Happy Holidays

Dec 22, 2011 | 0 comments |
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

Dec 11, 2011 | | 0 comments |

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

Nov 27, 2011 | 0 comments |

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.

(Content courtesy
(Image Courtesy: Google images)