corporate and personal development inc. Botswana

BUILDING TEAMS

koshebal — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:42:23 +0000

TEAMS
What is a team?????
What do teams do? Teams have common purposes. They undertake activities (which is what brings them together and defines them). They grow together and in that growth procees they attend meetings, briefings REVIEWS and a myriad of other activities. One fundamental rule to achieving almost anything is focus. Which begets consistency. And for a team to really kick some serious dust it needs to consistently undertake standard team activies.
A team will have a purpose for existing. And from time to time the team needs to look back and try to see if it is achieving its core purpose. Mandate if you will. These reviews give a sense of direction. Time to redraw, regroup, restrategise and re-do anything that needs to be re-done.
Teams reviews are supposed to infuse new life into a team. I like the word INFUSE….because for reviews to be able to INFUSE new life they need to RE-ENERGISE the team. Not suck life out of it. They need to be FUN. One way to really make reviews worth the while is to flatten the hierarchy structure during reviews and operate on horizontal plane. Better still make a circular plane in which the review can operate within.
Time to reviews is very important. You don’t want them interrupting progressive work. At the same time you don’t want a long time in between your reviews. You need a balancing act…review at the time when the team has pending challenges but still fired …so hot that they can feel and act in different dimensions simultaneously individually and together as a unit.
Teams have goals..deliverables. The best known way to create team goals is to use the SMART method:
S:tretch the team.Make challenging goals. Expect the team to exceed the target.
M:easurable: Aim to quantify the aim of the goal
A:chievable: The goal must be achievable. Not necessarily easy and boy every one in the team must be begging to be given that assignment. Make it just sexy!!!!
R:ecord: Circulate a memo to team members
T:Ime. Have a chalk line buddy. Deliverable date where your team will do the NYEH NYEH sticks on the wall-done it shtick!!
There are some fundamental needs to building great teams. But this is not the place nor time to look at.
Copyright: Corporate and development inc-Botswana

wow you

koshebal — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:12:11 +0000

THE WOW YOU
1. HAVE A DREAM
 Have a dream. Crystallise it in your mind. Then transform that dream into a need. A must have.
 Now prepare yourself mentally, physical and emotionally for the achievement of that dream. Admit to yourself that it is not going to be a walk in the park, else you didn’t need to dream it first.
 Achieving a dream is like a journey. A long journey. Set targets[places you will pass in your journey. Pit stops. Refuelling points and rest points. Distances markers]
 If your dream is an out of this world dream or something transcendental by your standards[long journey] you need to motivate yourself. Best way is to use positive affirmations.
2. DEVELOP AWESOME WORKING HABITS
 Wake up early. Start each day with a light brisky exercise. A skipping rope does wonders in this category.
 Focus on getting things done and dealt with.
 Differentiate between important and urgent tasks. Finish urgent tasks then move to important ones
 For every situation look at the flip side. Make some payoff decisional analysis. Interrogate the situation and seek for opportunities within the problem. Mathematicians will tell you that every problem has a weak point. Find the weak points. Find corollaries to your decision
 Develop a commitment to your goals.
 Develop the necessary skills. If you want to take part in a cycling competition you need a bicycle. And you need to know how to ride it.
 KNOW THAT YOU WILL NEED ROUGHLY A MONTH AND A HALF TO ENTRENCH THE WORKNIG HABITS YOU NEED. COMMIT YOURSELF TO THE PROCESS
3.DEVELOP YOUR OWN WORLD
 Athletes call this being in the zone. The ability to sustain a certain level of concentration for prolonged periods. Tennis players are taught to always watch the ball and keep the opponent in the periphery. Sometimes we even tell them to try to see the seams of a tennis ball that is coming to them at a speed of +100km/hr. Create your own zone where you see the roads to your destination.
 Cultivate relationships with people who share your passion and your dream
3.WRITE YOUR EPITAPH THEN LIVE IT!!!!!!!!
What are the things that your value most. Things that you believe in and subscribe to.

BUSINESS PROCESSES REVISITED

koshebal — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:19:00 +0000

There is no right or wrong way to approach work. But i believe there is a wrong and right way to approach people at work. Especially people who are using your services. Organisations put processes in place and increasingly it is to guard themselves first (which might be good) and provide a service second. Most of the so called goal oriented people do not actually focus on solving a clients problem but they rather look at their internal process.

Usually when I approach a help desk and someone ask me how can I help you i usually say I dont know. Cos honestly i dont know how you are going to do it. But i`ll tell you my problem. And i believe because it is your job you should figure the how part but Goddamn it help me!!!! I used to sell bank products. Sometimes Id get a customer coming to me wanting a loan. As is natural sometimes they failed to meet the bank criteria. But the person really needs the money, like they are getting divorced and she needs to roog her house and if she can get 5G….She dont have a credit card. If she had she`d have a 6G crdit limit. She doesnt qualify for a loan. She qualifies for a credit card. At the same monies she wants……I helped outside the process

MEETINGS REVISITED

koshebal — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 06:51:18 +0000

Maybe i need to revisit this after endless hours in these. Listening to people tackle nut and bolt issues at work, gossip,insult each other etc.. Where I am right now I HATE MEETINGS and I`ll tell you why.
1)There is no criteria for holding meetings-some issues which to me are not meeting issues are decided in a meeting, disrupting work schedules
2)people at the meeting rarely know what the meeting is about ( especially the so called general staff meetings)
3)people at meetings are rarely objective-there is shooting down syndrome. in the end even real work solutions end up not heard
THERE ARE MANY PROBLEMS-SO WHAT NEEDS TO BE-DONE
Meeting participants should
i) know sthe purposse of the meeteing. address that and stick to the issue at hand
ii)LISTEN TO OTHERS like real listen and seek to understands someones viewpoint
iii)Help to ensure group consensus.
We shold appreciate that people are by their nature emotive creatures. And where emotions fly-emotions that carry us away from what we want to achieve other participants should be in a position to sway other back to track…….
We need to view meetings as chance to accomplish goals. As opportunities to solve problems we encounter on the ground.

Eight Dimdensions of Strategic Managerment(from the balanced score card institute

koshebal — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 09:50:27 +0000

 Leadership
 Culture and values
 Strategic thinking and planning
 Alignment
 Performance measurement
 Performance management
 Process improvement
 Sustainability of strategic management
A great emphasis or clear definition of what these are and what they are not needs to be done.
WHAT IS INCLUDED WITHIN EACH OF THESE DIMENSIONS?
AS A MANAGER DO YOU RECOGNISE THE THINKING SKILLS OF YOUR EMPLOYEES?
HOW DOES YOUR WORK FORCE DEAL WITH CHANGE? DO YOU SEE CHANGE AS A CONSTANT IN YOUR ORGANISATION? wHAT ARE THE LEVELS OF TRUST? TRANSPARENCY? ENGAGEMENT?
WHATS THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS OF DYNAMIC SYSTEM EFFECTS e.g FEEDBACK?
WHAT IS THE DEGREE TO WHICH THE YOUR ORGANISATIONS PEOPLE AND RESOURCES ARE FOCUSED ON STRATEGY?

BRAND POWER AND YOU

koshebal — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 06:08:54 +0000

Good brands stand out. And always seem to convey a certain meaning or rather a defining concept.
e.g microsost is easy to use.
Goods brands are credible.
In the job market the greatest asset you have is yourself. The question is can you commoditize yourself?
Building on the idea of a brand good brands are either big muscled or very,very lean and specialised in a very narrow field[niches]
To make yourself marketable you have to be in one of these two extremes. Middle brands just wont make it.

WHAT DO YOU NED TO DO
1.Create an identity-start where you are at the moment. Make yourself known for the right reasons
2.Create a niche-specialise in your area. Get deeper. Make it a point to know your work beyond the average
3. Reveal your unique self-Not the tattoo in your other cheek
4. Create a wow attitude

PRODUCT POSTIONING or RATHER IDEA POSITIONING

koshebal — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 06:37:06 +0000

In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. The idea can be extended or should be extended to management. managers always find themselves increasingly facing a hostile no accomodative work force. Usually the problem is what i want to call different operational wavelengths.
People being emotive entities are bound to make decisions based on their current state of mind. Where change needs to be effected[whethr from top to bottom or vice versa] the change has to be sold to people effecting it. The aim is to make the other party visualise what you aim to effect.

In effect you are trying to:
* 1. Positioning your idea against the current idea or way of doing things, “
* 2. Emphasizing a distinctive unique benefit -or the why should ido it this way question
* 3. Affiliating your idea with something the other party knows or values customer knows.

Change management should be viewed as a marketing/selling process. For it to be effective one needs to create a positioning strategy.
WHY A POSITIONING STRATEGY:A positioning statement reflects what you need to communicate about a specific idea and to whom. This ensures that your eyes are always on the ball and you are sure of communicating the right message to the same time at the right time.

The idea has to make sense and has to be communicated in a clear way. Remember that you have had time to create the idea and refine it. You ran it through yourself so many times. The othee person needs the same luxury. Be understanding.

Most importantly people should feel that the change is worth a damn-will solve problems. Which means you should know their pains too!!!!

CONTROL SYSTEMS-WHAT ARE THEY?

koshebal — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:29:07 +0000

A control system is an activity monitoring system within an organisation. These are put in-place to provide a basis for corrective action in the future. Fundamental to the idea of control is the mechanical nature of the control device once it is put into place. It stands to reason that building the control device should be given proper care and due care and diligence.

HOW DO CONTROL SYSTEM WORK?

SITUATION MONITORING–> Here the system identifies departures from expected outcomes. Expected outcomes are predetermined /standardized outcomes/ideal outcomes

TAKE CORRECTIVE MEASURES–>In an organisation this involves Re-training Redeployment Redundancies Reprimands etc CA control system is an activity monitoring system within an organisation. These are put in-place to provide a basis for corrective action in the future. Fundamental to the idea of control is the mechanical nature of the control device once it is put into place. It stands to reason that building the control device should be given proper care and due care and diligence.

CONTROL SYSTEMS AS THINKING BOXES

Owing to their mechanical nature control systems check/monitor certain defined objectives[maybe not necessarily the mechanisms of how those are attained] In some instances control system maybe rigid outlines. In such cases the creativity part should have been integrated during planning/brainstorming phase . In such cases the creativity part should have been integrated during planning/brainstorming phase

The civil service in Botswana is bound t…

koshebal — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:18:09 +0000

The civil service in Botswana is bound to fail. Another prophet of doom???
Primary reasons:
Lack of a firm grasp[in senior civil servants] of-policy
-legislature
-protocol and procedure
Also weak control mechanisms, lack of accountability, an indifferent work force [ check the nurses, police, principal education officers, etc]

Reengineering processes are also bound to fail due to all of the above listed reasons. Honestly how does someone who dont know how a Business process engineering functions engineer a process?
One day workshops are not enough nor hand out and reading about it in the internet.
Consultants who come to lined to drive these can not come for a day[as if they are installing some organisational software( in a way they are trying to) in computers] and leave. They should be engaged in the middle to long term. Teaching and monitoring the situation…………….

Watch this space- this is an opinion in progress

SOCIAL MEASURES USED

koshebal — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 07:28:26 +0000

Perfomance management systems as prescribed in profit-making organisations or as defined mathematically are increasingly being
applied to socail sciences and human sciences. Central to these is the idea of measureability. The most common measures are:
(1)perfomance appraisals which are a numeric measurement
(2)Value addition/value added-sometimes i personally believe this is the most absurd measurement created
(3)SROI
ABSTRACT CONCEPTS
Sometimes these measures dont make sense when applied to socail sciences.
Let me use a school example

Consider a truant student who is failing as result of staying from school
Teacher A talks to the student. Counsels etc. The student then starts coming to school regurlaly. Clearly value has been addded to the student life. But the value added measure used by bosses is test1 divided by test2.
Does this measure take cognizance of the help a student got? Has there been value added? Is everything quantifiable???