Why I don't like Powerpoint

Those of you who have observed my presentation these days would notice that I am more comfortable using flip-charts than powerpoint slides.

The reason is very simple.

Using powerpoint slides constrain me, flip-charts give me the flexibility. One of the NLP presuppositions is this: there are no resistant audience, only inflexible communicators.

While powerpoint has its advantages, it usually restrict you during the presentations. I find that using powerpoint, you will often need to adhere to a certain script. That is find if you are presenting a paper to an audience of hundreds and there are no interactions between you and the audience.

However, if you want to connect with the audience, then powerpoint slides don't do it. Instead I find using flip-charts help me connect with my audience and also it gives me the flexibility to customize my presentation according to how the audience respond.

In order to do this effectively, there are five things that you need to do. First, you must have the wealth of information, knowledge, and content to begin with. Only when you have that can you then tailor the presentation accordingly.

Next, you must be able to provide an overview of your presentation in a manner that the audience can visualize. Once you have a visual representation of your presentation, you are already painting a picture of the desired state that you want to lead your audience to.

The third thing is to then go back to current situation and describe what are the existing situation like. With that description, you will now able to bridge the gap between the current and desired state.

And the final thing to do is to "walk" the audience through those steps again; from current, to bridging, to desired state.

Of course, while doing that you must listen carefully to the audience and then offer the content accordingly. That is why your wealth of information, knowledge, and content of your subject matter is the number one thing you must have.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Work-Life Harmony

I recently spoke to one of my friends working in the financial industry and he was just sharing with me about how stressed up he is.

You see, as his company trimmed the workforce, he is being asked to cover what used to be others' work. As such, being fearful of retrenchment, my friend needs to be effective and efficient in his work. As a result, his workload increases and so does his stress level.

In view of this, it is said that the government is encouraging firms to focus even more on work-life harmony. I believe in Schools, this is even more essential.

My argument is this. There are certain industries, where being stressed up doesn't help. Pilots, surgeons, and education; just to name a few that comes to mind.

If you are onboard a plane, you want to know that the pilot is free from stress and is able to effectively get you safely to where you want to be.

If you are lying on the operation table, the last thing you want to know is that the doctor is not under pressure to meet KPIs that might compromise his performance during the operation.

In Schools, you want to know that your child's teacher is not hard-pressed to do 1001 things that are beyond their classroom duties.

I believe every job has its challenges and the ability (or expectations) to not only cope with these challenges but to excel and perform in a peak state requires a two-pronged approach.

Firstly, the management of an organization must first recognize what they can do to maintain or achieve this state called "work-life harmony". Schools have increasingly adopted the PIES approach, where the Well-Being Committee looks into the physical, intellectual, emotional, and social (or spiritual) domains. Some have similar approaches such as the EPMS (emotional, physical, mental, and social).

With this approach, or how the School defines the domains of Well-Being, the Committee is then able to introduce ways to address these different domains. For instance, we share with Schools that they can use the 4-D Approach (TM) in its deployment and review.

First, they need to Define what are the needs under each domain. What might be the physical needs, for instance? Here, we need to establish what these needs are. Would it be needs in the area of being and staying healthy? Let's say, for physical we are focusing on how our staff can stay healthy and with that what kind of benefits does it accrue to the individual and also to the School?

We may suggest that by being healthy; it not only contributes to the physical well-being of our staff but they also feel more energetic and confident. That way our staff will be better able to relate to the children. Another dimension could be that they become role-model to the students. And also it would lead to them taking fewer medical leave and hence lesser disruption to the classes.

Hence, once these needs are identified we can then look at how to Design programs or activities to drive it. We could adopt a eat-fruits day or having an exercise friday or simply through raising awareness of eating healthier food. Once these range of activities have been identified, we could then open it up for participation.

Recognizing that kicking a ball may not be everyone's cup of tea; with this range of activities we can then allow staff to pick and choose which activities suit them better. With that, the Delivery of our programs will be centered around how each program can best reach out to our audience. And hence giving us the flexibility to integrate some of these activities with existing ones. For instance, some simple stretching exercise or health talks can be integrated with the morning assembly programs.

Finally, after the delivery, it is now time to Determine the effectiveness of the programs and activities and that calls for different tools. It could be feedback, participation rates, outcome indicators, etc. Main point is, we need to know what's good and what can be done better.

Of course all these can be instituted but more importantly is the second-prong that needs further evaluation. The second-prong requires everyone to practice Habit 7: Sharpening the Saw. Unless everyone undertake this habit and adopt it as a way of life; the programs at best will encourage individuals to take this seriously.

So, let's us start the new month with a goal to at least address one dimension a week in the PIES domain. Beginning with week-one for physical, week-two for intellectual, week-three on emotional, and week-four on social (spiritual).

*You may combine emotional (self) and social (engaged) for week-three and allowing week-four for spiritual (meaning address your purpose in life).

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Need to Belong

No man is an island, and for everyone of us, the need to belong is indeed one that can be, for some, insatiable.

Today, I'll like to offer four areas for our consideration as we build teams at work, family bonds, and of course culture in an organization.

The first area is in the area growth. Since the dawn of time, man has always the need for growth. Whether conscious or otherwise, whether we do finally take action or not is another issue altogether. However, we all want to grow, to improve our well-being, and to better ourselves. Hence in any organization, unless one feels that they are growing; be it learning new skills, testing new grounds, or breaking new frontiers.

Therefore, when building our organizational culture, we must provide opportunities for growth. Besides, the intensity of our growth gets magnified through working in teams. You see, it sometimes doesn't matter what the outcomes are but more importantly its what we did together. If in doubt, just observe what people talk about what they get together for gatherings; its about re-living those experiences again.

Another critical area is that of contribution. Ever wonder why when you ask people if time nor money is an issue, what would you choose to do and their answers would almost always be about how they can help or contribute. Hence, being part of any organization, the very least is where people feel that they have or can contribute.

See it in another way, its about how people are being valued. If we value each other as individuals; then we will respect their views, recognize the differences, engage their talents in tasks. The last thing anyone needs is for you to show them their views are not needed, that the fact that they are different is not tolerated, or to have them dig a hole then fill it up.

You see, only when people feel that they are valued, the best you will get out of them is willing compliance. In other words, they will only complete the task because they are obliged to being part of the organization. Well, unless you are running a death camp, you would want your team to take initiatives, to seek creative solutions, and to go the extra mile. That way, you can not only delight the customer, you will also have a competitive edge that your competitors can't copy quickly.

Closely related to contribution; people also want to feel significant. Now, this is not just about rewards or recognition. Though they are important, these are not the sole motivational factors. You see, in one of our previous discussions, we spoke about internal and external motivation. And an added dimension of that is away-towards motivation.

In order for individuals to feel significant, the matrix of away-towards and internal-external motivation must be examined. As such, if we only have motivational factors that are skewed to one or the other, we are then able to look at first are these factors aligned to our corporate values and then re-examine how we can introduce new or refine existing factors to accentuate significance.

The last area is connection or network. You see, leveraging on the power of "network effects", the more nodes a network has, the value of the network increase exponentially. Hence, establishing a well-connected network is extremely critical. Everyone wants to be part of a network that is able to increase their worth. In other words, the above three areas are actually dependent on the last area.

Because in an organization with a well-connected network, individuals in that organization will be better able to grow, contribute, and enhance their level of significance as compared to being part of an organization that does not have such a network.

Therefore, in order for us to build an organization that people want to be part of; these four areas must be worked on. Having said that, in which order do we start off with will depends on the level of the organization and its leadership.
Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Engaging Relationships as the Framework for Success

Often times when we are being asked, what is our definition of success, some of us may say, degrees; wealth; achievements; properties.

Today, I'll like to share with you one of my reflections from the book "Leadership Gold" by John Maxwell.

First chapter talks about, its you're alone at the top; you're doing something wrong. It is so true. I used to think about success is about getting things done, achieving certain goals, and reaching the top.

But more and more I am beginning to believe that without engaging relationships, being at the top means nothing. At best, you've friends who only want to be with you, if you're at the top. Now, don't get me wrong, there are friends who would be with you whether you're the King of the Hill or at the bottom of the rock pile.

My point is this. If we begin to see relationship, or for that matter; engaging relationships as the framework for success, we would want to not only reach the top but also bring others along.

First, what we meant by "framework" is essentially the thinking behind it. Its what we called, the approach. In other words, it essentially governs the way we do things or the way we behave. It also establishes the boundaries of what we can do and what we will not do. In a nutshell, it is the "mind-set". With a certain mind-set, we then surface the assumptions in which we hold dear.

Hence, if engaging relationships is the mind-set that we have about success, then many things become clear. We will not choose to achieve a goal at the expense of causing strains to relationships. We will not choose to back-stab another just to get ahead. We will, however, choose to show respect and empathy towards our team-mates. We will choose people before processes. We will also choose to do things together and not to seek glory for ourselves alone.

That said, if we are going from a previous and possibly mis-aligned framework of success to one of "engaged relationships", there will be some transitions to make. And change will come with it. But to win with people, we must first make sure that we can win with ourselves. Meaning, we must convince ourselves first that "engaging relationships" is indeed the framework for success.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

3Ps of Relationships

I have come to accept the purpose of my life is to work with people on how to establish engaging relationships. Today I would like to share with you about the 3Ps of relationships.

I believe that having engaging relationship with self, others in a social context, and others at work is Personal, Possible, and Profitable.

In fact, we've all heard how we sometimes say, well, if he does this, then I will do this. Or he made me do this. He made me this way or that way. Now, the fact is if we really want to have engaging relationships with others it starts with self. It is personal.

Personal, or your relationship with yourself, may seem a little odd to most people at first glance. Some may even question the need to look at self-relationship. Or others may quiz about the possibility.

Well, relationship with yourself goes beyond just knowing who you are (identity) but also what is your purpose (personal mission). I believe and firmly stand by the fact that everyone should have a personal mission statement. It talks about what your life's work is going to be. It is about discovering your purpose. If identity gives you direction, purpose gives you speed. We may see ourselves as a teacher, as a parent, as a friend; but until there is a purpose we sometimes find it had to summon enough energy to press on.

Next, it is possible to have engaging relationships. I in fact had a huge issue with trusting others. Its because of what I went through previously that left me with a bitter relationship with a friend whom I went to work for. Now I can blame him and continue not trusting others. Or I could learn from that episode and see things from a different perspectives. I chose to take on that personal aspect of forgiving myself for all that had happened. I was like, "how can you allow yourself to do that?", "oh well, I forgive you. Let's move on".

Until I was able to re-establish my relationship with self, and trust myself again I will not be able to move on to the "possible" part of relationship. Actually the possible part is simple. There are essentially 4 principles that we need to remember and practice daily. They are leverage, synergy, abundance, and empathy.

Well, I think if I were to ask you what are the essentials of an engaging relationship, you'd probably have your version too. But the thing that we are all guilty of is; "if we know what we know, why do we do what we do"?

I believe, according to the "Rings of Engagement" our behaviors are governed by our beliefs and values. So, unless we feel right or feel good about doing something, we won't do it.

True, I have my challenges. But I am committed to making improvements on a daily basis. Much like investing $1 a dollar, consistently, in good times or otherwise; and allowing the power of compounding work. I once calculated that if you'd started investing with $1,000 and if you had a vehicle that yields you 25% annually; you'd have accumulated $1 million after some 25 years. This is my belief that it is possible and also profitable. It is also aligned to my value of "learning and growth".

In fact relationships are much like investing. Unless you start investing in relationships, it will not happen overnight. Remember those get-rich-quick schemes and how people lose their money? Its probably get-rich-quick for those who promote it.

In relationships, imagine you have one that is strained. One which in Covey's terms, you had withdrawn too much from the emotional bank account. You can't suddenly turn to that someone and say, look, just this once?! Relationships must be invested, it must be nurtured, it must be cultivated.

So, my friends; go out today and start thinking of the 3Ps of relationship and see how you can make this world a better place.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Leroy Eims III

Imagination - three steps.

Step 1: ask questions like a child. Often times parents are faced with questions from their children and some of us struggle with the answers. Questions like, why is the sky blue? Or why is the celebration of the birth of Christ called Christmas? Or why can't we have pink elephants?

It may seem like silly questions, but these actually do one thing for us and that is it allows us to see things in a different light. As adults, many of us face issues in relationships because we make too many assumptions (so who says Economists are the only ones making assumptions?).

For instance when speaking to a co-worker, we may assume that if we have told them something often enough and long enough they will remember. The underlying assumption here is that repetition works. Or perhaps when we communicate the benefits of our programs to prospects, we sometimes assume that they understood the benefits or worse that they see that as benefits.

What assumptions do for us is that it simplifies things. Imagine every time you need to communicate to your staff, you have to start with the reiteration of the assumptions. This could prove cumbersome. In order not to make too many assumptions but yet not having to repeat them every time you speak actually requires a four-step process (we will discuss this another time).

Therefore to unleash our imagination, we first have to ask questions like a child.

Step 2 involves formulating plausible solutions to address the underlying issue of the question. Hence after you've asked the questions, next is to come up with a whole lot of solutions, ignoring whether they seem odd or impossible at all. This is essentially the brainstorming aspect. Here suspension of the critical thinking is important. The best way to do this with a team. Essentially gather your team and have each person writes an idea to the question on a sheet of paper.

Next, within a short-span of 2 minutes have that sheet of paper rotated to the next person. In this way, you can look at my idea and either improve on it or add a different idea altogether. And then have this process repeated as many times as possible. That way you will have a bountiful of ideas which may or may not work.

And we'll continue with Step 3 tomorrow.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Leroy Eims II

Seeing further and seeing before others do are two critical elements that a leader must possess.

Following up from our previous discussion about seeing more, to see further one needs to be able to project their end in mind and see it with their mind's eye.

The subtle difference between seeing more and seeing further is this: seeing more requires experience (either through your own or from the experiences of others), while seeing further requires imagination. The ability to imagine is far more important than just experience. While experience is good, it is not great as at best we will just be achieving what others have before.

Imagination is more important than knowledge; as Einstein puts it. It is so true! With imagination you are able to paint a picture of the desired outcome something that only you can see how far it will go.

Lack of that ability is the limitation of the McDonald's brothers. Ray Kroc had the imagination. He saw further than the brothers. Today, the McDonald's branding position is top-notch.

How to develop imagination?

I believe it can be done in three steps. But it requires regular practice just like building up muscles. You have to work out regularly to develop these muscles.

Have reached my stop. Share with you later on the three steps.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Leroy Eims

"A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees further than others see, and who see before others do."

Of course a critical element that a leader possess is "vision". Incidentally, vision is also one of the 9 principles of engaged mastery.

Practising this principle calls for us to demonstrate our ability to see more, see further, and see before others do.

Firstly, the ability to see would mean having an end in mind and more importantly, the ability to communicate that end in mind. Even more critical is to be able to have that end in mind written down.

You see, having an end in mind or holding that picture of your vision in your mind is a start. You can see, in your mind's eye, that vision in front of you.

Next, if you have a good coach, she will be able to help you translate that visual image into words that you can describe.

After that, it is to translate that a written form. This should be succinct and concise. That would facilitate communication of that vision to your team, customers, suppliers, and partners.

However a good leader is also someone as Leroy Eims said, "see more, see further, and see before". The question, though, begs how to see more, see further, and see before.

John Maxwell suggests that the answers are found in the Law of Navigation. To see more, one will need experience. Learning from experience will enable you to see more. However that may take a lifetime and possibly one of ups and downs. Learning from the experience of others will allow you to avoid costly mistakes. Better still is to learning from those who are successful. That will not only allows you to know what works but also allows you to focus on more effectively methods.

How to do that will require us to understand the Circles of Engagement. We do not just want to focus purely on what successful people do, in other words their behaviors or the kind of actions that they take. We would also want to know their knowledge, skills, and competencies as well. Knowing that will allow us to learn the same. However, we also know that merely knowing what to do is not enough. What drives our actions depend on our beliefs and values. Which is why we need to understand their beliefs and values. Because understanding these beliefs and values will trigger the respective emotions that will lead us to take action.

We will discuss about seeing further and seeing before in our next discussion.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Are We There Yet?

Schools are often asked, when they go for external validation; "how would you know when you've arrived at your vision?"

Many Schools struggle with that and the thing is, they are not alone. How people if you asked, would be able to tell you with such clarity and details about their goals in life; or in other words, their definition of success.

The thing is, once we understand the concept of goals setting, that issue resolves itself.

Goals setting, a very fundamental aspect of our lives, is something I feel that everyone should learn. If aligned to our purpose or mission in life; then goals setting will give our lives fulfillment and balance.

The issue of how to set goals, beyond SMART, is a topic for another discussion.

One of the key aspect of allowing us to answer the question of, "are we there yet?" is this; clearly defined indicators.

Before the issue of indicators there is the clarity of "how would our vision look like when we arrive". To draw a parallel, if you are driving to the bird park; then there ought to be signs or landmarks to tell you that you have arrived. It could be a sign that says "Bird Park" or it could be the "Congo Burgers" store in front that let's you know, yes we have arrived.

Hence, unless we are able to describe in detailed how our vision will look like, it would be a case of, I think we have arrived. Its like if you were tracking in Mandai jungle and on the map the spot marked "X" indicates your destination point; unless you are able tell by comparing the spot with the actual surroundings, you really do not know!

Therefore, the first thing you must do to answer the question is to have lots of conversations with staff to determine what it looks like to have achieved our vision.

To your success!

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Do it with all your heart?

Servants do every task with equal dedication. Whatever they do, servants "do it with all their heart" (Colossians 3:23 NIV)

I was reading the daily devotion from Pastor Rick Warren and felt compelled to share this. I know some of you have differing opinions about this. Having said that the message can be seen outside of the context of religion too.

Its basically speaking about how whatever we do, we do it with all our heart, doing it passionately; as the Zen masters would say, "mindful".

Essentially when we have a "mind like water" and focus on the very task we are doing, doing it with absolute focus; that's when we are able to give our best.

Some practical steps I can share.

First, when engaged in any task, give it your fullest attention. The most important thing to do at any moment is that very thing you are doing right now. For instance when reading this if your mind is on the to-do list you've got to complete, then go do that instead. Its like the air traffic controller metaphor of landing one plane at a time. (Reference: Covey's 4 Disciplines of Execution)

How can one be in such a state, as NLP would called it, is simply this. Align it to your beliefs, values, and identity. If you believed that whatever you are doing add value to your life or that of others; then you'd do it with all your heart. Once you have that aligned, it will be in sync with your values, such as adding value to others. And with that it would allow you to live according to the identity that embodied those values and beliefs.

In addition, once you began to do it consistently, others will come to recognise it, appreciate it, and acknowledge it. Then it will further reinforce what you had believed in the first instance hence making you do it more, do it better, and do it effortlessly.

It will become a virteous cycle, my friend.

Your friend,
Melvyn Tan
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Art vs Science

Is it "art" or "science"?

Many a times, we've heard people said that, for instance leadership is more of an "art" than "science". Whether it is "nature" or "nurture". So are you born to be a leader or can you be trained to become one?

I believe it is both an art and a science.

My interpretation is as follows: its first a science than an art.

Especially in the area of "leadership", if you look at the number of titles on the topic, you'd be overwhelmed. If people are born leaders, then it would be a complete waste of time to read such books. Its either you are or you're not. As simple as that.

However, leadership can be taught; to a large extent.

First, one can acquire an awareness about leadership. Beginning with an awareness helps in understanding what leadership is and what it is not. Many people can tell you that leaders and managers are different. For example, leaders set direction for an organization, while managers ensure that the strategies are executed according to plan.

Next, after gaining an awareness, one can then pick up a certain skill-set of leaders. For instance, we can learn how to set directions, how to come up with a plan. We can also learn some soft-skills like people skills, EQ, how to listen to your people. These constitute a series of learnings, which you can learn from reading a book, to attending a course, to even perhaps watching how other leaders do things.

Now, having learnt all these skills, the next step is to be able to apply them. Knowing alone is just not enough. We must put it into practice. Find an opportunity to practice it. Or perhaps set a goal such as during this week I will practice what I've learnt about "how to listen".

Here, it is where the organization can help. Perhaps, if you have sent your staff on a leadership course, you may want to create the opportunity for your staff to practice those skills. Or perhaps, you want to set aside time to review and coach your staff in this area. You may also get your staff to reflect upon his actions to see how he has applied those skills and to what success.

Of course this could take many forms. A good practice would be to adopt this four-step approach of (1) identifying the opportunities or platforms for the staff to practice or apply those skills. (2) to allow the staff to develop his mastery of those skills. (3) then there must be some ways to evaluate his development of the skills. And finally (4) to acknowledge his progress thus far.

In order to carry this out effectively, specific goals and objectives must be established and agreed upon by the staff and yourself. And certainly, a time frame must be set or it could result in a never ending process.

Now, up until now we have been talking about the science part, where creating the awareness, acquiring the skill-set, and providing the platform for application. From here on will be where the art component will kick in. Much like going from conscious competence to unconscious competence.

How long does this take? It depends. For some it could be faster than others. According to Malcolm Gladwell, in his recent book "Outliers", his thesis of the 10,000 hours of practice is what it takes for someone to go from good to great.

While that is true, I believe it only offers one side of the story. Besides, practice does not make perfect, always. If one has been practising the skills wrongly, then even with the 10,000 hours put in will only make this person really good at being bad.

In order to understand how this can bring out the "art" component requires insights into the person's beliefs, values, attitudes, and identity. Now, I am proposing that unless one truly believes in what he is doing, no number of hours will make a person great.

As such, even through one practice till it becomes an unconscious competence; unless it is aligned to his beliefs and identity he will never become great. Or make it an art.

If you study the lives of great artists, engineers, writers, musicians, teachers; you will find that first and foremost they believe in what they are doing and most importantly, they also see it as their life's work!

Many Japanese great masters spend a lifetime just focusing on the one thing that they do and do it to excellence, if not perfection. And their ability to be creative is just unbelievable.

One such example is O'Sensei Morihei Ueshiba. After spending many years training various forms of martial arts, O'Sensei created a form of martial arts called Aikido. Each time O'Sensei learnt a new martial arts form, he was able to to synthesize what he has learnt with what he already know. Hence making his existing knowledge of martial arts more effective, in terms of executing the moves.

However, O'Sensei did not stop there. In fact, he later on created a new art form called Aikido, where it is now practiced all over the world. And the success with Aikido, I believe, was also the philosophy. Which was what's aligned to O'Sensei's beliefs and identity, such as one should be in harmony with the opponent, and to love the opponent. These were what O'Sensei believed in and also lived by it. And because he believed it and lived by it, he has become synonymous with the philosophy.

Of course he did his 10,000 hours, no doubt.

Hence, to become good at something, be it leadership or Aikido, one can acquire the skills through practice. That's the science part. There are various avenues to acquire those skills; not just knowledge.

But to become great at something, to master the art of it, one must align it to his beliefs and identity. To do that, it requires a whole lot of soul searching. So, to become great, I believe each and everyone of us must first identify what our life's passion is going to be. Or some may say, what's your life's mission or purpose.

For those who wish to embark on this journey; I strongly urge you to read "Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren.

Your friend,
Melvyn Tan
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Do You Dream?

I do.

In fact every night before I hit the sack that's when I dream. Yes, I dream before I sleep. Now how's that possible? To dream even before I go into REM?

Well, I dream about my desired outcomes. My goals and visions in my three dimensional roles; personal, people, and professional.

These days my dreams are filled with achieving these goals with the various people in my lives. My wife, my friends, associates, schools we are working with, and schools we will be working with.

In fact, you might like to know that one of my dreams are fast becoming fulfilled way in advance.

Now, of course you've heard about the merits of having your goals written down and have them staring at you (or is it the other way round?) everyday before you sleep and each morning when you awake.

Those of you who have watched "The Secret" would remember the "vision board". For the uninitiated, it is essentially a board (I used the 3M sticky board) where you'd put up pictures of what you want or wish for and stare at it day and night. You've got to also envisage how you would enjoy them; meaning imagine you've already achieved it and how you would feel about it.

Now, there's several reasons for this. Principally, it evokes certain feel-good emotions which will fire up in your brain. Each time you do that, it intensify that feel good emotions. Only condition is, you've gotta do it consistently.

Thinking behind this is, we are all emotional driven beings. Hence, after a period of doing this consistently, you would be driven to take the necessary actions to work towards the goal, hence fulfilling that need for the positive emotions.

You see, emotions come before actions. That's why they say sales is 100% emotions. Only when you feel good about something will you take action.

So how do we apply this in an organizational context?

First, write down all your goals and have them put up on a board that is visible to all. Yes, you can make it colourful and pretty but essentially it must make people want to look at it.

Second, ask your team to talk about these goals. How they would feel if these goals are met (emotions). What it means to them (purpose). Then align the emotions to the purposes. Because unless it really means to something to them, they will not be motivated to do something towards the achievements of those goals.

Third, ask the people what they can do to work towards these goals (behaviors). Have them brainstorm and discuss how they can contribute towards these goals (checking for alignment to their purposes).

Fourth, pre-schedule regular meetings to share about their progress (reflect); celebrate the successes and also identify what else can be done to help them work towards these goals (clear the way for them by giving them the support they need).

I've found this to be extremely useful. So, go on and start dreaming.

Sweet dreams, my friends.

Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

The importance of testing assumptions

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely’s talk from the TED conference, where he discusses about the importance of testing assumptions through experiments - something very relevant for innovation.



Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan

Ben Franklin

For those of you who have been working with me will notice that I am a great fan of FranklinCovey. I'm like a slave to FC; bags, planning tools, organizer. FC, as you probably know, was a merger between two great companies, Franklin Leadership and Covey Leadership. Most of you would be familiar with Covey as the author of the 7 Habits.

What most of you might not know is Franklin Leadership, or Benjamin Franklin. Franklin, who at 26, thought he was a failure. If you read some of his accomplishments at that age, you wouldn't think he is a failure. But that's what he thought about himself. (Did you know that he invented the flippers?)

So, he took some time off and thought about what he's going to do about it. And he listed 12 virtues (we would have called it values) that he wanted to live by. So he showed it to a friend and the friend suggested that he should include a 13th; humility.

Hence he took those 13 virtues and written down statements that clarify what they meant. Following that, he decided to work on them but not all at once. He decided to work on one each week. Word has it that he worked only on the initial 12. Reason why he didn't work on the 13th was it wasn't his. It was suggested to him by that friend. Joke has it that with what he had accomplished, he couldn't be humble about it!

This idea has been adapted some what by Schools in Singapore; where they will work on one value for a month or a week. What they seek to do is to infuse it into the lessons, take about it during the assembly programs, or even have themes around these values. One school we know, actually created a number of action characters that embodied these values that children can identify with. They even have a story book on the characters so that the parents can read those stories to their child at home; hence reinforcing those values inculcation programs.

One main challenges that many face is the issue of "how do you know when you get there" and also "how do you know if the programs are effective". In actual fact, the key thing to do is to have clear descriptors; like how Franklin did it, so that we all know and can visualize how each value, when it is being manifested, looks like.

As the manifestation fo these values are behaviors; we can then append a certain way of spotting those behaviors. For instance, if learning and growth is one of our values; then we must be able to describe what kind of behaviors would we expect to see. For instance, we could say that; staff are engaged in different forms of trainings, they are seen to be sharing these learnings at various platforms, and they demonstrate mastery of those learnings through the development of teaching packages.

Now, behaviors; especially new behaviors will not happen automatically as people are used their old ways of doing things, they are not sure if these new ways might work, or they could be so caught up in day-to-day activities that it just doesn't happen.

If in doubt, let's say you would like to start an exercise regime, where you would exercise at least three times a week and each time for at least 30 minutes. Now, unless you schedule time for the exercise; or if you sign up for an exercise class, chances are you are going to find it hard to comply, let alone meet. Or perhaps, you could engage in the exercises but when there seems to be other pressing needs (like reports to do) we often time would forgo the run.

Likewise, if we expect people to engage in a new set of behaviors, we ought to provide the platforms and structures to facilitate those new behaviors. It could be setting aside one-day a week for trainings, or it could be a learning fest, or it could be a white-space for staff. Toyota, for instance, gave their employees one hour a day to just reflect and think of ways to improve current processes. Imagine if you don't provide the platforms, how on earth would they find time within their working hours to do this?

Having said that, there must be a way to know if that platform is effective. Short of being there to measure or gauge its success, we ought to identify clear objectives of these platforms. For instance, if white-space is a platform, and to measure effectiveness; we got to ask ourselves what was the reason we provided that in the first instance?

Once we are able to answer that questions, these then become our objectives. Such as, to discuss or share curriculum matters during white space; then we have to measure some form of activities or outcomes that can lead us to say that the platforms were effective. Otherwise, we could all be doing it diligently but unless we know whether it was effective, we can't make improvements or even scrap the platforms to make way for something else.

Hence, my own review of my weekly planning process based on Franklin's methodology is; start each week by committing to live by a value each week. Look at what are the ways that can reinforce living by that value. Also, look for the opportunities during the week that can allow me to put that commitment to the test and push my limits. After each week, to review my activities and behaviors based on that value. Then move on.

Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
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Change - A Leadership Choice

You often hear people say, well I gotta do this, I have no choice. Usually when someone says that to me, my question would be "what if you didn't do it?" or "who says you have no choice?"

Often the reply would be, "well, then I ..." You fill in the blanks as you'd probably been there before.

I was listening to the audio training CD by John Maxwell on "Leading through Change" and I think he have an excellent point.

Usually when change happens, we have four choices actually. We can (a) change it, (b) leave it, (c) live with it, or (d) change self.

Give you some examples; (a) change it: when something happens we can choose to change it. For instance when you find that you are now tasked with more projects and hence have less time to do things then you used to, you could choose to change it. Don't say you have no choice, as if you choose not to change it; then already that is a choice! You choose not to choose! Of course, whether you are able to change it depends on your circle of influence. If your circle of influence is tiny and cannot delegate the work, then you may have to live with it or leave it.

(B) Leave it: when it becomes unbearable then you might want to leave it, meaning leave the job, the post, whatever. You may just have to walk away altogether. Of course some of us would say, but I need the job to pay the bills! Well, then maybe you should go for option (c) live with it.

I once heard an audio training CD and the trainer was saying just too many people whine about the weather. His response to them, blunt as it may seem, was; "well, when you get your own planet, you can do whatever you want, but as long as you are a guest on God's earth you'd just have to bear with it!" In other words, live with it! Of course then some people are still not happy; which leaves us with the final option of change self.

John Maxwell said "if I had to kick the person responsible for all my failures, I'd probably not be able to sit!" Michael Jackson said, "if you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change." What wise words (who says listening to pop music can't teach us anything?).

Hence our final option of "change self" is probably the most obvious, everyone knows it but why is it that so few of us are doing it? That's because if we raise our own "self-leadership" standards, we would then be able to do so. Until then, you'd just have to be happy with the choices you make.

Therefore, change is a leadership choice; that of self not your boss. Until then my friends, have a great weekend and for all educators, have a great holiday!

Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
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Is it really passion?

We spoke about courage. Some of you might be thinking, but how is that measurable? You don't. Courage, as we have discussed is about having a moral compass as a guide. It's like a list of rules that tell you the do-s and don't-s. It is essentially based on our values, beliefs, and principles.

I cannot emphasize enough how important principles are. In fact, there appears to be scope for talking about values vs principles. In a nutshell, values determine the kind of action we will take. It shapes our behaviors. It defines our response to a certain situation.

For instance, if "success" is a value, to one person it could mean working really hard. To another it could mean doing whatever it takes to get to the top. Both are behaviors that different people will adopt. However, the main difference could be that working really hard just to get ahead; using all your talents, resources, and intellect to get ahead. But doing whatever it takes can mean, even if one needs to cheat to get ahead, one will do it. The differences lie in the consequences. The first doesn't have any negative consequences but the latter, if found out will result in being deemed as dishonest.

Herein lies the difference and because each carry a different principle. Therefore, values such as "courage" must be combined with a positive intent principle.

Now, coming to measurables, we need to look at learning and growth, excellence, and innovativeness and creativity. These are essentially activities that can be measured. For instance, if someone is passionate about an area; she will read anything related to the topic, go on to do deeper researches, talk to experts, and the list goes on. However, knowledge alone is insufficient as we'd still need to apply it so that it can really be a skill.

That's the reason why I included growth with learning. I can learn, read, research, or even speak to Michael Phelps about swimming, but unless I jump into the pool to put those knowledge into action, it will never become a skill. At best, you could end up being an armchair critic. Much like some academics who could write books about what makes a great organization but unless they have actually run and manage one, their intellectual discourse are just that.

Hence, growth would mean certain outcomes that can be measured. For instance, if our staff engages in a learning community (learning), this is but only an activity! Everyone can clock in hundreds of hours in that community. But unless we see outcomes (not necessary positive) such as a completed project that is a result of those hours spent in the learning community, there is no growth. So, this is a pair of activity and outcome indicator.

Next, let's talk about excellence. Someone who is passionate will strive for excellence. Not to be confused with perfection. That is why Lexus' tagline of "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" just drive me nuts. When we are obsessed with perfection, we stress ourselves out. Firstly, let's face it, it will never be perfect. Secondly, if we go for perfection then it could even result in us not willing to put out any work or to try anything until we have perfected it.

This is absurb, which is why it should be the Relentless Pursuit of Excellence. What is means to me is that, in everything we do, we will (a) review it, (b) identify areas for improvement, (c) look out for best practices, and (d) do it better, faster, more efficient, more effective the next time. How to measure? This would involve demonstrating that we have structured review processes in place. Additionally, we review the review process. We identify areas for improvements that are strategic and not just operational kinds. We would compare and benchmark ourselves against the best-in-class. And adapt and adopt such best practices into our organization. And finally, we must compare our outcomes against previous years and with our peers/competitors to see how we are doing.

The next discussion will focus on "innovativeness and creativity" and "abundance".

Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
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Passion... Hmm... How can you tell?

It is said that if we are passionate about what we do, we need not fear, as the money will follow.

That is probably the biggest lie ever told.

Passion, like many other attributes, are difficult to describe; let alone quantify. And if you can't quantify that, then how can you tell? How do you measure it, and how do append a dollar value to it?

Many people know that I am passionate about my work but can I tell my clients that, "look, because I am so passionate about what I do, you need to pay me $x for my work and pay me an extra $y for my passion?" I'd probably be shown out of the door, if not thrown out.

So, first how can you tell when you see someone who is passionate about their work? I believe you would see these characteristics of courage, learning and growth, excellence, innovativeness and creativity, and abundance.

I'm sorry if some of you think I am trying to sell you something, but it is something I truly believe in.

Courage stems from not just doing things right but more importantly, doing the right thing. I mean, I could be passionate about destroying the world or eliminating the Jews (like Hitler) but unless I do the right thing; nothing else matters. I will not see sustenance and also it would be self-destructive.

So, first we must be prepared to do the right thing and what the right things are depend on your mission in life. As for me, my mission or purpose in life (up till this point; why I say up till this point is that overtime as I review I may change or modify it) is to resolve to live each day according to the Principles of Engaged Mastery to be a leader who engages with integrity. I see integrity as my moral compass, of telling me what is right and what is wrong.

Right and wrong can be subjective, but if we see right and wrong in terms of principles or natural laws; then it is anything but subjective. Because you can ignore these principles but they won't ignore you. Much like the natural law of gravity; as long as you are on earth; you can choose to ignore gravity by walking out of the window of a skyscraper but gravity will act on you and bring you down to earth.

We'll continue with the rest in our next discussion.

Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)

Turning Vision into Reality

A vision provides the long-term strategic direction of your School.

However, it can prove difficult to translate the long-term vision into day-to-day activities and making sense of it all.

Effective School Leaders understand and apply the three critical ingredients to turn vision into reality.

Vision Alignment
In other words, it is to be clear about the vision. Peter Marshall once said, "Give us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for - because unless we stand for something we shall fall for anything”.

That would mean having a comprehensive set of indicators and milestones along the way to let us know where we're at currently, and where we want to be. Once these indicators and milesteones are clearly defined, the next step is to brainstorm about how to get there, formulate winning strategies, and work out a plan.

Journey of Change
Now that we have planned the work, we must now work the plan. Embarking on a journey to realise the vision usually requires us to do things differently. Taking the cue from Stephen R. Covey, "If you want to make incremental improvements, work on behaviors; but if you want to make quantum leaps, work on your paradigms."

Organizations resist change because people become comfortable with the way things are and they prefer what's familiar. Hence, it would require the leadership to re-examine the mental-models of the School; then filtering down to re-looking at whether current programs, practices, and policies are reinforcing the desired behaviors that would lead us towards the vision.

Engaged Mastery
With changes, come resistance. Therefore, it is critical to understand the concerns of the people. In John Maxwell's “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”; under relationships it is said that, "If You Get Along, They’ll Go Along".

On this journey towards the vision, there will be speed-bumps along the way. As such, it would require each individual staff member to not only have personal mastery, but engaged mastery so that it would create an environment of high trust. This happens when everyone lives by the values of the School and also have the necessary competencies to achieve the vision. Only then, can the School fulfill its mission.

Capital

We've all experienced how various forms of capital can contribute significantly to your organizational goals. There are essentially three types of capital.

One, that is capital in the form of financial capital or money. Every organization needs money to survive, to grow, to make a profit. Which is one of the reason why when financial institutions are threatened, like the current crisis, governments need to step-in to ensure it does not collapse. As with a credit freeze, the entire economy gets affected. Businesses do not have access to capital to grow or do business; individuals face increased criteria for borrowing money to make purchases.

Two, that is capital in the form of intellectual capital. In other words, its an idea that has a value, which if is protected can bring about tremendous returns for the organization. Look at Microsoft, where the "idea" of the Windows operating system, which essentially is a protected idea that accrues the rights to MS to sell it at a price. This form of capital is subjected to imitations and copy-cats; where can over time lose its value.

Three, that is capital in the form of human capital. This form of capital is, by far the most difficult to accumulate but if done properly can bring about exponential benefits. There are various ways of developing or nurturing human capital. It can be developed through training and talent grooming. There is, however, a more sustainable and self regenerating manner and that is through building a culture where individuals are not just productive or committed' but engaged.

To build a culture where individuals are engaged requires efforts at all four dimensions. These dimensions include (i) people dimension, (ii) customer dimension, (iii) stakeholders dimension, and (iv) internal dimensions.
Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
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Calculus of Change

Change is one of two "constants" in our lives (the other is principles).

In management theories, we were taught that people resist change. Some people also think that "change" is painful. To get out of our comfort zone, we were told. And of course, Obama and his "Change, yes we can" campaign.

In all, many people see change as a bad word. Or some may even proclaim that change is a necessary evil. Whatever the case may be, change has triggered one too many negative connotations that people usually associate it with pain.

From a calculus stand-point, I'd like to share how change can be understood in order to drive home the point.

Let's say we have a quadratic equation; y = x-square + x + 1. When we perform a differentiation on this equation, we have dy/dx = 2x + 1. A further second-order differentiation will give us (d-square) y/d(x-square) = 2. And a final third-order differentiation will give us the result "zero". And that is because differentiation of a constant gives us "zero".

Here's where the fun begins. If we remain constant, that is we do not change what we do, how we think, the way we work; we will be like the third-order differentiation result; zero. In other words, for a small change in "x" (let us substitute "x" for time), we will see a zero displacement.

If we are slightly better, being like the second-order differentiation result of 2x + 1, we will be progressing albeit at a linear fashion. Meaning to say that, our results will be a direct function of what we put in, in a linear fashion. Hence, if you put in more time; you will get more. But you cannot see exponential growth unless you assume the quadratic equation.

Only then, will you be able to get results that have a multiplier effect. Assuming you put in 2 ounce of effort, where "x" is effort, your results would be seven ounce of outcome. And if you increase by another ounce of effort, your results do not follow a linear progression, but you get 13! Here, by increasing your effort by 50% you see an increase in output by some 86%! What a great difference (in which case for the linear equation you'd only see a 40% increase).

So, how can we all assume the power of the quadratic equation? I believe the answers lie with "leverage", "synergy", "abundance", and "empathy". When we "engage" another person using those 4 principles that I've just mentioned, we see growth explodes. And say, for every person that you are able to "engage" it would mean you equation moves in tandem.

Say, if you work alone, over time at best you can only grow in a linear fashion. But when you work with another you become a quadratic equation, two more people and you become a cubic equation, and so forth.

Hence, when you change and we don't just mean doing things better or faster, when you work alone at best you will see increasing linear results. But when you change the way you do things and are able to "engage" others to move in tandem with you, you'll see exploding growth! Much like those cartoons where the line goes out of the chart's plotting area and upwards to the wall!

But as "change agents", you must also understand and obey the principles stated above. These principles are like natural laws, where whether you acknowledge it or not, it will act on you; nuch like gravity.

So, my friends, "change, we must" and when it is painful that's when you know you are growing for without pain we will not grow.

Respectfully yours,
Melvyn Tan
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)