SubscribeThe Power of Noticing
by Himanshu Jhamb, Nov 23, 2009
As human beings, certain behaviors are hard wired in our biology (for example hiccups, burps, etc) and we cannot do anything about them unless we step aside and take notice. Similarly, noticing is a prerequisite to acting powerfully and effectively in all domains. How do you notice and get better at it? The answer is in your ability to draw Distinctions. For example, when playing soccer, if you are able to notice the distinction “Off-Side” you can play an effective game. more…
Quality #11: Driving Change Through Leadership
by Tanmay Vora, Nov 23, 2009
The first 10 posts in this series were about the distinctions in the quality process. Process Improvement is a “change” game and this post talks the critical role leadership plays in implementing this change in an organization. Forcing change will have limited impact, if any. Effective and positive change happens when the stakeholders’ intent changes. Unless all the participants get involved passionately, success is questionable. So, how do you do this? In this post, Tanmay gives some pointers on how “Change Leadership” can drive the process improvement initiative. more…
Strategic Plan Critical to Successful Implementation of Key Decisions
by Steve Popell, Nov 24, 2009
In a previous post, Steve discussed how to build your company into an attractive strategic candidate. In this post he delves into the details of the strategic planning process. To start with you need to assemble a good team, select a facilitator and go through the project initiation phase. The charter of this team will be to create a strategic plan involving the following key elements: vision, mission, long-range goals, short-term goals, task assignments, action item and monitor plan vs actual performance. more…
Quality #12: Middle Management and Quality Culture
by Tanmay Vora, Nov 24, 2009
In the last of the 12 part series, Tanmay brings forth the importance of middle management to achieve an organization’s quality objectives. It is crucial for middle managers to reinforce the quality commitment with positive communication and motivation. Their behavior and attitude ultimately shapes the overall organization’s culture. With the middle management focused, the rest of the culture building becomes much easier. more…
Interview for Business Knowledge
by Guy Ralfe, Nov 25, 2009
In our professional lives, we frequently have to interview candidates for positions in our organization. Guy had to do this recently, which is the inspiration for this post. These interviews take time out of our busy schedule and it is costly. But instead, if we treat this as a learning exercise, the cost gets lowered. In addition to finding out about the candidate’s abilities and how they will fit in our organization, we can use these opportunities to learn about the candidate’s organization’s practices and processes in sales, project management, product delivery, etc. You never know what you will learn and how valuable it will turn out to be. more…
BLOGTASTIC: Why you (still) can’t ignore blogs today?
by Rajesh Setty, Nov 25, 2009
BLOGSTATIC! Growing and Making a Difference Through Blogging is a book by Rajesh Setty, mentor of Active Garage. You can find the Table of Contents and advance praise here. We are going to release the entire book on this site over the next few days.
In the first post in this series, Rajesh explains why blogging is still relevant even with the onslaught of Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. “Change is the only constant” is the old adage. “Change at breathtaking speed is the only constant” is more appropriate for the times we live in. To keep up with the change, we need to learn at the same speed and blogs provide the medium for that. It is the same with experts sharing their knowledge. Writing and publishing books have a long gestation period. With blogs, these experts share their knowledge instantaneously. But at the same time, there is a blogging crisis slowly brewing. more…
Remaining Competitive over the long Road
by Guy Ralfe, Nov 26, 2009
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the end of the year. This is accompanied by the usual flurry of activity to meet the yearend goals. Nothing in life happens overnight and we should plan for the future every step of the way. It is common to see projects under pressure when the deadline nears, but sufficient progress has not been made. It could happen in careers too. We need to meet our short term goals, but they have to be viewed in conjunction with the long term strategic plan. more…
BLOGSTATIC: A visit to the blogging graveyard
by Rajesh Setty, Nov 26, 2009
If you are not having fun with blogging, you may want to revisit your decision and see if blogging is really for you. Otherwise, your blog will end up in the blogging graveyard, sooner than later. There may be other ways to achieve your career and personal objectives without the blogging effort. But if you do decide to blog, make sure you treat your blog with respect and value your readers time. Do not add noise to the web – there is already plenty of it. more…
So you think you are educated…
by Himanshu Jhamb, Nov 27, 2009
Education is not about going through the motions of schooling or memorizing facts or getting degrees from colleges. Those may be the mechanisms to gain knowledge, but that does not equate to education. Education is not just about knowing… it is, in fact, more about doing. For example, though Henry Ford had little schooling, he was one of the most educated man in this times. The fact that he is legend, is proof enough for that. If you are stagnating in your career and want to address your knowledge gap, do so in the context of doing, rather than knowing. more…
BLOGSTATIC: Not everyone who should blog actually blogs
by Rajesh Setty, Nov 27, 2009
Just like everything else in life, blogging is not for everybody. Some blog with the notion that just because they do so, they are somehow special. By the same token, there are others who do not blog, because they feel it is not consequential. The bottom line is, it does not matter whether yo have a blog or not. You should strive to make an impact on the world. If someone can make a bigger difference without blogging, then they have found a different vehicle to make the impact. more…