Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
10,000 Milestone
Well, this little blog have hit a small milestone last week with 10,000 hits. It is in fact nothing to shout about but it does signify a milestone for me personally. Anyway, looking at the journey so far, it is good to look back and ask ourselves some questions. In this posting, there would be no answer, only questions as I believe the key to finding the right solutions is to ask the right questions in the first place.
1. To be a good leader, do you engage with your co-workers such that you have more than just a professional relationship? There seems to be two school of thoughts here:
a) Keep your distance and maintain the relationship as strictly professional so that when it comes to tough decisions, you are not influenced by personal emotion.
b) Be more than a colleague and get to know your colleagues personally so that you know what is his dreams, life values and aspirations.
2. Do you discuss and explain every management decisions with people who you worked with or in some cases, there is no need for them to know as they may not be ready or mature enough to handle the information?
3. In a company, just like in a football team, we need goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and strikers. Of course, the strikers will get most of the attention but how do we ensure the goalkeepers and defenders of a company understand their role and is happy with their contributions in the company rather than envious of the strikers?
4. In leading a company, does 100% democracy work where decisions are based on consensus or it should be based on the wisdom of the management in making tough and unpopular decisions but good for the company's long-term growth?
5. Does absolute freedom works where we treat our co-workers like adult rather than children and let them work freely, e.g. not necessary for fixed office hour, as long as they deliver the final product within the fixed timeline or people always need discipline in order to perform?
What do you think?
Happy Father's Day.
p.s. My father is my biggest inspiration and I strive to be just like him. I remember that whenever I tell him that I did not do so well in my studies, he will just ask me: "Have you tried your best? If yes, there is nothing to be ashamed of. If not, then you should try your best the next time".
Monday, May 13, 2013
Management Lessons from Football: Inspired by Sir Alex Ferguson's Retirement
As much as I hate to admit it, Sir Alex Ferguson is indeed one of the greatest, if not "the" greatest football manager in the modern game. With his recent decision to retire, it somehow struck me that football does indeed offers us many management lessons which we can adopt in our organization:
1. A team full of star players would be useless unless they can function as a team. Look at Manchester City. With all the money which they have spent, one would have expected them to perform better. As such, it is important to get players (or workers) who wanted to play (or work) for the team (or organization).
2. In any organization, it is important to have players (or workers) of different skills and personalities. You certainly cannot have a team with strikers only. As such, it is important to place equal emphasis on workers of different skills, e.g. the manager (i.e. workers who is good at managing teams and getting things done who is like the hard working midfielder such as Roy Keane, Michael Carrick, etc. - not spectacular, but get things done) and the technician (i.e. workers who provides the spark in the organization or someone with in-depth technical knowledge who is like Robin Van Persie, Eric Cantona, etc.).
3. Every now and then, an imported player (or personnel from outside the organization) would be good for the team (or organization) if the imported player (or personnel) adds value to the team (or organization) and does not jeopardize the team's (or company's) harmony. Look at what Eric Cantona and Robin Van Persie contributes to Manchester United. Similarly, player who disrupts the team's harmony should be kicked out as soon as possible.
4. It is important to develop the right culture in any organization. With the right mentality, challenges can be overcome together rather than resort to negative in-fighting. One of the traits which makes Manchester United so successful is their belief, determination and never say die attitude. I don't think it is a coincidence that they can grind out results when they have an off-day or perform last minute heroics which are features of champions from the Liverpool team of the 80's to the Manchester United team of the 90's.
5. It is important to develop the organization to the extent that it is able to attract junior talents. This is the same for a company as well as for a football team. Manchester United would not be so successful if it did not manage to attract young talents such as Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, etc. and develop them into world class talent.
Finally, I also find it amazing that Sir Alex Ferguson is "only" a manager for 26 years. If we were to compare with other organization in the private sector, it would be considered a failure if someone is "only" a manager for 26 years and not promoted to Director or something like that. This struck me because I have encountered challenges where one of the reasons given by a colleague for leaving a company is because of not promoted to Director even though remuneration, working environment, etc. is not an issue. What he wanted is only the title and recognition. So, if we were to use football manager as an example, can we give job satisfaction irregardless of the title as long as the person feels he is in control and given due recognition of his role/contributions? The Directors should also be happy to be out of the limelight and let the manager handle the spotlights. Or maybe it is just because Directors are paid less in a football club compared to a Manager (I really don't know)?
Happy inspiring and looking forward to Brendan Rogers vs David Moyes.
1. A team full of star players would be useless unless they can function as a team. Look at Manchester City. With all the money which they have spent, one would have expected them to perform better. As such, it is important to get players (or workers) who wanted to play (or work) for the team (or organization).
2. In any organization, it is important to have players (or workers) of different skills and personalities. You certainly cannot have a team with strikers only. As such, it is important to place equal emphasis on workers of different skills, e.g. the manager (i.e. workers who is good at managing teams and getting things done who is like the hard working midfielder such as Roy Keane, Michael Carrick, etc. - not spectacular, but get things done) and the technician (i.e. workers who provides the spark in the organization or someone with in-depth technical knowledge who is like Robin Van Persie, Eric Cantona, etc.).
3. Every now and then, an imported player (or personnel from outside the organization) would be good for the team (or organization) if the imported player (or personnel) adds value to the team (or organization) and does not jeopardize the team's (or company's) harmony. Look at what Eric Cantona and Robin Van Persie contributes to Manchester United. Similarly, player who disrupts the team's harmony should be kicked out as soon as possible.
4. It is important to develop the right culture in any organization. With the right mentality, challenges can be overcome together rather than resort to negative in-fighting. One of the traits which makes Manchester United so successful is their belief, determination and never say die attitude. I don't think it is a coincidence that they can grind out results when they have an off-day or perform last minute heroics which are features of champions from the Liverpool team of the 80's to the Manchester United team of the 90's.
5. It is important to develop the organization to the extent that it is able to attract junior talents. This is the same for a company as well as for a football team. Manchester United would not be so successful if it did not manage to attract young talents such as Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, etc. and develop them into world class talent.
Finally, I also find it amazing that Sir Alex Ferguson is "only" a manager for 26 years. If we were to compare with other organization in the private sector, it would be considered a failure if someone is "only" a manager for 26 years and not promoted to Director or something like that. This struck me because I have encountered challenges where one of the reasons given by a colleague for leaving a company is because of not promoted to Director even though remuneration, working environment, etc. is not an issue. What he wanted is only the title and recognition. So, if we were to use football manager as an example, can we give job satisfaction irregardless of the title as long as the person feels he is in control and given due recognition of his role/contributions? The Directors should also be happy to be out of the limelight and let the manager handle the spotlights. Or maybe it is just because Directors are paid less in a football club compared to a Manager (I really don't know)?
Happy inspiring and looking forward to Brendan Rogers vs David Moyes.
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