CIO New Year's Resolutions, 2007

According Gartner :

Growing demands for business growth and agility, rapid development of consumer technology, availability of new infrastructure tools and accelerating evolution of IT organizations will make 2007 a dynamic and challenging year in IT management. IT leaders should adopt these 10 actions in 2007.

Trust Your Instincts - But Rely On Thinking

Many methods exist for making decisions. We have tools like decision-making grids and root-cause analysis. We have trusted friends and advisory boards.
We also have gut instinct and rational thinking. At the personal level, some prefer instinct while others like rational thinking. But why not use both?

By itself, instinct can be incredible. It's what sparks our imagination, enables our creativity, and takes us to new heights.

An example of being tricked by gut intuition is making a hiring decision based on instinct alone. The new person seems like the perfect fit - for a while. But before long he falls off the pedestal and his true colors show through.

Instinct is not error-proof, and that's why we benefit by using rational thinking. An example of this might be a businessman who is presented with the perfect business deal.
If he relied on gut instinct alone he would jump on it in a heartbeat.
But, after researching the deal more thoroughly, he discovers that if he engages the deal at the present time he would exhaust all of his current resources.
His instinct was right on the money. But rational thinking showed that the timing was not right, and he averted a catastrophic decision.

Don't get me wrong. We need to trust our instincts. They're powerful and can open many opportunities for us. But for optimal decisions we should weigh our instinct against our rational thinking.

Use tools, techniques, and advisors to help. But if advisors aren't available and you have a tough choice to make, consider the following two simple steps to help you make sure you're doing the right thing:

1. Take some time and map out your reasons for action.
2. Then map out the ripple effects of NOT taking action.
   

Bottom line:
trust your gut instinct; but also think things through.
With that combination you're probably making some pretty good decisions.

Three Powerful Ways to Prevent Boss From Hell Experiences

They don't work all the time :-) , but they work often enough to make things a little more bearable if you're burdened with a Boss from Hell.

Here are three:

1. Make him look good
Pretty much all bosses, including Bosses from Hell, respond well when you do and say things that make them look good.
Let them take the credit for the good things you do. Even better - give them the credit for your successes.
Don't worry about people not recognizing who's really doing the work. They know ;-).

2. Make him feel important
Want to have some fun with your boss? Praise him. Make an offhand comment about how much you've learned from him, or how good he is at something.
Then sit back an watch how his attitude toward you changes!

3. Don't talk about problems without already having a solution
Bosses these days are under a lot of stress relative to a decade ago. And every time someone comes up and says, "Boss, we have a problem," the stress just increases.
As the stress increases, of course, so does the Boss from Hell behavior.
Next time there is a 'problem,' make sure you tell your boss about it, along with a possible solution. For example: "Boss, we have a problem. I was thinking maybe we should do ... to fix it."
Assuming your idea is a good one, your boss will appreciate the effort.

By the way - don't feel that you have to wait for a bad boss to come around to try these techniques out. Good bosses will appreciate them as well.

Have fun!

SIX WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR NONVERBAL COMMUNICATIONS

It is not only what you say that is important, but it's how you say it that can make the difference . Nonverbal messages are an essential component of communication in a conversation.

We should be aware of nonverbal behavior for three major reasons:

• An awareness of nonverbal behavior will allow you to become better receivers of your partners' messages.
• You will become a better sender of signals that reinforce learning.
• This mode of communication increases the degree of the perceived psychological closeness between speaker and listener.

Some major areas of nonverbal behaviors to explore are:

1. Eye contact
2. Facial expressions
3. Gestures
4. Posture and body orientation
5. Proximity
6. Paralinguistics
7. Humor

Eye contact:
Eye contact, an important channel of interpersonal communication, helps regulate the flow of communication. And it signals interest in others. Furthermore, eye contact with audiences increases the speaker's credibility. Speakers who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth and credibility.

Facial expressions:
Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits:

• Happiness
• Friendliness
• Warmth
• Liking
• Affiliation

Thus, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and the audience will react favorably and learn more.

Gestures:
If you fail to gesture while speaking, you may be perceived as boring, stiff and unanimated. A lively and animated speaking style captures the audiences' attention, makes the material more interesting, facilitates learning and provides a bit of entertainment. Head nods, a form of gestures, communicate positive reinforcement and indicate that you are listening.

Posture and body orientation:
You communicate numerous messages by the way you walk, talk, stand and sit. Standing erect, but not rigid, and leaning slightly forward communicates that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Furthermore, interpersonal closeness results when you and your audience face each other. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided; it communicates disinterest to your class.

Proximity:
Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with audience. You should look for signals of discomfort . Some of these are:

• Rocking
• Leg swinging
• Tapping
• Gaze aversion

Typically, in large college classes space invasion is not a problem. In fact, there is usually too much distance. To counteract this, move around the room to increase interaction with your audience. Increasing proximity enables you to make better eye contact and increases the opportunities for the audience to speak.

Paralinguistics:
This facet of nonverbal communication includes such vocal elements as:

• Tone
• Pitch
• Rhythm
• Timbre
• Loudness
• Inflection

For maximum teaching effectiveness, learn to vary these six elements of your voice. One of the major criticisms is of instructors who speak in a monotone. Listeners perceive these instructors as boring and dull. Students report that they learn less and lose interest more quickly when listening to teachers who have not learned to modulate their voices.

Humor:
Humor is often overlooked as a speaking tool, and it is too often not encouraged in. Laughter releases stress and tension for both speaker and audience. You should develop the ability to laugh at yourself and encourage the audience to do the same. It fosters a friendly room environment that facilitates learning. (I play soccer and if our team felt/is successful I always observe the presence of good humor in the locker room.)

Obviously, adequate knowledge of the subject matter is crucial to your success; however, it's not the only crucial element. Creating a climate that facilitates learning and retention demands good nonverbal and verbal skills. To improve your nonverbal skills, record your speaking on video tape. Then ask a colleague in communications to suggest refinements.

Getting to Know People - The Ed Principle

Instead of trying to be interestING (focusing on the ‘ing’) be interestED (focus on the ‘ed’) in the person you are talking with. You don’t have to worry about what you will say (except for your brief pitch which comes later). In fact, you can make it a goal to talk as little as possible, I promise you will be remembered as a marvelous conversationalist. Memorize this phrase: ‘Tell me more about...’ and use it! Just relax, be yourself and listen.

A way to think about priorities and focus

“It's not what's happening to you now or what has
happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather,
it's your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to
you, and what you're going to do about them that will determine
your ultimate destiny.”

GUBU

Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre, and Unprecedented.
GUBU is a sort of maxim of political and corporate infamy, effectively invented by Charles, J Haughey, Taoiseach of Ireland (Prime Minister) for three separate terms between 1979-92. Charles Haughey became embroiled in several outrageous scandals related to abuse of his position and financial affairs, and when questioned on one occasion prior to his eventual fall from grace he responded that the accusations were "...grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre, and unprecedented..."

GUBU has since become a popular acronym in Ireland, and I just want to post it here because the underlying meaning and message is obviously transferable to all sorts of corporate and political so-called leaders, who abuse their power and insult the intelligence and tolerance of ordinary people, and then shamelessly deny their shortcomings and deceit with the GUBU defence. (Ack S Doherty)

Agile Software Development

Before you can build a team that rocks, you must first become agile. If you don't already know whan an Agile team is, let me help:
An Agile software development team can add features in any order and can release a working version of the product at any iteration.

read more

Leadership development tip

"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do NOT care who gets the credit." (President Harry S Truman)

SPIN Selling - Hurt & Rescue

Last week i was following a course about selling given by Peter Watson. One of the techniques we used in one of our workshops was SPIN.

Overall, the method, like many other approaches, is a 'hurt and rescue' approach. You find their problem and 'hurt' them by exposing the terrible things that might happen (spot the use of tension). Then you rescue them with your product.

The four question types are described below.

Situation questions
In big sales, minimize the small talk and focus on finding background detail that can be used to make sense of the buyer's business situation. Context creates meaning. This is about understanding the wider context before you zoom into the details.

Problem questions
Ask questions to uncover problems which your product can address. If you are selling tractors, ask about maintenance costs, breakdowns and so on. If you are selling life insurance, ask about how many dependents the person has.
A trap here is to dive straight into presenting the benefits of what you are selling. You may know the problem, but they do not! Going straight to the sales pitch will just get you objections.

Implication questions
Instead of telling them the problem they have (which is also likely to raise objections), the goal is now to get them to see (and feel!) the problem. By asking questions which draw out the implications of the problem, they get to feel the pain that will drive them towards your product. This is the 'hurt' of Hurt and Rescue.

For example, the person selling tractors might ask about implications of unplowed fields whilst the life insurance salesperson could carefully ask what would happen to the children if the target person died or became very ill.

Need-Payoff questions
Having hurt the target person with your implications, you now give them a straw to grasp at by asking how their pain could be resolved. With careful questions, you can get them to the state where they are asking for your product even before you show it to them. This is a very neat 'rescue' of Hurt and Rescue, where they either rescue themselves or ask you to rescue them.

For example, the tractor sales person can ask how much better the tractor was like when it was new, or whether any of the farmer's neighbors have solved problems of old and problematic tractors. The insurance sales person could ask questions that build pictures of the target person's children being safe and secure whatever curve-balls the world might throw at the family.

Baby talk: 8 easy and fun ways to improve your baby's language skills

29 september 2006 - 13.30u A little princess was born.

This day I became the proud father of Celine,... a day i'll never forget!
In trying to understand what she means when she's smiling/crying/guguing/gagagaing i found this interesting article.

Here are some things you can do to support your child’s language development:

• 1. Respond to your baby’s cries.
• 2. Have "conversations" with your baby.
• 3. Talk naturally with your baby throughout your time with her.
• 4. Extend her language and describe what you see her doing.
• 5. Talk to your baby about what you are doing with her.
• 6. Talk about your own actions as well.
• 7. Sing songs or tell her stories.
• 8. Read books.

Enjoy language with your baby. ;-)

Isolation and intuition team exercises

isolation and intuition team exercises (relationships, bullying and harassment, diversity, intuitive demonstrations)

Here are two simple ideas for groups which can each be developed and adapted to suit local situations.
Split very large groups into teams of ten to twenty people.

exercise 1 - isolation
The task demonstrates the feelings that a person experiences when isolated or subject to victimisation, group rejection, etc. As such it supports the teaching of positive human interaction principles, and laws relating to equality, diversity and harassment.
Ask the team(s) to nominate a person among each team to be the 'victim', who must then stand away from the rest of the team, while the team members stare and sneer at the unfortunate isolated 'victim'. For very grown-up people you can allow mild criticism directed at the 'victim' (nothing too upsetting or personal please). In any event be careful, and do you best to ensure that the first 'victim' is not the most vulnerable member of the team. Preferably it should be the most confident or senior member, and better still the team's boss. Ensure every team member that wishes to is able to experience being the victim. The review should focus on how 'victims' felt while isolated and being subjected to the staring or worse by the rest of the team. The exercise demonstrates the power of group animosity towards isolated individuals. If appropriate and helpful you can of course end the activity with a big group hug to show that everyone is actually still friends. (Hugging incidentally demonstrates well the power of relationships at the positive end of the scale of human interaction and behaviour.

exercise 2 - intuition
Aside from the lessons from exercise 1 relating to victimisation, the above activity also highlights the significance of intuitive feelings, which although difficult to measure and articulate, are extremely significant in relationships, teams and organisations. This next exercise augments the first one to further illustrate the power of intuition and feelings that resides in each of us.
Using the same or similar team(s) in terms of size, then split the team(s) into two halves. One half of the team (called 'the watched') should stand facing a wall unable to see the other half of the team (called 'the watchers') which should stand together, several or many yards away from 'the watched'.

The watchers then decide among themselves which person to stare at in 'the watched' half of the team (for say 30 seconds per 'target' person). The watchers can change whom they stare at and if so should make rough notes about timings for the review. After an initial review you can change the sides to ensure everyone experiences watching and being watched.
Of course 'the watched' half of the team won't know which one is being stared at... or will they?
In the reviews you will find out if any of 'the watched' people were able to tell intuitively who was being stared at, even though 'the watchers' were out of sight. Also discuss generally how 'the watched' and 'the watchers' felt, such as sensations of discomfort or disadvantage among 'the watched', and perhaps opposite feelings among the watchers, all of which can support learning about relationships and human interaction. For review also is the possibility that some people in the teams are more receptive and interested in the activity than others, which invites debate about whether some people are more naturally intuitive than others, which is generally believed to be so, and the implications of preferences either way.

Experiments (and many people's own experience) indicate that many people have an instinctive or intuitive sense of being watched, and although there is no guarantee that your own activities will produce clear and remarkable scientific results, the exercise will prompt interesting feelings, discussion and an unusual diversion into the subject of intuitive powers.

Four reasons not to talk too much

This is nothing new but just to remind you how important it is:
The Best Way To Increase Your Sales Is To Talk Half As Much And Listen Twice As Much

Here are four reasons not to talk too much.

1. You can't listen when you're talking.
2. You can't take notes when you're talking.
3. You can't learn when you're talking
4. You can't think creatively about what you're going to say next when you're talking.

Customer Relationship Management

CRM - principles, strategy, solutions, applications, systems, software, and ideas for effective customer relationship management

Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is an essential part of modern business management.

What is Customer Relationship Management, or CRM?
Customer Relationship Management concerns the relationship between the organization and its customers. Customers are the lifeblood of any organization be it a global corporation with thousands of employees and a multi-billion turnover, or a sole trader with a handful of regular customers.
Customer Relationship Management is the same in principle for these two examples - it is the scope of CRM which can vary drastically.

CRM focuses on the relationship
Successful organizations use three steps to build customer relationships:

• determine mutually satisfying goals between organization and customers
• establish and maintain customer rapport
• produce positive feelings in the organization and the customers

CRM conditions
The organization and the customers both have sets of conditions to consider when building the relationship, such as wants and needs of both parties;

• organizations need to make a profit to survive and grow
• customers want good service, a quality product and an acceptable price

Good CRM can influence both sets of conditions.

Listening tip:

Quote from Dale Carnegie:
"A professional networker is someone who attentively listens...

to a subject he knows everything about...

told by someone who knows nothing about it".

Networking success tip:

• Help others to help you. Be specific!
• Help others to get their questions as specific as possible.
• Be clear about what you want and need.
• Be short.
• Be strong.
• Ask with the expectation that you'll receive what you want.
• Give people the opportunity to respond.
• Ask in such a way that people see the opportunities for you and the importance of their reaction.

Networking:

Networking is a game that is always played by two parties and in the long run. You reap what you've sawn. So start sowing (offering) so you can reap more and faster!

cv surveys and key points

These statistics relating to CV's and interviews were published in the Guardian in July 2006. The survey quoted the sources: Cubiks HR, IRS, and IAG.

The survey findings serve both to remind job applicants and interviewers of warnings, opportunities and critical aspects of CV's and related preparation and approach for job interviews.
The statistics also provide a basis for formulating some very useful pointers for CV's and job interviews:
Apparently 86% of interviewers think CV's and application forms (we assume all CV's and application forms) are not wholly truthful, whereas separately it seems that 35% of CV's are actually factually correct, although (for some reason, not actually explained) this apparently reduces to 23% for CV's belonging to women aged 31-35. The precise source of these statistics is not made clear, but the interesting point that comes from all this is that people who are truthful, and can convince the interviewer as such, will place themselves in an advantageous minority group, since the majority of interviews involve CV's which contain lies, and/or are perceived by interviewers to do so.
So if you want to have an edge over most other CV's and applicants, tell the truth. (For what it's worth this confirms what I've observed over the years - an honest solid applicant will always be preferred to a dishonest 'star' - integrity is considered to be a significantly vital factor among all good quality employers.)
It seems that only 8% of interviewers believe that academic qualifications reliably indicate future performance in the job. This confirms that for all but the most academically-dependent roles (NASA scientists, brain surgeons, heads of university faculty, etc), it's important to emphasise strengths such as relevant achievements, capability and attitude, and appreciation of what is required to make a difference in the role, rather putting a lot of emphasis on academic qualifications.
Combined with the first point, these findings also confirm that lying about qualifications on a CV and/or in an interview is a completely daft thing to do, because seemingly most interviewers won't believe you (moreover, 66% of interviewers say that they check up on professional qualifications, and 56% check academic qualifications), and hardly any interviewers regard qualifications as the most significant factor anyway.

N.B. This does not mean that you should not bother with training, self-improvement, and striving for new professional or academic qualifications, which are helpful for personal growth and for increasing your range and depth of capabilities. The point is simply that there are far more important things than qualifications in CV's and interviews.

Next is a crucial factor in CV's and interviews that's easy to prepare for:
Apparently 59% of employers say they have to withdraw job offers after receiving poor references about successful applicants. The survey doesn't say what percentage of applications are affected, but we can presume that it's a significant number if 59% of employers mentioned it as being a problem. This means that lots of people are failing to prepare their references properly. It also means that some people who are initially unsuccessful stand a chance to be offered the job because the preferred applicant was found to be rather less than they claimed to be, but only of course if the second-choice applicant's references check out well. Given the high incidence of rejection due to references, this will inevitably create a sensitivity among interviewers and a desire to avoid the disappointment and time-wasting nuisance of receiving a poor reference about a chosen candidate.

Thus there is an opportunity for applicants to increase their value (as perceived by the interviewer), to be the first-choice candidate, or failing that to be reliable second-choice candidate, by:

• emphasising the availability of good reliable references on the CV
• taking good printed references to the interview and
• ensuring that reliable referees are prepared and able to provide excellent references when asked by the interviewer, should (when) the job is offered

The survey findings also state that 85% of interviewers seek references from at least one previous employer, which is further confirmation of the need to cover this whole area professionally and reliably.

According to the research, these are the most common CV inaccuracies (presumably from the perspective of interviewers):

• employment dates (length of, dates from and to)
• job titles
• gaps between employment
• qualifications, and surprisingly,
• undeclared directorships

This is all very interesting because again it shows the opportunities for applicants to sharpen up the reliability and truthfulness of their CV's in certain key areas. It shows that interviewers will be sensitive to, and therefore on the lookout for inaccuracies, distortions omissions and funny smells generally in these areas, so again, be honest and consistent.

On which point, rather than spend time trying to create a 'believable' web of deceit (which most interviewers will see though at some stage anyway with the result that your your credibility will be shot to pieces, along with the opportunity or job offer), spend your time instead thinking about what you learned from the things you are trying to hide, and be proud to have the courage to be honest about your past. If you lie about it then it will continue to hang around your neck as a failure. If you hold your head high and be honest, then you will gain respect, and in many cases the interviewer will conclude that you have learned from your experience, especially if you explain how and why this is so. Remember, lots of interviewers will have considered hiding or distorting things in their own CV's - nobody's perfect; and in fact the most impressive people in life and work are generally those who've learned from and accepted their experiences, rather than denying that they ever happened.

Whatever way you look at this, it makes sense to be truthful - firstly to yourself - be proud that you have learned from your mistakes and that you have the courage to admit them.

Don't try to hide failures, mistakes or shortcomings - accept them, learn from them, seek to improve on them, and explain why and how this is so.

And as important as anything else - don't let people judge you, and don't work for anyone who does, because they will make your life a misery.

Your integrity, honesty and commitment are extremely valuable in today's world - so work only for an employer who respects you for having these qualities, and don't lower yourself to work for anyone who will not.

David McClelland's needs-based motivational model

These needs are found to varying degrees in all workers and managers, and this mix of motivational needs characterises a person's or manager's style and behaviour, both in terms of being motivated, and in the management and motivation others.

the need for achievement (n-ach)
The n-ach person is 'achievement motivated' and therefore seeks achievement, attainment of realistic but challenging goals, and advancement in the job. There is a strong need for feedback as to achievement and progress, and a need for a sense of accomplishment.

the need for authority and power (n-pow)
The n-pow person is 'authority motivated'. This driver produces a need to be influential, effective and to make an impact. There is a strong need to lead and for their ideas to prevail. There is also motivation and need towards increasing personal status and prestige.

the need for affiliation (n-affil)
The n-affil person is 'affiliation motivated', and has a need for friendly relationships and is motivated towards interaction with other people. The affiliation driver produces motivation and need to be liked and held in popular regard. These people are team players.

Sources + Human motivation(David McClelland-1988)

KEY

Keep Extending Yourself.
Coaching and motivational maxim.
A reminder of the importance of striving to improve yourself and always to be seeking new challenges.

The 80/20 Rule?

We all have heard about the "80/20 Rule"

I wondered where it came from who invented it?

Answer:
the 80/20 Rule
Known by various names, including The Pareto Principle, The Pareto Law, Pareto's Law, The 80/20 Rule, The 80:20 Rule, Pareto Theory, The Principle of Least Effort, The Principle of Imbalance, The 80-20 Principle, The Rule of the Vital Few and other combinations of these expressions.

The Pareto Principle (at a simple level) suggests that where two related data sets or groups exist (typically cause and effect, or input and output):

• "80 percent of output is produced by 20 percent of input."
  or alternatively
• "80 percent of outcomes are from 20 percent of causes"
  or alternatively
• "80 percent of contribution comes from 20 percent of the potential contribution available"
  

There is no definitive Pareto 'quote' as such - the above are my own simplified interpretations of Pareto's 80-20 Rule. The Pareto Principle is a model or theory, and an extremely useful model at that. It has endless applications - in management, social study and demographics, all types of distribution analysis, and business and financial planning and evaluation.

In actual fact the Pareto Principle does not say that the 80:20 ratio applies to every situation, and neither is the model based on a ratio in which the two figures must add to make 100.

And even where a situation does contain a 80:20 correlation other ratios might be more significant, for example:

1. 99:22 (illustrating that even greater concentration than 80:20 and therefore significance at the 'top-end') or
2. 5:50 (ie, just 5% results or benefit coming from 50% of the input or causes or contributors, obviously indicating an enormous amount of ineffectual activity or content).
   

The reasons why 80:20 has become the 'standard' are:

• the 80-20 correlation was the first to be discovered
• 80-20 remains the most striking and commonly occurring ratio
• and since its discovery, the 80:20 ratio has always been used as the name and basic illustration of the Pareto theory.

Here are some examples of Pareto's Law as it applies to various situations. According to the Pareto Principle, it will generally the case (broadly - remember it's a guide not a scientific certainty), that within any given scenario or system or organisation:

• 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of efforts
• 80 percent of activity will require 20 percent of resources
• 80 percent of usage is by 20 percent of users
• 80 percent of the difficulty in achieving something lies in 20 percent of the challenge
• 80 percent of revenue comes from 20 percent of customers
• 80 percent of problems come from 20 percent of causes
• 80 percent of profit comes from 20 percent of the product range
• 80 percent of complaints come from 20 percent of customers
• 80 percent of sales will come from 20 percent of sales people
• 80 percent of corporate pollution comes from 20 percent of corporations
• 80 percent of work absence is due to 20 percent of staff
• 80 percent of road traffic accidents are cause by 20 percent of drivers
• 80 percent of a restaurant's turnover comes from 20 percent of its menu
• 80 percent of your time spent on this website will be spent on 20 percent of this website
  and so on..

Remember for any particular situation the precise ratio can and probably will be different to 80:20, but the principle will apply nevertheless, and in many cases the actual ratio will not be far away from the 80:20 general rule.

Such a principle is extremely useful in planning, analysis, trouble-shooting, problem-solving and decision-making, and change management, especially when broad initial judgements have to be made, and especially when propositions need checking. Many complex business disasters could easily have been averted if the instigators had thought to refer to the Pareto Principle as a 'sanity check' early on. Pareto's Law is a tremendously powerful model, all the more effective because it's so simple and easy.

For example, consider an organisation which persists in directing its activities equally across its entire product range when perhaps 95% of its profits derive from just 10% of the products, and/or perhaps a mere 2% of its profits come from 60% of its product range. Imagine the wasted effort... Instead, by carrying out a quick simple 'Pareto analysis' and discovering these statistics, the decision-makers could see at a glance clearly where to direct their efforts, and probably too could see a whole lot of products that could be discontinued. The same effect can be seen in markets, services, product content, resources, etc; indeed any situation where an 'output:input' or 'effect:cause' relationship exists.

Pareto's Principle is named after the man who first discovered and described the '80:20' phenomenon, Vilfredo Pareto (1848-1923), an Italian economist and sociologist. Pareto was born in Paris, and became Professor of Political Economy at Lausanne in 1893. An academic, Pareto was fascinated by social and political statistics and trends, and the mathematical interpretation of socio-economic systems.

An exciting exploration into "Your Personality" and IQ

Last week I started reading "Let's connect!" by Jan Vermeiren.
If you have some questions about your job, relationship, personality, IQ, Passion,... this is the place2Be.
On www.allthetests.com you can check your knowledge in particular disciplines - here you are, anxious about your new relationship - don’t hesitate and test your second half, just in a mood to relax on a lazy sunny afternoon - a perfect fun test collection is waiting for you. Looking for a job but don't know what you exactly want?What about testing your Intelligence Quotient?

Software Team Turnover

Interesting article I read last week: Software Team Turnover: Why Developers Leave (And What You Can Do About It)

Thanks Pieter

WYGIWYD (What You Get Is What You Deserve!)

We all know WYSIWYG but WYGIWYD???

What You Get Is What You Deserve. A maxim for life and personal responsibility: you get out what you put in - you reap what you sow. WYGIWYD is also a great reminder that people are more likely to perform to their fullest potential when they are given fair reward and recognition. Also relevant for project planning and all matters of investing in people, development, plant and equipment, etc: if you want good results then invest properly and act with integrity. WYGIWYD also emphasises the importance of communicating fully and properly with people whom you expect to produce results of any sort: internal and external staff and suppliers, designers, programmers, writers, etc.

Successful selling goes beyond 'sales training'

Selling and sales training ideas, courses, programmes, products, etc., are just part of the picture.

Modern selling requires understanding and capabilities that extend way beyond traditional 'sales training' skills.
Modern selling is about life, people, business (and increasingly ethical business and corporate responsibility), communications, behaviour, personality and psychology, self-awareness, attitude and belief.
Selling is about understanding how people and systems work, and enabling good outcomes. (By 'systems' I mean organisations and processes and relationships, not just systems in the sense of tools and IT.)
Sales training of course addresses some of these issues, but not all of them.
So consider and learn about other aspects of modern business, management, and self-development that interest you, and extend this principle to your people if you are a sales manager or coach.
Develop your experience and understanding of organisations, management and business - beyond sales training alone - and you will greatly increase your value and effectiveness to employers and clients, and to the organisational and business world generally.
The more you understand about how people think, how organisations work and how they are managed, the more effective you will be.
Look beyond sales training and selling, and strive to become an enabler and a facilitator of good outcomes.
This is the role of the modern sales-person. It's a highly valuable, sought-after and transferable capability.

How to motivate people?

The acronym "PRICE" refers to the "P.R.IC.E. Motivation System," which stands for "Pinpointing, Recording, Involvement, Consequences, and Evaluation."

• You start with PINPOINTED OBJECTIVES that are easily identifiable and measurable. Then, you check to make sure that they are also realistic, meaningful, simple to understand, and perceived as personally worthwhile by everyone involved in their implementation!
• The second step in motivating employees is "RECORD KEEPING." It is essential to establish a score keeping system by which employees and supervisors can tell how fast and how far and in what direction their motivation is taking them!
• INVOLVMENT - Making each team player a part of keeping the scores as high as possible!
• CONSEQUENCES - Making teamwork an everyday working reality!
• EVALUATION - You can consolidate the motivational drive of your work teams and ensure that they will operate at peak performance when you deliver predictable positive consequences!

1990's adapted hierarchy of needs

In the 1990's 3 steps were added to the hierarchy of needs:

6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.
8. Transcendence needs - helping others to achieve self actualization.

The first must be fulfilled to get to the second and so on,... some examples

You can't motivate someone to achieve their sales target (level 4) when they're having problems with their marriage (level 3).

You can't expect someone to work as a team member (level 3) when they're having their house re-possessed (level 2).

Check the Patéo Consulting website for a good visual

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Each of us is motivated by needs. Our most basic needs are inborn, having evolved over tens of thousands of years. Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs helps to explain how these needs motivate us all.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs states that we must satisfy each need in turn, starting with the first, which deals with the most obvious needs for survival itself.
Only when the lower order needs of physical and emotional well-being are satisfied are we concerned with the higher order needs of influence and personal development.
Conversely, if the things that satisfy our lower order needs are swept away, we are no longer concerned about the maintenance of our higher order needs.
Maslow's original Hierarchy of Needs model was developed between 1943-1954, and first widely published in Motivation and Personality in 1954. At this time the Hierarchy of Needs model comprised five needs. This original version remains for most people the definitive Hierarchy of Needs.

1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep, etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Belongingness and Love needs - work group, family, affection, relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Self-Actualization needs - realising personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

Are performance appraisals truly beneficial?

Think about everything that performance appraisals can achieve and contribute to when they are properly managed, for example:

• performance measurement - transparent, short, medium and long term
• clarifying, defining, redefining priorities and objectives
• motivation through agreeing helpful aims and targets
• motivation though achievement and feedback
• training needs and learning desires - assessment and agreement
• identification of personal strengths and direction - including unused hidden strengths
• career and succession planning - personal and organisational
• team roles clarification and team building
• appraisee and manager mutual awareness, understanding and relationship
• resolving confusions and misunderstandings
• counselling and feedback
• manager development - all good managers should be able to conduct appraisals well - it's a fundamental process
• the list goes on..

performance appraisals, performance evaluation and assessment of job skills, personality and behaviour

Last week we had our assignment review. What about it? Is it usefull?
What can we learn from it?

Performance appraisals are essential for the effective management and evaluation of staff. Appraisals help develop individuals, improve organizational performance, and feed into business planning. Formal performance appraisals are generally conducted annually for all staff in the organization.
Each staff member is appraised by their manager. Annual performance appraisals enable management and monitoring of standards, agreeing expectations and objectives, and delegation of responsibilities and tasks. Staff performance appraisals also establish individual training needs and enable organizational training needs analysis and planning. Performance appraisals data feeds into organizational annual pay and grading reviews, and coincides with the business planning for the next trading year.
Performance appraisals generally review each individual's performance against objectives and standards for the trading year, agreed at the previous appraisal meeting. Performance appraisals are also essential for career and succession planning.
Performance appraisals are important for staff motivation, attitude and behaviour development, communicating organizational aims, and fostering positive relationships between management and staff.
Performance appraisals provide a formal, recorded, regular review of an individual's performance, and a plan for future development. In short, performance and job appraisals are vital for managing the performance of people and organizations.

You don't compete only with products anymore, rather with how well you use your people.

"Why should I train my Soft Skills? I know everything about IT!"

Too often we focus on what employees need to "know" when evaluating and hiring them instead of "who they really are."

I will try to illustrate this with an example.
John was promoted to Technical Project Manager at his consulting company. Some people wondered why John had risen to this level of management. His educational level was lower than others in the firm and his degree wasn't in an area that pertained to consulting. However, one of the strengths that was nowhere on his resume was his ability to be positive in all situations and to naturally motivate people. He was quick to smile and see the positive side of every project. He was generous in praising people and was consistently happy. These were his strengths - his natural attributes. They made up the sum of who John was. These soft skills are just as important as what John knows.

Do You Make Your First Impression Your Best Impression?

No matter who you are or what you do, the way you dress and present yourself has a major impact on your success.

Within the first three seconds of a new encounter, you are evaluated… even if it is just a glance.
People appraise your visual and behavioral appearance from head to toe. They observe your demeanor, mannerisms, and body language and even assess your grooming and accessories – watch, handbag, briefcase. Within only three seconds, you make an indelible impression. You may intrigue some and disenchant others.
This first impression process occurs in every new situation. Within the first few seconds, people pass judgment on you – looking for common surface clues. Once the first impression is made, it is virtually irreversible.

The process works like this:

• If you appear to be of comparable business or social level, you are considered suitable for further interaction.
• If you appear to be of higher business or social status, you are admired and cultivated as a valuable contact.
• If you appear to be of lower business or social standing, you are tolerated but kept at arm's length.
• If you are in an interview situation, you can either appear to match the corporate culture or not, ultimately affecting the outcome.
  

It is human nature to constantly make these appraisals, in business and social environments. You may hardly have said a word, however once this three-second evaluation is over, the content of your speech will not change it. When you make the best possible first impression, you have your audience in the palm of your hand. When you make a poor first impression, you lose your audience’s attention, no matter how hard you scramble to recover it.
You can learn to make a positive and lasting first impression, modify it to suit any situation, and come out a winner. Doing so requires you to assess and identify your personality, physical appearance, lifestyle and goals. Those who do will have the advantage.
Success comes to those with integrity, those that are resourceful, and those that make a fabulous impression!

Global Image Group

Drop your egg meeting instead of reading the complete project plan

At one of our customers we have a weekly "Leg je ei meeting - Drop your egg meeting" .
Just to let the other team-members know what you've been doing and what you're planning to do, where you've problems with and where you found solutions for. It takes only 20 minutes but everyone stays up to date,...

meeting sequence

Put the less important issues at the top of the agenda, not the bottom. If you put them on the bottom you may never get to them. Ensure any urgent issues are placed up the agenda. Non-urgent items place down the agenda - if you are going to miss any you can more easily afford to miss these.
Try to achieve a varied sequence - don't put all the heavy controversial items together - mix it up.

meeting outcomes

Decide what outcome (ie what is the purpose) you seek for each issue, and put this on the agenda alongside the item heading. This is important as people need to know what is expected of them, and each item will be more productive with a clear aim at the outset. Typical outcomes are:

• Information
• Decision
• Discussion
• Planning (eg workshop session)
• Generating ideas
• Getting feedback
• Finding solutions
• Agreeing (targets, budgets, aims, etc)
• Team-building/motivation
• Guest speaker - information, initiatives, etc

planning and running effective meetings for business,...

In my next posts I'll try to reflect on some essential elements to run an effective meeting.
Priorities, Outcomes, Sequence, Timings, Agenda, Date, Time, Venue.

meeting priorities
What is the meeting's purpose? Always have one; otherwise don't have a meeting. Decide the issues for inclusion in the meeting and their relative priority: importance and urgency.
You can avoid the pressure for 'Any Other Business' at the end of the meeting if you circulate a draft agenda in advance of the meeting, and ask for any other items for consideration. ('Any Other Business' often creates a free-for-all session that wastes time, and gives rise to new tricky expectations, which if not managed properly then closes the meeting on a negative note.)

Meetings - basic rules

Very simple,.. but I think a lot of people still don't know!

1. plan - use the agenda as a planning tool
2. circulate agenda in advance
3. run the meeting - keep control, agree outcomes, actions and responsibilities, take notes
4. write and circulate notes
5. follow up agreed actions and responsibilities

Building confidence for motivation

Learning something new and completely different liberates the mind. Facing a challenge, meeting it and mastering it helps build confidence

Saying thanks is hugely motivational

Saying thanks and giving praise are the most commonly overlooked and under-estimated ways of motivating people. And it's so easy. Saying thanks is best said naturally and from the heart, so if your intentions are right you will not go far wrong. When you look someone in the eye and thank them sincerely it means a lot. In front of other people even more so. The key words are the ones which say thanks and well done for doing a great job, especially where the words recognise each person's own special ability, quality, contribution, effort, whatever. People always appreciate sincere thanks, and they appreciate being valued as an individual even more. When you next have the chance to thank your team or an individual team-member, take the time to find out a special thing that each person has done and make a point of mentioning these things. Doing this, the praise tends to carry even greater meaning and motivational effect.

The Hard Truth: Soft Skills Matter

"IT people need to have the ability to communicate at the board level.Being able to understand the business needs of an organization and translate that to a technological solution—to me, that's where the rubber meets the road." By The Numbers - CIO Magazine ...

Soft Skills

Last week one of my colleagues (Raf) gave me an article about recruiting that appeared in Smart Business Strategies magazine. Who’s hot and who’s not in IT? The decade of the “Nerd” is over. More and more employers are looking for the complete package. Not only the technical experience but also the soft skills are very important. Remember the phrase from your report card -- "works and plays well with others"? That's a critical soft skill, and there are many more, all of them important for any job in any industry.
Are you soft skills savvy? Take the test by Peter de Vogt