Change happens, it cannot be managed. An organization best chance is to accelerate change, and to mould a culture of quick reflexes. Infuse speed and responsiveness into the way things get done, get rid of bureaucracy, break down the walls that lowers productivity. Ensure communications flows freely and swiftly. Create lean and nimble organizations. Speeding up things, and change, protects us better in this high velocity world.

Technorati Tags: Change Management, Culture, Management

Julie Howard, president & COO of Navigant Consulting, says

They view that they have greater opportunities and perhaps greater social responsibilities in this world than we did coming out of college. And, therefore, you know, they should be thinking about giving back to communities. They may think about trying a bunch of different types of work opportunities. They may think about going back to school in ways that we never thought about it. So we are facing a different generation that views how they work, where they work, how long they work, and those opportunities that this world affords them differently. And that’s okay. But then this behooves all professional service companies to rethink their strategies.

Howard goes on to suggest a rethinking of business model and recruiting strategies. I think it is bigger than just a model change. When there is a mix of old age consultants and the new cadets, there will be noticeable clash of habits and personalities. Habits mould the culture of an organization. Problems arise when the world changes (like new expectation of new age consultants) but the old habits stay. People need to change with the times, provide new set of responses that hold more promise to the future.

Technorati Tags: Consulting, consultants, Opportunities, Culture

Every company’s most recognized problem is COMMUNICATION.
Every management consultant recommends in his report that COMMUNICATION needs improvement.
Every company has a COMMUNICATION problem, whether they recognize it or not.
Every conflict starts from a COMMUNICATION failure.
Every relationship improves with better COMMUNICATION.

The purpose of any communication is to reach understanding. COMMUNICATION is the most important skill in your life, and best tool you have to grow as a person or as a professional.

Technorati Tags: Communication, Relationship, Conflict, Problem

Instead the smart response is to strategize a long term plan, with your manager. Map out a development plan, spanning the next few years; partner with manager and peers and measure progress.Here are somethings you may want to put into the development plan.

1. Identify specific skills you require to be successful at work.
2. Advertise your Goals & Objectives.
3. Scour the organization for opportunities.
4. Identify the steps required to acheive each of the goals.
5. Clearly layout the expectations from your manager (if you need his help).

When one has a plan, partnered with their boss, then it becomes more about whether you have accomplished X, Y or Z. There’s a difference between not getting something you want and not getting something you’ve earned.

Technorati Tags: Lemons to Lemonade, Loss of Promotion, Development Plan, Careers

Mistake 1. Failing to Use a Methodology
Mistake 2. Ineffective Project Team Structure
Mistake 3. Failing to Involve the Business People
Mistake 4. Failing to Have Application Releases
Mistake 5. Failing to Have an Active Project Charter
Mistake 6. Lack of a Readiness Assessment
Mistake 7. Inadequate Testing
Mistake 8. Underestimating Data Cleansing Efforts
Mistake 9. Ignoring Metadata
Mistake 10. Being a Slave to Project Management Tools

Technorati Tags: Data Warehouse, Project Managers, Data Marts, Business Intelligence, Mistakes

Five telltale signs that you might want to fire a client:

• You’ve stopped growing professionally from the client’s projects.
• The client has disengaged from your project, leaving decisions to others.
• It’s tough to get a meeting with your key client sponsor.
• Your project profit margin is eroding.
• The client nit-picks your invoices or payments are consistently late.

I might as well add some more.

• Make a conscious effort to replenish the client base, by dropping those below the 20th percentile
• When your exit strategies are no longer working.
• If you cannot get renewals without burning additional cash.

Technorati Tags: Consulting, Marketing, Client Relationships, Engagement

1. Workplace Issues #11: Governance of Meetings
2. Workplace Issues #10: Public Speaking
3. Workplace Issues #9: Employee Turnover
4. Workplace Issues #8: Office Politics
5. Workplace Issues #7: Difficult Clients
6. Workplace Issues #6: Ineffective Listening
7. Workplace Issues #5: Working Hard
8. Workplace Issues #4: Dealing with Negativity
9. Workplace Issues #3: Dealing with Job Loss
10. Workplace Issues #2: Job Boredom
11. Workplace Issues #1: Overwhelmed with the Job

Technorati Tags: Workplace Issues, Job Burnout, Boredom, Employee Turnover, Office Politics, Negativity, Public Speaking, Job Loss, Listening Skills, Client interaction, Meetings

• List names of all interviewers, their positions and contact information. If you collected business cards, you already have that information. Add them to your contact database, for later use.

• Ask for feedback from the interviewers. Whatever medium you choose to approach them by, remember to thank them for their time. Assimilate the feedback received, and assess your strengths and weaknesses.

• Memorize the questions that were asked and your responses. Analyze how you could have answered these, if you were given a second chance. Craft a strategy on how you would handle it, the second time.

• Did you put yourself in any uncomfortable moments? Why were they uncomfortable? How could you have avoided it?

• Determine the fit. Did the job profile match your interests? Were you capable of delivering for the role? Would you have earned the respect of your peers and/or respected them?

• Don’t Start mentally kicking yourself, or contemplating if you should have worn your lucky shirt/dress. Focus on where you went wrong, and what you learnt.

The idea of this exercise is to objectively assess what went wrong and how one can learn from it. Hopefully with the learnings, we wont make the same mistake again. If we do, either it is an attitude issue or one of competency.

Technorati Tags: Lemons to Lemonade, Interviews, Rejection, Learnings

Back in 2005, Mark Jen was fired from Google after blogging about some of his experiences there. He wasn’t on the streets for long. Jen has joined Plaxo. On his blog he says

“recruiters started contacting me. this was a very unique experience; while most job seekers have to go to great lengths to get a foot in the door, i was being aggressively pursued.”

Jen’s career is now on a fast track, he cashed out big. Many other stories abound the net where bloggers have struck gold. I am in no way suggesting that people should start blogging at work. My point is more around how a blog can be used as a marketing vehicle. Use it to promote your thought leadership skills, promote your company’s products/services et al. If you need to blog at work, try to integrate into the fabric of the organization.

Technorati Tags: Lemons to Lemonade, Blogging, Marketing, Branding