10 in 60 Rule

When I was a kid, my dad enforced a rule of doing 10 math problems every day. It was mandatory. Now, it was not that big a deal when you are starting on a lesson and doing the first 10 out of the 40 problems in that chapter; you could handle them in 10 minutes. But, towards the end of the chapter, the last 10 problems usually would take an hour or more, they used to be the most difficult ones. But you survive the hard one and then move on to the next lesson the next day and get a respite with some easy ones too.

The 10 in 60 Rule is a kind of enhancement on the same principle in adult life. I am a strong believer of incrementalism. The million mile walk starts with the first step, and then each succeeding step matters, a slow and steady march towards the finish.

How do you improve quality in your service / product / workplace? Add 10 improvements every 60 days. They do not have to be major - just focus on the little improvements - things the customer / user will not notice immediately.

Examples:

• At home, clear the sink of all dishes before going to bed.
• Get your secretary a comfortable chair.
• Print double sided unless absolutely necessary to print single sided.
• Put a "Thank you" note with every order / invoice you send out.

Focus on the details, the small items. Details matter and eventually can save you a lot of money. In a year it will be 60 ways you have improved your world and the aggregate will be noticed. The dividends will be great. You do not need to run a major PR campaign to bring about a mammoth change - do it in small things, everyday.

Encourage your staff to do the same - have an ideas box at the office. Read the ideas every week and adopt them. You will be amazed how many good ideas come through. Change behavior, turn all energy positive, reward the accomplishments.

And, last but not the least - keep a running list of the changes made. It will help you judge your progress and also make you (and your staff) feel happy about the positive changes. It will boost confidence and promote a healthy working atmosphere.

People are our greatest resource

This, or a different version of the title above, usually features in almost all companies' vision or motto. Unfortunately, it does not get implemented and is probably the most overlooked issue. I sincerely believe that nurturing and growing people leads to a sound corporation/ business and increased productivity (= profitability); but I am yet to figure out why the leaders of most companies do not put more emphasis on this issue? Yes, most companies enforce bi-annual reviews, but I find these being done grudgingly, for the sake of just doing it, because 'corporate' and HR has asked for it. The heart is usually not in this exercise - why?

How many days does a supervisor/manager spend reviewing the performance of his/her reports? Giving feedback, asking about career goals, building the employee's confidence, challenging the employee to the next step of his/ her career....
In my last 10 years of work, I have seen only one person committed to this.

The number one leadership skill is the ability to develop others. And even if you are very conceited and want to think of your own growth, developing others will actually help you. If you can train your subordinate to grow into your position, then you get to climb another rung too! Why are most managers so short sighted? What holds them back?

Here is what you should do - say you have 10 direct reports. Then in your calendar, book two days twice a year to do only 'performance reviews' - yes, that's 40 days - yes, that's a month and half of your calendar year. And YES, it is well worth it. Make these reviews effective - talk about where you've been together and where you're going next. Align your report's goals with yours. Do both short term (3-9 months) and long term (1-3 years) planning, set goals and then set monthly milestones. I guarantee you, it will work wonders.

After all, what do you want from your employees - high productivity, commitment to do 'whatever it takes' to get the job done, loyalty, and positive energy flowing through the workplace. If you focus on developing your people, this will happen, automatically.

I once worked for a manager from whom I did 'feel the love'. And here is the story of what I did for them, not because they paid me extra, just because they were committed in my development and it was my way of showing my appreciation.

I had worked for this company for couple years and for personal reasons I was going to leave, move to another state. My relationship with my manager was so healthy that I told her that I was 'looking'. She was sad, but she understood. On a certain Wednesday, I had a job interview scheduled for 3PM. That week we were working on a very important proposal that was due on Thursday 9AM at a place 2.5 hours by air. We had been focused on this proposal all weekend, spent late nights at work on Monday and Tuesday, and was still working on it till noon on Wednesday. At noon, I took off to get ready for this interview. After the interview was over at 5PM, I called her and asked if she needed help. Of course, she did, so I went back to work. We wanted to get the proposal finished and sent off by the last FedEx at 7PM. Well, 7PM came and went, we still had changes to do. Next, we were looking at the last flights that could take us to the destination, but those were at 9:30PM, we could not make it. So, my manager and I then decided to drive - one will drive and the other will give company and make sure the driver does not snooze off. We took off at midnight and drove all night, 8 hours, to reach the destination and hand over the proposal in time. It was not an easy drive, we were very tired working so many long nights; there were times we felt that we would fall asleep at the wheel. Of course, we had loads of caffeine for company.

What do you think made me do this? I was leaving the company in few weeks time. Then, why did I feel the urge to help out in this way? Did it really matter to me if this company got that project or not? No, it was not me, it was them. The care and 'family-feel' that I felt in that company made me go the extra mile (rather 300 extra miles and back!). I think all companies, every manager, should nurture this feeling of camaraderie in their employees. The dividends are huge.

Please, invest in your people. It's well worth the effort.

PS: Yes, we did win that project. Our hard work and endeavor paid off. I left the company and was not able to work on that project, but it went well.

How do I work? I grope.

Einstein said this, and yes, he was telling the truth.
No, I am not saying that everything he discovered and invented was accidental, he was indeed a genius. What I am pointing out is that if we do not keep 'groping', there will be no success.
Another great man, Churchill, said - Never, never, never, never give up.

No single effort will solve your problem or help you achieve your dreams. It never does. If you know what you want, just stay focused on the end result. If one path fails, go back take another, then another, then another, eventually one path will work. That's the promise of life.

Three years ago I was diagnosed with a serious condition in my eyes. It took three months and about five very reputed experts to figure out that my immune system was attacking my eyes - as if my body was rejecting my eyes. It baffled the doctors, there was no reason for it, no malady present in my body that could have caused this. There was no treatment prescribed in the great medical books either. They gave me some strong immune suppressant medications (the kind they give to transplant patients so that their body does not reject the new organs) and said that we were to wish for the best.

You can imagine how worried and confused I was. I had just turned 30 and this was a big one to handle. I could not believe that my body was giving up at this age. I thought about this for few weeks and then decided that I needed a challenge - something to prove to me for sure that I was fit. I chose to run a marathon.

I was never a runner, not even when I was a kid. As a kid I used to come up with excuses at school to not participate in sports events. And now, as an adult, I had to just run half a block to get totally out of breath and red in the face. But, I started, created a plan, and stuck to it. Believe me, it was very hard. I first started walking, then walk-jog, then jogging, then running - gradually increasing my mileage every week. I used to be so sore, so tired, and the medication made me sluggish. Some days were a haze because of the medication. There were many many times when the desire to quit overwhelmed me.

I persisted and I survived. My husband and I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2006. We finished with a decent time, and I loved every moment of it - including the excruciating agony.

You can find so many more examples of perseverance. Cancer patients have triumphed over diseases, scientists have made great discoveries - there are several stories out there to inspire us.
Did you know that Edison made over 9,500 attempts before he worked out the right filament for the light bulb? So what holding you back? Get up and make the next attempt to achieve your dream.....

Pursuit of Excellence

I do not believe that one needs to 'pursue' excellence. It is not something to be acquired over time. It is a choice you make at any given moment and all the work is actually in maintaining the choice you made. It is a state of mind that you assume - tell yourself that you will not accept any low quality work from yourself from this very moment - attain perfection - the perfection that shows that you have done the work best to your ability.

Few examples:

• If you are washing your car or even doing the dishes at home, wipe every drop off water.
• If you have two bins at work, one for recycled paper and other for garbage, make sure you do not throw any recyclable paper in the garbage bin.
• If you are waiting tables, just be the best at it - make the customer happy even if others do not care.
• When you are to submit a report to your team / boss, do one last spell check and proof read before you issue it. Make sure you put into it the best effort possibly - your personal best.

Do not allow yourself to do anything worse than what you are really capable of. Why would you settle for less? You are the best in what you are capable of - then why slack off? You do not need to ever compare yourself with others - you are your measuring stick, that is all you need to succeed.

Make a conscious decision to achieve highest quality and work on maintaining it. You do not do this for others - you do it for yourself. And the benefits are huge:

• Everyone around you (Yes, your boss, your team mates, your spouse, and your kids) will notice the difference.
• You will build trust.
• You will build your own confidence in what you do.
• You feel a sense of achievement in everything you will do. This alone will make your day, everyday.

Inspiration for this thought:
Tom Watson, IBM founder - 'If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.'