Tehnica sandvisului are gust de kkt

De data asta voi fi scurt. E pentru si sefi si pentru subordonati. Si impotriva tehnicii sandvisului. Nu, nu e o idee originala sa fii contra sandvisului. Sa-i dam bice:

• Daca ai de a face cu oamenii maturi, ei pot sa auda adevarul. Nu trebuie impachetat un rahat intr-un ambalaj frumos. Daca pute, asta e.
• Daca nu sunt oameni maturi, atunci sunt greu de gestionat. Tot o sa le puta, doar ca o sa se strimbe rau de tot. Si o sa iti ia mai mult, tie cel care dai feedback, sa il calmezi si sa il ajuti sa se apuce din nou de munca. Iar tie, celui care primesti, ti-o fi greu, dar lumea e dura. 
• Nu toata lumea ii iubesti pe cei sinceri. Imparatul e gol! Sinceritatea e mai greu de acceptat decat complimentele false, dar aduce beneficiul constientizarii.
• Iar cand folosesti aceasta minunata tehnica a sandvisului, chestiile naspa, pe care vrei sa le spui de fapt, nu se aud din zanganitul complimentelor.
• Si ultimul motiv, daca vrei sa spui ceva pozitiv, spune-o la momentul respectiv, din inima si raspicat. Nu incarca lucrurile bune cu rahat. 

http://blog.idonethis.com/post/53929069987/sandwich-feedback-performance-management

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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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Ce te face unic in ochii celorlalti

Fiecare dintre noi este recunoscut pentru ceva anume. Unii sunt faimosi pentru ca spun bancuri bune, altii pentru ca au succes la femei, altele pentru ca au barbatii la degetul mic. Stiu pe cineva care e cunoscut pentru ca are un networking eficient.

In viata profesionala, este la fel. E important sa ai un diferentiator care sa te propulseze in fata atunci cand esti in fata unei alegeri, cand cineva ar vrea sa iti ofere un job, o oportunitate de colaborare.
Am avut mai multe momente in viata mea profesionala cand am considerat ca am avut noroc. De la o vreme, am inceput sa cred ca norocul a fost ajutat de anumite caracteristic personale. Fiecare dintre cei care citesc articolul acesta poate sa gaseasca in experienta personala o situatie in care a avut de castigat sau de pierdut in mod aproape inexplicabil. Parerea mea este ca majoritatea acestor situatiii au fost hotarate de efectul personal, cel care scoate un om din multime, care face diferenta in momente hotaratoare.

Am citit de curand un articol pe Harvard Business Review care sugereaza ca nu are rost sa te concentrezi pe imbunatatirea aspectelor in care nu excelezi, ci mai degraba sa lucrezi la ceea ce ai deja bun sau foarte bun. Intr-o lume in continua transforamare ("adapt or die"), cei care au una sau mai multe competente la care sunt in fata majoritatii, vor gasi nisa care sa ii plateasca. O marca personala aduce cu sine o piata personala. Intrebarea care trebuie pusa in acest context este "Piata personala are destui clienti platitori care sa imi asigure nevoile?". Daca raspunsul la aceasta din urma intrebare este afirmativ, atunci veniturile vor fi probabil multumitoare, iar satisfactia personala rezonabila.

Ce se intampla cand se schimba cerintele pietei? In aceste momente, marca personala nu este de ajuns. Structura cererii se schimba, poate fi cazul in care nisa ta devine mainstream, iar tu devii un star. Sau. cazul opus, cererea se apropie de zero, iar tu trebuie sa te reprofilezi rapid.
Un lucru pe care l-as recomanda oricui este sa fie atent la cerintele pietei si sa urmareasca persoane cu un pic de viziune. Daca ar fi sa dau un exemplu, ar fi blogul Balonului Imobiliar. Aici au fost postate pareri despre o posibila criza, ce probleme incumba o crestere accelerata a unui sector si asa mai departe. Daca as fi fost agent imobiliar, as fi urmarit cu atentie ce poate urma si mi-as fi pus ceva bani deoparte. In plus, as fi incercat sa inteleg care ar fi competentele cerute pentru urmatoarea perioada si m-as fi specializat (spun asta cu mintea de acum) pe gasirea de chiriasi in loc de vanzarea de terenuri. Marca mea personala ar fi suferit un pic de schimbare in competente, dar as fi fost cunoscut mai apoi ca un tip usor adaptabil la situatii dificile.

Deci, pentru a fi cautat, e util sa fii perceput drept unic.
Scrie care sunt cele 3 lucruri pe care crezi ca le apreciaza ceilalti la tine. Mai apoi, incearca sa discuti cu 2-3 persoane de incredere despre presupunerile tale. Daca acestea se confirma, mergi mai departe si verifica acestea cu cel putin 3-4 persoane care nu te cunosc foarte bine. Mai departe, daca obtii si alte confirmari, lucreaza pe subiectele respective.
In schimb, daca ceea ce presupui tu este diferit de felul in care esti perceput, pregateste-te sa investighezi mai in detaliu ce se intampla. Despre asta, intr-o alta duminica.

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Scouting for talents

You are looking to build a great team and you face a limited budget.
Ups, you don't have fancy budget or fancy recruiting agency to use.

I have bad news. It's not possible. In fact, it's not possible next week.

Still, if you are a strategic planner, you will have your team with some investment in advance.

• Scout for talents early enough. If you need them or not, decide later. If they know how talented they are, they are hard to get. If you are the guy who discovered them, then it is a mentor - mentee relationship.
• Look constantly to refresh you pool of talents. It is like taking care about the tree yard nearby your house. If you don't take care, you dont get apples next year and maybe never again.
• Having these guys onboard, support their progress. Don't wait for something in exchange. Be fair. Don't play favorites and offer them challenges according to their potential.
• Be a mentor  for them, as well as a sponsor. One successful story triggers the next one and you will benefit from the legends. Look for next position for each of them by your self, if you see them in the need to be promoted outside of your organization, You won't remain with them in the team, but you will have a great network of guys who appreciate you.
• Keep a close contact with the ones who left the team. They may recommend you other great guys and open some doors for you.

In sum, be a good guy, help others and transform non-financial items in a competitive advantage.

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despre programatori

De la http://www.facebook.com/pages/I-am-ProgrammerI-have-no-life/241806149201604

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Mentoring journey

It seems that once your are nominated a mentor for others, you end your trip as mentee and start another one as mentor.
This is not true.
It is just the next step of mentee-mentor equation.
I have read recently a post on HBR.org about mentorship and started to look back in my life how this is going on.


Mentorship is not always official, not always coming from HR department. In my case, I realized that I had a great mentor only after more than one year. He was able to guide me through decisions without doing it by himself. The other thing is that he was not pushed to be a mentor, it has been somehow facilitated by some chemistry between the persons.
Look for a mentor relationship even this is not coming through an oficial channel. Look for more than one mentor that can help you to progress. You can return the favor by supporting their initiatives with candid feedback and a little bit of evangelism, when fitting to own beliefs.

The more the mentor is up on the performance scale, the more he can guide easily the mentee through the career journey. Some things come up easily, as there are so many things the mentee didn't experienced. It's like a basket full of toys of all sorts. Giving this to a child with very few toys, he can find in the first hours many things maybe new. He will be passionate about some of the things and spend more time with these ones. Others toys might not be of interest at all, as others are already boring.

The other thing is that mentee cannot discriminate which toys are inside the basket from the beginning. It's a matter of try-and-error for her and a matter of guidance from mentor to reach the meaningful items from the first tries.

The other thing in this equation is the purpose of the journey. If this is clearly defined and there is enough fuel for this (that is motivation), than the journey is smooth and direct. I've seen good guys rocketing to top with a clear picture of what they want. Others, with comparable potential and less vision about their destination, struggle in their way and sometimes even fail to reach it. How come this fuel is so important? Why is not enough to have a great mentor? Just because the mentor is the facilitator, she cannot overcome the lack of will. It's like the old joke with the old lady who is helped to pass the street. The mentor who push you to do the passing without your will is not doing a good deed. It is all about you working in a team and getting the right help.


In the end, one can be in both positions in the same time, as the organization is behaving like a pipeline. Look to get more while helping the others coming from behind to catch up. The team you will be part of has the chance to be great. You, alone, have the chance to shine like the sun in desert.

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Pipelines (Conductele)

• Cat de lungi sau scurte sunt ciclurile de viata ale unei echipe?
• Cum este legat ciclul de viata al unui produs de ciclul de viata al unei echipe?
• Cand trebuie reinventata echipa si cand trebuie reinventat produsul?

Nimeni nu poate prevedea cu exactitate ciclul de viata al unei echipe. Cele 4 faze in inchegarea unei echipe iti pot da o indicatie destul de buna despre cand ajung la apogeu. Fazele despre care vorbesc sunt Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing. Tuckman a fundamentat aceasta teorie inca din 1965 (vezi Wikipedia)

In principiu, nu am vazut oameni ce nu se cunosc in prealabil si care sa formeze o echipa intr-un interval mai mic de 6-9 luni. Oamenii care nu sunt intr-o echipa, ci sunt parte a unui grup in prealabil pot, probabil, duce intervalul la 4-6 luni.
Echipele competitive se aseaza intr-un an, cel mai probabil.

Dupa faza Performing, o echipa va atinge nivelul de platou pentru o vreme. Acolo performeaza excelent, pentru o perioada mai lunga sau mai scurta Apoi performanta scade, din pricina intereselor divergente ale membrilor ei. Cu cat interesele converg mai mult timp, cu atat performanta va ramane ridicata.
Eu aseman aceasta stare cu o conducta. In momentul in care performerii excelenti vor dori sa faca o schimbare, echipa are nevoie de oameni la fel de motivati, cu potential la fel de bun, care sa le ia locul. Daca in echipa este alimentata cu oameni foarte motivati inainte de vreme, atunci se creaza o stare de tensiune care nu este benefica. Daca cei mai buni nu isi gasesc o alta provocare, atunci cei care vin din urma nu se pot exprima.

Functionarea instalatiilor de apa se bazeaza pe cateva legi simple. Presiunea, viteza de curgere si densitatea lichidului sunt valorile care influenteaza aceasta functionare. Daca asimilam presiunea cu numarul celor care au potential foarte bun si sunt noi in echipa, densitatea lichidului cu valoarea echipei si dorinta de a evolua in joburi noi, iar viteza de curgere cu ciclicitatea unor proiecte si momentele in care pot iesi din rol unii din membrii echipei, atunci putem caracteriza o echipa si evolutia ei.

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