Friend of mine just called and complained about some problems with her staff. She tried to instill some discipline and ground rules for her operations but met with resistance from some employees. Simple stuff that they were trained to do became chores she has to get involved in, as CEO of the company.
My answer: they (the staff) don't share your same vision and mission; and she's better off getting rid of those bad apples than to risk infecting the rest of her employees who need the job more and who are prepared to adapt to her ground rules.
I'm sure this happens to all companies, large or small. I also told my friend that it's the survival of the organisation and the security of all her employees which should take precedence over one or two rotten apples.
Every organisation must function and survive as a team. Just like football and any other sport. The minute we have a prima donna, the minute we have the weakest link who can't move at the same speed as the others, and who doesn't have the same conviction as the others, the organisation cannot survive, let alone advance in this highly competitive globalised world.
This friend of mine is a nice person, always kind, always mindful of her employees to the extent that she cannot bear to put someone out of a job. But I emphasized that it's the survival of the organisation, the interests of the shareholders, and the feeding of the majority of her staff and their families which are of paramount importance.
I'm glad she felt a lot better after hearing what I had to say. And I hope she will be able to put principles into practise and have the conviction to see changes through.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Friends....
It's intriguing to witness the changes friends go through.
One of my friends grew older but none the wiser. He's always been a laid back sort of person. Got married with a very capable, career minded lady. When they had their first child, she made the decision to give up her career totally just to be a housewife and look after the kids.
But my friend grew more and more laid back, to the point of perhaps letting laziness creep in. His career went no where. He dabbled in business but that led nowhere as well. His wife who loved and adored this once young and ambitious man is obviously disappointed. But being Asian, she kept things to herself for she believed that once she marries the man she chose, she will have to abide by the unwritten family rules in Asians.
All of us around them can't help but sigh whenever we hear about them.
Then there's this other friend who called me the other day, after quite a long while. He had to undergo an operation recently and is literally broke now. Besides the odd freelance jobs here and there, he hasn't really had any serious work for the last year or so.
This is someone who's had his glory days running one of the most successful businesses in our line of business some years ago. Where did all those hard earned dollars of his heydays go?
I knew he had a large family to support, and is the sole earner of the family. But then, he wasn't earning nickels and dimes in his heydays either?
Planning, maybe that's what it is we all need to do.
Make realistic plans and keep reviewing where we stand and where we are with respect to those plans.
It's easy for human nature to take over, for our minds to wander off track and let circumstances dictate and lead us to believe that we're none other than puppets of circumstances playing out in our lives. We let ourselves be convinced that those circumstances must be allowed to play out their course.
These mind games hinder our ability to rationalise and we fall prey.
I myself have fallen prey many times. I myself have made unrealistic plans which ended up with dreadful results. There's a fine line between pushing oneself to one's limits and coaxing one's abilities and instincts to flourish optimally in the direction we choose.
Every day is a different chapter and evey new day brings with it circumstances, problems, obstacles, challenges etc. It's up to us to filter out the ones we need to deal with from the ones which distract, and the ones which can wait and the ones which can't. This ability to filter and discern is probably the difference between great men and women and the not so great ones.
One of my friends grew older but none the wiser. He's always been a laid back sort of person. Got married with a very capable, career minded lady. When they had their first child, she made the decision to give up her career totally just to be a housewife and look after the kids.
But my friend grew more and more laid back, to the point of perhaps letting laziness creep in. His career went no where. He dabbled in business but that led nowhere as well. His wife who loved and adored this once young and ambitious man is obviously disappointed. But being Asian, she kept things to herself for she believed that once she marries the man she chose, she will have to abide by the unwritten family rules in Asians.
All of us around them can't help but sigh whenever we hear about them.
Then there's this other friend who called me the other day, after quite a long while. He had to undergo an operation recently and is literally broke now. Besides the odd freelance jobs here and there, he hasn't really had any serious work for the last year or so.
This is someone who's had his glory days running one of the most successful businesses in our line of business some years ago. Where did all those hard earned dollars of his heydays go?
I knew he had a large family to support, and is the sole earner of the family. But then, he wasn't earning nickels and dimes in his heydays either?
Planning, maybe that's what it is we all need to do.
Make realistic plans and keep reviewing where we stand and where we are with respect to those plans.
It's easy for human nature to take over, for our minds to wander off track and let circumstances dictate and lead us to believe that we're none other than puppets of circumstances playing out in our lives. We let ourselves be convinced that those circumstances must be allowed to play out their course.
These mind games hinder our ability to rationalise and we fall prey.
I myself have fallen prey many times. I myself have made unrealistic plans which ended up with dreadful results. There's a fine line between pushing oneself to one's limits and coaxing one's abilities and instincts to flourish optimally in the direction we choose.
Every day is a different chapter and evey new day brings with it circumstances, problems, obstacles, challenges etc. It's up to us to filter out the ones we need to deal with from the ones which distract, and the ones which can wait and the ones which can't. This ability to filter and discern is probably the difference between great men and women and the not so great ones.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Life - a Kaleidescope (sort of)
So much happened these last few weeks. Clients wasting money unnecessarily just because they can't put their own house in order. Greed engulfing people so much so that their prides disappear. Weaknesses of the less humans all evident from a mere test of wills.
I remember all laundry services charge a premium when we are in a hurry and needed clothes delivered in less than the time quoted by the service. But at least those clothes came back to us freshly ironed and clean. But I can't say the same for other works commissioned in the service industry I'm in.
There's this client who's fond of confirming matters only at the 11th hour and we have to put together the human and other resources to have the project completed within unreasonable timelines. It's like building a two storey house in one month, rather than the 10 months it would normally take. The foundations are shoddy, the roof will leak, additional coats of paint are splashed even before the last coat is dried etc.
And that is what this multi national corporation spanning a few countries and paying top dollars for their executives practises.
Through their own inefficiencies and bureaucracies, projects hibernate until the very last minute when they can hibernate no more. They will commission the project often leaving no time to do proper soil tests and laying foundations, no time to order the best bricks and best brick layers and so on. And with the short time given, one often has to pay more in wages to have people work overtime, double up on human resources in order to get the job done in time, and accept less than satisfactory results.
But that's what they are content on doing. This is not one project. This has been happening for as long as I've known this client. They want something done, they will get it, at all costs.
Wonder what their shareholders will say if they'd known that the company has been wasting their money in that manner?
If I were a shareholder, I would have asked why the company hire executives at those prices when they cannot put the priorities in their sights. I would have asked why Chief Financial Officer had not seen the wastages. I would have asked why they had not structured the organization in a way conducive to a proper decision making process. I would have asked a lot.
But do such companies disclose at Annual General Meetings how they make decisions? Nope. They just declare and disclose what's required of the law.
I remember all laundry services charge a premium when we are in a hurry and needed clothes delivered in less than the time quoted by the service. But at least those clothes came back to us freshly ironed and clean. But I can't say the same for other works commissioned in the service industry I'm in.
There's this client who's fond of confirming matters only at the 11th hour and we have to put together the human and other resources to have the project completed within unreasonable timelines. It's like building a two storey house in one month, rather than the 10 months it would normally take. The foundations are shoddy, the roof will leak, additional coats of paint are splashed even before the last coat is dried etc.
And that is what this multi national corporation spanning a few countries and paying top dollars for their executives practises.
Through their own inefficiencies and bureaucracies, projects hibernate until the very last minute when they can hibernate no more. They will commission the project often leaving no time to do proper soil tests and laying foundations, no time to order the best bricks and best brick layers and so on. And with the short time given, one often has to pay more in wages to have people work overtime, double up on human resources in order to get the job done in time, and accept less than satisfactory results.
But that's what they are content on doing. This is not one project. This has been happening for as long as I've known this client. They want something done, they will get it, at all costs.
Wonder what their shareholders will say if they'd known that the company has been wasting their money in that manner?
If I were a shareholder, I would have asked why the company hire executives at those prices when they cannot put the priorities in their sights. I would have asked why Chief Financial Officer had not seen the wastages. I would have asked why they had not structured the organization in a way conducive to a proper decision making process. I would have asked a lot.
But do such companies disclose at Annual General Meetings how they make decisions? Nope. They just declare and disclose what's required of the law.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Stealing your time
I'm sure all of us would have come across such thefts of our time.
They are the ones who walk into you office when you're engrossed in work. They send text messages to your handphone on the most trivial of matters. They call you just to interrupt and disrupt what you're doing on matters which could wait or could have been emailed.
Emails are good - compare to text messages to handphones - in that they can be read at your own leisure. Even people with Blackberry phones can opt to read emails at a time they choose to. They "push mail" you, but you don't have to read it instantaneously, that is the minute they are "pushes" to you.
In this world and age, it feels like we're having less and less control of our own time. Time to do things we want or need to do; time to be on our own; time to "just do nothing".
On the other hand, these time thefts are also victims to other time thefts to the extent that they're oblivious to this notion of "stealing time". They've simply "done onto us what others do to them".
What a pity. That's why I don't turn on or log on to any of the so called IM or "instant messaging" programs. Imagine you're deep into a proposal or quotation you have to complete in an hour's time and a busload of friend instant message you, or text message you on your handphone. You'll never get to complete what you've allocated time to do in that hour or so. Or worse still, a task requiring an hour to complete suddenly becomes something which can only be completed in 3 hours.
I feel that I'm just as guilty of stealing other people's time. Sometimes when I'm stuck in traffic and bored, I would invariably be tempted to SMS others on matters which come to mind. They come to mind, but they often won't need to be communicated instantly. But for some selfish reason, I chose to SMS so that it becomes one less matter to store in my brain for action.
A lot of people feel that once their email or SMS is out, their job is done. Mission accomplished. Many a times, I've had clients forward me emails from their clients or colleagues requiring attention just so that they feel they've done their jobs.
Often, these emails which they forward have not even been read or perused by them. And often too is that these emails relate to nothing I can do without their input on the contents of that email.
Blind forwarding, I call this; something I don't condone. All the staff under my control know this.
So, the next time you need to call someone, or text someone using SMS, think about how disruptive that will be to his/her routine; and most importantly, think about the effect all such disruptions and distractions on your own routine.
They are the ones who walk into you office when you're engrossed in work. They send text messages to your handphone on the most trivial of matters. They call you just to interrupt and disrupt what you're doing on matters which could wait or could have been emailed.
Emails are good - compare to text messages to handphones - in that they can be read at your own leisure. Even people with Blackberry phones can opt to read emails at a time they choose to. They "push mail" you, but you don't have to read it instantaneously, that is the minute they are "pushes" to you.
In this world and age, it feels like we're having less and less control of our own time. Time to do things we want or need to do; time to be on our own; time to "just do nothing".
On the other hand, these time thefts are also victims to other time thefts to the extent that they're oblivious to this notion of "stealing time". They've simply "done onto us what others do to them".
What a pity. That's why I don't turn on or log on to any of the so called IM or "instant messaging" programs. Imagine you're deep into a proposal or quotation you have to complete in an hour's time and a busload of friend instant message you, or text message you on your handphone. You'll never get to complete what you've allocated time to do in that hour or so. Or worse still, a task requiring an hour to complete suddenly becomes something which can only be completed in 3 hours.
I feel that I'm just as guilty of stealing other people's time. Sometimes when I'm stuck in traffic and bored, I would invariably be tempted to SMS others on matters which come to mind. They come to mind, but they often won't need to be communicated instantly. But for some selfish reason, I chose to SMS so that it becomes one less matter to store in my brain for action.
A lot of people feel that once their email or SMS is out, their job is done. Mission accomplished. Many a times, I've had clients forward me emails from their clients or colleagues requiring attention just so that they feel they've done their jobs.
Often, these emails which they forward have not even been read or perused by them. And often too is that these emails relate to nothing I can do without their input on the contents of that email.
Blind forwarding, I call this; something I don't condone. All the staff under my control know this.
So, the next time you need to call someone, or text someone using SMS, think about how disruptive that will be to his/her routine; and most importantly, think about the effect all such disruptions and distractions on your own routine.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
FRIENDS: WHEN YOU NEED HELP
If you've ever asked for help from friends, you'll probably know what I mean.
There are those who will point you in the right direction, then leave you to it; without putting in any further effort to help you.
I come across many situations where I've had to ask friends for help in getting connected to people in a new business situation or in an area I'm not familiar with.
The ones who volunteer help with earnest are likely to be the ones who will only pay "lip service". They will call their contact and say "a friend of mine needs help", then pass on the contact to you, period. They will not as questions such as:
"How was the person I introduced?
Was he able to help?
If not, do you want me to get someone else?"
Its very easy to test your friends. Try them out, and if they're like what I've illustrated, then you know they are NOT DEPENDABLE.
But if you come across someone who will ask those 3 questions I highlighted above, then they are the friends you should keep as "that's what friends are for"
Better still: if ever a friend is prepared to arrange a meeting with the people you would like to meet, and he/she will be there for the meeting.
Friendships can be shallow affairs. I recently had to contact some "friends" (supposedly) to ask about certain experiences they had which I didn't. One promised to meet but 3 weeks later, we're still emailing one another as to when is the best time to meet. Another immediately responded with the information I needed via email, promising to meet or talk should I need to.
Through the years, I've learnt to discern the true friends from the others. Have you?
There are those who will point you in the right direction, then leave you to it; without putting in any further effort to help you.
I come across many situations where I've had to ask friends for help in getting connected to people in a new business situation or in an area I'm not familiar with.
The ones who volunteer help with earnest are likely to be the ones who will only pay "lip service". They will call their contact and say "a friend of mine needs help", then pass on the contact to you, period. They will not as questions such as:
"How was the person I introduced?
Was he able to help?
If not, do you want me to get someone else?"
Its very easy to test your friends. Try them out, and if they're like what I've illustrated, then you know they are NOT DEPENDABLE.
But if you come across someone who will ask those 3 questions I highlighted above, then they are the friends you should keep as "that's what friends are for"
Better still: if ever a friend is prepared to arrange a meeting with the people you would like to meet, and he/she will be there for the meeting.
Friendships can be shallow affairs. I recently had to contact some "friends" (supposedly) to ask about certain experiences they had which I didn't. One promised to meet but 3 weeks later, we're still emailing one another as to when is the best time to meet. Another immediately responded with the information I needed via email, promising to meet or talk should I need to.
Through the years, I've learnt to discern the true friends from the others. Have you?
Saturday, June 28, 2008
THAILAND'S NEW AIRPORT
Maybe I've been late in this encounter for I've always tried to avoid travels to Thailand in thes e last two years due to the political situation there. But landing at Thailand's Suvarnabhumi airport for the first time since it opened wasn't an unpleasant experience at all. Despite all the negative news about how rushed the project was and all the problems that were supposed to have plagued this airport which the previous Thaksin government bull-dozed its way into launching wasn't apparent to me somehow. Perhaps I didn't spend that much time at the airport or perhaps those stories had more than a tinge of political salt and pepper added.
There was a lot more space than the old Don Muang International, and we didn't have to fly over a golf course worrying that an errant golf ball hit by an airforce general might choke up the engine on landing. Unfortunately all the space led to the bottleneck at the immigration counters.
The long immigration queues speak a lot about this country and, for that matter, any other I've visited, especially so after flying through Singapore where 20 minutes was all it took for me to get off the plane and onto a taxi after clearing immigration, collecting my bags and clearing customs.
A new feature at the immigration counter is a small, digital "web-cam-like" camera sitting up on a stand at the counter. A bit early I thought as there was still some months before the USA insists on biometric passports for all their visitors. Mine isn't biometric so there really wasn't any point in taking my photo and that of others. Surely Interpol will not have biometric info on their database yet for checking to. Maybe their officers don't trust their own eyes and prefer to compare our passport photos to the one they take with that little camera. Or perhaps that was one sure way they can print a "current" mug shot in the papers should one get onto the "wanted list". I can't help but wonder what happens to photos of those ladies who wear such heavy makeup that they themselves get a shock when they look at the mirror in the morning?
40 minutes later, I was out of the airport, having spent 30 minutes at immigration and another 10 minutes waiting for the bags. But that's a lot better than Kuala Lumpur where one has to spend anything from 20 to 40 minutes at immigration depending on your time of arrival, and another 20 to 30 minutes (regardless of how long you've spent at the immigration queues) waiting for your bags. I can only conclude that the KL International Airport must either have a complex and unique security screening system for all arriving bags, OR they're just not in the mood to get visitors out of their airport within a reasonably short time. But then again, Asian airports may already be the darlings for those who are used to long delays (whatever the reasons) at European and American airports.
There was a lot more space than the old Don Muang International, and we didn't have to fly over a golf course worrying that an errant golf ball hit by an airforce general might choke up the engine on landing. Unfortunately all the space led to the bottleneck at the immigration counters.
The long immigration queues speak a lot about this country and, for that matter, any other I've visited, especially so after flying through Singapore where 20 minutes was all it took for me to get off the plane and onto a taxi after clearing immigration, collecting my bags and clearing customs.
A new feature at the immigration counter is a small, digital "web-cam-like" camera sitting up on a stand at the counter. A bit early I thought as there was still some months before the USA insists on biometric passports for all their visitors. Mine isn't biometric so there really wasn't any point in taking my photo and that of others. Surely Interpol will not have biometric info on their database yet for checking to. Maybe their officers don't trust their own eyes and prefer to compare our passport photos to the one they take with that little camera. Or perhaps that was one sure way they can print a "current" mug shot in the papers should one get onto the "wanted list". I can't help but wonder what happens to photos of those ladies who wear such heavy makeup that they themselves get a shock when they look at the mirror in the morning?
40 minutes later, I was out of the airport, having spent 30 minutes at immigration and another 10 minutes waiting for the bags. But that's a lot better than Kuala Lumpur where one has to spend anything from 20 to 40 minutes at immigration depending on your time of arrival, and another 20 to 30 minutes (regardless of how long you've spent at the immigration queues) waiting for your bags. I can only conclude that the KL International Airport must either have a complex and unique security screening system for all arriving bags, OR they're just not in the mood to get visitors out of their airport within a reasonably short time. But then again, Asian airports may already be the darlings for those who are used to long delays (whatever the reasons) at European and American airports.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
WEEKENDS - TOTAL RELAXATION OR NOT?
Everyone, or at least most of everyone I know, like weekends. It's time for them to totally switch off, not have to think about what they've been doing from Monday to Friday, and just do things differently. The same for vacations.
I remember a two week vacation I had many years ago. The vacation was enjoyable. Lots of snow. Lots of company and good food. But guess what? When I got back to work, I was faced with triple or quadruble the problems I would have had to face If I'd kept in touch during the so-called vacation.
Once I took a weekend off (Friday afternoon to Monday morning) to somewhere without internet and emails and my laptop. Sure enough, when I returned on Monday, it took the whole of that week to catch up on what I'd missed out.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a workaholic. I like weekends and I like to have time ro relax, do things I didn't have time to do on weekdays, and catch up with friends. But I always like to keep in touch even on weekends.
It doesn't mean that I have to respond to that email or SMS I receive during the weekend. But keep tabs of everything even on a weekend will enable us to have a headstart when Monday morning breaks.
I'm not stressed. Possible just in control.
Having the information and choosing when to react and respond to that information is more soothing than a day on the beach only to come back and be totally stressed about what's fed to us via email or SMS. Besides, while I'm not working, there may be others who are working toward getting things organized for first thing Monday morning.
Imagine someone who needs to know if you can have a meeting with them on Monday morning? Would you rather hear about that on Saturday night, or would you rather wake up on Monday morning to find that someone has been kept in limbo for two days? Would you rather wake up on Monday morning knowing exactly what meetings you have to attend that morning, or have someone SMS you about an answer he/she is waiting for since Saturday?
Would you rather have a leisurely start to you Mondays, or go through an adrenalin rush once you wake up to rush to a meeting which you should have been well prepared for, had you checked your email or SMS on Saturday.
Most people are trying to shun the electronic age when it comes to weekends. They want to go back to the times before internet and SMSes. They want to have "convventional" weekends where your boss, colleagues, clientsl, and vendors can't communicate with you until Monday. That's passe, really. Antiquated. And unless we change our mindsets, we will find ourselves having to fight those who are more technologically savvy, eager to stay "on top" of what they need to do on Mondays and can enjoy their weekends thoroughly, knowing that they will be well prepared for their Monday mornings
Food fo thought, perhaps, for those of you who go by conventional expectations of your weekends?
I remember a two week vacation I had many years ago. The vacation was enjoyable. Lots of snow. Lots of company and good food. But guess what? When I got back to work, I was faced with triple or quadruble the problems I would have had to face If I'd kept in touch during the so-called vacation.
Once I took a weekend off (Friday afternoon to Monday morning) to somewhere without internet and emails and my laptop. Sure enough, when I returned on Monday, it took the whole of that week to catch up on what I'd missed out.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a workaholic. I like weekends and I like to have time ro relax, do things I didn't have time to do on weekdays, and catch up with friends. But I always like to keep in touch even on weekends.
It doesn't mean that I have to respond to that email or SMS I receive during the weekend. But keep tabs of everything even on a weekend will enable us to have a headstart when Monday morning breaks.
I'm not stressed. Possible just in control.
Having the information and choosing when to react and respond to that information is more soothing than a day on the beach only to come back and be totally stressed about what's fed to us via email or SMS. Besides, while I'm not working, there may be others who are working toward getting things organized for first thing Monday morning.
Imagine someone who needs to know if you can have a meeting with them on Monday morning? Would you rather hear about that on Saturday night, or would you rather wake up on Monday morning to find that someone has been kept in limbo for two days? Would you rather wake up on Monday morning knowing exactly what meetings you have to attend that morning, or have someone SMS you about an answer he/she is waiting for since Saturday?
Would you rather have a leisurely start to you Mondays, or go through an adrenalin rush once you wake up to rush to a meeting which you should have been well prepared for, had you checked your email or SMS on Saturday.
Most people are trying to shun the electronic age when it comes to weekends. They want to go back to the times before internet and SMSes. They want to have "convventional" weekends where your boss, colleagues, clientsl, and vendors can't communicate with you until Monday. That's passe, really. Antiquated. And unless we change our mindsets, we will find ourselves having to fight those who are more technologically savvy, eager to stay "on top" of what they need to do on Mondays and can enjoy their weekends thoroughly, knowing that they will be well prepared for their Monday mornings
Food fo thought, perhaps, for those of you who go by conventional expectations of your weekends?
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