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Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning lifestyles. Learn more at Affirmative Action Program
February 5, 2008
Third world governments plan and make strategies and show their commitment to efficient and sustainable use of water. But, while implementing these strategies into action, executing agencies always make mistakes, mostly due to organizational inefficiency and incompetence.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is the Civic Authority of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, responsible to provide save drinking water to city dwellers. Currently, the CDA gets 75 million gallons of water daily from different sources for the population of 6,350,000 but massive leakage in water supply system means city dwellers receive contaminated and short supply of water owing to lethal combination of bad water governance and incompetence.
Instead of improving water governance, CDA made a plan of massive investments to augment the water supply from Ghazi Barotha, Indus River, by spending Rs 30 Billions[ 0.5 billion dollars] instead concentrating Institutional reform to improve weak water governance that encourage overexploitation and use of water. The project would be proving disastrous to public exchequer in the scenario of country facing serious energy crises. In fact, according to the project details, water would be lifted from a site that is 915 feet below the level of Islamabad. Thus instead of trying to find out and build the new ones CDA ought to focus on efficient use of exciting water resources and rectify the situation simultaneously whereas the prescription for today is the management of ?each drop of water is vital?.
Rawalpindi is a old, low laying ancient city just located near Capital of Pakistan and in monsoon rainfall season face the problem of flood. The sad and brutal truth is that in the situation, where water from heights of Islamabad is wreaking havoc in Rawalpindi almost every year in the form of flood by swelling Lai River [Nullah]. Past records of the last 35 years is the witness of 23 severe floods in Rawalpindi including an historical flood occurring in July 2001 (considered as a national disaster). The fundamental cause of flood in Rawalpindi is lack of storage of rainwater coming from Margalla hills by CDA management as 80% catchment of Lai falls in Islamabad. Margalla hills were declared as National Park [reserved forest] by the effort of WWF in the year 1980 and now forest at Margalla hills converted in to thick natural vegetative cover. Analysis of rainfall data of Islamabad from 1980 to 2006 reveals due to thick forest canopy provides an excellent model? that monsoon rainfall trend is increasing. CDA management is totally ignorant to this climatic feature of Margalla hills which result in flood in Rawalpindi. Original town planner of Islamabad Constantinos A. Doxiadis and subsequently other international agencies like JICA recommend CDA time and again for an integrate approach by augmenting water of Margalla hills for drinking purpose due to its purity and mitigating flood in Rawalpindi.
Residents of the model city are the worst victims of erratic water supply. The existing drinking water supply system of old sectors was executed almost 40 years ago. The authorities concerned failed to upgrade the system in accordance with the growing sectors and population therewith despite the fact that original master plan of model city modified many times.
The mega project of water supply was justified with the hypotheses that the city is getting 60-70 million gallons daily against its requirement of about 147 million gallons. This is against the factual position as 60 to 70% of water goes unaccounted for which figure is the highest in the world.
The highest percentage of losses speaks of itself the efficiency and competence of CDA. Though Capital Development Authority engaged number of consultants, including JICA ( 1988), Nespak( 1992), MM Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd (1998) and a special study conducted with the help of Govt of Japan in 2000, for the improvement of supply system to make it model. All the consultants recommended that first 60 % leakage must be addressed before exploring new water resource. Lately in November 2005, Government of France conducted a study on ?strategy for the control and management of unaccounted for water? through world reputed experts in this basic and chronic problem of water supply system. The study substantiates the previous findings as well.
According to the statistic per capita availability of water in Islamabad is more than 440 liters per person as compared to other highly consuming cities of Asia like Shinghai and Seoul, which consume 250 and 210 liter per person respectively. Besides, receiving highest per capita water residents of Islamabad get water only for one hour throughout the day. In other words it means that despite existence of sufficient water residents of the city get far less quantity which is even less than minimum right of a citizen according to charter of United Nation, i.e. 100 liters of water per person per day. CDA management, being model civic authority, neither acknowledged this right nor recognized water as an economic commodity. Otherwise conserving water and to fulfill need thereof is the best tool to eradicate the poverty.
Another gloomy aspect that illustrates gross negligence and mismanagement of CDA is none-metering and intermittent water supply operation philosophy, causing water wastage at the consumer end. This devastating policy forced dwellers to install electric pumps on water connections due to low pressure. Inadequate and irregular supply of water is also one of the fundamental causes of contamination and leakage in secondary water supply network. In the original water supply plan, meters were planned to be installed but later declared obsolete, visibly an attempt to hide massive leakage. An interesting fact that may arouse curiosity of the readers that water meters were installed in Murree in June 1887 which system is working. Effective water-metering system makes water administration accountable on water losses. Islamabad is the only capital where flat rates are charged from consumers irrespective of water consumption. Just imagine the discriminatory policy of CDA that a house in posh sectors mostly having big swimming pools installed additional illegal connections charged with same flat rates as small house in other sectors. This apartheid policy forced dwellers to store more water than needed. Not only this, inadequate and irregular supply of water due to low pressure also forced dwellers to Install electric pumps on water connections, bore holes, and dug wells to increase the supply of water; thus causing inequitable distribution and water feuds. Metering system increases the awareness of water being consumed in a household and, therefore, reduces wastage and leakages. This in turn helps to conserve precious water resources and benefits the environment.
The track record of CDA on the management of water resources is an example of its own kind. For instance in February, March 2005, more than 29000 million gallon of water from Khanpur and Simly dam spilled over and escaped to sea resulting in another artificial crises in the following month for the residents. Khanpur Dam can alone cater the water need of Capital till 2050, firstly if its conveyance root is adopted according to recommendation of JICA, WAPDA and other international experts. The same will also save more then Rs 95 Million annually on account of electricity bill alone for pumping water. Secondly, the address the chronic problem of seepage in Khanpur dam that is 35 million gallon monthly.
There is a water crisis to meet water need of Islamabad. Surely it is a crisis of management that is threatening water resources with bad governance. The need is bridging the gap between higher management sitting in the offices and ground realities pertaining to potential existing water resources. The need is to utilizing additional storage capacity of Simly after construction of Auxiliary Spillway, tapping water from seasonal water of streams of Margalla Hills, optimum use of Khanpur water resource, in addition to digital water meters, is cost effective solution of drinking water for Islamabad city. Water conservation and rain harvesting techniques is part of the building by-laws 2005 but never enforced. The immediate example for CDA authorities is in our neighbor country where rain harvesting is mandatory in many Indian cities. Even, the annual requirement of the Indian President?s Palace is met from its rooftop rainwater
Foregoing paras, with legitimate facts are enough to explain that spending of 30 billion rupees on bringing water from Indus River would not only be economic disaster but also prove a catastrophy in term of operating cost. Managing efficiently existing water resources is the call of the day making Islamabad as Modal of water governance for other cities of the Pakistan as proposed and planned by the Federal Capital Commission in October 1959, while shifting capital from Karachi.
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Arshad H Abbasi
Can be contacted at ahabasi@gmail.com
The writer is a visiting research fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad. Email: ahabasi@gmail.com
February 4, 2008
Attracting highly skilled and qualified employees is essential to building a successful business. When a company is growing, it is easy for the owner or a trusted company employee to take each new recruit under their wing and show them the ropes. As a company grows, however, that process becomes more and more difficult as time and client demands take highly valued employees? time. At this point a formal, extensive program for training managers becomes necessary.
Once a company reaches a certain level of success, its managers become the liaison between employees and executive management. Training managers becomes critical to ensuring that employees are acclimated into their jobs, personnel issues are handled, laws and regulations are adhered to and each employee completes their job in an orderly, productive and efficient manner.
The proper training of managers begins with a strong human resources department or program. The human resources employees understand how the practical application of all labor laws applies to the businesses every day work routines. They also are trained in handling personnel issues and in ensuring that all non work related issues are dealt with properly.
Most managers bring their own style and skill set to their job. They understand how to produce what they are supposed to, but often lack the basic management skills that needed to supervise and motivate personnel. For instance, you do not have to train an Information Technology Specialist in how to manage information technology systems, but you probably have to train them in the corporate culture, personnel policies and applicable laws.
Training managers also includes familiarizing the manager to the procedures that make a company successful. These can be production processes, quality assurances standards, client contact policies and much, much more. In essence, everything necessary to make sure that managers can handle all reasonable issues that might arise needs to be ingrained in their actions, thoughts and decisions.
Management training often includes incorporating executives, human resources, sales, marketing and production personnel as well as logistic service employees such as representatives from accounting, billing and collections. Each of these personnel presents to the manager any materials necessary to allow the manager to complete his or her job according to expectations. In most companies this is informal, but in larger or technically based companies, training can be either internal and informal or external and formal as in sending the manager away to a school or corporate training institute.
The curriculum covered when training managers can be as simple or complex as is necessary to train manager. It can include tutorials on internal production cycles, billing procedures, reporting mandates and client protocol. Often a presentation of products, sales and marketing plans and existing company market positions is included to help the manager see how each component contributes to the general corporate success.
Each company has to identify what it feels are the most important facets of its training programs. Training managers comes down to how the company expects the manager to function within the corporate climate, so the training should be as comprehensive as possible. It is important, however, to allocate as much time as possible to make sure the manager has enough time to absorb all they have been exposed to during their training.
The way the manager is trained will largely determine the manager?s ability to complete his or her job. Testing the managers on what has been taught is appropriate, although the testing should be clear, concise and not focus on minutia. After training, a company should be able to rely on that manager to fulfill their duties in a timely and efficient manner and also form a knowledgeable posture.
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Frank Bullard has been involved with small businesses for many years. His current focus on helping small businesses utilitize the power of the internet. You can view many helpful articles relating to small business at www.websiteprofitcenter.com/Small_business_articles.html
February 1, 2008
When you have bought a new TV you expect the plug to fit the socket. When you buy a video disk you expect it to fit your recorder. When you buy a new tire, you would like it to fit the wheel. When you write a document you want it to open on another computer with a different word processor.
Yet:
A video game fits only the device it is made for: Xbox, PSP, Play Station, PC and Nintendo. They are all different. Exchanging software and hardware between them is limited or even made (deliberately) impossible.
But, on the other hand:
XML is a new standard that has been developed to facilitate the exchange of information through the internet. Before the internet, companies also did exchange information but by means of a much more closed and exclusive Electronic Data Interface (EDI) format.
Web services are also going into the direction of a standardized way to deliver an automated function. Agreed by the web world and therefore a powerful medium to exchange services.
Before we are able to examine the importance of standards and the way they affect our lives we should search for specific characteristics of each standard. This could be done by an inventory of the different types of standards. This will lead us to the authority on standards. The international Standardization Organization: ISO (www.iso.org)
To give same idea about the areas where standards are used, look at this catalogue (www.iso.org/iso/en/CatalogueListPage.CatalogueList) A part of the catalogue is shown below. This means that every area has its own standards:
- 65 Agriculture
- 49 Aircraft and space vehicle engineering
- 71 Chemical technology
- …
- 29 Electrical engineering
- 31 Electronics
- 27 Energy and heat transfer engineering
- …
- 1 Generalities. Terminology. Standardization. Documentation
- 81 Glass and ceramics industries
- 11 Health care technology
- 37 Image technology
- 35 Information technology. Office machines
- 25 Manufacturing engineering
- …
- 7 Mathematics. Natural Sciences
- 3 Services. Company organization, management and quality. Administration. Transport. Sociology
- 33 Telecommunications. Audio and video engineering
If we look at the list we can argue that a standard has a certain scope: standards for information technology are only valid and applicable at that area. Also for telecommunications, and services.
There are also standard dedicated to safety and security (health care, aircraft and communications) whereas other are more generic, like the ones for management and quality. The former should be much more compelling than the latter.
This is only a tip of the iceberg. But why worry? Why are these standards important? They are because standards rule our lives…and that is interesting!
? 2006 Hans Bool
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Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management tools. Have a look at some of our free management tools
January 28, 2008
What is strategic leadership and why do I need it?
Strategic leadership is a self-explanatory term, and even when separated, still provides a meaningful definition. A definition of strategic leadership can be summed up as the ?ability to anticipate, prepare, and get positioned for the future.?
In my experience, I have been able to pinpoint specific examples of colleagues who have exemplified strategic leadership in their professions. I?d like to share some examples of how strategic leadership is essential to a work environment.
A small company had been acquired by a larger firm. With this, the current leader had been let go and a new leader was appointed to take charge.
Anticipate and Prepare-Being acquired by a larger firm may bring more awareness to a company or provide better benefits, but several cons may get in the way at first. During a transition period, many employees are sometimes left without a job, or have decided to move on to other things in the wake of unsatisfied changes. It was no different when a well-liked president of the company was phased out due to financial setbacks. The firm took a lengthy process to make a move until finally appointing an internal employee to serve as the interim president. Left with a lot of the dirty work, the new leader immediately went to work and restored and initiated productivity with his employees. His biggest attribute was that he was prepared for this new role before he was even appointed as the new president. His natural work ethic had already groomed him for charismatic leadership and when the opportunity for advancement came, he wasted no time in taking charge and continuing the work. Likewise, a strategic leader will be able to pick up the pieces and restore work productivity regardless of a drastic change.
Being the cheerleader and still an enforcer, Teams leaders are versatile figures held accountable for their employee?s work performance.
Get positioned for the future- A team leader?s major objective is to keep worker performance at a high and encourage improving results that would ultimately lead to a brighter outlook and future. Preparing employees now enables them to do such. Team Leaders have a weekly, monthly or even yearly report to give so their main motivation would be to constantly focus on the progress and performance of their individuals. In order to maintain and continue a future of positive results, an effective team leader will use strategic planning in his/her strategic management. Mentally, he/she will find ways to encourage employees to perform high to obtain team incentives, but will also encourage strategic planning at the individual level. Training employees to strategically plan in their prospective territories will alleviate the leader with multiple responsibilities and generate a more productive outcome in the work area. With a focus on the individual employee, a team leader will have the power to influence his/her employees to control their progress and look towards a better outcome.
One department is flourishing with work productivity, while one department is far behind.
Focus on the right energies- In a business world where deadlines are demanding and profits are important, companies and their leaders will hold work productivity as a high priority. A strategic leader will observe less than optimum circumstance and move quickly to create beneficial change. Saving time by focusing only on the right energies will help a company profit. For example, an employee serves in two departments, splitting duties between each. It is evident that his/her skills are stronger in research and development rather than in the sales department. A strategic leader may see more value in changing this employee?s role to work in this stronger area of expertise. At the same time, a strategic leader will realize that this employee may be able to provide unique insight across both functions that others can not. Strategic leaders will observe these situations quickly and waste no time in shifting employees to areas where both the individual and organizations can benefit the most.
These glimpses give you some helpful scenarios of how strategic leadership can be applied in your work environment. Should you have any future problems with work productivity, profits or even issues with your employees, address those concerns with some professional guidance and you?ll discover how an investment in your team will result is bottom line results.
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To learn more about effective strategic leadership or strategic planning and the process, tools, and skill to get out of the ‘daily routine,’ please contact one of our Regional Managers at (888)262-2499 or visit The Center of Management and Organization Effectiveness.
January 22, 2008
Today?s global business environment changes constantly. Yet too often companies develop their processes and procedures as if change will never affect them. Managers and employees work in habitual patterns and will resist change unless they buy into it.
For many years the telephone never changed. It had a rotary dial on a black base. About fifty years ago, beige colors were added. Push buttons arrived. Now phone features change every few months.
For years the investment castings industry, which makes large heavy engineered products, faced no competition from imports. Yet Asian imports are now attacking their top line. We see this phenomenon repeatedly.
Transform Your Business
Rapidly changing technology and information transmission speed has shortened the business cycle. Faced with these changes, leaders take on a difficult task when they try to drive their companies to realize their vision and deliver sustainable results. They may find the very existence of the organization in jeopardy.
Leaders must incorporate transformational not just directional changes. Companies get the results ? good or bad ? that they are designed to get. If your vision for the future differs from your current situation, if you want different results, then you must change the way you do things. If you don?t, how can you expect results that are any different from those you have already achieved?
Change, though pervasive, is often misunderstood. Many myths affect our attitudes toward change and limit our ability to proactively accomplish positive change. Too often we react defensively to circumstances that appear beyond our control. Let?s take a closer look at five myths about change.
Myth 1 ? Change must be imposed. People don?t like change. We must coerce them to make changes.
Real change is self motivated. It?s not that we do not like change, what we do not like is to be changed. When we don?t involve our employees in discovering the need for change and don?t involve them in the change plan, they become ?change plan critics.?
Fred, the owner of his company, decided to centralize customer service. His managers resisted with many reasons why this was a bad decision. Fred delayed implementation and brought his managers together to discuss why and how to improve customer service. Not too long after, the managers were pushing Fred to speed the customer service improvements!
An effective leader understands that sharing power is the most effective way to build personal motivation. Participants must take intellectual and emotional ownership of the change initiative. When they are part of the change process and solution they develop personal commitment to the outcome.
Myth 2 ? You gradually wear down resisters. Eventually everyone will embrace change.
As we learned in Myth 1, you can work with the people who openly resist your plans. They will slowly respond to your leadership.
However, you cannot ignore those who do not openly protest. These problem employees, the ?amen brother? types, appear to accept changes. In reality the more changes you incorporate, the more these silent resisters sabotage them in subtle ways.
While they may openly play your game, they are working for the status quo. They think that they can, ?wait this out for a while, and soon everything will be back to normal.?
Myth 3 ? Change is a one-time thing. Once we make the changes we need, everything will be OK.
The world changes continuously and companies must change with it. If you suspect that change will be difficult, plan for it. After all, the time to repair your roof is when the sun is shining.
Effective leaders build a culture that embraces regular change through the use of continual planning. A culture that emphasizes planning develops management agreement, personal commitment and team focus. With these conditions present, you proactively lead change with the support of your team.
Focus is key. Planning focuses the management team. Focus then drives performance and performance drives results. Management focus, therefore, becomes a competitive advantage.
Myth 4 ? Change is radical.
Real change happens in small steps. Large changes overwhelm people, defeating them before they even start.
When we break the change initiative into small steps, people maintain enthusiasm because they see positive progress in short time periods. Prioritize these steps so the results lead to success of the overall initiative.
Leaders that track and measure the success of each step of their initiatives most often accomplish their goals ? and as the leader of your company, you must hold yourself accountable. When you make the steps small, it is easier to redirect effort as necessary. People responsible for change remain positive. They can quickly see the results of their efforts.
Myth 5 ? Others have to change, not me.
Too often the attitude of the leader is ?My people need to change, not me.? In reality change begins at the top. You must lead change if you want your organization to change. The most effective change initiatives are proactively led by top management.
As an effective leader, you play a key role as a positive role model. People respond positively to shared initiatives and team effort. When top management is actively involved, you and the company are better able to respond to the inevitable twists and turns that arise.
Be Comfortable with Change.
In summary, these five myths impact our ability to make necessary and effective changes in the time frames that allow us to proactively impact our marketplace. Accept these myths as fact, and you are likely to fail. Debunk these myths by acting proactively, and your chances of success increase exponentially.
Globalization, rapid technological advances and speed of information have permanently altered our business cycle. When you understand that real change is slow and difficult you will find ways to help you and your organization become more comfortable with change rather than resist it.
The Change Credo
People are ?change plan critics? unless they become part of the change process and solution.
Share power by involving managers in the planning process; develop personal commitment and team effort in order to build agreement and focus; break change initiatives into manageable pieces; be proactive; hold yourself accountable, knowing that what gets tracked and measured gets accomplished ? this is the credo of the successful leader.
By staying in control, you weather the difficult periods. By being proactive, you build a ?lets beat our best? change philosophy into the culture of your organization.
Positive change brings positive results. Real change should be satisfying - and fun!
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With more than 30 years in operations management, Tom Northup understands the business complexities faced by today?s busy executives. The former CEO and principal of three successful businesses, Tom is his own success story. Through coaching, consulting, mentoring, and training, he provides real-world, practical experience and thoughtful leadership?all with a focus on sustainable success and results. He may be reached at www.lmgsuccess.com.
Leaders achieve goals in cooperation with and through the actions of the people in their organization. Effective CEOs encourage their employees? personal success because they understand that personal success translates into organizational success. They know that successful people build successful organizations.
Three characteristics of successful people are:
? Goal direction
They know where they stand, where they want to go and have a plan to get there.
? Self motivation
As self starters, they wind their own clock.
? Positive mental attitude
Successful people look for ways to complete tasks. They focus on strengths and break self-imposed limitations created by low self esteem.
These traits are interrelated. Strengthen one and you strengthen them all. Success breeds more success through increasing momentum.
Goal Direction:
A much quoted study found that the three percent of the population who created a specific written plan became not only financially independent but out produced those with only general goals by 10 to 100 times.
Goal directed action leads to success, which arrives when you make that first step towards a goal, not when you reach your goal. Every action step you take towards your goal is a success that brings you closer to the end result you want.
You can learn the skill of goal direction. Effective CEOs provide goal training and instill goal direction through the planning process. They ensure expected results when they hold themselves and their organization accountable.
When employees meet their personal goals while helping the company meet its goals, they make great achievements possible. Effective CEOs build an environment where personal and organizational goals complement each other.
Self-Motivation
Motivation, the sum of two words, motive and action, is the reason a person takes an action. Motivation, movement towards a goal, is goal directed action.
In the business world, motivation often arises from fear or incentives, both of which are generated by another person and temporary in nature.
For instance, an employee might be scared by the threat of losing a bonus. Over time people build immunity to fear in that they work just hard enough to get the job done then stop taking action. They don?t grow and develop to their full potential.
Incentives are often part of an employee?s compensation plan. For example, a sales incentive plan can effectively increase sales in the short run. However, today?s incentive plan often becomes tomorrow?s expectation. As the reward becomes expected, the incentive must increase.
Self motivation, however, is internal, permanent and unique to each individual. We motivate ourselves. When we work and live through self-motivation, we take more control over our lives than we could ever imagine having, much like a thoroughbred horse that runs for the thrill of running. The joy and excitement of doing something we love brings great achievement and meaning to our lives.
Positive Mental Attitude
Which would you rather have as an employee or co-worker, a person with a positive attitude and average skills or a person with high skills and a negative attitude?
Effective leaders understand that attitude is everything. We heighten success when we look for ways to accomplish our goals rather than make excuses.
Winners and losers dress alike, eat in the same restaurants, shop in the same stores and work in the same offices. Attitude, behavior and the results they achieve make the difference.
Winners confidently expect that they can turn any situation to positive advantage. Using positive behaviors; they listen and learn. Their attitude and behavior lead to peak performance.
The difference between the average and very successful person is quite small. Successful people don?t work three times as hard. Effective CEOs know how to develop the slight edge in people that creates a major increase in performance. They instill an attitude of abundance and positive expectance in their people.
How to Build Success Traits
Effective CEOs use these four action steps to build success traits in their management team:
? Create a positive work environment.
People respond to their environment. Build an environment where people want to be and want to do their best.
? Encourage people to stretch for professional development.
Most people want to progress and grow. Effective leaders make a point of learning what motivates their employees and then give personal and organizational encouragement.
? Strive for excellence.
Help people hold themselves accountable for their personal goals. Hold them accountable for organizational goals.
? Share power to create personal commitment to key initiatives.
An effective leader understands that sharing power is the most effective way to build personal motivation. When participants take intellectual and emotional ownership of the initiative, they become part of the solution and develop personal commitment to the outcome.
How to Build Self Esteem
Effective leaders understand that attitude is crucial and that self esteem, the sum of our conditioning from an early age, affects it in many ways. Leaders raise the self esteem of their employees by helping them:
? Avoid comparison to others.
When we compare ourselves to others we set ourselves up for disappointment. Someone always has better experience or is a more polished speaker. The only relevant measure of personal improvement is to compare our capabilities from yesterday to our capabilities today
? Resist putting yourself down.
Don?t let the person in the mirror become a block. Understand your starting point and set a goal to change. Once you start to actively work towards a goal, you create success not at the end point but during the game. Every day you work towards the culmination of your long range goals.
? Improve a discipline in some part of your life.
Working to fulfill your goals gives you an incentive to do more and do it better each day. When you consistently take the right actions, you feel better about yourself and regularly reach a higher plateau.
? Celebrate small victories.
Recognize that each step you complete towards your goals is a positive accomplishment that takes you closer to your final objective. You raise your effectiveness every day.
Summary
The difference between being average and successful is small. A successful person doesn?t work harder, he or she works with a distinct goal in mind. For this reason effective CEOs strive to strengthen success traits in themselves and their employees.
Personal and organizational successes go together. When employees meet their personal goals as they help the organization meet its goals, they make great achievements possible. Effective CEOs build an environment where personal and organizational goals complement each other.
They build a positive work environment where people stretch toward excellence. They share power with their management team to bring the full effect of personal motivation to organizational initiatives.
Effective CEOs build an organization of committed people who together accomplish great feats. They believe in the adage:
?Self motivation is the power that raises you to any level you seek?
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With more than 30 years in operations management, Tom Northup understands the business complexities faced by today?s busy executives. The former CEO and principal of three successful businesses, Tom is his own success story. He helps companies become ‘4th Quadrant’ companies where revenue and profit grow year after year. He provides real-world, practical experience and thoughtful leadership?all with a focus on sustainable success and results. He may be reached at www.lmgsuccess.com.
January 20, 2008
My wife has a bee in her bonnet. Several actually, but the one that gets her most is the lack of professionalism she comes across in everyday life.
Businesses that tell you something will be available at a certain time when clearly, in retrospect, it was never going to be. People in power who refuse to accept accountability for their area of responsibility when things go wrong. People who tell you something is true when they just really do not know.
All of these circumstances irritate her. They irritate me too, although I am more prone to wonder why they are not professional. Maybe they don’t even have a concept of what it is to be professional or perhaps they know what it is but they don’t value it.
A quotation by Frank Tyger sums up professionalism well. ‘Professionalism is knowing how to do it, when to do it and doing it.’ Too many organisations and people fail the last test by this quotation on professionalism and some fail all three.
Being professional is an attitude that can be learnt. Professionalism has some fairly basic behavioural components.
Honesty and integrity are the cornerstone behaviours of professionalism. Being fair, truthful, keeping one’s word, meeting commitments and not being afraid of debate about topics one has knowledge about.
Hard on their heels come reliability and accountability. One must be accountable not only for our own area of expertise but also for those who work for us. They are responsible for what they do, but their leaders are accountable for what they do.
Accountability also extends to one’s profession especially if that profession has published ethics by which they work. Doctors, accountants and directors of companies come to mind. Inherent in the accountability is reliability in meeting commitments, completing assignments and accepting accountability for errors.
A corollary of accountability is knowing one’s limits. To be able to answer a question with the answer, ‘I don’t know’ and meeting one’s inherent commitments by following it up with ‘But I will find out’.
Many people seem to think being professional is to be seen to know every thing. In my experience that is only close to reality for a few geniuses in our midst. A true professional knows what they do not know. They do not assume or generalise. A true professional seeks out facts, uses facts and learns from incidents when the ‘facts’, as they were known at the time, prove to be wrong.
Professionals have a respect for others. They have a respect that is non-discriminatory and treat all people with regard for their personal worth and dignity.
Professionals listen. They listen to show respect through empathy and to gain information which through analysis they can turn into probable facts.
In listening, professionals will seek to understand the filters that people of different upbringing, thinking styles, cultures and emotional states will use when they respond to their questions.
Professionals will try to understand their own bias that occurs due to the filters they use. Professionals will paraphrase to obtain clarity.
Self improvement by enthusiastic participation in training events and cross functional teams is a hallmark of a professional. More importantly, professionals seek to learn from their mistakes by, in part, seeking feedback on their performance from as wide a community as possible.
Professionals will analyse the consequences of their actions including the unintended consequences, against their intended consequences.
Professionals will be altruistic. That is, they will have more regard for the facts and other people than for their own regard. They will advocate, based on facts and logic, for actions to be taken to reach a known goal.
Why is it that being professional seems to be such an unpopular pastime, one might wonder? It does not seem to be too hard and on the face of it, the characteristics of a professional seem to be desirable.
When faced with questions like that, I find the most obvious answers are usually correct.
The obvious answer is because it is not easy and being less than professional is easier. A question for leaders is ‘Do you make it easy for people to be professional?’
Do you reward honesty or what you want to hear? Do you reward clear thinking or quick answers? Do you reward professional behaviour over amateur behaviour? Do you reward people who say ‘I don’t know, but I will find out’?
Do you reward substance over form? Do you question good news as vigorously as bad news? Do you paper over unprofessional acts in order to be seen as being ‘nice’?
Leaders get the level of professionalism in their teams that they demand. Leaders set the tone, develop the framework and build the sense of worth for being professional.
The question for leaders then, is, ‘Are you professional?’
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Kevin Dwyer is Director of Change Factory. Change Factory helps organisations who do do not like their business outcomes to get better outcomes by changing people’s behaviour. Businesses we help have greater clarity of purpose and ability to achieve their desired business outcomes. To learn more visit http://www.changefactory.com.au or email kevin.dwyer@changefactory.com.au
?2006 Change Factory
To see more articles visit http://www.changefactory.com.au
January 19, 2008
Family businesses are advised ad nauseam to have a succession plan. Mostly, they fail. Mid-size businesses should have a succession plan. Mostly, they fail too. Large businesses must have a succession plan. Unfortunately, they tend to fail as well.
Succession planning is not a ?nice to have?. It is a necessary part of any organisation’s ability to reduce risk, create a proven leadership model, preserve organisational memories, smooth business continuity and improve staff morale. The only readily identifiable reason for an organisation to fail to plan for succession is a lack of appreciation of the risks that not planning brings.
An indication of how many organisations fail to plan for succession comes from the simple measurement of the level of outside recruitment in senior positions. Human resource firms report that sixty percent of the Fortune 250 firms in the United States go outside to hire people at the executive management team level. It is probable that organisations below the Fortune 250 have even higher levels of outside recruitment.
Organisations that do have effective succession planning systems have common characteristics.
They have smooth transitions. Having someone to step into an important vacancy is a critical measure of the effectiveness of succession management. However, helping that person transition in a positive manner with all the necessary skills and knowledge is as important and often more challenging to execute.
They are able to identify the right developmental assignments. A successful process includes job assignments that properly prepare candidates for their new positions, as compared to a sink-or-swim approach.
They provide meaningful appraisals and feedback. Often, three hundred and sixty degree feedback is used. Objective assessments are essential in order for management to specify what’s required for a successful promotion.
They use appropriate selection criteria. A successful succession management system depends on the identification of competencies for each job, giving everyone involved a clear picture of the behaviour, skills and knowledge required to succeed. Individuals are given a personal development plan to help them acquire the desired competency.
They have a range of good choices for each position. A working succession system results in having more than one good person available for a key job. Real success requires choices between two or more qualified people. From my experience, three people identified for each key position is what organisations should strive for.
Development of a succession planning system is not difficult but does require executive leadership and commitment. Despite the low level of difficulty, errors in developing succession planning systems are common. For example, many organisations often concentrate on a succession plan for their leadership team only. This is insufficient. A succession plan should, at a minimum, determine which positions in an organisation, if not successfully filled, increase the risk to the organisation to an unacceptable level. Many technical roles where an incumbent tends to have a long tenure should be included in a succession plan.
Another failure often encountered is the desire to clone the incumbent. If the organisation needs to move in a different direction because of changes in their operating or competitive environment, clones will not work. Another frequent mistake in succession planning is making the assumption that good performance at one level will guarantee good performance at the next level. Organisations need to understand the competencies and personality characteristics required of job roles at each level and plan succession accordingly.
Succession planning systems are often cumbersome and not consistently applied within an organisation. A good succession planning system is easy to use. It is a non-bureaucratic, uncomplicated process; a unified approach ensuring consistency and maintaining objectivity across business units, organisational levels and geographic areas.
However, perhaps the biggest mistake to make is to view a succession plan as merely a replacement programme. That is, to identify a few people for a position in the future and allow nature to take its course. Succession planning systems must be developmental in nature. A variety of developmental activities including mentoring, coaching, job rotation, traditional educational programs and formalised feedback processes should be used.
The most important developmental activities are job assignments or work experience. Organisations need to spend considerable time balancing the organisation’s need to fill vacant positions with assignments that will help key people grow and develop their potential.
Succession planning is a necessary leadership team activity. Leaders need to be actively involved in the development, monitoring and measurement of the system. Once developed, the system needs to be evaluated for its ability to provide succession into key roles. The system must be objective and the evaluation of its effectiveness must be objective. Paying lip service to succession planning is potentially worse than not having it.
It is said that organisations that fail to plan, plan to fail. Leaders of organisations that fail to have a succession plan, plan to have failure succeed them.
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Kevin Dwyer is Director of Change Factory. Change Factory helps organisations who do do not like their business outcomes to get better outcomes by changing people’s behaviour. Businesses we help have greater clarity of purpose and ability to achieve their desired business outcomes. To learn more visit http://www.changefactory.com.au or email kevin.dwyer@changefactory.com.au
?2006 Change Factory
To see more articles visit http://www.changefactory.com.au
Business planning is a bore to most organisations. It is seen in many cases as an annual chore to be completed under duress of the chief executive officer, board or other stakeholders.
It should be seen however, as an opportunity to clear away the cobwebs of day to day management and supervision. It is the one time that the leaders of the organisation are able to reflect on their current operating environment and plan for the future.
Much of the apparent drudgery of business planning comes from the poor, if any, processes adopted in business or corporate planning. Business planning does not have to be complex, but it does take process, thought and data.
The bulk of business planning should be completed over two to three days away from the day to day management. Prior to the ?away days? preparation in the form of an analysis of current performance against financial, employee, customer and community KPIs and the development of a model of financial inputs and outputs can be completed.
A worthy starting point for a business planning session is to reconfirm what business the organisation is in. This somewhat obvious step is often revealing as organisations tend to slide from their original purpose over time. Alternatively, the environment in which they operate changes enough to make their business model irrelevant.
Business planning processes are well documented. They tend to follow a well worn path of planning. The path is usually Mission/Vision, current performance, SWOT, goals, strategies, marketing and sales plan, operational plan, research and development plan, people development plan, funding plan, financial projections and action plan.
To make the most out of an away day, the leadership team needs to come prepared with an excel spreadsheet of profit and cash flow over the last four years and a prospective balance sheet. Also, an excel model of the component parts of sales, direct costs, indirect costs, capital investments, depreciation schedule, interest taxes and financing sources and costs is required.
If the skills required to create these models are not available in the organisation, they should be hired. The importance of having accurate financial data on business planning cannot be overstated.
Although, it is equally important to recognise that business planning should not get in front of the data available. That is, if the data available is only at the high level, the planning regrettably must be at high level. The corollary of course, is that the action plan must include activities to improve the granularity of the data.
The first day of an ?away day? concentrates on understanding the current performance. Leaders ensure that they understand the inter-relationships of the existing marketing, sales, operational, research and development and people development activities. They must understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the markets in which they operate.
Government departments and ministries are not immune from this necessity of analysis. They may not receive payment for many of their services, but they do have services, customers, cost and people development activities which interact not only with other ministries and departments but also with the public and public companies.
The second day of an ?away day? concentrates on the ?so where do we want to be? discussion and brainstorming. This should be a day free from restrictions of the present. It should concentrate on using the strengths of the organisation or eliminating the weaknesses of the organisation to achieve the goals and vision of the organisation.
The third day of the ?away day? concentrates on the capacity constraints that would either stop some of the strategies and tactics developed on day two from ever being realised or are needed to be developed to be able to reach the goals and vision. The capacity enhancements will include capital investment, recruitment, process re-engineering, competency development, data gathering and performance management, to name a few.
The key to this part of the planning is to be realistic about the time required to develop and the resources to manage the development of the capacity. The resources will include money and people and occasionally systems, which requires policy and process documentation and people and money.
After the ?away day? the leaders should communicate the outcomes to their subordinates and ask them to model and understand the ramifications of adopting any of the planned items. The subordinate feedback and output from the away days is discussed and prioritised with timelines, people requirements, financial and funding implications being used to cull out activities to a final plan.
Business planning is not a chore. It is the obligation of every leader to plan their business and communicate it to their subordinates. Without it, organisations operate in a dark and foreboding forest of opportunities lost through ignorance of the past, and present and lack of planning for the future.
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Kevin Dwyer is Director of Change Factory. Change Factory helps organisations who do do not like their business outcomes to get better outcomes by changing people’s behaviour. Businesses we help have greater clarity of purpose and ability to achieve their desired business outcomes. To learn more visit http://www.changefactory.com.au or email kevin.dwyer@changefactory.com.au
?2006 Change Factory
To see more articles visit http://www.changefactory.com.au
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