Did you know that 55% of our communication is non-verbal? It's all in the language we speak with our body movements. Only 7% is verbal.

Pay attention to your body, be aware of it and then practice to improve your public speaking. You can practice in front of the mirror or in front of another person but the most powerful technique (one that we use in my toastmasters club) is to observe your body movements by recording it live and then review it. You will be amazed at how much you will learn about yourself.

Communication is crucial in project management. It is 90% of what we do in our leadership roles. Until we work on our body language basics, we are only half as good as we think we are.

• Motivational Speaker offers Tips for Improving Your Public Speaking (prweb.com)
• What does my body language tell my interviewer? (career-advice.monster.co.uk)
• Deaf sign language users pick up faster on body language (eurekalert.org)
• Toastmasters Reflections (letikvah.wordpress.com)

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Just one more day and we are in a new year. 2011 is done.

Blog posts from my friends trickle into my inbox, with their year in recap, what went well and what didn't. Their posts motivate me to reflect back to my year gone by. But then I wondered what the world (through my Google eyes) had to say about 2011. So I keyed in “2011 the year of the” in Google Search and here are some of the results that appear (in no particular order):

2011 worst year in decades for endangered elephants as large ivory seizures grow (link)

2011 was the year of the restless sun (link)

2011: The year when it became the norm for the device in your pocket to be the center of your world (link)

2011: Sports year's dark side overshadowed all else (link)

Solo artists beat out guitar bands in 2011 (link)

Worldwide images highlight 2011 as Year of the Protestor (link)

Oh boy! Mother nature's wrath challenging human existence. The zombie geeks we are becoming because of our addiction to smart phones and tablets. Political protests and unrest in neighboring regions possibly pushing the world towards the brink of more wars. Is this what we have to showcase in 2011? What are we then heading toward?

I guess I am better off reviewing my own small world. Out there is scary! I'd rather let these uncontrollables be unknowns to me. Damn you, Google!

Wait, but what about those elephants? No, I can't. I cannot save those magnificent creatures. Just me and my selfish own world. That's all I care about.

So, 2011 for me, it was eventful. After having moved to the United States in 2007, this year marked 4 years of a new life. Plans of settling down in Franklin Tennessee solidified when we got our Green Card in Feb. I continued to build my base in Nashville with Toastmasters and Camps. I made my first public speaking appearance in March which opened a new world of opportunities - the entrepreneurial world. I co-founded a company.

This city continues to amaze me with it's people and a growing blend of cultures, it's entrepreneurial energy and the talent that it attracts. I feel as though I am at the right place, at the right time. I feel blessed. Then again, I have the luxury of hope for a better future.

But what about those elephants? Imagine a world where there are no more elephants. A world where the human race is on a digital rampage, cloning newer generations who would one day have to search for "What are Elephants?" and wonder what it was like to live in a "primitive world" where humans and elephants coexisted. I don't want to go there. Do you?

Friends, please raise your glasses. Here's to 2012, and hope, for the Elephants.  

Please don't ever buy Ivory. Save an elephant and make your money work for them not against them. If you travel to exotic places or even to a shopping mall near you, never buy anything that looks like ivory as it probably is. Make your voice count and say "NO" to ivory. Visit: Elephant Information Repository 

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Change. Ignore it to live a life of monotony. Embrace it and risk it all.

When we see wrong in this world, there is this inherent urge in us to do something about it, to make it right. Some would choose to walk away. Others choose a more heroic approach, to get involved and make a difference. These are the people who desire to change the world, to fight for what is right. They see change in a positive light.

The reality is that change is not always positive, and the problem with changing the world is that rarely do we realize that change not only impacts our own life but also the lives of those who we share with.

In a thought-provoking story about one man's journey to change his world, the block in Harlem that he calls home, Christopher Herz writes about a man who risks everything - his job, his relationships and his sanity - for an honest attempt to clean-up the streets on his block.

There is selfishness to change. We all see change from different vantage points and form perspectives that depend on how the situation relates and impacts our lives, and how it may fulfill our needs. The level of our involvement towards any cause is an outcome of that thought process. Some decide to get involved because they believe in it while some use the cause as a cover to drive their own personal or political agenda.

Through the experiences of an unnamed narrator, Herz takes us through a string of events that unfold word by word, very delicately woven into the complex stories of its residents, who have been numbed by their own selfish desire to survive during troubling times on the risky streets of The Last Block In Harlem.

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Image by glsims99 via Flickr

We are all creative people. How much of our creativity do we tap into every day? Unless we are graphics designers, artists, musicians, writers or in a line of work that is generally tagged creative, creativity is not usually part of our key responsibilities to which our performance is measured against. I think it should be and it is up to the management to set the foundation for it.

Why not ask a software developer to add a flavor of creativity to deliverables? Would that give him a sense of flexibility to build reusable code and think out-of-the-box? Why not mandate a little bit of creativity to what a Analyst outlines in a process? Would that give her the freedom to think beyond rules, guidelines and standards to continuously improve processes? Would they begin to challenge status quo?

Google, as you may already know, has a 4-day work week for its technical staff. 1-day is set aside for their personal projects. It's called Google Labs and many innovative products such as Google Maps were developed through such creative experiments. Many more companies are following suite today.

Can we let creativity open the doors to innovation?

I wonder what would happen if a Magician created tricks based on what his audience approved of with their applause? Or a stand-up Comedian who creates only those jokes that she knows would work a room full of laughter? Where is the magic in predictability? Where's the fun in sticking to norms?

I read that there are 3 things CEOs wont give up control of. Quality to customers is #1. "your clients are your brand." This is why customer satisfaction trumps revenue in corporate ideologies. It gets translated into the objectives and goals that trickle down to every employee in the organization. Customer satisfaction becomes "the why" for everything we do. That's important. Customer is King. But if "the what" we do, "the how" and "the when" we do anything turns out to be for the same reason, then there is a problem. The King dethrones your creativity.

Can we set creativity free from stagnation?

Challenge lies in solving problems, to find solutions that satisfy. Real satisfaction comes from solving our own problems. How can then we channel our creativity to satisfy ourselves first before we satisfy the world?

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When I got my first iPod touch, I was thrilled. It was my first Apple product and the first touch screen experience. It grew on me quickly and I would have it with me everywhere I go. I used it heavily for anything and everything it could do. But then as many more gadgets entered my life including a MacBook, an Android Phone, and the iPod Nano, my use of the iTouch became minimal and a rarity in my daily routine. As a customer, I evolved.

It’s a common phenomenon. As processes mature and new technology is invented, made available and affordable, preferences and lifestyles get impacted. Everything changes over time… and so does the customer. If you are a service provider, how well do you know if your customers’ usage of the service you provide has not changed over time? Do you have an early warning system to red flag you when your customer grows out of your service? Are your still working with a happy customer?

These are all important questions to consider before and after delivering your service to your customer. In software development projects, we ponder upon this during the requirements elicitation activities through brainstorming sessions using mockups, wireframes and a lot of documentation that finally becomes the specifications to develop on. Traditional development methodologies were lacking in its process to revisit these questions at various stages during development, and thus resorting to some false hope and inconsistent efforts to conduct periodic customer review meetings, in order to find out if the answers have changed any.

The reality is that we don’t need to do a lot to find out if our customer is still using our services the way they intended to use it the first time. No matter what industry you offer your services to, it can start with this simple question: “What does a day in the life of the customer look like today?” Ask yourself and then ask your customer. Learn and learn again. You will be surprised by what you find, and I guarantee that you will see changes in the way your service fits into their daily workflow. Do this often enough and you are sure to keep a happy customer.

I tried this last week and it worked like magic. How do you keep your services always in sync with the changing needs of your customer?

Inspired by: A Day In The Life Of Your Customer by <em>The Instigator Blog</em>

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Your name is Ethan Hunt. You are a x-PMO agent who is working for a top secret agency.

 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to deliver a project on-time on-budget and on-scope, codenamed Project: Impossible.

 

I've already dispatched a team from your usual force - your undercover business liaison, your technical guru, your hacker developers, and a surveillance expert/coordinator to monitor and cover your tracks. Your preferred virtual assistants will be available to you 24/7 to handle all administration needs including transportation and paper work. As always, you know how to reach me if you need to cut through any red tape that is critical for mission success.

Should you or any member of your force be caught or killed during the mission, we will disavow all knowledge of your actions.

 

This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.

 

Good luck, Ethan.

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In The World We "Trust", I touched upon the importance of relationships in our lives and those that are built on trust are the strongest. I pondered upon the effects of social media on our relationships and how the increasing dependence on the cloud will put our trust to test.

A Cloud of Doubt was a result of more thought-time I put into how safe the cloud is in light of the recent news about Dropbox and Whrrl, and the doubt that their statements injected into my simple mind. It was a call to action for you and me to think about who we are entrusting with our data, and question how they are keeping it safe.

I am grateful for the tweets, the re-tweets, the comments and the conversations that I was able to generate, in my own small way, amongst my followers, my subscribers and and my friends. Thank you!

This is my wrap-up post of this theme until a time when it will resurrect again, I'm sure, in a nearby future.

The fundamental question that triggered my thoughts on this theme was this: Can we trust the cloud? The answer is three-fold.

1. Make the unknowns known.

When I say trust and you think security, then the answer is: I don't know. Security is and always will be a big unknown. This may be the reason why some of the providers of cloud-based services seem as though they are either not openly talking about it or they don't talk about it in-depth and often enough. Rackspace, Windstream and Amazon's EC2 are some of the prominent players in the market today and I must point our that Windsteam's openness to talk about this topic on their blog is admirable. I think providers of cloud computing services need to talk about security more, as it stands today, as it changes tomorrow and then some more. Make the unknowns known and help remove our assumptions and the speculations from the equation.

2. Failure paves the way to success.

When I say trust and you think reliability, then the answer is: Absolutely, Why not? Reliability, Availability and Flexibility are some of the benefits that I think the cloud is really about. The success of services like Evernote, Dropbox and Foursquare are examples of how we can rely on the cloud to make sure that our data is portable and available to us at all times. We should definitely be able to rely on service providers like Amazon to build the infrastructure that the cloud needs to make us more resourceful and productive. So what if Amazon screwed up last week and somewhat clouded our innocent minds. On our way to a reliable future, I think we can expect there to be some fumbles along they way. The way I see it, the incident at the very least would give Amazon a chance to strengthen their processes and improve their infrastructure. That's a win in my books for the cloud.

3. It's about collaboration.

When I say trust and you think privacy, then the answer is: Good point but you are just about 10 years too late on that argument. Actually, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin met in the summer of 1995 and they released the first version of Google in August 1996, I'd say your privacy was compromised. If the cloud is anything at all, it is not about being private. It is about collaboration and reaching out beyond borders and boundaries, in a way that enables us to engage with anyone anywhere, quickly and cost-effectively. In closing, it doesn't really matter whether we trust the cloud or not. The cloud is the future and there is no going back. What matters is whether we care enough to be aware of what the future holds, would we be able to leverage what the cloud has to offer, and who in the cloud will be able earn our trust. I'll leave it at that, for now.

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Then I read a bNET article this week and learned that Dropbox dropped the ball on security with their contradicting statements in their terms of service. Can their employees view my data or not? Are they “prohibited” or “prevented” from accessing my private and must-be-protected information?

Another story this week that came into my inbox is that Whrrl (a service I have used but not extensively) is closing curtains due to an acquisition. They sent this message to their users:

Whrrl has been a "cloud service" for you and your data, and under no circumstances would we ever let your data disappear irretrievably into the cloud. As such, our last engineering effort on Whrrl has been to develop an experience that lets you get your data (checkins, photos, recommendations, your Want To list, etc.) back in a way that we think is pretty convenient and useful. You will be able to continue using Whrrl normally through April 30. Starting today, however, you'll find on the website that you now have an option to retrieve your data - pretty much everything you ever put into Whrrl.

Pretty much everything? Why not everything?

So that’s two cloud-based services leaving shadows of doubt to its users and the world. I personally don’t care much about Whrrl but I am worried about my files on Dropbox. My love for the service is shadowed by a creeping lack of trust.

What about Evernote, a service I trust unconditionally? Oh, except those conditions I checked and accepted with a click and the flicker of a screen. Should I go back and scrutinize it (read it painfully) to find the safeties they may have skillfully worked in? I don’t want to do that. I am lazy and it’s boring. I don’t have the time. Tell me Evernote, tell me I can trust you. Just tell me and I will believe you.

I talked to a friend about using cloud-based services. He was quick to answer: “I don’t trust the cloud.” Given a choice, he would go with services who have their own servers to store our data and protect it. Somewhat like what the banks do, and the multi-billion dollar companies, who can afford it. But then again he uses Facebook, minimally. Good luck on that.

Folks, I am confused. What are we to do as simple uncaring selfish individuals? Who can we trust enough so we can keep playing Farmville?

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Many of the relationships we build today are on Facebook and Twitter and the likes. This is the age of collaboration and social media. Social media platforms have made it easier for us to connect. I wonder if they have made us trust any more easier? I don't think so but because trust levels vary from person to person you may feel differently. And what about the relationships we get into with the social media providers in our rush to make connections and build more relationships? Isn't it odd that we trust Facebook with a lot of information today? It's scary when you think about all the uncontrolled unfiltered data that flows freely into Facebook every day in the form of our conversations, our photos and everything else we put out there. We trade our private and protected information with strangers to feed our craving to share information with people who we trust or want to trust. Ironic in a way, don’t you think?

The impact of social media on our lives and specifically with our relationships must not be ignored and something we need to think about.

Pundits say "The future is in the cloud." It has the potential to be a new revolution, like the Internet was. The idea behind the cloud is to make information available to consumers at all times, and by allowing providers a cost-effective and quicker means to put information out there. Many business have embraced the cloud already and others are on their way. The cloud makes it easier to provide as well as consume information, the good and the bad, in abundance. In a world which is already flat, the cloud will make information exchange virtual and scattered. Do we feel excited for the possibilities this new revolution brings or should we be worried of the risks involved? Can we trust the cloud to keep our precious information safe from prying eyes? Only time will tell.

In our collaborative information age, where sharing information to build trusted relationships is essential and sometimes game-changing, I wonder if we are clouded with doubt for what the future holds OR are we making great strides towards an age of trust? What do you think?

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I am born in the month of May and I consider myself a classic Taurean personality - mentally strong, very stubborn, mostly supportive, sometimes stupid... Generally, I have a high tolerance level but there is a tipping point beyond which all hell can break lose. It’s rare, but it happens. I am the bull. When I see red, I charge.

I used to lose my cool a lot in my school and college days, and even during the early years of my job. I remember the time when my Manager’s reference to me as a resource blew off my lid and I charged at him with my words. The R word still does wipe off my smile as I feel it is wrong to de-humanize your team (Related post: Humanize your team) but lessons in life have taught me not to react instantly in such situations. I learned to let such moments pass by.

There are times when unauthorized thoughts slips through and enter a world of nasty words or rude actions or both on a self-destructive path. It's happened before and it will happen again. The reality is that no matter how much we try, there are going to be bad days. When blood rushes into the brain we can’t always take a deep breath and make sensible choices. We are only human. We make mistakes. But what matters the most really is what we do next. Can we muster enough of those reactionary impulses to take necessary steps to make amends? How quickly can we free our sensible mind from the grip of guilt and remorse?

It's tough. Recovering from a bad row with someone and setting things right means that we have to let go of our ego, admit our mistakes, focus on the larger picture and initiate a discussion of what went down and negotiate an agreement to what needs to be done. But it can be done and its effective. Even a simple apology (Related post: The Power of Apologies) goes a long way sometimes. No matter what approach we take or how long it takes, the point is that Managers need to take the first step even in the worst of situations. We are not bulls, not always.

What is your tolerance level to issues, inconsistencies, incompetence, incapabilities, and irritable actions? How much of your personality plays into the level of patience you show towards your team?

Have you seen your Manager lose it? Tell me, what happened next?

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Some Managers do the strangest things sometimes. First they go out of their way to make the team happy, to gain trust. Then they do things that are not in the best interest of the team, mostly for trivial things, usually to feed their bloating ego. Have you seen that happen? Have you worked for such a Manager? Would you admit if you are one?

Then there are some Managers who would not de-value relationships, who would make sacrifices to keep the sanctity of teams, and who would never do anything that would kill the trust that they struggled to earn, even if their jobs hinged on it. They are a different breed. Have you witnessed such leadership? Have you had the privilege to serve such a Manager? Are you the one, who would rather be back stage, behind the scenes, out of the spotlight?

Whoever you are, when you sit behind your busy desk in your lonely office room staring through a large window at the outside world, constantly distracted by the ringing of your phone, and removed from the hall-way conversations and the laughter, have you sensed a strange feeling of disconnect?  If you have, then get up and find the conversations that you can be a part of and reconnect with the team that worked for your success. Do it once. Then do it again. Do it often. Let the phone ring.

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In one of my early blog posts titled The Effective Manager published 3 years ago, I took a stab at listing down what I thought were some key traits a Manager must possess in order to be effective. Funny thing about thoughts from the past is that it makes us realize how much we’ve changed over the years, in our thinking and in turn our actions. Though I continue to believe that Accountability, Communication, Relationships, Delegation, Confidence, Processes and Fire-fighting are all important qualities required of a Manager to lead his/her followers, today I have a slightly different viewpoint on what makes a Manager effective.

Managing effectively is a leadership skill, and it is more about the solutions and less about the means or the results.

In a review of Tina Fey's "Bossypants" Lessons for the Workplace book, a BNET article quotes Fey’s writings on a key rule of improvisation as being the importance of always contributing to a discussion. She writes: “In other words, whatever the problem, be part of the solution. Don’t just sit around raising questions and pointing out obstacles.”

This is true to every role we play in life. When we are faced with problems how do we contribute and more importantly, do we contribute to the problem or a solution? What is our instant reaction? Do we cry for help? Do we look for a hole to hide in? Or do we think solutions?

I believe that an Effective Manager is one who’s first action is to present solutions to a problem, then he helps choose the best way forward and provides direction to his team with confidence, optimism and determination to push aside any obstacles in the way to achieve a desired result.

The mindset matters, not the skills.

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[On March 26th 2011, I spoke at PodCamp Nashville 2011 about my transformation from a Blogger to a Podcaster and the launch of The Agile Hotspot podcasts. The following is the transcript of my talk at the event. Event photos and more conversation about can be found on facebook.]

Intro

My name is Raj Menon. Today is the day I launch my first Podcast. During this session I would like to share my experiences with you, experiences that transformed me from a blogger to a Podcaster.

my journey

I was born in India in a state called Kerala. When I was a few years old my dad's job took us to the middle east where I did most of my schooling. I returned to India in 1993 and got my Engineering degree in computer science. After college, I moved to Blore and worked as a Software Developer. In 2002, my job took me back to the middle east to Doha, Qatar as a Project Lead. Today, I am Program Manager for an IT firm in based in Nashville.

It's been a amazing journey, one in which I've had the incredible opportunity to interact with people from different walks of life, learn from cultural diversity, professional diversity and geographical diversity.

blogging

To share my experiences, I wanted a medium to reach out to a lot of people but more than that I wanted a way to reflect back on my thoughts, and to learn from them. So I created 13apples.com, a Leadership blog focused on my experiences.

Quick show of hands: how many of you blog?

I have been actively blogging since 2007 and I believe that it requires a lot of focused effort. Not only do we have to spend a lot of time to get the content ready, we need to promote it. You've to tweet, post it on facebook and publish on linked in, as well as finding time to comment on fellow blog sites so as to drive traffic back to your own, it can be a time consuming and frustrating affair. So you might wonder why is it worth all that effort? It is worth the effort because good blog posts can lead to great conversations.

But what if you dont have to put all that effort to get to the conversations. What if you go straight into the conversations?

And that's where podcasting comes in.

So for those of you who are bloggers, I think Podcasting is the logical next step. And those of you who are not, Podcasting is a great first step to reap the same benefits but maybe with a lot less effort.

podcasting

What is a podcast?

The online definition: A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.

My definition: its nothing but an mp3 or wav file of pre-recorded conversations that is made available on a website to stream, download or subscribe to.

My podcasting plans started with such a connection that I established on Twitter. I met Dominique sometime early 2010. From tweets to emails to Skype we developed the idea of starting a podcast. You may ask, what makes our story unique. It's this: Dominique is German national who lives in India, while I am an Indian residing in USA. We live in different timezones and we podcast over Skype. And... we have never met in person.

In spite of the seeming hurdles we still made it work. And... for the rest of this presentation, I would like to walk you through what went into the making of our podcast.

Once we had decided to podcast, there are some more important decisions to make.

1. Decide on a Theme

Pick a theme that is of interest to you. Choose something that you can can easily have a conversation with. It can be about technology, social media, graphic design, blogging, your travel experiences... anything you are comfortable talking about.

Dominque and I chose to talk about "Agile Software Development and Working with Distributed Teams" in our podcasts. We call it "The Agile Hotspot".

Quick show of hands: How many know or have heard about Agile Software Development?

2. Decide on a Broadcasting Plan

This is an important step for a successful podcasting future. 3 key points to consider:

a. Schedule: How often do you want to podcast? Will it be weekly or monthly?

Be Consistent! Any podcaster will tell you that successful podcasts are those that are also available on time for listeners. This is key in building a trusted listener base. It is also important to communicate the podcast schedule to your listeners.

b. Episode Line-Up: What are the topics you want to talk about? Which topic will you talk about first? Will you have guests on the show?

Very early on, before you record your first episode, brainstorm and jot down a list of topics that you would like to talk about in future episodes. Make sure that these topics tie into your original theme. Then prioritize them. This is your Episode Line-up and each topic is an episode. While you will have the flexibility to re-prioiritize them, make sure you are sure about the 1st two episodes. I will tell you why when I talk about the content structure.

c. Episode Guides: What are the key talking points for a topic? Who will talk first? How will you know when to talk?

An episode guide is the meat of your matter. It gives each host and the guest the talking points to stay on track with the conversation. It will have indications of who will talk when as well as the hand-offs. Before you start recording, take the time to detail it out and also to have a few sessions to review and revise the content. Plan to have an episode guide for every episode.

3. Decide on the Content Structure

Another key decision to make is the Content Structure. Every podcast out there has its own structure and style. When you build you Episode guide, it is important to create it in a structure that can be easy to read (for you while podcasting) and easy to follow (for your listeners).

The Agile Hotspot is structured into Segments & Transitions. There is an Opening Segment, 4 or 5 Content Segments and a Closing Segment. Transition connects each segment with logical questions or as a summary to a segment.

The Opening Segment consists of the intro music and a welcome message. Here is a sample of how it sounds: [play mp3 file] Get creative here. Tap into the music lover in you and have fun. Get someone else to record the intro. I know a Podcaster friend who has each episode intro recorded by a different voice. It brings variety to your podcasts. Brings an element of surprise.

The Content Segments go into each Episode guide and consists of your key talking points and transitions. We have divided our segments into conversational segments and independent segments, the former is where both of us have key talking points while the latter can be recorded separately.

The Tools

Now that the key decisions are made, lets talk about the tools that are needed to make podcasts. I have divided the tools into the following sets:

1. Tools to Talk

How will you talk? Face to Face? On the phone? Online?

- Skype

- Professional podcasting microphones. $100 for the Blue Yeti USB condenser microphone.

2. Tools to Share

How will you share files with your podcasting partners and guests?

- Dropbox is a great tool and its FREE. How will you share your final podcasts with your listeners?

- Amazon S3, Libsyn.com ($5 per month)

- Web hosting (ex: GoDaddy)

3. Tools to Record

How will you record your conversations?

- Skype Call Recorder ($20)

4. Tools to Mix How will your produce your podcasts?

- Garageband (FREE)

- Audacity (FREE)

5. Tools to Broadcast

How will people find your podcasts? How will you build you listener base?

- Wordpress, Twitter, Facebook, MailChimp, iTunes

Note: Podcasting Etiquette

1. Remove distractions

2. Make sure your room is a noise-free zone.

3. Don't move around in your chair and stop fidgeting.

4. Speak slowly, helps remove the filler words.

5. While talking through your segments, leave logical pauses to leave for questions and comments.

6. You never get it right the first time.

Closure

Podcasting is a great way to share ideas and thoughts real time. If you get really get good at it, it can open up some revenue opportunities too. But above all, it is a lot of fun and it is very easy to get started.

Our podcast is called The Agile Hotspot. This is just my first podcast. As I continue to learn more about it, I would love to hear from you about your ideas or questions you have.

Reach out to me on 13apples.com or via Twitter @_13apples_

Thank you for being awesome listeners.

Questions?

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People leave Managers, not companies.

The effectiveness and success to managing people lies in the leadership skills, sense and style of the Managers. When done right, people stay motivated and bend over backwards without complain or regret. The Manager and the Team Member builds a relationship fueled by trust.

According to an article by Business News Daily, a 2010 survey conducted by a career-management agency called Right Management revealed that "84% of workers want to quit jobs, find new gigs in 2011". The article also quoted the company's President who said that "Employees’ trust has been seriously shaken and there is a general lack of confidence in leaders.” Almost all the top reasons for why employees leave seem to point towards ineffective Managers and broken trust. If we look beyond the obvious reasons for why that is so, we start to see the trail that leads to a much bigger issue.

A Manager who is mis-managed is almost always likely to mis-manage his team.

Leadership is infectious. Good leadership has a positive impact on the team whereas bad leadership impacts negatively. Whatever the effects of leadership, it surely trickles down from the top honcho to many levels down.

A friend recently told me about his Manager who had begun to show signs of maturity causing a positive change in his leadership ways. Such incidents give me hope that a transition from bad to good leadership is not an impossibility. When experience teaches us how to adopt as well as adapt to changing times and situations, it is not uncommon to see such drastic changes in leadership styles. Most leaders I know strive for that continuous improvement. However, in my friend's situation, there was one compelling factor that could not be dismissed. The change that he noticed occurred only after a leadership change at a level above his i.e. his Manager's Manager had changed. So if we were to believe that this is not a lone one-off incident, that mis-management is also infectious, then what next?

We have the power to choose.

Change happes when we are dissatisfied with the status quo. But choosing to change is not the only choice we have. We have the power to choose who we work for. So let's circle back to the beginning. People leave Managers, not companies. In other words, we change Managers, not companies. And there lies the choice, a rather difficult one because unlike companies the value and worth of a Manager cannot be googled.

But there is an easier choice available to us now, every minute of every day, a choice to strengthen our relationship as a Manager with our Team, and vice versa.  Let's choose to prepare ourselves for the time when we become ready to leave a company to work for a Manager.

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Your organization has a mission statement. You may have seen it on your company memo or on a gold plated plaque on the wall in your boss’ office. What does it say to you? Does it make any sense?

Sometimes its not even a mission statement but just a new mantra, like this one that I hear a lot these days at various organizations: “Cheaper. Faster. Better.” Short and crisp. It’s catchy too. This one expects the project team to deliver products and/or services to the end users within minimal time, at minimal cost and maximum quality ‘coz that’s the way forward, that’s our new mission.

What do company mission statements really mean to the employee? How does it make a difference to you and me? Is the explanation hiding behind the simplicity of its words? Or is it a mantra that is preached down from way up in the chain of command, that its meaning and understanding got somewhat lost like a Chinese whisper?

I decided to take a stab at “Cheaper. Faster. Better.” and on a whiteboard I listed down what these words mean to me and I came up with this:

• Cheaper: Reduce cost from improving time-to-market of the product. Establish an early, well-planned and effective outsourcing model to stay on or below budget and improve scalability.
• Faster: Adopt agile development methodologies, Decrease turn-around-time with re-usability and automation. Increase focus and efficiency of processes with templates and checklists. Develop an experienced workforce with responsible team members and accountable Managers.
• Better: Rigorous quality assurance plans. Accurate estimations. Compliance to standards. Open communication. Trusted & trusting teams. Better collaboration.

It was like giving CPR to 3 lifeless words. The words came alive and it started to speak to me. Disclaimer: obviously this is just my perspective and certainly not comprehensive or may not be aligned to your interpretation.

But the exercise helps bring clarity and I think it is always beneficial for the management to decipher the mission statement code in order get the team on board with it. Why is “Cheaper. Faster. Better.” important for the organization in our fast-paced, cut-throat world, and why is it important to the team?

I volunteered as a Speech Coach for a non-profit recently. Their mission statement:

The mission of Best Buddies is to establish a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Now, that's a clearly stated mission worth fighting for. Don't you think? (I am proud to have had the opportunity to work for Best Buddies Tennessee.)

What is the mission or mantra based on which you do what you do? Is it your mission?

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In the Fall of 2010, I attended my first "Nashville" Camp. I spent a full Saturday learning, collaborating and having fun. And then I wrote about the crew and the community who made it all happen. I called them the Go-Givers because they gave us knowledge generously without expecting anything in return except for our time and open-mindedness.

Well, guess what, the Go-Givers are back.

This March, get ready for Nashville's creative community to give some more, to teach you a thing or two about Podcasting, Social Media, Blogging, Connecting, Entrepreneurship and how to keep having fun. Prepare yourself for PodCamp.

If you live in or around Nashville, mark the event date on your calendars and get ready to spend a day at the Cadillac Ranch on Broadway, at Downtown Nashville. It will be the 26th of March before your know it. So prepare to attend. Attend to learn and to connect. Start now by spreading the word on Twitter.

But if you want to do more than just attend, if you want to share what your know, your experiences, what you do and how you do it, then prepare to participate. Participate to give and to collaborate. Start now by sharing your ideas with us on Facebook.

34 days to go. Nashville, are you ready to "Express Yourself" at PodCamp 2011?

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My best friend once told me about a situation at work. His peer, also a Manager, got promoted to a Senior Manager role. My friend, who has worked with this person, does not appreciate his leadership style, neither was he looking forward to the reporting relationship with him. He knew that this change is not the best proposition for the project and will not be well-received by his client. He was debating on whether to initiate a heart-to-heart talk with his Senior Management to discuss the risks and present ways to derive an amicable solution. My friend in a confused sate reached out to ask me what he should do and how the situation can be best handled so that everyone wins?

I transitioned from a Software Programmer to a Project Leader within 2 years on the job. It took another 3 years to a Project Manager role and 4 more years to be promoted to a Program Manager. I grabbed every opportunity that presented itself. I don't recall reaching out to my well-wishers, my boss, my peers, my mentors, my team, and not even spending enough thinking-time to tap into my own thoughts, to understand my strengths and weaknesses and prepare myself to be successful at the next level. Instead I took a deep breath, held it and dived right into the sea of leadership. And then I struggled to learn to swim with the sharks. From survival to failure to success, it was not an easy transition. Could I have done it any differently?

The 3 situations above represent 3 stages that every leader faces at some point in their lives. These are the pages from our life story of transitioning into leadership. But we experience different obstacles, choose different options and makes different decisions. Yet we all meet at the finish line as leaders. Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris, in their new book, calls it being Remarkable. Because we are all Remarkable.

The situations above can be merged into a single story, our common story of how we recognize opportunities, take risks, remove obstacles and become leaders in our own right. Unfortunately, there is no single working formula in our story that can become the answer to all such transitions. Fortunately, there is a book available that has similar stories, experiences, best practices and a process you can follow in your transition to a leadership role.

If I could travel back in time and if I could change one thing in all 3 situations, so as to help make our leadership journey smoother, to lessen the unknowns, I would give each one of us a copy of this remarkable book "From Bud To Boss" because it contains the "secrets to a successful transition to remarkable leadership". But until time-travel becomes a reality, I recommend you get your hands on a copy of the book.

Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris' book From Bud to Boss launches on Tuesday, February 15th 2011. To celebrate the launch, they have gathered some terrific gifts from partners. To find out about the gifts, please visit http://www.frombudtoboss.com.

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As part of my job profile I sometimes take interviews of candidates applying for Leadership positions. Taking interviews is an energy-draining process for me. My analysis, my judgment, and my assessment can change the course of someone else's future. So I don't rush through it and I start a conversation with the candidate. I also do not rely entirely on the resume, instead use it as a conversation starter with some insight into the person’s work experience. The resume does not tell me anything about their leadership psyche, communication styles, or any of those personality traits that prepares us to perform well in a new environment. I have found that there is no easy way to find out about except to have a long and sometimes exhaustive chat with the candidate. I have always wondered how this process can be made simpler.

My colleague and I were interviewing a candidate for a open position this week. The call went well. It was one of those “good” interviews wherein both parties - the interviewers and interviewee - connected well. We were done with our enquiry (some would call it questioning, but we are not the cops) and just as I thought we were done, my colleague surprised me with a few final questions:

"Are you more geared towards people or tasks?"

"Are you more driven to action or reliability?"

And I witnessed one of the simplest and quickest forms of a DISC personality assessment test.

According to Wikipedia, DISC stands for:

• Dominance – relating to control, power and assertiveness
• Influence – relating to social situations and communication
• Steadiness – relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
• Conscientiousness – relating to structure and organization

Since I am a geared to people and driven by action, that makes me a I-type personality. I guess I am what the model calls, the Influencial one.

But can you really describe everyone with just four styles?

Guy Harris is an expert in this field says "Yes, you can describe all the behaviors and perspectives of all people using information revealed by understanding the four DISC style descriptors. When I say "all people," I am referring to all people who fall into what you could call "normal human psychology." Which means, people with no clinical psychological disorder. This would be something like 90-95% of the people on the planet. Not truly everyone, but most people I encounter on a daily basis."

He says that using the four basic style descriptors helps to "create a frame of reference that allows me to understand them better when we interact. The four DISC behavioral styles reveal tendencies and patterns in behaviors and perceptions. They do not neatly define people. They only give some guidance and insights to better understand other people's perspectives."

It is important that we have the right intentions. The personality tests should not be a means to assess people  in order to pigeon-hole them.

Guy emphasizes that the use of the DISC model must be for the right reasons. "When people use the model to define another person or to limit their potential, the model becomes a weapon. It becomes a way to stereotype and label people. Both of which, I think, are wrong. When people use the model to create an understanding of another person's perspective, the model is just a tool for connecting and communicating more effectively. Both of which, I think, are good. The beauty of the model lies in its simplicity. It is easy to remember when the pressure hits. The depth of the model shows that, with study and practice, you can learn to use it to strengthen and deepen all of your relationships."

What is your personality type? Do you think that there is value in knowing the personality types of people you work with professionally or connect with socially?

Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris' new book, From Bud to Boss, launches on February 15^th. To celebrate the launch, they're offering special bonuses to people who purchase the book on the day of the launch. These bonuses include free content from a variety of partners who are promoting the launch. To take advantage of these bonuses when you buy the book, visit "these links." Be sure to join the new Bud to Boss Community to be connected with a wealth of resources about how to be a better leader every day.

Be sure to read my review of the book and share your "bud to boss" story.

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Sometimes all that it takes to get back on your feet is an extra push. It comes in the form of a listen, an understanding, a few words of encouragement, and some advice.

I get that push every week from a few individuals who set aside 90 minutes of their busy week, for me. I’d like to think of us as a unique group of trusted friends and we have a simple motto - to listen, to question, to encourage, and to hold one another accountable. Accountability, that was the driving force.

My first real taste of it was Weight Watchers. I joined a group of work buddies to shed off pounds using the WW points-based disciplined eating (not diet) method. Every week, we would get together to weigh-in, discuss the issues we faced and share stories to encourage one another. It worked. The power of Accountability became evident in our reducing waist-lines and disappearing double chins.

Keith Ferrazzi, in his inspiring book called “Who’s Got Your Back?”, talks about the origin of Weight Watchers and its accountability-based model. He says that it is the backbone for creating “Lifeline Relationships - deep, close relationships with a few key trusted individuals who will offer the encouragement, feedback, and generous mutual support that every one of us needs to reach our full potential."

I call it the Circle of Influence, a way for us to get influenced and uncover solutions.

Churches have accountability groups where you get support and guidance by giving faith. Successful people in business keep the company of trusted advisers, peers and experts from their industry. They share experiences and ideas to gain insight, strategies, to make better business decisions.

You have to give in order to gain.

Dr. Steve R Covey defined that "A Circle of Influence encompasses those concerns that we can do something about. They are concerns that we have some control over."

What are the concerns you've control over? What if, you were to convert them to your goals? What if, you didn’t have to work on those goals on your own? What if, you had a group of trusted advisers to give you that extra push? What if, you could have them check on your progress every week, discuss and remove your roadblocks?

What if, you had a Circle of Influence to give you that extra push?

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Times have changed. We live in a day and age in which the people we know - our friends, acquaintances, even our family members may be of a different upbringing, another country, a different culture, an opposite religion and in some cases with long, difficult, unpronounceable strange names. Do we take the time, pain and patience to get it right or do we create a version of the name that we find easier to say. I have seen both happen and in case of my own name more the latter, unfortunately.

When someone gets my name wrong, I get frustrated. Wouldn’t you? It displays lack of respect towards that person, and carelessness or snobbishness on our part. But I have met some who aren’t.

My full name is not easy to pronounce to many and it takes some practice to get it right. I think its because there may not be an English word or name that has an R following the S, make it a bit of a tongue twist. So introducing myself is not always as quick as saying “My name is John Doe”. But one day at work, I bumped into the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) on his first day as he was on his office tour. I introduced myself. He listened intently and asked me to spell out my name. No one had ever asked me to do so before, and usually it is me who would volunteer to spell it out. I was amazed. He then continued on with his tour of the facility.

A week later he called for a company wide gathering to introduce himself to the organization. As the room filled up with employees walking in, I saw that he was already mingling with people. Soon enough he noticed me with my group of work friends, walked up to me and addressed me by my name. And then he said: “I practiced pronouncing your name many times. Did I get it right?”. He got it perfectly right. I was impressed.

With a simple act, the COO connected with me instantly and created a lasting impact. Since then I have taken great care to get names right. I remember a time when I had asked my friends to teach me how to pronounce the name of the person I was to introduce at my public speaking club, that I would’ve normally goofed up on. It was worth the effort.

So, what’s in a name? Why is it so important? It is best described in Robert K. Cooper’s book called “The Other 90%”. He says this about the greatness behind names:

Our names are not labels. They are the cover of a human story. Beneath and beyond the name, yet tied to it, is a unique person’s life, with love, loss, laughter, dreams, hardship, and some vast measure of still hidden possibilities. From the moment you meet another human being and first hear their name, no matter how brief the interaction, your story is touching theirs.

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