It worked...!!!

Since my first day with this company, I have been voicing my thought rather than keeping it to myself. The only different is that I'm more careful on my choice of words and tone :-)

Yesterday, the head of company was having lunch with me and, out of the blue, he wanted me to play more active role in management and not necessarily confined to my area of responsibility, i.e., MIS. It was a welcome move. One for the fact that my contributions are appreciated and second for the fact that he has opened the door for more two-way discussions to take place in the company. Hopefully, all will result in better performance of the company and livelier work environment.

If it is to be, it is up to me...

Paradigm Paralysis...

Read this cartoon this morning... reminds me of paradigm paralysis... good laugh but good message too...

Resistance to Change

I was in the office on Saturday to discuss on way forward regarding the 'crisis state' of the company. It was an unfortunate session as nothing was achieved as most were just staring at the ceiling or the floor and not addressing the real issues at hand.

Denial is a very short word of 6 letters but the impact is so significant that it could bring a company down overnight. This is what happened in this company. The seniors, those who have been in the company for several years, are now in their comfort zone. They are seeing things ONLY from their own paradigm and refuse to budge to listen to alternate views and reality. As a result, nothing progressive could be achieved as they become the hinderence to real progress.

My task just got bigger. Apart from ensuring the completion of my other duties, I now have to take every opportunity to make the seniors realize the crisis the company is in and hope that they could join force to lead the company out of this predicament.

Miscommunications?

After completing the LOC session yesterday, we were advised that the learning blog must be at least 1,000 words per week... It's something that shocked almost 90% of the members... During the VoL training, this was not clearly stated. We were only told that a learning blog is required of about 1,000 words (silence on the weekly requirement). The facilitators at ULC are checking this matter up and to revert to us again.

The above just highlighted the importance on communication in any process, especially change. It may be better that all the MBL participants are called for a kick-off meeting before they actual start any of the courses. All the course requirement should have been clarified during that session.

Just completed the Leading Organizational Change (LOC) Session...

I've just completed the LOC training yesterday evening. I feel that this is the most valuable training I have ever attended my whole life. In the last 3-days, I've learnt why some changes worked and why some changes failed. While all the other training focused on the 'approaches' on what need to be done, the LOC closes the gap in ensuring that the plans can be deployed/implemented successfully.

All initiatives are changes... thus knowing how to design, deploy and manage change is extremely crucial...

Techniques must be taught and used...

I had the opportunity to introduce mind-mapping technique to a subordinate the other day. What seems to be common sense and straight forward turn out to be something similar to a revelation.

This subordinate was having difficulties in managing her assignments. When the workload is great, she will gladly choose the easiest to complete and push aside those that is more difficult. Not being properly supervised for ages, she got away with doing things at her preferred pace and quality. But then, disaster struck... she's now reporting to me.

I started by asking her to list down all the pending tasks and by looking at the sheer number, she almost fainted. I know for a fact that she is not dumb. She holds bachelor and a master degree. The only thing is she was not properly guided in her journey into the business and commercial world.

To alleviate her pain, I taught her the simple technique of mind mapping so that she could categorize, prioritize and subsequently organize herself. While initially she accepted the task in view that I'm her boss, she later started to try out the technique.

Day passes by with no real feedback from her on the subject. Only in the last few days, I feel so valued. She had applied the technique on two of her important assignment and the outcome was predictably much better than she could ever achieved before. For her, it's an experience of joy that she had never felt even after many-many years with the company.

As her boss, I'm happy that she's developing and growing. It goes to show, if you care for someone, be with them and help them out. Sometime, a simple technique that we took for granted could change a persons' live.

Recap of Notes During VoL 3-Days Workshop

During the filing of the notes and material relating to the VoL workshop, I came across the several Post-It notes that was attributed to me by the workshop participants. It was a surprise to me that I got more notes than I expected. I guess the sincere feedback and input provided during the workshop did touch some of the other participants. It made me realize that Sincerity, which is my leadership stand, do have profound implication when truly applied.

On another note, I was even more surprise to learn that my influencing ability is substantially more pronounced that I previously thought. A participant told me that his very firm, not easily influenced nature was totally shattered when I presented my view (during the bush fire exercise). His initial approach to the problem was correct but when I presented my approach, he totally agrees with my view to a point that he totally forgotten about his. A lesson learnt, "I need to be more conscious of my influencing skill". I need to get more views from others before presenting mine, as my presentation may suppress other views.

I made this desktop background to serve as reminder to the kind thank you that I got and things that I should watch out for.