The Human Performance Systems Blog

Even Temperament - The Key to Optimal Long Term Performance

2012-01-05T22:48:00.000-08:00

I've been reading Snowball - the biography of Warren Buffett. One of the characteristics of Warren Buffett that shows up repeatedly is his even temperament. When times are good and the market is going crazy, Buffett does not get "drunk with the Kool-Aid". When the market tanks and everybody is over-reacting in a state of fear and panic, Buffett maintains his composure.

The book talks about Warren's ability to create a shell around him when dealing with emotionally charged situations (such as when he needed to shut down Dempster mills.) This ability allows him to respond in the most optimal manner possible. In order to avoid becoming totally desensitized Warren brings on the emotional shield only when needed. Thus, one of keys to Warren Buffetts success appears to be his even temperament.

I've begun to conclude that an even temperament holds the key to success in most endeavors. A pumped, up mindset can only work for a few minutes since it calls on the fight or flight response. On the other hand, anything that requires more than a few minutes of effort requires a relaxed focus. And this can be attained only by maintaining a semi-detached state.

In organizations an even temperament becomes all the more important because of group dynamics, office politics, market uncertainty and competition. Thinking further about the problem, I came up with a framework in evaluating people:

The best people are those who have an even temperament and are talented. What about your star engineer who is prone to temper tantrums? It's a tricky question ... but I think that they are almost always more trouble than they are worth. And what about even-tempered people who are not very suited for their current job? They'd do well to have a role shift. Or get some additional training and skill building. Of course, if the person in question neither has talent nor an even tempered, then he is an ideal candidate to be fired!

Some might argue that there are some great leaders who are pumped and not necessarily even tempered and who have succeeded. For example, Steve Ballmer (see video below) is known to be highly emotional. He is even said to have thrown a chair in a fit of anger. My sense is that such personalities are not necessarily good for the organization. In the long run, they simply make the organization turn on itself and increase the amount of organizational politics, turf wars and territory disputes.

What To Do When Things Go Wrong

2011-10-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

From the book Killing Floor by Lee Child

"Evaluate. Long experience had taught me to evaluate and assess. When the unexpected gets dumped on you, don't waste time. Don't figure out how or why it happened. Don't recriminate. Don't figure out whose fault it is. Don't work out how to avoid the same mistake next time. All of that you do later. If you survive. First of all you evaluate. Analyze the situation. Identify the downside. Assess the upside. Plan accordingly. Do all that and you give yourself a better chance of getting through to the other stuff later."

An excellent lesson for corporate teams facing an unexpected crisis.

Infographic from Guy Kawasaki

2011-07-17T21:49:00.000-07:00

The Chief Oxytocin Officer

2011-05-18T01:11:00.000-07:00

One of the challenges the human resources departments of corporations face is that they are unable to get clear, quantitative feedback on various policies and programs that they implement. Employee satisfaction surveys are really an aggregate of individual subjective responses. There can be many a slip between what is felt by employees, how that is expressed by these employees in surveys and how the results are interpreted by management.

So is there a way to quantitatively measure employee morale and feelings of oneness?

Oxytocin known as the love hormone or cuddle hormone is known to increase trust, generosity and empathy and decrease fear. It is the biologically opposite of cortisol (also known as the stress hormone.)

Oxytocin production is said to increase among people who share a pleasant experience such as a meal, a laugh, a hug or a high-five.

What if a corporation created the position of a Chief Oxytocin Officer whose role would be to create organizational systems that increase the production of oxytocin and reduce the production of cortisol among employees? What if there were a simple way to measure the amount of oxytocin and cortisol coursing through the bodies of personnel? What if this COO (Chief Oxytocin Officer ... not Chief Operating Officer) were rewarded based on the level of oxytocin increases and cortisol decreases in the workforce?

This would provide an objective and quantitative measure to let management know whether it's employee retention programs were actually working.

While we wait for the science to catch up with our wishes, it's a good idea to watch the video below by author Ori Brafman. Ori talks about how to build instant connections and devotes a fair amount of time to discussing the role of Oxytocin in human relationships (NOTE: the video is cut off a little on the right ... this has probably something to do with Google's blogger software or the video itself ... but the content is quite enjoyable even with a part of it being cut off.) If you'd like to see the video in all it's glory, go here.

Organizational Autophagy - Or The Power of Lesser Resources

2011-02-02T03:55:00.000-08:00

In cell biology, autophagy, or autophagocytosis is a major mechanism by which a starving cell reallocates nutrients from unnecessary processes to more-essential processes. In other words, when a cell in your body is starved of glucose and other forms of fuel, it begins to eat itself. But in order to ensure that it stays alive it attempts to first eat the parts that are unhealthy, old or useless. Autophagy is said to be important in cell renewal, cancer prevention and reducing the rate of aging. So going without food occasionally can be good for you. Also, this is one of the major reasons why extremely low calorie diets are said to help extend longevity and improve vitality.

Now what would happen if we applied this model to an organization?

What if we assumed that most organizations (be it corporations, divisions of corporations, government bodies or non-profits) are overfed? Many of the larger ones have too many resources at their disposal. They have too large a budget, too many people and too many projects and initiatives.

What if we starved these organizations by reducing their resources?

Let's say we cut the staff of a large organization by 50% and their operating budgets by 50%.

If what happens at an organizational level is similar to what happens at a cell level, it's possible that these same organizations will begin to "eat" themselves. They will cut out unnecessary layers of flab and middle management. They will be forced to reduce the number of projects and initiatives that they are pursuing. They will begin to cut out most activities and focus on all but the most important activities for which they have been birthed in the first place.

This is one way to explain the reasons for some spectacular turnarounds such as the one that happened at GE under Jack Welch in the 80's and early 90's.

What do you think?

Good Boss. Bad Boss.

2011-01-10T05:11:00.000-08:00

Here is an amazing talk by Bob Sutton at Stanford. Absolutely worth the time that you spend listening to it.

Leaders Are People Who Can Emote

2010-09-07T17:17:00.000-07:00

This excellent article was pointed to me by Chetan Dhruve.

The authors provide evidence to show that from an evolutionary perspective we have evolved to follow those people who can emote well. People who use metaphors in their speech, display strength and convey a sense of intelligence are more likely to be picked as leaders over people who may be more competent but are less personable.

In other words, we're more likely to pick a good looking actor with a strong personality as leader. The person who is merely super-competent will often be overlooked.

However, evolution has provided another adaptation - followers resent greedy or power-hungry leaders and will figure out ways to dilute their power or over-throw such leaders. The tools that followers have include gossip, sarcastic comments and open rebellion.

The key takeaway for people who want to become leaders?
If you're competent spend some time and resources developing your ability to emote, connect and communicate with people.

If you're already in a position of power as a result of your good looks or ability to emote, tread cautiously, control your appetite for more power and deliver on your promises. .Your followers possess the tools to cause your downfall.

Punished by Rewards

2010-09-03T07:46:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this excellent book-review by Alfie Kohn. The article is reproduced in it's entirety under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Punished by Rewards

by Alfie Kohn

You can't motivate people. Al you can do is set up conditions to maximize the chances that they develop a genuine interest in what they're doing.

CY: Note that this book is aimed at managing children or employees. The entrepreneur is generally self-managing.

Step One: Abolish (Externally Imposed) Incentives.

People want to be paid fairly, but once pay is negotiated, decouple the task from the compensation. That way, they don't become preoccupied by what they will get for what they are doing.

Step 2: Revaluate Evaluation

Evaluation should be for helping employees do better work. An evaluation should provide feedback, discuss problems, and identify needs. (This ties in well with Marcus Buckingham, who states that the job of the manager is to figure out the appropriate approach to help each individual attain the highest level of achievement.)

Therefore, evaluation should have the following characteristics:

- Be a 2-way conversation for trading ideas and asking questions, not a series of judgments by one individual on another.

- Be a continuous process, rather than an annual or quarterly event

- Not involve relative ranking or competition

- Have no direct link with compensation

Step 3: Create the conditions for authentic motivation. "Changing the way workers are treated may boost productivity more than changing the way they are paid."

Watch: Lok for problems that need to be solved and help people solve them (but don't may them feel like they are under surveillance).

Listen: Listen seriously and respectfully to their concerns and try to see things from their point of view.

Talk: Provide plenty of feedback, both on what's going well, what needs improvement, and how to change.

Think: Understand the deeper issues, rather than simply reaching for the seductive simplicity of an incentive-based system.

The Three Cs of Motivation:

Collaboration:

People are more enthusiastic when they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community. This is due to the exchange of talent and resources that result from cooperaton and the emotional sustenance of social support.

Content:

"If you want people motivated to do a good job, give them a good job to do." (Note from Buckingham: What consitutes a good job varies dramatically from person to person. Recall the joke about Heaven and Hell i.e. British cooks versus British cops; German engineers versus German lovers.)

The best jobs offer a chance to engage in meaningful work. This goal can't always be achieved, but is a good guiding principle.

Motivation is highest when a job offers the opportunity to learn new skills, experience some variation in tasks, and to acquire and demonstrate competence. "The manager's job is not to motivate people to get them to achieve; instead, the manager should provide opportunities for people to achieve so they will become motivated."

Let people work at the jobs that they are most likely to find interesting. Give them a chance to sample a variety of jobs until a good fit is found. Alow them to transfer periodically to keep things interesting. "When people are well-matched with their jobs, it is rarely necessary to force, coerce, bribe, or trick them into working hard and trying to perform the job well. Instead, they try todo well because it is rewarding and satisfying to do so."

Within a job, it is possible to enhance responsibility, meaningfulness, and feedback:

Make sure each worker has some knowledge of the results of what she is doing, experiences responsibility for these results, and sees the work as valuable.

For unpleasant jobs, acknowledge frankly that the task may not be fun, offer a meaningful rationale for doing it anyway, and give as much choice as possible about how to perform the task.

A study of garbage collectors showed that they were happy because relationships among the men were highlighted, tasks and routes were varied to avoid monotony, and the company was set up as a cooperative, making each worker feel a pride of ownership.

Choice:

Burnout is not a function of work volume, but rather of feeling controlled and powerles.

The characteristic most likely to kill creativity is not inadequate pay or tight deadlines, but a lack of freedom in deciding what to do or how to accomplish a task, lack of sense of control over one's own work and ideas."

People don't like change policies because they fear change, but because they don't like having it imposed on them. "People don't resist change. They resist being changed."

Giving employees the chance to make decisions is challenging, but pays off.

When a problem arises, managers should bring every employee into the process of working out a solution, including devsing ways to cope with hard times and searching for alternatives to layoffs.

Motivation in the Classroom

1. Focusing solely on grades can reduce a child's interest in learning. Instead, ask deeper questions like:

What did you do today in school that was really fun?

Did you hear or read something that surprised you?

What does it feel like when you finally solve a tough math problem?

Why do you think the Civil War started?

Instead of just assigning grades, offer substantive comments. Bring students in on the evaluation prooess by working with them to figure out how their learning can be assessed, and involving them in the assessment.

2. Learning as Discovery

- Alow for active learning, not just sitting passively at a desk.

- Give the reason for the assignment. If there is no good reason, it probably shouldn't be assigned.

- Elicit their curiosity. As with storytelling, ask questions (without right answers).

- Set an example. Show kids tha you enjoy reading and other intellectual pursuits. Admit when you don't know something. Demonstrate tenacity in th face of failure. Question conventional wisdom. Show how to make sense of a piece of writing tha is hard to understand.

- Welcome mistakes. Don't just correct them, figure out why they occur and use them as opportunities to facilitate the learning procees.

The Three Cs in the classroom.

Collaboration: Learning Together

Learning at its best is a result of sharing information and ideas, challenging someone else's interpretation and having to rethink your own, working on problems in a climate of social support. Al these things require talking--a classroom shouldn't be silent. Understanding and intellectual growth are derived not only from the relationship between student and teacher or between student and text, but also from the relationship between one student and another.

Make collaboration the rule, rather than the exception.

Content: Things Worth Knowing

The current system decontextualizes learning. We give individual bricks of information, devoid of the big picture, and hope that they have a house at the end (when they're more likely to have pile of bricks).

Unfortunately, this system is easier and takes less effort on the part of educators.

We must ask, how does the task connct to the world that the students actually inhabit. Children have lives and interests outside of school, and walk in with their own perspectives, points of view, ways of making sense and formulatint meaning. Teaching should take these realities into account ("constructivism"). Give students opportunites to explore phenomena and ideas, conjecture, share hypotheses, an revise their original thinking. Don't just lecture on the "right way" to do things.

A teacher should be "the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage."

Provide the right level of challenge. "Children are intrinsically motivated to engage in those tasks which are within their reach, but developmentally just beyond their current level."

Choice: Autonomy in the Classroom

Giving choice shows more respect for the kids, makes the teacher's job more interesting, and to given them a sense of control. Study after study shows that given choice, students produce better results. They learn faster, achieve more, and are happier. They even score higher on standardized tests.

Give children at least one block of time where they decide what to do.

Give creative writing assignments.

Let the class decide which books to read.

Give them choice in which medium to respond to a lesson--a poem, and essay, a play, sculpture.

Note that teachers are still providing guidelines or broad parameters, but are helping students set their own goals. A survey of high schoolers showed that their most important objective was reaching a personal goal.

God Kids Without Godies

Solving Problems: Return of the Three Cs

Content:

As a parent, ask yourself how reasonable your demands are. Do our rules conflict with basic needs, drives, or tendencies? Are we asking them to behave in a way that doesn't make sense given their stage of development.

For example, if a 6-year old wants to play with an ice cube at the dinner table, is there anything wrong with that? Maybe you ask them to clean up afterwards.

God parenting is about a willingness to think about decisions as opposed to a tendency to say no habitually and demand mindless obedience to mindless restrictions.

Collaboration:

The older the child, the more involved she should be. Instead of punishment and rewards, focus on mutual problem solving.

At the least, explain decisions with an appeal to reason.

Is it wrong to not clean up? Why do they have to stop grabbing toys that belong to someone else? Do students really have to raise their hands before speaking? Ideally, you can reach a mutual understanding wit children of what constitutes inappropriate behavior.

Going beyond that, thinking out loud together about why some things are wrong is integral to moral development.

If a behavior is a problem, the next task is to figure out the source. Start by asking the child. Since younger children can't always identify and verbalize their motives, parents have to play detective.

Next, come up with a plan together. "How do you think we can solve this problem? What do you think we should do now?" Carry out the decision, then check back later to achieve closure.

Choice:

When in doubt, bring the kids in on it.

Caring Kids

A warm, nurturing environment is ideal for positive development. It also turns out to be the best for getting children to do what we ask.

If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share feelings, and grow.

If they are taken seriously, they can respect others.

If their emotional needs arre met, they can meet other people's needs.

In order to be a caring person, parents must first be a person, rather than playing a role. A person gets distracted or tired, makes mistakes, asks for opinions, has interests outside of parenting and teaching, and doesn't mind discussing them.

Modeling.

Listen respectfully, try to help people, and admit your mistakes. Outside of providing love, few things we can do with children are as important, or as difficult, as apologizing to them for something we regret having done. Telling them, "If I ever say something to you that embarrasses or hurts your feelings (which I may do sometimes because I'm not perfect) please let me know" sets an example of courage as wel as concern.

However, give them a chance to help themselves. Rushing in to help teaches them that an adult will always take care of everything.

Explaining

People whose parents reasoned with them when they were children (rather than punishing or demanding simple obedience) were more likely to act altruistically and to become involed in social service.

Explanations shouldn't be limited to why things are bad, but also why some things are good.

Atributing positive motives. Atribute to a child the best possible motive that is consistent with the facts can set in motion a virtuous circle.

Ofering opportunities to care

Given them a chance to experience caring for other firsthand: caring for pets, younger siblines, working to help peers.

Emphasize perspective taking. Promote the practice of trying to imagine the way other people think, feel, and look at the world. Do not simply do unto others as you would have them do unto you because they may have very different tastes.

You can encourage perspective taking by:

- Modeling it yourself

- Using it to solve problems (like asking quarrelsome students or siblings to learn the other's perspective.

- Use the arts--ask them to describe how a story looks from another character's point of view, or to rewrite it.

The Chance To Choose

People who experience a sense of control over their lives are healthier, live longer, and recover more quickly. The psychological effects are even more pronounced. We are more likely to do constructive things like exercising when given choices. We can better tolerate noise, cold, and electric shock if we know we have the power to end them.

If we want a child to take responsiblity for their own behavior, we must give them responsibility. A child learns to make decisions by making decisios, not by following directions.

Barriers to Choice

Yes, we need rules and structures. The important question is who sets them--the adults alone, or the adults and parents together.

It is rigid an inauthetic to deny that Mom and Dad don't always see things the same way.

You must be willing to let children make decisions about thinks that matter, where you do care about the outcome, but are willing to give up the power anyway.

TED Talk - The Power of Belief and Self Deception

2010-06-19T08:37:00.001-07:00

This TED talk describes how our minds find patterns where there are none and vice-versa.

Why Respect to Superiors is Important

2010-05-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

I started learning Aikido nearly a decade ago. When I first started, I was surprised by the amount of hierarchy and respect to superiors there was in the dojo (class.)

If someone joined the class even one day prior to you, that person would be your senior. You would need to bow a little lower when performing the traditional Japanese style bow. And while bowing, you would need to stay down until your senior got up from his bow. And the same was true with the instructors. Every time, the instructor offered some pointer or suggestion, class etiquette demanded that you gave a quick Japanese style bow as a sign of gratitude for the instruction provided.

Having just returned from an MBA in the US, I found all of this bowing and 'kotowing' quite unnecessary and almost offensive. After all, we were all equals. There was no need to show so much deference to our seniors.

However, over the years, as I have progressed through the ranks I have realized the value of such respect and deferment to seniors. At the upper echelons, the art is almost dangerous. If your partner does not offer the right kind of support, feedback and responses, either of you could get seriously hurt. And given the tense situations that can sometimes arise, it would be a problem if two moderately trained Aikido practitioners got into fisticuffs. In such an environment it's important for everybody to know who is in charge and who has the final say.

Also, as I have become a 'senior' and found other 'juniors' bow to me (very occasionally), I have found that it creates a weight of responsibility inside me. I feel the need to reach out and help new entrants.

A similar situation arises in the traditional Indian style of prostrating before elders. In India, when you meet your elders, you traditionally bend down and touch the elders' feet as a token of respect. The elders traditionally offer their blessings to you wishing for your long life or early marriage. This act actually creates a subtle psychological pressure on the elder whose feet are being touched. The elder now feels responsible for the safety, growth and success of the youngster.

On the other hand, I have found that there is very little deferment in organizational settings in the US. At MBA school, we referred to our professors by name. At work, we referred to our bosses by name.

So which system works better?

It depends. In martial situations (martial arts, the military) or emergency situations (fire brigade, computer emergency response teams, surgical theaters), it's best if there are clear hierarchies and a culture of 'inequality' (where you know who's boss and who's your senior.)

In creative endeavors (software development, art, music) a culture of equality probably works better.

An Excellent Post About the Social Media Bubble

2010-03-24T02:00:00.000-07:00

Umair Haque has written an excellent post about what he calls the social media bubble. His hypothesis is that current social networking models give more weight to quantity (number of relationships) over quality (depth of relationships including trust, shared experiences, reciprocity etc.)

Absolutely worthwhile read. If you can't find the time to read it, you may at least want to read the following lines which I've reproduced from his entry:

"Let's summarize. On the demand side, relationship inflation creates beauty contest effects, where, just as every judge votes for the contestant they think the others will like the best, people transmit what they think others want. On the supply side, relationship inflation creates popularity contest effects, where people (and artists) strive for immediate, visceral attention-grabs — instead of making awesome stuff."

Shorten The Time Required

2010-02-25T02:01:00.000-08:00

We'd been working on an internal project for developing a software product for months. We'd gone back and forth discussing features, business models, distribution method etc. But no progress was apparent. Our team was also losing enthusiasm for the project.

Then it happened.

We were sitting in on a meeting to discuss what technologies we should be using for developing the product and how we should evaluate the available technology options. We were also thinking of creating a set of screens of the proposed application and getting feedback from our focus group of users. One of our developers suggested that we think small and release something fast rather than spend time on lengthy evaluations of technologies. He also challenged our approach for getting user feedback by saying that we'd be better off getting feedback on a working product rather than a set of stationary screens which forced users to imagine too much of the proposed product.

I walked up to the board and put a date that was just 7 days away from our current date and said that we would build something in 7 days. We would do this not by adding more people to the project but rather by reducing the scope and complexity of our vision. We would reduce the number of features until the point where only the core differentiating feature of the product would be visible and working.

All of a sudden the entire team was galvanized. The mood changed from one of boredom to extreme enthusiasm. And in a short while we had a working prototype to show to users. It was rather basic and did not have too many bells and whistles. But it did it's basic function admirably well.

The big lesson I took away from this is this:

We tend to confuse greatness with complexity. So when we embark on a grand project, we unconsciously keep increasing the scope of the project in order to fit in with our internal definition of grandness.

One way to fight this is to reduce space. For example - Jeff Hawkins - the founder of the company that invented Palm Pilot is said to have walked around with a small block of wood which was about the size of a Palm Pilot when the Palm was under development. Every time an engineer came up with a feature, Jeff would show the block of wood and ask the engineer to fit in the feature into the available limited space. This constraining of space forced the team to reduce features to the point of elegance.

Another way to fight complexity is by reducing time. This is what we did. By reducing the amount of time available we were able to reduce features until it became manageable and the vision became attainable. One danger that lurks in reducing available time is to think of adding additional people to the project. This is the absolute worst of both worlds. Because you need time to organize people and because you need time to enable communication to occur between people, and because people tend to act in ways that you did not expect, if you add more people you tend to increase the time required for completion. This is especially true for software development which is akin to art. You would not in your wildest dreams say, "If it took 1 artist 1 year to complete the Mona Lisa, it should take 12 artists just one month to complete it!"

So the next time you work on a project, simplify the objective, shorten the time and reduce the number of resources. You will see magic happening!

The Leader's Dilemma

2009-12-16T23:16:00.000-08:00

The world is random. You can predict trends and even certain events. But it's harder to predict when exactly something will happen. And what the exact consequences will be. For example, everybody knows that there's going to be a major earthquake in California. Or that the earth is heating up almost catastrophically. Or that the baby-boomer generation is getting older and a major health-care crisis looms large. But it's harder to predict the exact consequences (will the Sahara become greener as a result of redistribution of rain patterns?)

Leaders in government and corporations make bets based on their perspective or point of view. If the bet pans out and these leaders turn out to be right, they are lauded as heroes. If the bet fails, they are demonized and treated poorly. For example, President George Bush made a bet that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. If these weapons had been found, and if a major plot to attack the United States had been averted (preferably in the nick of time and with a lot of drama!), he would have exited office as a hero to most people in the world. Unfortunately, that did not happen.

Now let's look at how people generally think. If a leader displays certainty and confidence, people follow him / her. There's sufficient research in evolutionary biology to support the claim that the chest-thumping, testosterone-pumping, over-communicating, tall, handsome and aggressive individual is the one who will be treated as a leader. So for a leader to successfully gain the trust of his followers needs to be mildy deluded. He needs to believe with certainty that his point of view is correct. That he is lucky. That he will prevail in the long run. And most arm-chair reviews of successful leaders is plagued by the problem of survivor-bias. We tend to look at only those leaders who are visible to us as a result of the fact that they survived. What caused their survival (most likely randomness) is over-looked and too much importance is given to the perceived causes behind their survival and success (such as how hard they can work, or how charismatic they are.)

There is also another idea known as preferential attachment. This basically means that the more successful you become the more successful you tend to become. For example, if you are a Warren Buffet, you will see more deals being offered to you at a sweeter-than-market price just because of your position.

So the enlighted leader has a dilemma (or two or three). He needs to:
1. Pick a point of view with full knowledge that the point of view may be wrong.
2. Work his tail off knowing that all of his efforts may come to nought.
3. Motivate his team members to also work their tails off (or risk their lives) knowing that he may be leading them down the path to disaster.
4. He needs to project confidence and certainty with the knowledge that he is faking it!

So how do you reconcile this dilemma? What should a good leader do to lead effectively?

Well, if you look at great leaders they tend to instinctively grasp the uncertain nature of the world. For example, many of the leaders featured in the book Good to Great by Jim Collins attribute their success to luck.

When great leaders encounter randomness, they do not get paralyzed by fear. They don't get stuck in analysis-paralysis mode. They pick a direction and begin moving in that direction knowing that the next step will be revealed to them at the appropriate time. They also realize that, the next step may be a U-Turn. So they have the humility to turn back if the need arises.

Many of the sages and saints tend to surrender to the randomness. They become like dry leaves on the jungle floor, going where the wind takes them. Great leaders do not subscribe to this point of view. They focus on a target and attempt to influence the wind to take them toward their goal (much like expert sailors.)

So if you are a leader the advice is simple. Analyze as much as you can, then pick a direction and keep moving. If you find out you are wrong, don't hesitate to admit your mistake and change directions. It's possible that your admission of failure will get you heavily penalized. But that is better than compounding your mistakes by pursuing actions direction that has been proven to be wrong. Ignore sunk costs and cut your losses.

The Importance of Being Lazy and Ambitious

2009-11-16T01:37:00.001-08:00

Epitaph on the Grave of Johnny The Fly

Here lies the body of Johnny the Fly
Who thought it was enough to just try, try and try.

He died stuck behind a closed glass window
Even though he worked hard and made a show.

Banging himself again and again at the hard glass
Until he lay down and let precious life pass.

Not knowing that the open door and fields of May
Was just two feet away!

Hard-work is a two-edged sword. It can help you attain success. But it can also give you a false sense of hope. Let's say that you've been working on a project that has gone over the scheduled launch date. Should you push your team-members to work harder and longer. Or should you take a step back to think about what's causing the delay and if possible cut out a few of the deliverables from the project in order to make it more attainable?

I know of a friend whose start-up company has not been doing too well. Rather than take a step back and re-examine his strategy, competitive positioning and starting premise, this friend is opting to crowd out his evenings and weekends with ... you guessed it "more hard-work!"

The most successful people are those who are ambitious and hard-working in the right direction. These are the go-getters who populate the pages of Business Week and Time magazines. The second most successful set of people are those who are ambitious but lazy. They spend their time thinking about what needs to be done and figuring out the shortest, least-resource-intensive way of doing it. They don't make "to-do lists." They make up "not-to-do" lists. They don't spend their time launching new projects. They spend it cutting out unnecessary projects. The people who follow them also tend to be like them and walk on the path of least resistance. These organizations which are mostly small, very successful businesses (like 37 signals) are usually leaders in their own small niches. I call this set of people as being lazy and ambitious.

It is this second set of people that I personally love to study. They usually reside outside of large corporations and work for smaller companies or run their own businesses or become investors in other companies.

I hope that more people will start adding the line, "Ambitious and Lazy" to their resumes!

How To Implement Effective Change

2009-10-07T19:59:00.000-07:00

This brilliant blog post by Peter Bregman suggests that if you want to make effective change focus on only one thing. Peter lost 18 pounds in one month by focusing on just one change (cutting out sugar from his diet.) And he talks of various situations where better results were achieved by focusing on just one thing.

Obviously, for this idea to work, it becomes very important to spend time upfront understanding which factors will have the greatest impact. It's like the Pareto principle which states that 80% of results come from 20% of inputs. So figuring out what is the one thing that works becomes even more important.

Peter's idea carries great importance for 360-degree feedback. We've seen some of our clients measure so many dimensions (0r competencies.) Some of them have over 10 competencies with around 100 items (questions.) The problem with this approach is that it seems to suggest that each of those dimensions carries equal importance or weight in terms of impacting job performance. In reality, only one or two competencies are probably much more important than all of the other competencies. Perhaps a case must be made that consulting firms (which usually help design the survey instruments in conjunction with top management) must spend more time culling out all unnecessary competencies and focusing on the one competency that will make a difference to the organization.

Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves?

2009-04-15T02:34:00.000-07:00

This Time magazine article talks about the dark side of recruiting. Persuading young people to join the army when a war is on is always challenging. But the pressures on recruiters in this Texas battalion has caused 4 recruiters to commit suicide.

Pushing people to work 15 hour days for the long term is a sure fire way to create a highly demoralized environment. And that is what appears to have happened here. Add to this a culture that focuses more on the stick than on the carrot (decorated soldiers were being berated openly in monthly meetings if they did not make numbers) and you have all the ingredients required for a tragedy.

While very tragic, this extreme story gives us a glimpse into what not to do when setting up an organizational culture. Definitely worth a read for somebody interested in leadership and performance management.

An Interesting Book

2009-02-23T21:45:00.001-08:00

A Dream Testimonial for Ascendus

2009-02-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

We received this email yesterday (from a client servicing a large automobile manufacturer.) Rishabh (from our Ascendus team) was the lead on this project and was supported by other members of Ascendus (the client details have been obfuscated due to NDA requirements.)

"Thanks a ton rishabh for all your effort…
It has always been a pleasure to work with a professional and dedicated team like ascendus...
Thanks once again for a wonderful experience… really appreciate the extra hard work and effort put in by all of you to meet our demands.
Look forward to work with you again...
Regards…
(P.S – Please let me know incase there are any delays on the payment front… )"

As the head of a company, there are several elements in this email that are pleasing to me:

1. Rishabh who worked on the project has been with us for about a year now. During this short period, he's been able to understand the Ascendus culture of satisfying the client - whatever the effort required (thanks Rishabh!)

2. The client testimonial came to us without us asking for it. In other words, it's a genuine outpouring of customer satisfaction!

3. The last line by the client offering to help out if there are any delays on the payment front is particularly gratifying! We've always believed that if a client is satisfied, they are eager to pay for the services rendered. If they are not fully satisfied, they still make payment but more as a matter of obligation. We prefer it if the client makes payment with a smile on their lips and joy in their hearts :)

So the Ascendus way works. And it works everytime!

Inspired Versus Required Action

2009-01-06T01:17:00.000-08:00

I saw this great article a few days ago by Admiral Thad Allen. It's filled with nuggets of leadership wisdom. Thad suggests that inspired action by employees happen when people know why they are doing something and how their work fits into the larger mission. When people are simply asked to do something because the boss says so, it becomes required action. Inspiring people is hard work and Thad also offers a few pointers here including the importance of writing down your organization's mission, working harder on the mission than your people, knowing more than (or at least trying to know more than) your people and recognizing (and rewarding) positive actions from team-members. A highly worthwhile and short read!

Why Your Boss is Programmed to Be a Dictator

2008-11-25T19:56:00.001-08:00

I'd written earlier about this book by Chetan Dhruve. Thought I'd also add the manifesto of the book for the convenience of readers:

19.05.BossDictator

Get your own at Scribd or explore others: Business

Ask The Right Question

2008-11-24T21:53:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, we were grappling with a technical issue that had been unresolved for a few weeks. Several of our developers researched and experimented with various possible solutions. Nothing worked. Several hours were spent searching on Google and sifting through various forums.

And then, one of the developers ran a search on Google in the form of a simple and direct question. And found a solution. The way he framed the question was so obvious and simple that we all wondered as to why that particular question had not been asked by any of us before.

This set me thinking and reminded me of a speech I once attended by noted VC Vinod Khosla where he urged the audience to "ask the right questions"

In the age of Google, all of the answers are there at our finger tips. Billions of pages of information, facts, ideas and figures. And therein lies the problem. It's easy to get lost in details. To get distracted. Or to complicate our ideas.

The few people who are able to get to the right answers quickly have the uncanny knack of asking the right questions.

At Ascendus, in all our years of helping organizations run 360-degree feedback surveys, I have rarely seen this skill being measured and benchmarked. Asking the right question is not about good listening. It's not about just paying attention. It's about pro-actively getting to the root of the matter. And about delving into the details while keeping the big picture in mind. In Six Sigma, you have the notion of "5 Why's" for doing root cause analysis. "Five Whys" is the Japanese philosophy of repeatedly asking why to find not only the direct sources of your problems, but also the root of those sources. Asking the question "Why" at least a few times has helped me gain greater understanding and clarity in a number of situations.

I hope that some bright industrial and organizational psychologists design survey instruments that measure and benchmark this important skill of "asking the right question."

Why Your Boss is Programmed to Be a Dictator

2008-08-26T23:27:00.000-07:00

I recently met a very interesting book author - Chetan Dhruve. He's written a book with a rather provocative title called "Why Your Boss is Programmed to Be a Dictator."

You can read a manifesto of the book on Change This.

In the book, Chetan proposes that corporations be structured like democratic nations with employees having the right to elect (yes ... elect!) their leaders. As a company-founder and owner, I had major issues with the concept. Three major problems are:

1. Adverse Selection: When you elect your leader as your boss, the most popular person will tend to get elected (the pretty office secretary may land up becoming the company president :).

2. Moral Hazard: Elected bosses will tend to avoid taking unpopular decisions and focus on actions that are popular (3-day workweeks and all-day body massages while you work :)

3. Speed: Democracies, while being efficient in the long-run, tend to be full of inefficiencies in the short-run. But we're all dead in the long run. Companies need to deliver results fast and be willing to change directions quickly.

The idea definitely has some potential and may even work in some industries and situations. One example that comes to mind is Ricardo Semler's Semco. For the foreseeable future though, the best way to avoid working for a dictator will be to start your own business.

11 Reasons Why You Should Choose Ascendus Survey Software

2008-08-14T00:45:00.000-07:00

Following are the major benefits of survey software from Ascendus:

1. Email Reminders Only to Delinquent Participants - Ascendus software allows you to send multiple email reminders only to those participants who have not completed their survey. This ensures adequate survey data without irritating those who have already completed their surveys.

2. Save and Return Later Feature - Ascendus software allows participants to save their responses and return later. This is useful in the case of a large survey with many questions wherein, if the participant is interrupted, he/ she can save the survey and return later to complete the survey.

3. Password Protected Surveys - Ascendus software allows you to set up a password protected survey thus preventing unauthorized people from corrupting survey results with random data.

4. Anonymous Surveys - Ascendus software allows you to track participation of participants in the survey without compromising their anonymity thus creating confidence among participants and allowing for honest feedback.

5. Telephone and Chat Support - Ascendus invariably provides live help desk services via chat (embedded inside the survey page itself) and telephone. While our official service level agreement is for responses within 1 business day, sos issues are resolved within minutes. This is vital to get higher completion rates for employee engagement surveys.

6. Daily Monitoring of Surveys and Sending of Status Reports - Ascendus personnel send out daily reports pertaining to the survey health. This includes statistics such as number of people who have completed surveys, number of people who have partially completed surveys etc. Our trained staff, because of their rich experience in administering surveys, are able to escalate issues with key stakeholders in the event of a survey showing poor growth in survey response rate.

7. Pictures Within Surveys - Ascendus surveys usually have appropriate pictures inserted into various sections (or dimensions of the survey.) This ensures that surveys have a higher engagement level and consequently higher participation rate.

8. Customized Report Generation - Ascendus personnel provide customized report generation services including generation of Word and PowerPoint reports that are packed with statistical analysis and charts.

9. Collaboration with Network Administrators - Ascendus personnel typically work with network administrators from client organizations to ensure that users are able to receive mails sent from the survey system and that users are able to access the survey URL from within their network.

10. Private Label and Client Branding - Ascendus provides private label surveys allowing client organizations to provide a branded experience thus building up their professional image with their end-clients or stakeholders.

11. Proven Satisfactory Performance - Over the last 7 years, Ascendus has always delivered. Our performance has been flawless and we've retained most of our clients. In fact, many clients who move on to other service providers because of cost considerations return back to us after realizing the vast difference in personalized service level.

The Environmental Impact of EBooks

2008-08-01T04:43:00.000-07:00

Americans buy more than 3 billion books a year, using up 20 million trees. Erika Engelhaupt has written an excellent article that discusses the environmental impact of e-books. According to her, if you substituted 20 physical books and 2 newspapers daily with a electronic version of the same, you would save almost one tree. It was also surprising to learn that Americans consume an average 1500 lb of paper annually!

With regard to paper textbooks, she quotes a leading edge researcher - Greg Kozak - who found that "over its life cycle, a paper textbook created 4 times the greenhouse gas emissions of an e-book reader and several times more ozone-depleting substances and chemicals associated with acid rain. Conventional books also required more than 3 times more raw materials and 78 times more water consumption than e-books."

It will be interesting to see if e-books make a significant impact on improving the environment over the next 25 -50 years ...

Online Students To Be Tracked

2008-07-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Distance education students will soon need to accept having spy cameras in their homes. The chronicle of higher education reports "Tucked away in a 1,200-page bill now in Congress is a small paragraph that could lead distance-education institutions to require spy cameras in their students' homes."

The idea is to avoid cheating by students when they turn in assignments or take tests from home or anywhere else other than a room with a proctor in it. The technologies are meant to identify the student and assure that an impersonator cannot substitute himself for a student in the middle of a crucial activity such as taking a test. The technologies are meant to work by collecting students' fingerprints, and possibly even images from inside their homes.

Although it sounds pretty Orwellian, I guess this is a small price to pay for students who want to fit in a credible education into their busy working lives. At any rate if this bill becomes a law, a huge new opportunity will open up for vendors pushing such technologies.

Newly Renovated Office!

2008-04-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we moved into our newly renovated office with every comfort that you can dream of. The idea is to make the workplace more fun and keep our team members staying back longer and longer :) Check out some of the photos.

Getting Things Done By David Allen

2008-02-03T03:52:00.000-08:00

I just saw this great video by David Allen based on his GTD (Getting Things Done) system. I'd read the book - Getting Things Done - about 2 years ago and I've been following this system for sometime now with extraordinary results. Watching this video reinforced my commitment to the GTD System.

7 Differences Between Superstars and Others

2007-11-16T23:09:00.000-08:00

I was recently having a performance review meeting with one of our excellent and upcoming young software developers. In talking with him, some ideas emerged as to what distinguishes a superstar employee (whom all leaders covet and hanker after), and others. Here are 7 differences that emerged during our discussion:

Design Before Acting: A superstar invariably spends time on planning and designing before embarking on the task. The others embark on the task with little time spent on designing and are invariably forced to redo the task or at the very least go back and clean up their work. One needs to understand that a thought experiment (quick and cheap) is not the same as an experiment (time consuming and often expensive.) When time is spent in designing or planning before actually acting, we are investing in a thought experiment and trying to get as many unknowns as possible out of the way. In my years managing software developers, I've invariably found that great developers fill their notebooks with flowcharts, diagrams and other pictorial representations of their thought processes.
Ask Many Questions To Users or Clients: I've found that great performers ask more questions than mediocre performers. They want to get as many unknowns out of the way as possible and realize that one way of doing this is to go back and question many of the basic assumptions. Here's an example: Let's say, a client asks for a new feature ... a mediocre performer would begin on the feature request or at best ask some details about the implementation. A superstar on the other hand would question the user as to why he needs that feature, whether the feature is a priority and whether there's a simpler way to attain the same business benefit.
Build Pipes To Avoid Carrying Buckets: Let's say you need to transport water from the lake to your home. One way is to carry buckets of water everyday to your home. The other way is to build a pipe to transport the water. Superstars think in terms of building pipes in most of what they do. It may mean setting up processes, or defining naming conventions, or investing in training or implementing automation tools.
Review Best Practices Before Implementing: Superstars also consume copious quantities of information. But not just any information. They consume focused information that helps them to design and plan their task better. They ask questions in discussion forums, they read up on white-papers, and they search around for mentors. Many a time, we tend not to know what we don't know. And top performers realize this at a deeper level and hence their desire to avoid working in a vacuum.
Build On Top of What is Already Available: When I worked at a large computer maker in 2000, one of the things I learned is the notion of NIH (Not Invented Here.) Departments would literally pursue their own expensive projects rather than adopt or build upon the efforts of people from other departments. Superstars on the other hand tend to stand on the shoulders of past giants. They tend to more freely adopt open-source software, purchase ready-built tools, learn from research papers or copy best practices.
Focus on Need and Not Requirements: One of the other major characteristics of top-performers is that they try to understand what the market (or clients or users) need rather than simply follow a requirements document. They try to understand where their efforts fit into the larger picture and sometimes try to redraw the larger picture (often attempting to simplify or unify the larger picture.)
Are Lazy: This is the big one. Superstars abhor too much work. They believe in balance and in renewal. They leave the office on time and avoid working on weekends. And they do this because they control the number of initiatives that they begin on (either by negotiating with their managers or by laying down clear boundaries.) Also, by following the steps mentioned above, they tend to avoid reworks and follow friction-free paths towards completion of their activities.

Can you think of any other ways in which superstars are different? If so, please let me know by sending me an email to vikram at ascendus.com.

3 Reasons Why We Love Basecamp Project Management Software

2007-11-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

We've been using Basecamp Project Management Software for sometime now. Here are five reasons why we (and our clients love it.)

1. It's easy to use:
Whenever we receive a new survey implementation, we create a project on Basecamp and add our clients as participants in the tool. We've found that they begin using the software prolifically within 1 day.

2. It focuses on the heart of project management which is communication:
There are no fancy charts and no cumbersome features. But when it comes to project communication, almost all the modules enable members of the project team to get onto the same page. There's messaging, write-boarding, chat, milestones management and more. In short, no issue will fall through the cracks.

3. The pricing is sensible:
They don't charge for inactive projects but you can still access these projects after archiving them thus creating a valuable knowledge-management infrastructure.

Sure there are a lot many things that can be improved (like improving the application performance, having presence indication available throughout the application as opposed to showing who's online only inside the chat room, allowing for desktop / application sharing, allowing for private communication between two or more members from within and without the organization ...) But they've got the core features working fabulously.

We highly recommend it for your organization.

How Strong Is Your Organization's Emotional Infrastructure?

2007-08-26T04:50:00.001-07:00

Sometime ago, I heard an inspiring podcast interview featuring Subroto Bagchi of MindTree Consulting. Among many other things, Subroto talks about the emotional infrastructure of organizations. It is his belief that the ties that bind people to organizations at an emotional level are the hardest to destroy and are potentially some of the greatest assets of organizations.

The notion of an emotional infrastructure immediately brings to mind a company like Apple with it's die-hard fans who will keep the company going even if everything else is taken away. At a smaller scale, one is reminded of a company called Experts-Exchange. Experts-Exchange went bankrupt in 2001 but was brought back largely through the efforts of unpaid volunteers who loved the concept and operating mode of this site.

Many leaders who are used to the idea of seeing the world in black and white (with hard facts and figures) fail to recognize the power of building the emotional infrastructures of their organizations. They focus on hard-metrics that they can deliver to shareholders, employees and customers. This is important and fundamental. But what separates a great company from a good company is not just size but rather the emotional connection that stake-holders have with the company.

So how does a leader develop the emotional infrastructure of his organization (be it a whole company, a division or a project team)? Here are some ideas :

Create conventions, customs and traditions - At Ascendus we've been having the concept of a "Friday Forum" for the last 5 years. The idea is that each week, on Friday, all the staff members gather and one of the members makes a presentation on a topic close to his heart. While a lot of initiatives have come and gone, this little tradition has remained at Ascendus. And when I speak to ex-Ascendus employees, they mention that they miss the idea of the Friday Forum. A few of them have tried to carry it forward in the new organizations that they've joined.
Recruit from related networks - Hiring a new employee? Try finding them through referrals. Same goes for investors and customers. This creates a tighter and more connected web with your organization acting as an additional link that binds and strengthens existing networks.
Do stuff together outside of work - When the association with your organization is only because of work, the relationship becomes very black and white. But when you do things outside of work (playing a game on weekends, catching up on movies together, traveling together etc.) a deeper-level association gets created.

Hope these ideas have jogged your imagination about building your organization's emotional infrastructure. If you have any further ideas, please do let me know.

Parkinson's Law

2007-08-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

The 4-Hour Workweek has been creating buzz lately. The author - Timothy Ferriss in a recent podcast promoting the book mentioned Parkinson's Law. Simply stated, it says:

"Work increases in proportion to the amount of time available."

Stated another way, "a task will take as much time as you will allot for it."

This is complementary to Pareto's principle - the notion that 80% of the results or effects arise from 20% of the causes or inputs. By extension, this means that the longer we work, the more we tend to focus on the trivial tasks with minimal impact on our careers. The problem is far greater in larger corporations with rigid, in-built structures that require people to put in long hours carrying out mundane tasks and sitting-in on meetings.

At Ascendus, while managing projects, we've noticed that having more time on a project does not necessarily translate into better output. What works is having short, tight deadlines with clearly defined outcomes. Periods of intense work should be punctuated with periods of rest, recuperation and rejuvenation.

What do you think?

The Art of Being Unproductive

2007-07-05T03:21:00.000-07:00

A fool moves. A wise man travels. A manager makes fools out of wise men.

There are enough books on productivity and time-management out there. I thought I’d add my two cents by inverting the question and asking what we can do to become more unproductive:

Check email once every two minutes

Pick up the phone every time it rings

Subscribe to email newsletters

Start yet another new project while the old projects remain unfinished

Multi-task and lose track of what you were originally working on

Back-off from a task at the first sign of an obstacle or resistance

Call for yet another meeting

I Love Go To Meeting

2007-05-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

We had to do a phone-based demo of our Enterprise Team360 software for a large enterprise customer recently. In order to facilitate the demo, I decided to try Go To Meeting from Citrix. In the past I'd used for Webex for web-conferencing with mixed results. However, with Go To Meeting, I was a delighted user. The presentation flowed flawlessly and the meeting participants from three different locations were able to participate almost like they were in the same room.

But what made me a complete convert was this:

At the time of sign-up for the trial period, I'd provided my credit card information. When I looked at my account status recently, I saw that I'm not going to be billed automatically at the end of the month. In other words, I've got to explicitly ask to be billed. Most other corporations automatically bill your account at the end of the trial period. This left me with that good feeling about the corporation and will most likely make me a customer.

The lessons for companies to learn here is this:

* Don't expect the customer to take care of himself.
* Treat the customer like you'd want to be treated.
* Goodwill is more important than short term revenues.

Microsoft and the Tale of Two Lines

2007-05-09T01:15:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time in a land faraway, there lived a young boy who wanted to become the world's greatest kung-fu fighter. He searched far and wide for a great teacher and with much effort became the student of one of the greatest teachers of his time. The student was competitive and beat all other students in all competitions. He trained diligently for many years but the Teacher did not advance the student through the ranks fast enough.

One day in frustration, the student asked the teacher why he was not advancing fast enough and the teacher answered "You're not moving ahead fast enough because you've not understood the first lesson of this school." He then proceeded to draw two lines on the ground with his staff. And then explained, "Consider these two lines. If I want to make the first line shorter than the second line, I can do it in one of two ways. I can either make the first line longer or make the second line shorter by rubbing out portions of the line. You have been taking the second approach and have been shortening the lines of others. You have focused on beating others and not on bettering yourself. And hence you have stagnated. Focus on your improvement and progress will come easily."

Needless to say, there was a metamorphosis in the student's thinking and he began focusing on his personal development. He became a better fighter and eventually took his master's place.

I was reminded of this story while carrying out a basic registration procedure on the Microsoft Partner website. Their site does not work with Firefox which is now being used by at least 15% of the Internet population. The support executive guiding me through the registration process had to spend at least 60 minutes helping me and the task still remained incomplete. Microsoft has been so focused on shortening the line of Google that it has failed to adequately lengthen it's own line. The screenshot showing the Microsoft page is shown above. Hope the folks who are in charge read this and learn to focus on better serving their customers rather than on destroying competitors.

Intelligent and Lazy? Then You Need To Be Promoted!

2007-04-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite books is the 80 / 20 Principle by Richard Koch. The book applies the well-known Pareto principle to various business and career situations.

In the book, the author talks about the 'Von Manstein matrix' which looks like the figure below:

The idea is that people who are 'stupid' and hard-working create more work for themselves and for everybody else around them. We've all known someone in our lives who works on weekends and expects his subordinates to also sacrifice their personal time. Beware of such people. They find devious ways to look busy and act busy. They create new projects and feel good only when they have a cluttered looking desk and busy calendar.

On the other hand, you have managers who appear to be relaxed, confident and almost lazy. They look for things that they can cut out of their lives and projects that they can shut down for their employers. They hire fewer people and embark on fewer projects. The few activities that they do undertake, they undertake with a passion, zeal and committment of the highest order. Align yourself with such people ... the ones who are intelligent and lazy. The ones who know how to prioritize and pick the vital activities.

Cultivate your own laziness. It's not as bad as people make it out to be. Take a day off from work to do nothing. Leave work early one day. And refuse to work on the weekends unless absolutely necessary. And after you think you've mastered the art of laziness, go ahead and ask for a raise.

Good luck and happy lazing!

What's Your Gratitude Quotient?

2007-04-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

Many years ago, my Aikido master mentioned that the most important emotion is gratitude. Negative emotions like hate, anger, jeolousy, defeatism, cynicism and contempt can't exist when you're overflowing with gratitude. And maintaining a sense of gratitude to the Universe when you're in the midst of executing a martial move on your opponent is a unique feeling!

Since then, I've consciously attempted to maintain an attitude of gratitude in my daily life. It begins with expressing thanks every morning when I wake up. I thank the Universe for minor blessings (thanks for a good night's sleep!) and major ones (thanks for the new client!) The attitude continues during the day with me expressing thanks to events (thanks for the parking slot received with such ease) and people (thanks to the gas-station attendant for servicing my car.)

When we were young, we were taught that it was polite to thank people . This somehow implied that we needed to thank others in order to have an emotional impact on the person being thanked. However, I've found that you need to thank others and the Universe for your sake and not for anyone else's sake. The act of appreciating has a profound effect on the mood of the person showing the appreciation.

A sense of thankfulness, focuses your mind on the present. It's hard to think about some far-off place, or past or future event while you're consciously thinking about a particular blessing. The added benefit is that such an attitude focuses your thoughts on something pleasant and positive. Our minds are like the Internet with one thought linking to the next. So starting out with an attitude of gratitude keeps you in the pleasanter parts of your mind - an important requirement to deal with the stresses, strains and uncertainties of today's existence.

I posit that in the corporate world, if everybody maintained an attitude of gratitude, corporations would become more productive and entrepreneurial. There would be less office politics and lesser employee attrition.

It would be fun and useful to develop a method to measure one's gratitude quotient. This would be a measure of how much gratitude one feels when compared to the norm.

Perhaps this is a new area of exploration for HR professionals ... What do you say?

The 15 Minute Teamwork Assessment and 360

2007-04-30T21:57:00.000-07:00

We've been helping organizations run 360 assessments and teamwork assessments (peer feedback) for over 3 years now. Some of the users for our 360 services have included corporations like Sony Ericsson, the London Health Sciences Center and the Environmental Protection Agency as well as business schools like Carnegie Mellon, Vanderbilt and the University of North Carolina (Kenan-Flagler Business School.) We provide the hosted assessment and reporting platform along with help-desk and support services.

We've learnt a few things during the course of administering thousands of surveys:

1. People dislike very long survey instruments. 15 minutes seem to be the maximum that people can be coaxed into giving for an activity like a teamwork assessment or a 360.
2. The law of diminishing marginal utility kicks in and the insight derived from each additional item on a survey instrument diminishes (in other words, more questions don't necessarily yield significantly greater insight.)

Thus, we've decided to put up a 15 minute teamwork assessment and 15 minute 360 survey for use by managers who want some quick insight into the functioning of their teams. The instrument has been created by the Owen School which has graciously provided us with the permission to share the instrument with others. We've made signing up and getting started real easy. And we hope the reports (including a Johari Style report) will be insightful.

Do take a look ... 15 minutes could change the future of your team or your company.