Find Your FOCUS

Posted on 29 April, 2011 at 11:45 PM by with Leave a Comment

“Distraction is the enemy of success, so don’t worry other fascinating but less productive things to divert you from your mission.”

Remember to FOCUS

“FOCUS” is such a small word but it has a powerful impact. They key is to never lose sight of your purpose and always return to your plan.

Follow Your Plan

When you find yourself getting off track, go back to your written plan. I’ve learned that visual aids can really help keep you on track; they remind you of your ultimate goal, and why you need to finish. That old cliché, “Out of sight, out of mind,” is often true! Keep your plans in clear view as constant reminder of where you want to go be. I have a picture of my dream car on my refrigerator at home and on my desk at work. I’ve mapped out how I plan to pay for my new vehicle and when I can make it happen.

Organize your day but leave time for situations and circumstances that inevitably arise. You may not be able to control every occurrence, but at least you can control how you handle them. Stay organized makes you a better manager of your time and gives you power to reach for your dreams. Try establishing a goal relates back to your original plan. In an eight-hour day, that’s eight steps toward accomplishing your dream. Don’t have a free eight-hour day? Remember, not all strides need to be huge leaps. What can you accomplish in part of that time? Send an email? Call a contact? Small steps can take you great distances.

Condition yourself to go the distance. Make sure that you don’t burn yourself out doing too much of nothing while never achieving something. When you are physically fir and mentally sound, it makes reaching your goals that much easier. Your journey should exhilarate you, not exhaust you to the point that you’re too tired to compete. Opportunity sometimes only knocks once, so make sure you’re always alert, fit and ready for the challenges ahead.

Underplay underestimation. When you underestimate your potential, you set yourself up to fail. Don’t allow others to make you doubt your abilities. Now is the time for you to stretch – you will be amazed at the results.

I remember the first time I had to think on my feet during a meeting. I was out in a business meeting. I was out of my comfort zone, but I got through it, and I found myself eagerly volunteering for more off-the-cuff responses. Fear tends to be our first reaction to new situations. But to overcome the fear of inadequacy you have to try something so that you can amaze yourself with unexpected abilities.

Strategize. Sometime you may have to go back to the drawing board and revise your plan. Strategizing you next move in almost any situation in life is critical. It’s important to understand that making hasty moves can be hazardous to your career, friendships, goals and sometimes even your health. So rewrite your plan when necessary, and always be flexible enough to change direction. Thinking ahead of the game is critical.

Focus can bring tremendous power. Without it, you will often feel drained and unable to accomplish much. With it you will find that your talents and abilities gain direction and intentionality. And those qualities pay off by producing results.

Articles, Leadership

Are you a Leader or a Servant?

Posted on 1 April, 2011 at 11:45 PM by with Leave a Comment

Leaders don’t stay at the top. They go down with the people below and trying to bring his team up. If you are just staying at the top, arm folded and looked down at the team. You are not a good leader. Leaders should always add value to the team. You may be a good manager because you know your job well.

You are not a good leader because you cannot lead a team. So what if you can manage, your team is not following you. You can escalate the matter to the higher management. As a person, you are not able to lead the team, simple as that. Your leadership skill in business world is not the same as in military. You can’t raise your voice and the team will follow. Business world requires soft skill.

Needs to climb the mountain of obstacles together. Not alone. TEAM work is required.

TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More

There is a project coordinator, Jenny (Not real name) was one typical example for lacking leadership. When she first came on board to the organization, there was no proper process, no procedures. She hit many walls by asking many departments how to do the job properly.

As the project management team grew, the boss would like to set up a proper Project Management Office.

Her boss would like to give her a more high profile Project Management Office duty, thus had recruited an assistant, Gina (Not real name) to help her in the normal administration work.

In a logical sense, Jenny should be passing all the knowledge to Gina, so that Jenny can focus on her high profile administrative duties. Unfortunately, the knowledge was not passed totally. It was handed over partially instead. Jenny just gave Gina high level steps, understanding and expected Gina to explore or find out how to do the work herself. This caused Gina to be very lost. When Gina approached Jenny for queries, Jenny will raise her voice and replied. Gina was hurt.

Nothing was done, but relationship soured.

This simple scenario showed that Jenny’s poor leadership skill. She had not showed her team the proper guidance to do the job. When Gina approached Jenny for assistance; that means Jenny had not passed the knowledge fully to Gina and that is why Gina is not able to proceed with the work. Jenny should pass all information, knowledge to Gina and check with her that she is informed of all things.

If Gina is not comfortable with the knowledge. She should ask. And Jenny, being the superior should be more patient to the team member and not throw temper at her team.

Lessons Learned: If you want to delegate duties to others, ensure the recipient are well-equipped with relevant tools and knowledge. Or else when the team member leaves the organization, you will have to recruit someone else and start the training all over again. The cycle will repeats. That is not fruitful and unproductive.

Articles, Leadership, Lessons Learned

It’s not What you know, it’s Who you know

Posted on 29 March, 2011 at 11:45 PM by with Leave a Comment

In a typical organization, who is having a slightly better role, the Sales or the technical folks?

For a salesperson, his objective is to get more revenue for the company. Thus he will find more potential clients to sell his products. The salesperson keeps on finding potential clients. Network with people and start to sell to WHO he meets. However, once he gotten the sales deal. His job is more or less settled. He will hand over the sales deal for his back-end team to deliver, either a product or service. It’s the Who you know to clinch more deals. The sales person needs not to know the mechanics on how to build the product or how to deliver the service.

This technical team, on the other hand, is the team that receives the order and has to deliver the service, product on time and meeting the client’s requirement. Thus the technical team is good at what they are supposed to deliver. They know the WHAT very well and can customize to the client’s needs fast and efficient.

To have more WHO factor will get you to know more people. Rich Social skill tends to get things done easily. You can be a well business person and focus on higher level. Look on things farther and further.

To know the WHAT factor well, will only ends up to be a JOB for you because you know the mechanics well. People will come to you for the techniques / tactics.

Simple scenarios:

If the sales person can clinch the deal, he could outsource to another team that offers a more competitive pricing to deliver his products or services. Thus the WHAT is not so critical because he can always find someone to deliver for him.

Let’s say you are in your late 40s or early 50s, and you are retrenched in corporate world. What are you going to do? Your income stopped suddenly, is it easy for you to get another job? Organizations will tend to look for staffs that are more energetic, with drive and more important, cheaper than you. It’s a true business fact, that by the time you are in your mid 40s or early 50s, your pay is almost in the high range category. It is difficult for you to get another job that pays the same salary.

It is not what technical skills or management skills that you know that enables to get the next job. It is your constant networking that the WHO factor can assist in getting you another job in the corporate organization.

Lessons Learned: Be more social savvy as you progress along the career and social path. It’s not what you know to get things done. It is WHO you know to get things accomplished.

Articles, Employment, Lessons Learned
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