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Working smarter is about finding new ways to get the same results in less time. Working smarter is about “doing more with less” and is the basis for increased productivity.

The infamous 80/20 rule suggests that 80 percent of our results come from just 20 percent of our efforts. Conversely I have through experience found that as a manager, if you let it, 80 percent of your time can be spent managing the bottom 20 percent of performers. So the first way to improve our performance (work smarter) is to change our focus and invest more time in our top 20 percent of performers. Easy you may say, of course, however it will take great discipline to implement this basic change in behaviour.

Here are a few more working smarter ideas to consider:

Becoming sound human relations practitioners and acting with respect for the needs of others: If you communicate well, form sound relationships and become more aware of an other’s needs you are far more likely to be able to enlist their help in achieving your desired results. Central to achieving this of course is being willing to develop & show sincere interest our colleagues’ well-being.

Constantly seeking what is effective rather than efficient: I’ve seen the most efficient people shuffle paper, religiously answer emails and maintain perfect filing systems however these are not the activities that will produce improved outcomes or greater productivity. Efficiently managing inputs is a given for any competent manager however finding ways to improve the level of outputs is the core of effectiveness and to being a smarter worker.

Working towards being agents of change rather than knockers of the new: Change is constant and developing a need to seek new and better ways to do things is a must. Question everything and don’t assume that the way it’s always been done is necessarily the best way to get it done.

Increasing our value adders and ridding ourselves of energy suckers: if you can’t measure a positive outcome from an activity that you often engage in you really need to stop the activity or make a case to those that are imposing the activity on you on why it should be abandoned. Often other will have you doing something which is done out habit that may in truth, no longer really be necessary.

Understanding our five points of power and using them all – see: five points of power
Approaching every activity with a customer in mind – see: excellent customer service

Stever Robbins in an article for Harvard Business School says: “Another way to work smarter is by distinguishing busy from productive. Oh, we’re busy, and we feel productive, but we’re only productive if we’re producing the results that are most important to moving the company forward”. Ref: hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/5190.html

Managing our limited time wisely – a few tweets I have done in the past: twitter.com/rictownsend

• #Time #Management: Don’t clutter your desk, file it, delegate it, or trash it. Action 1 item at a time! Clutter slows work!
• #Time #Management: Stop ‘multitasking’ it is not time effective, trying to do 2 or more things at once just does not work.
• #Time #Management: Plan your work & work your plan. Remember the 6 p’s ‘Proper Planning Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance’
• #Time #Management: Give instructions once, ensure receiver focused & is listening by asking astute questions to confirm understanding!
• #Time #Management: Prioritize tasks in order of importance A B C piles, split B into A or C, file C until someone follows you up, do “A” now!

Finally sometimes subordinating our own desires as the manager for the sake of the group can be a wise decision as it can help to build trust and loyalty and improve levels of cooperation. Obviously you don’t want to become a puppet of the team you are leading, however dogmatically sticking to a course of action or point of view because of your delegated “legitimate power” can reduce your effectiveness as a leader and your ability to work smarter.

Hofstede’s findings in full can be found on the web and I recommend them as a great way to start thinking about the differences you may encounter in a multicultural or international workplace.

In a particular it can explain why many around us (that come from high uncertainty avoidance societies) show anxiety about an uncertain future particularly in times of change and how change induces stress (and often aggressiveness) and why for some formal rules and structures are protected to reduce risk. New ideas on ways of doing things for some can be seen as little more than, not to be tolerated ‘deviant’ behavior. Uncertainty avoidance individuals who feel relatively threatened will strive to believe in a common set of absolute truths (“the way we did it in the past”), with time focus being the now and the past and the traditional hierarchy seen as determining their wellbeing. These individuals will constantly seek direction from a trusted leader in the hierarchy and avoid personal responsibility because mistakes are seen as ‘sins’ that will exact punishment.

Although here again I have been discussing societies in general some families I believe produce these types of individuals in all societies so when looking to influence others around us we must be conscious of these traits. Again it is best to ask (tactfully) to understand another’s motivation rather than assuming.

If we add to a work situation a “masculine society”, assertive, materialistic, quantity of life individual who is trying to lead/manage and associate with a; sensitive, relationship oriented, group-welfare valuing, ‘quality of life’ driven flock of people, you can see why difficulties occur. A great example; many hotel GM’s are Austrian, who rank as no 2 in the world in masculine orientation. Imagine an Austrian GM trying to deal with a Thai workforce that rank at no 44, i.e. have a more “feminine” or relationship approach to life.

Part 6 final and back to main orglearn blog

“Collective intelligence”, how about that as a concept for getting things done…

The legendary Army Ants gain their fearful reputation and devastating power because they are driven by an obsessional purpose combined with an extremely high level of determination and use what is known as their collective intelligence. The amazing thing is that this all happens with no one individual taking control. Instead they all act as individuals and control (or lead) themselves. “Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals. Collective intelligence appears in a wide variety of forms of consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans, and computer networks” (ref: Wikipedia). In other words Army Ants really do practice management from the bottom up where each individual is empowered to act.

If we as managers and leaders are to implement effective empowerment and invert the corporate pyramid to put the customer at the top, as current business realities demand, (as does proper thinking), we must ensure that staff develop the right attributes. If those at the customer interface don’t have (or develop) their own sense of being powerful, are unwilling to be obsessed with the customers needs and wants, (as against stroking the boss), are not effectively inspired to use their own positive levels of motivation and don’t feel free to inform enthusiastically what the customers are saying, (good or bad), no collective intelligence will occur.

We often talk about staff empowerment in modern business however ants have achieved this state naturally. If simple ants use it so effectively, why can’t the intelligent top of the food chain… us… do it so well? Because we humans are totally driven by our need for self-satisfaction or gratification… we are basically selfish! So what can we as leaders do to at least move a little further along the evolutionary path (remember ants have been around 100 million years) and thus achieve at least some of the team sophistication levels of ants? Here are a few suggestions… never discipline in public, encourage the free flow of ideas, destroy inter-staff rivalry, reward teams rather than individuals, encourage those who encourage others, revere those who act in the common good, beware of creating states of ‘group think’ and never implement a ‘staff member of the month’ program or a competitive sales incentive scheme and always…

VIEW MISTAKES AS LEARNING, NOT AS A REASON (OR EXCUSE) TO WHACK SOME FOOL!

Ants management and moving (scurrying on) update the resume resume time?

One of the few things I consciously remember from my “school days learning” is a ‘law’ pertaining to human existence.

If my memory serves me well Malthusian Law went something like this:

‘The world will never be overpopulated as population growth is limited by war, pestilence, famine and natural disasters.’

From a personal or individual perspective this means that if you are to survive you need to protect yourself from all these natural forces by astutely being somewhere where these occurrences are not likely to happen.

Now for many this is not possible, however if you are by chance lucky enough to have some control over your existence you should consider these factors carefully.

From a work-life point of view lets see what you can do to give yourself the best chance of surviving or even thriving.

WAR: Often times in your career you will come across a war at work. Interdepartmental rivalries, battles for limited resources, personality clashes and straightforward power struggles. It is human nature for us in conflict situations to seek allies or to be sought out as supporters for one side of an argument or another. Can I suggest if you are put in a situation where you are being recruited on a position, where others are in conflict, at all costs stay out of the fray and remain neutral. Keep away from the combatants and focus on your own job role and performance.

PESTILENCE: The major disease I have witnessed in organizations is that of “poor cultural attitudes”. Every organization has cultural norms that have grown over time based on the personalities within the company and or the legacy that others have left. Often the cultural norms of a company can limit or even destroy its competitiveness in ever changing markets. Our fear of change, reliance on how things have been done in the past, power groups with vested interests in maintaining the status quo and being blinded victims of our own past successes can all create very sick organizations. If you find yourself in a company that is maintaining traditions that are out of step with current market realities don’t hang around, go out and find a more healthy place to work.

FAMINE: Old style companies, working in ever shrinking markets, trying to survive on outmoded products or services will over time starve to death and if you stay on working for one of them you may well suffer the same fate. I have had personal experience with this when in Australia the government deregulated the banking industry and finance companies as a result were starved of funds and business opportunities. I hung on for a few years however those that updated their skill set and changed industries early did best over the years that ensued. There are virtually no ‘real’ finance companies left in Australia today. Much of America’s traditional manufacturing is of course suffering, or has already suffered, the same fate.

*Link for direct page viewers return to main career success blog to check out other posts!

By the way if any of the Malthusian issues are currently impacting on your career you may like to take a look at the free blank resume form and take the law into your own hands by using the document to move on to less dangerous places of existence!

Finally…

NATURAL DISASTERS: Perhaps one of the greatest natural disasters that can befall  most of us from a work perspective is a takeover or merger. In this type of scenario there will be all sorts of misinformation, false promises and spin floating around and you will have two choices, stay and be part of the rescue process to rebuild the new radically changed organization or head out on the first evacuation flight you can get. In the merger I was involved in I chose the former however after two years, even though I had a more senior and better paid position, I didn’t like the culture and business practices of the new organization and resigned. Some of my former colleagues from day one of the merger process resisted the change and were offered a handsome golden handshake. In retrospect I should have taken the same approach. Now you might find this to be counter intuitive however when you are part of a takeover/merger you should consider your future and your options very carefully and remember no matter how smart you are no one is indispensable. I guess if you can maneuver yourself into a position of getting enough money to live and study enough to gain new and more sought after skills in a new company, or perhaps even different career, you may well be better off over time.

With the recent economic troubles a learning organization is a must for a successful future.

The following nine points are an adapted from an old however very good, must buy book – Mitch McCrimmon’s – ‘Unleash the Entrepreneur Within’

Remembering that the only way to improve is to learn and the only proof of learning is a change in behavior, how can we create organizations that learn and more importantly change?

1. Budget, time, money and manpower to achieve both individual and organizational learning – ensure management and ALL employees see learning as a ‘real target’ and set up mechanisms to ensure accountability and to measure results. Many organizations seem to talk about being learning organizations however if it isn’t budgeted for, invested in and measured it is just a farce. Each manager needs to have learning and knowledge retention listed in their key responsibility areas and be assessed on their performance in this area at performance appraisal time.

2. Identify strategic learning areas for your business and where new products or product innovations are likely to yield the quickest and greatest payoff – invest most of you’re resources in these areas. It is also important to look at the long term learning issues that your organization needs to address.

3. Empower your work force to take risks in the market by decentralizing decision making – particularly encourage those in areas of key knowledge. As I have written in previous posts now is the time to wholeheartedly adopt transformational leadership practices in day to day operations and as a management policy.

Note: Many empowerment programs in Asian operations of international organizations run in to problems because of cultural attitudes (and beliefs) related to power and responsibility, be careful in implementing this option!

4. Set up a system of on job training, job rotation, provide incentives and support for personal development – initiate a PD (personal development) discussion process. PD discussions need to be taken seriously with personal targets set and behavior changes measured and rewarded.

The only way to improve is to learn and continuous learning is not a perhaps or maybe… today more than ever its an imperative!

**Link for direct page viewers return to main career success blog to check out other posts!

If you aren’t lucky enough to be working for a learning organization and need a change it may be time to update your resume so when you’ve finished the article take a look at the free blank resume form!

To continue…

5. Form learning partnerships with suppliers, distributors, and customers – set up feedback mechanisms such as focus groups, R&D joint ventures and customer survey mechanisms. Remember your organization can learn as much if not more from complaints as it can from compliments. Be sure that bad news is seen as an opportunity to improve and learn not only as a reason to discipline someone.

6. Have all positions applied for and include outsiders in our recruitment drive – only appoint the best in their field and avoid the all to familiar ‘best of a bad bunch’ in times of competence shortages. Promotion from within only should be a dead policy.

7. Benchmark your culture against other entrepreneurial firms – seek ways to understand key success factors for the market leaders in our field and study the oppositions’ successes. This is an area that seems to most difficult for many companies so a project team needs to address this as a serious and essential activity.

8. Set up a readily accessible knowledge bank and ‘experience’ network of mentors, gurus and experts in their field. Make sure the knowledge accumulated by expert staff doesn’t walk out the door with your retirees. With the “same old same old” mistakes made by bankers as evidenced by the recent meltdown shows that this industry particularly do not take learning and knowledge retention seriously.

9. Celebrate and recognize attempts to learn by employees who take a market risk and publicize within our organization by initiating fast real world feedback mechanisms. With today’s communication technology this is easier than ever however, someone still needs to initiate the action.

The nine steps for setting up a learning organization can at least give a good starting point for you to create a true learning organization however, it will take great effort and enormous commitment.

Six central personality characteristics of transformational leaders seem to emerge from the prolific literature on this topic.

Creative

Hackman and Johnson (1991) state that creativity is “challenging the status quo by seeking out new ideas…” Managers typically concern themselves with status quo maintenance, but leaders move beyond status quo to face and deal with the future. Transformation requires innovation and fresh perspectives to enduring questions. Many managers I deal with think that they will never become leaders because they don’t see themselves as being creative. Remember creative thinking can be taught and creative thinkers can hired and good leaders can effectively use the creativity of those around them… if the have the wisdom to listen.

Interactive

Hackman and Johnson (1991) also suggest that an interactive leader provides better direction than a non-interactive leader. In order to meet the needs of the follower, the leader must take a posture of open participation with follower. They also contend ‘that interaction is central to putting leadership into motion’. Many other theories (and practical experiences) of leadership emphasize the need for (effective) communication in order to attain success. Remember though communication is not interaction its merely the conduit between individuals. The important issues are found in dictionary definitions… “acting in close relation with each other” or “affecting each others behaviour”.

ARE WE CREATING TOMORROW OR BANKING ON THE PAST?

Empowering

Empowerment is fourth aspect that Hackman and Johnson (1991) suggest is important. Empowerment is the ability to “translate intention into reality and sustain it [for the followers]” (Bennis & Nanus, 1985). B & N further explain that ‘empowerment is the reciprocal of power and that empowerment puts duality into motion’. In other words, power translates into empowerment and empowerment, in turn, creates more power. Without leaders promoting responsibility and displacing power, followers cannot fully achieve their potential. This as we know is a big challenge in some Asian cultures. The key is if you want to have a modern successful organization, you as a leader must address this issue.

Visionary

Perhaps the most elemental characteristic of the transformational leader, “more than anything else, transformational leaders communicate a vision to their followers” (Hackman & Johnson, 1991). Zorn (1991) notes that vision helps to rally action toward achievement of the goal. Leaders must not only speak the vision, they must also enact the vision for individuals and the organization. Vision sets the direction and it is impossible to get where you want to be without direction. Can you or you staff quote your company’s vision, (or your own for that matter). So much has been said about vision and its central role in business and success, any more here would be superfluous.

A VISION WITH POWER CAN CHANGE MEDIOCRITY INTO EXCELLENCE

Passionate

‘Transformational leaders are passionate in their commitment to task and people alike’ (H & J, 1991). Bennis and Nanus (1985) again elaborate, “like explorer and artists, [leaders] seem to focus their attention on a limited field – their task – to forget personal problems, to loose their sense of time, to feel competent and in control”. To transform leaders must have a strong commitment to their vision. Passion is essential for this strong commitment, without passion there is no real direction and vision is short-lived.

Ethical

One final notable characteristic is that of high ethical standards. Any discussion of transformational leadership must include ethics. Burns (1978) comments, “Leaders must effectively ‘connect with’ followers from a level of morality only one stage higher than that of the followers, but moral leaders who act at much higher levels relate to followers at all levels…” Blanchard and Peale (1989) suggest that a manager with strong ethical standards is armed with the ability to do the right thing all of the time. They further conclude that ethics must not only be the result, but ethics must be involved in the process of decision making. An effective leader must be committed to ethical responses to any situation.

ETHICAL BANKERS, ACCOUNTANTS, LAWYERS, CORPORATE EXECUTIVES AND POLITICIANS… NOW THERE’S AN IDEA!

Refs: Hackman, M. & Johnson, C. (1991) Leadership. Waveland Press.
Zorn T E (1991). Construct system development, transformational leadership and leadership messages. Sthn Communication Jrnl, 56 (3), 178-193. Journal of Leadership Studies in 1995

Ric (orglearn) **Link for direct page viewers return to main career success blog to check out other posts!

While you’re here take a look at the free blank resume form!

SUMMARY

Transformational leadership assumes that people will energetically follow an individual who has the ability to inspire them and who can use others natural motivation to strive towards a shared vision. A person to be a true motivational leader must in addition to having worthwhile vision show a willingness to excel and the competence do great things in a creative new way. Transformational leadership to be successful assumes that agreed tasks can be accomplished by injecting commitment and enthusiasm among the followers.

Transformational leadership adjectives: articulate, uplifting, passionate, caring, trustworthy, integrity listening, committed, serving, influencing, encouraging, charismatic, creative, innovative, empowering and confident.

Transformational leaders set an example and become a role model for their followers. Transformational leaders see their followers as individuals and treat them as such.

In light of recent events transformational leadership’s capacity to reshape social and physical relationships is more needed than ever. Perhaps it is time to destroy old way of living and make way for new one. Finally transformational leadership encourages people to surpass their current levels of achievement and embrace a dynamic and innovative way to approach our future at a personal, organizational and political level. The world currently seems to be crying out for true leadership, transformational leadership, at all levels of society.

One more time:

INSPIRING AND ETHICAL BANKERS, ACCOUNTANTS, LAWYERS, CORPORATE EXECUTIVES, BUSINESS LEADERS AND POLITICIANS… NOW THERE REALLY IS A TRANSFORMATIONAL IDEA!

To better understand why transformational leadership is a concept we should consider, a look at more traditional approaches is at first appropriate. Autocratic, army or public service style ‘instructional’ leadership encompasses hierarchies and the top-down use of power. This type of leader is supposed to know the best way to administer the business, conveys instructions to the subordinates then gets busy monitoring the work. The main problem with this form of leadership is that good administrators aren’t always great operators, nor can they keep up with real-world business trends, technological advances or more importantly the current rapid rate of changing customer preferences, (or social trends) and loyalties.

Another major difficulty with this style of leadership occurs as it concentrates on the growth and safety of business processes, with the development of followers, often becoming a secondary or even a non-priority. Modern business requires ‘the team’ to be “the servants of a collective vision”, thus leaders must fulfil the role of coach, cheerleader, supporter, problem solver and resource finder. Autocratic ‘instructional’ leadership, has therefore, as many correctly argue, outlived its usefulness.

Another form of traditional leadership is ‘transactional’ leadership. Transactional leadership (or bartering) is based on an exchange of services from staff for various kinds of rewards such as a salary & benefits. ‘Leithwood’ (1992) says this type of leadership “doesn’t stimulate improvement”. Mitchell and Tucker (Leadership Way of Thinking) add that ‘transactional leadership works only when both leaders and followers understand and are in agreement about which tasks are important’. Experience suggests that it is not often that staff and management, (even departments, sales vs. production, R&D vs. financial control etc.), truly agree on what is, or is not, important. It is arguable therefore that this form of leadership is also ready for the waste bin.

Ref and Adapted in part from ED347636 Aug 92 Transformational Leadership. ERIC Digest, Number 72. Author: Liontos, Lynn Balster

By the way if you want to see some other articles follow the link for direct page viewers return to main career success blog to check out other posts! While you’re here take a look at the free blank resume form!

Back to the topic…

WHAT IS TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP?

The idea of transformational leadership was first developed by James McGregor Burns in 1978 and later extended by Bernard Bass as well as others. Burns and Bass studied political leaders, army officers and business executives. An article in a 1995 issue of the Journal of Leadership Studies states, “Perhaps the most central notion of the transformational leader is the explicit purpose behind leading others. A transforming leader ACTS TO MAXIMISE THE NEEDS OF THE FOLLOWER. Leadership must also stimulate the needs of the entire organization of people constantly moving them to higher order needs. The term ‘transformational’ stems from the leaders ability to develop people as resources (should be potentials) and move them to a more satisfactory state of existence. Burns contrasts the transforming leader with a power wielder (transactional leader) suggesting that the transformational leader has an interest in the personal development of the follower, “leaders can also shape and alter and elevate the motives and values and goals of followers…” To Burns, transactional leadership is immature because it is based on the needs of the leader rather than the follower, “The object [in transactional leadership] is not a joint effort for persons with common aims acting for the collective interests of followers but a bargain to aid the individual interests of persons or groups going their separate ways”. Bass and Avolio (1989) argue that the transformational leader motivates followers (should be uses followers motivation) to act in the interest of the organization rather than to maximize self-interest.

Ric (orglearn – transformational leadership)

In his book The Human Brain That Changes Itself Dr Norman Doidge explains how the human brain is as malleable, not only in infancy as previously understood but well into adulthood and old age.

In classical neuroscience, the adult brain was considered an immutable machine, it was all about evolution and genes, what you got you were stuck with. Additionally it was believed that every part had a specific purpose, none could be repaired, IQ was fixed and that was that. Great news IT’S NOT TRUE!

Myths of the Brain

Old theory: Different parts of the brain control different parts of our body. Wrong.

Past belief: After a serious stroke, a person was crippled for life with minimal improvement likely. Wrong.

You have been told: That mental decline in old age is inevitable and if you are predisposed to it’s just bad luck. Wrong.

The Positive Side

Today’s much more sophisticated equipment and modern experiments have proven that the brain is malleable and able to change and grow. Not only is it able to respond to injury with amazing functional reorganization, it can actually respond to changes in input by coming up with a new anatomic configuration. It’s a “use it and grow it” versus ‘use it or lose it” deal, pretty much the same rule that applies to every other organ and muscle in the body.

Knowing this we, if we are smart can come up with various methods that we can consciously apply to reshape and ‘improve our brain. Dr Doidge’s book “The Brain that Changes Itself” gives insights about learning and shaping our mind and if applied in a positive way how we can help us improve our chances for a more successful rewarding and even happier life. The book is very uplifting as we explore all the possibilities we can exploit because of the way we can improve our brains performance and even repair it through mental exercise if it is damaged. ‘Doidge is positive in his outlook presenting ideas on how our thoughts can switch on specific genes and alter our brain anatomy.  He presents a sound case for how intelligence can be improved with brain exercises, how we can improve our cognition, perception and talents even by allowing our imagination shape our minds’. I guess this is similar to the old idea of imagined performance which is all positive in outcomes and how mental practice can be a great adjunct to actual physical practice which creates varying inputs based on actual outcomes that will range from poor to excellent.

There are many therapies explained in the book however the one that stands out for me is the story of the amputee that has 10 years of excruciating “phantom” pain in his missing elbow. When he is assisted by putting his good arm into a box lined with mirrors his brain is fooled into thinking it is his missing arm and he does some stretching exercises and the within a month his brain reorganizes its misfiring brain circuits and the illusion of the arm and its pain vanishes. Pretty powerful stuff.

What it Means for Managers Insights from: Agile Advice Dot Com

Agile Brains – Agile Teams

http://www.agileadvice.com/archives/2007/07/the_brain_that.html

‘Insight: Practice and practice. The method here is to follow an exact and complete set of rules until they are perfected and only after that try variations. By perfecting the rules, we allow our brains to demonstrate that we have truly internalized (or mapped) the knowledge’ i.e. put it into long-term memory and created a habit.

‘Insight: Practice as it relates to time and frequency. Shorter iterations allow for more repetition of the basic rules and structures, which allows for more effective internalizing. Under the right conditions, brain maps change quickly (minutes), but in order to “stick”, the changes have to be reinforced over the course of months.’

‘Insight: The importance of practice when we are delivering training (rather than when we are coaching a team). Instruction will be much better if it is simply packed with a mini project that is executed over multiple extremely short iterations.’

The Learning Mind has a Downside

Doidge also explains how the plastic nature of the mind affects mental mind maps in even mundane daily activities.  Societal and cultural differences and behaviors can have as much impact on the mind as trauma and physical injury which means our attitude and abilities are constantly changing in line with our personal experiences, indoctrinations, social differences or environment.

As one reviewer of the book put it: “These implications of rewiring the mind however, are also to be cautioned.  The brain is actually so malleable it is also quite vulnerable to its surroundings and seemingly little impact input to the mind can make a drastic change to the way we perceive and handle the world around us.  The impact of media and television are showing significant impact and damage on the mind leading to disorders become more and more prevalent in today’s young people. This is something to be cautious of as people can highly influence and shape the mind as well.  Parents, peers, and leaders all make a significant contribution to the structure of our brains and while it can be changed, it is not always easy to do so.”

From this still relatively new experimental data,  “the entirety of human experience: creativity, love, addiction, obsession, anger” and particularly the all important issue of human empathy and compassion “can be seen as a series distinct electrical associations are manipulated by the brain itself and of course by the brains, thought and actions of others… for better or worse”.

Neuroplasticity well may prove a curse as the brain can also as Doidge puts it “think itself into ruts”, ‘with electrical habits difficult to eradicate’.

So here’s the reason for the headline: ‘the implications for external re-engineering of the human brain are ominous, for if the brain is malleable it is also endlessly vulnerable, not only to its own mistakes but also to the ambitions and excesses of others, whether they are misguided parents, well-meaning cultural trendsetters or despotic national leaders’.

The real cruncher comes in the Appendix which is a must read where Doidge explains the indoctrination techniques of North Korea and how the brains of the North Koreans have been physically altered to such an extent that no reasonable use of logical argument will ever change their attitude to the outside world. So what you might think… then ask yourself what is happening to home schooled kids in America or Madrassa indoctrinated single view kids in Pakistan or single view of the world children of some other Middle Eastern countries.

Suddenly your optimism may dissipate.

Doidge’s book tells us that our brains are remarkably flexible, malleable… plastic and provides an enlightening and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain, until you think about the ramifications of the information presented in the Annexure.

This “neuroplastic revolution,” (or discovery) has dramatic implications for the future of our children in a more and more polarized and violent world. There is great potential for misuse of the brain’s plasticity – brainwashing being the assumption – Doidge leaves speculations about the future of neuroplasticity to us, the readers.

Wall Street Journal October 26 2009

“In-house experts, with their specialized knowledge and skills, could be invaluable to both colleagues and managers. But often workers who could use their help in other departments and locations don’t even know they exist.”

Great article talks about assisting staff and mangers to locate the expertise they need within their own organization.

“..so-called expertise-locator systems have become a hot topic in corporate IT. To date, most such systems are centrally managed efforts, and that’s a problem. The typical setup identifies and catalogs experts in a searchable directory or database that includes descriptions of the experts’ knowledge and experience, and sometimes links to samples of their work, such as research reports.”

The article goes on to explain the shortcomings of this traditional approach.

It then discusses the value of social networks, blogs, wikis, tags and web pages. Actually a great solution is coming in the form of Google Wave which may actually the dramatically change way we all collaborate in the future… it really is a wave of innovation. Google it and watch the video.

The rest of this very informative article is here-> http://bit.ly/3JmGOD Sorry you will need to cut and paste however the article is worth it!

So who knows what in YOUR organization and are you able to put your managers in touch with the expertise they need?

“The Economist” Magazine once described Jack Welch, the ex-boss of General Electric as… ‘the man who has some claim to being the world’s most successful manager of the past quarter century’. A few quotes I have collected over recent years may give us some insights into the issues we as managers need to consider;

‘the best big company’s try to think like small ones’

‘you have to destroy your own company to survive’

“it is a badge of honour to learn something here (GE), no matter where it comes from”

‘GE’s values – meritocracy, dignity, simplicity, speed (and)

a hatred of bureaucracy – if bureaucracy gets in your way, scream at it’

“Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be”

“Be candid with everyone”

“Don’t manage, lead”

“Change before you have to”

“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete”

“Control your own destiny, or someone else will”

”The idea flow from the human spirit is absolutely unlimited”… ”All you have to do is tap into that well. I don’t like to use the word efficiency. It’s creativity. It’s a belief that every person counts.”

”This place (GE) runs by its great people…the biggest accomplishment I’ve had is to find great people … and they seem to thrive here.”

“boundaryless behaviour” (defined as business behaviour that tramples rank and bureaucracy to engage every mind in the company in pursuit of the best idea)

“We have to get everybody involved. If we do that, the best ideas rise to the top”

“…an organization’s ability to learn, share that learning, and then act on that learning is absolutely the biggest competitive advantage that an organization has…”

“The competition is out there; it isn’t in here (GE) and getting an organization to look out there and not in here is the major thing that a large company has to focus on”

…from The Economist “At GE, JACK WELCH HAS ESTABLISHED A CULTURE OF CONSTANT SELF-TRANSFORMATION THAT OTHERS SHOULD EMULATE”… (Sept 18-24 ‘99)

Of course Jack Welch has his detractors…

(from http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/10/magazines/fortune/rules.fortune/index.htm)

Anti Jack View                                 Jack’s “assumed” View

Agile is best; being big can bite you.  Big dogs own the street.

Find a niche, create something new.   Be No. 1 or 2 in your market.

The customer is king.                         Shareholders rule.

Look out, not in.                                 Be lean and mean.

Hire passionate people.                      Rank your players; go with the A’s.

Hire a courageous CEO.                      Hire a charismatic CEO.

I particularly believe in and try to live by:

“IF BUREAUCY GETS IN YOUR WAY, SCREAM AT IT”… FOR US LESSER MORTALS…  I GUESS WE NEED TO LEARN HOW TO SCREAM WITH TACT!

Ric (orglearn) **Link for direct page viewers return to main career success blog to check out other posts!

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