Almost ready to take off for the Holidays.
If you are celebrating Christmas- Merry Christmas!
Have a wonderful New Year everyone. I will be back on Jan 5.
Till then- enjoy the e-books or simply be inspired.
Gift Yourself
This holiday season, gift yourself first.
Here are some good stuff that will help you see yourself:
•Imposter Syndrome - Its worth every single minute of your time and it’s such an important factor to understand that this e-book is a must read. While you relate to the real life stories and see yourself in them, you know how to encounter it next time.•Go through the book reviews and pick your favorite, even if you don’t want to buy the book, borrow it from the library. This holiday season, I have ordered books and 2 out of the 3 are after reading reviews and their effects on someone else.
•Make Sh*t Happen – Is by Jenny and doors open January 10 it will be $297 and open to 36 people who are ready to find their courage and change their lives.
•Gift yourself by building your own brand this holiday season- stand apart from the rest of the crowd, work on your credibility and see yourself grow.
•Find a mentor, there’s no replacement for a mentor.
Honest Confessions
Being honest isn’t easy.
When I started this blog, I wanted everyone to know the hurdles and the real life story of what happens every day.
I have been honest but there are times when you tend not to write about the truth- the horrible days, the irritating moments and the failures. When you are aware that the blog is being read, you don’t want to feel vulnerable and to protect your work identity and private details, you skip it.
But here am I, someone who promised to tell the truth, don’t want to be miles away from the truth as well.
I have had bad days like most of us, really bad days at work- when someone doesn’t get the point, takes advantage of me being polite, back stabs you for not getting what they want, sabotages your projects just because they want to and hate you for you-can’t-figure it out. It’s all part of the game.
It’s all alright as long as you can take it or if it happens for a few days and you have managed it well. Mentors can be great assets during this time period, especially if you have in-house mentors. However, there will be always days, when nothing gets solved, you feel horrible, feel belittled and feel you are in the wrong place.
Team building and management is an art and when they don’t follow certain aspects of life, work life can becomes as stressful as it sounds.
Stress, deadlines, projects can all be handled if you have a great team and good support system at work. When it doesn’t, stop blaming yourself- you can do so much with your life.
Pick up your life and get going, get another certification, look for your next job, write the perfect resume and don’t blame yourself for not being the right fit. Sometimes, it’s just not about you!
Want to read up on what great project managers do, download the collection of interviews that happened in the blog by clicking here (its free).
Pic Courtesy: Google Images
Team Building Pt2
Hope you all had a restful long weekend with your family and
loved ones. If you celebrate Thanksgiving- I am sure this weekend was special.
The best part of your job, should be to love it . Let’s face it most of us don’t realise what the job is in hold for us, till
we have entered it and figure out the reality.
You can opt to make your work meaningful but that certainly mean that it will happen unless of course your team supports
you.
So, here are some more theories on team building:
Belbin Team Dynamics
The nine Belbin team roles:
Plant
Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult
problems. However tends to ignore incidentals and be too immersed to
communicate effectively.
Resource Investigator
Extrovert, enthusiastic, communicative. Explores
opportunities and networks with others. However can be over optimistic and
loses interest after initial enthusiasm has waned.
Co-ordinator
Belbin's Co-ordinator is a mature, confident and a natural
chairperson. Clarifies goals, promotes decision-making and delegates
effectively. However can be seen as manipulative and controlling. Can over
delegate by off loading personal work.
Shaper
Challenging, dynamic, thrives under pressure. Jumps hurdles
using determination and courage. However can be easily provoked and ignorant of
the feelings of others.
Monitor Evaluator
Even tempered, strategic and discerning. Sees all the
options and judges accurately. However can lack drive and lack inspired
leadership qualities.
Team Worker
Co-operative, relationship focused, sensitive and
diplomatic. Belbin described the Team Worker as a good listener who builds
relationships and who dislikes confrontation. However can be indecisive in a
crisis.
Implementer
Disciplined, reliable, conservative and efficient. Acts on
ideas. However can be inflexible and slow to see new opportunities.
Completer-Finisher
Conscientious and anxious to get the job done. An eye for
detail, good at searching out the errors. Finishes and delivers on time however
can be a worrier and reluctant to delegate.
Specialist
Single minded self starter. Dedicated and provides
specialist knowledge. The rarer the supplier of this knowledge, said Belbin,
the more dedicated the specialist. However can be stuck in their niche with
little interest in the world outside it and dwell on technicalities.
Strength Inventory Deployment
People are our/your working Environment
Discover how vital relationship skills are to business
success
The cost of neglecting your people
Create a high performance environment
Understand People
Why people behave as they do
The seven motivational styles
Discover your own personal drivers
Recognise Different Styles
What can you learn from body language, hobbies, pets and
work place?
Predict how others will behave
Understand insecurity, self-doubt and de-motivation
Listening
Create Rapport
Match the other's style
Behaviours that bring dramatic results
Practical tips to get along with difficult people
Handle Conflict
Understand why people can be difficult
Discover your behaviour pattern in conflict
Recognize individual needs in conflict
How to deal with the angry customer/team member
The secrets of lasting agreement
Manage your impression
How does your style of working come across to others?
Some practical ways to close the perception gap
Actively manage your impression for better results
Feedback not biteback
Practical things to do when there are conflict and
perception gaps
Feedback v criticism
Develop competency in giving and receiving feedback
Influence with integrity
Discover your current persuasion strategy
Learn five key processes of influence
Beware of fishing with vindaloo chicken
Organizational implications
Communicate organisational change and get commitment
Easy steps to improve motivation and job satisfaction
Become a facilitative leader and empower your team
Application
Implications in your professional life
Implications in your personal life
Decide action agenda
Forming - Storming -
Norming – Performing
Developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. It is one of the more
known team development theories and has formed the basis of many further ideas
since its conception.
Tuckman's theory focuses on the way in which a team tackles
a task from the initial formation of the team through to the completion of the
project. Tuckman later added a fifth phase; Adjourning and Transforming to
cover the finishing of a task.
Forming
The team is assembled and the task is allocated. Team
members tend to behave independently and although goodwill may exist they do
not know each other well enough to unconditionally trust one another.
Time is spent planning, collecting information and bonding.
Storming
The team starts to address the task suggesting ideas.
Different ideas may compete for ascendancy and if badly managed this phase can
be very destructive for the team.
Relationships between team members will be made or broken in
this phase and some may never recover. In extreme cases the team can become
stuck in the Storming phase.
If a team is too focused on consensus they may decide on a
plan which is less effective in completing the task for the sake of the team.
This carries its own set of problems. It is essential that a team has strong
facilitative leadership in this phase.
Norming
As the team moves out of the Storming phase they will enter
the Norming phase. This tends to be a move towards harmonious working practices
with teams agreeing on the rules and values by which they operate.
In the ideal situation teams begin to trust themselves
during this phase as they accept the vital contribution of each member to the
team. Team leaders can take a step back from the team at this stage as
individual members take greater responsibility.
The risk during the Norming stage is that the team becomes
complacent and loses either their creative edge or the drive that brought them
to this phase.
The rest of this article covers the final stage of
Performing and Adjourning and Transforming.
You can read Part 1 here.
Team Building- Pt1
Have a team? Have trouble communicating them. Feel you are always on the wrong side?
And you want to win them over?
Here are some theories:
•Maslow’s Team Building Theory- his pyramid had 5 levels and you have to complete one to move on to the next. From the bottom:
- Survival/basic needs
- security/safety Needs
- Social
- Ego status/Esteem Needs
- Self-actualization
So, identify your team members level, make them comfortable and let them move forward to the next.
•Theory X and Theory Y-Developed by Douglas McGregor, he described 2 opposing views of style that will influence management style.
Theory X- is the tradional view of direction and style
Theory Y- a self directed workforce that takes an interest in the goals of their organisation and integrates some of their own goals into these.
Theory X assumes:
•The average person dislikes work and will avoid it unless directly supervised.
•Employees must be coerced, controlled and directed to ensure that organisational objectives are met.
•The threat of punishment must exist within an organisation.
•In fact people prefer to be managed in this way so that they avoid responsibility.
•Theory X assumes that people are relatively un-ambitious and their prime driving force is the desire for security.
Theory Y effectively takes the opposite view.
It assumes:
•Employees are ambitious, keen to accept greater responsibility and exercise both self-control and direction.
•Employees will, in the right conditions, work toward organisational objectives and that commitment will in itself be a reward for so doing.
•Employees will exercise their imagination and creativity in their jobs if given the chance and this will give an opportunity for greater productivity.
•Theory Y assumes that the average human being will, under the right conditions, not only accept responsibility but also seek more.
•Lack of ambition and the qualities of Theory X are not inherent human characteristics but learned in working environments that suffocate or do not promote Theory Y behaviours.
•The color Works- Team Building Theory- The Colour Works uses a psychological model of behaviours that helps teams to understand similarities and differences in order to become more effective.
A 25-frame online evaluator measures our preferences for the use of all 4 colour energies.We will all have a dominant, a secondary, a tertiary and a least preferred energy.This detailed questionnaire is designed to measure these levels as it uses a sliding scale of responses rather than a simple YES or NO.The resulting profile is comprehensive - a minimum of 24 pages covering amongst other things strengths, weaknesses, stress points, blind spots, management style, preferred environment, communication needs, value to the team - often scarily insightful and unique to the profilee.
The order and intensity of your colour preferences places you on a 72-type wheel, made up of 8 archetypes, as follows:
THE DIRECTOR
Has the ability to focus on results. They decide what it is they want from life and set a strategy to achieve it. Their natural assertiveness means they will push both themselves and others to achieve goals. They are not put off by setbacks.
THE MOTIVATOR
Has enormous enthusiasm that he spreads to those around them. Their drive to succeed gives them a high level of motivation to achieve their dreams. They are not easily put off and find it easy to think positively about every situation.
THE INSPIRER
Has well-developed people skills and has a constant need to enjoy interactions with others. They are persuasiveand their quick minds produce creative solutions to others' problems.
THE HELPER
Has a genuine desire to help others and put their needs first. This makes them flexible and adaptable with a natural ability to share ideas and knowledge.
THE SUPPORTER
Has a true team approach. Their expert listening skills can uncover others' true needs and they are loyal to both their colleagues and their organisation.
THE CO-ORDINATOR
Can pull all the loose ends together to organise themselves and others in a structured approach. Their planningand time management skills make them thorough and reliable.
THE OBSERVER
Can write the book on product knowledge required for their job. When others need the facts to make a decision, they know them. They set the standards for others and analyse and collect the data.
THE REFORMER
Has a natural desire to monitor and judge performance. Their own approach is disciplined and logical and they back this up with a determination to succeed.
What are you using to effectively work with your team?
(Content courtesy)
(Image Courtesy: Google images)
Be happy- don't over plan
When you know what you want from life, you can plan it well.
To make the changes take the baby steps one day at a time. It isn’t easy to suddenly start preparing for PMP and put 4 hours a day.
Pen down what you want next month and the coming year. Set your priorities, look at it realistically and then decide your goal.
Change is good and forming new habits are better. For me, I have planned my goals that I need to get done for the next 6 months- both personal and professional. I have listed them down and on a weekend chalked it out- what I can do instead of what I want to do.
Turns out, I need more time to do self studies and am always running out of time. All the travelling and hectic schedule was taking a toll on me and I missed being super- happy about life. Also, I tried reading while commuting to work which I used to successfully in Chicago when I took public transport. Now, reading in jam packed streets of India seems impossible. I tried, hated myself for not being able to do it and wasting 45 minutes everyday twice doing nothing.
So, I changed. I wanted the happy positive feeling that I could keep to myself for the rest of the day and also use the time. So, I started listening to podcasts- motivational stuff, things that will inspire me. I download them on Sundays, to keep me busy for the next 5 days. And I have enjoyed it very much.
I have also kept my list very lean- no additional distractions. Focus on things you can do and that will make you happy.
This is something I read and am sure you will like how people chisel their own career paths
I also read that when you have decided on something, don’t share it because chances are you won’t do it then. I read these 2 different articles in complete different context but in a way they made sense.
So, don’t make random new year promises this year. Don’t right down pages and then feel silly for not doing them. Keep it lean and keep it right and don’t judge yourself too often- I think you will be fine.
(Pic courtesy)
