Connecting Dots! (Getting value from data)

The major difference between information and knowledge is that an information is a collection of different dots (data points), when we are compiling this information by connecting the dots (putting intelligence), it generate wonderful knowledge repository. 

In other words “Information consists of facts and data organized to describe a particular situation or condition. We use knowledge to determine what a specific situation means. Knowledge is applied to interpret information about the situation and to decide how to handle it”

The same principal applied in team work, team will fail if individual’s task is not connected with common goal assigned.

In real world also, despite of common goal of organization most of the departments build their individual data centres. Failure of sync in data leads poor strategic decisions which finally turned into the loss of good business opportunity.

For example:

Currently I am using this theory in my new assignment and it is helping me a lot in making critical project decisions.

I recommend that we should encourage our team members to share the validated information between them to create a centralized knowledge network for better business decisions.

RSS Theory of Empowerment and Leadership:

Recently I got a chance of becoming a part of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) “Guru Dakshina” activity; I observed the empowerment and leadership style closely and it helps me a lot in learning the core rules of leadership and re-defining  my perception on team building theories. 

I have concluded my learning in 7 key rules:

1. Be a team member rather than team leader to empower other team member towards the assigned goal. It helps in creating the productive environment.
2. Set your expectation very clear and define the process steps if your team members are doing any task first time.
3. Empower your team member with required resources to accomplish the task.
4. Re-confirm from your team members’ whether they have understood the assigned task. You can take a DRY RUN with your team members if your task is critical.
5. Let your team members know that their task is a very important milestone in achieving common goal of the team.
6. Lead by example, you need to set the bench mark which you are expecting from your team members. (e.g. discipline in work-area, showing the respect to other team members)
7. Regular review of process update to take corrective actions if required. Don’t forget to appreciate your team members for their achievements.

Price of Non Conformance (PONC)

In general, human being always tried to find the short-cuts for doing the given task. Sometimes it helps in inventing new & improved ideas to complete the given task by keeping the required quality standards. But generally it leads to Non-Conformance from agreed quality standards.

Quality standards may vary from customer to customer. Conformance of quality standard means delivering the agreed quality to customer.

The "cost of quality" isn't the price of creating a quality product or service. It's the cost of NOT creating a quality product or service.

Every time work is redone, the cost of quality increases. Obvious examples include:

•       The reworking of a manufactured item.
•       The retesting of an assembly.
•       The rebuilding of a tool.
•      The correction of a bank statement.
•        The reworking of a service, such as the reprocessing of a loan operation or the replacement of a food order in a restaurant.

In short, any cost that would not have been expended if quality were perfect contributes to the cost of quality.

Most of the costs of poor quality are hidden from our normal quality measures. These costs of quality are often referred to as the Hidden Factory. This includes:

1.  Unhappy customers
2. Schedule interruptions
3. Fire Fighting
4. Unnecessary Procedures
5. Equipment Failures
6. Extra Operations such as touch ups and trimming
7. Distracted Engineers
8. Expediting time
9. Poorly performing product
10. Extra inspection and testing
11. Wasted materials and energy
12. Sorting
13. Extra inventory
14. Unexplained budget variations
15. Missed shipments
16. Complaint Investigation Cost

Total Quality Costs

Quality costs are the total of the cost incurred by:

• Investing in the prevention of nonconformance to requirements.
• Appraising a product or service for conformance to requirements.
• Failing to meet requirements.

It is highly recommended to follow the Quality standard to avoid re-working cost in Project Management.

Be an Example

“Example is the school of mankind, and they will learn at no other”, said Edmund Burke.

It is the truth of this statement which makes good management such an exacting discipline. We all achieve most of our learning from experience, but especially from the actions of those above us.

Following are some of BAD HABITS your subordinates could be learning from you:

1. Poor time-keeping, long lunches, or ‘missing’ for long periods when no one knows where you are or when you will be back. 
2. Delegating unpleasant tasks to others, e.g. informing unsuccessful job interviewees, handling the regular ‘pain in the neck’ client, carrying out an evening or weekend assignment, or doing duty over the holiday period. 
3. Fiddling’ expenses, misusing company equipment or supplies, and making personal calls on the office telephone. 
4. Sending staff out in office time to do personal household tasks for you. 
5. Keeping junior staff waiting when you have arranged to see them, and then letting anyone and everyone interrupt when they are talking to you. 
6. Making disrespectful comments about your boss, or your boss’s boss-even in jest. We all know that reveals the greatest truths.
7. The way you treat customers, clients or patients, but most of all what you say about them afterwards, including non-verbal communications- it takes only one gesture to make a lasting impact.
8. Interrupting your subordinates’ work unnecessarily, and not meeting your own deadlines.
9. Accepting mediocrity rather than striving for excellence.

Few effective tools to use socialization as a POSITIVE FORCE:

1. Share your own development and learning with your staff tell them what went well and what didn't, how you might handle it next time, and what you have learned from your experience. When possible, let them observe you at work.
2. Talk about what you rate as successes; relate the myths of ‘greatest’ in the oganisation, and your staff will learn what is valued and emulate it.
3. Treat your subordinates as you would like your boss to treat you, and they will treat their own staff the same way.
4. Share your mistakes (or some of them), and demonstrate how to learn and develop from them.
5. Keep staff informed on what you are doing, especially on things which relate to their work.
6. Be enthusiastic about your work and theirs, and about what you are all there to achieve – it is second only to self –interest as a source of influence!
7. Respect people, time and the company’s goods, and be seen to do so.
8. Maintain high personal standards of honesty and truthfulness, but if it is necessary to be ‘economical with the truth’, do it yourself, don’t delegate it. 

Stop Being a People-Pleaser!

It you’re always felt a compulsion to meet everyone else’s needs before your own, it’s hard to imagine being different. People-pleasing is not only what you do, but a strong part of who you believe you are. If you’re ready to start investing your time, instead of letting other people spend it for yours.  

There are three common scenarios that can trigger our people-pleaser tendencies and how you can think and act differently.

1. The Unrealistic Standard Scenario- many managers feels guilty about the fact that they are in so many meeting so they develop the mindset that “I am bad manager if I don’t always keep my door open when I’m in my office”. But this can lead to every spare minute between appointments being field by people walking though their door eager for attention. In turn, all of their own work needs to happen in the evenings and weekends which then lead to a cycle guilt about being a bad spouse, parent, or friend. It sound like you, the escape route is to change your standard for what it means to be a good manager. This then frees you to set better boundaries and get more work done at work.
2. The ‘YES!’ Man or Women Scenario- if you are an energetic, service-oriented person, your tendency is to always respond to any saying. “Sure, I can do that.” Or when you are sitting in a meeting and someone ask for volunteers to help, you always raise your hand. Or even when no one ask for help; but you know they need help you offer to assist. In end of itself, a strong desire to take action is not bad. But if this attitude means that you are completely overloaded with work and unfocused on your top priorities, you are failing to keep commitments that truly should fall under your ownership.
3. The “I’ll Just Do It Myself” Scenario- Generally highly intelligent, hard-working people tend to struggle with letting go of control though delegation. This challenge seems most acute when they go from a “doing” role such as a consultant to a “leading” role such as a department head. Instead of passing off responsibilities to the appropriate parties, you tell yourself, “It will just take a minute I can get this done better and faster than anyone else.” These thoughts do have some truth to them in that you may have the ability to execute on some activities very well. But if you are like most business leaders, you don’t have the minutes to spare. In a typical week, you will have just a few precious work hours you can devote to doing the activities that only you can do. The first question you should ask with any item big or small is :” Could someone else do this for me?”  If so, delegate it. The more organized you get, the better you will be able to delegate without “inconveniencing”  others.

You cannot please everybody in world. So priorities your own assignments first before lending your time to other person. This will help you to keep your own commitments.

Handling Team Conflicts

When two or more persons work together in a project for a common goal, conflicts may occur. What we mean by conflict in nothing else but the disagreement that broken our between in their views, thoughts and opinions. Conflicts are natural. But at any time, it should not disrupt the mutual relationship nor affect the functionality of the entity be it in personal or professional life.

Dealing with conflicts at work:

Conflicts are unavoidable but a solution is essential to give mutual benefits for both employees and organization to complete eh project.

Let’s have a look at few tips; essential for a project manager to handle the conflicts within team:

1. Analyse the source/reason of conflict. As project manager, you should have a complete understanding about the root course of the problem.
2. Emphasize the need to solve the conflict. Define the solution, what do you have to achieve at the end of the conflict, it course and consequences.
3. Identify the level, when the conflict is constructive and beyond which it becomes destructive for the team. 
4. Organize indisputable discussion among the team members to explore about the topic and their opinions. This will enable the mutual sharing of information and a clarity of thought within team.
5. Communication during the discussion should be democratic, but manager should follow autocratic style of communication when needed.
6. There should be active participation among the members.
7. During the discussion time, complete focus should be on the topic and no deviation should be entertained by project manager
8. Control the emotions and showing of professionalism becomes key points for a project manager, in solving the solutions of conflicts
9. Note down the key points of discussion and prioritize it for solving the conflicts
10. Arrive on a solution which is supported by members

A Project Manager holds the responsibility, in finding a right way to solve the conflict with its team.

Preventing Conflict

As well as being able to handle conflict when it arises, teams need to develop ways of preventing conflict from becoming damaging. Team members can learn skills and behaviour to help this. Here are some of the key ones to work on:

1. Dealing with conflict immediately – avoid the temptation to ignore it.
2. Being open – if people have issues, they need to be expressed immediately and not allowed to fester.
3. Practising clear communication – articulate thoughts and ideas clearly.
4. Practising active listening – paraphrasing, clarifying, questioning.
5. Practising identifying assumptions – asking yourself "why" on a regular basis.
6. Not letting conflict get personal – stick to facts and issues, not personalities.
7. Focusing on actionable solutions – don't belabour what can't be changed.
8. Encouraging different points of view – insist on honest dialogue and expressing feelings.
9. Not looking for blame – encourage ownership of the problem and solution.
10. Demonstrating respect – if the situation escalates takes a break and waits for emotions to subside.
11. Keeping team issues within the team – talking outside allows conflict to build and fester, without being dealt with directly.

Handling Negative People.

When people spend most of the day in close proximity, you are bound to be affected by the positive and negative moods of your co-workers. Will you let a negative colleague affect you professionally or personally?

Do you remember the last time you had a bad day because of a negative colleague? Or the time when you adjusted to the sarcastic remarks by a co-worker. While these workplace blues are unconstrained you can try and bring a change in how you deal with Mr./Ms. Miserable. 

We can avoid pessimist trap by following simple measures:

1. Don’t get into a debate: arguments lead to conflicts. It is human to react and argue to protest and point. However in this situation we need to control our behaviour and responses. Don’t let the snide remarks bother you. Deal with the matter firmly but nicely. 
2. Avoid going public: Such miserable people are insecure about their conduct. They say or do things to get attention of your and others too. By confronting them in public you are actually falling into their trap. Once you make the situation public, it will destroy all future possibilities of fixing it. 
3. Lend a helping hand: complaining starts shouting in the morning, “I handle everything. I have no life after office. I don’t have any friends.” Now, although it is difficult, try to get to the root cause of this outburst. The outburst suggests the person needs help in his work or someone with whom he can talk to.
4. Limit yourself: By now, you must have tried everything- a combination of politeness and a good dose of firmness and positivity. If nothing works, it is time to deal with the situation by staying aloof. Neither is supportive nor critical. Such people eat you energy and in turn your productivity. Reduce contact with them as much as possible.