Frank the frank one

Frank the frank one.

Companies come up with visionary statements to align employees’ visions with their goals. Am I truly working and living towards my goals?

I do know my purpose in life, i.e. my dreams.  But I have not been monitoring my progress.  Perhaps like Benjamin Franklin, I should try checking it everyday.  Now I am not even sure if I am heading in the right direction. Was I moving further away from my goals?

The purpose of my life is to promote love.  There is no better place to start than in your own home.  But look at me, I am still single!  Will I ever find him?  

I attended an international dragon boat party along with my team mates.  It was an incredible night.  I met Frank just the night before and also at the party. Frank is a father of two kids.  He was such a great conversationalists and we were talking about balanced score cards!  

Frank was surprised at the fact that I was single.  I wasn’t.  I told him that I never discovered anyone who knew me as the meaning of his life.  I never met someone whom I thought was the meaning of my life.  Maybe he does not exist, and then what was I suppose to do?

Frank told me that I can’t apply balanced scorecards to relationships.  I must be willing to take risks and just go for it.  He figured that I was a lovely person but trapped in a lonely world that consisted only of me.  I shook my head and I confided in him.  I told him that I am active, I meet people.  But I simply didn’t want to settle as the other party will discover my deficiency in love, for him. I wouldn’t be able to give him all he needs. I don’t want to be disappointed in love and I sure won’t want to be the cause of his disappointment. So until then, I will wait.

Frank and I had such great conversations.  We definitely made an impact on each other. It is definitely going to be hard forgetting this Scottish male with his Scottish accent. He reminded me of ‘Zen’ who shared so much with me.

So maybe Frank, you showed me that a great conversationalists, a good listener is what I need in my life. Zen was the same and maybe that was why I still appreciate the time I spent with him. Maybe my balanced scored card was not so balanced after all. Maybe I didn’t understand myself after all.

But love is not something I can grasp in my hands. I chose to let nature take its course. I know you will disagree, Frank. But what else could I do? Perhaps I am not lonely Frank, just misunderstood.

Maybe I should seek to understand , then be understood. Maybe then, I wouldn’t need to look that far.    

Bottom line thinking

I was having dinner and drinks with my friends, Drucker and Sun. Drucker said that he would never let anyone in the company patronise a competitor’s product because he hates to see himself lose a market share. Sun, was about to join the company but was not receptive about the restraint. I could tell that he was very disturbed. I decided to reflect on this issue. Is a restraining order that prohibits an employee from patronising a competitor’s product in the company necessary to ensure that the company retains its market share?

It is clear that retaining and increasing the market share is the company’s bottom line. But is the restraining order consistent with that bottom line? Yes, if the company plans on hiring everyone in the market!

While I agree that a company should never hire anyone who does not believe in the goods and services it offers, a restraining order does not appear to serve any of the company’s mission or objectives. In fact, I think there may even be a conflict.

A company that imposes such a restraining order on its employees clearly subscribes to the law of scarcity. It fails to understand a simple human behavior. It is never fun when you have to do things out of obligation. Furthermore, an employee may perceive the company’s products as being weak; that’s why the company has resorted to a restraining order. The company therefore breeds obedience but not staff loyalty. If the company were to subscribe to the law of abundance, it will be seeking to determine the needs of customers and learn how competitors have successfully filled in the gaps. The company can then surpass customer expectations and win a bigger share in the market.

It appears to me that the company, in this case, lost its perspective of the bottomline (as employees only form a very small part of the market share). The company will still lose its market share if it cannot keep up with the competition. In such a situation, is the company going to hire more employees to retain its market share? The restraining order appears to have created a win-lose situation for Drucker. The result is he wins now but not the rest of the time. What he needs to develop is a win-win situation for the company and its employees. To do this, he needs to change his paradigm from the law of scarcity to the law of abundance. One needs to believe that the market is so big that it is impossible for any one company to fill in all the gaps. There is always something for everyone.

One can turn to warfare for some guidance for the right strategy to beating the competition. The bottomline is to win the war with few casualties. Informers are often engaged to gather information on the enemy. A strategy is formulated based on their understanding of the enemy, themselves and the terrain they are going to fight on. Similarly, the first thing a company needs to do is to determine its bottom line (e.g. increase market share). A company should then only hire employees who believe in the company’s products and services because such employees can market the goods and services effectively and have genuine interests in the company. Successful marketing should also be leveraged on personal experiences and these are invaluable. In the absence of a restraining order, the employee may still purchase a competitor’s products because it fills his needs. In this case, an interested employee can gather his personal experiences as feedback and strive to improve the company’s products. We call that the competitors intelligence. A company can only effectively market its products if he understands his customers, business and his competitors. Doesn’t a restraining order seem to conflict with the mission to gain market share?

The company should therefore practise bottomline thinking and align its employees interests with its mission and objectives. If the company focused on its bottomline, its strategy would be to hire anyone who consumes his product (but it may not be the only one) and believes that his personal experiences or contributions can improve the company’s business. The results are a positive morale, development of better products and services, greater ideas and profit! All this can be achieved without a restraining order.

As for Sun, he should walk away if he does not subscribe to the company’s existing paradigm. But if his bottom line is to work for that company, then he will have to subscribe to their paradigm so that it is a win-win situation for both the employer and the employee.

All for one and One for all! It's showtime!

The Chicago Bulls is my favourite basketball team. My favourite players are John Paxon, Scottie Pipean and Michael Jordan. The team is successful because the players know their roles. If they needed to score with a dunk, they will pass the ball to Jordan. If they wanted a three pointer, the ball would go to Paxon. Pipean was always there to steal the ball from the opponents and hand them over to better scorers. Each team member knew their roles and they knew what it takes to score. Ego and selfishness were never their attitude towards the game. But there is another factor to their success. They had Jordan. Jordan was an excellent player and the team knew they can always count on him to score. Similarly, I realised that my team relied on my existence to get things done. They believed that as long as I was journeying with them, they will definitely succeed.

When some key members wanted to drop out, I kept them together. I told them that the show could not go on without them. Fortunately, they stayed. There were some who wanted more parts, but I didn't want them to assume those parts because others were better. These people think they are the best! There were also times when the team members were anxious and were not sure if they could succeed in giving a good performance. I assured them that the expectation of the crowd was going to be low and it will be easy to surpass their expectation if they just keep trying and follow me. I told them that it was not going to be another Christmas Carolling session offered by so many charity productions! Instantly, with that vision of a good show (beyond Christmas Carols) not only were my team members motivated, so were my sponsors. They simply trusted me because they knew I have the talent.

Bad attitudes left alone can ruin the whole show. To ensure that they remain focused on the vision of a “perfect” show, I brought in the group of orphans who were participating in the show. Their presence constantly reminded the team of the reason why they were doing this. It was not for them, certainly not for me, but for those orphans who needed the funds to run the orphanage. I told them that the orphanage relies heavily on public contributions. Since we had the same set of values and we were all doing this for charity, my team started to get things done.

As time went by, my key members were leading the various departments in the production. I spent my time coaching the casts. As we gathered momentum, the team gained confidence and they realized that it was going to one great show! I had to oversee the coaching, the marketing and also the logistics. But I did not have to spend too much effort in them. This because I trusted my partners and I know where they needed my expert advice they will approach me. This way, I don’t have to do everything alone.

All the tickets were sold for not less than $50 per ticket and the more expensive seats were going for as high as $500. Everyone was surprised by the standard. We were not far off from the singers of the songs when they were first released. There were additional contributions in view of the good performance. It was certainly a night to remember. Everyone displayed their talents and all their hard work paid off. I saw the audience clapping and singing to the songs (in marketing the programmes, I ensured that every one in the audience knew a couple songs). This show would not have been as fun and exciting if not for this dream team. I also have to thank my team mates for recognizing the edge I have.

Road to Success (Part 2)

Four months to the big performance, my key members were mustered, materials were gathered and I had to plan for the practices and rehersals.

I knew it was not an easy task since I had to train a huge team of performers with varying degrees of talent. Some were very professional and competent in performing, whilst other don't even have a clue. It was worse when I realised that many have stage fright.

Most individuals in the team were very enthusiastic. They wanted to go through the training and emerge as singers at the end of the show (Very ambitious huh?). Being an enthusiastic bunch of people, all they needed was my direction and I made every effort to equip them. Some people argue that to be a singer, you ought to have the right genes! I do not agree with that statement as I always believe one can sing if one is equipped with the right skills. The problem is finding the appreciative target audience. I would probably say singers in heavy metal bands can't sing, but their crowd would say otherwise! Those who think that you ought to have the right genes to do something well do not see the potential and good in people and therefore do not stretch them beyond their comfort zones. I was very focused on the end result and I wanted the team to be praised for a fabulous job done when the show is over. I basically wanted to give them something to remember. As the training progressed, the team members became more confident and they urged themselves to do better. I told them what they needed to do as responsible individuals (know your lyrics and song well, get the diction right, know your dance steps and also learn to listen to each other as you sing). When I was not able to train them, the group practiced amongst themselves. They never skipped a rehersal I planned.

At this point, I was on schedule and I knew I had the right team to realise the dream. My dream team!

That was until I realised that the journey was not as easy as I anticipated. There were a few trouble makers in my team who did not share my dream to build a show with good team effort. They were in it for themselves! They merely wanted to show off their skills and thought they were very competent. I have witnessed their performance prior to this show and I knew I would never do what they did in my show. It was a big failure.

But I was not going to disappoint the team by being an ineffective leader. In other words, I knew what I had to do and I did not want to compromise on the dream we had.

These few members do not share the right motives. It is important to identify them fast so that a leader can take appropriate action. One way was to remove them or I have to convert their motives. A good example is dragon boating. Each member must know the strokes. If there are any weak links, the strongers members will have to share their load and row harder! The best way to deal with the problem is to remove the weak ones and place them on another boat. That way the strong ones can move on and achieve the dream.

I decided on conversion of motives since it is a charity concert and removal was not a conceivable option. To these members, I dealt with them alone discreetly and briefly. I had to confront them and state that if they were not going to take the journey with me, they ought to get off the track. They were included because I wanted a cosmopolitan group but that did not mean they were indispensable. I did not want them to have an adverse impact on the morale of my team or turn their dreams into a nightmare (just because I was not capable of handling the weakest links).

The game show " the weakest link" shows that stronger members do know who are the weakest links and would either help them or wait for their removal. The stronger members were not helping them (the weakest links were weak because of their wrong motives). They were waiting for me to deal with them! Otherwise they would and I would have lost my credibility as a leader. To be successful, the team must ensure that each member is "perfect" in their role and have the right motives and attitude for the journey.

Next journal entry, I will cover steps on how we realised the Dream.

Building High Performing Teams

Last year, my friend approached me to direct a production for Charity. The aim was to raise as much proceeds as we could to aid a local orphanage and old folks home. Since I have a passion for music and I could do this for charity, I therefore agreed to assist her. At the end of the show, we raised $20,000 for a one night peformance. What was more valuable was the experience which taught me a great deal on team dynamics. We didn’t just get lucky, so how did we achieve such great results?

When I was first tasked to put together a team, as the Director of the production, I had to get an OVERALL VIEW of what I wanted the team to achieve (i.e. the dream). Since it was going to be a charity concert, I knew success should be measured by profit and not glamor. I understood the simple mathematics of keeping cost down in order to maximise my profit. With that in mind, I evaluated and chose the most profitable option (given the resources I had) and that was to be my programme for the night.

The next step I took was to determine my key team players. My choice of key members were people who shared my vision, were connected to me and are people with great influence on others (who would gladly assist and follow them). That is the law of influence. These individuals shared my vision and quickly mustered the resources I required for the show; the volunteers, the funds and the materials through sponsorships.

I could not do this show alone and I did not try to do everything ALONE. As I delegated most of my key functions such as logistics and marketing to the key members, I could focus on what I do best, i.e. sing. I empowerd these individuals to make all the decisions because I knew their strengths and they knew my aims. It is therefore very important for team leaders to communicate their vision to their team mates. If they share your dreams, you have half the battle won and you will feel more secure in delegating your tasks to them.

However, that does not mean I do not evaluate their progress. I do constantly review their progress and deal with problems early when they arise. As a Director, I maintain my accessibility and remain connected. Since it was going to be a charity concert, many who wished to participate were volunteers. 80% of them love to sing but can’t sing beyond their bathroom walls! I had two choices. One was to quit and the other was to equip them with the skill. Since I am not a wimp, the best thing for me to do was to EQUIP them with the skill.

Everyone soon got to work as they were keen on achieving the aim of raising money for charity (the dream). I began to train my crew four months before the show. I also decided to sing in the production so that they knew I was with them. It was a tough four month preparation but the results were rewarding.

During the process of training, I began to study the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals. I look out for the NICHE in each individual member. The songs to be performed were chosen based on the age profile of the target audience so that they can relate to the songs sung (here is where I assisted the marketing team) and the songs were subsequently matched to the strengths of the various singers (to bring out the best in them). It required adjustments which some individuals viewed as indecisiveness. However, I always remember that leadership is not a popularity game. Hence, I knew I had to make those adjustments where I deemed fit. This requires confidence in what you do best. Over the four months, the singers practised their songs regularly and were very committed. At this point, I knew I already have 80% of the battle won.

Tomorrow, I shall cover ways to deal with ineffective members for the common goal of the team.

Challenging Popular Thinking

I was having breakfast with my family and we were discussing a new proposal which I have been tasked to handle. My task was to find a solution to the problem my company now faces. The problem is not new and several companies have implemented their solutions for umpteen years.

When my boss met my team at the discussion table, he revealed the issue and wanted a plan of action from the team. We could all identify with the issue because we were aware of the concept and the current practices in other global companies. We were given three weeks to develop our proposed solution and plan of action.

The issue is not new. My dad and sister said that they were aware of how companies dealt with the issue. However, they argued that it can lead to an increased work load as a result of increased administrative procedures. I have, however, arrived at a different solution without the problems! My sister and dad calls it a modified solution to the problem and it was nothing new! See popular thinking is New = dramatic change.

When the issue was first laid on my desk, the first thing I did was to define the issue, understand its objectives and the existing arguments for the proposal. I challenged its assumptions and found them to be invalid (which means I think it is a darn lousy proposal). If the proposal were not accepted, I can proceed with the current system (don’t change for the sake of changing!). However, should the proposal be adopted, was I able to find a different option (compared to other existing solutions) in achieving the same result but without its set of limitations?

I could have engaged in popular thinking and safely assumed that the existing practices in other companies are the best. If everyone is doing something in a specific manner, it must be a good idea, right? Not necessarily so. A good example is equity investment. Punters are keen on buying equities with numerous buy calls. When the market is riding high, they start investing their capital in those equities. What they don’t realise is that those who have made money are those who have invested and you only gain when you sell! Therefore, it pays to adopt contrarian thinking. All things being equal, buy the equity when everyone thinks it is heading south.

The point is there is a huge difference between acceptance and intelligence. I did not want to blindly follow others and only to find out that I have not thought about what is best (that is why it is important to do financial research and not just count the numbers of “Buy” calls). In challenging popular thinking, I get resistance and objections. Some were uncomfortable with my proposal because it is not significantly different from my company’s existing practice. See what they don’t realise is that that is the beauty of it. But I was not afraid of them. Let me put it this way, you won’t be as wrong as they think you are now and in future you won’t be as right at they think you are too. Therefore, why not be better than you thought you could be…=)

I evaluated the problem, read and listened to the opinions and arguments of others, then worked on two options. One of the options is similar to that of existing practices of other companies (popular thinking) and the other was a modification of my company’s existing practice. Both solutions will achieve similar results. But it will be more costly if one were to adopt the option similar to that of other global companies. In other words, it reduces the company’s profit margin!

When my boss saw my plan of action to the proposal, he loved it!!! "Very fast and analytical!" he said. We did a preliminary test on its practicality and there were no objections to the proposal. However, there was feedback that the existing practice should be continued as it was better than the proposed change. I was right on both counts!

In a nutshell, what is popular is normal and therefore yields average results. What I needed was an effective solution that specifically addresses my issue. A solution done in the same way as everyone else is not going against popular thinking. But a solution done in a different way is challenging popular thinking and it achieves incredible results. To the naysayers out there (including my dad and sister), I am still proud of what I achieved because I chose a different path from you guys.

Update:
To those who are interested. My dad finally agreed that my proposed plan of action is excellent. The key is to challenge the assumptions and deal with the limitations of existing practices.

Perspectives and Responses

I met Mary for lunch and we talked about Dolly. She confided in me that Dolly is a high maintenance individual and has practically sapped the energy off her and her friends. Leaving them very frustrated. As a result, some have quit from the relationship.

Mary is not the only person who feels that Dolly is a difficult person in the group. Almost everyone does. But Dolly does not perceive her behavior towards others as a problem.

I do think it is impossible to consistently behave in a manner that is inconsistent with the way we see ourselves. Understandably, this is also the cause of many marital problems. For example, if a husband has an irate wife and there are irreconcialiable differences, chances are she is an unforgiving person and has lots of negative emotions bottled within her. She merely saw her husband the way she is. She, therefore, vents her anger on her husband. The marriage cannot be reconciled unless she is willing to perceive the other in good light and forms a connection with her husband. This will necessitate a change in the way she perceives herself.

How about a submissive wife? In this case, she perceives herself as being incapable of making good (and sound) decisions. Therefore, it is better for him to make all the decisions and stay away from trouble. =). If he makes the wrong decision, both of them lose. Such a relationship is not sustainable because both parties do not develop their character and will eventually grow apart. It is in periods of adversity and trial that the true test of character is revealed and when they realise they needed each others values and opinions. We call it synergy.

In the case of Dolly, who wants to be the leader and most influential member in the group, her actions have been perceived by others as being undesirable. Sometimes she is offensive and at other times she can be inconsiderate or authoritative because she does not value the opinions of others. In this scenario, she perceives herself as a leader who ought to be in control and do everything herself (otherwise everything falls apart). As a teacher, she has probably perceived the need for her to be authoritative or risk a bunch of school boys climbing over her head.... chaotic eh? See the big picture now?

It is my character to perceive my strengths for directions I should take in my life. But I perceive from others' perspectives in order to appreciate their goodness and also to form a connection with them. My strength lies with my ability to unconditionally love someone. The greater the feeling of love, the better I feel about life and me.

If I perceive things from another's point of view, I gain an understanding of their behavior and learn to connect with them. Would I have done the same if I were in her shoes. Frankly, I do think I would if I were constantly operating in her environment. That is why I knew right from the start, I can never teach a bunch of students in a class. I think just about 2 to 3 school boys is all I can handle without raising my blood pressure!!

When I learn to understand and perceive things in her shoe, it is easier for me to calm down and respond favorably. I can't choose the way she treats me or others, but I can choose my response towards her. There are many difficult people in this imperfect world, are you going to spend your entire life bearing grudges, criticising and complain about them. Get a life!

In choosing our response, we should focus on the good attributes in others. You will be a much happier person and can respond to others in a loving way. Besides, you will never know, maybe oneday I will be working for her..=)..LOL.