Nitishastra

Leadership & Innovation

2011-05-24T21:37:00.003+05:30

Good Leadership drives innovation. Probably that is how we got Mac, iPod, iPhone and iPad from the same company Apple Inc. under the leadership of Steve Jobs, though infamous yet popular Windows OS and other many MS products from Bill Gates. And there are many examples across both public and private sectors.

Or at national levels where Pt. Nehru had a vision for India and achieved tremendous lot in very first few years of independent India. Also where Kennedy set a whole nation on a long path of over a decade towards Journey to Moon that lead to the famous "One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind" from Neil Armstrong.

You may have as many great skilled people, education, degrees yet but one man with conviction, charisma and leadership can change the destiny for the masses in villages, cities or a whole nation.

Innovation

2007-06-05T21:16:00.000+05:30

Innovation is doing something in a new way. It is about bringing in radical and incremental changes to a product, processes or services.

How to Innovate?

Identifying the affects (or syndromes) with an existing product, processes or services
Identifying the causes for the affects.
Arriving at a solution and fix the cause.
Now every other person may come up with a different solution.
Innovation is about the best solution to a problem. It is thinking out of the box and bringing in a new radical change.

It may sound as if the innovation is problem solving. No, innovation is about finding the most effective solution to any problem. Also, any solution is effective only if it meets the general constraints of cost, time, scope and quality. Also we may say that innovation is very subjective and any problem solving is called innovation if it effective at that moment of time. Like the classic ingenuity of the Apollo 13 team who were able to bring back safely the crew members to earth when their mission to moon failed due to an oxygen tank explosion.

Motivating People

2007-05-31T21:55:00.001+05:30

"Oh! It's not easy to retain people these days. Market is hot and people are moving all over."

- This is a common talk among the managers of today. So for attrition, what is the cause and how to control it?

Common Good: It is to be understood that an Employee and an Employer they both serve one-other.
Attrition control is a joint responsibility of Leadership, Sr. Management, the middle management and HR . Middle management and particularly the Project Managers hands are very much tied by the company ways and policies on motivation, compensation, appraisal and information dispersal.
Branding: Unable to attract a better talent induces inferiority among an existing talent pool and they are forced to look outside. Companies must focus on building brand image.
People are Assets: Plan for the long term. Invest in people, as people are assets, which shall motivate them to stay for long or forever.
Leadership with a face i.e. to say a direct and face-to-face interaction in person, video conferencing, tele-con, up-to-date communication over web or via email.
Listening: Continuous mechanism to gather feedback from teams and proactive correctional steps.
Opportunity: Identifying correct fitments and providing the right opportunity at the right time.
Present is what matters: Judging people by the value they bring to an organization for their abilities today and not for what they were in the past.
Interaction: People to people interaction at all levels.
Information availability and transparency.
Service: It's found that in any company only people who are expected to be customer oriented are the Project Teams and it's members. An attitude towards customer orientation should be taught to all including HR, Admin, IT and Support Services because it is the Project Teams who are their customers.
Communication: The background from where we come plays a pivotal role in shaping a person. Many in technology are competent but not a people person. And researches have shown that its 70% of the time that communication plays an important role for success of an individual.
Future Leaders: Building right aspirations among the team members and training them to be a future leaders.
Environment: Safe, hygienic and conducive work environment.
Attitude: Show a very positive attitude towards the team and vice versa shall be returned.
Community Service: It’s always a matter of pride to work for a company that gives back to the community, which has provided for its resources and manpower. This helps branding

Human Energy

2007-05-31T17:21:00.000+05:30

Our knowledge of this known universe suggests that all matters are composed of atoms. And when the nucleus of tiniest atom is split, a tremendous amount of energy is released. We humans are also composed of the same matter and hence the very same atoms. We have this latent energy simply waiting to be unleashed. All it requires is a healthy body to house this reactor, gentle soul with a disciplined mind to act as moderator and determined actions which are nothing but the neutrons bombarding the enriched uranium like mind to unleash our immense creativity to this world.

One of the key challenges of managing is keeping control on communication.

2007-05-30T23:51:00.000+05:30

i.e to say

1. Identifying relevant communication i.e. for both verbal and non-verbal.
2. Capturing this relevant communication to a centralized repository as data.
3. Efficient extraction of this stored information using state of the art data filtering techniques.
4. Distribution of data to all relevant entities.
5. Ensuring that data is received.
6. Also, ensuring correct interpretation of data.

Corporate intranet driven by SOA for all apps is a great medium towards achieving such an objective.