivate, built morale and attend to interpersonal relations. In sum, a manager needs to look into every little aspect of his organization.

I can’t advice our manager, but I can express and share my opinion to those requires,
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – all good leaders do. As you master your defeats, you’ll become a better coach
• Take time to establish your credibility, without it, people wont accept you as their coach and leader.
• Have regular, focused meetings regarding the projects for which you are responsible.
• Provide workers with open, direct and immediate feedback on their actual performance as compared to expected performance and they will tend to correct their own deficiencies.
• Don’t be deceived by cheerleaders. Their incessant attempts to flatter are meant to keep your attention away from their poor productivity. Understand that all people are motivated. But they are motivated for their own reasons, so you need to get to know them- and well

Staff looks up on the manager as their leader.

2006-12-30T07:18:00.000-08:00

28^th December a worst day for me, our company sacked one of the managers; I am not a person to justify the decision of the management or the manager. But one important factor to be remembered by all the managers in all companies, Staff looks up on the manager as their leader. They expect maturity, rationality and understanding from their superiors. Simple things like calling people by their first name, chatting about their families for a while or even a general enquiry about their well-being, brings in a feeling of belongingness. Small gestures of this type help in building up a cordial relationship. Remember to express your appreciation to the invisible people, like receptionist, office boy etc--------etc. These employees all need to be singled out from time to time and commended for their efforts in keeping the company running smoothly.

People want to be involved in something important. Give them a whole project or a significant piece of the project to work on.

Always remember that winning and losing rotate in a cycle. A manager has to handle two situations, The Winning and The Losing. The crux is to think like a winner even though all the odds seem against you.

Judge the difference – Every employee in the organization vibrates to a different tune. A treatment that motivates one may de-motivate the other.

Motivation, once established, does not last if not repeated.
Never seek to place blame. Always focus on the problem.
Never ignore a concern of one of your people.

Managers can motivate staff by asking them to set their own job goals and suggest better ways to do things. Set realistic goals: Set moderate goals. Setting too high goal create a feeling of non achievement from the beginning itself. The goals set should be feasible for the employees to achieve.

A Managers success is due 15%to technical skills and 85% to skills in human engineering.

A job of the manager is to motivate people. His task requires him to punish and penalize people. This might create resentment in the minds of the staff members, which may affect the productivity of the work force. Hence, care should be taken to ensure that punishment and penalties are used as a controlling technique and that they do not de motivate.

Motivation is getting somebody to do something because they want to do it

2006-12-24T06:47:00.001-08:00

It was once assumed that motivation had to be injected from outside, but it is now understood, that everyone is motivated by several, differing forces.

Avoid delays. They make people lose interest and make them lethargic.

Achievement motivation is the drive to pursue and attain goals. An individual with achievement motivation wishes to achieve objectives and advance up the ladder of success.

Affiliation motivation is a drive to relate people on a social basis. A person with affiliation motivation performs work better when they are complimented for their favorable attitudes and cooperation.

Competence motivation is the drive to be good at something, allowing an individual to perform high quality work. Competence motivated people seek job mastery, take pride in developing and using their problem-solving skills and strive to innovate when confronted with obstacles. They learn from their experience.

Power motivation is the drive to influence people and change situations. Power motivated people wish to create an impact in their organization and are willing to take calculated risks to do so.

Attitude motivation is how people think and feel. It is their self confidence, belief in themselves and attitude.

Incentive motivation is where a person or a team reaps an award for performing an activity. It is a-- you do this and you get that --sort attitude. It is the types of awards and prizes that drive people to work a little harder in life.

Fear motivation and coercion are acts against the will of a person. It is instantaneous and gets the job done quickly, but helpful only for a short time.

Where a workforce is self motivated, just the acknowledgement of the same makes people feel important and wanted.

Motivation requires recognition. Seeing ourselves progressing motivates us.

Motivation is to inspire people to work individually or in groups, such as to produce the best of results.

2006-12-22T08:26:00.000-08:00

Human beings possess capacity to perform and reach new heights. This capacity lies latent, unless motivation triggers their will and enthusiasm to make use of their capacity and accomplish a particular task.

The art of motivation starts by learning how to influence the behavior of an individual. This understanding helps to achieve both individual as well as organizational objectives.

Motivation is a powerful tool in the hands of leaders. It can persuade, convince and propel people to act. Nearly all conscious behavior of human being is motivated. If you understand what motivates people you have at your command the most powerful tools for dealing with them.

The concept of motivation is situational and its level varies in different individuals at different times. It is a general tendency to believe that motivation is a personal trait of every individual. Some people have it and other don’t. In practice some are labeled lazy because they do not display any outward sign of motivation. However individuals differ in their basic motivation dives. Motivation depends upon the areas of interest of people.

A manager requires to creat and maintains an environment in which individuals work together in groups towards the accomplishment of common objectives.

A manager cannot do a job without knowing what motivates people. The building of motivating factors into organizational roles, the staffing of these roles and the entire process of leading people must be built on sound knowledge of motivation.

If your team is confused or conflicting or tense, it is a sign of failing delegation

2006-12-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

Managers need to specify the constraints under which tasks will be performed. Every organization has rules and procedures, resource constraints and boundaries that limit the kind of action that can be taken. These should be made clear at the time of delegation of a task.

Managers must also specify precisely the level of initiative expected. No other oversight in the delegation process can cause more confusion than the failure to delineate clearly the expectations and the level of initiative expected or permitted.

When you delegate, don’t shift the blame or take the credit.

Unless you delegate tasks to your subordinates, your team will become inefficient and demoralized.

Executives not only use all the brains they have, but also all they can borrow. If your team is confused or conflicting or tense, it is a sign of failing delegation

Good delegation leads to higher efficiency. A clever man is the tool with which bad men work. Effective delegation leads to increased motivation. Sensible delegation develops the skills of your team.

Some aspects of leadership are sensitive and should not be delegated. These include hiring, firing, pay issues and policy-making.

It is never a sign of weakness when a man in high position delegates authority

2006-12-13T06:58:00.000-08:00

One can’t make oneself, but one can some times help a little in the making of somebody else.

It is never a sign of weakness when a man in high position delegates authority. On the contrary, it is a sign of his strength and of his capacity to deserve success.

Before you jump in to solve a problem, ask an employee for a solution. Say what do you think we should do?

Suspect a director who says that he can afford to be away from the office only for a week at a time. This generally means either that he is a frightened man or else that he is thoroughly inefficient and incapable of delegation. Delegation is necessary. It is not possible for a single person to handle all the tasks in an enterprise. More over, the task of the manager is not to do all the work on his own, but to get the work done by other members in the organization.

There is a limit to the number of persons a manager can supervise. Once this limit is crossed, authority needs to be delegated to subordinates. Authority gets delegated when a superior gives a subordinate the discretion to make decisions. The important decision for a manager is to decide when to perform tasks on his own.

While delegating, question whether the subordinates share with management the same set of common values and perspectives? If any of these questions remain unanswered, the probability is that greater delegation will not be effective.

Allow others to make mistakes.

Use others brains for your own gains. A responsible manager usually keeps an eye on the activities of his subordinates and does not allow such mistakes as would endanger either the company or the position of the subordinate in the company. Yet it is true that people learn from their mistakes.

Delegation is a key aspect of leadership.

The Process of Identifying and selecting a course of action to solve a specific problem

2006-12-06T03:44:00.000-08:00

Eight Keys to effective Decision Making

Work on the right decision problem
Specify your Objectives
Create imaginative alternatives
Understand the consequences
Grapple with your tradeoffs
Clarify your uncertainties
Think hard about your risk tolerance
Consider Linked Decisions

Framing the problem

Be Creative about your Problem Definition
Turn Problems into opportunities
Re examine your Problem Definition you go

Define the Decision Problem

Ask what triggered this decision. Why am I even considering?
Question the constraints in your problem statement
Identify the essential elements of the problem

The surest way for an executive to kill himself is to refuse to learn how and when and to whom to delegate the work

2006-12-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

A strong leader knows that if he develops his associates, he will be ever stronger. One should not make use of others mouth, unless it has been lent to you.

The most successful manager’s aim at making themselves unnecessary to their staff. Do pleasant things yourself, but unpleasant things through others.

Unless the executive establishes priorities for the things he is to do himself, he will not delegate responsibility properly because he will never know what to delegate. Show that you believe in the delegate’s ability to do the job. Your faith provides a force that will help the person succeed.

Make sure you let others know that you have let employee loose on a job. Then they won’t question her authority. * He who makes great demands upon himself is naturally inclined to make great demands on others.
Divided duties are seldom split in the middle.

The great trouble today is that there are too many people looking for someone else to do something for them. The solution of most of the world’s trouble is to be found in every one doing something for him.

You can get almost everything accomplished if you don’t mind who gets the credit.

Rewrite job descriptions when business conditions change. Everyone must be flexible to stay competitive.

Back up the authority you’ve granted a worker, especially to jealous co-workers, and also to those in other departments.

For the best results choose a busy man the others have no time

2006-11-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

&Stop what you are doing; take the time to teach somebody to do a task. You all save a lot of time in the long run.

Delegate to the one with the most to lose and not to the one with the most to gain
Share credit with others. Your people will respect you and work more productively.
You can delegate authority, but you can never delegate responsibility for delegating a task to some one else. If you picked the right man, fine. But if you picked the wrong man, the responsibility is yours- not his.If he works for you, you work for him.
Delegate to relive stress and give yourself time to deal with more strategic issues. Four eyes see more than two.
Give meaningful work to your high-potential people. It’s the best way to groom an able successor. It is those underneath who can hold you up. Do not keep a dog and bark yourself.
Delegate to motivate ambitious employees. That’s how you keep good people on the payroll. One can pass on the responsibility, but not the discretion that goes with it.
Delegate tasks that will improve the skills of your people and prepare them for higher level work.
For the best results, choose a busy man, the others have no time.
Delegating decisions saves you more time in the long run than delegating tasks.

I am not the only one who can do it. I am not the only one who can do it.

2006-11-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

Are you one of those managers who wants to do all the work themselves because they believe in the principle – if want something done right, do it yourself. If the answer is in the affirmative, then trouble is not far away. You will soon find yourself sitting with your head buried in your palms, suffering from high blood pressure, and your work piling up to unmanageable quantities. If you want to avoid such a future, try consider delegation seriously.

Delegation is the entrusting of tasks that cannot be handled by a single person to some one else who is suitable for the task. Delegation has many advantages, it unloads you from routine or non critical work, it makes you get rid of excess managerial baggage, it gives a chance to subordinates to learn and prepares them higher positions, empowers them motivates ambitious employees. It also results in higher efficiency and leaves your time free, which can ten be utilized at your discretion.

Repeat this until it sticks

I am not the only one who can do it. I am not the only one who can do it.

Be free of all prejudices. Treat every one equally.

2006-11-22T07:43:00.000-08:00

If you improve workers morale and strengthen their sense of belonging, you create a cooperative spirit that results in better work.

If you do to others what you would like them to do to you, do not expect others to do to you what you do to them.

The employer puts his money and the workman his life. Be free of all prejudices. Treat every one equally. If the worker has a sense of belonging, he will be much more contented with his work.

You can’t have everything in one person. If the attitude of the boss, the trainer or the trainee is not right, nothing else can be right.

It is so pleasant to come across people more stupid than ourselves. We love them at once for being so. The voice of dissent be heard. Don’t believe in the goodness of disagreeable people. Working with people is difficult, but not impossible.

It is less dangerous to treat most men badly than to treat them too well.

When a mere smile and a nod from the boss causes an unaccustomed ripple of happiness to flow over an office, that a bad sign. It’s a sign that up to that moment, people had been tense, harassed, fearful, nervous and worried.

There are four sorts of man –

They, who know not and know not they know not --- they are fools, shun them.
They, who know not and know they know not --- they are simple, teach them.
They, who know and know not they know --- they are asleep, wake them.
They, who know and know they know ---- they are wise, follow them.

People only see what they are prepared to see. If there is any magic word in the management of business, it is the word attitude. A positive attitude has to be built up continuously.

What makes men happy is loving to do what they have to.

2006-11-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

Heed your performance evaluations. They can be your irritating behavior. Most people are hidden most of the time, their appearance are brief and controlled, their movements secret, the outlines of their lives obscured. One really understands in other only those feelings that he is capable of producing himself.

People are always sincere. They change sincerities, that’s all. If you do not understand a man, you cannot crush him. And if you do understand him, very probably you will not.

If people are avoiding you, find out why. The answer may save your career. Teach employees to accept criticism as part of their job and to learn from it. Take criticism for what it is worth and nothing more.

Kill anger. Anger is something that can create long term problems and that too big ones.

Its not the hundred and one problems of production and distribution that keep executives awake at night trying to solve them, it’s the problems of working with people, the human problems of their jobs.

To observe a man, observe how he wins his object, rather than how he loses it, for when we fail, our pride supports us, when we succeed, it betrays us.

What makes men happy is loving to do what they have to. This is the principle on which society is founded. It is always safe to assume that people are more subtle and less sensitive than they seem.

People have one thing in common, they are all different

2006-11-19T09:55:00.000-08:00

There are two kinds of people, those who don’t do what they want to do, so they write down in a diary what they haven’t done, and those who have no time to write about it, because they are out doing it.

The trouble with business is people. A machine will never go off in a corner and sulk- but people will. A machine will never make mistake, but people will. A machine will never show off, leave early or argue with the boss, but people will.

There are people who are too stupid to have prejudices. Some people seem as if they can never have been children, and others seem as if they could never be any thing else.

Almost every person, if you believe him, holds quite a different theory of life from the one on which he is presently acting. People don’t change, they only become more so.

Men have a trick of coming up to what is expected of them, good or bad. It is only when we are misunderstood by others that we really understand ourselves.

Manage winners carefully. Like worrywarts, they can spread their aggravating behavior to other members of the work group. Encourage employees to praise each other. Remove personality conflicts between your employees and if they still persist, fire the incurable person so that he can work for your competitors.

In the study of man, it is easier to understand the species than the individual. Monkeys are superior to men in this, when a monkey looks into a mirror, he sees a monkey.

Don’t ask people at work to assess your personality critically. The request may be misinterpreted by the person you ask.

Keep strong, if possible. In any case, keep cool. Have unlimited patience. Never corner an opponent and always assist him to save his face. Put yourselves in his shoes and see things through his eyes. Avoid self-righteousness like the devil. Nothing is self blinding.

A real superior man is like a bell. If you ring it, it rings, and if you don’t, it does not, as the saying goes.

Most men are like eggs, too full of themselves to hold anything else

2006-11-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

Watch worrywarts closely. Left unmanaged, they can cause mass panic among your work group. Human relations can described as the integration of people in to groups that can work together harmoniously and positively for the economic benefit and social satisfaction of all.

Super achievers think in ways that make them less sensitive to disapproval and rejection. They brush off rejection faster. The rules of fair play require that a person told where he stands and why.

Avoid genetic jerks. They have an inborn tendency to be aggravating. The fact is that the possession of a highly sensitive social conscience about large-scale issues is no guarantee whatsoever of reasonable conduct in private relations.

Handle psychotics with care. They may be out of touch with reality.
Subconscious thoughts, when expressed become your attitude.

Most men are like eggs, too full of themselves to hold anything else.

Tap into the experience that cynical old timers have. Just do your best to hold their cynicism at bay. Expect to encounter irritating people in the workplace. That way, the experience will not be as much of a shock.

To find out what sort of person they are, one must go to them.

Do not let information misers clog up your organization. It thrives on timely information that must flow freely.
Some Folks are wise, and some are otherwise.

If you are the boss, just remember that your attitude is always showing.

A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations.

2006-11-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Personal relations are the important things forever and ever, and not the outer life of telegrams and anger. Every great achievement was once impossible until someone set a goal to make it a reality.

If one thinks one is beaten, one is. If one thinks one dare not, one does not! If one wants to win, but thinks one cant, it is almost a cinch one will not.

Don’t be deceived by cheerleaders.

2006-11-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Forget about attitude. Instead, focus on behavior. It is the only thing an executive can identify and hopefully change. The secret principle of human nature is the craving to be appreciated. Each of us has the responsibility to put our world together. It starts by getting ourselves put together. The first step is changing our attitude.

An Organization will be exceptionally lucky if it possesses in its workforce only people with –just the right attitude - such organization exists only in dreams, not in reality. A handful of difficult people make their way into big and small organizations. Their attitudes pose problems not only in getting work done from them, but infect the whole organization. You may hate these employees, but can’t simply chuck them off for they are indispensable to your organization. Managing the attitude of this handful therefore becomes challenging for any and every manager.

Make sure of your value to the organization or of your marketability before taking on an irritating boss.
There is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible and wrong. Behaviorism is a kind of flat earth view of the mind.
How one perceives or interprets someone’s attitude depends on his background, experience, priorities and prejudices.
Wisdom is not a product of schooling, but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
Don’t be deceived by cheerleaders. Their incessant attempts to flatter are meant to keep your attention away from their poor productivity.
One of the first steps to accomplish great things in your life is to cease dwelling on the negative things in your past. Carefully assess your present strengths, successes and achievements.
Be careful when confiding your inmost thoughts to coworkers, especially to subordinates. Your words may come back to bite you.

Man is still the most inexpensive, non linear all purpose computing system that capable of being mass produced by unskilled labor. Every thing we experience and everybody we encounter will carry the scent we hold in our mind.

Attitude can make or mar the progress and development of any organization

2006-11-14T07:41:00.000-08:00

Behavior is a mirror in which every one displays his image. However, behavior is modeled by ones attitude. The attitude of people, negative or positive, constructive or destructive, has its effects on every walk of human life. This is especially true of the management world which has team work as its focus. Attitude can make or mar the progress and development of any organization.

· Remember that most irritating people believe their behavior is reasonable and acceptable. Among the most irritating of people, they have become legends in their own minds.

· You can be social minded without being a socialist. History abounds with tales of experts who were convinced that the ideas, plans and projects of others could never be achieved.

Do not try to plan more than 60-70 % of your day.

2006-11-13T11:08:00.000-08:00

· Clear your desk of everything but the task. One task at a time and tackle it until it has finished.

· Plan your day using two essential tools: to do list and a calendar. You know or should know your priorities at work. Take care of the minutes; the hour will take care of them.

· Set dead lines for yourself. Then move them up. Say no to the things and people that are not important to you.

· Clear out your files once a year. The first thing to do to gain control of your life is to discover where your time goes. A good chair is as important as a functional desk. Remember it is possible to operate in a paperless mode.

· Keep a log for a day or week however long it takes you to realize that if you are to got organized and contribute in meaningful ways, you have to gain some control over your day.

· Do it now. You will not have more time later. On the top, keep a list of mundane things you have to do or schedule. On the bottom, keep a list of the long-term important things. Create just a handful of goals in each important area of your life. Do not try to plan more than 60-70 % of your day. Over planning, is a sure way to get depressed? At work use career as benchmarks to make decisions.

Performance Management is a process and needs some formality - especially for good personnel practice and record

2006-11-12T07:08:00.000-08:00

Learn to write a succinct well constructed paper memo. Nothing beats it for impact.

When delegating doesn’t tell people how to do the job. Tell them what results you want.

Consider using non technical methods to communicate. They can still offer advantages over computers and telephones.

Set a time limit for a meeting and stick to it. Get others to filter information and news for your. Use your computer for gathering news and analysis on subject of interest to you.

End the meeting by summarizing the discussion and stating a conclusion. Let experts choose for you in areas in which you are unsure of yourself. But always have one or two areas in which you are expert. As a result everything that happens is of the same importance and the decisions are hard to make.

You need a system that can help you identify what is important to you. That system is not hard to construct.

When making a presentation or speech or a memo start with your conclusion. Then offer reasons or arguments that support it. Those who set goals for themselves achieve the most in life. Take out a piece of paper or sit at the computer and write down your goals in life.

Use e mail sparingly. If you wouldn’t call someone or write a paper memo, then don’t send an email. To complete an assignment define the assignment, outline briefly how you’ll do the work, check with your boss, plan your work in detail, do the work, review the work. Further don’t be afraid to change your goals. They should encourage you to excel, not handcuff you. Review them yearly at least to ensure they still fit.

Adopting an organized way of life makes you efficient and improves your results

2006-11-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

If you’re wondering whether to keep a piece, ask,”what is the worst that could happen if I do not keep it? “Don’t forget end –of-project presentation can make the project.
Put loose paper in clearly labeled flies [“Tasks”,” To Read”, ect.] or color-coded ones [purple=medical, green=legal matter].Don’t print out anything from your computer, unless you must.
Get a hobby. Exercise regularly.
Make sure your boss agrees with your definition of the project and its scope.
Use toys and relaxation methods at work to refresh yourself.
Plan your day to take advantage of energy cycles.
Get a project-management software programme that can create Gantt chart.
Avoid meetings you know serve no purpose.
Get unnecessary report out of your life.Wheneveryou are finished with a project, review the process and results.
Each project offers an opportunity to improve your skills as well as your organizing methods.
Do just “good enough” with the reports and presentations you must create.
Do not wait more than ten minutes for people to show up for a meeting or a lunch date.
Ask yourself,”do I really have to attend this meeting?” if so, can you limit the time you spent at it?
Make decisions quickly for a lunch date. Even if you decide wrongly, it’s better than being indecisive.
When procrastinating, decide to spend just ten minutes at the task you are avoiding.
If you are not getting any feedback on the report you are doing, stop preparing them and see who squawks.
Examine your reason for resisting delegation.
Know that most of them are bogus.
Delegate to keep people motivated.
Always ask,” Could a fax or video conference substitute for travel?”
Delegate recurring chores - like preparation of reports and attending meeting etc.
Delegate to the lowest [i.e. the least expensive] level you can.
Every so often, decline an invitation to attend a luncheon or other business function. The world will not fall down.
Define carefully the job you are delegating.
Define even more carefully the result you want.
Resist the temptation to interfere with or take back a job.
When you want to end a personal meeting,stant up,grin,stick out your hand and say ,”Great talking with you!”
Before you call a meeting, explore whether there is another way you can accomplish your purpose.
Keep meeting to six participants or less.
The fewer the better.

Is your office in a mess? Do you spend hours searching for a strip of paper you wrote your most important client number on?

2006-11-10T10:10:00.000-08:00

Do you finally find it some where in a pile of misplaced papers? Do you miss your appointment just because you forgot the date? Do you spend time like wise on nothing? If you identify with such situations, then it is time you organized yourself.

Adopting an organized way of life makes you efficient and improves your results. It makes you achieve more with little effort.

Disorganization at work arises mainly out of badly arranged or too much paper, work that cannot be managed single handedly, trying to do every thing at one go lack of planning, absence of deadlines and so on. Getting orgnised calls for eliminating all of these from your routine and devising a system, that you can follow to create a relaxed and organized work environment.

· Stick to one important task at a time

· Identify and purse just one or two goals in each area of your life. Any more than that and you’ll soon have a daunting list that will depress you rather than add energy to your life.

· Get organized at work. Poor organizational skills are deadly to your career.

· Make lengthy appointment with yourself. This is when you’ll get most done.

· Just for one day, figure out where your time goes minute, hour by hour.

· Once a day, act on the paper that comes into your life. You can trash it, sent it to someone else file, it or act on it.

· To reduce clutter, create goals.

· Work at home two mornings a week if you can’t find a room in the office to hide out in.

· Clutter is also a function of a common myth: You will have more time later. “Later”, however, is always worse. You’ve left so many things undone that the time crunch seems to deepen and become even more overwhelming.

· Clutter slows you down. It’s not just the paper you can’t find or the file box you trip over or the trouble you have deciding what to do next. It is the mental clutter that precedes these mishaps.

· Make appointments with yourself and don’t let anyone interrupt them.

· Don’t add an item to your reading pile unless you are absolutely sure it contains something of value. Place a post-it note to remind you where that value lies.

· Handle all your papers in one location.

· Refrain from generation of paper.

· Identify the most important thing you can do at work to influence the company positively. Then do it.

What can throw a high performer off balance?

2006-11-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

What can throw a high performer off balance? Sure, the manager is constantly bombarded—by interruptions, by difficult people, by unreasonable assignments, on and on. But the only threats that really matter are internal: habits of thinking that distract from one’s purpose.

Worry. In its misguided way, this is an attempt to control the unknown. We ponder all the things that might happen, as if we can stop the tide just by our thinking.
Anger/resentment. When people in our organization reject or challenge our ideas or suggestions, sometimes we just react. Anger and resentment encourage us to focus on how “right” we think we are. Such closed-minded resistance actually hampers our ability to work effectively within the flow of events. We become like a fallen water-skier, dragged along by external forces, flailing about and swallowing water.
Second-guessing. Could I have done that better? We revisit the past, dissecting each decision. Such thoughts drain productive energy. As if we’re trying to row a boat with only one oar—going ‘round and ‘round in circles.
Guilt. By saying, “I’ve screwed up and there’s no redemption,” guilt causes us to give up hope. We’re so busy beating on ourselves that we miss the signal to sail our boat to the starting line of the race.
Jumping to conclusions. We’re so intent on inserting ourselves into the conversation that we stop listening to others. Because people can be shy, interruptions may lead them to become too quiet; we miss the chance to get important information. We may lose the race by heading in the wrong direction.
Assuming intent. We judge the actions of other without asking what thoughts set them in motion. What is to be gained by yelling at a crewmember who is the doing the best she can?
Desiring approval. We constantly perform to an unseen audience, so wrapped up in wondering how we look to the people on shore that we don’t see that the current is running against us.
Comparison. Instead of experiencing the moment, we judge it against what’s gone before, against our expectations of what could be, against what we imagine to be true for someone else. As if we’re sailing into a glorious sunset and wondering if the view would be better from someone else’s boat.