What You Focus Will Expand

The sun's energy warms the world. But when you focus it through magnifying glass it can start a fire. Focus is so powerful! (Alan Pariser)

 

The law of attraction is currently a hot topic within self improvement field. One of the basic of this law is the power of focus. One would have greater chance to get what he want, if he focus on acquiring it. This focus is what becoming their daily thoughts.

Unfortunately, many failures happen because people misuse this great power. Instead of focusing on the goal, they focus on another things which are irrelevant to their primary goal.

Have you been giving more focus on fear than  the exhilaration of benefits that you might get if you take actions to fulfill your dream? It's like two faced coin, and just like everything in the world, it's all about risk and opportunity. It's about being half full or half empty. Aim your focus on whatever opportunity that lies ahead, then you will become more passionate to chase your dream.

A single 100 watt light bulb can immediately lighten a room, however, when the same light being funneled through lens tube with a very small diameter, it can turn the light into laser ray capable of splitting any rock into pieces.

Remember that the greatest force within ourselves, whether our thinking, feeling, or actions, when directed correctly will delivers overwhelming results. Successful people are those who are able to focus on whatever they want, instead those who fail focus on another irrelevant and unimportant things.

Make your decision today and try to focus on things that you want the most in your life, and in no time you will achieve what you want

This post is very related to my previous post about information overload, self purpose, or check the life purpose series.

 

 

Technorati Tags: discipline,skill,tips,life,life purpose,motivation,psychology,goal setting

How To Deploy Innovation And Have Everyone Participate

One of many myths about ideas that lead to innovation is that it comes from individuals or by a small group of creative human beings working together in an isolated room. But in fact, if we take a closer look in Thomas Edison, Ted Turner, Jeff Bezos, or even Steve Jobs, they are able to develop great ideas as results from interactions with many sources.

Anticipation on innovations, no matter how small, is a good basic for an invention, still, leaders has to nurture the right condition for innovation to grow. Here are 4 ways to connect as well as to grow and to make innovations possible:

1. Change The Organization Structure

For many years, organization structures has directly or indirectly isolated changes and innovations from the other departments, where these kind of conditions will not bring any effect on the company. To make changes in organization definitely need a structure which can actively help growth of cross function interactions.

If you are a leader, try to raise these questions:

• Do we have the infrastructure for innovations to be possible, which can delivers these innovations matching roles in every level of the company and involves everybody? Or whether the organization structure keeps on positioning innovations as an exclusive responsibilities for certain function or group?
• What steps has been taken by the company within the past year to promote functions and departments to share ideas and knowledge?
• What can we do t o facilitate direct communication, person to person in all parts of the company instead of developing the traditional system that sticks on top-bottom approaches?

2. Create Open Market For New Ideas

In many companies, new ideas are scarce commodities, strangled by company cultures that disregard opportunities and need. Companies that are serious about changes must create a climate (culture) where every person within the company can contribute ideas, whereas the ideas are considered workable, they will be supported with financing and proper resources to make it happen.

Few questions that can be asked by leaders:

• Does the management really believe that mediocre worker can also innovate?
• Does companies develop a  "change democracy" where anybody from any level within the company can raise their ideas?
• What have we done to communicate - verbally or by actions - that everyone in the company are encouraged to be a pioneer?
• If someone or some groups come up with new ideas, how difficult it is for them to gain supports, morally and financially from the top management?
• What have we done within these 12 months in using imaginations, know-hows or ideas from people outside of the company?

3. Use the Web In Developing Imaginations

Usually, information technologies utilized in companies end without any clear articulation of the benefit and functions only for simple and explicit knowledge management tools. Instead they have to learn to use this as a system for boosting innovation, which involves peoples in the company - and millions outside - in a global dialogue with innovation as it's primary focus.

Questions to ask:

• Have we create discussion forum, where conversations about innovation is the main topic within the last 24 months?
• Have we use information technology infrastructures to distribute needed responsibilities to propel new ideas throughout divisions in and out of the company?
• Does the intranet has something to do with inspiring people to develop their thinking as to show them how an innovation project can be initiated?
• Can we use the infrastructure to create opportunities and rebuild projects that had no clear purpose?

4. Spend More Time For Interaction

Companies who want to promote innovations better create opportunities for their workers to interact with people working outside their business unit, people outside their geographic region and ideally outside their corresponding industries. Find ways to connect between different groups directly to share their point of views and create ideas together.

Another questions to ask:

• Within the last 12 months, has everyone in my division has the opportunity to participate in company held innovation projects?
• How often my company/division/business unit held events and forums for knowledge sharing and cooperation?

With those all 4 steps, companies can ultimately possess a field full of innovations, which in turn boost the organization to a new unprecedented level.

 

Image by scleroplex

Lessons From Tiger

"One of the thing that my parents have taught me is never listen to other people's expectations. You should live your own life and live up to your own expectation, and those are the only things I really care about" - Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is a legendary golf athlete and perhaps the only athlete who could generate an income of USD 1 billion at 31 years of age. But this is not about his income we're going to talk about. It's about his life lessons and beliefs that led him to success. He has three simple principles; simple yet powerful that he persistently use in his way up, both in his career and his life.

Principle 1: Smile at Obstacles

You might be caught with surprise with his statement that said he smiles whenever faced with obstacles. Instead of complaining and whining, like most of people do, or avoiding, even run away from problems. He smiles because he sees an opportunity that could make him tougher if he solved it, and even though he failed, he believes he will learn something from it. Also, he smiles because he thinks that his faith is far more greater than any obstacles he faces.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's has quoted "Whatever happened now and in the future are small compared with what resides in us", that means a champion knows that he will always overcome challenges, because he has what it takes to do that.

The heart of champion will not fear from problems, instead challenged by them. Challenges were created for us to overcome with. It is indeed a gift from Above.

Principle 2: My Will Can Move Mountains

His enormous will has many time separate him from the typical. He believes that when he wanted something, he will get it. It is true, however that he did not necessarily won all tournaments. But he is the best from the rest, because his strong will create focus, which lead to concentration on one single purpose.

Principle 3: I Will Do It With All My Heart

His love in golf is so deep, he thinks, talks, and does, all has relation with the sport. It is almost impossible to beat someone who loves his job that much. It is nonsense for anyone who is enthusiastic in his work have to worry about his life. Every opportunities in the world are waiting for these people to have them. He spends hours everyday to work on his swings. When someone loves his job, no obstacles are big enough for them.

 

Image by mslikk

Understanding Gray Areas

Using company's resource for personal issues, especially during working hours, is a big fat NO for workers in many companies. However, supervisors often have to deal with what we always call the gray areas, while at the same time closing one eye on activities and behaviors that legitimately forbidden. They realize that to expel these activities is more harmful than to benefit from it, because many employees have interest, and mainly personal interest, to be within the gray areas.

In some factories, where tools and materials are available, we can find some workers making personal stuffs out of it. Kitchenware, toys for their children, or window frames - all within working hours. Managers often deliberately indifferent about this, because they need these people when jobs need to be completed as fast and as good as possible.

And let's take a look within a publishing house where a competent junior editor and a productive one, completing his personal novels within working hours. His managers somehow tolerate him, hoping in return they can count on a hardworking, loyal, and motivated junior editor.

So why does even all these talented workers have the same urge to break the rule? Research showed that they have the need to play their "job identity". An identity that describe self picture showing someone trained within a specific field and making them part of that profession. A profession, perhaps goes as far as "profession"; the most important thing is how colleagues assess someone in the job

Many senior executives fail to understand the needs of "job identity" (so they often think negatively about this gray areas), could be that they themselves haven't got their own identities. Executives often see themselves pursuing their own personal challenge, and that's why, when they enter a company, they don't understand the importance of job identity for their people. For example, an executive in a fashion company might not be a designer, and because of that, he could probably ignore the needs of a designer within the company of recognition from colleagues.

Instead of considering that gray areas is a dangerous issues, leaders can always try to understand the cause of why the gray area appears. It doesn't mean that they have to accept all the activities within the areas. They would probably spend their time monitoring misuse of working time and other resources - with proper understanding of course, that these gray areas show that there are higher aspirations within workers; one thing that soon will be considered by leaders as a character of employees they look for.

Finding the right person might not always possible, but workers will be more involved and productive when their capabilities is admitted by their boss.

 

Source: Michel Anteby, Harvard Business School Publishing

Take Monkeys Off Their Shoulders

One of the primary duty of leaders is to develop their people, that includes sharpen their competence in problem solving and decision making. So you have to realize that the danger from load of tasks that will occur if you take over their works. But what if you are being held on a deadline and somebody ask you to handle 'one or more monkeys' - problems that should be dealt by sub-ordinates, popular terminology that was introduced by William Oncken Jr. and Donald L. Wass in their article "Management Time: Who's Got The Monkey?" from Harvard Business Review 1974.

Here are few tips that you can possibly do.

1. Let Them Work

To many people, the pathway to effective delegation starts with studying two basic assumption of their roles. First, a lot of managers believe that handling their people's problems is a faster and more effective than teach them to handle it themselves. Second, they also believe that they know more from their people.

These assumptions, will only raise the need of managers to break the problem and make decisions, instead of delegating and empowering their men. To deal with this problem, you have to position yourself as a leader, not a manager. Managers deal with details, while leaders, on the contrary, raise sense of belonging and responsibilities in their people.

2. Ask, Don't Tell

Professional delegator choose to ask their men, rather than dictate the solution to them.

The question "What is it that you think should be done?" stimulates people to come with solutions when they approach you. Another additional questions like "What is the effect of this action?" or "What is it that we need to pay attention to if we are to go your way?" could also reveal how far have they think about the solution to the problem.

3. Match Person With The Job

Avoid adding your current jobs with handling your people's problem. This can only happen if managers delegate the right job to the right people, according to each competence and potential.

Steven R. Covey stressed about delegation based on interest. "Find out the best outcome and the most preferred job of your people" he said "Then combine their unique talents and interests with job needs. When people work with interest and desire, they don't need guidance. They will eventually create creative solutions independently."

4. Cultivate Independent Thinking

If someone manages to think independently and feel that he own his job, then he will definitely bring less problem to his boss.

Shane Pliska, Business Development Director of Planterra, a landscape interior company, uses "monkey rating", a method extracted from Oncken and Wass' article. "We ask the workers to self assess their problems with numbers," she said. "One means your manager solved it for you. Two means your manager told you the solution and you follow the solution, three means you proposed a solution and seek approval from your manager, while four means you took action, solve the problem, and let you manager know afterwards."

When people came to their boss's chamber, managers will ask "what number is on your current problem?" To raise the sense of belonging, Planterra managers encourages their people to have number four on every problem as much as possible.

5. Connect Them With Resources

Connecting your people with resources will also help you reduce your load. Think about the term "resource" in wider perspective, like human, tools, information, and opportunities that can help your men to work independently. Being the matchmaker between your people to the resources is actually not hard at all, like "You can talk to Mr X in marketing division."

 

So, take that monkey of their shoulders immediately, let them deal with their own monkeys, because you already have your own, right?