Happiness At Work

I read a book by Srikumar Rao this weekend - Happiness at Work - Be Resilient, Motivated , and Successful - No Matter What.

Rao suggests taking a slow approach to reading the book. Read a chapter - come to grips with it over a few days etc. So instead of reading it in one sitting, I read it in 2.

One chapter that caught my eye was "Think your problem is Managing your time? It's not". (I suggest you buy my Time Management book before reading that chapter. ). His points on time are valid. He suggests that interruptions like email, Twitter etc. cause much of our stress. And by being more relaxed about things, we will be more successful.

Each of the short 35 chapters has a title, which has the message then elaborates on it often with a zen story or another vignette. Then the chapter ends with a summary.

Although the title is "at Work", it really is a book about happiness in general. Rao takes a zen approach to it. The book is sprinkled with classic Zen stories. Ones with morals or lessons. Most of them I had read in other material. Most of them I liked.

The gist of the book - live in the moment. Accept that things are neither good or bad - they just are. Let go of past baggage. Invest in the process not the outcome. And of course - stuff does not make you happy.

Changing topics to one of my favorite - health. I had a great 2 hour run today. I tend to believe the best nutrients come from a good diet but lately have been taking some Purity Products supplements like Fish Oil, Vitamin D and Amazing Orange (this is a drink for during and after a run). And I think it is making a difference. Still tired after a long run but I think I recover faster.

The Checklist Manifesto

I read an interesting review of The Checklist Manifesto on the Globe and Mail site. The gist of the book is that checklists simplify complex tasks. I would add to this - use a checklist to make sure repetitive tasks are done properly. It also can add uniformity to a job and allow for constant improvement on systems.

I have long been a big proponent of the To Do list. I even run it together and call it a todo list. Every Time Management Book I read or course I take uses a todo list in some form.

A checklist is not a todo list. To get the most value from a todo list, things need to be prioritized.

Lists can reduce stress. I know if I have things written on my todo list, they no longer take mind space and for me this reduces stress.

Now I need to get "Back to Work" (one of my mantras I use to be more productive)

Just Start - A Success Habit

One Success Habit that I have been using more and more is "Just Start".

I use this one on exercise. My simplest example is one habit I have pegged to going to bed (See my mlog post on Pegging a Habit). I do 10 pushups. 10 is not a daunting number. I feel I can easily do it. But what really happens? When I start to do 10, I always end up doing more. But the permission to stop at 10 is there. It is the "getting the ball rolling" or just starting that has made this an easy habit to stick to.

Talent Management

One of my best time management tips is "you cannot do it all yourself". Let others help.

In that vein this is a guest post by Stanley Janas, Director of Human Resources at Halogen Software.

Why CEOs Should Care About Talent Management

At first look, talent management might seem like a responsibility that CEOs should relegate to HR and their lower level managers. After all, it's about hiring, setting individual employee goals, rating competencies and performance, assigning development plans, making compensation adjustment, etc. Not the critical stuff a time-crunched CEO should be focusing on.

But all kinds of research is showing that companies with mature, integrated talent management processes are outperforming the competition:

• The Hackett Group recently found that companies with more mature talent management capabilities have on average18% higher earnings, 54% greater net profit margins, and greater return on equity and assets than their counterparts without mature capabilities.

• The Aberdeen Group's latest research finds that companies who integrate their talent management processes see significantly greater performance gains, and can measure a correlation between their talent management efforts and business operational results.

• And IBM, HCI, IDC and others have shared similar findings.

Part of why this might be true is that good talent management lets you make the most of your employees by giving them the direction, feedback, development and rewards they need to excel. But good talent management processes also give you as a CEO important data and metrics about the health and strength of your workforce that make it easier to manage and make key decisions. Things like:

• Ratings on key competencies
• Goal alignment and progress on goals
• Employee turnover
• High potential and high performing employees
• Low performing employees
• Retention risks and trends
• Performance improvements related to training
• Areas of strength
• Skill gaps
• Employees with special skills/experience/expertise
• Succession candidates

The list goes on.

Armed with this kind of data, CEOs and their executive teams can make faster, better decisions about succession, readiness to tackle a new market, ability to support strategic initiatives, training investments, who to layoff in a downturn, etc. and in general, better manage their most strategic asset – their workforce.

But reaping the benefits requires organizational commitment, and ideally, that should start at the C-level.

What do you think? Are you giving talent management the attention it deserves?

Strategy vs Tactics

I believe that a lot of my success in life has had to do with my strategy. A good strategy helps success come more easily.

Good strategy is not without its challenge and I really enjoyed the article on The Four Myths of Strategy that one of my friends e-mailed me.

Of course good strategy without good tactics and good implementation simply do not work. Good implementation is just table stakes - needed to be in the game.

The same is true in business as in life. Strategy might be to be healthy and tactics might be Success Habits that support healthy eating and exercise.

In the end you need both good strategy and good tactics to thrive.

E Pluribus Kinko's

I am reading a lot of great books lately. One of them is E Pluribus Kinko's - A Story of Business, Democracy, and Freaky Smart People by Dean Zatkowsky. E Pluribus Unum means one out of many.

What is interesting about the book is Dean is not the founder or president or even an owner of one of the stores. He was an employee in one of the stores who eventually worked his way into 2% ownership.

Kinko's is an amazing success story. They grew to almost a billion dollar business selling 10 cent items. And then they sold out to FedEx.

The book has many business "lessons". Like being open 24 hours dramatically increased business during the day. I know I may have even become a customer that way. I joined a health club that is open 24 hours although I have never been there after midnight or before 5. I just like the idea of it being accessible.

Kinko's hired Dean for "attitude and creativity" because skills can be taught. I agree with this (and would possibly add "intelligence" to the list).

There is a great chapter on Theory X vs Theory Why that should be required reading for leaders and HR people. Bottom line - self motivated people excel more than over controlled autocratically lead people.

There is a section on Kinko's philosophy statement and debate around it. At Kinko's it really did seem to make a difference. "Culture is built on stories".

Kinko's sounded like a lot of fun in the days Dean was there. It helps me realize that fun is one of the primary motivators for people. Keep a workplace fun and keep people and increase productivity, quality and even get more customers. The fun translated to a bit of humor in the book (like the woman who insisted the copier changed her paper and added spelling mistakes).

He told of people who cared about their customers. No wonder it was a success.

One concept raise was "Triorities" - the 3 things you need to do first. Sounds funny or crazy but I think it might be a great concept. The problem with priorities is they can overwhelm.

Dean is honest which adds to the poignancy of the book. He mentioned kicking a drug habit while working at Kinko's. And admitted to complaining daily about Kinko's while working there (absence does tend to make us nostalgic - we need to appreciate more the "good" we have today)

Dean is a writer so the book is well written (unlike some business books that are written by good business people who are do not write quite as well).

Walking Problem Solving - perfect exercise

One of my friends, Heléne Olsson, Directora General of KAIROS FUTURE ESPAÑA responded to my post about Sketch Shape Up Shoes:

Talking about shoes, and walking, let' me introduce you to the concept of
"Power Walks", This is something I recommend in leadership and time
management, and which I practice with my people and customers, when
suitable.

When you get stuck in business, or when you need to talk through
important issues with a customer, colleague, collaborator or superior,
it's time for a "Power Walk". This means having a meeting, just two
persons, getting out of the office, having a brisk walk together for
around an hour, preferably in a park or at a place you do not need to
stop, just go on walking.

The advantages of this are:

1. You take better and quicker decisions than in a meeting room, because
you are walking, not sitting comfortable.

2. You get better inspiration because the environment creates collateral
thinking.

3. You feel better because you make a kind of soft exercise, pumping the
blood up to the brain and around your body, and breathe fresh air
(hopefully).

4. The confidence is higher with the second person, because "walking the
talk" creates trust and is powerful. The small talk helps to cement the
trust.

5. It’s tremendously easy and yet so surprising what you get out of it.

6. Cheap!

Now...

- put a clear purpose of the Power Walk, before walking
- one of the two knows the path to walk in beforehand
- only do it in-between two persons, communication is not good enough with
more people walking together
- don't answer the mobile or connect yourself meanwhile
- walk briskly, not strolling around
- make a small résumé of max 3 bullet points of the output when connected
again