Why is it that most managers shy away from the “power” word? This appears especially true in a society where attitudes of entitlement prevail and empowerment is a popular leadership notion. The word “power” brings to mind a politician, Mafioso, or cold-hearted businessmen. Yet a dictionary definition of power is the “ability to act or produce an effect”. It turns out that power, when applied appropriately, is exactly what it takes to promote action and make transformation happen. .. . . . . . .
Read the full article at
http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=275744024&gid=2970066&type=member&item=41886698&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fbit%2Ely%2FgJ1m3X&urlhash=sFVF&goback=%2Enmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1%2Egde_2970066_member_41886698
Monday, January 31, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Top 10 Trainer's Tips for PMs Giving Presentations
The ability to give persuasive presentations is critical for PMs, and can mean the difference between getting your stakeholders with you or against you. Yet a lot of PMs make very common presenter’s mistakes which can easily be avoided by using secrets of success known to many professional trainers.
http://www.pmforum.org/library/tips/2010/PDFs/dec/Advisory-FURMAN.pdf
http://www.pmforum.org/library/tips/2010/PDFs/dec/Advisory-FURMAN.pdf
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
3 ways to handle frustration!
At times we are frustrated when things don’t go our way. At times when people around us don’t behave in the way we wanted them to behave.At times when desired results are not achieved, we are frustrated!
Now the question: How can we handle our frustration, particularly when people don’t perform in the way we have expected them to perform.
Below, I am sharing experience from practical life. You are more than welcome to share your thoughts on this blog:
1. When all else fails……
It is said that: When all fails, lower your expectations!
Why frustration?
Because we expect certain person to behave in certain way or we expect a situation to turn in certain way. When that thing does not happen in that particular way, we are not happy.
So, why not lower our expectations? Think over this. Don’t expect perfection from any one. If we expect that people are not rational, kind or considerate and when they perform good deeds or do acts of kindness, we will be happy as we have not expected them to perform well….. Interesting isn’t it?
2. Try to understand things from other people’s perspective
This is easier said than done.
Question: How can we understand other people?
Answer: When we put them in their shoes.
What if we go to an eye doctor and we know that we are going to get eye glasses and the doctor gives us his own glasses to wear. The doctor says: I don’t know which type of glasses you need but I am wearing these from last twenty years and they must be helpful to you. So, use them.
I am sure doctor’s glasses won’t work for you or me or any one of us. Doctor has to understand the issue first from our perspective before suggesting any remedy. Therefore, if we understand other people, we might not be extra frustrated.
3. Start some physical work / exercise / game
It happened when one of our senior colleague in accountancy exam was unable to pass for sixth time. You can’t image his frustration!
So, another senior who was taking attempt for tenth time told him: Take a squash ball and write ‘examination board’ on it and start playing squash. Hit the ball several time and let your anger out.
Third method: start playing some game or do exercise or jog. This helps!
Now the question: How can we handle our frustration, particularly when people don’t perform in the way we have expected them to perform.
Below, I am sharing experience from practical life. You are more than welcome to share your thoughts on this blog:
1. When all else fails……
It is said that: When all fails, lower your expectations!
Why frustration?
Because we expect certain person to behave in certain way or we expect a situation to turn in certain way. When that thing does not happen in that particular way, we are not happy.
So, why not lower our expectations? Think over this. Don’t expect perfection from any one. If we expect that people are not rational, kind or considerate and when they perform good deeds or do acts of kindness, we will be happy as we have not expected them to perform well….. Interesting isn’t it?
2. Try to understand things from other people’s perspective
This is easier said than done.
Question: How can we understand other people?
Answer: When we put them in their shoes.
What if we go to an eye doctor and we know that we are going to get eye glasses and the doctor gives us his own glasses to wear. The doctor says: I don’t know which type of glasses you need but I am wearing these from last twenty years and they must be helpful to you. So, use them.
I am sure doctor’s glasses won’t work for you or me or any one of us. Doctor has to understand the issue first from our perspective before suggesting any remedy. Therefore, if we understand other people, we might not be extra frustrated.
3. Start some physical work / exercise / game
It happened when one of our senior colleague in accountancy exam was unable to pass for sixth time. You can’t image his frustration!
So, another senior who was taking attempt for tenth time told him: Take a squash ball and write ‘examination board’ on it and start playing squash. Hit the ball several time and let your anger out.
Third method: start playing some game or do exercise or jog. This helps!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
7 big time wasters – are we managing our time effectively?
Just ask some one: Do you have time?
Most common answer: I am too busy. Sorry I don’t have time!
Every one has 24 hours in a day. No one has a minute more or a minute less. However, look around: We will find some people achieve much more in same 24 hours. Why is it so? During our daily routine, we also set our priorities to complete XYZ tasks but at the end of the day, we find ourselves still working on our initial ‘to do’ list, though we had a very busy day!
Why at times we are very busy but we achieve very less? Are we ‘wasting’ our time without realizing it?
Here are seven big time wasters and a few tips on managing time effectively. Let’s see if we are wasting time because of any one of them:
1. Telephone interruptions:
Is it really necessary to take all calls when a phone is ringing? Can we call the person back once we are done with the task on hand? In my view, it happens that once mobile phone rings, we talk and our attention diverts. The task on hand remains there while we enjoy our chat.
2. Inability to say ‘No’
We find it really difficult to say NO at times. At times, we don’t know how to refuse. However, we have a right to say NO and then suggest alternatives. If we have a list of agreed upon priorities, we can show it to the person who is asking us to do some thing which demands more time.
3. Lack of self- discipline
Do we have our objectives in writing? Are we following our goals? If we can set ‘key result areas’ and focus to achieve those areas, our efforts will pay off. If we try to handle one task only once, we will have more time. Try this!
4. Management by crisis
If we don’t ‘anticipate’ problems in advance, we will be managing by crisis. This is also called ‘fire fighting’ in management terms. It is said: Expect the unexpected and plan accordingly!. If we try to plan for unexpected, we will be in a position to manage crisis fast and effectively. We can ignore the problems which can be ignored or we can delegate issues to others before we put our hands to them. It should be recognized that it is more important to prevent ‘new fires’ from developing.
5. Ineffective delegation
At times, we want to do ‘everything’ ourselves. At times, we feel more comfortable in ‘doing’ rather than ‘managing’. If we relax and avoid ‘perfectionism’ in every thing we are doing, we can get lot of things done through other people.
6. Lots of paper work
Technology has made life easy. Is this true? or has technology made life difficult? We have lots of emails to respond to, lots of papers to be filed and lots of information to be taken care of then ever before. If we read an email or a paper only once, have a ‘do it now’ rather than ‘i will read this again’, much of the things can be done faster. If we organize our filing habit, we can find our papers fast.
7. Socializing
Thanks to face book, email, twitter and blogs, we have lots of time to socialize! Socializing and networking is a good habit but not at the cost of wasting time. If we plan to obtain information on a systematic basis and try to control our urge to log on to face book five or six times a day, we can focus on tasks on hand and do them better / faster.
You may identify other time wasters of your own and share your ideas. Above are from the book ‘Dare to Win’ by A.L. Malani
Most common answer: I am too busy. Sorry I don’t have time!
Every one has 24 hours in a day. No one has a minute more or a minute less. However, look around: We will find some people achieve much more in same 24 hours. Why is it so? During our daily routine, we also set our priorities to complete XYZ tasks but at the end of the day, we find ourselves still working on our initial ‘to do’ list, though we had a very busy day!
Why at times we are very busy but we achieve very less? Are we ‘wasting’ our time without realizing it?
Here are seven big time wasters and a few tips on managing time effectively. Let’s see if we are wasting time because of any one of them:
1. Telephone interruptions:
Is it really necessary to take all calls when a phone is ringing? Can we call the person back once we are done with the task on hand? In my view, it happens that once mobile phone rings, we talk and our attention diverts. The task on hand remains there while we enjoy our chat.
2. Inability to say ‘No’
We find it really difficult to say NO at times. At times, we don’t know how to refuse. However, we have a right to say NO and then suggest alternatives. If we have a list of agreed upon priorities, we can show it to the person who is asking us to do some thing which demands more time.
3. Lack of self- discipline
Do we have our objectives in writing? Are we following our goals? If we can set ‘key result areas’ and focus to achieve those areas, our efforts will pay off. If we try to handle one task only once, we will have more time. Try this!
4. Management by crisis
If we don’t ‘anticipate’ problems in advance, we will be managing by crisis. This is also called ‘fire fighting’ in management terms. It is said: Expect the unexpected and plan accordingly!. If we try to plan for unexpected, we will be in a position to manage crisis fast and effectively. We can ignore the problems which can be ignored or we can delegate issues to others before we put our hands to them. It should be recognized that it is more important to prevent ‘new fires’ from developing.
5. Ineffective delegation
At times, we want to do ‘everything’ ourselves. At times, we feel more comfortable in ‘doing’ rather than ‘managing’. If we relax and avoid ‘perfectionism’ in every thing we are doing, we can get lot of things done through other people.
6. Lots of paper work
Technology has made life easy. Is this true? or has technology made life difficult? We have lots of emails to respond to, lots of papers to be filed and lots of information to be taken care of then ever before. If we read an email or a paper only once, have a ‘do it now’ rather than ‘i will read this again’, much of the things can be done faster. If we organize our filing habit, we can find our papers fast.
7. Socializing
Thanks to face book, email, twitter and blogs, we have lots of time to socialize! Socializing and networking is a good habit but not at the cost of wasting time. If we plan to obtain information on a systematic basis and try to control our urge to log on to face book five or six times a day, we can focus on tasks on hand and do them better / faster.
You may identify other time wasters of your own and share your ideas. Above are from the book ‘Dare to Win’ by A.L. Malani
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