There are ten ways to shorten your stay in the problem.

There are ten ways to shorten your stay in the problem.

The first one is that you need to take responsibility for your actions. Winston Churchill said “the price of greatness is responsibility.” I know that is a radical idea in today’s society, but just give it a try.

Secondly, be willing to work for what you want. God gave Israel one supernatural victory at Jericho, but they had to fight for every inch thereafter. Wealth without work will destroy you. God provide worms for birds, but he doesn’t throw them down their throats.

Third, don’t waste time fighting what you cannot change.

Fourth, when you are wrong, admit it and take the consequences. Stop playing the blame game and being the eternal victim.

Fifth, you will extend your time in the problem by nursing a grudge and refusing forgiveness.

Sixth, be generous to those who need your help. The Bible says “Give and it will be given unto you.” Giving is the only proof you have that the cancer of greed does not control you.

Seventh, let your mouth be ruled by the law of kindness. Simply, love others around you.

Eighth, refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal. Accept the fact that no one gets through life without some sorrow or misfortune.

The ninth way to shorten your time in the problem is to listen to others! This means giving people your individual attention and putting aside your feelings and trying to understand their point of view.

Finally the tenth, be a peace maker. Are you in a dispute with someone? It is your responsibility to go to them and reconcile. Do you want to be right or be reconciled?

God sends the problem to produce brokenness in your spirit because God can only use broken things.

Characteristics of a Good Project Manager

1. Good Organiser: Information, Reports, meetings, communications.

2. Excellent communicator: differentiate between “thorough and timely communication” and “information overload”. 

3. Negotiator

4. Good People Manager (Trust Worthy + Good Listener + a Confident Leader): The Project Manager must be ready to take charge and not afraid to make tough or unpopular decisions.  They also must be ready to fight for their project, their customer, and/or their team members.  That could be escalating issues – including resource availability issues – to executive management in order to ensure the success of their project.

5. Problem solver

6. Doing what you say and saying what you do: The Project Manager should do what they say they are going to do. PMs, if you set up smoke screens and miss deadlines because you’re too busy, then the rest of the team will see that and sense that deadlines are merely suggestions. Respect will be lost and the project timelines may ultimately be affected. 

7. Well Connected in the Organization

8. Passionate about the task/Project

Managing project stakeholders

Stakeholders are the people or groups, that are impacted by the project and its deliverables. Effective stakeholder management is crucial to project success.  Even if you finish a project on time, on budget, and with high quality, the project is only a success if the stakeholder agrees. The process entails Identifying, Analysing and Managing the stakeholders and their needs in an iterative manner.

A. Identifying:

You can’t start managing stakeholders until you know who they are.  Who are the main groups or departments affected by your project? Examples of any project stakeholders in random order are:

1. Project Manager(s)
2. Project Team
3. Management [Project Sponser, Functional (Resource) Managers, Decision makers, Veto power holders]
4. Customers (Supply requirements, Provide funding)
5. Fedral/Central or state Govt.
6. Advocates, opponents and By-standers 

B. Nominate:

In each groups you have identified pick someone to be the key individual. Who are the key opinion leaders within their groups? You may find that key people nominate themselves, which makes your role easier: it is better to work with people who want to be involved than those who you have to drag into the project.  Your key, nominated stakeholders should ideally be people who are directly affected, with enough authority to make decisions about things that touch their departments.  They are the person who you will use to channel communication back to their group.

C. Feel:

Influence and Interest are the two main variables of stakeholder engagement. If a stakeholder is interested but not influential they are not a priority. If a stakeholder is influential but not interested they can become a trouble for the project.

Contact them and explain about the project.  Get them onboard and coming to project meetings if necessary.  All this will help you understand how they feel about the work you are doing.  Do they support the project?  Or would they rather it was stopped now? What are the relationships between the groups? Ideally it is harmonious but at the other extreme there may be real or perceived problems between the different groups. What are the barriers to this group participating?

Your stakeholders may bring a mix of competing interests and will often act to further their own power, influence and survival. Such political maneuvering is often disguised as impartial and rational argument. Think about who are your major stakeholders. Think about what you will say to them to get each of them on side.

D. Observe: 

Having established where your key stakeholders sit in relation to the project you can start to influence their attitudes.  The aim is to watch people over time, and help them move towards a positive way of thinking: a way that will help you achieve your aims.  Keep a close eye on people as their opinions will swing between positive and negative over the life of a project.  A one-off analysis exercise is never enough: you have to continually monitor how people are reacting and manage accordingly.

E. Review: 

People and job roles change. If you notice that their influence is slipping away, or they are less inclined to come to meetings or respond to emails, then ask them if they still want to be involved.  If they say no, they could suggest someone else who would be a relevant addition to the team.  Make sure you brief any new stakeholder representative on their roles and responsibilities, decisions in the pipeline and what decisions you will expect of them in future.

G. Manage: 

The last step is to monitor and manage your stakeholders and their expectations as the project progresses - not just at the outset and when you need something from them.  Put a note in your diary to give your key stakeholder representatives a quick call every now and then just to keep them up to date.  This will help promote the project and also ensure the stakeholder concerned is mindful of the work being done.  It can also help build your reputation as an excellent project manager!  At the end of the project, thank them and manage them out of the team.  You want a good relationship with them, that could last over many projects, but you don’t want to be their personal helpline six months after the project has finished, so make sure they know who now has operational responsibility now the project has closed.

The acronym formed by these six steps is INFORM. 

It is likely that this will be an iterative process.

Managing stakeholder needs:

• Firstly, have agreement on the goals of the project. The goals must be clear and understood by all stakeholders. Listen and find out what needs to be done.  Get all of the key stakeholders to work with you in devising the goals that will define the success of your program. Getting their input during the initial stages will give them a genuine "stake" in your program. Goal setting done well engages stakeholders and commits them to the program. Unless you have a well thought out strategy for dealing with negative reactions, the resisters to your goals will try to wear you down. Find out which of your resisters are actively fighting out in the open and which are working from the underground. Sometimes the reasons given for resisting change are a smokescreen. In these cases, you will need to do some digging to reveal the real reasons for the resistance. In some instances, resistance is a natural reaction to the propose changes. Document your understanding as project charter and statement of work (SOW).
  
• Second, there must be a plan that shows the overall path, clear responsibilities, and is used to measure the progress of the project. Implement the actions to resolve the stakeholder’s issues. Try to involve the stakeholder in the action plan to facilitate more buy-in and engagement. You may use a responsibility matrix 
  
• Third, is to have constant, effective communication among everyone involved in the project. Report back on what you did and what the outcomes were to seek stakeholder satisfisfaction. Ask your stakeholders at the beginning of the project how they would like to stay informed and make sure you give it to them.  Happy, informed, positive stakeholders will make it a lot easier for you to deliver your project successfully. 
• Fourth is to have a controlled scope. Everyone involved in the project must understand exactly what the project will accomplish i.e. managing stakeholder expectations. Include Change Management
• Fifth is to have management support. You may not have the authority to make all the necessary decisions. You may have to rely on others to make the decisions so they must be effective at guiding other to make timely decision. Some people call it as “managing upward.”

Stakeholder Mapping:

Have a communication plan. In general terms the purpose is to manage project stakeholders and their expectations and to ensure clear and accurate project information is given out:

• Responsible - usually project participants need detailed project information and it must support their ability to participate on the project with their responsibilities
  
• Accountable - typically management are accountable and they want a clear, concise summary of progress and what risks there might be currently to a successful project
  
• Consult - usually impacted by the project and will wish to influence the project even if not participating directly; this group may also include experts such as quality and compliance. Typically need one level of detail greater than management that allows them to conclude that the project is "on track"
  
• Inform - usually the end users of the project and their support and commitment must be built over time starting from awareness, through understanding to mobilisation for change. Typically need to tell people why you are communicating [awareness, information, action...] and include a management style summary with a strong focus on benefits or what is in it for them
  

The acronym formed by these 4 steps is RACI

EXPLORE:

Managing stakeholder relations

Assessing stakeholder importance: an instrumental perspective

Types of stakeholder relationship

Problems with stakeholder collaboration

Read all you can about leading, coaching and influencing people.

10. Organizational improvement - Six Sigma approach

As a manager, one of the critical part of the job is to identify and fix the problems which can improve business/customer satisfaction. It is important for you to involve your team in identification and resolution of the problems. This would ensure their long term commitment towards the identified mission.

There would be numerous problems that your team members would have identified individually which they may want to have improvement on. As a manager, you would first have to find the problem(s), which has the highest impact to the business success. Solution to each problem can be treated as a Project. Here is a systematic approach that can be used for problem solving at a team level, divided into 5 phases:

1. Problem Definition (Select the theme of the problem):

• The theme has to be selected by the team and you should act as the moderator. This ensures team commitment. Remember, that the theme should have an impact on the business, i.e. the goals of your organization.
• It would not be easy to arrive at a consensus on the theme selection, so you can start with narrowing down to about 5 themes. I leave the decision up to you as to how you come to such a list, but I would propose usage of <>.
• These themes should then be put through the "Test of Significance", which can be done with a technique as simple as voting.
• Research on "Theme Selection Matrix"
• Deliverable: Project Charter containing the Project theme.

2. Measurement of the problem:

• Collect data: Collect data on all aspects of the theme and the expectations/ valid requirements of the customer.
• Interpret the data: Measure the gap between "What Is - Current Situation/Baseline" and "What should be - Reasonable/Valid Requirements of the customer". This is also known as "Quality Indicators"
• Deduce the problem statement: State the cause not the effect, i.e. 'what' is wrong not 'why'; focus the gap identified; measurable - 'how often', 'how much', 'when'; specific - should not be an ambiguous or a broad category; positive - not a question; focus on the pain - impact on customer. AVOID: Why; Lack of; Due to; etc.
• Derive the mission statement: The Goal that the team wishes to achieve. Should take into consideration the constraints of the project - Time, Budget, Resources etc.
• Deliverable: Problem Statement and Mission statement
  

3. Analysis:

• Identify the root cause of the problem till you get actionable root causes. Do not look at the symptoms. You can use any technique for this but I would propose usage of Cause and Effect Analysis
  
• Select the root cause with maximum impact
• Deliverable: Root Cause of the problem
  

4. Improvement:

• Develop/brainstorm solutions (countermeasures) attacking the root causes
• Measure their effectiveness in eliminating/reducing the root cause, at an optimal cost i.e. which requires minimal changes in existing setup
• Create an action plan which answer 'who', 'what', 'when', 'where' and 'how'. Also add the aids required and constraints, if any
  
• Get management approval
• Implement the solution(s)
• Measure if the root cause has been reduced/eliminated after solution implementation
• Check if the mission statement has been met after countermeasures have been applied, using Quality Indicators
  
• Deliverable: Proposed solution approved and implemented. Achieved mission statement
  

5. Institutionalization:

• Prevent the problem and it's root cause from recurring, by standardizing the solution as part of daily work
• Train the participants of the process/workflow 
• Document the Learnings
• Deliverable: Revised process/workflow; updated Learning Diary

At what level in the organization are the problems best solved:

Following factors determine the level at which the problem should be solved:

1. Solution at the source of the problem
   
2. Shortest path of communication
   
3. Data not distorted
4. Best for future prevention of the problem
5. Least 'political' involvement
6. Most timely
7. Lowest cost
8. Provides direct satisfaction

What Analytical tools you can research and use:

1. Checksheet: Gather variety of data in a systematic manner.  Get answers to questions : What, Where, When, Who, How. It does not venture into Why.
2. Stratification: Breaking the whole into smaller related sub-groups.
   
3. Histogram: To check the dispersion or spread of the data at hand. Caters to just one variable. Similar to a column graph but having 6-12 touching bars.
4. Scatter Diagram: To show the relationship or correlation (positive or negative) between two variables. Driving factor is mostly on the X Axis.
5. Graphs: Bar Chart, Column Chart, Line Graph (Solid lines for actual data and dotted lines for projections), Pie Chart, etc.
   
6. Pareto Chart: Is a search of significance. Pareto Analysis implements the famous 80-20 rule. Bars are arranged in descending order from left to right.
7. Cause and Effect Analysis (Diagram): Used for getting to the root cause of a problem. Ask Why till you get absurd, or political answer or no answer at all. The diagram is also known as Fish-bone diagram/Ishikawa diagram. From left to right it reads, c3 has caused c2, which has caused c1 and so on. 
8. Countermeasure Matrix: The column structure is: Problem; Root Causes; Counter Measures; Practical Methods(Task level); Effectiveness;  Feasibility;Overall(Impact=Effectiveness X Feasibility); Action(Yes/No).
9. Control Chart: A Trend chart (typically line graph) which tracks an ongoing process to see if it is within the limits or is under control. Typically X Axis tracks time and Y Axis tracks the factor being studied. The factor is plotted for average, Upper Control limit and Lower Control limit. When fluctuations occur at a non-random pattern or go outside the control limit, it creates an opportunity for improvement.

While dealing with data, you need to understand the kind of data:

1. A Zero-base problem - Ideal situation is to reduce it to Zero. e.g. Defects, troubles, error, calls.
   
2. An increase problem - e.g. Sales, reliability.
   
3. A reduction problem - Should be less, but we cannot do without. e.g. Inventory, cost, staffing.
   

What Team management tools you can research and use:

1. Theme Selection Matrix: The column structure is: Themes; Impact on customer; Scope of improvement; Total Score (Impact X Scope of Improvement).
2. IN/OUT SCOPE: Answer What, When, Where, Who for the scope.
3. Elevator Speech: To align the team to bring common understanding of the purpose. Each team member has to write and speak out a short note on what is involved in the project and how the success will look like, as if he will meet a key stakeholder in an elevator for 90 seconds. Team members brainstorm and arrives at a common final speech which is rehearsed by each member in front of the team.
4. Force Field Analysis: To assess the forces in the external and internal environment that will make the change (project implementation) last or the ones which will hinder the change in the long run. Working space is divided into 2 parts - Enablers & Restraints and the marked as high, medium and low. Match the enablers and restraints which balance each other and prepare the action plan for the remaining restraints. Unaddressed restraints become the constraint of the project.  
5. Activity Chart: It has the following columns: S.No.; Activity; Responsibility; Support; Deadline; Actual Date of completion; Comments.  
6. Story Board
7. Cost Benefit Analysis

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Derived From DMAIC (a basic component of the Six Sigma methodology):

DMAIC was developed by Edwards Deming and is useful in improving an existing business process to reduce defects. The DMAIC methodology includes five steps including; Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. Here is some information regarding each step.

Define: Define is the first step in the process. In this step, it is important to define specific goals in achieving outcomes that are consistent with both your customer's demands and your own business's strategy. In essence, you are laying down a road map for accomplishment.

Measure: In order to determine whether or not defects have been reduced, you need a base measurement. In this step, accurate measurements must be made and relevant data must be collected so that future comparisons can be measured to determine whether or not defects have been reduced.

Analyze: Analysis is extremely important to determine relationships and the factors of causality. If you are trying to understand how to fix a problem, cause and effect is extremely necessary and must be considered.

Improve: Making improvements or optimizing your processes based on measurements and analysis can ensure that defects are lowered and processes are streamlined.

Control: This is the last step in the DMAIC methodology. Control ensures that any variances stand out and are corrected before they can influence a process negatively causing defects. Controls can be in the form of pilot runs to determine if the processes are capable and then once data is collected, a process can transition into standard production. However, continued measurement and analysis must ensue to keep processes on track and free of defects below the Six Sigma limit.

7. Are you a Good Listener

In case you feel that this content or any part of it is Copyright of someone else, please leave your comment with the link to the source, and I will remove it.
Most of the times we feel that we all are good listeners. I recently attended a series of training sessions by Raja Chidambaram which gave me fresh insight towards this topic. Some part of this post may have specific Indian Context but most of it is global in nature.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
When we say 'LISTEN' to a kid or to a co-worker, do we actually want him to Listen or do we want him to:

• Shut up, stop talking
• Agree to what I am saying
• Obey to what I am asking you to do

Do we become a good listener in case we abide by the above stated points, or we can do something else which can actually establish us as a good listener not just in our own perception but also in other's?

The person who wants to communicate something is the 'Sender' and the person to whom this communication is directed is the 'Receiver'.

Know the deterrents to Effective Listening:

1. Detectable by the 'Sender' (Sin):

• Permitting the speaker to be inaudible
• Withdrawing or Day dreaming
• Over reacting to certain words, phrases
• Getting over simulated when questioning or opposing an idea

2. Only your ('Receiver') mind knows:

• Assuming in advance that the subject is uninteresting and unimportant
• 'I know what's coming' syndrome
• Mentally criticizing the speaker's delivery
• Pretending to be attentive
• Listening only to the facts, wanting to skip the details

How to Practice Active Listening:

1. Know, what are you Listening FOR. Know your intent.

2. Create a listening atmosphere. Sit beside the Sender, if possible at 90 degree (Avoid 180 degrees with a table in between). Look, act and be interested. Don't read emails or tap papers while others are talking. Resist Distraction.

3. Stop Talking. To others, but most importantly to yourself. It is very difficult to still the voice within but it can be done with Practice. Remember, you cannot listen if you are talking. Suspend all personal Judgement or evaluation and try to focus on recording what is being transmitted by the Sender. You will not forget that point that you got reminded of just when he said that, and you had a sudden urge to barge in to make it. And even if you do forget it later, believe me, it was not that important.

4. Listen to specific content - who, what, where, when, why, how... Listen between the lines, for implicit meanings as well as the explicit ones. Observe nonverbal bahaviour, like Body language, to glean meanings beyond what is said to you. Observe the tone of voice, specific feeling, words etc. Imagine the other person's point of view. Picture yourself in hia position, doing hia work, facing his problems, using his language and having his values.

5. Don't interupt, Acknowledge. Sit still past your tolerance level. Resist the temptation to jump in with an evaluative or critical comment. Confine yourself to constructive replies. Look for omissions - things left unsaid or unexplained, which should be logically present. Ask about these.

6. Paraphrase. Rephrase (As a recorder, do not alter content or add evaluation) what the other person has just told you at key points in the conversation.

Assumptions about Listening which can be Blocking:

1. If I Listen I have to agree.

2. If I do not agree I should state it as soon as the point is made.

3. Previous bias/experience with the 'Sender'

4. Feeling of superiority over the 'Sender'

5. 'How many times will we discuss this topic.'

5. Conflict Management

Conflict is defined as a process of social interaction involving a struggle over claims to resources, power and status, preferences and desires.

 

People frequently use the terms dispute and conflict interchangeably but they are not synonymous.  Conflict is a process; a dispute may be one of several products of conflict. . . . Whereas conflict is often ongoing, amorphous, and intangible, a dispute is tangible and concrete–it has issues, positions, and expectations for relief.”

“Conflict in an organization shows up in several ways:

1. Disputes . . . 

2. Competition . . . 

3. Sabotage . . . 

4. Inefficiency/lack of productivity . . . 

5. Low morale . . . 

6. Withholding knowledge . . . 

It is normally believed that conflict must be managed not only to increase the satisfaction of the team members, but also to achieve strategic project success. That, project team member satisfaction decreases substantially with higher intensity conflict at the organization level, and even more strongly at the project level.

Conflicts at organisational levels:

Conflicts in an organization can have two different kind of outcomes, based on how conflicts are managed:

A. Positive outcomes:

• May stimulate innovation and growth
• Improved decision making
• Alternative solutions to the problems may be found
• Enhanced individual or group performance
• Clarity of communication and position 

B. Negative outcomes:

• May cause Job stress and dis-satisfaction
• Reduced communication
• Climate of distrust and suspicion may develop
• Relationships may be damaged
• Job performance may decrease
• Resistance to change may increase 

The role of a mediator/manager would be to increase the positive outcomes and reduce the negative ones.

Classical view saw conflict as undesirable and detrimental for the organizations. They believed that for achieving organisational effectiveness, conflicts should be minimized by - rules and procedures, hierarchy, channel of command, which could increase harmony and cooperation. Thus taking the route of avoidance, suppression and compromise.

This view has seen a lot of change since Mid 20th Century. The view moved to organisations being capable of recognising the problems it faces and developing ways to solve these problems. Thus building in conflict resolution procedures into the organisations.

Lately the view has changed to explicit encouragement of opposition. Conflict management in such case is both stimulation and resolution of  conflicts, which is a major responsibility of managers. Conflicts within certain limits when handled constructively is essential to the productivity.

Thus too little conflict many encourage stagnancy, mediocrity and too much conflict may lead to organisational disintegration.

Two conflict management styles—confronting and give and take—may have beneficial effects on success at the organization level. Confrontation—that is, true problem solving—is essential at the project level, even if a give-and-take style is better tolerated at the organization level. Smoothing, withdrawal, and forcing may all have negative effects.

  

Intra-Team OR Interpersonal Conflicts:

Task conflicts are disagreements amongst the team members on performance related activities, i.e. actual task or process of doing the task or delegating resources or duties. Task conflicts can be beneficial if managed collaboratively.

Non-task conflicts based on social events, gossip, clothing preferences, political views, hobbies,  personality clashes and interpersonal antagonisms. These are mostly detrimental to team performance and morale.

Collaboration at work can help resolve task conflicts and collaboration outside the work settings, 'Off-line' can help manage the Non-task conflicts. Collaboration includes teamwork, developing trust, open task conflict communication norms. 

Team ground rules, group norms and solid project management practices like communication planning and role definition can help reduce the amount of disruptive conflicts. Project team members should be initially responsible to resolve their own conflicts. "If you build it, they may or may not use it.  On the other hand, if they build it, they will use it, refine it, tell others about it, and make it their own."

Some examples of Rules/Guidelines to help team members work through conflicts:

1. Conflict should be handled openly. "Give them two options: confront the conflict and handle it, or let it go,"

2. Conflicts should be addressed directly and as soon as they are seen breeding.

3. Build cohesion and trust. It's also easier to manage conflict when the team members know each other on a personal level. Ask each one to give a three-minute personal and professional update at the beginning of meetings.

4. Stick to the facts

5. Lead by example. Practice full disclosure. In an argument or discussion, team members should reveal all of their arguments and make it clear why they have taken a particular position.

If it escalates, manager should help facilitate resolving the conflict. Such conflict should be handled early, in private using a direct and collaborative approach. Manager should also keep a lookout for unresolved issues which may lead to conflicts amongst the team members.

How to handle interpersonal conflicts can also be documented guidelines at the organisational level or dependent on the situation one or a mix of the below mentioned style can be adopted:

Level 1: Preventive

• Partnering or collaboration (includes Teamwork, developing trust)
  
• Consensus building
• Joint problem solving
  
• Negotiating

Level 2: Advisory

• Early neutral evaluation

Level 3: Facilitated

• Mediation
  
• Conciliation
  

Level 4: Fact-Finding

• Neutral expert fact finding

Level 5: Nonbinding arbitration

Level 6: Imposed

• Binding arbitration
  

Further Reading:

Managing Conflict in Organisations - 3rd Edition - M Afzalur Rahim

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge PMBOK - 3rd Edition 

The Blackwell handbook of principles of organizational behavior - Edwin A. Locke

http://harvardbusiness.org

4. Consensus building - A Decision making style

Decision making is another critical part of the role of a manager. The most sought of style of decision making in the 'Consensus' building. This style is used when everyone's involvement and proper support is required for the success of the implementation. A big consensus can be treated as composed of a series of little agreements.

 

There are a lot of advantages of Consensus Decision making:

• Full discussion (open communication) and hence discovery is enabled
• High quality decisions are arrived
• It is understood/supported by everyone and promotes fairness
• Non-ownership is avoided, so the decisions become self implementing and require little monitoring

Here are the ground rules of Consensus building:

1. Create an open and trusting climate: No fear of attack or ridicules
   
2. Explore differences of opinions: It helps is getting additional information, clarifications and seeking better alternatives. Group's final idea will be usually superior than the original idea.
3. Support one another's ideas.
4. Hold off judging ideas: Do not evaluate idea before it is presented and discussed.
5. Evaluate ideas objectively: See the merit of the idea without the bias for the presenter.
6. Avoid trying to 'Win': Let the discussion not become a personal contest.
7. Discuss till sufficient agreement exists: 100% agreement may not be realistic.
8. Do not opt for voting: It will split the group and make opposing camps.   

Fast Group Decision making:

1. Perform individual ranking without changing your mind based on other's input.
2. Use it for calculating the group ranking.
3. Get the expert ranking.
4. See the Group Score = Expert Ranking - Group Ranking. It will give you an idea on areas which may require some discussion.

Some of the disadvantages of Consensus Decision making are:

• It is time consuming
• It is frustrating for the SMEs (Subject matter experts)
• Some managers feel that it can be threatening to the 'Power Structure'
• Requires skills/trainings/discipline from the partcipants

The other styles of Decision making are:

1. Majority (Democratic Voting): May be used when decision would be impacting very large number of people which is too large for consensus building.
2. Autocratic: Crisis situation requiring urgent expert intervention.
3. Minority Rule: A minority of members make the decision and others are mostly quite.
4. Non-decision: This is situational where the cost of taking a decision is more than not taking a decision.

3. Time management

Being a manager, your time management becomes very important. Unless you manage your time effectively, no amount of ability, skill, experience or knowledge will make you effective and dependable. You will also have to understand that you have a dual responsibility: managing your time and managing the time of your team members.

Time is:

• Is a unique resource
  
• It cannot be accumulated like money
  
• It cannot be stored like raw material
  
• We are forced to spend it, whether we like it or not, at a fixed rate of 60 secs per min.
  
• It cannot be turned on or off like a machine
  
• It cannot be replaced like a man
  
• It is irretrievable
  
• What is lost is lost
  
• What is lost is a part of our life
  

Time management refers to the development of processes and tools that increase efficiency and productivity. Managing our time to waste less time on doing the things we have to do, so we have more time to do the things we want to do. 

There are 2 types of time wasters:

1. Internal (We should try to minimize these for self):

• Lack of objectives
  
• Lack of priorities, deadlines, daily planning
  
• Leaving tasks unfinished
  
• Attempting too much and unrealistic time estimates
  
• Indecision and procrastination
  
• Inability to say “NO”
  
• Ineffective delegation and involvement in detail
  
• Management by crisis
• Lack of personal organization/discipline
• Cluttered desk 
• Daydreaming
• Worry, Stress

2. External (We should try to minimize these for the team):

• Meetings (scheduled & unscheduled)
  
• Telephone interruptions
  
• Drop-in visitors
  
• Unclear communications; inadequate, inaccurate or delayed information
  
• Waiting, Resource Sharing
  
• Lack of clear goals, objectives, priorities
  
• Confused responsibility and authority

Major Time Stealers:

1. Perfectionism:

• Decide that you don’t have to please everyone
  
• Let go – don’t be a perfectionist
• Resist the temptation to do small, insignificant tasks too well 
• Outsource what you can
• Know when to stop

2. Interruptions:

• Constant day-to-day interruptions are huge time-wasters for people
  • Unnecessary visits
    
  • Unplanned social conversations and meetings
• Self-sabotage is another form of wasting time
  • Procrastination
    
  • Perfectionism

3. Stress:

• Demanding bosses 
  
• Mergers, Layoffs, Downsizing
  
• Scramble to handle to kids' activities
  
• Adult care issues
  
• Financial problems 
  
• Beepers, Cell phone, E-mail 24/7 
  
• Harassment, Bullying
  
• Family illness or grief, separation or divorce
  
• Illness, Loneliness, Pain
  
• Perfectionism
  

4. Meetings:

• Understand the Essence of a meeting:  It is a forum for communication, an opportunity to build team unity, a chance to foster creativity, a place to share resources optimally, group brainstorming, problem solving.
• 
  
  
  

The Trick - Where to start:

A. Create a Time Log:

• Write down everything you do for a period of time
  
• Learn how you really spend your time
  
• Identify areas where you can improve your use of time
  

B. Analyse 

1. By who takes your time:

• Customer-imposed (external/internal)
  
• Sub-ordinate-imposed
• Boss-imposed
• Colleague-imposed
• System-imposed
• Self-imposed

2. By type of work:

• Admin time (routine)
• Executive time (planning, thinking, exploring, deciding)
• Operational time (“the job”)
• Communication time (giving and receiving)
• Supervision time
• Wasted time

3. By Quality of work:

• Maintenance
  
• Crisis Prevention
• Performance Improvement(better, cheaper, faster)
• Change Management(new ideas, new services, new products)

C. Plan your investment:

• Know your energy cycle: Everyone has a specific period in the day when the maximum work gets done
  
• Plan for your day, everyday. Create a To-do List, what needs to be done yourself, what can be delegated and what needs your followup
• Examples of High Energy Tasks are: Designing, Programming, Writing Reports, Planning, Debugging etc
• Examples of Low energy tasks are: Meetings, Opening/Sorting Mail, Responding to Correspondence, Collecting data etc
• Save the easiest tasks for the end of the day
  

Knowing when not to work is as important as knowing when to work. There are two dimensions of every task that can be factored to decide your role in it.

• Importance OR criticality
• Urgency
  

All tasks can be defined into 4 quadrants based on this brief analysis:

1. Quadrant 1 (Reactive Tasks : Urgent and Important) : 

• Crisis
  
• Pressing Problems
• Deadline-Driven Projects

2. Quadrant 2 (Proactive Tasks : Non-urgent but Important)

• Prevention
  
• Planning
• Relationship Building
• Research

3. Quadrant 3 (Someone else's priority : Urgent but not Important)

• Interruptions
  
• Email
• Phone Calls
• Meetings

4. Quadrant 4 (Time Wasters : Non-urgent and not Important)

• Trivia, Busy Work
  
• Time Wasters
• Pleasant Activities

How to manage (For self):

1. Planning:

• Planning is the methods or ways of proceeding which are thought out in advance. 
  
• Planning is a management tool to choose a desired future (goal) and develop an approach to achieve it.
• Planning is the process of utilizing available resources and organizing them in the most effective way to meet an objective within laid down parameters and constraints.
• In practical terms, a plan is the document that details every resource, every action, every requirement of time, location & responsibility, every act of coordination, monitoring and decision making
  
• 6 Ms of planning: Materials, Machines, Men, Money, Minutes, Methods
• Planning model: Loop (Set Objectives; Identify Resources; Identify Constraints; Establish Priorities; Step by Step Plan; Monitor/Control; Task Analysis)
• “A good plan executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week” - G.Patton
•  Rules of Planning:
  • Start with a strong mission
  • Set Stretch goals
  • Create an environment that encourages implementation
  • Encourage all in team to develop planning skills
  • Make continuous improvement a way of life
• Break down large tasks to smaller tasks
• Contingency Planning: Preparation of a course of action to meet a situation that is not expected, but that, if it occurs, will have a significant impact on the organization / project.
• Prioritizing: "Prioritizing means determining the relative importance and precedence of events.  And it is absolutely necessary for effective planning.  Prioritizing keeps us from spending time on things we don’t really value.” - Hyrum Smith
• You can have custom buckets for Priority, but more than 3 will become difficult to handle:
  • Top priority - Must do
  • Medium priority - Good, but not essential
  • Low priority - Can live without
• Scheduling: It means to use the available resources to best effect. Structure in adequate time for all stages of the work, then review and revise often. Sometimes, you may want to check in with colleagues and clients

2. Implement:

• Loop [Building a capable department; Allocating Resources; Exercising Leadership; Installing Support Systems; Establishing Goal supportive policies; Shaping Culture to Fit Strategy; Tying Rewards to Achievement of Key Targets; Instituting Best Practices for Continuous Improvement]
  
• Do nothing you can delegate
• Avoid Perfectionism 
• Divorce yourself from detail
• Take initiative
• Encourage teamwork

3. Controlling:

• Management process designed to keep deviations from planned activities to the minimum
  
• It measures the achievement of the group
• Indicates whether there have been departure from plans
• It is a continuous process: Loop [Establish standards (derived from goals); Observe actual performance; Evaluate deviations; Take appropriate action(correct deviations)]
• Set standards for: Quality, Quantity, Cost, Time 

How to manage (For Team):

• Set S.M.A.R.T.E.R. Goals for the team members
  

Finally, remember:

• Time is money
  
• There is never enough time to do a job right, but always time to do it over - we should not rush through our work at the risk of error
  
• If you want time, you must make time - we need to allocate time according to our priorities
  
• A job will fill all of the time allocated for it - poor planning and procrastination are time wasters
  
• Have the time of your life - good time management will allow you to fulfill your personal and professional goals
  
• It takes time to save time.
  

2. Business Etiquette

As a manager one core development and training area for you would be Business Etiquettes...(How to be Courteous and Professional)

Here are some check points that you should consider: 

• Do not answer phone calls or chew gum when in a meeting
  
• Do not wear sloppy clothing
  
• Do not ignore people who have just joined the group/meeting
  
• If you borrow equipment, return it promptly and in good condition
  
• Do not tell off-colored jokes
  
• Do not barge into someone's office. Knock the door before entering, if the door is closed
  
• Shake Hands
  
• Look in the eyes of the person who is speaking
  
• Fill in paper in the copier or printer when you consume it all
  
• Do not drink too much in office party
  
• Do not use inappropriate greetings
  
• Do not hang up without apologizing when you get the wrong number
  

Some Areas of focus:

1. Personal Appearance:

a. Outfit should not be against what goes in the office. (Black/Blue/Greys...)

b. Grooming Requirements:

• Trimmed, clean and styled hair
  
• Clean shaven shave with no 5'0 Clock shadow
  
• Well trimmed Moustache and Beard
  
• Clean and polished finger nails
  
• Fresh Breath
  
• Brushed teeth
• Strong and solid posture

c. Others:

• Double-breasted jacket should always be buttoned.
  
• Tip of the tie should extend to the middle of the belt and no longer than the top of the belt.
  
• Linen wrinkles easily. Should be used when it is blended with polyester, Rayon or ecryillic
• Shirts should always be long sleeved (Even in summers), so that the cuff shows half-inch below the jacket.
• For men 100% cotton is best fabric choice and for women silk is a better choice.
• Suit jacket should be long enough to cover the buttocks.
• Power colors for suits are navy/charcoal, MediumBlue/gray,  (Avoid Brown). Black can be intimidating. Use Black shoes, white cotton shirts, black shirt/pin stripe shirt. All weather overcoat. Solid, stripped, patterned ties. Leather bag.
• Color of the tie should contrast with the color of the jacket
• Do not wear tinted or photogray glasses
• Wear Leathered lace up shoes, slip on's are also ok
• Belt should match the color of the shoes.
• Do not wear tattered Jeans

2. Way you handle yourself at the job

a. Introduction: Do not ignore the person you do not know. Introduce/acknowledge by using the ABC technique while introduing a bunch of people. 

• A - By Authority/highest position
  
• B - Basic. Do not repeat the name more than once
  
• C - Clarify : background
  
• Remember/rehearse the name of people you have to introduce
  
• When in doubt, do not use first names
  

b. When you are introduced:

• Stand up
  
• Move towards the person
  
• Look pleasant
  
• Make eye contact
  
• Shake hands and return the introduction, repeat the name of the person you are being introduced to. People like to hear their own name
  

c. Hand Shake:

• Not loose and not bone breaking. Not with  both hands, one on top of the other. Firm, two or three shakes are enough.
  
• Extend your hand and say name at the same time, to let the other person know that your intention is to shake hands.
  
• Highest ranking person extends the hand first, if he does not, you should
  

d. Business Card:

• When to give - give at the end. At the start only if there are too many people
  

e. Small Talks (Establish Rapore)

Tuning in Techniques (SOFTEN)

• Smile
  
• Open posture - Attentive and listening to the speaker, do not cross your arms or legs, 
  
• Forward lean (Shows you are alert). Do not invade the space, stay about an arm's distance away.
  
• Tone of Voice
  
• Eye contact
  
• Nod shows agreement. Do not nod too much
  

Listening Manners

• Listen twice as much as you speak.
  
• Monitor your and other person's body language
  
• Tune out internal distractions. Set aside anything grabbing your attention. Focus at the matter at hand
  
• Don't inturupt
  
• Acting Appropriately at the time you need to talk
  
• Give feedback
  
• Repeat/paraphrase
  
• Clarify/Question
  
• Prompt the other person to continue speaking
  

Topics for small talks:

• Sports
  
• Music
  
• Avoid off colored jokes/personal life
  
• Break the ice (Opening line)
  
• Upbeat observation
  
• Open Ended question
  
• Revealation about yourself
  
• General Question
  

Opening doors 

• Whoever gets to the door first
  
• Revolving door, open for guest and wait for the guest to be out of the door
  

Business Appointment

• Sit up straight
  
• Do not tap feet or show impatience
  
• Sit next to the guest
  
• don't crowd the other person (3 ft away)
  
• don't touch the other person
  

Phone Etiquettes

• Identify yourself clearly
  
• Ask if it is good time to talk
  
• Leave your number if voice mail is encountered
  
• Tell that you are on speaker phone and that who is with you
  
• First call takes priority
  
• Deal with distractions
  
• No offensive statement, do not put people on defensive
  
• Close the conversation - summarize and thanks
  

Copier machine

• Priority to smaller job if you are going to take long
  
• Replace the machine with paper incase it runs out
  
• Reset the copier to one if you take muliple copies
  

3. How you function at social events related to your job:

• Do not get too familiar with your boss
  
• Do not gossip/ give negative comments for your colleagues
  
• Introduce your spouse
  

4. Entertaining your client:

• Dress appropriately
  
• Make sure that your client has a good time - Plan ahead for food, drinks, travel etc.
  
• Be knowledgeable about the event and confident
  
• Know more about your client, interests, family, personality
  

Restuarant

• Host pays the meal. The one to invite.
  
• Let them know what you want to discuss. Let them know if someone else is joining in, don't assume.
  
• Call a day before or in the morning to confirm
  
• Host to get to the restuarant before guest
  
• Wait for at least 15 minutes before calling if the guest is late
  
• Host should lead the way
  
• Best seat goes to the guest, host sits to the left of the guest
  
• Get enough money/credit card
  
• Don't push a drink to guest, if he does not, neither should you
  
• Don't get intoxicated
  
• If you are not a drinker, do not get one just because your guest does. Get a non-alcholic drink
  
• Forks are on the left, spoon and knife on the right. Spoon on the outside and the knife on the inside. Salad fork on the outside.
  
• Everyone should be served before you start eating
  
• Don't talk when you chew
  
• Don't play with your food
  
• Don't blow on your coffee and soup
  
• Don't chew ice cubes
  
• Don't eat with your fingers
  
• Don't go for the smoking area unless your guest specifically requests it
  
• Delay smoking untill everyone has finished or almost finished and coffee and desserts have been served
  
• Pay with credit card if possible
  
• Tip a little more for good service, also for car park and coat hungup
  

To Waiters

• Be polite
  
• Don't snap your fingers
  
• Use name of the servers/eye contact/ raise a finger to attract attention
  

5. Praise people

• In writing, Thank you note as quickly as possible, within 24 hours
  
• Double check that the names have been written correctly
  
• Keep it short, in your hand incase you have a good handwriting. It make it more personal
  
• Friendly and familiar tone rather than formal
  

Some Myths/Fallacies

• It takes more time if you do things politely.
  
• People will take advantage of you if you do not act tough. You can intimidate some people but not everyone
  
• Manners stifles your personality
  

1. Where to start

Factors that distinguish a good manager from an average manager are:

• Communication Skills: Consider the content, tone, choice of words, Body language and the overall behaviour while communicating. This can be developed using training programs.

• Maturity: Ability to see the bigger picture, how to control ego and other emotions. This can be developed using training programs.

• Judgement and Discretion: Think of getting the monkey off your back for ever not fast. This is something that cannot be developed using training programs. It comes with experience. Like most of the disciples, you may expect that the first 2 years of your career as a manager will have only 20-25% pleasent experiences and the rest will be bad. This is where most learning would come from.

These factors help managers get respect and credibility of their subordinates.

Four pillars of Effective People Management:
1. Delegating

• On an average 70% of a manager's work (Task or Responsibility) can be delegated
• Delegation is not a choice, it is a risk to be taken. It is an imperitive mandatory tool to retain your high performers.
• Factors to consider delegation: Risk, Complexity, Visibility, Time Constraints, Interdependencies
• Whom to delegate depends on: Skill and Will
• Direct employee low in both skill and will
• Guide employee high in will but low in skill
• Excite employee low in will but high in skill
• Delegate to employee high in both skill and will

2. Setting Goals (What to do i.e. Desired Results)

• SMARTER (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound, Enjoyable and Rewarding)
• Measurability in terms of Time, Quality, Quantity and Cost
• Relevance should be in sync with the team, company direction and the individual

3. Setting Expectations (How to do i.e Standard of Conduct or performance)

• How often would you like to meet formally. Agenda
• Best way to communicate with you
• How do you want them to handle conflicts with you or others
• How do you want them to work with the other team members & customers
• What are things they should avoid
• What are things they should do more often
• Behaviours or words you dislike

On an average, at each managerial position 30% of the time is wasted because of wrong expectation settings.

4. Coaching (Is initiated by employee)

• Managerial role here is only to Listen and ask right pointed questions
• Four components of coaching are : Goal, Reality, Options, Will
• Employee goals need some reality check (self reflection) which should be done using options (Self explored followed by suggested) which should be undertaken by employee willfully
• Idea is to have Employee engagement (Max satisfaction for employee and company). If employee is at maximum satisfaction and company is at minimum satisfaction, it is a free ride for the employee. If it is the opposite, it is a Burnout situation for the employee.
• Proactive Coaching (CoCo Framework - Coaching Counselling) is initiated by the manager. It may be for getting increase in the Will or Skill. Steps: Describe the gap; Create a pitch; Seek agreement; Discuss alternatives; Formulate an action plan; Review and track progress

Understanding Behavioural Styles of people:

• Natural Style: Self developed

• Borrowed Style: Which is undertaken for a specific place, a scenario or for a person; say an interview. Normally, it can last for only a few hours.

• Masked Style: When someone goes in a silent mode; say ducking your head to let the storm pass. It can last only for few minutes.

Time Distribution for the first 100 days as a manager:
When you become a manager, there are 5 factors that are new to you and for which you have to divide your time.

• New Role and its responsibilties.
• New Boss.
• New Peers
• New Team
• Multi-faceted challenges

Here is a thumb rule that can help in focussing on the right factors for settling fast in your new role.

1st 25 days focus - Role, Boss and Team

2nd 25 days focus - Role & Team ; Peers & Challenges

3rd 25 days focus - Team, Peers, Challenges

4rth 25 days focus - All five. Create a score card and assign flags: Red, Orange and Green. Effectively, your first focus should be Red, followed by Orange.

Finally:

• Learn to say 'No'
• Keep stakeholders in loop to avoid last minute surprises. Don't hope for miracles.
• Create your network in the organization
• Be polite yet direct
• Remember, your behaviour will be replicated by you team

Suggested Reading from the Press

1. The One minute Manager : Blanchard and Johnson
2. First, Break All the Rules : Buckingham and Coffman
3. Now, Discover your Strengths : Buckingham and Clifton
4. The Tao of Coaching : Landsberg
5. Execution : Charan and Bossidy
6. The Leadership Pipeline : Charan, Drotter and Noel
7. Difficult Conversation : Stone, Patton and Heen
8. Managing with Power : Pfeffer
9. Influence without Authority : Cohen and Bradford
10. The Obvious: All you need to know about Business. Period : Dale
11. Good to Great : Collins
12. Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: Morrison
13. The one Thing You Need to Know...About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success : Buckingham