Trateaza oamenii ca si cum in fiecare zi ar avea oferta de angajare pe masa

Imagine preluata de pe reteaua mea de contacte LinkedIn

Nu voi dezvolta foarte mult subiectul, e evident. Mai sunt cateva optiuni de a exprima cele de mai sus, le veti putea gasi pe net intr-o forma frumoasa. O sa fiu scurt si ma voi limitea la cateva avantaje pe care le-am vazut in cursul anilor. Un training bun si eficient ii face pe oameni sa fie performanti, sa aiba rezultate foarte bune intr-un timp mai scurt, dar mai ales sa ramana motivati ca sunt competitivi intr-o piata foarte dinamica.
Mai apoi, draga manager, daca poti sa tratezi oamenii din echipa ca si cum ar avea in fiecare zi 5 oferte pe masa si ar alege-o pe cea care sa insemne ca vin la tine in echipa, atunci ai ajuns sa intelegi ca nu esti sef, ci ai un rol de lider. Lumea e relativ mica, relatiile profesionale se intind pe foarte multi ani, iar o relatie profesionala buna te vor face sa iti consolidezi brandul personal.

Deci, cititi inca o data: Ofera oamenilor training asa de bun incat poata pleca oricand, trateaza-i atat de bine incat sa nu vrea sa plece.

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Leader versus challenger

Barcelona si Real Madrid nu sunt totul in fotbal

La fel ca si in fotbal, unde nu joaca nici 0, 01% din fotbalisti la  Barca si Real, si in celelalte industrii, grosul angajatilor este dus de industria care nu e pe locul 1.
Google, facebook, Microsoft, Intel isi permit sa angajeze ce e mai bun si sa investeasca suplimentar in educatia celor pe care i-au angajat. Ca intotdeauna, firmele cele mai puternice din industrie au avantajul major ca atrag prin tehnologii, salarii, conditii de lucru, cei mai talentati oameni de pe piata.
 [Imi place sa tot fac comparatii cu fotbalul, mai ales cu Barca si Real, acestea fiind cele doua modele de succes in fotbal din ultima vreme.]

Aparent, nu exista multe sanse de a avea succes in asemenea conditii sau de a zdruncina status quo-ul din industrie. Nici macar sa ajungi de la pozitia 10.000 la pozitia 1322.

Mi-a placut intotdeauna sa ma uit la locul 1 si sa imi inchipui ca uneori as putea ajunge acolo. Dar am invatat ca e foarte important sa constientizezi unde te afli si mai ales ce poti sa faci pentru a ajunge numarul 1 in zona in care activezi. De fapt, sa constientizezi cine este concurenta si cum poti sa fii mai bun decat ei.

Ce am aflat este ca in business, la fel ca si in fotbal, este vorba despre calitatea echipei pe care o poti forma si cum este mentinuta aceasta calitate. In 2013, mai mult ca in 2003, vedem inovatiile zguduind clasamentele de business. Nokia este in cadere libera (am mai scris despre asta aici), iar Samsung si Apple fac legea in piata. Exista diversi challengeri care incearca sa puna mana pe o bucata de piata, planul nefiind sa atinga numarul 1, ci o bucata zdravana din piata. Jolla, un spin-off de la Nokia, incearca sa atraga succesul pe piata finlandeza, dar mai ales pe piata chinezeasca, cea mai mare piata pentu smartphone. Ar fi un rezultat foarte bun sa prinda ceva pana in 10% din piata chineza.

De ce spun ca e necesara identificarea reala a concurentei? Pentru ca resursele nu sunt nelimitate, iar tu nu poti sa concurezi cu toata lumea. Multe carti de marketing povestesc despre identificarea punctelor tari si a punctelor slabe ale concurentei, despre imbunatatirea executiei, despre o mai buna exploatare a cererii de pe piata respectiva. Altele spun ca nu e relevanta neaparat concurenta, ci pot fi create piete si produse noi, unde  concurenta nu e relevanta in toate aspectele, ci e relevanta nevoia consumatorului.

Sa facem povestea mai scurta. Pietele nu sunt fixe, in unele dintre ele e nevoie de mai multe resurse pentru a reusi, in altele e nevoie de entuziasm, cateva idei bune si o echipa care sa creada in obiectivul propus. Personal, ma simt bine in postura de challenger, in cursa de urmarire pentru a atinge locul 1. Si am observat ca e mai usor sa atingi o data locul 1 decat sa ramai acolo pentru mai multa vreme.  De ce am spus ca ma simt bine in postura de challenger? Pentru ca viteza de crestere in timpul unei asemenea tentative de a ajunge pe locul 1 intr-o anumita nisa este cea mai mare din sectorul respectiv. Iar mai apoi, e necesar sa definesti urmatorul loc 1 pe care sa il urmaresti.
Aceasta este povestea pietricelei albastre, dupa care e bine sa alergi toata viata. Cand te opresti, cand nu te mai misca ceva inainte, esti mai usor de ajuns.

Nu degeaba se spune ca o echipa buna face mai mult decat o suma de oameni foarte buni. Belbin, un profesor de liceu din Statele Unite, a observat ca cele mai bune echipe sunt formate din personalitati complementare. Moneyball, blockbuster-ul despre baseball, urmareste aceeasi metafora, a unei echipe formate din personalitati complementare, care au in suma cei mai buni indicatori de performanta.

Una peste alta, o echipa poate substitui un star, prin motivare, dorinta de succes, colaborare stransa si constientizarea propriei valori. Adica, sa se bazeze pe ce poate face foarte bine si sa ocoleasca lucrurile la care nu performeaza. Prin urmare, adaptarea la piata pe care o adresezi, cu indicatorii de performanta relavanti, este esentiala pentru success.
Ultimul, dar nu cel din urma lucru, care face diferenta intre succes intamplator si succes pe termen lung este  schimbarea focusului de la o cultura de crestere la o cultura de sustinere a perfromantei la momentul oportun. Unul din sefii mei, venit dupa o perioada de extindere sustinuta, a venit cu mesajul ca el vrea sa ne invete sa schimbam unghiul de a privi de la 50 de grade la 15 grade. Progresul inseamna sa te asiguri ca nu vei pierde ce ai avut si cu siguranta inseamna sa nu ai oscilatii ca dealurile din Miorita.

Numarul 1 e intamplator poate, cu siguranta nu e definitiv, dar calatoria in cautarea fericirii ii misca pe toti inainte.

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Motivarea (biciul si zaharelul nu functioneaza tot timpul)

Dan Pink a vorbit in cadrul unei conferinte TED despre motivare. 

Iata mai jos o versiune animata de cei de la theRSA.

Aceasta e varianta extinsa a conferintei, fara animatie

Iar daca vreti mai multe animatii pe teme serioase. RSA Animate

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Senzational! O batranica este trecuta strada, din prea multa bunavointa

Ernesto Sirolli vorbeste despre cum civilizatia occidentala obliga la comportamente inutile sau contrar vointei celui ajutat, la fel cum copiii primesc alegerile direct de la parinti. Deci, ascultati oleaca mai mult si lasati-l si pe celalalt sa spuna cate ceva, inainte sa il ajutati fortat sa treaca strada

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Principles of communicating vessels in labor market

You know, there are many things that you can learn from physics and other sciences when speaking about social interactions, humans and markets.

Courtesy to http://www.spiraxsarco.com

Two years ago, I had a very interesting discussion with a good friend of mine that told me that the theory of systems works very fine when dealing with teams. According to Ziegler–Nichols method, a system can be characterized (that is to determine its parameters), by applying a step input. It is a long story about what this means, but to make it easier comprehensible, L. said that you can see how a team behaves when a significant event happens: the boss is replaced, there is a high fluctuation ongoing, a new project has to be tackled soon.   Basically, under stress, all behaviors are exacerbated and small thing you would not care usually become a big deal.

Courtesy to http://www.overclock.net/

Than, I noticed that other laws of physics can be applied in the management of human resources. The best one that depicts a free market is the principle of communicating vessels. According to Wikipedia, the principle has been used starting with ancient Rome for indoor pluming, as follows: Water will reach the same level in all parts of the system, which acts as communicating vessels, regardless of what the lowest point is of the pipes – although in practical terms the lowest point of the system depends on the ability of the plumbing to withstand the pressure of the liquid.

What does it actually mean in a free labour market : the offer (need of jobs) and the demand (number of existing workers) are working in the same way like the air and water. Let's take some examples:
A small company is winning a very competitive contact with a company located in a different market. The competitive advantage is the cost of work on the local market, which seems to be at most one third of the cost from the remote market. As a consequence, the pressure from this company to the local market will increase and will generate some movement from one company to another. If the pressure is kept on short term, than only a few workers, the people on the move, will be affected by the situation, while the companies are not affected to much. This is a natural situation and actually it is sometimes healthy for the market. Take, for instance, the examples with rivers and lakes. If the water in lakes is not refreshed from time to time, it's smelling bad and is not oxygenated well enough to foster enough the life. In the same time, the rivers have more interesting forms of life and the water should be cleaner. So, to say it loud and clear, there is no labor market without a little fluctuation, which can become healthy, when we speak about low numbers.
What happens when the pressure is high? Usually, there can be two approaches:
On one hand, the other companies on the market start to develop counter-measures on the pressure from the market, to decrease the attraction to the new positions. These counter measures can include, but are not restricted to, salary increase, new benefits, new HR policies to make jobs more flexible and attractive. Actually, there is no sure recipe, it strongly depends from where the company affected by fluctuation starts and who is the competitor.
On the other hand, the competitor is so strong, that cannot be implemented any reasonable measure. Or so weak, that to implement new rules simply makes no sense. It is just a matter of time to let the market cool down. In the first situation, it helps a lot to have a great contingency plan. In the second situation, it is great to  have patience and a great business intelligence. Intelligence like agent 007. Being well connected in the market, you can easily learn what is the actual threat and react with calm.

There is a matter of time until the demand is somehow equalized by the offer. And I have bad news for IT industry. When a market cannot meet the demand on longterm by increasing the offer, the demand will move to another local market. It is obvious for any of you, that when you dont find the needed groceries nearby and with the expected cost, you move a little bit away from your area, even going to hypermarket.

Actually, the little drawing from the beginning of the article is much more complex and actually there is no local market anymore. Of course, the vessels communicate through thicker pipelines and it takes a while to feel the pressure from one vessel to another. Yet, the vessels are surely connected, especially when speaking about highly sophisticated jobs like medical doctors, IT, telecom, scientists. In these cases, we speak about a global market, whereas the carpenters, plumbers or sales men are more localized.

In the end, everything is influenced by everything and all the vessels communicate with all the vessels.
Keep calm and enjoy your job...

courtesy of http://www.lisasonora.com

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Business Days - day 2

Am ajuns acasa cu putin inainte sa se termine Business Days la Iasi. Au fost doua zile intense, iar bateriile mele s-au terminat putin inainte de a se termina si evenimentul.

Sa revenim la cronicuta, pentru cine e interesat de ce s-a intamplat la Business Days.
De dimineata, au fost doua conferinte foarte interesante, despre atitudine si despre succes. Iar apoi, o suma de antreprenori si manageri in companii importante au vorbit despre cum se trece de la o idee la succes.
Dupa pranz am participat la o masa rotunda unde s-a discutat despre finantarea start-up-urilor si a afacerilor antreprenoriale. Iar apoi s-a intamplat. Si am plecat.

Sa le luam dar pe rand. De la 9, hai 9 si 5, a inceput Florin Barhalescu cu povestea lui despre atitudine. Interesant, cu pasiune, cert peste Dan Berinde care a avut un discurs dezlanat, in timp ce in spate plimba niste slide-uri cu noul lui business. Problema a fost ca nu prea aveau legatura slide-urile cu discursul. Dar a avut o parte buna, exercitiul de 10 secunde de gandire. La fel ca si in workshopul de ziua trecuta, unde a aplicat o strategie similara. In fine, nepotrivire de idei cu ale mele, sa trecem peste asta. Diana Vitan a spus o poveste frumoasa despre broscuta surda, o metafora despre cum incapatanarea de a crede in succes ne duce acolo. In vanzari, care sunt 80% emotionale dupa parerea Dianei, e foarte importanta relatia cu clientii. Si nu vrei sa ai de a face cu un kefless. Asta a fost cuvantul nou al celor doua zile, inventat de Bogdan Grosu. In speech-ul din ziua anterioara, Bogdan a explicat ca un kefless e acela care nu are chef niciodata de nimic, toate i se intampla numai lui si asa mai departe. E un termen inventat de Arhi.

Mi-a placut de la Bogdan Comanescu un alt cuvant inventat: decisivitate. Este unul din cele 7 cuvinte care conduc la succes. Ganditi-va si voi
Elasticitate-cuvantul 1
Flexibilitate - cuvantul 2
Creativitate - cuvantul 3
Decisivitate - cuvantul 4

Concentrare - cuvantul 5
Constructivism - cuvant 6
Disciplina - cuvantul 7.

Andy Szekely a fost fermecator, doar ca in maniera lui Zig Ziglar, pentru cine apreciaza genul. Eu il gust cu moderatie, dar am retinut ca liderii au obiceiul de a se educa oleaca mai mult decat ceilalti, in fiecare zi, in mod constant. Si ca daca ai mai mult de trei obiective pe zi, probabil nu ai niciunul.

De la Angela Achitei, antreprenor social, am aflat ca ceea ce gandim si proiectam in viitor, aia vom reusi sa facem. Eu am inteles ca limitarile pe care ni le punem singuri sunt cele mai mari.

Lorand Soares Szasz a fost cuceritor, ca de obicei. Va recomand o concluzie stiintifica pe care am aflat-o de la el: in maxim 5 secunde se pot gasi scuze pentru orice. Prin urmare, Qui  s'escuse, s'accuse.

Conferinta a fost incheiata de Petrus Stuparu. Pur si si simplu savuros in exprimare: Performanta este o alegere personala.

Dupa pauza, au urmat speach-urile antreprenorilor si a managerilor de companii care au sponsorizat. Desi cu cifre, discursurile celor de la Unicredit si Raiffeisen nu au emotionat mai deloc. In schimb, am fost impresionat de Marius Stefan, directorul general de la Autonom Rent-a-car. O viziune articulata despre succes, rezumata in 2 idei generatoare de succes pentru care Rockefeller a platit circa 1 milion de dolari la valoarea actuala. 
1. In fiecare dimineata fa o lista cu lucrurile importante pe care le ai de facut in ziua respectiva.
2 FA-LE !!!
Mi-a mai adus aminte ca e o mare arta sa taci din gura, iar sa fii persistent in ceea ce faci e una dintre metodele importante sa ai succes in business. Asta alaturi de un networking sanatos. Inca unul care imi impartaseste ideile despre networking, semn ca marile spirite se intalnesc. [Rasete din sala si de pe internet]
Mi-a mai placut Florentin Banu, cu o energie extraordinara. Degaja o forta omul acesta si este de o sinceritate uluitoare. 
Bineinteles, am o slabiciune aparte pentru Gabriel Biris, care ne-a spus povestea lui si a facut si cateva referiri la politica, invitandu-ne sa ne implicam in viata politica. Si Marius Ghenea, care a vorbit inspirat si a pomenit de noul lui program educational BusinessDrive. Am scris despre BusinessDrive aici.

Cam atat despre momentele memorabile de impartasit cu voi. Un eveniment foarte tare pentru Iasi, care a adus o multime de oameni impreuna cu un scop nobil, acela de a induce o cultura de a face afaceri din ce in ce mai buna si a stimula gustul pentru antreprenoriat. 
Doua zile pline, poate oleaca prea pline pentru a participa la toate evenimentele si o ocazie de a capta idei (food for thought) ce vor putea genera afaceri de succes sau atitudine care sa ne duca ceva mai sus in vietile noastre.

Felicitari lui Laszlo Pacso si ADESCO pentru initiativa si lui Dan Zaharia care a facut lobby ca acest eveniment sa fie adus la Iasi.

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Talentat. Lacom. Se plictiseste usor. Risc multiplu de boli profesionale?

Recunoasteti ca v-am facut atenti? Macar putin. Dupa cum stiti, am o mica obsesie despre similitudinile dintre managementul talentelor si a echipelor in sport si a echipelor de proiect. Ducu Hincu a scris in Kamikaze de curand despre cheia succesului in cazul lui Lampard, un tip ce are o gena de fotbalist in familie (taica-sau, un var si un unchi au fost mari fotbalisti), dar care s-a antrenat mult pentru a deveni ceea ce este azi. A fost odata locul doi in clasamentul Balonului de Aur (Hagi a fost odata pe 4), dar nu este un talent iesit din comun. A aparut pe firmament inainte ca o echipa obscura din Rusia sa arunce 20 milioane de dolari pe an pentru Samuel Eto'o. In fine, Lampard, alaturi de Scholes, Giggs, sunt niste tipi care sunt in masura sa faca performanta la varste inaintate (peste 34 de ani), dar si sa influenteze pozitiv echipele din care fac parte. Care o fi secretul lor? Hincu spune - si eu il sustin - ca cei de mai sus s-au format intr-o perioada in care salariile din fotbal nu cresteau pana la a primi intr-un an, ca jucator mediu in campionatul englez, suma pe care parintii tai ar fi primit-o intr-o viata de munca (circa 40 de ani).
Nu sunt putine cazurile de fotbalisti care au fost ametiti de succesul initial si nu au fost capabili sa isi gestioneze coerent cariera. Nici macar nu au mai continuat performantele care i-au adus in atentie atunci cand isi terminau junioratul. Sa mai dau un exemplu. Ati auzit de Mitea ?(tipul ala care la 19 ani era titular la Ajax, iar acum, la 27 de ani, e titular in parc si nu mai prinde nici un contract). Cert este ca in fotbal, salariile au explodat in ultimii 10-15 ani, ajungandu-se la situatii in care unii "prieteni ai fotbalistilor" sa castige sume uluitoare pentru a aparea in acest mare circ care se numeste fotbal.

Daca ma intorc in lumea noastra, a muritorilor de rand, putem intui situatii similare, unde, pe baza cresterii economice din anii 2000 au fost acordate cresteri salariale sau de venituri mult peste diferenta de crestere a productivitatii. Asta a fost un lucru bun, companiile isi marcau rezultate financiare deosebite, oamenii incasau sume frumoase si le directionau spre consum. Toate bune si frumoase, daca erai functionar in banca ori daca lucrai in vanzari. Nu mai vorbesc despre cei care lucreaza in IT. Nimic nu putea opri visul frumos de a ajunge sa traiesti ca in Occident.
Totusi, nemiloasa criza si-a bagat codita si economia nu mai duduie. Cei care asteptau cresteri de venituri anuale care sa fie formate din procente marcate cu cel putin 2 cifre au avut de infruntat plafonari de salariu, feedback constructiv, au fost nevoiti sa se confrunte cu oglinda si sa vada ce e de imbunatatit. Tipi altfel talentati au luat contact pentru prima data cu diagnosticul lor. Ce au de facut pentru a se imbunatati, unde au beneficiat de rezultate pentru care nu au facut nimic in mod special, cum sa avansezi in cariera in situatii in care nu mai ai in spate un vant de 70km/h...

In aceste situatii in care rezultatele nu au mai fost aduse de simpla prezenta in piata, firmele care au avansat ori nu au pierdut cota de piata sau profit au fost cele care au folosit talentele pe care le achizitionasera deja ori le-au achizitionat in perioada de criza. Motivarea celor prezenti si a celor proaspat achizionati cade in sarcina managerilor din functie, ca un dintre cele cateva directii de responsabilitate.
In opinia mea, managerii, de multe ori in colaborare cu departamentul de resurse umane, trebuie sa-i ajute pe cei talentati sa isi gestioneze succesul, pentru a depasi pragul pe care il ating prin folosirea resurselor native. Ca orice antrenor, trebuie sa ia in considerare dezvoltarea zonelor sensibile, folosirea pe posturi pe care da randament maxim, dar nu trebuie uitat ca fiecare angajat, chiar in cea mai prolifica perioada a vietii, trebuie ajutat sa raspunda la cateva intrebari:

• Cum ma descurc cu succesul?
• Cum ma raportez la cresterea veniturilor? O plafonare temporara ma tine motivat?
• Cat de utila este o schimbare de job (intern sau extern)?
• Ce poate sa faca angajatorul pentru mine si ce pot sa fac eu pentru companie?

Nu e foarte confortabil sa poti raspunde la asemenea intrebari, dar sunt importante pentru o motivare sanatoasa a celor talentati, cei care sunt de obicei cheia de bolta in succesul unei afaceri.

Daca ma intorc la titlu, imi aduc aminte de cateva cazuri de baieti talentati, cu un start frumos, care au fost marcati de obezitate profesionala. Au luat volum, dar nu e sustinut de muschi profesionali si nu au o cariera sanatoasa. Ori, la fel cum taica-meu fumeaza 2 pachete de tigari pe zi, au obiceiuri nesanatoase pentru cariera lor.

Si, fiindca obisnuiesc sa fac si cate o recomandare la sfarsitul articolelor, va recomand sa participati la workshopurile de la iasi.businessdays.ro: Workshop 02 - Leadership si motivarea echipei si 
Managementul conflictelor. Pe 3 si 4 octombrie, la Iasi.

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Cat manager si cat lider?

Leaderii. De dragul filosofiei, liderii sunt diferiti de manageri, iar peste toti pluteste spectrul sefului. Despre sefi, "numai de bine". Sa consideram ca e un concept de-acum apus. Sa il portretizam drept intruchiparea raului, sa avem cui atribui toate defectele.

Manager. Leader. Astea sunt cuvinte noi, destepte. Se folosesc in corporatii, in discutiile dintre antreprenori si, de asemenea, la televizor. Am mai scris si eu ceva vreme in urma, inspirat de Seth Godin. Tipul ala care povesteste despre triburile din ziua de azi.
De curand, am avut un training interesant in care am discutat despre teoriile leadership-ului, de care feluri este, cata psihologie se foloseste, daca se invata sau trebuie sa fii nascut. In fine, sunt multe lucruri de povestit aici, nu e locul sa scriu atat de multe, poate mai degraba intr-o carte.
Despre management, ce sa spun, este chiar mai dificil. Exista facultati, master, MBA, care te ajuta sa fii un manager mai bun. Iarasi, greu de dat o definitie exhaustiva.

O sa incerc si eu sa sumarizez ce am inteles. [ Dupa ce am citit cateva carti despre coaching, am inteles ca mai greu sa dai solutii, dar e util sa iti sumarizezi intelegerea dupa anumite faze ale discutiei. ]

Liderul sumarizeaza in concept cele legate de valori, cultura. Lucruri mai putin tangibile, cu indicatori de performanta mai putin evidenti, dar care reusesc sa miste un numar de oameni intr-o directie. Ca este buna sau rea, depinde tot de lider, de viziunea lui. Incotro si de ce spune el. Sa dea un sens muncii - e necesar un lider.

Cum si cand?, ce? - raspunde la fel de bine managerul.
Managerul este orientat mai mult operational. E mecanicul care e maiastru in a face trenul sa ajunga la fix in gara. E cel care organizeaza. Cel care optimizeaza.

Un lider nu e pus acolo, isi castiga in diverse moduri autoritatea. Un manager poate fi numit. Exista doar lideri informali, din punctul meu de vedere. Ceilalti sunt pur manageri, ori chiar mai rau, sefi. De fapt, nu exista un concept pur si exista adaptari situationale. Eu prefer sa fiu manager cand e necesar sa rezolv ceva urgent, cum ar fi o livrare. Sa incerc sa fiu lider atunci cand pregatesc o strategie, cand lucrez la dezvoltarea oamenilor din echipele din care fac parte. Si sa fac pe-a seful putin cand ma calca unii pe nervi. Totusi, "nimeni nu-i asa perfect ca sefu'", zice Alexandru Andries.



Am facut exercitiul acesta de separare a conceptelor, doar pentru a incerca un preview la una dintre conferintele de la "Iasi Business Days" : Leadership vs Management. Va rog sa fiti indulgenti cu entuziasmul meu si sa vedeti daca teoriile se verifica, fie in organizatiile voastre, fie in campania electorala ori in organizatiile statului. Dati-mi feedback, mergeti la conferinta daca vi se pare interesant.

Peste toate, e nevoie tot timpul de leaderi, unii lideri nu sunt manageri, iar manageri grozavi fara olecuta de  leadership in ei nu sunt multi despre care sa se vorbeasca, iar acum exista o nevoie acuta de lideri in Romania.

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Despre asumarea valorilor [Cultura organizationala 4]

Saptamana trecuta m-am plimbat prin oras, duminica, si am intrat in mai multe magazine, deschise chiar dupa pranz. Mi s-a parut, din nou, ca exista o diferenta intre ce se zice si ce se face in Romania.

In zona Iasului sunt foarte multi ortodocsi. In general, bisericile se frecventeaza, dar mai ales se clameaza, mai  mult decat media tarii, ca se traieste mai abitir in credinta. Totusi, se pare ca mai mult de jumatate dintre magazine sunt deschise duminica. Iar Biserica Ortodoxa, cea Catolica si chiar protestantii arata ca e considerat pacat sa lucrezi duminica.

Primul soc legat de inchiderea magazinelor in ziua de duminica l-am avut cand m-am mutat in Timisoara, in 2003. In cartierul in care locuiam erau deschise 3-4 magazine duminica dupa-amiaza. Super-marketurile erau deschise pana la 12.30, circa 3-4 ore. Mi se parea ciudat, dar in acelasi timp justificat.

Copyright: www.antena3.ro

In 1988, am fost in vacanta la Brasov. Atunci, toate magazinele erau inchise duminica in Brasov, in timpul saptamanii se inchideau la 6, iar sambata la pranz.
Cand discuti despre valori, multi dintre micii comerciantii afiseaza credinta ca valoare. Tot ei tin deschis duminica pana la ora 10 seara. Cifra de afaceri pe perioada respectiva e mica, dar fiind o afacere la limita, de cele mai multe ori veniturile respective par a rezolva ceva. Cred ca e doar o lipsa de analiza.
De asemenea, cinstea este considerata ca o valoare importanta, dar se intampla de multe ori sa fii inselat la cantar, ori sa primesti ceva produse la limita perioadei de garantie.

Am citit de curand cartea Anetei Bogdan, "Branding pe frontul de est". Aneta povesteste cum companii de succes, romanesti, isi bazeaza succesul pe asumarea si trairea unor valori puternice. De exemplu, compania mea favorita din Romania, Dedeman, are ca valoare asumata harnicia. Si asta transpare din felul in care se comporta cei care lucreaza acolo. Probabil ca sunt lucruri care se pot imbunatati la Dedeman, dar mie mi se pare extraordinar ca o companie romaneasca a batut in piata de bricolage toate companiile cu nume care activeaza la noi. Si nu se opresc!

Pe de alta parte, atunci cand una spui, iar alta faci, toate valorile despre care vorbesti sunt drastic diluate, sau, mai mult, anulate. Daca este afirmata increderea drept valoare, iar pentru fiecare decizie e nevoie de o contrasemnatura, atunci increderea este doar un cuvant pus pe perete. Daca afirmi solidaritatea drept valoare, iar masurile de imbunatatire a conditiilor de munca vizeaza doar un mic procent din angajati, tocmai te-ai pricopsit cu un poster frumos colorat si multa diviziune intre angajati.

Copyright: www.florinrosoga.ro

Profitul este unul dintre principalele motoare ale unei companii. Dar, ca orice exces, isi anuleaza beneficiile si genereaza probleme structurale cand devine unicul motor. La fel cum mancarea este buna, dar genereaza obezitate, cum sportul este bun, dar strica articulatiile cand e facut fara masura, la fel si profitul care nu respecta reguli si nu este etic, genereaza dezechilibre care nu pot fi corectate usor.


Prin urmare, mi-ar placea sa vad mai multi oameni la biserica, mai multe magazine inchise duminica si mai multa sincronizare intre ceea ce facem si ceea ce spunem.

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Do you work harder for your ideas?

Peter Bregman, about leading through conversation.


@Dragos: ring a bell? :)

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Antreprenoriatul si intraprenoriatul. INITIATIVA

Companiile mari par a avea toate regulile instalate, bine studiate si aproape de neschimbat. Totusi, cine nu inoveaza indeajuns, dispare. Acum 10 ani, Siemens producea telefoane mobile. Acum nu mai stie nimeni nimic despre ele. Nokia avea market share de 38% in trimestrul 3 din 2008, conform Unwired View. Acum a ajuns la 18%

Regulile se schimba si e nevoie de oameni pentru a le schimba. Sunt cateva intrebari la care poti sa raspunzi, daca esti un intraprenor.
- care sunt regulile?
- cine face regulile?
- cine schimba regulile? de ce se schimba regulile?
- cat timp dureaza sa schimbi tu regulile? cine te poate ajuta
- ce responsabilitate iti asumi cand schimbi regulile?
- INITIATIVA

Lead the way!

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Cele 21 de idei pentru cariera : IDEEA #6 : Oportunitati de dezvoltare

Dupa 2009, pentru romani a devenit mai relevant sa faca economii. Forbes publica in ianuarie 2012 un articol care mentiona ca “Numărul românilor dispuşi să pună bani deoparte înainte de a se împrumuta s-a dublat în ultimul an”. “Pe de altă parte, 75% dintre intervievaţi sunt stresaţi de ideea de credit şi cam tot în aceeaşi proporţie „resping dorinţe imediate care implică costuri mari”, adică ceea ce mai demult rezolvau prin credite rapide.”
In cariera am observat un trend similar. Nu e la aceeasi magnitudine, dar “job-hopperi” sunt mai putini. Deschideri agresive de companii, de asemenea. Imi aduc aminte de Banca Millenium, una din ultimele banci care si-a creat o retea de sucursale. Cum au facut? Bineinteles ca au recrutat de la concurenta si au avut mai putin timp sa isi creeze intern un sistem de cariere care sa propulseze oameni in pozitii cheie. Este o presupunere, bineinteles, dar imi aduc aminte ca in 2007-2008 erau foarte activi in recrutare, probabil ofereau si pachete salariale interesante pentru cei care doreau un pic mai mult.
Intre timp, bancile au devenit un jucator normal pe piata muncii, iar fluctuatia de personal s-a domolit. Au fost probabil si ceva disponibilizari punctuale, targeturile au fost mai greu de atins, iar salariile mari mai greu de facut. Am aflat de cineva care a renuntat la un job in banca pentru a preda la liceu. In fine, e momentul pentru o concluzie: trendul este ca un job sa fie pastrat pentru ceva mai mult timp, iar o miscare de cariera este considerata si din alte perspective decat salariul lunar.
In 2006, am avut o discutie cu seful meu de pe atunci, un neamt nascut in Romania si care a facut cariera in Germania, despre modul de raportare al romanilor la salariu: “Cu romanii nu poti discuta despre venitul annual!”, imi spunea el atunci. In momentul in care trendul pietei era sa alergi dupa cel mai bun salariu, nu puteai gandi la mai mult de unul sau doi ani. Si atunci pachetul annual nu mai era relevant.
In plus, oportunitatile de dezvoltare personala erau si mai putin luate in considerare. Nu exista o intelepciune a comunitatii care sa arate ca e mai bine sa poti acumula si altceva decat o minima constructie financiara. Criza, care nu s-a sfarsit, ci a devenit un mod de viata, a schimbat putin perspectiva.
Siguranta jobului, o perspectiva de dezvoltare multianuala, un set de practici in favoarea personalului au inceput sa fie parte din criteriile in alegerea unui job.
Ce idei as urmari eu cand imi aleg urmatorul job?


Toate cele de mai sus sunt relevante ca si oportunitati de dezvoltare. Unele favorizeaza accesul la invatare (care pentru mine este esential pentru o cariera de 35-40 de ani), altele favorizeaza dezvoltarea in plan financiar (o plata mai buna, un pachet de beneficii mai interesant), iar altele pur si simplu favorizeaza dezvoltarea in plan strict personal (familie, hobby). Nu am pretentia ca am alcatuit o lista exhaustiva. E doar ce as face acum pentru o analiza, in cazul in care mi-as dori o schimbare. Cei care ma cunosc stiu ca am schimbat cateva joburi deja, am fost pus in fata unor alegeri de tipul "mai multi bani vs mai mult apropiere de familie". Ideile sunt relevante pentru mine, dar nu cred ca sunt asa de unic incat sa nu puteti sa le folositi.

Sa nu uit, as vrea sa mai dezvolt 7 propozitii pe subiectul invatare: daca reusiti sa va imaginati un plan de cariera, ori daca aveti un vis (ideea numarul #1), atunci nu uitati sa legati miscarile pe care le faceti de acel vis. E foarte usor sa fiti momiti de catre o noua firma care apare pe piata si plateste 45% in plus fata de cat castigati pe moment. Si va lasa fix in acelasi punct in calatoria voastra si dupa urmatorii 4 ani. Ori va propune o schimbare dramatica in cariera (de exemplu, ati inceput sa faceti un job de manager de 6-9 luni, va place si primiti o oferta pentru o pozitie de expert). Deci, evaluati daca urmatoarea miscare in cariera va aduce experienta relevanta pentru cariera pe care v-ati propus-o.
Investitiile in educatie si accessul la tehnologie sunt egal importante in alegerile voastre. Cursurile sunt scumpe si e foarte util sa aveti un partener in investitiile respective. Un angajator care investeste in educatia voastra formala si informala va poate aduce un plus financiar important in momentul in care va aflati la un punct de cotitura, sa zicem ceva in jurul a 45 de ani, cu aproape 20 de ani de experienta. In acel moment, "scoala" prin care ati trecut va poate aduce cele cateva puncte in plus pe care le visati pentru a obtine un job mai bun. De asemenea, programele de training va pot deschide ochii asupra unor oportunitati pe care nu le-ati intui altfel.

Ganditi-va. Analizati. Decideti!
Totul pentru a fi in poza de mai jos :

Copyright: picsquare.com

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Sa dai si sa primesti

Ieri si azi am vorbit in public. Cine ma cunoaste, o sa stie in 2 secunde ca e noua mea jucarie de care sunt entuziasmat. Nu m-am plictisit de cele vechi, dar e ceva nou si imi gadila pasiunea pentru oameni.
Ieri am fost la Suceava, la Universitate si am vorbit studentilor. Nu a fost foarte clar de la inceput pentru ei de ce voi fi eu mai interesant decat cei care au mai fost pe acolo in cadrul StudACE. Dupa vreo 10 minute si 3-4 glume, lucrurile au inceput sa se lege. Am avut participare si dialog cu sala, iar la sfarsit am simtit ca ar mai fi stat inca 5 minute.
Pentru mine, asta a fost ok. Nu sunt profesionist si nici nu prea am studiat cum se face in detaliu lucrul asta. Am avut ceva de spus din experienta mea.

Daca sunteti curiosi, aruncati o privire pe slide-urile folosite

21 de idei pentru cariera conti logo

View more PowerPoint from Gabi Manole

Astazi, am fost la Online Career Day. Oameni entuziasti, voluntari. A fost o placere sa particip ca speaker la intalnirea de azi, care e a 6-a editie. A fost o sala plina, mai ales cu studenti si tineri profesionisti, foarte implicati in discutie. Am fost incantat ca nu a fost nici o firma care sa se promoveze la un eveniment de cariera, deci a iesit o discutie curata, nepartizana.
Am avut trac, e prima oara cand am urcat pe o scena. Mai mult, e prima oara cand vorbesc time-boxed. O provocare! Cristi Lucan m-a expus si ii multumesc.

Mie mi-a placut sa fiu in sala, ca spectator, cand au vorbit (ii trec, politically corect, in ordinea in care au vorbit) Emanuel Martonca, Gabriela Zboiu, Andreea Marc, Ines Prodan, Alina Cojocaru. Eu am fost ultimul, dupa 5 prezentari super, si am avut si o tema pretentioasa, despre CV-uri credibile, care a setat asteptari de a da raspunsuri. Ori eu stiu sa ofer intrebari si indoieli, mai mult decat certitudini. Despre ce am vorbit scrie mai jos. Despre cum am vorbit, sunt grozav de curios sa aflu din comentarii.

Credibilitate

View more PowerPoint from Gabi Manole

Despre ambele subiecte voi mai scrie pe blog. Acu sunt destul de obosit si ma retrag la garage. Pe duminica, mai scriu din nou. Acu a fost doar o pagina de jurnal. Deocamdata, nu pot sa imi dau seama ce am dat. Am primit in schimb feedback, aplauze (de complezenta sau ba) si o stare de spirit grozava.

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[Team velocity 4] Exit points

Copyright:http://enrichmentjournal.ag.org

A key factor in designing the team according to Highway Theory.

A well designed highway has the quality that you have a smooth exit, well signaled with kilometers ahead, for an easy transition. A well designed team has the quality that there is a smooth development of the team, as well as the smooth leave of a member. There is no wonder that some team member choose to leave for  various reasons. There are sophisticated reasons behind, that are hard to grasp, as well as easy to understand ones like "My wife wants to move to another city" or "I need to change the city, my kids go to college and I want to be close to them". It's hard to cope to objective reasons, even harder to cope with subjective ones. 

Doesn't matter now. The change will happen and it's always about how smooth the transition will be. As a manager, you will be measured according to this. As a team member, you will suffer the consequences, good or worse. The art of designing a smooth exit stays at manager, the art of implementation stays in the team.

For the knowledge workers, a critical aspect is to have a comprehensive knowledge transfer. Corporations are selling their know-how and pay the employees even to distribute their know-how within the organization. This is not a coincidence. The people are the keepers of the know-how, but it cannot be only one to have the knowledge. You need small communities, little circular relationships where people learn one from another. Thus, the knowledge transfer can be done continuously, having in mind the win-win principle. Putting two great guys and one novice in the community, you can stimulate the experienced ones to work together, as well as to foster the development of the beginner.
The other principle to have in mind is that knowledge is overlapping. The knowledge is nowadays like a niche. I am the expert in X or Y. This is not fun for the team member. Sorry to disappoint you again, the professional life cycle is about 40 years. The expertise is useful for about 15 to 20 years. Afterwards, the technology will change, maybe the niche will disappear, therefore it's highly appreciated when the team offers the opportunity to slightly extend your expertise. On one hand, the manager has the famous back-up solutions. On the other one, the employee intrinsic value on the market is increased. Everyone has something to win.
The overlapping of skills is not done by accident or just based on the interest of the team members. This shall be based on skill inventory for the team and the team's replacement strategy. In both cases, it's a little bit about strategy. To have the team skill inventory you need to understand almost perfectly the needs of the business and !!! the future of the business. You need some years to build the needed skills for the knowledge workers. You need some days to loose a key person. It is highly dependent on you the impact such a change (resignation, promotion) is having on your business. We will speak more about skills inventory, how this can be transformed in a powerful tool. But I will not speak about the future of your business. This is your job to understand and to deploy a meaningful replacement strategy. Overlapping knowledge, distributing tasks in such a way that you can share the work of the guy who leaves the team could be the secret of a smooth exit point.

The most powerful team is that where people feel free to remain. This should be no coincidence. When the team members can choose at any moment to leave or stay (and THEY STAY), this should be the best motivation strategy you ever imagined. Any exit point they will encounter will be skipped.

Stay tuned for the next ideas about exit points:
Communication of changes,, trusting in the people leaving the team, preparation of the future collaboration.


Read also

Team velocity [1] - the idea
Team velocity [2] - the relation between the mission of the team and its velocity
Team velocity [3] - The entry points on the highway
Team velocity [5] - The signs

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9 pasi pentru o cultura organizationala solida

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A short overview of the Romanian market for software development

Software engineering in Romania. A strong market, steadily growing. Some big players giving the trends and high pressure from Western Europe to "steal" some good professional.
I don't have exact figures, but I expect that the overall picture is not very far away from reality.

Copyright:http://www.el3mentsofwellness.com

Overall potential of market

There are like 10 universities which can train software developers with an adequate quality of know-how.
The average number of graduates is somewhere about 200.
Multiplied with about 15 years, you have about 30000 graduates with relevant degrees. Out of these, let's take out about 15% which went in sales, teaching or simply dropped out the careers in IT and we can consider about 25.0000 graduates who are relevant for the market. Add to this 5 to 10 thousands coming from other specialties or older engineers and we are speaking about 35.000 engineers currently in Romania.
I repeat, this is a rough estimation.

Copyright: technologyinventory.tumblr.com

Main technologies

There are a few main trends followed in Romania. Main one is development of enterprise applications for large companies. These are mainly ERP or similar applications and have been the main trigger for growing the software development market in the late 90's and early 2000's. The reason for starting with this was that the costs of development were reasonable low and distance short enough to compete with India or similar locations. A few thousands developers, using Java, C++, some scripting are the basis for this branch.
Some international companies established their local branches in Romania around 2000. Some of them went in database related development (e.g. Oracle, Mind), some in embedded and telecom (Alcatel, Siemens VDO-now Continental, Motorola - now Freescale, later Infineon, Continental, Microchip, Autoliv, Hella, IXIA, recently Intel), some in development centers based on acquisitions (see Adobe Romania, Amazon Romania), others in customer centers (like HP, Microsoft, IBM, Oracle again). Nevertheless, there are some companies which are running their business with a smaller number of employees, based on niches, like Route66, Oce and others. These are not trend setters for the market, but they increase, from time to time, the payment on local markets. Last, but not least, there is a fairly decent market for antivirus, based on Bitdefender, RAV, than
new established branches of AVG, Comodo, which employ a significant number of developers and are pretty successful on the global market. Bitdefender is a trend setter
Besides the companies which develop their own products, there are the so-called near-shore development offices, which supply the right cost for the external services from Western Europe and US.
The most famous are IP Devel (meanwhile bought by Addecco and afterwards Enea), ITC Networks (they were quite successful with contract for Nortel), Pentalog, Endava, Arobs. They have a wide range of activities, from Java, C++ to C# and embedded. These companies usually have great networking in universities and local market and they can employ quickly a significant number of developers. Nevertheless, it seems that they are also able to pay a little extra compared to market median. Business as usual ;)
One special niche is verification and validation for chip designs, with a few players located mostly in Bucharest and Iasi. Iasi has a long history in chip verification and validation, based on collaboration with some Israelian businessmen.


Fluctuation

The dynamics of the workforce is quite high and the stability of employees is below the European average. The fluctuation has been reduced in the last 3 years, after the crisis. Anyway, this is not comparable in any terms with Indian market. The average period for stability in a job I consider to be 3-4 years, which is anyway acceptable for any cycle of development.

The engineers are looking more and more to their development path and it is less likely to grab a limited time contract than an internal position. This trend became more evident after 2009. Nevertheless, there are persons who appreciate an excellent wage and disregard the rest of environment. They are usually in the first 5 years of their career
The pressure on the market is quite high and coming from three or four direction.

First interesting and objective thing is that the history of software engineering in large scale is starting somewhere after '95. Nowadays, there are very few of the starters, mainly due to emigration reasons. The are a 3 waves of emigration: before 2000,  2003-2004 and 2010 onwards. Crisis pushed some of them to emigrate, as well as the political system. Romania has reasonable number of graduates in technical fields, but this is not covering immediate the leavings due to missing experience of the fresh graduates. Having the work permit issue easily to be solved by being part of EU, Romania quickly become a preferred market for agencies in Western Europe. They can place good candidates for the jobs available in Germany, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, France. Romanians speak good English and/or French, sometimes even German.

Another pressure is given by locating offices of foreign companies in Romania. Last example is Intel, who placed a local branch of their Software and Services Group. As always, they needed experienced developers to start activities and therefore recruited from competition. You can find software developers with relevant 10+ yrs experience only in the big cities: Bucuresti, Timisoara, Iasi, Cluj. There is the second wave of cities, with good technical universities, where there are less engineers, but good potential:  Craiova, Oradea, Sibiu, Suceava, Targu Mures. So, the number of experienced engineers is high, but not high enough for the potential contracts to be covered.

Third point of pressure is coming from existing business who grow due to crisis. There are many companies who extend their operations in Romania to match the cost pressure they have in their home market. Having a location somewhere nearby their major hub of development, it is easier to decrease development costs by mixing the teams. It is actually what Pentalog is proposing as an external contractor: local + low cost = right cost. This proximity advantage is valid also for other industries. See this article.

The last fact which somehow influencing is that studying abroad has become a trend. Having a master or a scholarship in Western Europe is very accessible and lots of good students are following this opportunity. Some of them return in Romania, some stay in the countries they studied.

Competitive advantages of Romanian market

I will just list now, what I see as competitive advantages for the moment. More about each of them in other posts.
1. There are enough competencies to start about any business in Romania, from customer centers to development hubs. IBM, as well as Intel, were able to start businesses in Romania during 2011.
2. There are enough universities to generate a reasonable number of engineers to match the market increase.
3. The mobility of the developers is high and they are willing to relocate from one city to another.
4. Romania is a market of 20 millions inhabitants, which can ensure the right size of the employment market.
5. Romanians speak fairly good foreign languages and they are easily adaptable to foreign cultures.
6. The workers from Eastern Europe could be attracted to run local offices.
7. The timezone is matching with all Western Europe business hours and big cities from Europe can be accessed within the same day for business meetings.

That's it for the moment. I am looking forward for opinions related to my short analysis. This is generated from my personal experience, articles from local newspapers, analysis of jobs available on Romanian sites and LinkedIn and other information from the market.

More about where to start an office in Romania, how to establish a decent hiring plan and more on the market trends, in later articles, published on www.CarteNoua.com

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Team velocity [3] - the entry points

Teams are for the members what are highways for the cars. It makes no sense to have highways unless there are cars to use it. There are different types of cars, different age and different journeys to take on the highway. There are as well different types of human beings, with different skills and interests, they have a huge range of interests and career perspectives.

I am speaking now about entry points and exit points. When designing a team, a manager should consider, besides others, two main aspects : how to integrate a new team member and how to cope with the leave of an experienced one. This things are critical in order to cope well with the change.

I will call entry points the way a new team member is introduced in the team. There are a few things to consider in order to enable the team member to act.
First, you need to choose a profile compatible with the values of the team. A little chemistry has to exist in order to have good start. Team members have to share the values and, ideally, to find common interests. The professional interactions are easier when people like each other, discuss about subject they are interested outside of business hours. Sharing same values makes less probable to have conflicts based on principles and the organizational culture is better adopted.
Having compatibility ensured, the manager should take care that the introduction is as smooth and fast as possible. The initial training phase has to be careful planned, disseminating the right amount of information, in a professional manner. No matter the seniority, there are information that has to be digested, methods to be adopted. Also, there is a good practice to increase gradually the complexity of the tasks. Assigning very complex tasks, from day 1, makes the saying "swim or die" really concrete and one might loose valuable team members that simply don't cope well with such environment. People do need success stories to be motivated and enjoy their time when do not need to overcome an initial failure.

Smooth interactions between team members improve performance. This is another important topic to consider when introducing a new team member. You should facilitate interactions: organize team meetings, some lunch or dinner together. Moderate dialogues, be there for the newbies and your effort will be rewarded soon.

Last , but not least, keep things in order. Good habits are to be shared. Information is replicable by anyone in the team and discipline is a value that should be shared by every team.

A good entry point on the highway ensures that you can speed up without other constraint than the power of the engine. A good entry point in a team ensures that each team member can live his career up to his maximum potential.



Read also:
                 Team velocity [1] - the idea
                 Team velocity [2] - the relation between the mission of the team and its velocity

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Team velocity

`First time I heard about team velocity has been when I read some things on Agile development. There are various descriptions of the team velocity in Agile and I invite you to read this one.
I said this is a great descriptor of the team performance and I should introduce it as objective reference for comparison with the other teams. Thinking back, I realized that it is not easy to implement this due to the way estimations are made and planning is implemented. Therefore, I put this on the shelf, for more reflection...

But, I came to the idea that there is another velocity of the team. I wrote some weeks ago about the team seen as road. If you are the vehicle, and the speed of this vehicle is the speed of your personal development, we come to the idea that the team velocity is actually the average development speed of the team members plus the development of the team itself (different than of the individuals).

According to physics, the speed is the ration between the distance and time. Of course, we will make, for this concept, a similar ratio between the personal development achieved and the time elapsed. When your are thinking
It's excellent for any human being to progress. The trick that manager has to master is the direction of development. How this direction is in the interest of the team, respectively of the company. It's the post-capitalism era we face now. Talents are important, this are the competitive advantage. Money are a fantasy.

Let's continue with some more considerations about team velocity, how can it be ensured and what are the consequences of it.

The first idea you could put in practice is the set of trainings for a certain role. This is obvious and there are not so many things to say on it. I would add that each training shall be discussed by the manager with the team member to underline the objectives for the team and to reflect on the objectives for self development.
This is putting me to a next suggestion: consciously or not, each individual is developing from point A to point B. Having identified the two points A and B, the manager can use specifically the trainings and other development measures to facilitate this journey. Enrolling the individual in irrelevant trainings for his journey makes the journey longer and decreases the team velocity.
Trainings are not enough. Everyone needs practice. With the destination point in mind, with the next role in mind, the manager can facilitate learning experiences within controlled environment. For instance, there is the need that John becomes a very efficient software release engineer (you, that guy that prepares the releases and makes sure that the others gets what they have been promised). So, John can prepare some internal releases, can do some less important projects where he can practice his knowledge and imagine own working style.
Of course, development is harder as one advance in seniority. Things become fuzzy and manager should add his visionary talent to identify possibles steps ahead. There is always the need of transformation. A team does not remain the same, in roles, activities and responsibilities.Team velocity cannot be measured objectively in all aspects, but there is one obvious output: the thrive of team members.
I've read recently a post on HBR.org on Creating Sustainable Performance. One of the main ideas has been that people thrive within an environment that supports learning and based on their inborn skills. You can read full article, I noted down two things I could do in my team to ensure a great team velocity.
Delegate decisions.
This comes with a bunch of benefits (see the theory of distributed computing power) and with certain drawbacks in dealing with mistakes. For me, looking for the rootcause, fixing it and not dealing with guiltiness and guilty people fixed most of the things. People love to decide and to participate to decisions, but they are afraid of mistakes. Having this fixed, manager can embrace a participative leadership style that prevents him on being part of every decision and leaves some time to think forward.
Constantly offer feedback
Based on my personal leadership style, I tried to improve the way I collect and give feedback. I've started with giving feedback only during evaluations, but I am trying (keep trying...) to offer positive and constructive feedback through out the year and make the evaluations only a sum of previous discussions. Additionally, I am looking constantly to facilitate the expression of feedback between team members. I think is not yet where it should be. Keep trying...

One thing it sure helps in team velocity is to explain and discuss. The journey should be a team journey. The development of one team member should be in the direction of the team development and should not do any harm to others. Constant discussions about the team's roadmap increase the awareness and facilitate contribution. Also, one can identify other potential leaders during these discussions, gather useful insights and include common vision of the future.

This is not all about velocity. Next weeks we will speak about:
- adjustment of velocity for each team member
- expectations for senior team members
- how to retain the know-how and release the humans
- how to make the development speed uniform and avoid internal turmoils

Read more on the same subject:
Team velocity [1] -the mission of the team slightly influence the velocity

Team velocity [3] - the entry points

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Programatorii adopta culturi organizationale mai greu decat cei din alte meserii?

August 2011:
Programatorii adopta culturi organizationale mai greu decat cei din alte meserii?
Sunt artisti sau ingineri?
Ii putem asimila arhitectilor sau inginerilor constructori?

Intrebari. Raspunde cineva?

Ianuarie 2012:
Nu a raspuns nimeni. Concluziile mele sunt ca o cultura organizationala se adopta cu atat mai greu cu cat creativitatea echipei este mai crescuta. Ca o contrapondere, culturile organizationale sunt cu atat mai solide cu cat creativitatea echipei este mai crescuta. Adoptia principiilor este mai constienta si mai buna.

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The highway to success

Teams are built in various environments. These environment matters as long as you build a project team. But you can control how the team integrates in the environment. I will speak about some items that are important in order to keep a certain group working like a team. Team have to refresh themselves, to adjust the progress and the results.
Let's characterize a team with the equation of a highway. I don't know all, but I consider the following items as important:

Team velocity - speed of progressing inside the team as average
Team map (where are the entry points and where are the exit points)
Entry points (how do you integrate a new team member)
Exit points (how team members leave your team)
Team acceleration (how quick you can increase the performance in short time for short term)

These are a few items I will speak about in 2012.

Stay tuned`!

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