Doing the unconventional

I have missed a couple of weeks of not posting anything to my non-technical blog because of my intense preparation for TechEd Asia 2008. As a regular conference and event speaker, these are the major events that I sort of anticipate throughout the year. But this year was different. I ended up focusing more on the delivery of my sessions than just simply the content. I have been working on the content almost everyday since it is a part of my daily routines. I normally choose to speak on topics that I am very familiar with so I can spice up the delivery by telling my own stories. I've decided to do the unconventional this time - restructure my slides that would be totally different from what the average speaker does. I've replaced text with pictures which required a lot of creativity since these are technical in nature. I've written story lines and scripts to drive the delivery of the session, making it more like a story than a technical session. That turned out to be rewarding. The people liked my sessions and provided very good evaluation scores (although not as good as those who really are expert speakers). I guess the investments paid off. And, so I've decided to change the way I'll do presentations, learning from people like Steve Jobs and applying tips from Carmine Gallo. Who knows, I might end up being one of them

When Job Anonymity = Job Misery

"To lead people, walk beside them ... As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ... When the best leader's work is done the people say, 'We did it ourselves!'"
- Lao-tsu -

I like Patrick Lencioni's view of anonymity that causes an individual's job misery. I have to admit that most employees dread coming to work every day, dragging their feet just to get a paycheck. I was listening to a colleague the other day how he didn't like the idea of our boss coming back to work after a long break due to the fact that he'll start feeling useless again. For the past few days, he was spending sleepless nights trying to solve technical issues together with our US counterparts and that felt like an accomplishment for him. Once the boss gets back, he'll be back to being "just like everyone else." Knowing that we are important and making a difference is something that everyone likes to feel, whether at work, at school or at home. But the truth is, we really are important as we are unique individuals. The problem with managers nowadays is that they tend to miss the point. Ask this question to any manager you know : "When was the last time you told their staff how important they were in the team?" They probably won't remember. And having that feeling of unimportance will cause any individual to feel miserble at work. We keep forgetting that working professionals are human beings, too. And it is important to understand that making people feel important contributes to their productivity and fulfillment.

Get out of your track

I have to admit that I am a self-confessed workaholic. Most of us will probably do what I do - stick to what we have always been doing, thereby creating a habit. While this is a good practice to get ourselves master what we do well, it also hinders our ability to grow in some aspects. Today, I have purposedly just stopped reading work-related emails for half a day and went over and started reading about business and personal development (I haven't done this for more than a month now as I have been focusing more on SQL Server recently). I used to do this everyday but the demands of both work and career sometimes make us forget that in order for us to really be successful is to make sure we grow. We need to create a habit that will enable us to grow even outside of what we do, realizing the fact that there is life outside of work and career. Getting out of your track will also make you get a better perspective of what is happening outside of your environment.

Business Insights from the Shop Floors

I was riding the Light Rail Transit in Manila,Philippines a couple of days ago and couldn't help but overhear a bunch of merchandise staff who are responsible for sales in one of the biggest malls in Asia. What's notable about their conversation was the fact that they were discussing how to strategically position the products that they sell in various locations within the mall in order to increase their sales. Now, you might think that this is something normal for businesses who need to understand how their products and customers mesh together to become successful but you need to understand something. In Manila where job opportunities are scarce, the very people who are discussing strategies and business approaches didn't even had the opportunity to get themselves into college. Some of them didn't even finish high school. It reminds me of how Sam Walton - founder of Wal-Mart - asks each of his staff how to improve the business and eventually turned it to what it is today. He just understood the value of each staff - whether they're management or rank-and-file. While I am a great fan of business intelligence and how we can use technology to gain business insight, there's still no substitute for the guy who sees your customer smile everyday and understand what it takes to take your business to the next level

When validating change is important

Part of IT Information Library's change management process is to validate whatever change was made to the IT infrastructure so that if there are some unnecessary incidents that happened because of the change, it can be reverted back. We often follow stringent procedures when it comes to processes without realizing its impact in our day-to-day life. Take for instance when we deal with people. We expect people to change for good and that is, of course, essential. We tell them what needs to be changed and we expect them to do it. But when they do, we don't even notice, much more validate the change. The person who did everything at his disposal to improve will end up to be disappointed knowing that it seems unnecessary to change. This goes back to the concept of "seagull management" where we only see the bad things in people and not the good ones. Even changes in people need to be validated so that they would be able to benchmark whether to improve further or maintain the status quo. So the next time you see your staff, children or even friends make changes for their improvement, make sure you validate them so that they'll keep improving. It won't hurt telling them they have submitted their requirements way ahead of schedule and that you are happy with what they did.

Say cheese!

"There are two things people want more than sex and money -- recognition and praise." Mary Kay Ash

The public bus system of Seattle, Washington is filled with pictures of their employees - bus mechanics who have won the Vehicle Maintenance Employee of the Year Award who have also won some trade skills competition in the United States and Transit Operator of the Year. From a marketing perspective, one might think of it as telling the customers of the competent staff that an organization has to ensure excellent delivery of goods and services. Besides, nobody will doubt the performance of a staff who has won trade competitions. I've also seen this in fast food chains like McDonald's and Burger King where they do have their Employee of the Month pictures posted near places where customers can see them. But what organizations fail to realize sometimes is that these recognition programs actually do more than just recognizing their staff. According to Abraham Maslow's heirarchy of needs, recognition is simply meeting one of the basic human needs. Regularly doing so has a lot of benefits within an organization. A Gallup Poll revealed that recognition programs can reduce employee turnover and increase loyalty. After all, if recognition is a basic human need, whoever fills that need will gain the individual's respect and loyalty. It's just basic human psychology.

A better way to approach this is make it a habit to simply compliment anybody sincerely each day. You will not only make the other person feel recognized, you will also gain a loyal friend

Get a good night's sleep

- The best bridge between hope and despair is often a good night's sleep -

from the God's Little Devotional Book

I've read of one of Forbe's Magazine's South East Asia's 40 Richest from the Philippines, John Gokongwei, Jr. In one of his comments in a local newspaper, he specifically mentioned about "not loosing sleep over a big business deal." Talk about somebody who values sleep more than riches which is probably why he is one of South East Asia's richest. This reminded me of Steve Ballmer, President and CEO of the largest software company in the world, Microsoft Corporation. During the MVP Summit in Seattle, WA last month, the MVPs were given the opportunity to ask him all sorts of questions - from what's Microsoft's role in protecting the environment, his vision of the company similar to that of Bill Gates', etc. An Indian friend of mine got the opportunity to approach the microphone and ask him a question. A lot of people were expecting him to ask technical questions and stuff but were surprised to hear what he has to ask. The question was: "Do you get sound sleep?" There was laughter in the crowd as most of them have not had good enough sleep during the course of the summit due to adjustments in time zone differences and activities which lasts until the morning. Steve Ballmer's answer was pretty straight-forward. "Yes. Excellent sleep. Seriously, I sleep extremely well, and long. I need seven to eight hours a night. I get seven to eight hours a night. And if the question is, are there things that worry me, the answer is sure. I worry about many things. I worry about our company, and keeping agile, and our desire to have all of the best and brightest people working for us, and partnering with us. I worry, and think, and wonder about how we're going to come from behind where we're behind, and stay ahead where we're ahead. I worry and wonder about financials. But the day you don't sleep well, I think it's probably a day that you shouldn't keep doing the kind of job I'm doing. You have to be realistic when you're awake about where you are, and confident enough that you can go to sleep when it's time to go to sleep." What a statement of confidence! People think that you have to work harder, sleep less in order to become successful. But these guys know better and their status tells it all. I guess I need to include this in my list of Ironies of Opposites for Success.

So the next time you feel that you cannot go to sleep at night, think about the guy who runs the biggest software company in the world. The transcript of Steve Ballmer's keynote session at the MVP Summit is available on this site