The F2P=P2F Equation

Didn't I say this blog will be full of those acronyms?

I've seen such equations during my high school algebra days when properties of equations are being discussed. I used to think that mathematics is way too boring if not applied in our daily walks of life (which is the main reason I shifted from pure mathematics to applied mathematics - engineering to be specific - during my college days). As I've learned about leadership principles, this is one equation that really stuck to my head: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail. It applies to just about any aspects of our lives whether it's business, personal, emotional, economic or even spiritual. I just finished working with a project manager on a certain project. Project managers are supposed to plan, execute and manage projects (which is why they are called project managers in the first place). I highlighted the first one, which is plan, because without it the other two won't be there at all. Planning is key to a successful project. And if not done properly, anything else will fail. Let me illustrate my point. When building a house, you need to talk to the architect and designer to articulate what you want in your house. Once that is taken cared of, the architect needs to have a look at all aspects of building the house - mechanical, electrical, piping, etc. This is where all the detailed drawings included in the blueprints come in. Then, the builders come and build the house according to the blueprint. A lot of people think that once the house is built, it is now ready to be occupied. Not at all. If you didn't plan to buy the furnitures and the fixings for the house, there's no way you can spend a comortable night of sleep. Now, think about the potential loss of not being able to plan properly. Let's do some risk assessment. If you need to move in to the house immediately after it has been built and you haven't included in your plan to buy the furnitures, you might end up sleeping some place else until you manage to have the essentials for your house. Or, you'll probably end up buying at that particular instance. In both cases, your cost will definitely go up. What's more, you'll have increased anxiety which may be difficult to quantify. But if you planned well enough to consider buying those furnitures even before the house is finished, you may even have time to go around and looking for cheap yet elegant ones or even go around and scout for really good bargains.

Businesses lose a lot of money because of lack of planning. Imagine having to delay a project because the key person got sick and a replacement was not planned well ahead of time. Let's place some numbers to quantify these cases. If you are making US$1,000 per day and you need to finish a project in 5 days, you'll make US$5,000. If the key person got sick and have not planned for a replacement, that's an opportunity loss of US$1,000 a day because you not just have to pay for the leave that the sick person is entitled to but also for the extra day or days that he has to spend to continue working on the project. Whereas if a replacement is already available as planned, the project goes as scheduled with the replacement taking over until the key person gets back to work. Efficiency, of course, is a different story. But still, you've managed to save time - and money - lost because of proper planning.

Imagine how much we can save if we just plan what we do in our lives - that vacation you've always wanted, your career path, your retirement, your next project, your family, etc. I'm not saying you should plan everything as rigid as you can as this would probably limit your creativity and imagination. But it really helps a lot planning way ahead.

Running with the giants:An MBA lesson for 90 cents

I was on my way home after dinner when I happen to bump into my former boss. He used to be a Microsoft MVP and a Director for Training and Technology for a Microsoft training partner. A great guy that he is, he joined Microsoft Singapore earlier this year as a Solutions Specialist for the Information Worker. This covers the Microsoft Office product range which also includes Office SharePoint Server. He's a very busy guy and everytime I can get a chance to spend some time with him. I grab that opportunity. He was on his way to get some tea after a stressful day at work. I asked him about what he has been busy with and he started telling stories - lots of them. I've always learned something new everytime I talk to him. This time it was sales techniques and a few new acronyms in sales - the M.A.N in the MAN. M stands for Money. Does the person you are dealing with have a budget? A stands for Authority. Does he have the authority or even influence to make decisions about the transaction? N stands for NEED. Does he or his organization have a need for what you are offering? If any of these is not present in a sales engagement, then, it might be a waste of time.

My point here is that when we run with the right crowd, we tend to be like them. In this particular case, I instantly became a student of sales and everything that he can share with me during that span of time. That's also the same when we hang around with the wrong crowd. Imagine trying to be with the top corporate executives just for dinner at an event. You'll pick up a thing or two about how they think, how they act, and their perspectives. In the long run, you'll eventually be like them. So, ask yourself today. How and where would you like to be in a year's time? It's time to consider realigning your goal to who you hang around with. And, by the way, that was a cheap lesson on sales strategy. A cup of Starbucks coffee is even more expensive

ATMs for your employees and staff

In my previous blog post, I talked about overinvesting in people. As a follow-up post to that, I would like to highlight the need for ATMs for your employees and staff. ATM stands for attract, train and motivate. First, attract the best people. We expect our organizations to grow and become globally competitive in the marketplace. We compete on the basis of performance and productivity. Or products and services have to be as excellent as we can make them. But we need the best people fit for the job to make sure we get the results that we want. In most cases, organizations wanted to get the best but do not want to pay the price. It's just like wanting to get a Ferrari at the price of a Toyota. I amo not saying Toyota is a low-class brand but performance for both are different. Which is why there is a very big difference in the price. I like what a friend of mine usually says when asked abuot compensation,"I deliver what is expected of me and I expect top management todo the same." That being said, I believe there is no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to the best and the excellent. Next, train your staff. We all need to grow and the only way for us to grow is to go beyond our confort zones. The best people will always be willing to take just about any challenge given to them. But in order for them to do so, they need to be equipped. Giving them the proper training will enable them to do their jobs as effective and as efficient as possible. It's just like giving them the tools they need to do their jobs well. Lastly, motivate your staff. Motivation fuels an individual. A simple tap on the back telling them about how good they do at work, appreciating them on simple things and motivating them to strive harder. It's a classic example of over-investing in emotional currency. With the ATM-approach, your organization will create a workforce that is at the cutting edge of today's challenging demands. Bottom line is, the life blod of any organization is the human resource

Overinvest in People

I was listening to the audio abridged version of How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization by Jeffrey J. Fox on my way to work. I have managed to read the book version of the audio MP3 a couple of years before but didn't have a chance to get a copy. In it, he emphasized something really important about people and employees which I really believe in: Overinvest in People. Think about it. If you are investing in something that you know would have a marginal return on your investments - whether it's that blue chip stock, real estate or your own business - wouldn't you be investing more? The human capital is far better than any of these investment portfolios as anybody has the capacity create and produce - they make things happen. Fox highlighted it in a way that companies should hire the best people and that they should pay for their employees' worth. He states that companies who save money on hiring only the people they can afford are headed for mediocrity. I always take the Asian culture in perspective every time I cite examples as we do not really believe in this principle. The result is a high turn-over rate causing a lot money in hiring, re-training and loss of morale among staff because a key team player "jumps boat." What would happen if your favourite NBA or NFL team suddenly thinks that their best player is not worth every cent of their pay? I doubt that the team will make it even in the initial round of eliminations. Same goes for organizations. Fox also mentioned about overpaying the employees. He states that if an employee gets paid about $20 an hour, he or she knows it. If an employee receives anything less than his or her worth, he or she will feel cheated. A savings of say $1 an hour will amount to $8 per day. But that is not worth saving compared to the loss that will result in the employee's behavior knowing that he or she is being cheated. There's just no way to quantify the amount of loss as an effect of low morale - drop in productivity, sabotage, theft, etc. But paying your employees more than what is expected of them results in high morale and increased productivity. This again highlights the concept on overinvesting in people. Try it out and see what happens. I've done my share of overinvesting in people in small, simple ways and have gotten some very good results.

When even the small things can make a very big difference

As a follow-up on the Double As blog post, I was on the phone almost 3 weeks ago talking to a cousin of mine and simply asking her about how she was doing. She was basically tasked to take care of her three nephews, all boys, as her sister - the boy's mom - had to work overseas. When the boys had a chance to visit their mom, she mustered all her memories and told me about how difficult it was raising the kids. And now that the kids were temporarily away, she felt a bit of ease from the responsibility and that somehow it was really tiring. As I was listening to her stories, I realized all the hard work she had to put in raising those kids and how sometimes she felt like giving up. When she was done telling her stories, I ended up telling her how what she has done to those kids had a positive impact in their lives and the lives of thousands if not millions of people worldwide. She was surprised with what she just heard. All along, she didn't realize that her "stressful unwanted" responsibilities had that much impact. She was trying to figure out what I was saying. Then I told her about my perspective. You see, raising kids, just like everything I can think of, is all about perspective. Some people think of it as a responsibility, I think of it as an investment. Whether we sow seeds of good or bad deeds, somewhere, somehow, we'll get some return. That's for sure. Some kids grow up to be world changers, other end up in the dumps. But there is more to it than that. Apparently, those kids - us included - would have the opportunity to touch and influence a thousand or more people throughout their lives. Now, what does that have to do with our responsibilities as parents (or even foster parents)? Whatever we do to those kids will impact the next generation and they will, in turn, decide how to change the world. As I was telling her about my perspective, I started citing one of his nephews and how he has become an influencer, touching the lives of more than a million Filipinos worldwide. Apparently, his nephew (who happened to be mine as well) won a model search competition and has managed to secure an talent contract with one of the media conglomerates in the Philippines. That being said, a face which used to be only familiar among relatives and peers has now become a public figure. With the media conglomerate's reach of more than 200,000 Filipino subscribers in the United States alone and all across Middle East, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Australia, imagine the impact of this face together with his story worldwide. That being said, she realized how what she had done for the kids did have an impact - not just in the lives of those kids but in those that they manage to influence in their lifetime. So, don't fret. Who knows that the small act you do today - for your kids, staff, or just about anybody, even the people you don't know - will have a profound impact on the world tomorrow. You might be growing the next Albert Einstein or the next Winston Churchill right across your living room watching TV

Empowering individuals with a Double A (a.k.a AA)

Question: What comes to mind when we say "Double As"?
Answer: A pair of pocket-sized batteries probably from Energizer

I was reading the introduction of Ron Clark's book The Excellent 11: Qualitites Teachers and Parents Use to Motivate, Inspire, and Educate Children when I happen to notice a very important note which he had made - understand the importance of the value of appreciation. In today's challenging and fast-paced work environment, organizations compete on the basis of efficiency and productivity. But I believe that the success of any organization lies in the human resource. Leading the organization in the next wave of changes requires a lot more than the usual budget, strategy, innovation and creativity (although these are still necessary ingredients to succeed). And this is where the importance of the double AA come in. People need a dose of appreciation and affirmation on a daily basis. This is the cheapest and one of the most effective form of rewarding your employees. The person who receives appreciation and affirmation will feel valued and will eventually be motivated in their work, thus, increasing employee productivity. This also helps build a productive and positive work environment. I believe that the Asian culture is not used to this kind of employee motivation. Most of the time, our way of thinking is that employees are hired to work hard. Recognizing them for something that they are expected to do can get way over their heads. But that in itself is counter-intuitive in a sense that the more an individual realizes that his or her work has value, the more motivated he or she becomes.

Try it out. Appreciate and affirm somebody from your team (or even anybody you know) today and see how it changes them. With the double As, it's not just the Energizer bunny who can keep going ... and going...

Leadership Lessons from Raising Kids

Proverbs 22:6(KJV) says "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."

I normally hear this from Christians raising up their kids. The scripture specifically mentions the way we should raise our kids.It says "train" and not just "teach." More often, we simply teach our children how to live but not train them. Training requires skill. When you are a trainor (as I still am), you must have the appropriate skills to be effective because while teaching the concepts, you are also showing them how to do it. This is what differentiates teaching from training. Our children might be hearing our teaching but not seeing it being done. Then we are not training them. The proper way is to teach AND do. And training requires repetition.Which means you have to make it as a part of your system as if it were a habit. Talk about training our kids how to pray, respect elderly, go to church, etc. Now this is what the scripture means by "training up a child."

But what does this have to do with leadership? In organizations, we sometimes hear management being frustrated at their employees'/subordinates' performance. Top executives have become too engrossed with day-to-day operations. All they ever do is send memos (emails included) and deliver speeches during anniversaries, expecting the subordinates to be fired up and be enthusiastic. What's worse is that management expects a lot from their employees but their staff don't even know what and how to do what they are supposed to do to meet those expectations. It's like throwing a child in a pool and expect him to be an Olympic gold medalist. It doesn't make sense. What they have forgotten is that they need to "train up" their subordinates. Which means teaching and doing as well. And this takes time, not to mention effort. That is why mentoring and coaching plays a vital role in the success of an organization.

If we are managing an organization, let's consider how the scripture defines raising up kids. After all, don't we treat our organizations as such?