Good Qualities of Remarkable Boss !

Remarkable bosses aren’t great on paper. Great bosses are remarkable based on their actions.

Results are everything—but not the results you might think.

Consistently do these five things and everything else follows. You and your business benefit greatly.

More importantly, so do your employees.

1. Develop every employee. Sure, you can put your primary focus on reaching targets, achieving results, and accomplishing concrete goals—but do that and you put your leadership cart before your achievement horse.

Without great employees, no amount of focus on goals and targets will ever pay off. Employees can only achieve what they are capable of achieving, so it’s your job to help all your employees be more capable so they—and your business—can achieve more.

It's your job to provide the training, mentoring, and opportunities your employees need and deserve. When you do, you transform the relatively boring process of reviewing results and tracking performance into something a lot more meaningful for your employees: Progress, improvement, and personal achievement.

So don’t worry about reaching performance goals. Spend the bulk of your time developing the skills of your employees and achieving goals will be a natural outcome.

Plus it’s a lot more fun.

2. Deal with problems immediately. Nothing kills team morale more quickly than problems that don't get addressed. Interpersonal squabbles, performance issues, feuds between departments... all negatively impact employee motivation and enthusiasm.

And they're distracting, because small problems never go away. Small problems always fester and grow into bigger problems. Plus, when you ignore a problem your employees immediately lose respect for you, and without respect, you can't lead.

Never hope a problem will magically go away, or that someone else will deal with it. Deal with every issue head-on, no matter how small.

3. Rescue your worst employee. Almost every business has at least one employee who has fallen out of grace: Publicly failed to complete a task, lost his cool in a meeting, or just can’t seem to keep up. Over time that employee comes to be seen by his peers—and by you—as a weak link.

While that employee may desperately want to “rehabilitate” himself, it's almost impossible. The weight of team disapproval is too heavy for one person to move.

But it’s not too heavy for you.

Before you remove your weak link from the chain, put your full effort into trying to rescue that person instead. Say, "John, I know you've been struggling but I also know you're trying. Let's find ways together that can get you where you need to be." Express confidence. Be reassuring. Most of all, tell him you'll be there every step of the way.

Don't relax your standards. Just step up the mentoring and coaching you provide.

If that seems like too much work for too little potential outcome, think of it this way. Your remarkable employees don’t need a lot of your time; they’re remarkable because they already have these qualities. If you’re lucky, you can get a few percentage points of extra performance from them. But a struggling employee has tons of upside; rescue him and you make a tremendous difference.

Granted, sometimes it won't work out. When it doesn't, don't worry about it. The effort is its own reward.

And occasionally an employee will succeed—and you will have made a tremendous difference in a person's professional and personal life.

Can’t beat that.

4. Serve others, not yourself. You can get away with being selfish or self-serving once or twice... but that's it.

Never say or do anything that in any way puts you in the spotlight, however briefly. Never congratulate employees and digress for a few moments to discuss what you did.

If it should go without saying, don't say it. Your glory should always be reflected, never direct.

When employees excel, you and your business excel. When your team succeeds, you and your business succeed. When you rescue a struggling employee and they become remarkable, remember they should be congratulated, not you.

You were just doing your job the way a remarkable boss should.

When you consistently act as if you are less important than your employees—and when you never ask employees to do something you don’t do—everyone knows how important you really are.

5. Always remember where you came from. See an autograph seeker blown off by a famous athlete and you might think, “If I was in a similar position I would never do that.”

Oops. Actually, you do. To some of your employees, especially new employees, you are at least slightly famous. You’re in charge. You’re the boss.

That's why an employee who wants to talk about something that seems inconsequential may just want to spend a few moments with you.

When that happens, you have a choice. You can blow the employee off... or you can see the moment for its true importance: A chance to inspire, reassure, motivate, and even give someone hope for greater things in their life. The higher you rise the greater the impact you can make—and the greater your responsibility to make that impact.

In the eyes of his or her employees, a remarkable boss is a star.

Remember where you came from, and be gracious with your stardom.

Post Shared from : Linked-in
Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Criticism – can you do it politely?

At some point, as a manager you will have to tell someone that you don’t think they’ve done a good job – and it’s not always easy. Not only do you need to communicate your dissatisfaction with the way the job has been done, and require it to be improved, but you have to do this while making sure that the other person doesn’t feel personally attacked, embarrassed or humiliated. You need to be able to give effective, understandable criticism while staying polite and professional at all times.

Here are some tips to help:

1. Focus on the issue not the person

Always make your criticism constructive, focusing on the issue not the person, and where possible avoid negative formulae. Remember that you are both trying to achieve the best possible outcome, not exchange accusations or apportion blame. If you’re already feeling annoyed with the person’s attitude or there are other performance issues, try to separate them in your head: do you want to discuss this one unsatisfactory piece of work, or do you really want to have a broader discussion about the quality of their work in general? Whatever the answer, make sure you know what you want the outcome of this conversation to be, and don’t mix issues up. If necessary, schedule another time to have the bigger discussion, rather than confusing it with the work in hand.

2. Show appreciation

People are much more receptive to listening and acting on criticism if they feel you’re on their side. So first of all say something positive to the other person: for example, “Thank you so much for handing this piece of work in on time!” or: “Thanks very much for all your hard work in getting it done!” If they’ve done something you like, tell them so. Your aim is to communicate to them that the criticism you’re about to give relates to a specific issue and is not a criticism of them personally – you don’t want them to feel like a failure, or to get the impression you are angry (even if you are).

3. Don’t give mixed messages

When you say something positive, be very careful not to make them think that this unsatisfactory piece of work is better than it is. Don’t wrap your criticism up in too much praise: it will give a mixed message which will only confuse and frustrate them. For example, don’t say, “This report’s great! There are just one or two small things I’d like to discuss,” if you really want them to do a lot of rewriting. Once you’ve made your positive opening comment, tell them quite directly that you would like to discuss this piece of work with them, as you think it still needs a lot more effort (or whatever is appropriate to the situation). You can say, “I think it’s good but there are a couple of things I’d like changed,” or: “It’s basically fine but it’s not quite there yet.” If you’re very unhappy with the quality of the work, you can say, “I’m afraid that this still needs a lot of work.” Make it clear that what you’d like is to discuss ways in which to improve the situation – so that you both end up pleased with the result.

4. Right time, right place

You need to keep the tone of the conversation polite and calm, and you need to find the right environment to have it. That doesn’t mean standing next to the person at their desk, in a room full of other people, or giving them your feedback five minutes before their lunch hour! Ask if they have some time now to discuss the points you want to make, or arrange to meet later when it’s convenient for both of you. Then find a room or a quiet place where you can sit together without being interrupted.

5. Stay calm, polite and objective throughout

While you’re giving your criticism, look at the other person. Don’t just look at the computer screen or the page in front of you, or their left shoulder; watch their face and keep eye contact, if possible, making sure they understand what you’re saying. Remember that sometimes mistakes are made because people haven’t understood what they were supposed to be doing: maybe the briefing wasn’t good enough. Speak slowly and calmly, and don’t rush the conversation: allow them time to ask questions and make their own points. Above all, don’t let this turn into a blame session, don’t make personal comments about their abilities, and don’t get angry. If you feel you’re losing your cool, remember that it will only make matters worse.

6. Use the word “I” and not “you”

Rather than saying, for example, “You made a lot of mistakes in this section,” say, “I found quite a lot of mistakes in this section. Could you please correct them?”, making it clear you’re criticising the piece of work and not the person. Or, “I found the overall tone of this report rather negative. Could you have another look at it and try to make it more upbeat?” (Again, if it’s really the person you want to criticise, keep that separate. This discussion is about this piece of work.)

7. Make your point and then stop

Once you’ve said what you want to say, stop! Ask if they have understood what you’ve said, and allow them time to answer. Agree that you’ll have a follow-up when the work has been done, and show confidence in their ability to make the improvements themselves. (If you really think they are incapable of producing satisfactory work, then it’s time to have that bigger discussion about the standard of their work in general.) Finally, before you leave the room, show appreciation again for their efforts and end the discussion with a smile.

Learning to give feedback and criticism is crucial to building an effective team. It needs careful thought and sensitivity in order to avoid hurt feelings and a build-up of resentment. But if it’s done right, it can be painless and ultimately lead to stronger teams and higher quality work.

Content from : HP Technology at work
Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Yourself to be an Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship is not a rocket science and neither is it just luck. A proper approach, plenty of patience and a lot of search is required to build a great startup. Certain steps mentioned below can help you come up with great ideas and a strong business foundation.

Pre-Idea

Reading blogs and articles about startups and entrepreneurship is a must for you. Its better to learn from others mistake then to create one for own and incur a heavy loss. Learn the survival skills of such startup companies who faced crisis in their initial stage of operations. Join various blogs to ask questions to build knowledge and reputation. You can even start following people in the startup space through social media and engage in conversations with them. Try to attend startup events, keep networking and find a suitable co-founder to build a killer team.

Ideating

From the information collected from the previous step, build a list of the prospective ideas, which you feel, will work for you and brainstorm to finalize on the idea you are passionate about. Keep on enhancing your skill sets for the same. You can even leverage various startups events to get track of new and innovative ideas.



Before finalizing on any idea, keep track for the various government rules and regulations and the various licenses required to kick start your company and entrepreneurship. The name of the company is the first picture that you are going to present in the market. It should be unique and easy to pronounce. But before zeroing on the name, search of domain availability and google search results for the potential brand name.

Implementation

It is the time to get your hands dirty. Start on with the chapters as per your plan, but remember to be flexible to adapt changes as and when required. Sticking to a particular

theory may lead to various issues which might be dangerous for your brain child. Register your domain and create a webpage that will provide a better and detailed picture of you and your company.

Kick Start the Marketing Tool

To catch hold of more eyes, list your startup in free listing places with good and attractive logo for your company. The business card is one of the best way to m

arket you and your company. Get a creative business card and use the back of the card to make a creative two line pitch for your startup. Today social networking sites are one of the best marketing tools. Try to make the maximum use of it to expand your consumer base and fan following. Start blogging about your business and provide with the latest update and talks about your startup.

Expansion

Keep expanding your business as and when required. If you started as a sole proprietor and now your company needs a partner, don't hesitate to do so. This will bring an additional brain to tackle the pressure and will provide you with great, new and innovative ideas. Ya, you may need to part of from a portion of your profit, but never step back for this. May be his valuable ideas might work miracle. Keep on adding valuable employees for worth-full expansion.

Consumers are an integral part of your business. Don't forget to satisfy them and get a feed back for improvements. Come up with better loyalty programs. And last but not the least, make proper use of the free marketing tool for expansion, "Word of Mouth". It will pay you greater returns.

Never Never Never Ever Give-Up


Watch this video as many times as you want or when ever required.

Never Never Never Ever Give-Up

Content extracted from various web media network

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

How to Deal with a Nasty Boss

Have you ever quit a job because of your boss? A good boss can play a very important role in an employee's life simultaneously a bad or nasty boss can leave a depressing impact. We all know that bosses have a huge responsibility towards his work and have to manage a huge empire of workforce. One can tackle pressure from boss to a certain extend but work pressure is a natural phenomena on every organization. But things become nasty to you only when your boss turns nasty to you.

They can change our work situation with their power. Because of various nasty, unhealthy behaviors from boss, many people end up with quitting the job. But that is not the solution. People do not want to quit the job but the boss. Sometimes we see that they try to adjust with the problem because of the fear of losing the job. However the only mantra in such a situation is to find some solution for it and not to quit and run away from your job. First of all we should know the type of the boss, and accordingly tackle them.

Limited conversation


Always limit your conversation with your boss so that there will be less chances to have any kind of argument. Talk only about your work or any office related issue and also wait for the right time to speak. Never give your boss to pinpoint any faults and make sure you never miss out any deadlines.

Speak to your colleagues


May be you are not the only target of your boss in the office. Talk to your colleagues and take their opinions too about your boss. Discuss with them about the problems and each of you can find solution from one another in this way you can get ways to deal with your boss.

Complain about your boss

Making a complaint about your boss is risky because unwarranted complaints can jeopardise your working life and even your career, but if your manager is behaving inappropriately then their actions must be confronted.

Reasons for complaint can take various forms from bad management and job ineptitude to more serious issues like discrimination and bullying.

If your boss is simply unfit for their position, such as through being unwilling to take responsibility, shunning new ideas, discouraging initiative or by just being incompetent and out of their depth, then it can be very difficult to justify raising a complaint. Is their incompetence worth the risk of jeopardising your position and being branded a troublemaker or a whinger?

If you are adamant that action is required then it is important to tread carefully and act with utmost sensitivity. After all, your boss may be unaware of their own limitations and be trying to do what they think is best. It is an unfortunate reality that many managers are not adequately skilled at managing people.

One course of action is to speak to their superior. Rather than demand a formal meeting to vent your complaint, it is wiser to suggest a casual chat where you can calmly explain that you are not being allowed to perform at the best of your abilities in your current role. Rather than blame your boss, explain how your relationship with them is proving frustrating and restrictive. It may also be worth commenting that their behaviour is not only undermining your own performance but also that of the team.

Stand for yourself

Always think about your self-respect. If you are wrong, rectify yourself and do your work properly on time. But if you feel that you are right and just because you have a nasty boss you are suffering his tantrums then do not. Stand for yourself and speak to him about your problem. Some bosses have no idea what actually the problem the employee is facing and they just end up yelling at them. Even some bosses have no idea how they have been treating their employees until employees speak up.
Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Great Ideas! Passion! Tenacious! Irrepressible!

"Number one, great ideas matter. Number two, find passion and, number three be tenacious, be irrepressible" preached Ballmer to the students. He said these were three keys things that he learnt in Micorsoft.

Ballmer made the parents of the students to walk down the memory lane, to remind them of their college days. He explained how difficult it was to write a term paper without a word processor and without the Internet. And now Information technology has shaped the world in such a way like none other in the human history.

Steven Anthony "Steve" Ballmer was born on March 24, 1956. He was born in Detroit, Michigan. In 1973, he graduated from Detroit Country Day School, a private college preparatory school in Beverly Hills, Michigan, and now sits on its board of directors. In 1977, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a B.A. in mathematics and economics. At college, Ballmer managed the football team, worked on The Harvard Crimson newspaper as well as the Harvard Advocate, and lived down the hall from fellow sophomore Bill Gates. He then worked for two years as an assistant product manager at Procter & Gamble, where he shared an office with Jeffrey R. Immelt, who later became CEO of General Electric. In 1980, he dropped out of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business to join Microsoft.

Ballmer's entry into Microsoft was during those days when Ballmer was doing an MBA program. A friend of his who he had gone to college with Bill Gates, offered him to drop out of school and join him for his venture. When Ballmer explained this to his father, his father had no clue of what a software was neither was his mother, who ended up asking him why would a person ever need a computer?

As Albert Einstein once said "The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination," Microsoft proved the statement with two people's daring imagination, Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Microsoft was the result of one single good idea that was never thought before. Ballmer explains that it was one fundamental idea by two individuals, which has ended up with every home having a computer. He said that a microprocessor is some form of free intelligence which when combined with right software will form a computer for every home.

Another way to sort of grab this idea about ideas and direction, Ballmer quoted Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky said "good hockey players skate to where the puck is; great hockey players will skate to where the puck is going to be."

Ballmer went on to speak about the second key thing: Passion. He said "This is not an easy one. People think passion is something you either have or you don't. People think passion is something that has to manifest itself in some kind of explosive and emotional format. It's not. It's the thing that you find in your life that you can care about, that you can cling to, that you can invest yourself in, heart, body, and soul. Finding passion is kind of your job now."

Speaking about his passion, Ballmer said he was under a lot confusion to find out what he truly liked to do. He tested his likes and dislike when he was in the ninth grade and he had to write a computer program. He hated it and though he was never qualified for computer programming. When went on to do his college he thought he would be a physicist or a mathematician, but at the end of his freshmen year he had realized that he had too little patience for those.

The one thing that Ballmer enjoyed doing was being the football manager for the college football team. Organizing things was what the job demanded and that is where Ballmer realized that he passionately liked his job. When Ballmer was looking out for a change in his career, jobs from movie business came knocking at his door. Then by luck, Bill Gates asked him to join his 30 member team and since then there has been looking back.

And last but not least, Ballmer said "be tenacious. I actually prefer the word irrepressible.Irrepressible is kind of tenacious, but with optimism. You keep going and going. You could say, isn't that the same as passion. It's not. Passion is the ability to get excited about something. Irrepressibility and tenacity is about the ability to stay with it. If you take a look at all of the companies that have been started in our business, most of them fail. If you take even a look at the companies that have succeeded, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook, you name it, all of these companies went through times of hardship. You get some success. You run into some walls. You try a formula for a new idea, a new innovation, it doesn't work. And it's how tenacious you are, how irrepressible, how ultimately optimistic and tenacious you are about it that will determine your success."

Ballmer joined Microsoft on June 11, 1980, and became Microsoft's 30th employee, the first business manager hired by Gates. Ballmer loved working at Microsoft.He was initially offered a salary of $50,000 as well as a percentage of ownership of the company. When Microsoft was incorporated in 1981, Ballmer owned 8 percent of the company. He has headed several divisions within Microsoft including "Operating Systems Development", "Operations", and "Sales and Support." In January 2000, he was officially named Chief Executive Officer.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave the commencement speech at the University of Southern California.

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

10 things end users do that drive a consultant crazy !

As a consultant, my primary jobs are remote support and Onsite client side support. Because of this, I deal directly with our clients a lot. Although I am fond of many of those clients, most of them still display behaviors that drive me, as a consultant, crazy. And maybe it’s the excessive rain and storms we’ve been having, but these behaviors have escalated lately. So I thought I would share some of these things with you to see whether you’ve run into them —and whether you’ve encountered other behaviors you want to share with your fellow readers.

Please understand, I do this to lay down a bit of humor so we can all commiserate, cope, and (I hope) laugh at the follies we deal with day in and day out. I do not, in any way, mean to suggest that I think people are horrible or that I don’t like to deal with them.

1: Take control of remote sessions
I do a lot of remote support with the supplier related isssues. For that support, I use either LogMeIn or Team Viewer. Inevitably, I run into clients who constantly want to “show me” what’s going on, take over the mouse to point out something different, or even use their machine for something else (like replying to an email that should be able to wait or they simply get excited to some friends popped a message online and they start to reply them just by forgetting their screens are shared). Outside of annoying any support tech, this does one thing — extends the length of time needed to do a job.

Sometimes, it seems clients/suppliers don’t realize that other clients/Suppliers are actually waiting for my help, so they think they can take up as much of my time as they want. But beyond taking up time, this type of behavior often can lead to an environment of mistrust, where techs feel the client does not trust their work. No one wants to work under these circumstances.

2: Give too much irrelevant information about an issue
What I really want to know is that you clicked on an attachment that was in an email. I don’t care to know the email was originated by your grandmother on your father’s side and the email had the most darling picture of kittens and puppies playing together in a field of daisies. I also don’t care that you were sitting at your desk, having your usual lunch of yogurt and sliced apples dipped in caramel when everything started to go down the drain. Get to the point, give me the facts, and I will do my job to the best of my ability.


3: Blame the issue on something I (or another tech) did previously
Yes, I’ve worked on PO output issue before. No, what I did last time to change the terms & condition pages that goes with the PO’s to all suppliers and that has zero effect on the fact that now you can’t get a PO print. Although they may be related, they are not directly cause and effect. Trust me on this. I’m not trying to pull a fast one on you, and I am 100 percent sure that the PO Output for communication issue is not related. But on the off chance that you simply will not believe me, I will do everything I can to show you the two are not related in any way. If you still don’t believe me, I have no other consultants who will be happy to have your work — until they’re no longer happy to have your work it’s going to be only me again and again.

4: Lie
This one should not need any explanation. But for those who have yet to experience the liar, let me set the stage. There are times when you log into a user’s machine and discover that something obviously has been done —most of the time not following the do’s and don’ts document guide lines and land in a problem— that can be done only by an end user/supplier. When an end user has made such a mistake, he or she will sometimes try to deny doing anything to cause the problem. That’s fine. But most of the consultants can see through the thinly veiled lie. We know the truth… so it’s okay to admit, rather than to bluff saying I did not do anything wrong that was mentioned in do’s and don’ts document even tough your system shows an error.


5: Take control of conversations
When I’m trying to explain an issue to an end user, it really bugs me when that user takes over the conversation, preventing me from being able to effectively communicate either the problem or the solution. Generally, these people tend to have more to say on the issue than necessary and assume what they have to add to the situation is far more important than what they have to learn. If those end users would stop and listen for once, the reoccurring issue I am trying to help them with might not reoccur. No one is ready to listen.


6: Ask the “quick question”
This one really bothers me. Without fail, a client will call me with a “quick question” that inevitably winds up being a 30-minute phone conversation. My time is valuable through the workday and those quick questions add up. Not only that, but many clients use the quick question to avoid having to pay for support on the real issue. Most often they start with the quick question to find a place where they can point their hand safely to push on their issue. They call us to get a confirmation of their blame is technically right.


7: Chat while I’m concentrating
This goes along with dominating the conversation. Many users, while in the middle of a remote session, want to chat. Sometimes that’s okay, as we are simply waiting for a download or waiting on the progress of a service or application. But when I’m elbows deep in the dirt and grit of trying to resolve a crucial issue, don’t try to chat me up about the weather, the royal wedding, or the price of gas. Please let me resolve the issue at hand (especially one that requires my concentration) and then I will happily chat about whatever (so long as I don’t have a pressing appointment after yours).

Sometimes they chat to deviate your attention not to find the issue was created due to lack of his concentration or ignorance.


8: Insist what their “cousin” or “geek friend” told them was true
I get it. Some companies enlist the help of “Cousin Joe,” or armature “geek friend” who happens to owe the secretary a favor and “knows a thing or two” about computers or the application a specific business uses. Well, “cousin” or “geek friend” didn’t do you any favors when he caused even more problems doing what he did. Not that I am going to slam your cousin and kick your geek friend. But when I say that although cousins and friends intentions were good, what he did was counterproductive to solving the issue at hand, please don’t insist that the cousin was in the right and that I am only trying to bilk you out of more money. Of course, if it ever comes to those kinds of words, you will most certainly be looking for a new support specialist.

9: Undo my work
Raise your hand if you’re guilty of undoing all that work the consultants did with the help of support techs the very second they left. I’ve seen this happen plenty of times. I’ve had clients actually confess to doing this. What those clients don’t realize is that I will more than likely have to come back and redo what I did prior to this visit (I have installed a old java version to test a special type of customization on the client PC which will be required by him and recommended by oracle to do so but the client called support guys for a different issue and on the way they found his java version to be old and would have changed it favoring the client. Then the application forms screen will not open with my clients work PC) — and I’ll also have to fix problems they caused by undoing my work. Do us both a favor and don’t undo my work. This is rarely going to be a smart choice, and the possibility that you’ll be able to resolve the issues created by your tampering are nil.

10: Lack the necessary information
Most of the time it’s like this – “I have an issue in submitting the Quotation through your company’s Oracle web portal” , just like that nothing more. You will not get any information (screen shot of the error page, what they were trying to do at the time when they got the error, how long they are facing the problem, Is this happening with only a particular document/Particular user)
When end users or suppliers call for a help, 10 percent of the time they have all of the information necessary for a successful appointment. The other 90 percent? Not much. In fact, a large portion of that 90 percent require nearly double the normal job time just for fact gathering. So… when you call, please make sure you have all the information needed to complete the appointment. Otherwise, you are wasting my time and running up your bill.

Other peeves?
Do these users sound like some of your clients? If not, you are one lucky consultant/support specialist. If these clients do sound familiar, you have my sympathy. What other user behaviors do you run into that annoy you or impede your work?


Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

10 easy ways to get your life back and still excel at work !

You love your job but loving it too much could be dangerous to your health. The more often you stay late in the office or clock in extra hours over the weekend, the more stress you are adding to your life. When was the last time you went on leave - and left your notebook and phone at home?

A survey of British workers by the Mental Health Foundation found more than 40 percent of respondents are neglecting other aspects of their life because of work. When working long hours, respondents reported feeling depressed or anxious. Nearly two-third of employees have experienced a negative effect on their personal life. This ranged from lack of personal development, physical and mental health problems, and poor relationships and poor home life.

With IT playing a crucial role in organisations, it's easy for IT pros to become overworked. Responsible employers and employees understand though that a healthy work-life balance goes a long way to maintaining a happy and productive workforce. Here are 10 ways you can tip your work-life balance to your health’s favour.

1. Do what you enjoy best
Don't you find that it takes twice as long to complete uninteresting tasks than it does to do something you love?

Nick Woodeson, a former IT director and now owner of Essential Business Skills Consulting in his work-life balance blog writes: "The secret to a better work-life balance might well be not in managing your time and reducing your overall time in work, but increasing the time you spend in the aspects of your job that you find most absorbing and fulfilling. Remember - if the time just passes without you taking account of it, you’re doing the right thing!"

Clifton StrengthsFinder, a management philosophy believes that employers benefit if they encourage employees to play to their individual strengths. Let your boss know the aspects of your work you like best and suggest alternatives to completing the tasks that don’t play well to your strengths. Find out who in your group possesses the strength you lack and let them enjoy those tasks.

2. Be prepared for the unexpected
If you already have excessive stress in your life you'd be less able to handle a crisis, says Woodeson. Stress depletes energy, something that’s required in abundance to navigate sudden unforeseen emergencies.

Woodeson writes: "... most people would struggle if they lost all the contact details of people stored in their mobile phone or if they had their notebook stolen, but relatively few people take the trouble to learn how to back up their important data and to then do so on a regular basis."

Aside from backing up your data, begin to document your work so you can easily hand over the tasks to a colleague if you need to take a few days out in an emergency. This could be storing files in a public folder or creating a spreadsheet with project milestones, contact details and file names and locations.

3. Save time for yourself
If your work environment allows others to access your calendar to schedule meetings, be sure to block off some time for yourself. This could be two or four hours each week. Use this time as a buffer in case you need extra time to complete a task, run errands or catch up with colleagues.

4. Schedule your day's deadlines around your body clock
Studies by human biology professionals show that our bodies have various internal clocks but society forces us to ignore those signs. Perhaps you feel sleepy after lunch or are more energised for work early evening. Everyone is different.

Blogger Woodeson says the best way to discover your own cycles is to work from home for a period. You'll then recognise the times you are most energised. Use those times to schedule your most pressing deadlines.

5. Reconsider your philosophy of working late
Harvard Business Review blogger Ron Ashkenas studied successful medical professors for his doctoral research on the balance between professional achievement and successful family life. He found that the most successful professors in his sample group also tended to have the most instances of divorce and estrangement from children.

"Naturally, none of these highly successful people had consciously chosen to sacrifice their families in order to advance their careers. Instead, they had made hundreds of small tradeoffs over the years - such as staying in the lab instead of attending a child's school concert. It was the accumulation of these small choices that seemed to gradually tip their lives one way or the other," Ashkenas writes.

He suggests pros think about the following philosophical questions:

What's the balance that you want to strike between personal and professional success?
If you had to honestly choose, is one more important than the other?
What are your goals in each of these spheres and what can you do to optimize both?

6. Prioritise your commitments
A work-life balance article in Forbes advises readers to: "Consider all the things competing for your time and decide what will stay and what will go ... What about the three nonprofit organisations you belong to?"

Decide on what’s important to you in your life right now. If you’re an IT pro wanting to hone your soft skills, perhaps the volunteer work you do for nonprofits is helping your personal development. Perhaps your weekly task of clearing the yard of your elderly neighbor could change to a monthly commitment.

7. Use technology wisely
Technology has done so much to improve the quality of our lives. Think of the time and energy we save by shopping online instead of driving to the store. Even GPS navigators save precious minutes by speaking the directions so we don't have to make frequent stops to check a printed map.

However,don't let technology run your life. Make it a philosophy to switch off your phone during dinner with the family. Leave your phone at the office at lunch and go for a walk or read a chapter of a novel. Perhaps even try spending one weekend a month without computers.

8. Make the most of your employer's wellness programs
Employers spent 35 percent more - about $220 - on each employee who participated in a wellness program in 2010 compared to 2009. According to "Working Well: A Global Survey of Health Promotion and Workplace Wellness Strategies," by Buck Consultants employers offer wellness programs to reduce workplace stress and improve workforce morale and engagement.

Another study, this time in the US, by Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health found that employers are offering several types of incentives to encourage employees to participate in health improvement programs. Such incentives include cash, gift cards or offers to make additional contributions to health savings accounts. So go on, sign up for a wellness activity today. What do you have to lose (aside from stress)?

9. Consider a results-only work environment
The latest work philosophy making headlines is Results-Only Work Environment (ROWE). Developed by two former HR managers at U.S. electronics retailer Best Buy, ROWE allows employees to establish their own work schedule as long as the work gets done on time.

ROWE companies don't track workers' time on the job (vacation, sick days or if they’re prompt into the office); employees are measured on whether they achieve their goals. There are formal steps that organisations must take to become "ROWE Approved." Even if your employer is not ROWE Approved you can incorporate some of the ROWE philosophy to your team. This could include allowing team members to work from home or take "unofficial" time off when needed, as long as it’s clear that you expect them to get the work done.

10. Lead by example
Your management philosophy dictates how employees work. Encourage employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance by leading by example.

Create a supportive team where members help each other out to meet tight deadlines.
Speak up against impossible deadlines, no matter whether they’re imposed by stakeholders or by the employees themselves.
Involve and communicate with your stakeholders. Let them know if there are problems along the way that could affect deadlines. Instill ownership in everyone. That way, both stakeholders and project members will work together to solve problems.
Add buffer of time to the project schedule. It’s better to overestimate the time you think it will take your team to do something than to underestimate. Some project practitioners advise adding 25 percent buffer time to a project. That will give you some breathing space if something crops up.

We hope some of these tips will help encourage you to take some time out of your crazy work schedule to find ways to restore your work-life balance.



Edited and Extracted from various sources and posted by..
S.Grace Paul Regan

10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT

10.) The pay in IT is good compared to many other professions, but since they pay you well, they often think they own you

Although the pay for IT professionals is not as great as it was before the dot-com flameout and the IT backlash in 2001-2002, IT workers still make very good money compared to many other professions (at least the ones that require only an associate’s or bachelor’s degree). And there is every reason to believe that IT pros will continue to be in demand in the coming decades, as technology continues to play a growing role in business and society. However, because IT professionals can be so expensive, some companies treat IT pros like they own them. If you have to answer a tech call at 9:00 PM because someone is working late, you hear, “That’s just part of the job.” If you need to work six hours on a Saturday to deploy a software update to avoid downtime during business hours, you get, “There’s no comp time for that since you’re on salary. That’s why we pay you the big bucks!”

9.) It will be your fault when users make silly errors

Some users will angrily snap at you when they are frustrated. They will yell, “What’s wrong with this thing?” or “This computer is NOT working!” or (my personal favorite), “What did you do to the computers?” In fact, the problem is that they accidentally deleted the Internet Explorer icon from the desktop, or unplugged the mouse from the back of the computer with their foot, or spilled their coffee on the keyboard.

8.) You will go from goat to hero and back again multiple times within any given day

When you miraculously fix something that had been keeping multiple employees from being able to work for the past 10 minutes — and they don’t realize how simple the fix really was — you will become the hero of the moment and everyone’s favorite employee. But they will conveniently forget about your hero anointment a few hours later when they have trouble printing because of a network slowdown — you will be enemy No. 1 at that moment. But if you show users a handy little Microsoft Outlook trick before the end of the day, you’ll soon return to hero status.

7.) Certifications won’t always help you become a better technologist, but they can help you land a better job or a pay raise

Headhunters and human resources departments love IT certifications. They make it easy to match up job candidates with job openings. They also make it easy for HR to screen candidates. You’ll hear a lot of veteran IT pros whine about techies who were hired based on certifications but who don’t have the experience to effectively do the job. They are often right. That has happened in plenty of places. But the fact is that certifications open up your career options. They show that you are organized and ambitious and have a desire to educate yourself and expand your skills. If you are an experienced IT pro and have certifications to match your experience, you will find yourself to be extremely marketable. Tech certifications are simply a way to prove your baseline knowledge and to market yourself as a professional. However, most of them are not a good indicator of how good you will be at the job.

6.) Your nontechnical co-workers will use you as personal tech support for their home PCs

Your co-workers (in addition to your friends, family, and neighbors) will view you as their personal tech support department for their home PCs and home networks. They will e-mail you, call you, and/or stop by your office to talk about how to deal with the virus that took over their home PC or the wireless router that stopped working after the last power outage and to ask you how to put their photos and videos on the Web so their grandparents in Iowa can view them. Some of them might even ask you if they can bring their home PC to the office for you to fix it. The polite ones will offer to pay you, but some of them will just hope or expect you can help them for free. Helping these folks can be very rewarding, but you have to be careful about where to draw the line and know when to decline. For help, take a look at TechRepublic’s free download “Ten ways to decline a request for free tech support.”

5.) Vendors and consultants will take all the credit when things work well and will blame you when things go wrong

Working with IT consultants is an important part of the job and can be one of the more challenging things to manage. Consultants bring niche expertise to help you deploy specialized systems, and when everything works right, it’s a great partnership. But you have to be careful. When things go wrong, some consultants will try to push the blame off on you by arguing that their solution works great everywhere else so it must be a problem with the local IT infrastructure. Conversely, when a project is wildly successful, there are consultants who will try to take all of the credit and ignore the substantial work you did to customize and implement the solution for your company.

4.) You’ll spend far more time babysitting old technologies than implementing new ones

One of the most attractive things about working in IT is the idea that we’ll get to play with the latest cutting edge technologies. However, that’s not usually the case in most IT jobs. The truth is that IT professionals typically spend far more time maintaining, babysitting, and nursing established technologies than implementing new ones. Even IT consultants, who work with more of the latest and greatest technologies, still tend to work primarily with established, proven solutions rather than the real cutting edge stuff.

3.) Veteran IT professionals are often the biggest roadblock to implementing new technologies

A lot of companies could implement more cutting edge stuff than they do. There are plenty of times when upgrading or replacing software or infrastructure can potentially save money and/or increase productivity and profitability. However, it’s often the case that one of the largest roadblocks to migrating to new technologies is not budget constraints or management objections; it’s the veteran techies in the IT department. Once they have something up and running, they are reluctant to change it. This can be a good thing because their jobs depend on keeping the infrastructure stable, but they also use that as an excuse to not spend the time to learn new things or stretch themselves in new directions. They get lazy, complacent, and self-satisfied.

2.) Some IT professionals deploy technologies that do more to consolidate their own power than to help the business

Another subtle but blameworthy thing that some IT professionals do is select and implement technologies based on how well those technologies make the business dependent on the IT pros to run them, rather than which ones are truly best for the business itself. For example, IT pros might select a solution that requires specialized skills to maintain instead of a more turnkey solution. Or an IT manager might have more of a Linux/UNIX background and so chooses a Linux-based solution over a Windows solution, even though the Windows solution is a better business decision (or, vice versa, a Windows admin might bypass a Linux-based appliance, for example). There are often excuses and justifications given for this type of behavior, but most of them are disingenuous.

1.) IT pros frequently use jargon to confuse nontechnical business managers and hide the fact that they screwed up

All IT pros — even the very best — screw things up once in a while. This is a profession where a lot is at stake and the systems that are being managed are complex and often difficult to integrate. However, not all IT pros are good at admitting when they make a mistake. Many of them take advantage of the fact that business managers (and even some high-level technical managers) don’t have a good understanding of technology, and so the techies will use jargon to confuse them (and cover up the truth) when explaining why a problem or an outage occurred. For example, to tell a business manager why a financial application went down for three hours, the techie might say, “We had a blue screen of death on the SQL Server that runs that app. Damn Microsoft!” What the techie would fail to mention was that the BSOD was caused by a driver update he applied to the server without first testing it on a staging machine

Content from : http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=546&tag=content;leftCol

Posted By
S.Grace Paul Regan

10 legal issues that consultants should know about !

As a consultant, you face more than technical challenges. You face legal ones as well. For this reason, the more you know about these legal matters, the less chance you have of getting into trouble. Although this article is not meant as legal advice, it can help you be aware of some issues that concern you. At the very least, it will alert you to questions and issues you might need to raise with your own attorney.

1: Status — consultant or employee?

Make sure of your legal relationship to your client. Are you really an independent contractor, so you should receive a form 1099 at the end of the year reflecting your billings? Or could you actually be considered an employee, who should receive a form W-2?

The company using your services most likely prefers the former, and you might also. The Internal Revenue Service in the past used a series of 20 questions to determine whether a person was a contractor or an employee. However, the IRS recently streamlined those questions into a three general categories:

Behavioral control (i.e., how much direction and control the business has over the individual, in terms of working hours, sequence of actions, and tools and equipment to be used)
Financial control (i.e., how the individual is paid, e.g., weekly or hourly vs. a flat fee)
Type of relationship (i.e., how permanent it is and how the parties view the relationship)
Generally speaking, the greater the behavioral control, and the greater the financial control, and the more permanent the relationship is, the greater the chance that the IRS will view you as an employee rather than as an independent contractor.

2: Income and self employment taxes

The distinction between employee and independent contractor will affect the way you handle your taxes. As an employee, your employer is responsible for withholding income taxes from your paycheck. In addition, you and your employer each contributes half to Social Security payments.

If, however, you are an independent contractor, you are responsible for your own taxes because the organization that pays you generally will not withhold anything. You’re also responsible, depending on how you’re organized legally, for completing appropriate business tax returns, such as a Schedule C , if you’re a sole proprietor.

3: Sales tax on your fees?

Check with your state’s department of revenue to see whether the fees you charge clients are subject to tax. If they are, and you are not collecting and remitting such taxes, you could have a problem.

4: Intellectual property / “work made for hire”

In the course of your consulting work, you may create intellectual property for use by your clients. Such work might be entitled to copyright protection. In this case, be clear with your client about such copyright ownership. You do not want your work to be considered a “work made for hire.” The copyright for such a work would reside with your client, even though you were the one to create the work.

The client has high hurdles to overcome to claim work made for hire status — but be safe and avoid misunderstanding. In your statement of work or in your contract, consider including a clause that expressly excludes your work product from being classified as a work made for hire.

5: Nonexclusive vs. exclusive license

If you are the copyright holder of intellectual property, you can permit others to use that property via a license. In return, of course, you probably would charge the other party a fee, or royalty, for the privilege of holding this license.

When you grant licensing rights, you can do so exclusively (to only one license holder) or nonexclusively (to more than one license holder). You would do an exclusive license, in most cases, because your client asked or demanded it. In such a situation, obviously, you would probably want to charge a higher royalty for an exclusive license than a nonexclusive license.

6: Professional liability vs. general liability insurance

You should consider at least two types of insurance: professional liability and general liability insurance. While both protect you from things you do or fail to do, the specific focus of each is different. Professional liability insurance (also known as errors and omissions insurance) protects you from the consequences of bad decisions and actions with respect to your consulting. For example, if your improper systems implementation caused the client’s business to shut down, resulting in loss of revenue, your professional liability policy might protect you from a client lawsuit.

General liability insurance protects you from other liability. For example, such a policy might protect you in the event that your client falls within your office or you accidentally spill hot coffee over an audience member at one of your presentations.

7: “Claims made” vs. “occurrence” insurance coverage

Liability insurance usually differs from other insurance, such as automobile, in one important respect: Policies of the former are generally based on “claims made,” while those of the latter are based on “occurrence.”

Suppose you are involved in an incident on June 1, while you hold an insurance policy with company A. On July 1, you change from insurance company A to insurance company B. Then, on August 1, the other person files a claim regarding the incident. If both policies were “occurrence” policies, company A would be responsible for this claim, even though it no longer carries your insurance. However, if both policies were “claims made” policies, company B would be responsible, even though the incident occurred prior to your becoming their policyholder.

8: Business organization option — the sole proprietorship

The way you organize your business determines the amount of reporting you do as well as the amount of legal protection you have. If you are in business by yourself, the simplest form of organization is the sole proprietorship. In Pennsylvania, in fact, if you include your name as part of your business name (e.g., you are John Smith and your business is John Smith Consulting), you don’t even need to register with the state. But if the sole proprietorship business name does not include your name, you would need to file a “fictitious name registration.” Such a filing is designed to protect the public so that they know who is involved with a particular business.

While a sole proprietor provides for ease of tax reporting, it involves legal risk. If you are sued because of your business, you have no legal way to shield your personal assets — they can be used to satisfy a judgment against you. Consider this fact carefully if you choose a sole proprietorship.

9: Business organization option — the corporation

A corporation offers significantly more legal protection. If you are sued over acts of your corporation, generally only the assets of that corporation can be used in a judgment. Your own personal assets, if separate from the corporation, usually can’t be used. However, a corporation requires its own set of tax returns and typically requires formal meetings and documentation of those meetings.

To form a corporation, you’ll probably need to file articles of incorporation with your state and you’ll likely need officers, a board of directors, and bylaws. For further information, check with your state’s Department of State (not to be confused with the U.S. Department of State).

10: Business organization option — the limited liability company (LLC)

A third form of organization, available in many states, is that of a limited liability company (LLC). Think of an LLC as combining the best features of a sole proprietorship and a corporation. On the one hand, the LLC does not file its own returns — you include income on your own Schedule C, just as for a sole proprietorship. On the other hand, if you’re sued, only the assets of the LLC are generally at risk — not your own personal assets. For this reason, many consultants use an LLC form of organizat

Edited from : Tech Republic
Poosted By : Grace Paul Regan

Top 10 excuses why techies don't give projects on time

When engineering projects are not delivered on time, whom do we blame for that? Clients are known to be the most stubborn people on earth to get their job done. All they understand is that they pay for the service and find no reason for not being demanding. Some engineers do face genuine issues but some try to take advantage of the genuine situations and it would be hard to believe that such a situation might not have been faced by the engineers.

No matter, whatever changes are incorporated in the IT sector to make it more lean and adaptive, the delivery of projects would be delayed at some point of time and the techies know how to get away with it. With India being one of the fastest growing markets in IT and ITeS space, SiliconIndia conducted a small survey to see what are the excuses which techies in India normally bet upon. And here are the top 10 reasons that make them hunt for more time to get their projects done.

1) Requirement Slippage: "What can I do, if the client does not stick to his requirements?" Any techie you come across must have either made this excuse or must have come across it. Many times, when the team members in a particular project are about to complete the project keeping the client requirements in mind, they are insisted to either make certain changes in the project or bring in some addition to it. Requirement slippage is a genuine problem faced by team members in a project but many times it becomes the easiest excuse for any techie if the project is delayed. This excuse is often validated by the organization and the team members can easily prove themselves impeccable.

2) Wrong Project estimation: Project estimation is usually given by a module leader who is not deeply associated with the project. He or she is the one who builds relationship between the client and the project team and integrates the module's findings into the broader project work. Usually when the project demands some more time to be delivered, the team members crib about the project not being estimated in an appropriate manner. At times, the requirement is underestimated, the time frame is not fixed in sync with the project and the entire project is not compatible with the engineers working on the project. This excuse has a broader dimension as any one part of the project estimation could become a reason for extending the time for project delivery.

3) Work Overload: Attrition is no big news in the IT industry. The software professionals deal with immense pressure in coding their programmes correctly. In such a case, when one team member resigns, the existing team members are overloaded with the pending work of the ex-employee. And in such a case, the priorities of the project team members change and this becomes another excuse for team members.

4) Infrastructural issues: Well if nothing works out, then this is the excuse which everyone resorts to. Blame it on the company's infrastructure. Indian IT infrastructure usually lacks with effective resources like availability of power and high bandwidth. So probably one could understand the frustration caused due to a technical snag. Each time there is an infrastructural slowdown, the efficiency of employees comes down.

5) Information does not get passed on, lack of understanding of processes: Communication of the project details seems to be another area for making an excuse. If the project is not delivered on time, the problem could be directed to the organizational processes. The discrepancy in understanding of a project requirement is one point which the techies pick on to make an excuse.

6) Health issues: This is the most common excuse which prevails in every sector. This is one area, where the employees can't be questioned further. It has been widely seen that many IT professionals take sick leaves on Mondays because they are reluctant to work on Mondays after a relaxed weekend.

7) Unplanned Holidays: Take the recent verdict on Ayodhya. The fear of the consequences of the judgement led all the IT companies work for only half a day. Most of the holidays are granted to the IT professionals due to bandhs at both national and state level. The major development to the project comes to a halt when an organisation remains closed for a day or half. And this is often a valid reason for the failure of delivery of project on time.

8) Lack of proper skill set in a team: The experienced team members often accountable to higher authorities blame it on the unavailability of skilled engineers in the project. The hiring of additional developers late in the software development cycle, after not meeting some deadline, is often the factor in delayed contributions from the newcomers as they take time to familiarise themselves with the project. This contributes to a great deal of time lost in coordinating their joining the group.

9) Poor planning or management: the role of project manager is not only to give the final word to the team members and to arrive at a particular timeline for the project. If the person taking on the role of project manager has poor planning and managerial skills, the team members could point this as a reason for the project fall over.

10) Quality control and documentation: The major problem of a late running project. Many engineers try to find an excuse for the sake of quality assurance. It is easy to get away with this excuse as the client is also willing to compromise with the deadline for the sake of quality.

Edited from Siliconindia

Posted by
S.Grace Paul Regan

How to learn more effectively?

It’s no surprise that as individuals, we have different learning and working styles. Some people learn better by discussing things in groups, or by jumping into a project straightaway. Others prefer to work alone or have time to think things through before starting something new.

How can you ensure that whenever you learn something – or when you present information or conduct training – you maximise learning effectiveness? Here are a few tips:

Understand your learning style
There are numerous theories about learning styles. A simple and often-used model categorises people as visual learners (65 percent of population), auditory learners (30 percent) or physical/tactile learners (5 percent). Other theories feature a more complex model, with each person tending towards one style or another along a continuum.

Knowing your preferred style of learning is a good starting point to get the most out of any learning experience. For example, if you know that you are a primarily visual learner, then you can supplement reading, lectures or other types of non-visual instruction or information with graphs, flowcharts, diagrams or video, so that you stimulate the main learning centres in your brain. When note-taking, you can also use mind map methods, draw arrows, symbols and shapes to show connections, or use different coloured highlighters.

Similarly, if you are more of a verbal or auditory learner, summarise the material in your own words, or discuss it with a group; explaining it and then hearing it in other people’s words can help you better understand and retain the information. Tactile learners will find it helpful to have something at hand that they can knead or touch; when you read or study, listen to background music, and take frequent breaks. As often as possible, use magnetic letters, maps, globes, note cards or anything tactile to supplement learning.


Get out of your comfort zone
It is also good to develop the areas where you are weaker. This is so that you don’t become too reliant on only one style of learning, limiting your ability to effectively take in new information.

For visual learners, relying solely on visual information can weaken your ability to understand or communicate verbal and written information. So it is important to improve your verbal skills, such as by practising explaining information to a colleague or reading the newspaper. Likewise, verbal learners can practise skills such as reading graphs and maps; and tactile learners should work on improving their verbal and/or visual abilities.


Mix it up
Research shows that on average, students who learn from reading alone only retain about 10 percent of the content. Whereas they retain 26 percent of what they hear, 30 percent of what they see, 50 percent of what they see and hear, 70 percent of what they say themselves, and 90 percent of what they say while doing something.

These statistics support the idea that by learning using different methods, you can retain more information, with people who have to explain or demonstrate something to others being the most successful at learning a topic.

In other words, the best way to learn is to use a variety of methods for each learning experience; no matter your learning style, you can benefit from different types of stimuli and input. Think of it as cross-training for your brain.

Edited from: HP.com

Posted for you By:
S.Grace Paul Regan

How to make better decisions ?

If you think we’re highly evolved beings with the capacity to think clearly and make careful decisions based on reason – think again. Science believes our decisions are often shaped by over-simplification, prejudice, our surroundings, and just plain laziness.

Our minds are easily subverted by images, and even by our own desires. That’s why we tend to avoid visits to the beach after watching sharks on TV, and why we believe we might win the lottery, though the odds are stacked against us. Indeed, we often only see what we want to see or recognise data that supports what we already think.

So, are we doomed to blunder through life led only by our irrational minds? Fortunately, help is at hand with the following useful tips.

The importance of defining your purpose

Clearly define in your own mind what you’re trying to achieve and, if it’s to be a group-based decision, involve the right colleagues – probably about five to seven people, including all key stakeholders.

Always present the idea or problem in the form of a question which helps identify the goal. For example, instead of stating, “Advantages to launching new product X next year,” ask, “When would be the best time to launch product X?” Be really clear in your own mind: what exactly is the problem you want to solve; and what benefits will solving the problem bring to your business? What will happen if you don’t solve the problem? By identifying the problem in this way, you’ll open up your mind to all sorts of alternative solutions.

Generate ideas

The worst way to make a decision is in a hurry. Take your time. Choose a relaxed, informal environment in which to hold your meeting, provide refreshments and allow time for several breaks for coffee.

Brainstorming is ideal for gathering ideas from a group of people; it helps us break out of stale, established patterns of thinking. The idea is to generate as many ideas as possible and encourage everyone to take part, sparking ideas and connections and opening up possibilities – even if they seem crazy! The more options you consider, the more comprehensive your final decision will be. There shouldn’t be any criticism or judgement at this stage; evaluation comes later. It is, however, important that one person in the group should record all the ideas that are generated in the meeting.

Of course, you can also brainstorm on your own: just allow yourself half an hour of absolute freedom to explore all your creativity and experience. However, the obvious disadvantage to this is that you will be limited by your patterns of thinking and, yes, your prejudice; this is why a decision made on your own is always going to be more limited in scope than one made in a group.

Explore alternatives

Once the ideas have been generated, it’s time to evaluate them, considering the possible consequences of each and assessing the pros and cons. Many of us are trained to think that in order to be successful we have to think positively – all the time – and this can mean that we’re under-prepared when problems arise. A useful technique is therefore to consider each problem from different perspectives: first, focussing strictly and analytically on the data available, looking at and learning from past trends; next, using your intuition, or gut feeling, and your emotions; and finally, pessimistically, imagining “the worst scenario”, which will highlight the weak points in your plan.

Look again at the question you presented when you were defining your purpose: have you looked at it from all possible angles? Can you identify how your business would benefit from each of the alternative solutions to the problem?

Take action

In the end, you can never know 100% whether or not you’re making the “right” decision. Only time will tell. But once you’ve decided, concentrate on implementing it in a way that makes it successful – and try not to have doubts!

Edited content from HP.com

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Top tips for talking to your staff !

So you’re the boss! While authority can give you a heady feeling, it can also come with special challenges and considerations – the most important of which is your ability to effectively communicate with your staff. Communication is the true measure of your relationship with employees, and can have real impact on your professional success as a manager. What’s more, effective internal communication boosts productivity and your company’s bottom line. Here are the key points you need to know.

1. Listen more than you talk\

Effective managers know that the most important element of good communication isn’t talking – it’s listening. From being open to new ideas to understanding employees’ concerns, you must allow your staff to tell you what’s on their minds without fear of repercussions. Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything that’s said or accept every suggestion, but at least your employees will know that their concerns have been heard – which goes a long way towards building trust and respect.

2. Make your expectations clear

Vague, cryptic comments and instructions will confuse and frustrate your workers. Make sure that requests and agreements are clear, both verbally and in writing. If you are trying to address a problem with an employee, you need to use specific examples to communicate your point.

For example, don’t tell someone, “You need to work on meeting deadlines.” Instead, say, “These reports need to be done by 9:00 every Monday. When they’re not done on time, it prevents us from shipping on time, and that causes us to lose money and hurts our business relationship with customers.” Then, give the employee a specific roadmap for improvement, and offer support: “This really needs to improve within 30 days. If there is some reason why you’re not meeting your deadlines, let’s discuss it so we can figure out a solution.”

3. Don’t jump to conclusions

This goes hand in hand with good listening – don’t assume you know the full story behind an incident. Even if you were present when it occurred, there may be an underlying issue or problem you’re not aware of that caused the incident.

For example, if you receive a complaint about customer service, don’t just accuse your staff of not interacting well with customers. Say, “This is what I know about that situation,” and explain what you know. Then allow the employee(s) to tell you what happened from their perspective – you may discover that the issue was out of the employee’s control, or was due to other circumstances that need to be addressed.

4. Don’t forget positive reinforcement and feedback

One of the primary reasons workers leave a job is because they feel unappreciated. Employees don’t need to be constantly showered with insincere praise (“You did such a great job making those copies! Excellent work!”); however, it’s important to recognise genuine effort and accomplishment. Try to link specific actions with outcomes; for instance, “You did a great job with that presentation – I think we can really expect to generate higher sales from the customer.” Studies show that this type of recognition has several benefits: it increases company loyalty, boosts individual productivity, and improves customer and client relationships.

Content from Small & Medium Business HP

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

The 6 keys to boosting productivity !

Now more than ever, companies are pushing their employees to work harder, better and “smarter”. In effect, many employees are drowning in work, are overwhelmed, less productive and don’t know which task to handle first.

If this scenario sounds familiar to you, then it’s time for our top tips and some easy-to-implement ideas you might find useful.

1. Get organised

Where are last month’s progress reports? If you’re disorganised, it’s highly likely that you’ll spend too much time searching for things you need. So the heart of any good productivity plan is good personal organisation. Set aside a day or even a weekend to go through your PC or laptop and organise files and folders, get rid of information or programs you no longer need, and clean up your workspace. Not only is it mentally refreshing, you’ll be amazed at how much time and frustration you’ll save when you know exactly where to find that elusive progress report.

2. Identify and eliminate distractions

While ringing telephones and chatty colleagues are a regular part of office life, learn to identify when they’re getting in the way of your work. While some people can function perfectly well with noise and activity all around them, others find that even the gentle hum of a fan wrecks their concentration. If you’re the latter kind of person, don’t be shy about getting the peace you need to do your work properly. Retreat with your laptop to a quiet conference room, try noise-cancelling headphones, or work from home if it’s feasible and less distracting.

3. Get plenty of rest

When your to-do list is three pages long, taking a break may sound counter-intuitive. However, you can’t work efficiently if your brain and body are exhausted – and working to exhaustion can create serious long-term health problems. So make sure you get sufficient sleep every night, and take short breaks during the work day. Even a ten-minute walk can revive you, reduce stress levels and improve your concentration.

4. Prioritise and delegate

Without some idea of which tasks are most important and require the most effort, you may lurch from project to project and waste time that could be better spent focusing elsewhere. So as part of your “getting organised” process, make a list of all the tasks you have to complete on a daily basis and rank them in order of importance. Then, decide how much time realistically needs to be spent on each one, and try to stick to that schedule each day. You may also want to evaluate which, if any, of those tasks could be done by someone else. Maybe an employee or colleague has more time or is better suited to the task. Effective delegation isn’t necessarily about dumping work on someone else – it’s just about efficiency.

5. Talk less, do more

Do you spend a lot of your working time in meetings? Meetings are often unproductive and consume essential hours of the day that could be used to do actual work. If this is the case, simply stop holding those meetings or postpone them to a day when you do not have so many deadlines looming on the horizon.

6. Reading isn’t action

You’re currently reading an article about how to be more productive at work. Well, reading about it also keeps you away from tackling your tasks. Now, let this be the last one and get to work or seek further help

Thanks & Regards,
S.Grace Paul Regan

Every Consultants Should Read !!!

30 second Speech by Bryan Dyson (CEO of Coca Cola)

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you're keeping all of these in the Air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back.

But the other four Balls - Family, Health, Friends and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these; they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it."

WORK EFFICIENTLY DUR ING OFFICE HOURS AND LEAVE ON TIME. GIVE THE REQUIRED TIME TO YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS & HAVE PROPER REST.

Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter to Every Indian !

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites..
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T.Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance.

Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours..


YOU say that our government is inefficient.
YOU say that our laws are too old.
YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.
YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke. The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.
YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - 'YOURS'. Give him a face - 'YOURS'. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are.. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity… In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai .. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah.

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand ..

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan ..
Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.
This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.
Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too…. I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians…..

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Communicate this message to each Indian for a change instead of Jokes or gossips.

Thank you,
Dr.. Abdul Kalam