Forecasting

May be every sort of relationship that is born is actually born out of necessity. What happens when there are no necessities or when necessities end? How are relationships affected by this?

For example, the liberated uber flamboyant chic I met online. I don't know whether I should call her or not. My heart says I should, but mind feels ego tight, so I started using the all too familiar manager's instrument called forecasting to forecast about all the future possibilities. Well I think 'am not going to be public with the forecasting possible outcomes.

But one thing I would like to say that I really like the chic's super attitude. I know her too less to consider it as a show of. She is too much flamboyant and in the face and flirty in a raw way. I never ever met a woman like that. She totally blew me away with that even before I saw her pic, I had risen in inspiration as opposed to fallen in love.

I must say how much I want her to think about me and desire me and that would really flame my ego of being the object of focus of such a person. I can't do anything else because I am sure she is turned off by my age (am I way younger?), my current straight relationship, my location, and perhaps the current situation in life. I am also not a damsel in distress as I can compete with her in all other aspects of self confidence and security. Is it necessity that is driving me to create a bridge between us? What sort?

Years of Slogging and Promotion

This is dedicated to my current...

You become head to come late to office every day.
You become head to make a manager do menial tasks.
You become head to brag about your achievements.
You become head to undermine other people's achievements.
You become head to show favoritism.
You become head to make sure you never appreciate the good qualities of someone hired to replace you.
You become head to degrade a manager in the sweetest possible way.
You become head to feel insecure.
You become head to encourage greasing.
You become head to never include a newly joined manager in important meetings.
You become head to never show any reverence to a newly joined manager in any way.
You become head to make the new manager feel that he/she is nothing inspite of his/her experience or degrees.
You become head to make sure that no interesting tasks are assigned to the new manager.
You become head to make sure the new manager does nothing that can distinguish him/her.
You become head to make sure you never ask for advice from the new manager.
You become head to become an arrogant, hypocritic, insecure, cunning, and incompetent person.

A good manager has at least 10 good qualities

These are Bill Gates' 10 points which a manager should keep in mind...I was wondering about my qualities of becoming a manager...Why was I given false hopes when I joined my current organization. I thought with no highly skilled people in my department, I had the chance of nurturing it to what I want it to be...happy, competent, sensible and sensitive IDs and tech writers. Little did I know that everything will crumble down soon and as such who needs a talented smart employee...sometimes what bosses need are just grateful puppets with just moderate level of skills...I can only pray God to get me out of my current misery.

Now back to the topic. The points are in first person:

1 Choose a field thoughtfully. Make it one you enjoy. It's hard to be productive without enthusiasm. This is true whether you're a manager or employee;

2 Hire carefully and be willing to fire. You need a strong team, because a mediocre team gives mediocre results, no matter how well managed it is. One mistake is holding on to somebody who doesn't measure up. It's easy to keep this person on the job because he's not terrible at what he does. But a good manager will replace him or move him to where he can succeed unambiguously;

3 Create a productive environment. This is a particular challenge because it requires different approaches depending on the context. Sometimes you maximise productivity by giving everybody his or her own office. Sometimes you achieve it by moving everybody into open space. Sometimes you use financial incentives to stimulate productivity. A combination of approaches is usually required. One element that almost always increases productivity is providing an information system that empowers employees.

When I was building Microsoft, I set out to create an environment where software developers could thrive. I wanted a company where engineers liked to work. I wanted to create a culture that encouraged them to work together, share ideas and remain motivated. If I hadn't been a software engineer myself, there's no way I could have achieved my goal;

4 Define success. Make it clear to your employees what constitutes success and how they should measure their achievements. Goals must be realistic. Project schedules, for example, must be set by the people who do the work. People will accept a "bottoms-up" deadline they helped set, but they'll be cynical about a schedule imposed from the top that doesn't map to reality. Unachievable goals undermine an organisation. At my company, in addition to regular team meetings and one-on-one sessions between managers and employees, we use mass gatherings periodically and E-mail routinely to communicate what we expect from employees. If a reviewer or customer chooses another company's product , we analyse the situation. We say to our people, "The next time around we've got to win. What's needed?" The answers to these questions help us define success;

5 To be a good manager, you have to like people and be good at communicating. This is hard to fake. If you don't enjoy interacting with people, it'll be hard to manage them well. You must have a wide range of personal contacts within your organisation. You need relationships - not necessarily personal friendships - with a fair number of people, including your own employees. You must encourage these people to tell you what's going on and give you feedback about what people are thinking about the company and your role in it;

6 Develop your people to do their jobs better than you can. Transfer your skills to them. This is an exciting goal, but it can be threatening to a manager who worries that he's training his replacement. If you're concerned, ask your boss: "If I develop somebody who can do my job super well, does the company have some other challenge for me or not?" Many smart managers like to see their employees increase their responsibilities because it frees the managers to tackle new or undone tasks. There's no shortage of jobs for good managers. The world has an infinite amount of work to be done;

7 Build morale. Make it clear there's plenty of goodwill to go around and that it's not just you or some hotshot manager who's going to look good if things go well. Give people a sense of the importance of what they're working on - its importance to the company, its importance to customers;

8 Take on projects yourself. You need to do more than communicate. The last thing people want is a boss who just doles out stuff. From time to time, prove you can be hands-on by taking on one of the less attractive tasks and using it as an example of how your employees should meet challenges;

9 Don't make the same decision twice. Spend the time and thought to make a solid decision the first time so that you don't revisit the issue unnecessarily. If you're too willing to reopen issues, it interferes not only with your execution but also with your motivation to make a decision in the first place. People hate indecisive leadership; However, that doesn't mean you have to decide everything the moment it comes to your attention. Nor that you can't ever reconsider a decision.

10 Let people know whom to please. Maybe it's you, maybe it's your boss, and maybe it's somebody who works for you. You're in trouble and risking paralysis in your organisation when employees start saying to themselves: "Am I supposed to be making this person happy or this other person happy? They seem to have different priorities."

I don't pretend that these are the only 10 approaches a manager should keep in mind. There are lots of others. Just a month ago I encouraged leaders to demand bad news before good news from their employees. But these 10 ideas may help you manage well, and I hope they do.

Original article at:http://www.btimes.co.za/97/1102/tech/tech6.htm

Is My Job Miserable?

There is a lot of difference between the two words ‘bad’ and ‘miserable’.

Anybody doing any type of job can be miserable. Suffering from severe Sunday night blues or feeling disgusted coming to office are all symptoms of this. You come home defeated, not wanting to go back and dreading it.

What causes this feeling of miserableness/ unhappiness?

Absence of these 3 important things can make you unhappy at work.

1. Your manager/ boss/ reporting manager has no interest whatsoever in your work and life. Mind you, I have also mentioned life. It is really necessary to know a person in order to bring the best out of him/ her professionally. For example a worker may be sick or having some difficulty, say managing a new born baby. Your manager does not know you or cares about you and ignores you as an individual, as a human.

2. Knowing that your work makes no difference in anybody’s life. Irrelevance, which is a killer. We may not be a doctor or a teacher doing a service to society but even if we know that we are helping others- customers, team members, subordinates, seniors. Not knowing this will make us unhappy.We have to think how our work can value add?

3. When you suffer from, 'Dunno where I am goin syndrome'. No feedback on how we are doing at work. We cannot wait for appraisals just to know how we are doing. Praises and Criticism are required on a regular basis. If we have a mentor figure at office who always gives us an unbiased opinion of our work and who knows what we do and how we do it. Now the question lies how do we get this feedback?

There may be other things as well but statistics reveal that more than 75% people quit jobs because of their managers and not for other reasons like money, better job profile etc.

Top Ten Workplace Stressors

I am sharing this article which is about American workforce but I am sure Indians will also identify with it. Original article at:

http://www.hillsorient.com/articles/2005/08/202.html

According to CNN-Money.com, Americans spent more than $17 billion for anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs in 2002, up 10% from the year before and nearly 30% over a two year period.

The Institute for Management Excellence reports that American industry spends more than $26 billion each year for medical bills and disability payments with another $10 billion for executive's lost workdays, hospitalization, and early death.

While these trends might be caused by some who are simply intolerant to stressful situations, it should also be recognized that properly managed circumstances can reduce stress, maximize employee productivity, and improve the living conditions of everyone.

Out of control stress also costs companies through increased absenteeism, lack of enthusiasm for the job, poor performance, and bad attitudes. Improvements in each of these areas can bring improved productivity and increased profits.

To find out what is most stressful to employees, Bill Wilkerson, CEO of The Global Business and Economic Roundtable on Addiction and Mental Health, conducted a survey and reported the ten top sources. As you'll see, all ten of these stress causing situations are related to leadership communications. The names Wilkerson gave each of these causes are in quotation marks.

"The treadmill syndrome"

Employees who consistently have too much or too little to do creates a lot of stress. Some employees are highly stressed because they simply have too many responsibilities. Others work around the clock, not necessarily on the clock, but throughout the day and at home. These are generally the employees who have too much to do and too many responsibilities.

Solution: You can control stress caused by the treadmill syndrome by making sure work is evenly divided and properly prioritized. Sometimes you can save money by hiring additional employees and reducing the additional costs of excessive stress.

"Random interruptions"

Interruptions keep employees from getting their work done - telephones, walk-in visits, supervisor's demands.

Solution: You can control this type stress by encouraging proper time management, delegation of responsibilities, and clarification of expectations.

"Pervasive uncertainty"

Uncertainty is created by constant, unsatisfactorily explained or unannounced change.

Solution: Keeping everyone well informed can reduce stress and improve productivity. Take time to meet with people and put the details in a written memo so they can review the facts after the emotions cool down.

"Mistrust, unfairness, and office politics"

These situations keep everyone on edge and uncertain about the future. Management of trust and fairness is just as important as any other management tool. If people cannot trust management, performance goes down. And, everyone is affected if even one employee is treated unfairly.

Solution: You have to make sure everyone is treated fairly - in fact and in perception. Word spreads quickly, and everyone sympathizes with the "victim," as they see it. They feel they will be treated the same way.

Unfairness can also be seen in management's acceptance of those who thrive on office politics.

Solution: Do not reward office politics in any way. Verbally reprimand those who are negative about others or those who spread rumors. If their statement isn't uplifting, don't let them make the comment about others.If you fail to take action, morale goes down and stress goes up.

"Unclear policies and no sense of direction"

Lack of focus causes additional uncertainty and undermines confidence in management.

Solution: Clear communication of policies and company goals is required, and it must go beyond the management level.

Not all middle managers are good at communicating these important subjects, so top management must communicate in a such a way that everyone is clear on where the company is going and what company policies are enforced.

Use memos, articles, personal meetings, small groups, announcements and anything else that reinforces your policy. Repetition is important. Actions consistent with policy are more important as the words.

"Career and job ambiguity"

If people are uncertain about their jobs and careers, there is a feeling of helplessness and of being out of control. This goes beyond the job description and annual performance review.

Solution: People want to know that their job is secure and know what is expected of them. Many employees also want to know about career progression and what they must do to advance.

Keep people informed of business situations, threats, and obstacles that must be overcome. They'll find out through the grape vine if you don't tell them. There is no such thing as a secret, so be right up front with everyone.

You don't want to be an alarmist, but these people have families to take care of. Some of them are applying for mortgages, loans, and other financial commitments that they might not make if they are as fully informed as you are.

"No feedback - good or bad."

People want to know how they are doing, and whether they are meeting expectations. If you don't communicate your thoughts on their performance, they are stressed about how well they are doing.Solution: Daily or weekly confirmation can help reduce stress significantly. Managers who wait until year end to explain job performance are about 51 weeks too late.

"No appreciation."

Failure to show appreciation for employee participation generates stress that endangers future efforts.

Solution: Daily, weekly, and monthly appreciation will help reduce stress and increase profits.

"Lack of communications"

Poor communication up and down the chain of command leads to decreased performance and increased stress.

Solution: Just as it is important to keep people advised of company policies and changes they can expect, management needs to listen to employees. Improved communications up the chain of command can give people a chance to pass along ideas, suggestions, and complaints, reducing stress and helping achieve more.

The greatest stressor in the workplace is "lack of control."

Employees are highly stressed when they feel like they have no control over their participation or the outcome of their work.

Solution: Savvy managers know the value of employee suggestions, comments, and input on the business as they participate. Very few managers know as much about the individual jobs as those doing the work day after day.

Stress control is a leadership responsibility. Those who ignore prevailing stress levels are negligent in their duties. Grasping the concepts and reducing stress one step at a time can have an amazing impact on the bottom line and on the lives of those who do the heavy work.