The Miser and his Gold

One of my favourite Aesop's tales goes like this ....  Once upon a time there was a Miser who used to hide his gold at the foot of a tree in his garden; but every week he used to go and dig it up and gloat over his gains. A robber, who had noticed this, went and dug up the gold and decamped with it.  When the Miser next came to gloat over his treasures, he found nothing but the empty hole. He tore his hair, and raised such an outcry that all the neighbours came around him, and he told them how he used to come and visit his gold.  "Did you ever take any of it out?" asked one of them. "Nay," said he, "I only came to look at it." "Then come again and look at the hole," said a neighbour; "it will do you just as much good".   The moral of the story is : "Unused wealth is a waste".  In organizations, the leaders and managers are often very stingy with their appreciation.  They fear that a good word might give a swollen head to the team member . Also, the managers might be branded as lenient.  This is one of the greatest folly which managers make.  A nice word of appreciation, a smile of encouragement and a line of  gratitude to the deserving people make them shine and work even better. Motivation increases. Teaming , trust and ownership increases.  So Leaders do not be miserly with your Gold - your appreciation.  Else, one day you will see that all your good team member have left you and you are looking at a hole ! Spread Joy !

Teeny Weeny : Unshed Tears

Unshed tears linger on my lashes,
My heart bleeds,
You can see my smile,
But cannot understand my eyes.

I seem to have everything,
But for these I do not crave,
I need just a little bit understanding
a little bit of  thought and care.

I know you care for me,
but  it is not reaching me  anymore
Maybe we are so close
That we have grown apart and more ....

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Teeny-Weenies will spice up the monotony of the leadership posts . Hope you like them.     
Looking forward to your comments.

Message from a Leader about Vision

My dear Team,

The new financial year has set in.   

There are a lot of things to do and several thresholds to be surpassed.

If I look a year back,  I can see that the IT team has come a long way.  We have set up the R&D Team. We have implemented complex modules like Autojob Allocation,  Recruitment , Domain  etc.  We have initiated the Helpdesk team and the application.  We have set up the testing team. Recently we have started performance testing of applications .  We have achieved ISO 27001. Our process are better  that what it used to be.  We have initiated the Manesar revamp.  We have started using tools like Mantis and SVN. We have implemented the Timesheet system.  Tracking of  IT helpdesk tickets of the Circles ,  training  and the new appraisal system have started working.

Yes, we have done a lot. 

But we have a LONG way to go . 

I am writing this email to all of you to make you understand what plans I have for this year and what I want to achieve - with the co-operation and hard work of ALL of you.  The following are there in my wish list :

•  Do It Right the first time :  Before we start any task , think, analyse, ask questions, clarify and then do your job.  Proper analysis, unit testing ,  performance testing will help us achieve Zero Defect Delivery.

• Measure , measure, measure :   If we cannot measure anything, we cannot improve. I want the team to be managed using data, objectively.  You will count the number of defects found in your code, no of outages , no. of times the application goes down, the number of bugs found in the production.  These data should be on your fingertips.  These numbers will be written in your appraisal form.

• Ownership :  I want all  of us to take complete ownership of our work.  We have to take charge, initiative to figure out if things go wrong in those items.

• Analysis and Preventive action :  We are generating a lot of data . Example defect data, performance data, helpdesk ticket data. These do not have any  meaning if do not analyse them and come up with areas of improvements.  We have to improve continuously. Taking small steps.  And you are empowered to make these improvements.  Only you can do it – since you are the ones who have to go thru the pains of waking up all night to rectify things,  get rebuked for closing tickets and repairing networks, hardware etc. Small suggestions, ideas, trainings will go a long way in improvement in our quality as well as timeliness of our work.

• Faster & better : The times have changed. Everybody wants things to be done instantly. While we should take care that we do not deliver buggy code or fixes,  we have to be sensitive to the fact that we have to turn around much faster than what we are currently doing.  We might have to change some approach for this. Better collaboration, communication and good relationship between our team as well as other functions are crucial too.

We have to scale new heights. There are a lot of expectations of the Senior Management from all of you.  We have to become bigger and global in our outlook. We need fresh, innovative ideas, initiative , hardwork and sincerity and proactiveness from all of you.

And believe me ,  I am there to help you achieve these goals.  Never hesitate to reach out to me if you think the above vision is being sabotaged or you need support or have some innovative ideas . 

Looking forward to a fruitful , successful, fulfilling and enjoyable year ahead.

Cheers !