Entrepreneurship

Look at famous entrepreneurs, Google search them - Steve Jobs, Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal, our own AVM, Karumuthu Thyagarajan Chettiar, AMM and many others - they can be inspiring and look extraordinary, they may seem overwhelming, they are icons.  Let us not forget they started out just like you and me.

Can we learn from these great entrepreneurs? Of course we can.  

Research indicates that great entrepreneurs may not have great qualifications but they have certain traits that led them to success. They are role models for entrepreneurs and we can learn from their successes and failures.

These successful entrepreneurs are always LOOKING OUT, KEEPING their EYES OPEN for the next possible opportunity.

The theme of my session was keeping our eyes open.

 

The six I’s:

1.       Ideas

2.       Information

3.       Instinct

4.       Initiative

 

5.       Inspiration

6.       Institutionalisation

If you would like to get a copy of the presentation do email me drpalan@smrhub.com

Reorganise - Realign Transform

To paraphrase a quote often attributed to the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “Nothing is as constant as change.”   Throughout my more than 50 years in corporate America, change has been our most pervasive activity. I’ll always remember a quote, attributed to a Roman general, that hung on the wall of the Wells Fargo training and development department in the 1970s:  “No sooner do we settle on one form of organization or one set of processes than someone decides we need to change it.”
The corollary would be that ordering unnecessary change is one way to avoid ever being evaluated.
Lately, there seems to be an increase in calls for change through reorganization, realignment or transformation. The stimulus for this is the obvious need to keep up with competition. No one can argue against that.

Still, there is considerable difference among those three activities in terms of thought process, activities and results.

The following are examples of the divergence.

Reorganization is the most common of the three processes. It can be a mandate or a project as simple as rearranging the organizational chart. It seems that whenever new executives come into an organization, they want to reorganize it.
At times, this is little more than a game of musical chairs. The jobs and responsibilities of the organization are rewritten with no substantive change in management style. We simply replace the existing people, processes, forms, timing or responsibilities with new ones. Unfortunately, this often has little or no long-term effect on performance. It’s simply a disruption.

The second form of change is realignment. This is much more complicated because it calls for the organization to shift its focus from one modus operandi to another. I’ve seen this much more frequently in the past five years than in the previous 50.
A common realignment is, for instance, to shift from an emphasis on operating efficiency to one of customer service. Retailers in particular seem to have caught onto this type of change, as they realize the power has shifted from the producer to the consumer.

The third change form, transformation, is much more profound than either of the other two. In January 2015, professional services firm EY and the University of Oxford reported their collaboration on a study of senior executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. It revealed how leading-edge thinkers are looking at their enterprises from the standpoint of leveraging purpose to spur innovation and sustain growth.
They pointed out the following:

• There is an evolving view of the role of the corporation increasingly emphasizes the corporation as a partner for societal well-being.
• There is an expansion of the traditional mission statement focus on products, and attributes such as trustworthiness, to an articulation on their reason for being.
• Innovative leaders have taken up a language of purpose to engage employees and customers in terms of shared values for the betterment of all.
• Taking a “purpose drives profits” view, the leaders seek to direct existing and new product and service lines in ways that achieve this broader purpose.
• They are also initiating purpose-led transformations recognizing the importance of integrated, humane purpose as the core decision-making mandate for driving functions like strategy, business models and talent management. 

Conversely, they report a gap between this purpose language and the policies and practices of their organizations. While this thinking and exposition is very encouraging, it isn’t a new idea.
More than a dozen years ago, Peter Koestenbaum, philosopher, professor and executive coach, reminded us:       
“Unless the distant goals of meaning, greatness and destiny are addressed, we cannot make an intelligent decision about what to do tomorrow morning — much less set strategy for a company.”
 To me, transformational thinking is an open door for the human resources orhuman capital discipline. It’s what we’ve been preaching for decades. Now, the horse has come to the water and is finally ready to drink.

 

Visit http://www.talentmgt.com/articles/7265-reorganize-realign-transform

 

 

Transformation Comes Through Process Excellence

From Training Industry Blog

The first in this year’s blog series on training outsourcing dealt with the idea that there’s a growing need for corporate executives to find a training supplier that has the capability to transform the training organization from one that consumes costs to one that creates value.
Outsourcing training has been traditionally viewed as a strategy to reduce costs because the expectations of training departments have continued to be low and have showed little to no measureable results.  That being said, contracting with a training outsourcing supplier has focused on taking costs out of the business and doing more for less money.
But things are changing. Corporate executives are learning that training can and should be a valuable contributor to the bottom line.  They know that by improving sales, customer and employee training, they can positively drive product adoption, reduce employee turnover and increase customer loyalty and morale.
All of these are reasons why corporate executives are putting a new spotlight on the training function. We are having more conversations with corporate executives who ask, “How can we leverage training to be a strategic part of the business and drive value for the company?" This renewed focus by corporate executives is creating the need for transformation.
How do we transform the training function? What must be done? The first and most important change is a renewed focus on process excellence. Simply being conscious of the processes of training is not enough. Being excellent at execution makes all the difference.
Our years of research on the characteristics of high performance training organizations, as outlined in “What Makes a Great Training Organization,” has taught us that training functions that are process excellent consistently produce greater results than those that are not. And those that are not process oriented tend to be focused on events or delivering courseware as opposed to business performance.
So what are the most important processes that we must be process excellent at? Based on our research, the most influential processes are those that drive strategic alignment to the business’s needs. The five that we found to be the most important are:

1. Customized training to meet the needs of an organization.
2. Established agreed-upon objectives with the business units.
3. Adapted training to the organization’s unique business or culture.
4. Defined performance success metrics in advance of the program development cycle.
5. Developed consultative partnerships with clients.

We recognize this is not an all-inclusive list. However, organizations that are excellent at these have the greatest probability of success in creating value for the business.  These processes are what the top training outsourcing companies do best. They understand how to customize learning programs. Contractually, they have to establish agreed-upon objectives. Many have capabilities to adapt training to a business culture. They must define success metrics to meet the contractual terms of a Service Level Agreement and must be consultative in how they manage client relationships.
No matter how good you are at designing and delivering courses, if the courses and solutions you offer are not aligned to the goals of the organization, you will fall short of your business expectations.   This is why corporate executives are looking to outside organizations to help them transform how their training function operates.

         

About the Author

Doug Harward

Doug Harward is the CEO and Founder of Training Industry, Inc. He is internationally recognized as one of the leading strategists for training and outsourcing business models. He is respected as one of the industry's leading authorities on competitive analysis for training services and works with international companies and new business start-ups in building training organizations.

Harward previously served as the Director of Global Learning for Nortel Networks where he led the industry's largest global training outsourcing engagement with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He received the Chairman's Global Award for Community Service for his work in developing integrated learning organization strategies within higher education, public schools and business. He has worked in the training industry for more than 25 years. He received an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BSBA in Marketing from Appalachian State University.

The Four Core Theory Groups

Let's look at each of the four core groups of theory, and explore some of the tools and models that apply with each. (Keep in mind that there are many other theories out there.) 1. Trait Theories – What Type of Person Makes a Good Leader? 2. Behavioral Theories – What Does a Good Leader Do? 3. Contingency Theories – How Does the Situation Influence Good Leadership? 4. Power and Influence Theories – What is the Source of the Leader's Power? Visit http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/leadership-theories.htm for the full article Visit leworldtour.com to catch some of the leading gurus in KL, Malaysia

Marshall Goldsmith

A great article from him. Great leaders encourage leadership development by openly developing themselves. by Marshall Goldsmith Listen to what General Mills CEO Steve Sanger recently told 90 of his colleagues: "As you all know, last year my team told me that I needed to do a better job of coaching my direct reports. I just reviewed my 360-degree feedback. I have been working on becoming a better coach for the past year or so. I'm still not doing quite as well as I want, but I'm getting a lot better. My coworkers have been helping me improve. Another thing that I feel good about is the fact that my scores on 'effectively responds to feedback' are so high this year." While listening to Steve speak so openly to coworkers about his efforts to develop himself as a leader, I realized how much the world has changed. Twenty years ago, few CEOs received feedback from their colleagues. Even fewer candidly discussed that feedback and their personal developmental plans. Today, many of the world's most respected chief executives are setting a positive example by opening up, striving continually to develop themselves as leaders. In fact, organizations that do the best job of cranking out leaders tend to have CEOs like Steve Sanger who are directly and actively involved in leadership development. That has certainly been my experience. This has also been confirmed by a recently completed research project led by Marc Effron at Hewitt Associates, one of the largest HR consulting firms. Hewitt and Chief Executive magazine put General Mills on their latest list of the top-20 companies for leaders, among such familiar names as IBM and General Electric. Hewitt found that these organizations tend to more actively manage their talent. They put lots of focus on identifying high-potential people, better differentiate compensation, serve up the right kinds of development opportunities, and closely watch turnover. But crucial to all these efforts were CEO support and involvement. No question, one of the best ways top executives can get their leaders to improve is to work on improving themselves. Leading by example can mean a lot more than leading by public-relations hype. Michael Dell, whose company made the Hewitt list, is a perfect example. As one of the most successful leaders in business history, he could easily have an attitude that says, "I am Michael Dell and you aren't! I don't really need to work on developing myself." Michael, however, has the opposite approach. He has done an amazing job of sincerely discussing his personal challenges with leaders across the company. He is a living case study from whom everyone at Dell is learning. His leadership example makes it hard for any leader to act arrogant or to communicate that he or she has nothing to improve upon. Johnson & Johnson, tied for first on the top-20 list, has successfully involved its executives in leadership development. Its CEOs, formerly Ralph Larsen and now Bill Weldon, and top executive team regularly participate in a variety of leadership-building activities. Having a dialogue with the CEO about his business challenges and developmental needs makes it a lot easier for employees to discuss their own business challenges and developmental needs. Executive candor can even help turn around a troubled company. Consider Northrop Grumman, the aerospace defense contractor. CEO Kent Kresa inherited a company that had a poor reputation for integrity, a battered stock price, and an unfortunate reputation as one of the least-admired companies in its industry. His leadership team reversed the company's poor image and engineered an amazing turnaround - ultimately becoming the Forbes' most-admired company. From the beginning of the process, Kent led by example. He communicated clear expectations for ethics, values, and behavior. He made sure that he was evaluated by the same standards that he set for everyone else. He consistently reached out to coworkers. He didn't just work to develop his leaders--he created an environment in which the company's leaders were working to develop him. Unfortunately, in the same way that CEO support and involvement can help companies nurture leaders, CEO arrogance can have the opposite effect. When the boss acts like a little god and tells everyone else they need to improve, that behavior can be copied at every level of management. Every level then points out how the level below it needs to change. The end result: No one gets much better. The principle of leadership development by personal example doesn't apply just to CEOs. It applies to all levels of management. All good leaders want their people to grow and develop on the job. Who knows? If we work hard to improve ourselves, we might even encourage the people around us to do the same thing.

Leadership becoming Trusted partners

Leadership - just Google search and you will find millions of articles. Blake & Mouton's theory, Leadership practices and Situational Leadership are just a few. I came across this good article from articlesbase.com. Being in a leadership role invites scrutiny, so it is important to learn the top leadership skills that will make you trustworthy in the eye of the group you are in charge of leading. Leadership is an exceptional type of role in which you are in charge of leading and helping others achieve whatever goals you or they have set for themselves. However, many people are confused about what it takes to become an effective, trustworthy leader so it's always good to keep yourself in check and learn helpful tips, like the one presented in this article, to make the right type of progress. Make Sure to Engage People You should learn how to motivate and inspire others to engage their passions, strengths, skills, and creativity in the projects at hand. Do what you can to acknowledge and show appreciation for their contributions and efforts. You should make each team member feel like they did something positive to move the project forward. Don't let good talent go to waste. If someone in your team is greatly contributing to the increase of your company's profits, be sure to promote them, give them a raise, or, if you aren't in a position to do those things, recommend the person to someone who is. If you fail to do this, you might find that that talented, effective and hardworking employee has left for your competitor. Encourage Transparency Being a good leader require from you to always be truthful about the situation. If something isn't working out as planned, make sure to update your team as soon as it happens. If you need to change something, inform them. Your team needs to know what is going on, whether it be good news or bad. Remember that when you're dealing with customers or your employees you have to be ethical at all times. Ethics is a major part in any successful business. When your team knows you are to be trusted, they will do a better job for you. This will also give them a good lead to follow. Master the Art of Delegating To be an effective leader you have to know your own strengths and weaknesses. Delegate responsibilities in areas that you are weak in to a member of your team that excel in them. You'll give him or her a chance to shine, while ensuring that the job is carried out successfully. Real leaders are willing to learn Many great leadership skills don't just befall from a sudden flash of awareness or a great epiphany. Try reading some books on how to be an effective leader, going to business seminars, and talking to other leaders to see what works best for them. Keep in mind that, great ideas can come to anybody, but good leaders take time to study, learn and expand their knowledge. It can take a long time, but the more knowledge you have about proper leadership skills, the better leader you become. Taking action is what will propel you into a great leadership role. Leadership positions are highly fulfilling because you can help other people achieve their goals. It is a very rewarding yet challenging position

That is GREAT but

We had the honour of hosting Marshall Goldsmith at the Asia HRD Congress 2014 Kuala Lumpur recently. Marshall Goldsmith needs no introduction. The author of several best sellers including MOJO: How to Get It, How to Keep It, and How to Get It Back When You Lose It! Was in his usual form. I reproduce here one of his articles: "That Is Great, BUT…" The higher up you go in your organization, the more you need to make other people winners and not make your job about winning yourself. This is a hard concept for people who like to win to grasp. The more successful you become, the more helping others win is how you win! For those in leadership positions, this means closely monitoring how you hand out encouragement and how you “help” others improve. If you find yourself saying, “That is great…” and then dropping the other shoe with a tempering, “BUT” stop yourself before you speak. Take a breath and ask yourself if what you’re about to say is worth it. In most cases it isn’t. If you really want to succeed and encourage others to do the same, try stopping at “great!” This is a challenge even for those who have acknowledged they do this and think they are past it. Let me share a little story with you. A few years ago, I taught a class at a telecom headquarters. One of the men in my class mocked me when I mentioned this problem that so many of us have with “That is great, BUT…” He thought it was easy not to use the words. He was so sure of himself that he offered $100 for each time he used these words. I made a point of sitting with him during our lunch break. I asked him where he was from, and he replied Singapore. “Singapore? I said. “That’s a great city!” “Yea,” he replied, “it’s great, but…” He caught himself immediately, and reached into his pocket for cash, saying, “I just lost $100, didn’t I?” That’s how pervasive this urge to win can be. It creeps into our conversations even when the discussion is trivial, even when we should be hyperaware of our word choices, and even when it might cost us $100. That was a description of the lighter version of those possessing this bad habit. Those who have the more serious version are even more harmful and discouraging. We all know negative people. My wife calls them “negatrons”. These are people who are incapable of saying something positive or complimentary to any of your suggestions. Negativity is their default response. You could walk into their office with the cure for cancer and the first words out of their mouth would be, “Let me explain why that won’t work.” This is the telltale phrase of negativity. It’s emblematic of a need to share negative thoughts, even when they haven’t been solicited. “Let me explain why that won’t work,” is different from adding value—because no value is added. It’s the big, bad brother of “That is great, BUT…” because rather than hiding our negativity under the mask of agreement, it is pure unadulterated negativity under the guise of being helpful. As with “That is great, BUT…” we employ “Let me explain why that won’t work” to establish that our expertise or authority is superior to someone else’s. It doesn’t mean that what we say is correct or useful. It’s simply a way of inserting ourselves into a situation as chief arbiter or senior critic. If you think one or both of these phrases might be your mode of negative operandi, I’d advise you to monitor your statements the moment someone offers you a helpful suggestion. Paying attention to what you say in response to their ideas is a great indicator of how you come across to people. If you find yourself frequently saying, “That is great, BUT…” you know you need to take a breath, pay attention, and stop yourself at “great”!

Don Kirkpatrick passes away

Don Kirkpatrick This morning I heard news from Jim Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kirkpatrick, the son and daughter in law of legendary Don Kirkpatrick that Don has passed away at the age of 90. Truly a legend in the HRD Evaluation field. More importantly a fine man, a great human being. I had known Don for a long time if I remember it right in 1983. As a young kid I had chanced to see a brochure of his programme in my mentor and Malaysian HR Guru, the late Sam Abishegam's office. I wrote to him an air mail letter inviting him to Malaysia. Next thing I knew, he and his wife Fern were here in Malaysia. We worked with some great companies: Mobil, Genting and so on. He was very much an American and I remember he espoused Republican values and he was so fond of the late Ronald Reagan. Even though I disagreed with many of his views, he grew fond of me. It was a joy talking to him and Fern. As a young graduate, he allowed me the trust to bring him here. I had no car; yet, he did not mind the hot Datsun taxi rides even though he was a legend used to very high class standards. We did not do much work but kept in touch. We brought him for Asia HRD Congress on a couple of occasions and did a little bit of work with Brunei Shell and other organisations but given his age, I was nervous to fly him all over the world. Again, while I did not attend very many of his workshops I continued to exchange ideas and he was a 'giver'- he believed knowledge belonged to the world. He was a religious person committed to moral principles. He made me feel good. Years later I had a wonderful opportunity to meet him more often. Based on his recommendation, we had his son Jim Kirkpatrick work for us in SMR USA. During the lst few years we exchanged the occasional Christmas and New Year greeting. A wonderful man who valued friendship more than money; one who made everyone comfortable and good. And a professional who contributed his four level Evaluatio

Dr. Marshall Goldsmith He was recognized in 2011 as the #1 leadership thinker in the world at the bi-annual Thinkers50 ceremony sponsored by the Harvard Business Review. He is the million-selling author of books, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won't Get You There – a WSJ #1 business book. His books have been translated into 28 languages and become bestsellers in ten countries. He will present a Master Class on June 9th at Asia HRDCongress 2014 and deliver the opening keynote on June 10th. For further details visit www.hrdcongress.com I have been captivated for years by his Feedforward instead of Feedback principle. Providing feedback has long been considered to be an essential skill for leaders. As they strive to achieve the goals of the organization, employees need to know how they are doing. They need to know if their performance is in line with what their leaders expect. But there is a fundamental problem with all types of feedback: it focuses on the past, on what has already occurred—not on the infinite variety of opportunities that can happen in the future. It is in this context I found his Feedforward exceptionally useful. Feedforward helps people envision and focus on a positive future, not a failed past. Athletes are often trained using feedforward. Racecar drivers are taught to, “Look at the road ahead, not at the wall.” By giving people ideas on how they can be even more successful (as opposed to visualizing a failed past), we can increase their chances of achieving this success in the future. It can be more productive to help people learn to be “right,” than prove they were “wrong.” People do not take feedforward as personally as feedback. In theory, constructive feedback is supposed to “focus on the performance, not the person”. In practice, almost all feedback is taken personally (no matter how it is delivered). Feedforward is based on the assumption that the receiver of suggestions can make positive changes in the future. Feedforward can cover almost all of the same “material” as feedback. Feedforward tends to be much faster and more efficient than feedback. In summary, he says his intent is not to imply that leaders should never give feedback or that performance appraisals should be abandoned. The intent is to show how feedforward can often be preferable to feedback in day-to-day interactions. Quality communication—between and among people at all levels and every department and division—is the glue that holds organizations together. By using feedforward—and by encouraging others to use it—leaders can dramatically improve the quality of communication in their organizations, ensuring that the right message is conveyed, and that those who receive it are receptive to its content. The result is a much more dynamic, much more open organization—one whose employees focus on the promise of the future rather than dwelling on the mistakes of the past. To register for Asia HRDCongress please email neena@smrhrgroup.com or visit www.hrdcongress.com

Employee Productivity

Improving employee productivity with Social Tools Success Factors has released a white paper on improving employee productivity with social tools. As the paper outlines - these days you'll notice an emerging trend - tech-savvy 'millennials' are becoming an ever greater percentage of the workforce. And, as millennials fill more cubicles and offices, the corporate culture is changing rapidly. While these changes can create roadblocks for human resources professionals, they also present a unique opportunity to implement solutions that increase the productivity of everyone and the profitability of your company. The whitepaper outlines your roadmap to navigating - and benefiting from - the changing face of your global workforce. To download the paper visit http://www.workforce.com/roadmaps/515-learning-development/520-do/19922-improving-employee-productivity-with-social-tools For more information on how we can help you improve productivity with social tools email murali@smrhrgroup.com

Thought it was time for me to go and passion gets you not too far. This article is a real good one. http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20131024075342-42592294-can-founders-let-go-what-love-s-got-to-do-with-leadership?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

Budget Comments Kuala Lumpur, 25th October 2013 I like and love the strategic thrust on Inculcating Excellence in Human Capital in this year's Malaysian budget. Thank You Mr. Prime Minister. While there are some who would have preferred greater development expenditure and lower operating expenditure, some would even prefer a lower % deficit of the GDP, I think the budget has focussed on a key priority area: Human Capital, to improve the long term well being of the nation and our competitiveness. There are no short cuts to success. Education receives 21% of the budget. The commitment to implementing the Education blueprint and improving standards of English and upholding the importance of the National Language, emphasis on Entrepreneur development, supporting employers on the Minimum Wage Policy, the setting up for a private retirement scheme are positive initiatives. RM 400 million from the Human Resources Development Fund for employers for training, 330 million for Skills Training, Tax benefits for Flexible work arrangements, RM 100 million training allocation for the Indian community and 20 million for rural programmes are welcome at this point of time in the global economy.

Leadership & Innovation Leadership is all about inspiring and motivating employees. Motivated employees help organisations succeed as they are more productive than those who are non - motivated. The challenge with motivating employees is that it looks different for every person and every leader. There is a huge amount of information on leading stars. The same cannot be said of leading B players, the average performers who for some reason have not yet made an impact on the organisation. Yet, the B Players are the heart and soul of an organisation. They need continuous feedback from the manager to keep growing and keep contributing but herein lies the challenge. Managers find time to be a scare commodity. Two questions: how does the Manager find time and how do we give constructive feedback with the goal of inspiring the B player. Managers need to allocate a chunk of time on a weekly or fortnightly basis to pause, reflect and talk to colleagues. Professor Groysberg highlights the power of informal but purposeful conversations. The earlier a manager recognises that this is not an interruption to his or her own productivity, it is better for an organisation. And, how do we give constructive feedback. Relationships between people are gossamer threads connecting people and when feedback is perceived as critical and unhelpful, it burns of the gossamer threads. Constructive feedback is going beyond complimentary feedback and criticism. It is often considered an art because it involves insight into want to say and what not to say. Seeking the willingness of the B player to receive feedback and preserving the relationship after the feedback session is important yet the ‘conversation’ has to be forthright and crucial to be a game changer. It is indeed both an art and science. Ken Blanchard talked about one minute goals, praises and reprimands.

Leadership updates

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Fathers Day

A nice quote sent by a friend: Everyone can be a Father but only a few have the attitude to be a Dad

January 2013 posting

Passion or Happiness I am a great believer in passion and that is the underlying theme of the book - Creating Your Own Rainbow. At the last Trainers Meet Trainers, I spoke for the need for passion and Prof. Thiagi while accepting parts of it kind of disagreed and said ‘passion gets you nowhere.’ I stumbled upon the term – the new generation of purpose driven leaders. And, I was intrigued to read Oliver Segovia’s comments – he talks about a friend who loved the liberal arts. As she was never keen on a 9 to 5 job, she pursued her passion, got her PhD and she was the happiest person anyone could know. Then came the economic meltdown and she suffered the anguish of an uncertain future. He goes on to say that while most of us work towards finding our dreams, that approach does not work in the competitive world today. He proposes - Forget about finding your passion. Instead, focus on finding big problems. Put problems at the center of our decision making process, it ia is about moving beyond you and becoming a valuable contributor. He adds that people working on the biggest problems are compensated in the biggest ways, not in a strict financial sense, but in a deeply human sense. For one, it shifts your attention from you to others and the wider world. You stop dwelling. You become less self-absorbed. Ironically, you become happier if you worry less about what makes us happy. He says it is critical to develop situational awareness, look into the problems in a personal way, connect with people working on big problems and taking time for you. I was stunned to hear his comments: “Happiness comes from the intersection of what you love, what you're good at, and what the world needs. We've been told time and again to keep finding the first. Our schools helped developed the second. It's time we put more thought on the third.” For more information visit Oliver Segovia at http://blogs.hbr.org

You Spoke No One Listened

This is a great piece by Marshall Goldsmith and Kelly Goldsmith One of the great causes of corporate dysfunction is the glaring gap between “I say” and “they do.” It’s a huge mistake to assume that just because people understand, then they will do. A few years ago, I saw a doctor for back problems. After running a few tests, the doctor sat me down and quickly rattled off 10 different exercises that I was supposed to do regularly. He assumed that once he had made the correct diagnosis and told me what to do, his job was done. Knowing about communication, I realized there was no way that I was going to remember what he said, much less do it. But he had checked the box on his to-do list. Time for the next patient! Like this doctor, leaders all too often believe that their organizations operate with strict down-the-chain-of-command efficiency. In a perfect world, every command is not only obeyed but obeyed precisely and promptly, almost as if it were a fait accompli. The manager never has to follow up — because he said it — it was done. I dealt with this head-on with a client, a CEO of a major high-tech firm. He was 54 years old with a degree from MIT. He was also — like most of my clients — extremely action-oriented and impatient. Surveys indicated that his employees felt they didn’t understand the company’s mission and overall direction. “I don’t get it,” he groaned. “I clearly articulated the mission and direction in our team meeting. I’ve summarized it in a memo, which was immediately distributed. See, here’s the memo! What more do they want?” I thought he was kidding, that he had a very refined sense of irony. Making people understand the company’s mission doesn’t happen by fiat. It also doesn’t happen overnight. Surely this smart CEO understood how difficult it was to communicate even a simple message. But by the pained expression on his face, I could see he was serious and (if only in this one area of management) clueless. “Let’s review,” I said. “How was this memo distributed?” “By email,” he replied. “It went to everyone.” “Okay. How many people actually read the memo?” “I’m not sure,” he said. “Of those who read the email, how many do you think understood the message?” He thought for a second and said, “I don’t know.” “Of those who understood it, how many actually believed it was serious - not just PR hype?” He shook his head. “Of this dwindling group of believers, how many remembered it?” Another sorry head shake. “That’s a lot of unknowns for something you regard as vital to your company’s existence,” I said. “But that’s not the worst part. Once you eliminate all those people — and it’s quite possible there aren’t many people left — how many people do you think will change their behavior based upon the memo? How many will begin living and breathing the company’s mission because of your memo?” The CEO just grimaced and shrugged his shoulders. I tried to revive his spirits by pointing out that the deeper issue was his mistaken belief about communication, not this memo. “The only thing you’re guilty of,” I said, “was that you checked the box. You thought your job was done when you articulated the mission and wrote the memo, just one more item on your to-do list. You moved on. Mentally, you smiled and said, ‘Next!’ ” Like most extremely busy leaders, this CEO wanted to believe that after he communicated direction, people heard him, understood him, believed him, and then executed. I can understand why executives persist in thinking this way. We all want to believe that our comments have great meaning. We usually assume that the people around us are smart, and they can understand what we’re saying and see the value of our remarks. We’re often busy and overcommitted. We all wish we could just move on to the next item on our list. The good news for every manager, including my CEO friend, is that this false belief has a simple cure. It’s called “follow-up.” After communicating, follow up to make sure that people really understand, talk with them to get a read of their buy-in, and involve them to make sure that they’re committed to execution. Follow-up may take a little time, but it’s less than the time wasted on miscommunication. Originally published in bnet Dr. Marshall Goldsmith was recognized as the #1 leadership thinker in the world and the #7 business thinker in the world at the Thinkers 50 ceremony sponsored by the Harvard Business Review. He is the million-selling author or editor of 31 books, including the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won’t Get You There – a WSJ #1 business book and winner of the Harold Longman Award for Business Book of the Year. His books have been translated into 28 languages and become bestsellers in eight countries.

A Success Mindset

The year 2012 is here and everyone is scrambling to set New Year resolutions. I remember two good articles – one from the Marshall Memo blog and another from the Harvard Business Review, an intriguing article by Shawn Achor.

Performance is a critical word. While it would be fair to say poor performance is due to a host of factors, in today’s competitive world, non performance or poor performance has severe consequences. Aligning yourself with the organisational goals or finding your purpose with an organisation that is in sync with your goals is important for success. The first step towards success is having a success and happiness mindset.

Happiness precedes success. When we are happy with what we are doing and we have a positive mind set, success is more likely. We are better equipped to deal with anxiety and challenges that are bound to happen in today’s anxiety prone competitive world. Demands, uncertainty and inadequate communications increase anxiety levels and activates the part of the brain that processes threats (amygdale) which steals resources from the problem solving part of the brain (the pre-frontal cortex). Nevertheless when we cultivate positive habits and learn to interact positively with colleagues at the workplace, we start to think about stress in a positive way – eustress rather than distress. We are happy and we increase our chances of succeeding in what we want to do.
Just a look at some corporate success stories and it is inevitable all successes start with an entrepreneur exceptionally passionate about what he or she wants to contribute to the world.

Achor urges managers to take the time and effort to create a more positive culture: “Research shows that when people work with a positive mindset, performance on nearly every level – productivity, creativity, engagement – improves.” And he says that training our brains to be more positive is not very different from training muscles at the gym: specific activities and new habits can literally rewire the brain. Achor’s argument, happiness can become a habit and create a success mindset.

He proposes one of the following activities, to be done every day for three weeks:
• Jot down three things you’re grateful for.
• Write a positive message to someone in your work area.
• Meditate at your desk for two minutes.
• Exercise for ten minutes.
• Take two minutes to describe in a journal the most meaningful experience of the past 24 hours.

I always ask myself one question after watching Steve Jobs – what I would do today if tomorrow was the last day of my life. Just adds so much value to your life.

Another Achor activity I truly valued is the 10/5 way - when they walked within ten feet of another person in the workplace, they were to make eye contact and smile. When they walked within five feet, they were to say hello. Most people complied, and this simple intervention led to measurable improvements in performance and happier employees.
Achor contends that stress is an inevitable part of work – and in fact, it’s often the crucible of personal and professional growth (there’s evidence for this in the biographies of successful people). What’s important is our attitude toward stress.

Achor recommends that the next time we’re feeling overwhelmed, we should make a list of the things that are stressing us out and then sort them into two groups: those we can control and those we can’t. “Choose one stress that you can control and come up with a small, concrete step you can take to reduce it,” he says. “In this way you can nudge your brain back to the positive – and productive – mind-set.”

For more details:

“Positive Intelligence: Three Ways Individuals Can Cultivate Their Own Sense of Well-Being and Set Themselves Up to Succeed” by Shawn Achor in Harvard Business Review, January-February 2012 (Vol. 90, #1-2, p. 100-102). Visit the Marshall Memo blog.

Memories

April 19th is a day that will be etched firmly in my memory. It was a great day in my life. His Royal Highness, the Sultan of Perak bestowed on me the title of '‘Dato’' , it was a great honour.

My wife and I were extremely nervous but delighted with the recognition. It was a recognition for the Human resources community

Handling Pressure

“Before getting into how to handle pressure, let's first talk about what it is.
What exactly is pressure and how does it play a part in whether or not you will achieve your goals? Pressure, in terms of accomplishing goals, is the feeling you get the moment you set a deadline on your goals. As you may already know, a goal is a dream with a deadline.
A dream without a deadline is just that, a dream, it'll never happen. So why is putting pressure on yourself a good thing? It's good because it forces you to act now, rather than later.
Think about those situations where you had to perform under pressure. The only reason you felt that pressure was because you had to do something within a certain amount of time. The basketball player who is under pressure because the time is running down and he has to make the final basket in order to win the game feels the pressure because he has to act right now, not later. If he had all day to take the shot, there wouldn't be any pressure. Pressure causes us to move.
Of course, pressure could also cause people to freeze up. Some people are not able to deal with pressure. When it comes down to it, they just don't have what it takes. Or do they? Pressure is something that you can handle if you know what to do. If you think about it, when you freeze up under pressure, it usually means that you don't have confidence in performing the task at hand in the amount of time that you're given to perform it. In order to deal with pressure, there is one thing you need to do. You need to get confident.
The way you have confidence is simply by being prepared. When you have done something over and over again, your level of belief in yourself rises. As your confidence rises, your ability to deal with pressure will also rise. Now, this doesn't mean you won't feel any pressure. It just means you'll be able to act despite of the pressure. Once you get use to working under pressure, you may start to actually like it because it helps you take immediate action.
I put myself under pressure every time I set a goal because I know if I don't, I will tend to delay taking the necessary actions in order to accomplish the goal. Usually setting a deadline is enough to put enough pressure on me to make it work. Sometimes though, I find that I need to "up the ante", meaning put more at risk in order to increase the pressure, which causes me to take immediate action. The reason I am able to do this is because I am used to working under these conditions, and the reason for that is because I've done this so many times.
So dealing with pressure comes down to building confidence in yourself and your abilities through lots of practice performing under pressure. Put pressure on yourself to perform at a high level because when the time comes to perform on the public stage, you'll be able to feed from it instead of freeze from it.”
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
http://www.motivational-well-being.com/how-to-handle-pressure.html