Destination Work – Getting people excited about coming to work and working Hard

Destination Work – Getting people excited about coming to work and working Hard

I really enjoyed reading this book and was so eager to finish this that intentionally traveled by Bus instead of Driving so that I could get some good continuous time to read .

This Book is by Hary Paul and Ross Reck show managers at all levels how they can immediately and easily increase productivity by tapping into the discretionary effort of the people who work for them. Starting from most basic aspect of Business reality- that people intentionally regulate the amount of effort they put into their jobs based upon how they feel they’re being treated – authors point out that the most important part of the job of every manager, team ,leader , supervisor and executive is to traet people in such a way that they become excited about applying all their discretionary effort toward performing their jobs.

He narrates the message by story of Nancy Kim , a human resources director at a magzine that is struggling with all problems associated with unhappy employees – low productivity and morale along with high absenteeism and turnover. She changes the working style of organisation from “ management by numbers “ to Destination work .

Nuggets as we read the book :
 Lesson what Managers and executives need to understand.

· Managers are concerned about performance numbers and the bottom line.
 · Managers understand that the harder employees work , the better those numbers are going to be.
· · What many Managers don’t understand is that the better they treat their employees, the harder they’ll work.

Managing Employees Strictly by Numbers send all these wrong messages:· Performance numbers and the bottom line are more important than employes. Managers don’t trust their employees
· Employees are expendable
· Managers don’t care about well being of their employees.

These messages not only motivate people to be far less productive but also provide a strong incentive for better performing employees to seek employment elsewhere.

Happy Employees:
· · Smile more
· · Have more fun
· · Work harder
· · Work better with Fellow employees
· · Are more loyal
· · Love their boss
--Bottom line – happy employees are productive employees

One of the visit of Nancy to another organisation she saw people wearing buttons written TGIM – thank God its Monday, and there people were really motivated as they followed Destination work Framework.

MOTIVATE WITH TRUST instead of FEAR.

The four Be’s for motivating with Trust
1. Be Real
2. Be Appreciative
3. Be Interested
4. Be Nice

The goal of Destination work is to create a work environment where employees:
· Are excited about coming everyday
· Feel appreciated and cared for
· Come to get their batteries recharged
· Wake up in morning and say “ Wow I get to go to work today . Lucky me !”

Putting employees first will make:
· Them work harder
· Perform a higher quality of work
· Take more initiative
· Are more accountable
· Are not afraid of change
· Work better with Fellow employees

No one likes to be micro managed
Micromanaging tells your employee that you don’t trust them. Without a climate of mutual trust no employee is going to give you their best efforts – they will only give you what they have in order to keep their jobs. So if you want your employees to work hard on your behalf, back off and support them – let them know you are on their side.

Managing with trust frees employees up to turn their work into fun . As a result:
The most mundane and repetitive tasks becomes enjoyable.
 Employees look forward to coming to office especially on Monday
 Employees apply more of their effort towards performing their jobs.

High Cost of poorly Trained Supervisors
Sudies says that single biggest reason people quit their job is behaviour of their immediate supervisor- they were either abusive, didn’t care about them, didn’t listen, didn’t notice or didn’t listen what they did or were only out for themselves.

Athor uses word Touchy Feely which really means that people have feelings and they need to be personally touched in ways that make them feel good if you expect to bring out their best.

NGATIVE PEOPLE are Luxury, which most Businesses Can’t Afford.

How can you tell you are using FEAR as motivator?
The next time you walk through your department, ask yourself the following Questions:
1. Do my employees look like they are glad to see me.
2. Do my employees have smiles on their faces most of the time.
3. Do my employees eargerly make eye contact with me.
4. Do I feel my employees have my best interests at heart?
If the answer is no then you are using fear as motivator.
Implementing Destination work makes your job more easier and manager with more fun.
Your employees like you and are looking out for your best interest
Your employees want to talk to you and let you know whats going on.
Spending time with your employees becomes a source of happiness

Your performance numbers go way up which make you really good on your performance review.

HUMILITY and RECOGNIZING OTHERS – Hallmarks of Great Leader.

Destination work daily Execution Guidelines:

Goal :  To turn work into a destination - a place the employees are excited about coming to every day.

Step One : Focus on people as well as performance numbers.
Employees Regulate the amount of effort they're willing to put into their jobs based in large part , upon how they feel theyre being traeted by their boss.

Step Two:
Be Real - Be yourself and let the real you shine through
Key Behavious :

• Be nice because you care not because you want something
• Dont try to come across as someone who is superior to your employees. Instaed reach out and embrace them as equalls

 Be Appriciative -People absolutely love to work hard when their efforts are noticed and appriciated by their bosses.
Key Behavious :

• make a point to notice all the things your employees do on your behalf
• Then thank them in a way that is meaningful to them

REMEMBER - nothing is more demotivating than going extra mile and having your Boss not notice or care.

Be Interested
Let them get to know you.
Ask their opinion
Listen to what they have to say
Take action when appropriate

Be Nice
Smile
Say or do something that brightens each persons day.

Step Three
Turn work into fun.
Be a role model for employees by having fun yourself and being a fun person to be around
Encourage your employees to be themselves and express their uniqueness

Step Four Senior Management must execute Destination work with front line employees.
Landmark study reveals that Sr management has a far greater impact on Discretionary Effort than an employeee's immediate Boss.

Book Review - Loose " the Future of Business is Letting Go"

Book Review - Loose " the Future of Business is Letting Go" published in 2011 by Martin Thomas who by profession is freelance marketing consultant Trainer , facilitator , public speaker and writer.

 Martin Thomas  says that the way we do business has to change. One of the greatest weakness of many organisations is the delusion of being in control. The future is loose- loose organisations, loose management styles and loose ways of working.

Author martin Thomas describes how more open ways of thinking and operating are beginning to pervade even the largest and most complex institutions , from global corporations to government departments. There are limits to being loose, but freedon can exist within a framework.

Martin say that by building on cutting- edge case studies and conversations with the smartest business people from around the globe , Loose challenges receiwved wisdom and explains new ways of managing companies, building brands , engaging with customers and marketing products and services.

Martin has given many many examples( actually too much ) in entire book but each example makes sense all shows the way how to cahnge business terms  before they are changed for you.

In Introduction he speaks about - Belgian Traffic PLanner , Hans Monderman who challenged conventional thinking about traffic signals.He argued that traffic lights , signs and road markings actually made roads less safe as they took away people's ability to think for themselves. He pioneered his thinking in Dutch town Drachten where 12 of 15 sets of traffic lights were removed and results were remarkable.  number of accidents fell year on year by 8.3 percent. He mentions that it is drivers to take responsibility for their own risk than to abdicate responsibility to Government.This also forces motorists to negotiate with other road users rather than assume that they always have priority.

mansi - I also see whenever cab or bike has to go first they will ignore eye contact. And those who do eye contact will definately wait for you to cross road . Those who dont wait we can make from out easily how much they care for ethics.

Thomas says Monderman died in 2008 was not a management guru or highly paid business consultant but he understood human behaviour and most importantly was prepared to question the naive faith in necessity of structure and clarity of defined boundaries. His Idea of sahred space was used in many places in UK and there traffic lights and railings were removed.
The shared space concept does have its critics and even advocates , such as Hmilton- baillie , accept that it can only work in right locations.But it has made many traffic management systems to rethink on many aspects.

Martin Thomas also talks about merits of the loose , decentralised Al-Queda structure, and ,in particular its ability to survive frequent attempats to destroy it.He says Agility , flexibility a willingness to exercise judgement and an ability to improvise will become the defining characteristics of successful institutions in next decade.

Very Nice write up ...Can Sheryl Sandberg upend Silicon Valley’s male-dominated culture?

I really liked few things that one is believe in yourself  what you are capable of as no one know this apart from you yourself about your strengths.Be fearless if you are honest results are on ur way .


Sandberg says "When a woman starts thinking of having children, “she doesn’t raise her hand anymore. . . . She starts leaning back.” In other words, if women don’t get the job they want before they take a break to have children, they often don’t come back. "   -
                                ---after reading these lines I recall back my days... my promotion  news was shared with me at 3rd week after my Son was born. Although it was based on my performance but this motivation was enough for me to get connected to Business back by joining in Business meetings during my maternity leaves itself.So good advise to working females by Sandberg.


I as well believe that as a working mother stop questioning yourself too much - am I right ? ... think YES you are right. If you are not right no one is right..  just be smart and don't stop : consistency and continuity is important factor and depends on your own inner strength and  also everything else depends on these two factors  ...........this writeup also mentions on same lines  
                                    -"These young women are tired of hearing about “balance and juggling and finding passion,” which often means thinking about balancing home and career. “This generation, like every generation does, they want to do something different from what their parents did. Sheryl’s message is very powerful. It’s a simple one,” which she defined as: “Don’t worry so much about balance. Work hard, stick with what you like, and don’t let go.” "


Can Sheryl Sandberg upend Silicon Valley’s male-dominated culture?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/07/11/110711fa_fact_auletta?currentPage=all

Partner for Performance

Partner for Performance

Why some Managers are most respected is mostly by how they Partner for Performance with their Stakeholders.

Partner for Performance is act where as a Manager you associate yourself with all your stakeholders as a partner for getting best performance together in any act. It’s not so simple .

The first fundamental concept is Trust your Partner with whom you have to partner for Performance. There can be prejudice, there can be past performance issues forget everything just remember what is the objective now you both have to achieve and what best you both can do about it.

Second thing to remember is personality: there are different personalities of people, which vary, don’t expect all to behave and imagine the way you do. Hence don’t assume and always be alert for the Objective.

Third is in case of conflicts or some act, which you are not sure, why something is some way clarify but don’t try to change the things your way.
Few things, which can be done:
Person seems to have logically different opinion then take a Paper and Pen sit with person and objectively discuss the issue.
Person is a negative stakeholder then take a call every battle is not worth to fight. Just ensure the Business objective is met and move on. Important thing to remember is that none of the stakeholder wants to get into any controversial situation. So avoid conflicts and get on some win win path.

Fourth you contribute your best, don't limit yourself till your work done help partner wherever possible without making a propaganda, share credit , praise in public and suggest in person.

Fifth the final one is that be Honest, Humble and Modest in every partnering for performance. Being Diplomatic is Good but when you can do Great being just Simple prefer that…after all this is the only thin line which will make you Stand Out from ones who take the diplomatic way which I call Short Cut.

Learn from very Common which is Not Common

As I strongly believe in continuous learning and learning from anyone and everyone. Due to this thinking I see many Learning stories around me: I thought to share my this experience where I see the very common act BUT the act becomes for me the STAR Performance.

Today evening when I was coming home around 7 pm I took Volvo Bus. It was peak hour and there was no space to stand. People were falling on each other.So as usual Bus Conductor she came and asked for money for Ticket. I was just standing on one foot and was difficult to get money out of my messy Bag. I knew she will now shout create scene and something blabbering she’ll go. Normally in such situations Conductor frustrated of all rush and crowd shouts on you , creates scene and then stands on head takes money and then only go.

However I was shocked to see this female smiled at me gave me ticket and for money said “ Parwa illa … give later”.Then another stop came few more people came in. The same Lady conductor made all people carrying Big Bags stand at a place where Bags could be put properly and more space could be created for people to stand. Then she proactively helped a Mother and 5 yr old kid to move out of Bus. She gave one lady change for 1000 Rs … yes Thousand Rs change …One Thousand. I remember people shouting in Bus to give 50Rs change also. …
Did she drink and came ……how can she be so perfect… so humble….so great manager… whole Bus inspite of rush was so happy with her behaviour and management style .

I couldn’t stop my self to complement her. So just before my stop came went to Bus Driver and told him to convey that she is great to her supervisor.

For me she was Star performer of the Day.

Scrum Ban for Maintenance / Operations Projects

Scrum Ban for Maintenance / Operations Projects

A solution where we use all ceremonies of Scrum and Kanban to pull the work instead of Sprint Backlog

This started as when I was managing Post Release Support Project it became very difficult to use scrum end to end with daily changes in requirement priorities. Our Sprints were getting scraped frequently. This clearly showed that Scrum is not the solution then what should I do to for team that they are getting benefits of Scrum and still could manage with the changing requirements and priorities. And I could get the Solution of Scrum Ban.

Scrum Ban follows all ceremonies of Scrum. How its different is as follows:
1) Doesn’t have sprint-planning can rather have Monthly Iteration planning or Release planning.
2) Product backlog is used to pull the work where work can be stored in priority order, as Business needs. This can change daily.
3) Work in Progress monitored rather than Velocity.
4) Queue Limits gives more flexibility to pull work if floating expertise called in Maintenance projects.

Retention

Retention

Read few good Chats exchanged and gathered some Valuable information to share:

As we all know the top 3 reasons why do employees Leave
1) Career Growth
2) Compensation
3) Work Environment

What does this means to Company why retention is Important:
Cost of Training , Hiring takes time then the new employee will take time again to settle and Deliver the desired productivity . All this is OPPORTUNITY LOST.

AS a manager you can do a lot in retention as follows :
1) Listen to them
2) Act on their suggestion , at least listen and try to analyse why they have given such suggestion .Don't Ignore just because you "FEEL" its not important.
3) Involve them in Decision making
4) Recognise them immediately for the Job well done.
5) Share Credit
6) Always ensure that the employee gets the vibe you trust him/her
7) And always be accessible for them