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Category Archives: Work Place

Why Healthcare IT Graveyard Is Getting Crowded


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons and the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

I’ve spent more than a decade building healthcare products across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. I’ve led Quality, Product, and Delivery at scale. I’ve watched companies grow explosively, and I’ve watched companies vanish overnight literally.

And after 15 years working in healthcare, the pattern is painfully clear:

Healthcare tech doesn’t fail because of weak engineering. It fails because founders fundamentally misunderstand healthcare.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth — backed by recent, spectacular collapses.

The Graveyard Is Getting Crowded

These aren’t small startups. These were the darlings of global healthcare tech:

  • Forward Health – $660M raised, shut down with zero patient transition
  • Olive AI – $850M raised, sold for parts after failing to justify ROI
  • Babylon Health – $4B valuation, blew up across multiple continents
  • Pear Therapeutics – FDA-cleared digital therapeutics, bankrupt
  • Quibi of Healthcare: Haven (Amazon–JPM–Berkshire) – shut down despite unlimited resources
  • Google Health (v1) – closed after failing to reach provider adoption
  • Microsoft HealthVault – shut down due to low user engagement and system complexity
  • Sense.ly (AI nurse avatar) – essentially disappeared after poor provider uptake
  • 23andMe Therapeutics spinout – quietly scaled back after no viable clinical revenue stream
  • Walgreens / Theranos fallout – major proof that hype beats due diligence in this sector
  • Proteus Digital Health (smart pill) – raised $500M, then bankrupt
  • Practice Fusion – sold for pennies after criminal investigations and failed EHR monetization
  • ZocDoc expansion failure – pivoted multiple times after failing to win provider-side economics
  • Oscar Health (several failed geographic launches) – struggled due to regulatory economics
  • IBM Watson Health – $3B+ investment, divested for $1B after clinical failures

This list is long. And growing.

The Core Misunderstanding: Healthcare Is Not a Tech Problem

Engineering-driven founders consistently misdiagnose the domain.

They believe healthcare = complex workflows + messy data + outdated UI.

Solve that and… success.

But healthcare is not a systems problem.

It is a trust problem wrapped in regulation, economics, and risk.

  • Lives are at stake — not convenience.
  • Medical decisions require validated evidence — not beta features.
  • Clinicians rely on reliability and accountability — not iteration velocity.
  • Patients don’t adopt new care models without months or years of trust-building.

Every failed company ignored these constraints.

The Integration Trap: The Silent Killer

This is where most companies die.

Healthcare runs on a brittle spine of EMRs, APIs, and legacy systems.

If you don’t integrate, you don’t exist.

  • Forward’s CarePods were genuinely innovative. But without seamless EMR connections, they became operationally useless.
  • Olive AI automated tasks internally… but could not standardize ROI across EMRs.
  • IBM Watson Health promised AI-driven oncology decisions. But the recommendations were inconsistent with evidence-based guidelines.

The rule:

If you don’t reduce workload inside the existing workflow, clinicians will ignore you.

No integration = no adoption.

No adoption = no revenue.

No revenue = shutdown.

Why Consumer Tech Logic Fails in Healthcare

Tech founders try to import playbooks from SaaS, marketplaces, and fintech:

  • “Move fast and break things”
  • “Launch MVP, iterate later”
  • “Acquire users, figure out monetization later”
  • “Data is the new oil”
  • “AI will replace inefficiencies”

These logics collapse immediately in healthcare:

  1. Healthcare data is not clean; 80% is unstructured.
  2. Interoperability is not an optional feature — it is the foundation.
  3. Clinicians require evidence, not velocity.
  4. Patients are not early adopters; they are risk-averse by necessity.

The market punishes anyone who treats healthcare like another consumer vertical.

The Reimbursement Illusion: Where Startups Bleed Out

This is the part Silicon Valley consistently ignores.

In healthcare, value is NOT determined by the end user.

Value is determined by:

  • payors
  • reimbursement codes
  • medical necessity rules
  • regulatory status
  • clinical outcomes data

A product can delight users and still die if:

  • there’s no CPT code
  • insurers won’t reimburse
  • the product doesn’t reduce provider workload
  • there’s no proven cost savings

Olive AI is the textbook example.

Automation sounded brilliant — but if hospitals can’t bill for it, the business collapses.

Pear Therapeutics had FDA clearance, efficacy data, and clinical logic.

Still died because payors refused to reimburse at scale.

Healthcare economics — not innovation — determine survival.

What Actually Works (and Why It Looks “Unsexy”)

The successful products in healthcare are almost never glamorous:

  • Automated population stratification
  • Scheduling optimization
  • Revenue cycle improvements
  • Medication adherence
  • Secure messaging
  • Chronic disease workflows
  • Interoperability middleware
  • Claims cleaning and fraud detection

Unsexy wins because it integrates, it reduces workload, it fits reimbursement, it avoids clinical risk, and it solves one painful problem extremely well.

The companies that succeed do the following:

  • Integrate seamlessly with EMRs
  • Prove ROI early
  • Reduce clicks, not add them
  • Earn clinical champions, not marketing awards
  • Build for the system as it is, not the system they wish existed
  • Grow slowly but sustainably — not explosively and unsafely

Healthcare rewards evolution, not revolution.

Forward Health’s Shutdown Is the Perfect Case Study

Forward turned off the lights overnight:

  • No transition pathway
  • Canceled appointments
  • Patients left stranded
  • Systems turned off immediately

This is what happens when a company:

  • optimizes for investor excitement instead of clinical safety
  • designs for TechCrunch instead of clinicians
  • prioritizes disruption over integration
  • treats healthcare as a retail subscription business instead of a regulated service

Patients pay the real cost of these failures.

The Real Pattern Behind Every Healthcare Tech Collapse

Let’s stop pretending these are isolated incidents.

The failures follow the same template:

  1. Overpromise with polished demos
  2. Underestimate the complexity of clinical workflows
  3. Blow capital on growth before solving integration
  4. Fail to secure reimbursement pathways
  5. Struggle to prove clinical and financial ROI
  6. Lose trust from clinicians
  7. Run out of money
  8. Collapse suddenly
  9. Patients and providers are left scrambling

Money and engineering talent are not substitutes for:

  • clinical insight
  • regulatory design
  • healthcare economics
  • trust-building
  • real-world workflow alignment

The Hard Truth

Healthcare rewards reliability over innovation.

Simple solutions outperform brilliant ones.

Integration beats disruption every time.

I’ve watched billion-dollar firms fail and small scrappy teams succeed.

The winners understood healthcare is a trust-based, evidence-driven system.

The losers thought they could brute force the market with capital and code.

They were wrong.

Your Turn

What healthcare product promised everything and delivered nothing?

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 
 

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Top 20 Electronic Health Records (EHR) Systems in the World


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons and the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Digital transformation in healthcare continues to accelerate in 2025, with electronic medical records (EMR) and electronic health records (EHR) at the core of operational efficiency, patient engagement, and regulatory compliance. For healthcare businesses—ranging from multi-specialty hospitals to outpatient clinics—open source EHR/EMR platforms provide a unique combination of affordability, scalability, and adaptability.

In today’s healthcare ecosystem, Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are no longer just digital files they are the backbone of modern patient care. They provide clinicians with real-time access to a single, unified patient record, ensuring safer decision-making, fewer delays, and more time focused on patients rather than paperwork.

https://www.doctorsapp.in/blog/top-ehr-vendors

From my own work in healthcare, I’ve seen firsthand how difficult it can be for clinicians to deliver quality care without proper EHR systems. Consultations often get slowed down by flipping through scattered files, repeating lab tests because past results aren’t visible, or relying purely on memory to track complex patient histories. These gaps don’t just frustrate clinicians they can compromise patient safety and the overall patient experience.

An Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a type of healthcare software that digitally collects, organizes, and shares patient information. It ensures that medical data is available in a structured format and can be accessed by all authorized parties involved in patient care — from doctors, labs, and pharmacies to hospitals, registries, and patients themselves.

The idea of an electronic patient record isn’t new. More than 50 years ago, the first prototype — called the Problem-Oriented Medical Record (POMR) — was introduced. It brought together a patient’s full clinical history, a list of health problems, a treatment plan, daily progress notes, and a discharge summary. This framework set the stage for the EHRs we use today, with their focus on comprehensive records and continuity of care.

This is where effective EHRs make the difference. They:

  • Centralize patient data across clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies.
  • Reduce errors with accurate records of labs, allergies, and prescriptions.
  • Improve efficiency, freeing up more time for clinicians to engage with patients.
  • Enable population health insights, helping health systems manage risks and improve long-term outcomes.

In short, EHRs empower providers to deliver better, safer, and more connected care. Below is a look at the Top 20 EHR systems worldwide, their origins, and standout features.

1. Epic Systems

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Epic Systems Corporation
  • Features: Large hospital and academic medical center focus; interoperability; analytics and population health management; widely recognized leader in usability and scale.

2. Oracle Health (Cerner)

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Oracle Health (formerly Cerner)
  • Features: Millennium platform; strong in hospitals and government health projects; open APIs; global presence; AI-driven decision support.

3. MEDITECH

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: MEDITECH Inc.
  • Features: Acute/community hospital focus; scalable for small hospitals; strong workflows for clinicians; growing international footprint.

4. Athenahealth

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Athenahealth, Inc.
  • Features: Cloud-based; practice management, billing, telehealth; population health insights; ideal for ambulatory/outpatient practices.

5. NextGen Healthcare

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: NextGen Healthcare, Inc.
  • Features: Specialty-specific templates; patient portal and telehealth; revenue cycle management; good fit for mid-sized practices.

6. eClinicalWorks (eCW)

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: eClinicalWorks
  • Features: Cloud/mobile EHR; telehealth and patient engagement tools; affordable for small-medium practices; population health integration.

7. Greenway Health

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Greenway Health, LLC
  • Features: Ambulatory EHR; built-in RCM; customizable workflows; responsive customer support.

8. Veradigm (Allscripts)

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Veradigm (formerly Allscripts)
  • Features: Ambulatory solutions with open APIs; scheduling and billing; modular design for specialties; broad adoption across practices.

9. Practice Fusion

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Veradigm (Practice Fusion)
  • Features: Affordable, web-based EHR; e-prescribing; lab integration; best for small practices.

10. AdvancedMD

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: AdvancedMD, Inc.
  • Features: SaaS-based EHR; telemedicine; customizable templates; analytics; tailored for small-to-mid practices.

11. Dedalus

  • Country: Italy
  • Developer: Dedalus Group
  • Features: Europe’s largest health IT vendor; integrated EHR, lab, and imaging systems; focus on interoperability across EU; strong NHS presence.

12. InterSystems TrakCare

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: InterSystems Corporation
  • Features: Global EHR with strong adoption in Europe, Middle East, APAC; unified patient record; advanced analytics and FHIR support.

13. EMIS Health

  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Developer: EMIS Health (part of Optum)
  • Features: Market leader in UK primary care; EMIS Web widely used; prescription ordering, patient portals; integration across GP and pharmacy.

14. SystmOne (TPP)

  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Developer: The Phoenix Partnership (TPP)
  • Features: Widely used in UK NHS primary and community care; real-time record sharing; mobile access for clinicians.

15. Vision (Cegedim)

  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Developer: Cegedim Healthcare Solutions
  • Features: Primary care EHR in the UK; intuitive prescribing; data sharing across practices; strong GP usability.

16. CareCloud

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: CareCloud, Inc.
  • Features: Cloud-based EHR + practice management; RCM and billing; telemedicine; customizable and user-friendly.

17. DrChrono

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: DrChrono, Inc.
  • Features: Mobile-first on iPad/iPhone; appointment scheduling; telehealth; ideal for small-mid practices.

18. Kareo Clinical

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Kareo, Inc.
  • Features: Cloud-based; integrated billing and RCM; patient engagement; affordable for independent practices.

19. ModMed (Modernizing Medicine)

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: Modernizing Medicine, Inc.
  • Features: Specialty-specific EHRs (dermatology, ophthalmology, etc.); AI-powered coding/documentation; telehealth and analytics.

20. GE Healthcare (Centricity / Virence)

  • Country: United States
  • Developer: GE Healthcare
  • Features: Enterprise hospital deployments; integration with imaging; clinical documentation and order entry; still influential in hospital IT.

Final Thoughts

EHRs are not one-size-fits-all. While giants like Epic and Oracle Health dominate global hospitals, regional leaders like EMIS, SystmOne, and Vision play a vital role in UK primary care. Similarly, agile systems like DrChrono or Kareo empower small practices with affordable, cloud-based tools.

The real value of an EHR lies in how well it supports clinicians and patients together — enabling safer care, reducing waste, and building trust. As healthcare continues to digitalize, these systems will shape the future of how we deliver care worldwide.

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 
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Posted by on September 2, 2025 in Technical, Work Place

 

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A champion left behind: applause is loud, loyalty is quiet.


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons and the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

It’s easy to clap when someone is winning; it’s rare to stay when they’re not.

In two decades of my professional journey, I’ve seen the greatest fade after a single failure—despite their effort, success, and sacrifice. This is my reflection on why applause is temporary, loyalty is rare, and how leaders can show up when the winning stops.

The Rooster Story

Once, this rooster was worth millions.

Every victory brought applause, food, and comfort.

But the moment it lost, everything vanished.

No roof. No praise. No people.

Just silence. Forgotten.

Isn’t that how our professional and personal lives work too? When we’re winning, the crowd swells. When we stumble, the room gets smaller.

Applause is temporary. Character is tested in the silence after the cheering stops.

In my 20-year professional journey, I’ve watched some of the greatest of the greats fade from the spotlight after a single failure—irrespective of their effort, past success, or sacrifice.

Talent wasn’t the issue. Commitment wasn’t the issue. The issue was how quickly we, as teams and communities, move on when the scoreboard turns against someone.

Those moments shaped my leadership over the last decade.

What Failure Taught Me

  • Performance wins attention; presence wins trust. Anyone can congratulate you after the trophy. Few will sit with you in the locker room after a loss.
  • Results matter—but so do attempts. We learn more from courageous tries than from safe wins.
  • Teams thrive when effort is remembered. Recognition should not vanish with a rough sprint, a missed target, or a bad quarter.

My Leadership Commitments (and What I Expect of Myself)

  • Recognise consistently, not conditionally. Celebrate wins, yes—but also name the effort when outcomes fall short.
  • Stand by people in hard times. Reviews, coaching, resources, and cover—especially when someone is hurting or burnt out.
  • Hold a long memory for contribution. Don’t let a single failure erase years of service, loyalty, and craft.
  • Practice gratitude out loud. Appreciation shouldn’t be assumed; it should be heard.
  • Protect wellbeing as fiercely as targets. Burnout is not a badge. Recovery is part of high performance.

How You Can Lead Differently (Starting Today)

  1. Name three efforts from your team this week that deserve appreciation—regardless of outcome.
  2. Check in privately with one person who’s had a tough sprint or review. Ask, “What do you need from me right now?”
  3. Make recognition repeatable: add a 3-minute “effort spotlight” to your weekly stand-up.
  4. Track contributions over time: keep a running log so a bad month doesn’t rewrite a good year.
  5. Normalize recovery: plan rest after big pushes the same way you plan delivery.

Don’t just celebrate the wins. Stand with people when the noise fades. That’s where leadership begins.

Beyond Success

The world moves on quickly. That’s the painful truth. But we don’t have to.

In our careers, friendships, families, and teams, we can choose to be the few who stay when the winning ends. That’s how trust is built. That’s how cultures last.

If this resonates with you, pass it forward—recognise someone today for their effort, not just their outcomes.

Who stood by you when the winning stopped?

Drop their name (and a thank-you) in the comments. Let’s make loyalty visible.

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 

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The End of Average Credentials: What It Means for Students, Careers, and Education

The End of Average Credentials: What It Means for Students, Careers, and Education

Introduction: The Changing World of Work

When I meet university students, one of the most common questions I hear is:

“Sir, I have a degree—why is it still so hard to get a good job?”

For decades, the formula was simple:

  1. Get into a university.
  2. Graduate with a degree.
  3. Land an entry-level job.
  4. Build expertise through promotions.

But today, that ladder is missing a few rungs.

Research from Harvard economists covering 62 million workers shows that firms adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) are hiring 22% fewer junior employees. The steepest hiring drops are in wholesale, retail, and the very white-collar roles that graduates once relied on.

This isn’t just “no demand for average people.”

It’s no entry for average credentials.

As a coach, I tell my students:

“The future doesn’t ask where you studied—it asks what you can do.”


Why Degrees Are Losing Their Value

1. Credentials as Signals Are Breaking Down

Degrees used to be powerful signals. Employers didn’t know your skills, so they trusted your university’s name.

But now companies can test you directly—through projects, portfolios, and proof-of-work. The proxy has lost its power.

2. AI Boosts Productivity, But Not Judgment

AI is a powerful assistant. A junior analyst can use AI to build financial models in minutes. But here’s the real test:

  • Can they recognise when the numbers don’t reflect reality?
  • Can they connect insights across industries?
  • Can they detect shifts in the environment?

These are judgment calls—skills AI cannot replace.

“Tools can make you faster, but only wisdom makes you right.”

3. The Mid-Tier Squeeze

  • Elite universities still open doors thanks to brand and alumni networks.
  • Bottom-tier colleges survive by serving local needs.
  • Tier 2 and Tier 3 schools, however, are squeezed the hardest. They produced the majority of white-collar workers, but their degrees no longer guarantee entry-level jobs.

And for the 26-year-old carrying student debt, this is not a theory—it’s a crisis.


What This Means for Graduates and Postgraduates

When I run workshops with students, I often ask:

“If degrees are losing value, what do you have that makes you stand out?”

Most look at me with hesitation. And that’s okay. Because the answer isn’t in the past—it’s in what you start building today.

Here are the steps every graduate and postgraduate can take right now:

Step 1: Build a Strong Portfolio

Your degree may get you noticed, but your portfolio gets you hired.

  • For coders: publish on GitHub.
  • For designers: showcase on Behance.
  • For writers: post on Medium or LinkedIn.
  • For analysts: share dashboards, case studies, or research.

I tell my mentees:

“A project in your portfolio speaks louder than a line on your CV.”


Step 2: Learn AI—but Add Your Own Judgment

Yes, you should learn AI tools. But don’t stop there. Employers are looking for the human layer—critical thinking, problem-solving, and judgment.

Ask yourself:

  • Can I spot when AI is wrong?
  • Can I explain complex ideas simply?
  • Can I frame the right problem before solving it?

Step 3: Seek Audition-Style Opportunities

The hiring game is shifting. Instead of degrees, companies want proof-of-work in action.

  • Freelancing projects, part-time consulting, internships—they’re the new auditions.
  • Even if it’s small, each project adds credibility.

I once coached a student who struggled to land interviews. We built a portfolio of small freelance projects. Within six months, he had three offers—not because of his degree, but because of his demonstrated work.


Step 4: Commit to Continuous Learning

The world no longer rewards “one-time learners.”

  • Take micro-certifications (Google, AWS, Microsoft).
  • Learn industry-specific tools in your field.
  • Invest in soft skills: leadership, adaptability, communication.

Remember:

“Your degree is your foundation. Your lifelong learning is the building you live in.”


Step 5: Build Networks, Not Just Resumes

When I interact with hiring managers, I hear this again and again:

“We trust recommendations more than CVs.”

That’s why networks matter.

  • Join communities, professional groups, and alumni networks.
  • Find mentors who can guide you.
  • Attend events, webinars, hackathons.

Opportunities often come through people, not job boards.


Alternate Career Opportunities in the AI Era

Not everyone needs to join a big corporate. In fact, many students I coach find greater success in alternative paths.

1. Freelance & Gig Economy

Skill-first platforms like Upwork and Fiverr reward competence, not degrees.

2. Entrepreneurship & Startups

AI has lowered the cost of starting a business. Students can launch services, apps, or consultancies with minimal capital.

3. Creator Economy

Blogging, YouTube, and online teaching can turn knowledge into income. I know students who earn more from teaching coding on YouTube than from a corporate salary.

4. Domain + Tech Hybrids

  • Finance graduates with AI skills → fintech analysts.
  • Law graduates with AI skills → legaltech innovators.
  • Doctors with data skills → healthtech leaders.

5. Social Impact Roles

NGOs, governments, and international bodies increasingly seek data-driven talent for public good.


How the Education System Must Transform

As someone who often collaborates with universities, I see the gap clearly: we are preparing students for jobs that no longer exist.

Here’s how education must evolve:

  1. From Marks to Portfolios – Every graduate should leave with proof-of-work, not just transcripts.
  2. From Final-Year Projects to Industry Projects – Universities must partner with companies for real challenges.
  3. From Memorisation to Critical Thinking – Teach students how to question, test, and synthesise.
  4. From Fixed Curriculum to Modular Learning – Let students mix AI with finance, design with psychology, law with technology.
  5. From Local Degrees to Global Credentials – Integrate certifications from global platforms into the university experience.

“Education must prepare students for the future they will face, not the past we are nostalgic about.”


The New Career Path

The old path looked like this:

Degree → Junior Role → Steady Promotion

The new path looks like this:

Portfolio → Paid Audition → Accelerated Growth

This is not theory—it’s already happening in AI-driven companies.


Conclusion: Building Your Own Proof of Work

To every student and young professional reading this, here’s my message:

  • Don’t wait for your degree to “unlock” a career.
  • Start building your proof-of-work now.
  • Use AI wisely, but bring your judgment to the table.
  • Stay curious, keep learning, and expand your network.

The credential collapse is real. But it is not the end of opportunity. In fact, it’s the start of a new era—where your skills, your creativity, and your resilience matter more than ever.

“The world doesn’t need more degrees. It needs more doers, thinkers, and leaders. Be one of them.”

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 

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AI in QA: More Than Just a Trend


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons and the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

In today’s fast-moving software development world, Quality Assurance (QA) must be scalable, intelligent, and efficient. The solution? AI-powered QA.

Many fear AI might replace testers, but the reality is different—AI enhances and accelerates the QA process, allowing testers to focus on high-value tasks rather than repetitive ones.

In this article, we’ll explore:

How AI is transforming QA

The best AI-powered QA tools

10 practical steps to implement AI in QA

Let’s dive in!

Why AI in QA? More Than Just a Trend

Research shows that integrating AI into QA can:

Boost testing efficiency by automating repetitive tasks

Improve accuracy by reducing human errors

Prioritize test cases intelligently using predictive analytics

Enhance UI/UX validation through advanced visual testing

An AI-first approach to QA isn’t just a futuristic idea—it’s a smart, practical step toward better software quality.

How AI is Transforming QA

1️⃣ Test Automation

AI-driven frameworks create self-healing test scripts that adapt to application changes, reducing script maintenance.

🛠 Tools: Functionize, Testim

2️⃣ Predictive Analytics

AI predicts which test cases are most critical, helping teams reduce execution time while improving test effectiveness.

🛠 Tools: Launchable by CloudBees

3️⃣ Synthetic Test Data

AI generates realistic and diverse test data, covering edge cases that are hard to replicate manually.

🛠 Tools: Gretel, GenRocket

4️⃣ Visual Validation

AI-based visual validation tools detect even the smallest UI/UX changes, ensuring smooth user experiences.

🛠 Tools: Applitools, Percy

10 Actionable Steps to Implement AI in QA

1️⃣ Start with a Clear Strategy

Define what you want AI to improve—speed, accuracy, test coverage? Set clear KPIs to measure success.

2️⃣ Choose the Right Tools

Not all AI-powered tools are the same. Pick tools that align with your testing framework, team skills, and application needs.

3️⃣ Train Your Team

AI is only as good as its users. Upskill your testers so they can leverage AI effectively.

4️⃣ Integrate with CI/CD

Make AI a part of your Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipeline to enable real-time testing.

5️⃣ Focus on High-Value Tests

AI works best when identifying patterns. Prioritize areas where automation delivers the most impact.

6️⃣ Use Synthetic Data

AI-generated test data helps cover security, performance, and edge case scenarios.

7️⃣ Leverage Predictive Analytics

AI can prioritize test cases dynamically, optimizing test execution time.

8️⃣ Automate Repetitive Tasks

Use AI to automate test script maintenance, data generation, and test execution.

9️⃣ Monitor and Adjust AI Models

AI isn’t set-and-forget. Continuously optimize your AI models for better accuracy.

🔟 Foster Cross-Team Collaboration

QA, development, and operations teams must work together to integrate AI successfully.

AI in QA: The Future is Here

AI in QA isn’t just an experiment—it’s the future of software testing. The key takeaway?

AI should amplify, not replace, human testers.

AI makes QA smarter, more efficient, and more scalable.

AI-powered testing isn’t just about automation—it’s about intelligent quality assurance.

By integrating AI into QA, organizations can ship high-quality software faster and with confidence.

Are you ready to adopt AI in your QA process? Let’s discuss in the comments!

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 
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Posted by on January 9, 2025 in Technical, Work Place

 

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Do You Maintain a Healthy Work Environment?


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

As a Leader Are you cultivating a positive work environment for your team’s success?

In 21st century, Leaders have more responsibility to create environments where dignity, integrity, honesty, and compassion are keystones of the workplace. A healthy leader is one who understands the importance of their team members’ emotional well-being.

In a leadership position, it’s your responsibility to listen to what your team needs for a healthy workplace environment. Employees are, after all, the heart of the company and the best ambassadors for your brand. Taking care of the office environment will not only improve the overall mood at work, but will increase employee loyalty, work productivity, and team relationships.

Employees’ mental health is likely only to worsen with the present tumultuous economic climate and the drastically changing 21st century workplace. As employees reckon with this, employers may be faced with more employees going on medical leaves or resigning altogether. Having strong mental health support system, may be vital for businesses to grow and thrive and may enable them to attract top talent and retain productive workers.

As a Leader its your responsibility to create a Healthy work environment, where your employees can contribute towards the success of the team and organisation.The mental health and wellbeing of your employees should be a priority for any company. In order for your employees to be happy and successful within your company, it’s important for you to demonstrate how much your care and that the support is there!

Mental health at work refers to the psychological well-being of employees in their work environment. It includes factors such as job satisfaction, work-related stress, burnout, anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues that can arise from work-related pressures and demands.

Like chronic diseases, mental health disorders are treatable, and employers can use comprehensive strategies to cultivate supportive work environments.

The health and wellbeing of your employees should always be a priority in your workplace, make sure that you implement some of the strategies mentioned to keep your employees happy and healthy! Employers need to be more aware of their employee’s feelings than ever before and offer support and guidance to their employees. 

Several factors contribute to poor mental health in the workplace, which can lead to high turnover and a reduction in productivity for a business. These risk factors typically include the workplace structure, interactions at work, how managers function, and the availability of support.

  • Bullying and harassment: A healthy workplace should be void of any mistreatment and hostility.6
  • Micromanagement: 70% of employees who experienced micromanagement considered quitting their jobs.
  • Lack of resources: It is challenging to succeed at work without proper support from a company and its managers.
  • Silence regarding mental health issues: Employees may feel like they need to hide their mental illness when a company exhibits a discriminatory or toxic culture.
  • Inflexible hours and time off: A lack of flexibility can negatively impact employees’ mental wellbeing.
  • Unclear responsibilities and expectations: When expectations aren’t clear, employees are more likely to make mistakes and receive ridicule. This issue can be hard to address, especially when there is a lack of effective communication.
  • Unreasonable expectations: When employees are given tasks that do not align with their experience and training, this can set them up for failure.
  • Poor work-life balance: Employees who are unable to create separation between their profession and personal life are more likely to experience burnout and a lack of productivity.

Post Covid-19, Mental health at work is important for several reasons. Firstly, it affects the overall well-being and productivity of employees, as well as their job satisfaction and engagement. Secondly, it can impact the performance and success of the organization, as employees who are struggling with mental health issues may have difficulty concentrating, making decisions, and working effectively with others.

However, organisations looking to address mental health issues in their workplaces must first assess the culture and leadership team. Having the right culture and a supportive leadership team are key factors to drive an effective and more positive work environment. Therefore, organisations need to coach their leaders on reinforcing an empathetic and more inclusive culture to encourage employees’ mental wellness, sense of relevance and optimal productivity at work.

Employers have a responsibility to create a healthy and supportive work environment that promotes good mental health. This can be achieved through a range of strategies, including providing mental health resources and support for employees, promoting work-life balance, fostering a positive and inclusive workplace culture, and addressing workplace stressors and other factors that can contribute to poor mental health.

Employees also have a role to play in maintaining their own mental health at work. This can include seeking support when needed, setting boundaries to maintain work-life balance, and practicing self-care strategies such as mindfulness, exercise, and social connection.

To support mental health at work, employers can take a number of steps, including:

  1. Creating a positive and inclusive work culture that prioritizes mental health and well-being.
  2. Encouraging open communication and providing opportunities for employees to share their experiences and concerns. Involve employees in decision making and encourage participation
  3. Offering flexible working arrangements and encourgae Hybrid work culture
  4. Educating managers and employees about mental health and how to support those who may be struggling.
  5. Be aware of the existing environment and how it can be altered to promote mental health in the workplace
  6. Learn from leaders and employees who have taken action to create a healthier workplace
  7. Utilize tools that other companies have used to promote mental health
  8. Understand that different employees may have different needs
  9. Take advantage of resources and support for employees who are struggling
  10. Implement and enforce health and safety policies, which includes identifying distress, substance abuse disorders, and illness
  11. Provide resources to manage employees who experience mental health issues and inform them that this is available
  12. Incorporate practices that support a healthy work-life balance
  13. Recognize and reward employees for their contributions

With the right strategies, you can address your mental health issues and get back on track with your overall well-being. No matter how long you’ve been ignoring your mental health, the time to dedicate to your recovery is now.

The only way to enjoy life to the fullest and experience all its wonders is if we take care of ourselves, mentally and physically. Times have changed and more and more people are changing their outlook on mental illness. However, we have a long way to go. Supporting your company’s business goals and supporting your employees’ mental health needs are not different outcomes. As you know, culture eats strategy for lunch. By investing in healthy work culture, you are supporting your employees while also addressing the bottom line.

Conclusion

A positive workplace is more successful over time because it increases positive emotions and well-being. This, in turn, improves the relationship of team members and amplifies their abilities and their creativity. This type of workplace environment is a buffer against negative experiences such as stress, thus improving staff’s resiliency to bounce back from challenges and difficulties while bolstering their overall health. It has the added benefit of attracting employees, making them more loyal to the team and to the organization as well as bringing out their strengths. When organizations develop positive cultures, they achieve significantly higher levels of organizational effectiveness — including customer satisfaction, productivity, and employee engagement. That’s a sure recipe for success. Give it a try and be the leader who inspires others.

Don’t wait another day or another week or another month. You don’t need to be dealing with this anymore. It’s time to take back control of your thoughts and emotions, and start living a happy and fulfilling life.

If you are experiencing a mental illness that you have not yet sought treatment for, it is crucial to ask for help right away. You are not alone, and there are various mental health professionals who can help you live a happier life, even in these unprecedented times.

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

Sources

Mental Health In The Workplace: A Look At Leaders’ Top Priorities https://www.forbes.com/

Mental Health in the Workplace During COVID-19 How Can Employers Help? https://healthblog.uofmhealth.org/

Mental Health in the Workplace.  https://www.cdc.gov/

Ultimate guide for mental health in the workplace https://socalempowered.com/

What Makes a Healthy Work Environment: https://aboutleaders.com/

 

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Remote Job Sites To Find Your Dream Job


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me

Remote work is growing in the coronavirus economy. More and more companies are providing remote opportunities, and many are keen to enjoy the benefits that remote work allows.

Maybe you are looking for a job you can do from home because you are tired of your daily commute or because you want to spend more time with your family. Maybe you want to travel a bit more and that’s why you are looking for a location-independent position. No matter what your reason is, online jobs are more popular than ever before.

Do you want to work remotely and find the best career opportunities? Here are some job websites you might find useful!

This list excludes the most prominent and popular job boards such as LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Flex, ZipRecruiters, Monster, Hired.

  1. AngelList is very popular for its great list of startup jobs. You can find jobs in all fields, such as finance or engineering. Simply apply the remote filter option to display location-independent positions only.
  2. Remote.co- A lot of companies seek remote workers here, you can find lot of opportunities here. They also offer advice and best practices for managing remote teams and job listings.
    Link- remote.co
  3. Working Nomads- It curates remote job opportunities from around the web and compiles them in one place, making it easier for you to find relevant opportunities.
    Link- workingnomads.co/jobs
  4. We Work Remotely- Board for remote jobs, feature job opportunities across various industries, including software development, design, marketing, and more.
    Link- weworkremotely.com
  5. Jobspresso- Best website if you want job opportunities in marketing, design, customer service. They have lot of remote job opportunities.
    Link- jobspresso.co
  6. Virtual Vocations- It is a board that provides job opportunitues in healthcare, education, marketing sectors.
    Link- virtualvocations.com
  7. Freelancer.com- A platform that connects freelancers with businesses looking for freelance services, allows freelancers to find remote work opportunities.
    Link- freelancer.com
  8. SkipTheDrive- A lot of remote job opportunities across software development, customer service, and more similar categories.
    Link- skipthedrive.com
  9. PeoplePerHour- Best platform for freelancers who are looking for clients and want to earn per hour. You can find lot of job opportunities here.
    Link- peopleperhour.com
  10. Guru is a platform that lists location-independent jobs only. They offer a wide range of positions, often focused on web development, content writing or translation.
  11. Upwork: Freelancing platform where businesses can post projects and freelancers can bid on and work on them. Link- https://www.upwork.com/
  12. Indeed  A platform for finding remote jobs in technology, customer service, sales, and marketing.
  13. Pangian: This remote job board provides a robust list of remote positions in categories like design, operations, IT/dev, sales, and teaching.
  14. Dice helps to connect hiring companies and tech professionals. You can search by job title, keyword, company, and – of course – location. Link – https://www.dice.com/
  15. Gun.io is passionate about connecting highly skilled freelance developers with great clients who appreciate their work.
  16. Crossover – Crossover is yet another massive recruitment platform that specialises in 100% remote jobs, connecting talented professionals from around the world with companies seeking the best.
  17. Arc – Arc is unlike traditional job boards, which offer both full-time and freelance opportunities. This remote work community is primarily focused on mid-level to senior developers with specific disciplines
  18. No Desk is another remote work community. It also has some remote work resources such as articles, blogs, books, and newsletters to help people find their next remote job.
  19. Remote Woman– It also focuses on remote jobs that female-friendly companies offer with paid parental leave and other perks for women.
  20. Après is the perfect remote job site for moms who want to have a flexible job. You can find freelance or contract-based jobs here, full-time or part-time ones at startups, media, and tech industries.
  21. Dribble Jobs is specifically for designers and offers mainly local jobs, but has an extra filter for remote positions, too.
  22. F6s is a popular website for startup organizations to find their talents. It lets you filter out the remote positions and you can search by equity and compensation.
  23. Freelancer is one of the most popular remote job sites, which connects freelancers of all kinds to employers. You can either work on a fixed price basis, charge hourly rates or bid and paarticipate in contests
  24. Freelancermap is a platform where IT professionals and businesses come together. The average project pays about 200 USD and is all about IT.
  25. Hubstaff Talent is a rather new remote job site, that connects freelancers and businesses for free. Offered jobs are in any field from web development to customer service to content writing.
  26. Idealist is one of the very few remote job sites, that doesn’t list any tech-related jobs at all. Instead, you can find a great selection of fields like health, youth, or legal assistance.
  27. Peopleforce is an enterprise crowdsourcing platform that is ideal for freelancers who are interested in data entry, data cleaning, research, and tagging jobs.
  28. ProZ is probably the world’s largest translator network. It provides a massive choice of translation work for freelancers and is often the first address for professional translators.
  29. Stack Overflow Careers focuses on programmers. You can explore remote jobs, that are based in a certain area and look up career salaries.
  30. Werk is a fairly new remote job site that offers flexible work options for women. That can be short-term projects for maternity leaves, job-sharing, or other remote positions.

References:

https://www.comparehero.my/career/articles/earn-money-usd-10-freelance-platforms

https://www.digitalnomadsoul.com/best-remote-job-sites/

https://www.makeuseof.com/best-job-websites-find-remote-work/

The list above is not the entire possible list of places you can get dollar-paying remote jobs across the globe. If you have gotten jobs or know people who have gotten jobs from other platforms aside from the ones we have listed above, please indicate them in the comment box.

The key is to stay focused and work hard towards achieving your goals.
Good luck!

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 
 

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Disappear for 90 days and set yourself 10 years ahead


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

The concept of “Disappearing for 90 Days” is associated with taking a break from daily routines to reflect and recharge.
Here are some primary decisions you need to consider to come out of the crowd and make the difference:

1. Develop a routine. Sleep at 9:00 PM and be awake at 4.00 AM every day.

2. Spend 60-minutes of your day reading ,writing, and internalizing what you understand.

3. Be willing to let go of friendships that don’t serve you. If you hangout with losers, you become a loser.

4. Master the art of self-discipline. Get up early, work long hours, and face your problems head on.

5. Learn a high-income skill that’ll earn you $10k+ per month.

6. Stop chasing cheap dopamine. Prioritize what’s important over pleasure.

7. Hit at least 100 push ups and 80 squats per day to stay strong. You’ll also be healthier than 97% of people.

8. Build self-discipline by taking one cold shower in the morning.

9. Make the internet a source of your income. There’re endless possibilities for making money.

10. Take 100% responsibility for your life and never blame circumstances or anyone.

11. Include proteins, fresh fruits, and 3L of water in your daily diet to optimize your health.

12. Hang out with people who obsess over making moves and living a good life. Your circle should not gossip, complain, or get jealous of each other.

13. Invest in a good wardrobe, a good niche fragrance, and learn how to talk. You’ll boost your success rate by 94%.

14. Befriend nature, walk 5000 steps per day to clear your mind, boost your mood and get creative.

15. Keep distance from people who only prioritize their needs over yours. They’re your greatest setback.

16. Be smart enough to quit weed, p*orn, and alcohol. They’re the worst distraction that’ll raise your dopamine, make you dumb, and depressed.

By incorporating these activities into your 90 days of “disappearing,” you can get 10 years ahead in your personal and professional life.

My Life literally changed when I changed the way I looked at this world. It all comes down to an Unbreakable Mindset… in short THE CHAD MINDSET Grab your copy to permanently alter the way you think and become a CHAD here:

The key is to stay focused and dedicated to your goals.
Good luck!

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 

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Do You Push Your Team Members Too Hard?


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Many of us have experienced the frustration of working for a manager who intimidates their team members while apparently charming their superiors at the same time.  But it’s hard to know if you are that type of manager.  You might think you are doing a good job.  You get results by challenging and pushing people past their comfort zones. But what if they perceive your style as overly intimidating and as a consequence they are actually afraid of you?

Some managers believe that being direct and pushy is the only way to get results.  While this can be appropriate in some situations,  it does not build a culture of trust and commitment in the long term. 

There was a company that was struggling to meet its goals and objectives.

The management team was constantly pushing their employees to work harder and faster, but nothing seemed to be working.
One day, a wise consultant was brought in to help the company improve its management practices. The consultant observed the company’s operations for a few weeks and then called a meeting with the management team.

The consultant started by telling the management team a story:

“There was a farmer who had a field of wheat that wasn’t growing well. He tried everything he could think of, but nothing seemed to help the wheat grow. One day, he decided to try something new. Instead of pushing the wheat to grow, he decided to focus on the soil. He enriched the soil, gave it the nutrients it needed, and then let nature take its course. To his amazement, the wheat grew tall and strong.”

The consultant then turned to the management team and said, “Just like the farmer, you need to focus on the ‘soil’ of your company. Your employees are the soil that your company grows in. If you invest in them, give them the support they need, and create a positive work environment, they will grow and thrive. Your company will flourish as a result.”

The moral of the story is that good management is not just about pushing people harder, but also about investing in them and creating a positive work environment that supports growth and development.

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 
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Posted by on January 13, 2023 in Life & It's Importance, Work Place

 

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A bad boss can make your life miserable


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Have you ever worked for someone that made your life a living hell ?

I definitely would never wish for any one of you to be in a situation where your horrible boss is intolerable. But if you are in such a situation, then this article will definitely help you.

You can’t choose your boss, but you can choose how you react to a bad one. After having so many bosses, I can tell you there will be a boss at one point who will make your life miserable.

Bad bosses are everywhere. About 50% of employees are said to quit their jobs because of a bad boss. Everyone, at some point in their career, has had a boss from hell. The person that crushes your spirit on a daily basis and makes, going to work, one of the things you hate most.

Quitting is hard

People stay in jobs with bosses they don’t like for a multitude of reasons. Some of the most common reasons I’ve heard during my 16 years of organizational consulting and coaching include:

– I don’t have the energy to look for a new job.

– I love the job I am doing

– I love the vision of company

– Things might get better.

– I really like my job/colleagues/commute.

– I need the salary. I can’t afford to take a pay cut.

– There aren’t any other jobs that would be better.

– I don’t want to lose the benefits.

– I ’ve invested too much to start over in a new organization.

– This job pays too well to leave.

– I don’t have the skills to get a different job.

It happens to the best of us — we start a new job only to find that our boss is not ideal. They might be a micromanager, a visionary that lacks the ability to get the job done, a boss who likes to take all the credit for their team’s good work, a poor communicator, a non-communicator, an absentee boss … the list goes on.

Characteristics of a Horrible Boss:

  • A Blame-Shifter
  • Angry and treat others wrong
  • Takes away your freedom of choice
  • Arrogance with their ostentatious personality
  • Controlling Delegator
  • Driven by emotion not on confidence
  • Favoritism towards certain employees
  • Indecisive in nature
  • Micromanage their employees
  • No Long term Vision
  • Demoralize you and your self-worth
  • Resist Change in the workplace
  • Stubborn and think they’re right
  • Use fear as a form of management
  • Throttle your growth
  • They come in late, but expect you to arrive early and leave late

If you’re working for someone that fits any or all of the above, it may be time to run for the hills. Your future is at stake.

Two rules for success when you have a bad boss:

Rule #1: Your boss’s boss won’t correct the situation. This is true if your bad boss has longevity and he was hired by his current boss. When these two things are true, don’t expect things to change. Adopt other strategies to improve your life.

Rule #2: Bring your best self to work. Be pleasant, helpful, productive, kind, positive, and energetic. Adopt positive behaviors because it’s who you are.

Never let a bad boss make you a bad employee.

I gave a frustrated coaching client this feedback. “Your best self comes out when you talk about work, projects, and vision. But when you talk about your bad boss, your worst self comes out.”

“Which self do you want others to see?”

If you want to keep top talent, make sure that your bad boss habits don’t get in the way of productivity and growth! Bad Bosses are a common occurrence in any workplace, but there are ways for you to help them become better managers and leaders.

What rules might you suggest for people who have a bad boss?

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 

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Taking Breaks At Work is My Success Secret  


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

I strongly believe in the concept of Pause is Power. Like me, People know breaks are helpful, but we don’t always take them. Take your mind off work to give your brain a chance to truly relax.

We are living in competitive world. Competition comes with great pressure and intensity, and it’s important to remind people of the power that can be found in the simple act of a pause, allowing us to come back better and stronger.

Taking break is not a crime. We have to make sure to Prioritise Wellbeing Over Winning.

You don’t want to take breaks because you think you can get more done. But did you? One day you will started realizing that your neck, wrist, and back are hurting, despite being an otherwise health-conscious, active lifestyle advocate.

Remember that, We work best when we adhere to our natural rhythms, which dictate switching between periods of expending energy and periods of renewing energy.

Elite musicians, actors, and athletes know this well enough and rarely practice for longer than 90 minutes in one session. They take breaks between sessions, and rarely work/practice for more than 4.5 hours in any given day.

Basically, microbreaks help you manage your energy resources over the course of the day — and that’s particularly beneficial on days when you’re tired. We Need to Get Serious About Taking Breaks At Work

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes…including you.” – Anne Lamott

Science Agrees: More Breaks = Higher Productivity

Many people experience “productivity breakthroughs” after going against their instincts to meet a deadline by taking a pause. We emerge refreshed and more resilient after getting up for both brain and movement breaks.

So, how do breaks help us? 

Here’s a quick look at the magic taking breaks does to our brain:

  • Improved focus.
  • Boosted creativity and problem-solving abilities
  • Better information retention
  • Improved productivity
  • Prevents decision fatigue
  • Reevaluate goals and seeing the bigger picture
  • Better stress management

Besides the juicy benefits that breaks have on our brains, now what if you can double the benefits? 

It’s simple – add movement to your breaks.

For those who get the least amount of physical activity, replacing a half hour of sitting time with physical activity was associated with up to a nearly 50% reduction in mortality, according to a new study from the American Cancer Society.

Breaks are a great opportunity to incorporate movement into our workdays to combat the setbacks of a sedentary lifestyle. 

Take a look at the most important benefits of movement breaks:

  • Improve energy levels
  • Boost mood and relieve stress
  • Strengthen weakened muscles and bones
  • Reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease
  • Reduces the risk of injury
  • Boost memory and focus

It’s pretty clear that taking breaks is a powerful tool that can make us better at what we do, feel physically better, and happier. 

High-performing people understand the power of taking breaks and know how to take advantage of effective breaks to become more productive while keeping their health in check.

So, how do you harness the power of taking breaks, so that you come back fully recharged both physically and mentally?

Continue reading to find out the strategy that actually works.

How to Work Like an Expert and Maximize Your Productivity

If we want to work like an expert and maximize our productivity, we need to learn from elite performers. Here’s the recipe:

  1. Work in sprints: Give it all you’ve got for short periods of time. Get as much done during that time as possible. Push hard.
  2. Take frequent recovery breaks: In-between work sprints you need to recover and replenish some of your energy.

That’s it. You’re either working super hard – deeply focused, fully engaged, highly concentrated, at full speed – or you’re taking a recovery break.

There’s no more in-between. There’s no more ‘doing some work’. There’s no more preserving energy when you’re working. There’s no more half-assed working because you’re tired or whatever. You either work (you’re super productive) or you don’t (you’re taking a break). You’re either expending energy (work sprint) or replenishing energy (recovery break).

That’s working according to your natural rhythms and it’s exactly how the highest performing people in the world do it.

Now, How long should those work sprints and recovery breaks ideally be?

If you want to copy the best, then the ideal length seems to be working for 90 minutes and recovering for 15 minutes. (That way you also adhere to the ultradian rhythm.)

For most people, however, that’s not very practical. You may have a meeting coming up, co-workers interrupting you, or whatever. What’s important is that you either work or recover. Don’t do some half-working/half-chilling stuff.

Sometimes you may have a work sprint that only lasts for 30 minutes. Or one that lasts for 80 minutes. Or heck, even one that goes on for 2 hours. Similarly, some breaks may only last 10 minutes, or 5 minutes, or 40 minutes.

Don’t overcomplicate it. The key is to make waves and follow periods of intense activity with periods of intense recovery. If you work, work hard. If you take a break, recover properly.

Do that and your productivity will go through the roof. There are a few strategies that’ll help you make your work sprints as productive as possible.

1) Give it all you’ve got.

2) Eliminate all distractions

3) Single-task and work on one task, uninterruptedly, for long periods of time

4) Take mini breaks every 30 minutes.

Forcing the brain to stay hyper focused on work throughout the workday lessens productivity. The solution to this is to take regular breaks so you can refresh both physically and mentally several times a day. Doing so will not only make you more productive but help you prevent job burnout too.

Managing breaks at work

Do you know the difference between some of the best tennis players and average tennis players? One difference is that top players are maximizing their recovery between points.

Here the point is that getting the most out of your recovery breaks is crucial if you’re looking to maximize your productivity. Yes, taking any break is better than not taking breaks at all. But there are better and worse ways to spend your time during breaks.

Watching TV, reading the news, or checking your Facebook newsfeed won’t give you the highest possible returns from your recovery breaks.

Instead, you may want to choose one of the following activities:

  • Get in nature
  • Boost your mood
  • Meditate
  • Walk or exercise
  • Leave the office 
  • Have a healthy snack/meal 
  • Have a brief nap (if you’re allowed) – if not, try some deep breathing 
  • Meditate/daydream 
  • Do something creative – like a puzzle, or doodling 
  • Have a coffee or tea 
  • Create a to-do list for your home-based tasks 

It has become increasingly clear that taking breaks at work helps keep you healthy and productive. Both are important for working individuals to continue to do a good job as well as take care of themselves. Burnout at work is a real problem and employees need to be able to practice reasonable self care so things never escalate to that point. Here are just a few of the reasons why taking breaks at work keeps your productivity levels high.

When people think their employer cares about their health, they feel more empowered to freely make decisions about when to take microbreaks and what type of microbreaks to take,And that is ultimately good for both the employer and the employee.

Final Thoughts

While there are many options for breaks at work, individuals are unique and have to find out what works best for them. Try to make a note of what sort of break benefits you the most – if you can continuously make use of it, your motivation and productivity will stay high.  

Now I’d love to hear from you. What’s your experience with taking regular breaks at work? Let me know in the comments below, and thanks for reading!

References:

https://www.coca-colacompany.com/

Homepage

https://www.stretchminder.app/post/taking-breaks-at-work-the-ultimate-guide

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and FacebookEdit

 

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Quality is everyone’s responsibility.


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Who is “responsible” for quality? This is one of those interesting questions that on the surface of it seems really simple to answer depending upon your viewpoint … and yet the question itself hides a few thorny issues. Quality is not that simple. We all have the ability to add bits of quality and we all have the ability to take them away. In my opinion, there are various people who handle (certain aspects of) quality and those people are gatekeepers (for their area of quality).

There are so many role involves in Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and it is next to impossible to assign responsibility against all roles within the development team and this is where initiative comes into picture. Quality is one of the main factor in SDLC as it has direct relation with end users and when we speak about quality then one question comes into mind, i.e. “who is responsible for Quality?” Our understanding is, it is the job of a Software Tester. There is just no way that Testing can assure quality all on its own.

Quality is not the result of efforts of one single person. It is a combined effort of the whole team.

In general when you are working in a Development Team, many times we came across a statement like ‘I am developer and testing is not my responsibility’. Whenever I hear such statement , I recall this example from my father that “if your family has to be happy then you can’t assign a person in your family a role and responsibility of happiness and blame that person if something goes wrong”. If you want your family to be happy forever then it has to be happen with everyone participating in it!

Quality is not a one time activity. It is a continuous process.

Quality is the responsibility of everyone because no one person can successfully deliver a project by themselves. Usually, in the project world, projects are run by a number of people that are seldom from one organization.

It is imperative that each organization takes appropriate measures to ensure quality is engraved within its culture.

When quality expectations are understood by the project team; and each organization has set up in place a procedure to ensure quality control and assurance measures are taken, the project is more likely to be delivered to a better quality and hence more like to be a succes.

A simple example:

  1. During the Front End Loading of a project (aka. The Planning Stage of a Project Life Cycle), documents are the bulk of the deliversbles. Ensuring quality documents are submitted by the Consultant teams will definetly influence the project’s success.
  2. Likewise, during the Execution Stage (aka. Construction), the Contract shall ensure appropriate quality control and inspection tests are set up as it will also have an influence on the project’s success.


But is it just the Consultant’s responsibility in the first example or just the Contractor’s responsibility in the second?

I would argue it is not.

In my opinion Quality is just like Safety. Every person can contribute to having a safer construction site by identifying “near misses” or ensuring they take action when they see any unsafe act; likewise, every person can contribute to having a higher quality deliverables by understanding project’s quality expectations and delivering up to its standard.

I’ve been involved in software testing for 16+ years, working on major software implantations right across the globe, from Europe to United States, and India. Over that time I’ve seen testing evolve and go through various facelifts, but one thing is always true – you can’t have a good project without good testing!

During my stint in testing, I’ve realised something fundamental: Testers are just the information providers.

Testers alone can’t assure quality… but good testing can highlight low-quality. Through their various reports, testers provide the rest of your project with information needed to drive a quality solution.

Testing will never fix problems itself, but good testing will:

  • Accurately relay the status of a given solution at a given stage of development
  • Provide development with target areas to focus their efforts
  • Let the business know if the project is on track, or not
  • Let training get their ducks in a row ahead of the roll-out

I want to stress; you can achieve this with good testing. That means the right tools, correct coverage, appropriate test conditions, efficient prioritisation, and robust strategy.

It is not enough if one department or one person who is in charge of quality, works towards this. To achieve the goal of 100% perfect quality every employee connected to the company have to do their work on time, in an accurate manner.

I don’t mean that everyone needs to refocus on quality as a number one priority. Rather, other teams should work closely with the testers to understand the information and what to do with it. Despite what a lot of you think, testers aren’t the enemy. Other teams can and should use their information to make their own lives easier.

Accuracy of data and punctuality in the data delivery are very important aspects when it comes to proper Quality Management System.

As Aristotle has rightly said “Quality is not an act. It is a habit.” It has to become a way of life. Only if Quality is inculcated in the daily routine of an employee his or her work output will automatically be accurate and will also be punctual. All that we need to for this is to guide them properly. 

Quality is not an act! It is a habit!  We have to develop a culture of delivering quality products. You have to develop this culture not only in your work life or product you are developing but you need to develop this in your daily routine and this is how you can leave a Quality Life and develop a Quality Culture!

It’s really important to keep in mind that the term responsibility refers to the contextually proper sphere or extent of someone’s activities. When you call a team “Quality Assurance” that very name tends to imply that this is the team that is responsible. So don’t do that. Treat quality assurance as what it is: a function. It’s a function that stretches across multiple teams, embracing many roles. When you look at things this way then, yes, quality is potentially everyone’s responsibility but with the recognition that everyone has various areas of quality that they can reasonably influence and others that they have to rely on others to influence. What everyone can do is collaborate and communicate about those areas of influence, learning how to build a shared notion of quality throughout the organization.

In the end, the output of quality is primarily the result of all the people in the organisation so rather than blaming each other, let’s work as a team and deliver what is exactly needed. After all, there is only one team, and we’re all in it.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 
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Posted by on November 13, 2022 in Technical, Work Place

 

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Learn to appreciate who deserve it


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Appreciation is the act of giving something or someone their proper value, and everybody has value. The value in a relationship is important because it lets a person know where they stand, and what they mean to you; appreciation is a way of letting that person know what you value.

In the workplace, appreciation generally means “recognition and enjoyment of the good qualities of someone or something. Appreciating someone is not tough task. It can be as simple as saying “thank you” for a job well done, for completing a project quickly, or for coming to a meeting prepared and ahead of time.

If you don’t show appreciation to those that deserve it, they’ll learn to stop doing the things you appreciate. 

In the workplace, appreciation plays a key role in creating a positive organisational culture and strengthening employee-leader relationships. Many studies have revealed that appreciation is one of the proven methods to motivate employees, make them more productive and committed to their jobs.

Importance Of Appreciation In The Workplace

Although appreciation is often confused with praise and recognition for achievements, real appreciation goes much further. It regards colleagues as human beings who are valuable because of their abilities, personality, and uniqueness. Regardless of their position in the company, each employee has enormous potential in different areas.

Appreciation is a fundamental human need in both professional and private life. We want to be appreciated by what we are, what we do, and what we achieve.

Appreciation should be a daily event and it is giving positive feedback and thanks for good ongoing work. It can be a simple thank you and positive feedback for a special project or special effort.

Appreciation keeps employees engaged. In addition to improving productivity, showing appreciation in the workplace also increases employee engagement and dedication.

Appreciation improves workplace morale. Showing appreciation to an employee creates a ripple effect in the workplace. An employee who feels appreciated is highly likely to show appreciation to their co-workers and other team members.

Appreciation improves productivity. When employees know their hard work is appreciated and recognised, they feel that their work is valued. And this motivates them to maintain and improve their great performance.

Appreciation boots moral. It has the largest effect on trust when it occurs immediately after a goal has been met, when it comes from peers, and when it’s tangible, unexpected, personal, and public.

Learn to appreciate others, And they will definitely appreciate you at right time.

When you appreciate someone, it indicates that you have recognized their effort. It may encourage them to go the extra mile. Giving recognition inspires greatness in others.

Final Thoughts

Appreciation is a powerful everyday tool that managers and leaders can use with their staff. Unfortunately, it is a greatly underutilized and many managers that I have worked with say “why should I have to say thank you and appreciate someone who is just doing their job that they are paid to do”.

Appreciation can be as simple as giving quality time to an employee and taking an interest in their career and personal development.

Appreciation can be shown to the whole team and this helps build engagement and a culture that everyone wants to be part of.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 

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Are you sure about joining a Startup ?


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

We are living in the world of startups. In countries like India, people are starting companies at a pretty good pace and there are opportunities out there to be among those who will improve the economy for good. I personally think it’s a great time to look at startup opportunities. But, it’s important to walk in with your eyes open. This is particularly true if you have never worked for a startup before as you might struggle a lot understanding the concept.

Making the decision to join a startup isn’t always easy. The ever-evolving, exciting, fast and young blood of a company to work. Sounds exciting, right? Note that, It’s regularly repeated that 90 percent of startups fail, which forces the question: Am I prepared to take the risk? After all, when you accept a startup job offer, you’re making a bet on a company that might not be around in three or six years.

In most of my experience working with startups, I’ve been key player in the founding team. During the stint, I got the privilege to be on the hiring/recruiting side of the equation. I am astonished how often people fail to ask the really important questions before joining a startup. They get a lot of the basics (compensation, benefits, roles, requirements, responsibilities, etc.) right — but often fail to hit some of the important topics that are peculiar to that startups.

I agree, there are many opportunities in a startup environment compared to a long-established company, like wearing many hats, endless possibilities for growth and learning. You get the chance to be on the ground floor of something new and see your contribution has an immediate and lasting impact on the business. Much more is what makes working at a startup attractive. Although it might sound exciting, working in startups can be challenging and might not always be the best fit for you.

Before joining a startup as a new employee, you should have a clear understanding of the role, the company’s culture, and the company’s prospects. You don’t want to jump into a financially troubled startup or into a problematic work environment.

Well, before you jump right into one, we prepared some questions for you to ask. Although startup jobs may be exciting, they may not be the ones you’re actually looking for. That’s why I have gathered few very important questions to ask before joining a startup.

  • Is the Startup Right Fit for Me?
  • How Will the Startup Contribute to Your Personal Growth?
  • Who Are the Founders and Do I Believe in Their Vision?
  • Will the founders get along when the going gets tough? 
  • What’s the history of the idea and what problem are they trying to solve?
  • What are the founders looking to get from their startup?
  • Is The Company Market-Ready With Its Offering? 
  • Where Is the Industry Headed?
  • What Are Their Core Values and Are These Values Reflected In The Company’s Policies?
  • What Is the Current Runway, and What Are Your Future Funding Plans?
  • What Is the Current Team Structure where you will be deployed?
  • What Are the High-Level Team Structures? How Do Teams Collaborate?
  • What Is the Company’s Exit Strategy?
  • What Are Their Plans and Achievement Schedule for the Future?
  • How Long Is the Average Employment Rate?
  • Is the Attrition rate high . If So, Why?
  • How Communication Takes Place In The Hierarchy? 
  • How Is the Reward System? What Do They Consider as Success? 
  • What’s my Job Role & Responsibilities ?
  •  What Does Success Look Like in This Role and How Will I Be Measured?
  • What Are The Available Growth Opportunities?
  • Will I Be Learning Something New? 
  • What’s the Scope Of Salary For This Position?
  • Do team members have structured 1-on-1s?
  • How the perform reviews happen ?
  • Can I use my experience & expertise in the position offered?
  • Does The Company Promotes ‘Work From Anywhere’?
  • If I cannot fit in Startup culture, what’s next?

There will be times when you won’t be able to ask all the questions you have in mind, to the interviewer or the recruiter. In such cases, it is a good practice to connect with existing employees and clear your doubts before committing anything to the company.

There won’t be one right answer to several of these questions; each person has their own list of non-negotiables. Maybe you’re willing to take a pay cut to work alongside seasoned founders, or perhaps you won’t take the job without the promise of equity. Either approach is fine, you will need to determine your walk-away point; what’s the bare minimum you’ll accept?

Ultimately, the questions you truly need to repeat are: Do I care about the mission? Do I believe in the product, service, or founders? If those answers are “yes,” you might be closer to a decision than you think.

I hope this article was informative, Feel free to share you thoughts and experience, would love to hear them.

References: Harvard Business School, Startups of London & AngelList Blog

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 

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Questions a Scrum Master Should Ask Before Joining an Organisation 


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Having been a Scrum Master for several years and having led 3 large and many small Agile transformations, I have come to appreciate the Scrum Master role more than anything else. Depending on the organizational setup, organizational maturity and Scrum maturity the Scrum Master role can be very challenging. Even if organization is conducive of Scrum, the role is challenging. 

Starting a new role as a Scrum Master for any startup or new organisation can be daunting. Whether you are new to the Scrum Master role or have a wealth of experience, joining a new team means getting up to speed with new people, processes and products. 

A smart scrum master needs to ask appropriate questions before joining a company. Before coming to a decision, the scrum master should clearly evaluate the current situation within the startup.

The scrum master role has been gaining popularity with the widespread adoption of Agile. Startups adopt Scrum at an ever earlier stage and look for professionals to help them out. There are some important questions a scrum master candidate can ask to find the right startup company for their skill set.

In order to get a good idea of how your new Scrum team are operating, I have collated list of questions for you to ask. This list of questions covers all the various topics you are likely to want to know more about, so gather your new Scrum team and ask away!

Here are list of favourite questions for candidates to ask *employers* when interviewing as a Scrum Master:

– What is the biggest challenge Scrum team(s) are currently facing?

– What Is Your Current Software Development Process?

– How much support does the scrum teams have in the organization?

– Why Are You Hiring a Scrum Master and Not a Project Manager?

– How do your team(s) currently feel about working with Scrum?

– How will we validate the success of this team and the product they’re going to build?

– Is the Product Owner empowered to make important decisions?

– What do you think will be this Scrum Master’s biggest challenge?

– What support from a Scrum Master is most important to you?

– Does each dev team currently have a Scrum Master and Product Owner?

– What is the Product Owner’s take on agile product development and planning?

– How would you rate the organization’s Agile or Scrum maturity on a scale of 1-5? Why did you give that score?

– What do you see as the biggest opportunities for your Scrum team(s) to improve?

– How big are your dev teams? How many developers and testers are on your dev teams?

– How many teams does each Scrum Master manage in your organization?

– What Is the Leadership Style of your organisation ?

– How long have the team(s) been working with Scrum?

– Is the team cross-functional enough to deliver a valuable increment?

– What does success look like in this position, and how do you measure it?

– How does the company practice its values and the values of Scrum?

– What’s the attitude of the company’s leadership towards Agile and Scrum

– What’s the last thing your team disagreed on, and how did you resolve that disagreement?

The answers to these questions will give an overview of what to expect upon joining a startup company. A good scrum master should be able to identify the situations where a startup needs a project manager instead of a scrum master and not take on unnecessary responsibilities.

 Do you have any go-to questions you always like to ask?

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 
 

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Top Books to guide your Scrum Master journey


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me. 

Scrum is the most popular Agile framework. It is simple to adopt, but implementing it with success could prove to be challenging. The only way to overcome the “glitches” that may appear in the process is to understand its fundamentals and discover practical techniques that will help you get past any obstacles.

Anyone who has ever taken on a role of Scrum Master will tell you it is much harder than it looks. The responsibilities are massive, the traps are common and the organisations are unwilling to change. Agile Project Management requires a deep level of skill and understanding. It doesn’t lend itself to a step-by-step manual that you might find in a book.

That is why I have made a selection of top 20 Scrum Master books you should read if you are thinking of becoming a Scrum Master, or even if you are already one. I strongly believe below list of books are a game changer for the pre-game, game and post-game phases of the Scrum methodology.

  1. The Scrum Guide by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland
  2. Scrum: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide To Learn And Master Scrum Agile Framework by Hein Smith
  3. The Great ScrumMaster: ScrumMasterWay by Zuzana Šochová
  4. Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby
  5. Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland
  6. Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process by Kenneth S. Rubin
  7. Scrum: A Pocket Guide by Gunther Verheyen
  8. Scrum Mastery: From Good To Great Servant-Leadership by Geoff Watts
  9. Learning Agile: Understanding Scrum, XP, Lean, and Kanban by Andrew Stellman & Jennifer Greene
  10. A Scrum Book: The Spirit of the Game by Jeff Sutherland
  11. Fixing Your Scrum by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller
  12. Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters, Agile Coaches, and Project Managers in Transition by Lyssa Adkins
  13. Agile Software Development with SCRUM, by Ken Schwaber and Mike Beedle.
  14. The Scrum Field Guide: Practical Advice For Your First year by Mitch Lacey
  15. Managing Agile Projects by Sanjiv Augustine.
  16. The Scrum Master’s Path 2 books in 1. A Guide for Servant Leaders Navigating Growth and Change Using SCRUM and the Agile Project Management
  17. Fun In Scrum — A Visual Approach Towards Mastering Scrum Fundamentals by Souvik Seal
  18. Zombie Scrum Survival Guide by Christiaan Verwijs, Johannes Schartau, Barry Overeem
  19. Agile Estimating and Planning by Mike Cohn
  20. The Elements of Scrum by Chris Sims & Hillary Louise Johnson

You can find few more suggestions here : https://agileforgrowth.com/scrum-master-books/

Learning is a lifelong process. Improving oneself is never a bad thing. Scrum helps us to adapt to changes and dynamics of the market. The same can be said for Scrum Masters. If you don’t work on yourself and seek to improve your knowledge, skills, and experiences, you’ll be stuck.

Hope this list of books help you select the best fit book for your agile and scrum learning. Do remember to comment down below your favourite book on the topic that might help other readers. If you have already read any of the above books do not forget to comment down your review and learnings from the book. 

Any book suggestions, drop it in the comments!

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 
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Posted by on July 10, 2022 in Technical, Work Place

 

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FAILURE is SUCCESS if we learn from it


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me. 

Many people have an overwhelming fear of failure. This usually stems from societal programming that tells us how negative and even shameful failure is.

However, the reality is that failure is a necessary part of life. It is just one step of thousands you will take. It is unreasonable to expect to complete each task in life perfectly on the first attempt.

Successful People are not Afraid of Failure. Successful people don’t define failure as the opposite of success; they define failure as the opposite of trying.

Failure simply means that you have made mistakes, and you can learn from these mistakes to improve your future efforts. It is not the end of the process. Truly great leaders understand the importance of mistakes and failure, and they are comfortable with the concept of failure. In fact, there are four primary reasons why you should embrace failure if you want to be a great leader.

Successful people know that nothing ever goes exactly as planned. And no matter how hard you work, sooner or later you must face the reality that you failed. You tried to do something and weren’t successful. You didn’t get the result you wanted.

You don’t clear every interview you give.

You don’t close every sale.

You don’t win every game.

You aren’t going to hit a home run every time you’re up to bat.

You don’t always get what you want.

FAILURE is OK. It’s part of life. It should be expected.

The bigger question is: What do you do next? What do you do after you’ve failed?

As Frank Sinatra sang: “You pick yourself up and get back in the race. That’s life …”

You don’t feel sorry for yourself. You don’t mope around. You pick

yourself up and do it again and again and again until you get it right!

Failure is as much a part of life as success. Losing is as much a part of life as winning. The most important thing to think about is how can you ensure that you won’t fail in the same way a second time.

Remember: You just can’t fail the last time you try.

Life is a series of trial-and-error experiences. We are taught something by a teacher, and then we try to do it ourselves. The first time we do it we probably don’t get the results we want. So we try again, and again, and again. With practice we get better.

Then we push ourselves as we try to do something that’s a little bit more difficult. As we succeed, our expectations increase, and so does the satisfaction that comes from the feeling of a job well done.

So we set our sights a bit higher-to improve our results as compared to what we’ve done before and in relation to the results of those with whom we are competing-and we try again. We continue to push ourselves to new heights.

When we succeed, we once again raise the bar. And when we don’t, we go back to work to improve our skills and talents, and try again.

That is why I feel that the subjects of success and failure are so intertwined: because it is through failure that we grow and develop as individuals. We learn through our failures. Failures show us our flaws, our imperfections, the areas in which we need improvement.

In order to achieve your goals, to fulfill your desires, to make your dreams come true, you’re going to have to work. It is hard work that makes you better at what you do, and failing from time to time is just a part of life.

Learn From Your Failures. When you experience failure, take some time to reflect upon what happened. Pull out a pad of paper and start writing down the answers to these questions:

*Why did this happen?

*What could I have done differently?

*How can I do it better next time?

*What changes should I make in my strategies?

*What can I do to improve my planning and preparation?

Study these answers. Analyze them. Then go out and do it better the next time.

Remember: If you’re not experiencing failure, you’re not working hard enough.

Great leaders are not shamed by failure, and they do not attempt to mask their failures. Instead, they learn lessons, determine what went wrong and make a solid effort to get back on track with a corrected course and updated business plan.

Credit: Jeffrey Mayer’s SucceedingInBusiness.com Newsletter

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 

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Master the Scrum Master skills


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me. 

The real-world challenge most organizations face today with the role of the Scrum Masters is – Developing Scrum Masters that have the required competencies and skills to perform the job well. Most Scrum Masters underperform due to lack of full range skills.

A Scrum Master is the person who champions a project and meets the expectations of the client. Also, he is responsible to build a team of highly innovative members. To define the Scrum Master key skills is somewhat difficult because he performs the role of management as well as the team leader. The major role of the Scrum Master is not telling his team members what they should do but to support and motivate them.

A Scrum Master who is able to help build high performing and innovative Scrum teams, and coach people can be a valuable asset for the organization. Great Scrum Masters will definitely contribute towards improving the business agility and helping organisational system as a whole.

Scrum Masters play a unique role. They are go-betweens that work with both development teams and the Product Owner to ensure the best quality work. While they have an exhaustive list of responsibilities, they are not project managers. Since Scrum teams are, by definition, “self-managed”, Scrum Masters hold a place of leadership, yet have no more authority than any other person on the team. However, it is the Scrum Master’s responsibility to make sure that everyone on the team is following the correct protocol. They are essentially the coach, the referee, and a team member all rolled into one.

From sprint planning to servant leadership, Scrum Masters help Agile developers, product owners and other team members perform at their best. A successful Scrum Master is expected to motivate the team members and increase their potential. For this, Scrum Master requires some skills that he should develop in himself. These are the skills that will help him in the career development. To become a successful Scrum Master and make a transition to the Scrum Master roles effectively, one will need below-mentioned Scrum Master Skills:

Agile and software development knowledge
Learning to build Scrum knowledge
Good at Execution of Scrum
Remove Barriers and Keep the Team on Track
Technical Familiarity
Share Experiences and Encourages Collaboration
Project management tools expertise
Introducing Engineering Practices
Leading and Facilitating Change:
Communication and Good Listening Power
Teaching and Coaching Abilities
Conflict Facilitation
Decision Making & Problem Solving skills
Empathy & Shielding the team when needed
Having Agile Mindset, Growth Mindset

I need your opinion to add 3 top Scrum Master skills that’ll be valuable in 2022.

A Scrum Master who learns, leads and listens, and applies their knowledge of processes and associated tools where needed, is in the right position to make the team run efficiently. These Scrum Master skills support rapid, predictable delivery at every iteration. And that kind of software delivery is ultimately why the team chose Scrum.

Finding the right Scrum Master can make a world of difference in the success of a development project. Both hard and soft skills come into play here. Scrum Masters must be able to strike a healthy balance in order to be a strong leader.

I think irrespective of the technological advancements there will still be a need of skilled Scrum Masters. An effective Scrum Master can help Scrum Team deliver results that are an order of magnitude better than mediocre Scrum Teams. Though the responsibilities of the Scrum Master may adjust with the time.

The conclusion is that the Scrum Master removes impediments, guides the team members in Scrum practices, and protects them against the outer interferences. Thus, the Scrum Master ensures the sustainability of a project by taking appropriate actions. In addition, Scrum Master organizes Scrum events whenever required and plans Scrum implementation. With the above-mentioned scrum master skills, scrum master improves the skills of his team members, which, in turn, increases the productivity.

So, here you have the scrum master skills to become a successful Scrum Master. You don’t have to be a full-stack developer to become a Scrum Master, but you should be creative and quick with a whiteboard marker.

References : https://agileforgrowth.com/blog, https://www.whizlabs.com/blog

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 
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Posted by on June 29, 2022 in Technical, Work Place

 

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Retrospective ideas to try with your team


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me. 

Retrospectives are popular in the team-working world of the Lean & Agile community. The purpose of the sprint retrospective is to find areas for improvement. The meeting sets out to identify potential pitfalls and past mistakes while finding ways to avoid them in the future. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on what was successful and therefore should continue.

Retrospectives are used frequently to give teams the opportunity to pause and reflect on how things have been going and then, based on those reflections, identify the improvements they want to make. Conducting Retrospectives frequently and regularly supports a team to continuously improve their performance — but what’s the best way to go about it?

Whether you are an experienced scrum team or brand new to agile retrospectives, switching up your techniques is a great way to ensure your team never has to sit through another boring retrospective. However, with so many retrospective techniques out there to try, picking the one that best fits the unique needs of your team can be hard. 

Here are top retrospective ideas that you can add to your Scrum toolkit.

Liked, learned, lacked, longed for (4 L’s) If you are part of a team that thinks the only failure is not learning, then this is the technique for you. 4L´s is the perfect retro technique for teams at the end of a project or between projects. This technique has the team explore what happened in a current sprint or project but also what they hope will happen in future sprints. For organizations that want to remain agile and consistently evaluate processes and find a long-term solution to a systemic issue, 4Ls is an easy way to collaborate and strive for continuous improvement. 

Sailboat  sailboat retrospective will help any team struggling with staying aligned from sprint to sprint. A ship sailing to the island paradise sets the stage for valuable open discussions at the beginning or middle of a project. Sailboat discussions improve team alignment and provide valuable feedback on project goals, issues, and assets. Get everyone on board! 

Speedcar Speed Car is a simple activity for helping the team identify things that make them move faster, and things that slow them down. This is a common retrospective activity for data gathering. It is an alternative to keep the team engaged while slightly changing the format.

Starfish (smalllarge) This agile technique dives deeper into team habits by examining what to start doing, stop doing, keep doing, do more of, and do less of. Use this technique when your team is in need of a systems overhaul or needs more innovative ideas of workflow. Starfish works best for long-standing teams or projects in the process where teams are a bit more familiar with each other. 

Stop, start, continue Start, Stop, Continue is one of the most popular retrospective techniques, and for good reason. Whether you are using the traditional Scrum sprint model or just starting to implement retrospective Start Stop Continue is a great way to examine the systems and habits of the team, as well as reprioritize team goals. 

Mad, sad, glad When your team is feeling burnt out or emotionally drained, or even if something is just a little off with morale, a Mad, Sad, Glad retrospective can give you the insights you need. Particularly effective in the middle of larger projects this retrospective template gives managers insights into what team members need to remain happy in their workplace. A simple column-based retrospective, this agile technique will have teams focusing less on specific goals and on the emotions of the team. 

Token of appreciation This is a great activity for acknowledgement, increasing the team morale and putting the team on a good mood. A tasty advice is to use a box of chocolates as a token of appreciation. Participants pass the box around and give a chocolate as they appreciate their colleagues. It works both as an opening and as a closing activity for a meeting.

Drop-add-keep-improve  DAKI technique is a way for Scrum team members to think about what they should stop (or drop) doing, what they should start (or add) to their processes, what they should continue doing, and what they should keep.  Continue often refers to processes, and keep frequently refers to tools.  Remember to ask team members to consider  individuals, interactions, processes, tools, and their Definition of Done when participating in the Retrospective. 

One word retrospective The one-word retrospective technique is often considered as a checking exercise, to get the team members ready for the retrospective. But if the team has major problems, then this one-word exercise check-in and the discussion that follows is the retrospective! It is an effective way for the team to discuss what is hampering them, and agree on how to deal with it and get it out of the way. And that is what retrospectives are all about!

KALM (Keep, add, more, less) KALM is a retrospective activity that fosters the conversation about current activities and their perceived value. It helps team members understand each other’s perceived value off such practices. This is a common retrospective activity for data gathering. It is an alternative to keep the team engaged while slightly changing the format.

Team Happiness Radar Organizations around the world are beginning to recognize the importance of mental health and happiness on overall team productivity and lasting success. Running regular Team Happiness Radars can help you recognize the team’s morale and recognize points of improvement. When done in combination with a column technique, this retrospective can help your team create lasting culture changes. 

Lean coffee style Don’t have a specific goal or topic for the day’s retrospective? You need Lean Coffee, another agile favorite, is a basic template to use when you don’t know what to do, but still want an effective retrospective. The Lean Coffee agile retrospective has teams examining the status of the team’s assignments and looking into where issues are developing and what hold-ups are preventing the team’s momentum forward. By discussing common topics of concern the team can create relevant action items for improvement on a range of topics. You never know information can spill out in a Lean Coffee retrospective session.

Below are the list of references and also If you are interested to try more Retrospective ways, please find the below links.

Retrospective Techniques

100+ Sprint Retrospectives Ideas

FunRetrospectives

Remote and Distributed Retrospective Meetings

14 Types of Ideas for Sprint Retrospective Formats

Conclusion

Regardless of whether you follow an agile framework for project management or not, a retrospective meeting acts as a fantastic opportunity to pause and reflect. Your team will gain a comprehensive view of every increment, and quickly identify areas for continuous improvement. The quality of work delivered to the business will be stronger, productivity will increase, and so will the happiness of your team.

The Sprint Retrospective is extremely useful when used correctly.  After every Sprint, the team identifies at least one improvement idea to focus on during the next Sprint.  Remember, even minor improvements can result in an astonishing amount of change over time – so don’t neglect this valuable process!

Need more retrospective ideas? Keep following my posts on Agile.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 
 

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What to do you do when a sprint is cancelled?


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

During my stint as a Scrum Master, I have experienced multiple cancelled Sprints. I have always tried to use these as learning opportunities.

Though Cancelling the sprint isn’t a frequent situation. In Scrum framework it’s at the discretion of the Product Owner(PO) to cancel the sprint if PO realize that the sprint goal and plan isn’t adding value to the product. In Scrum, only the Product Owner has the authority to cancel the Sprint, although he or she may do so under influence from the stakeholders, the Development Team, or the Scrum Master.

“Sprint cancellations are often traumatic to the Scrum Team, and are very uncommon.” — The Scrum Guide.

Sprint cancellations, might occur if the company changes direction or if market or technology conditions change. In general, a Sprint should be cancelled if it no longer makes sense given the circumstances. But, due to the short duration of Sprints, cancellation rarely makes sense. When a Sprint is cancelled, product backlog is updated with latest priorities any completed and “Done” Product Backlog items are reviewed. If part of the work is potentially releasable, the Product Owner typically accepts it. All incomplete Product Backlog Items are re-estimated and put back on the Product Backlog. The work done on them depreciates quickly and must be frequently re-estimated.

A Sprint may be cancelled in the event that an organisation has to adapt to an abrupt situation. In a way it enhances agility. It generally occurs when there is something more valuable or urgent that requires the team’s commitment and focus. A Sprint doesn’t get cancelled if the Scrum Team discovers it cannot meet it. Calling for cancellations often, reveals however that focus and commitment is lacking. Perhaps even the Sprint timebox is too long for the team to timely adapt to the changing conditions in the market. It could even reveal a lack of vision, or that the Product Owner’s vision for a Sprint isn’t respected by his or hers management.

Valid Reasons the PO Might Cancel A Sprint:

  1. A better technical solution is found that makes the current Sprint’s activity throw-away work.
  2. A major technology change occurs.
  3. Fundamental and urgent external changes invalidate the Sprint Goal or the Product Goal
  4. Company’s vision is changed
  5. Product strategy is changed
  6. Company’s business strategy is changed
  7. Market conditions are changed
  8. Customer needs are changed
  9. Product owner realize the value of the identified goal is obsolete
  10. Another poor reason to cancel a Sprint is when a Sprint Goal is already achieved early and there is still time remaining.

When Product Owner cancel Sprint, all the work done until that moment is evaluated and remaining work items are pushed to product backlog for further analysis. The time, efforts and at times work done might be considered waste and Product Owner takes the accountability of any such business impacts. 

When a sprint is cancelled, It is biggest challenge for Scrum Master to handle to situation. When a sprint is cancelled team morale is likely to drop off significantly. Team members are likely to have a negative reaction to the PO and the product. Its where Scrum Master communication skills comes to play.

Most teams are unlikely to be able to start a new sprint immediately. Instead opting to maintain a sprint heartbeat consistent with what they are used to.

If you came across similar situations , please share your experience in the comments section.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2022 in Technical, Work Place

 

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Re-onboarding new parent employees is vital to organisation’s growth


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Returning from maternity or parental leave can be an incredibly stressful time for your employee, so you need to help make the transition as easy as possible for them. They have probably got a lot of mixed emotions about coming back, and it is likely that this will be the first time they have been away from their child for any extended period of time.

While they might be excited about returning to work, they will probably also be a little nervous. A lot of things can change in a business over six-months to a year, and this article aims to provides some tips to help with their return.


Prioritising new parents in your workplace is a form of equity. Any organisation that commits to that value should dedicate resources to bringing parents up to speed when rejoining the workforce.

Most companies fall somewhere in between, but there are a variety of things you can do in addition to your policy to make new and even experienced mothers feel comfortable and welcome them back after their maternity leave or leave of absence

Returning to work after a lengthy absence on maternity leave can be a daunting experience, so the employer should take steps to ensure that the employee’s reintroduction is as smooth as possible. Every Employer has to ensure an employee’s smooth reintroduction to the workplace after maternity leave.

Now the big question is, How can we achieve that smooth reintroduction. ? How can employers manage employees returning from maternity leave to make sure they feel fully welcomed back to work ?

Here are some suggestions to support an employee returning from maternity leave.

  • Remember that maintaining contact with an employee on maternity leave can help them to stay in touch with the workplace and ease their return to work.
  • Check that you have notified the employee of the date that their maternity leave will end and consider sending them a courtesy letter to remind them of their expected date of return from maternity leave.
  • Send out a Welcome back letter and do onboarding and take feedback after a week.
  • Make sure that the employee’s workstation is ready for their return from maternity leave and that they have the materials necessary to do their job.
  • Make the time for a coffee with your returning employees, preferably OUT of the office. Maybe invite the broader team to say hello. Allow them to share their experiences as new parents and ask them to show you baby photos!
  • Encourage mental well-being and Allow flexible working options.
  • Bear in mind that returning to work after a long period of absence on maternity leave can be a daunting experience for an employee.
  • AVOID inviting your returning employees to large meetings for the first two weeks until they’ve had a chance to settle back in. During that time they would have gained more context and could confidently attend and actively participate.
  • Consider what changes need to be made to the employee’s workload if they are returning to work from maternity leave on reduced hours and what arrangements need to be made if they are going to be working with a jobshare partner.
  • Arrange meetings to update the employee and discuss any training needs or necessary support for them to get back up to speed with the job. Ensure that an employee who has returned to work from maternity leave is not treated less favourably because they have been out of the workplace for some time.
  • Carry out a risk assessment if an employee has returned to work from maternity leave within six months of the birth or is still breastfeeding.
  • Provide suitable facilities for a breastfeeding employee to rest, and remember that it is good practice to provide a clean, private room, access to a fridge and time off to express milk.
  • Ensuring that the logistics are in place for the employee to begin work on their return, for example that their workstation is ready and that they have the appropriate systems access and passwords.

Showing empathy and understanding during this difficult time will make a big impact. If the pandemic taught us anything, I believe it was to find compassion for each other’s full lives — at work or at home, which are now not as separated as they once were.


If you are a manager and have read so far- kudos to you. All that’s left now is to put the wheels in motion and change the statistics
If you are a parent who’s reading this and are finding it relatable- share this around. You too can change the statistics.

If you want your business to be more human, you have to invest in your humans.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 

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All you need to know about IM1 Integration


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the convergence of several trends in the health care industry. In UK leading health systems view digital transformation as a way to become more consumer-friendly while simultaneously changing their operations, culture, and use of technology.

Health systems consider digital capabilities a path to fundamentally transform their relationship with consumers. Digital technologies have the potential to transform people’s health care and their experiences in consuming various PFS services – the biggest benefits being streamlining and efficiency.

The healthcare industry is both large and very tightly regulated to protect healthcare data. The result is that getting healthcare tools, applications approved for NHS systems integration means jumping through many hoops. In 2021 getting any new Healthcare app or service approved by the NHS is complicated. Firstly, because patient data must be protected, and secondly because there are so many people and services involved in the NHS that it can’t move as quickly it wants. The situation is further confused because responsibilities for the use of digital technology in the NHS is split between NHS England, NHS Digital, the Department of Health and Social Care, as well as others.

What the IM1 Pairing Integration is?

The IM1 Pairing Integration (IM1) is a technical tool and process that allows digital suppliers to directly talk to GP clinical systems (supplied by EMIS, Vision, TPP), both reading data from the systems and putting data into the systems. 

In simple terms it is a process that allows suppliers to integrate their system with any principal clinical system through an interface mechanism. It supports system standards and interoperability within local organisations and across local health and social care communities. You can find more information about each of the IM1 interfaces by downloading a copy of the interface mechanism fact sheet.

IM1 pairing standards can help integration with NHS Patient Facing Services. It also is a technical tool and process that allows digital suppliers to directly talk to GP clinical systems, both reading data from the systems and putting data into the systems.

NHS provides APIs to access various data resources, including:

  • Data held in GP systems
  • Data held in the Spine

The main challenge for app developers remains the minefield of standards and compliance that needs to be navigated for a new app to be successfully deployed .

Any consuming supplier can apply to ‘pair’ their service with any provider supplier system, but there are a number of prerequisites set out by NHS Digital that they must meet in order to be deemed compatible.

Following API standards support the integration of your systems with any principal clinical GP system using IM1. The API standards enable your system to access GP practice systems to perform following actions:

  • read patient information
  • extract information in bulk
  • enter data into your system

Start the IM1 Integration Journey:

After working with different Healthcare service provides on various roles as Quality Control Manager, Delivery Manager, Scrum Master and Operations Lead in last 15 years, I gained good Healthcare domain knowledge and also gained understanding and knowledge on IM1 Integration process and the steps involved in total implementation journey.

From my personal experience, the process is very robust, and for that reason can be incredibly frustrating and demotivating for many teams.. Adding in the complexity of different requirements from the separate clinical systems providers (EMIS, Tpp, Vision etc) , it can be a very demanding process. 

The process for integrating with IM1 is pretty well documented by NHS team which you can find on their official website. Any consuming supplier can apply to ‘pair’ their service with any provider supplier system, but there are a number of prerequisites set out by NHS Digital that they must meet in order to be deemed compatible.

The IM1 Integration starts with IM1 prerequisites form. Next step is mapping out what you’re trying to achieve, which is then transposed over to a SCAL (Supplier Conformance Assessment List). To establish clinical safety prerequisites are in place and confirmation that you can commit to information governance prerequisites in order to progress the onboarding process. 

Once your product has been deemed compatible, you’ll be asked to complete a Model Interface Licence with each of the provider suppliers, giving you access to a test environment using the unique provider supplier guidance.

The SCAL is used as the basis to communicate with NHS Digital, and outlines your product, with details of clinical and information governance (IG) use cases. NHS Digital then assesses whether your product is compatible with the IM1 API, and if so you are given access to an unsupported test environment to begin development. 

After development has completed in the unsupported test environment, you are given access to the supported environment, where you are able to agree the assurance approach with the clinical system providers before proceeding to the assurance stage.

Each clinical system provider has their own requirements for assurance, with differing levels of test cases and auditing requirements. Upon agreeing a date with each provider, we booked in for witness testing and presented the required test cases and information to each separately. 

From that point, the provider signs off assurance from their perspective, then NHS Digital does assurance on their end which involves differing levels of sign off in relation to information governance and clinical safety.

Once NHS Digital has signed off the assurance, a recommendation to connect notice is sent across to the clinical system provider and arrangements are made to move across to the live environment.

Integration pairings

In order to join the list of assured suppliers, your product will need to ‘pair’ with one of the following specific APIs for each GP practice system supplier:

  • Patient API: this API allows patients or an authorised representative to book, request, view, amend and cancel appointments or repeat prescriptions, and allows patients to communicate with GP practices directly.
    • view available appointments
    • book an appointment
    • amend or cancel an appointment
    • view their repeat medication
    • request a repeat prescription
    • amend or cancel a prescription request
    • view their medical record
    • communicate with the GP practice
  • Transaction API: with the patient and GP practice system’s permission, this API gives medical professionals access to a whole host of real-time information, ranging from retrieving attachments from a patient’s medical records to creating a new consultation record.
    • search for a patient
    • retrieve and update patient demographics
    • retrieve a full patient medical record
    • file data to a patient record
    • retrieve a patient consultation record
    • create a new patient consultation record
    • add a document or attachment to a consultation record
    • retrieve documents from a patient Record
    • file documents into a patient record
    • retrieve an attachment from the patient’s medical record.
    • retrieve a list of all the attachments residing in the patient’s medical record
    • retrieve a list of patients whose registration details have changed
    • retrieve the list of active users from a given organisation
    • delete data from a patient’s record
    • retrieve appointment slots
    • access diary information
    • query details of free slots in the appointment book
    • extract CSV files
  • Bulk API: once GP practice consent has been obtained, this API empowers your application to gain daily, weekly or monthly extracts of bulk data feeds of patient or clinical system user data. The mechanisms for delivery of data will vary by system supplier.
  • Partner API: similar to the Transaction API, this API offers more up to date information about patients that may have changed since the last query was made e.g. age, sex or the status of an appointment. This API is only applicable with the EMIS Web GP module and to practices based within England. Note that the EMIS Community module is not available currently via IM1. 
    • a single patient demographic and medical record
    • a list of patients – for example, for finding or searching for patients
    • a list of patients with appointments booked
    • a list of patients to update, and age or sex register output
    • information about the organisation or users
    • a list of patient registration details for patients that have changed since the last query
    • appointment and appointment configuration information
    • retrieval of documents from a patient record
    • filing of documents into a patient record
    • retrieval of an attachment from a patient’s medical record
    • retrieval of a list of all the attachments in a patient’s medical record
    • booking and cancellation of appointments
    • setting an appointment’s status
    • viewing a patient’s arrived and sent-in status

All the above information is gathered from various reliable Healthcare sites and from the my experience as a Agile Delivery Manager by working for various clients.

There are many challenges to building a software solution for the healthcare sector. Any application requiring NHS integration must meet strict NHS digital technical healthcare standards to gain compliance and approval. Any error in assuring the product during the onboarding process can result in costly delays.

Before beginning the integration process, you will need to formulate a realistic project plan and understand if this is something your customers are happy to pay for. This process can take several months to a year or more, so the investment is high and the thresholds for sign-off are tough, understandably so. Make sure your project team is heavy in good communicators, technical knowledge (ideally with health expertise), and those who are adaptable and can pivot if needed.

I hope you have found the information helpful for starting your journey with the IM1 framework. Good luck 🍀

Some Important links and references:

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/api-platform

https://developer.nhs.uk/apis/gpconnect-0-5-3/index.html

https://6b.digital/insights/what-is-nhs-im1-interface-mechanism

https://gpitbjss.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DCSDCS/overview?homepageId=11995152703

https://digital.nhs.uk/developer/api-catalogue/interface-mechanism-1-standards

https://digital.nhs.uk/services/gp-it-futures-systems/im1-pairing-integration#process

https://github.com/NHSDigital/nhs-app-sample-web-integration

https://github.com/NHSDigital/nhs-app-api

If you wanna share your experiences, you can find me online in all your favorite places  LinkedIn and Facebook. Shoot me a DM, a tweet, a comment, or whatever works best for you. I’ll be the one trying to figure out how to read books and get better at playing ping pong at the same time.

 
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Posted by on December 16, 2021 in Technical, Work Place

 

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Tips to Handle Employee Turnover Tsunami


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

A new trend is emerging in the pandemic-era workplace. People are rethinking their priorities and beginning to make new career moves. Several factors seem to be playing into this reshuffling, including work-life balance concerns and the pursuit of passion projects that people were able to consider during the past year. Other people are focusing on their families, taking time off after a year of strenuous work, or starting their own companies.

The Great Attrition is happening, it’s widespread and likely to persist—if not accelerate—and many companies don’t understand what’s really going on, despite their best efforts. These companies are making ineffective moves based on faulty assumptions.

As per recent surveys, a record number of employees are quitting or thinking about doing so. Organizations that take the time to learn why—and act thoughtfully—will have an edge in attracting and retaining talent. The top three factors employees cited as reasons for quitting were that they didn’t feel valued by their organizations (54 percent) or their managers (52 percent) or because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (51 percent). 

More than 19 million US workers—and counting—have quit their jobs since April 2021, a record pace disrupting businesses everywhere. Companies are struggling to address the problem, and many will continue to struggle for one simple reason: they don’t really understand why their employees are leaving in the first place. Rather than take the time to investigate the true causes of attrition, many companies are jumping to well-intentioned quick fixes that fall flat: for example, they’re bumping up pay or financial perks, like offering “thank you” bonuses without making any effort to strengthen the relational ties people have with their colleagues and their employers. The result? Rather than sensing appreciation, employees sense a transaction. This transactional relationship reminds them that their real needs aren’t being met.

If the past 20 months have taught us anything, it’s that employees crave investment in the human aspects of work. Employees are tired, and many are grieving. They want a renewed and revised sense of purpose in their work. They want social and interpersonal connections with their colleagues and managers. They want to feel a sense of shared identity. Yes, they want pay, benefits, and perks, but more than that they want to feel valued by their organizations and managers. They want meaningful—though not necessarily in-person—interactions, not just transactions.

By not understanding what their employees are running from, and what they might gravitate to, company leaders are putting their very businesses at risk. Moreover, because many employers are handling the situation similarly—failing to invest in a more fulfilling employee experience and failing to meet new demands for autonomy and flexibility at work—some employees are deliberately choosing to withdraw entirely from traditional forms of full-time employment.

It doesn’t have to be this way. If companies make a concerted effort to better understand why employees are leaving and take meaningful action to retain them, the Great Attrition could become the Great Attraction. By seizing this unique moment, companies could gain an edge in the race to attract, develop, and retain the talent they need to create a thriving post-pandemic organization.

But this won’t be easy, because it requires companies and their leaders to truly understand their employees. It requires leaders to develop a much deeper empathy for what employees are going through and to pair that empathy with the compassion—and determination—to act and change. Only then can employers properly reexamine the wants and needs of their employees—together with those employees—and begin to provide the flexibility, connectivity, and sense of unity and purpose that people crave.

As these shifts begin to take place in your company, know that internal communications will become more important as well. This starts with inspirational leaders communicating core values and the mission of the company, as well as culture-building among team members. Use this time of reshuffling to shore up your communications infrastructure, brand values, and company culture, and you’ll build the new team that will take you successfully into the years ahead.

There will always be employees who want to leave your business. They will find jobs they’re more interested in, change career paths, decide to become a stay-at-home parent, or maybe start their own business. Employee turnover can’t be completely eliminated. But, you can reduce it by providing a workplace where employees want to stay.

With that in mind, here are a few tips on how you can slow down the revolving door at your company. Some may be familiar, some may be new to you, but all should help you inspire long-term loyalty from your best employees.

We Don't Actually Have to Retain All of Our Employees! - Fistful of Talent

Making Remote Workers Happy

Do everything possible to make remote workers successful and happy. This includes those who are going to remain in their home office five days a week, as well as those who will be allocating some of their time in the corporate office and some of their time at home (a.k.a. hybrid workers). “Successful” means equipping them with the technologies and tools they need to be productive, efficient and organized. And “happy” means paying attention to their wellbeing and protecting them from micromanagers.

Hire the right people

The best way to ensure employees don’t leave you is to make sure you are hiring the right employees to begin with. Define the role clearly—both to yourself and to the candidates. And then be absolutely sure the candidate is a fit not only for it, but for your company culture.

Fire people who don’t fit

As the old saying goes, “a stitch in time, saves nine.” The same goes for cutting employees loose when necessary. Sometimes even when you follow the advice above, you get an employee who — no matter what you try to do — just doesn’t fit. And, no matter how effective they might be at their actual work, an employee who is a bad fit is bad for your culture, and that creates “culture debt.” They will do more damage than good by poisoning the well of your company. Cut them loose.

Employee-Centric Culture

Focus on practical and meaningful ways to build an employee-centric culture. Compensation is always going to matter, but it has never been the number one thing that most employees focus on when it comes to joining an organization or staying in one. Organizations that establish and evolve a culture that is characterized by transparency, inclusion, respect, support, and empathy are much better positioned to recruit and retain vs. those that might offer higher salaries, but only pay lip service to these values and principles.

Keep compensation and benefits current

Be sure that you are paying employees the fair going wage for their work (or better) and offer them competitive benefits, or — really — who can blame them for ditching you? This might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how few companies offer raises that keep up with an employee’s development and actual rising worth.

Pay attention to engagement

This one sounds obvious, but for too many leaders interest in engagement is limited to the results of engagement surveys. It’s not enough simply to run an engagement survey once a year. You need to save most of your energy to take action based on the results and you need to work to build a culture of engagement in your company all year long.

Retention and Exit Surveys

Make retention surveys and exit interviews a top priority — and if this means spending more money on staff, tools or both, then make it happen. Organizations that assume what their workforce is feeling are often shocked to discover that their beliefs are rooted in wishful thinking instead of reliable data.

Prioritize employee happiness

Happiness may sound a bit soft and squishy to many execs, but the numbers behind it are anything but. Employee happiness is a key indicator of job satisfaction, absenteeism, and alignment with values–just for starters. Investing in the happiness of your employees will pay dividends in engagement, productivity, and yes, retention.

Make opportunities for development and growth

Employees place HUGE value on opportunities for growth. In fact, a Cornerstone survey drew a direct connection between lack of development opportunity and high turnover intentions. If you aren’t developing your employees then you aren’t investing in them. And if you aren’t investing in them, why should they stay with you?

Encourage generosity and gratitude

Encourage pro-social behavior in your employees. When they are given the opportunity to connect with one another through acts of connection and appreciation, employees will be healthier, happier, and less likely to fly the coop. And by encouraging them to be on the lookout for good behaviors to commend, you give people a sense of ownership of the company.

Recognize and reward employees

Show your employees they are valued and appreciated by offering them real-time recognition that celebrates their successes and their efforts. Make it specific, social, and supported by tangible reward, and you, too, will be rewarded—with their loyalty.

Offer flexibility

Today’s employees crave a flexible life/work balance. That impacts retention directly. In fact, a Boston College Center for Work & Family study found that 76% of managers and 80% of employees indicated that flexible work arrangements had positive effects on retention. And more and more companies know it.  That means, if you’re not offering employees flexibility around work hours and locations, they might easily leave you for someone who will.

Clean up performance reviews

Our Workforce MoodTracker survey painted a frankly dismal picture of how employees feel about performance reviews. Only 49 percent of them find reviews to be accurate, and only 47 percent find them to be motivating. Performance reviews offer a prime opportunity for a big win to increase trust and fortify your relationship with employees. Improve performance management by overhauling reviews, and watching employee trust and satisfaction grow.

Provide an inclusive vision

One key factor in employee engagement and happiness, according to experts, is to provide them with a sense of purpose and meaning in their work. Offer employees a strong vision and goals for their work and increase their sense of belonging and loyalty to your organization.

Demonstrate and cultivate respect

Finally, don’t discount respect when it comes to creating a magnetic culture. In fact, in one study, respect in the workplace was revealed to be a key factor involuntary turnover. Find ways to cultivate and nurture respect in your workplace and it will pay off in higher retention.

Use these tips to help build a culture in your organization that will keep your turnover rates low, and your best employees on board and productive for years to come.

Sources: McKinsey, Forbes, Workhuman, HBU

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this or any other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share them with your family, friends, and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 
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Posted by on October 31, 2021 in Work Place

 

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Work Making You Anxious? Thinking Of Quitting?


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

We all join jobs to earn a good salary which is required for good living. But the pace we are working and living today causes stress. We all know our capability but when the workplace expects to deliver beyond our capability then stress at work occurs. Stress affects a lot of people, and can influence your health. And also we come across colleagues with Anxiety and Depression in team.

Stress and anxiety may seem similar, but they’re not the same. The difference? Stress is a response to daily pressures or a threatening situation, while anxiety is a reaction to the stress. Anxiety, which has no clear cause, tends to last longer and be more difficult to treat. Anxiety can make you feel like a failure and it may make you feel stupid and feel stressed out.

Are you alone getting stressed out in the workplaceHave you ever checked with your friends, how they are feeling in their job? Ask any of your friends, you will get the common answer that “We are all stressed at work”?

Whoever is working, they are feeling the pressure of work-related stress, irrespective of age, experience, gender, and position. Only the level of stress varies from person to person. It’s impossible to get a completely stress-free work environment today.

In today’s work environment, office politics is very common. People are pulling each other’s legs to show-off and make them significant. Frictions happen between employees and it never goes away.

You would have heard that “there is no married relationship without some fights”. In the same way, “there can be no office without politics”.

In earlier days once we leave the office and go home, work did not follow us. But now we have an option to be fully connected to our work, 24 hours a day. It’s your choice to allow it or not.

People who struggle with anxiety often find themselves struggling with low self-esteem. They may have poor confidence in themselves or think they are worthless.Feeling worthless often involves a sense of hopelessness and insignificance. Such feelings are often a common symptom of depression, but can also arise due to things such as low self-esteem, neglect, abuse, trauma, or difficult situations that pose a threat to a person’s sense of self.

A small amount of anxiety helps your body to perform at its best.  An adrenaline kick starts you every morning and keeps you alert throughout the day. However, too much of this stress hormone can exhaust you. Everybody has bad days at work. But if you dread waking up every Monday through Friday, or you regularly find yourself sitting at your desk on the verge of tears, you probably have a more serious problem on your hands. Feeling worthless can create significant distress and make it difficult to function normally in daily life.

Workplace issues does not stay at work. It creeps into every part of a persons life and can change their whole perception of themselves. It can destroy the self worth of even the most confident people – especially if the workplace does not have the right support systems.

1. Your Skills Are Being Underutilized. Management doesn’t acknowledge that you have more to offer than what you’ve been contributing for a significant amount of time. Perhaps you’ve been passed over for promotion – or your repeated attempts to take on more challenging assignments have failed.

Just be cautious – you should still perform to the best of your ability so that you will have those all-important references for the future.

2. You’re Not Following Your Passion. If you’re not doing what you love, you will never tap your true potential. It will just continue to be “a job,” and eventually each day will seem more of a grind. If you’ve tried re-inventing yourself at the company with a lateral move – or changing your job description to no avail – then it’s time to go back to the roots of what you love. First, however, brush up on your skills to ensure that they are current and marketable.

3. The Boss Keeps Behaving Badly. If you’ve tried everything under the sun to “Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant” boss or co-worker; talked to your boss; your boss’s boss; Human Resources; and your work life is simply unbearable, then it’s time to visit your favorite job board. Just make sure you’re not going from the frying pan into the fire. Through job interviews and other sources, become a sleuth: try to determine how your prospective new boss and employer operates, the culture and management style.

4. The Company is Tanking. The firm has managed to stay afloat during several downsizings, management changes and reorganizations. But if the company consolidates anymore, they could collapse. Recently you heard another department is closing or about another mass exodus. There’s no need to go down with this ship. Put on your life preserver and get in the water.

5. You’re Not Being Fairly Compensated. Downsizing has moved your team into double time, but certainly no where near double compensation. You’ve been made to feel lucky to receive a paycheck. The company might even be performing well, but that is not reflected in your salary or other rewards. You can’t even get an evaluation or your evaluation is not consistent with your true work performance. Perhaps clients have given you excellent feedback, but that is not reflected in your compensation. It may be time to think green (as in more money) or make like a tree and…article continues after advertisement

6. Your Values and the Company’s Are a Mismatch. You feel that there are ethical or moral differences in how the company and you believe the firm should operate; cultural differences; work ethic clashes, and so on. Perhaps its latest product is bad for the environment for example, and you are an avid environmentalist. Whatever the issue, you’re morally misaligned with your employer, and it’s an uncomfortable workplace setting.

7. You Aren’t Being Heard. You can’t seem to: get time with the “powers that be”; get approvals; or get acknowledgment for great work; and over time, projects are no longer coming your way. There may be a changing of the guard at the top; you’re being edged out of projects; or the entire position seems at risk for political or other reasons. Essentially you are being ignored out of a job.

8. The Job is Making You Sick. Instead of jumping out of bed first thing raring to go to work, you feel immobile. You think of ten reasons why you should call in sick because you are sick. Stress, fear or lack of enthusiasm can drain your energy and hurt your performance, creating a lose-lose proposition. When work starts affecting your health…physical, mental, or both, consider taking time off. While you conduct your job search, immediately find healthy ways to reduce stress levels.

9. You’re Surrounded by Egregious Behavior. If you’re the victim of bullying, sexual harassment or other egregious behavior, you should certainly keep an eye out for other positions, regardless of what corrective measures you’re taking. Always consult an employment attorney on such issues. But remember that you should never feel uncomfortable in a job, and that may occur in the long run even if you “win the current battle.” Health does comes first.

10. You Feel You Have More to Contribute Elsewhere. You are in a personal growth mode while your position is stagnant. You’ve been thinking in directions that seem miles apart from the work you’re currently doing. You spend your time imagining what your life would be like “if only.” When you know you have more to offer the world, don’t second-guess yourself – get ready for change.

If you’re facing one or more of these red flags, make sure you’re prepared. Know how to leave gracefully and without burning your bridges. You don’t want to be exposed to unflattering tweets or poor references in this world of instant communication.

“You don’t need anyone’s affection or approval in order to be good enough. When someone rejects or abandons or judges you, it isn’t actually about you. It’s about them and their own insecurities, limitations, and needs, and you don’t have to internalize that. Your worth isn’t contingent upon other people’s acceptance of you—it’s something inherent.” ~Danielle Koepke

If you need a change but feel stuck and are unsure of what to do, you’re not alone. The fear of letting go of a steady paycheck, a predictable routine, and the people and surroundings you have grown accustomed to—warts and all—can be a paralyzing feeling.

The truth is that there will never be an ideal time to say goodbye to your old job and start over. It is almost impossible to create the perfect conditions you think you need in order to start reaching for your career and personal goals. Here’s an analogy: If you believe that every light at every intersection along your journey must be green before you can set out, you’ll be stuck at home forever. The lights are never all green at the same time. That’s just the way life is. But if you venture out to the first intersection and then to the next and then the next, you’ll eventually get to your destination.

Tips Before You Decide to Quit

  • Before you make a decision to quit your job, make sure that you have actually identified the real problem at work.
  • Ask yourself what goals quitting your job will help you achieve. Will the decision to quit bring you closer to your goals?
  • Don’t overestimate or underestimate your capabilities.
  • Give yourself time to think through your decision to quit your job.
  • Make lists. Think of 10 things you can do instead of quitting your job. Then ask yourself if any of those alternatives would be better suited to your current financial or emotional situation.
  • Use mind maps, pens, papers, post-it notes, and file cards to explore your options. Lay the alternatives out on a big table. Move them around. Organize them according to importance.
  • Give yourself credit for making the best decision you can with the information that is available to you.

There is nothing wrong with the way you feel. Judging our emotions is like running into the rainstorm with anger and demanding the sun come out—in other words, a total waste of energy. Instead, use this time wisely. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, even if it seems far away. Often, it is much closer than you think. Use these reminders and practical ways to shift perspective to create some much-needed breathing room.

“Dreams can come true, but there is a secret. They’re realized through the magic of persistence, determination, commitment, passion, practice, focus and hard work. They happen a step at a time, manifested over years, not weeks.” – Elbert Hubbard

Be kind to yourself. Minimize the chatter of the inner critic. Unplug from the negativity and chaos of the world and make small steps in the right direction. As you do, celebrate tiny progress along the way while remembering you are worthy and you have plenty of proof to show yourself that.

As time passes, you’ll wake up and back in a thriving state. You’ll wonder what took you so long to get over this feeling and be equipped with a new perspective and empathy.

CC: @Lynn Taylor

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 

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Great Teams are made of Great Characteristics


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Over the years, as teams have grown more diverse, dispersed, digital, and dynamic, collaboration has become more complex. But though teams face new challenges, their success still depends on a core set of fundamentals. 

All team dynamics are different. Teams depend on the personalities of the members, as well as the leadership style of managers. However, the ingredients for what makes a successful team are similar across the board. Having mutual respect, common and aligned goals, open communication, and patience can all help make for a successful team.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”… Aristotle

Much of the work done in many organizations, is done collaboratively by teams. The team is the molecular unit where real production happens, where innovative ideas are conceived and tested, and where employees experience most of their work. But it’s also where interpersonal issues, ill-suited skill sets, and unclear group goals can hinder productivity and cause friction.

To have a great team, there is no surefire recipe for success. A combination of solid leadership, communication, and access to good resources contribute to productive collaboration, but it all comes down to having people who understand each other and work well together. Not every team needs that one superstar player to excel. Having the right mix of trust, ambition, and encouragement among your team members is crucial.

A good team is the foundation for any high-performing business. Superficially, a thriving team looks very much like any other. Here are characteristics to create a great team:

Communication. Arguably the most important component of the group. Effective communication is central to every facet of an organisation. A thriving team has open and honest discussions, sharing their thoughts, ideas and opinions. They engender a meritocracy, ensuring no-one is above anyone else and allowing everyone to feel as though they can contribute freely. Creating this sort of culture is one of the fundamental foundations of a successful team.

Problems that emerge in groups can often be traced back to issues with communication. Poor communication leads to crossed wires which in turn can lead to inefficiencies in performance and even conflict! Effective communication is imperative.

Trust and Respect. Every thriving team relies on a high degree of trust. When you know that your colleagues are reliable and competent, you can trust them to work independently toward the team goal. Knowing each other’s accomplishments and work experience plays a key role in relationship development, the catalyst for a strong team. Before a new team begins work on a project, have them meet for an extended period of time to establish familiarity and to bond. As the teamwork progresses and conflict arises – an unavoidable part of collaboration the team that has respect for each other will be able to move past conflict towards resolution and, ultimately, completion of the goal.

Specialization. Just like a team of athletes working together in different roles to win the game, good teamwork comes from members combining their specialized talents to achieve an end goal or resolution. While one may excel at writing, another may boast superior organizational skills, while another is great at presenting to decision-makers or the art of rhetoric. Figuring out who works best where will come naturally as the team spends time together, but it is important not to suppress individual talents. Allowing each person to make their own unique contributions will lead to less conflict and a superior outcome.

Establishing objective. If the goal of the project, whether small or long-term, isn’t clear from the beginning, many hours will be wasted in frustrating meetings that go nowhere. The very first step should be to describe a clear outline of work and the projected end result. Change is always necessary along the way, and this is where our next tip comes into play. Each individual member is accountable and has responsibility for the team’s overall success.

Let's Work Together

Adaptation. Being flexible is a key trait of any team player. Confronting and resolving crises, rushing to meet deadlines, or picking up the slack for an absent or dismissed colleague are all problems that require adaptation. If someone on a team is unable to change gears and refocus, odds are more issues will arise to further complicate the workflow process.

No finger pointing. When a big mistake is made, it is easy for members of a team to find a scapegoat or individual to lay the blame on. This will only lead to distrust and low morale. It is possible that if one person keeps making critical mistakes, they should no longer be a part of the team, but that is not always the case. The entire team should accept the responsibility for the mistake and move forward to correct it and make sure it does not occur again.

Diversity and Heterogeneity: Thriving teams value diversity. They recognise each individual’s strengths and their preferences to assign tasks, and ultimately to boost performance. Each team member is valued for their unique talents and skills. Collectively, a diverse skill set, way of thinking, experiences, idea generation and problem solving helps to create an effective team and enhance results.

Admission of failure when necessary. This tip can go hand in hand with number five. If the desired outcome of a project has setbacks or is predicted to be a complete disaster, it is better to admit failure and start over rather than giving up or presenting a flawed product. A good team will roll with the punches, recognize that each step is essentially an experiment, and stay positive even when facing serious setbacks.

Patience. Working with others requires the most the most difficult trait of all: patience and tolerance. We all strive for it, but few people are truly unflappable. Patience will keep a team motivated and allay conflict.

Delegation of duties. A capable leader will know one of his most important jobs is to delegate responsibility. One or two team leaders should never be saddled with all the grunt work. Instead the workflow should be spread out evenly and each person given a reasonable amount of projects and adequate access to resources.

A natural-born leader. As noted earlier, a team does not need a superstar to excel. But they do need a self-assured, trustworthy, ambitious leader that keeps morale high and knows when to rally the troops. A good leader will listen constructively, act as a mentor, monitor the quantitative and qualitative results, provide consistent feedback, and maintain a good rapport with all team players.

Competitiveness. A healthy dose of competition is fuel for inspiration. When you are working on a team, all your cards are on the table, so it is easy for people to become jealous or possessive of each other’s attributes or contributions. And this motivates others to work harder and develop even better ideas, because it makes people ask themselves, if he came up with this, can I create something even better?

Manage Conflict.This is an essential component to aiding team growth. It is important that when issues arise they are not avoided or ignored. When managed effectively there are a plethora of benefits to be seen including: the quality of decision-making; improved creativity; increased scope of view; increased participation from team members and more effective communication. It is also important for the team leader to differentiate between a culture of challenge/disagreement and blame/criticism. If the environment empowers team members to challenge one another in a constructive and open manner, then the working relationship within the team is likely to be more creative and productive.

Being in the right team is important for one’s future relevance, because, like in the Aristotle quote, the whole can be more powerful than the sum of its parts. Even if you are a freelancer or a tiny team, you work in collaboration with others – be it the same company or with extended teams of partners. These same ideas apply to those situations as well.

All teams, naturally, are different. All teams, too, will be fluid and evolving structures; people come and go (including team leaders); challenges or priorities change; the dynamic constantly adjusts. To that end, creating a thriving successful is something that, as a leader, is never ‘done’ or completed.

Nevertheless, successful, thriving teams do tend to share a range of characteristics and attributes. To cultivate, share and embed these in your team is now your mission.

Collaboration has become more complex, but success still depends on the fundamentals.

I encourage you to think about this. For further reading, check out Google’s page on these results.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on LinkedIn and Facebook

 

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How to Be an Inclusive Leader


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

The events of the past 17+ months have made it very clear that organizations and leaders within companies are looking to foster a more inclusive work culture. An inclusive culture is one that accepts, values and views as strength the difference we all bring to the table. Achieving Inclusive culture, isn’t something that can happen overnight, it can happen — by resetting workplace dynamics and implementing inclusive practices with the support of Inclusive leadership.

Building a culture of inclusion isn’t like turning on a light switch. Companies increasingly rely on diverse, multidisciplinary teams that combine the collective capabilities of women and men, people of different cultural heritage, and younger and older workers. But simply throwing a mix of people together doesn’t guarantee high performance; it requires inclusive leadership — leadership that assures that all team members feel they are treated respectfully and fairly, are valued and sense that they belong, and are confident and inspired. 

How inclusion affects your teams

Research from BetterUp shows that 1 in 4 employees don’t feel like they belong. That’s across companies, industries, and demographics. Imagine what it is for underrepresented employees.

When people don’t feel included, the cost is deeply personal. It also hurts the team. They don’t show themselves. They might hold back opposing or counterintuitive ideas and not participate in working sessions for fear of falling further out of the group. They don’t feel comfortable that their ideas and comments will be taken with the same openness and seriousness as anyone else’s. They don’t bring their unique personality, background, and interests into conversation.

They don’t take big risks or achieve big results. They don’t get noticed. They censor themselves. The cost to the team? Employees who feel excluded are 25% less productive on future tasks, have a 50% greater risk of turnover, and are less willing to work hard for the team. 

The feeling of being included comes from all of a person’s interactions, not from policy. Our data shows that the direct manager has the biggest impact. They need to be more deliberate, especially for people who feel demographically dissimilar from others in the organization and experience 27% less psychological safety as a result. 

Only 31% of employees believe their leaders are inclusive. That is, less than a third of employees believe their leaders see, value, and respect them as a whole person. Unwanted attrition, especially among employees from underrepresented groups, is an ongoing problem. Those valuable employees leave, and with them, their potential, as well as the insight about the ways the environment, culture, and leadership aren’t working. 

Most leaders and managers don’t set out intending to exclude others. Yet, in the course of pursuing a goal and relying on sometimes outmoded beliefs about leadership, they fail to get the best out of their teams. Worse, they might not even realize it. 

As you work to become a more inclusive leader, keep these experiences in mind. Not every underrepresented person will have these experiences, of course, but they are common and worth remembering as you work on demonstrating more inclusive behaviors. If individual leaders are inclusive their teams will feel safe and trust them and then they will perform better.

What is Inclusive Leadership?

Inclusive leadership is emerging as a unique and critical capability helping organisations adapt to diverse customers, markets, ideas and talent. An inclusive leader sets the tone and models the behaviors for their team to create an environment where each person feels seen, valued, respected, and able to contribute — in short, where they feel they belong and are included. 

Inclusive leadership is about actively creating an environment in which all members of your team feel empowered to contribute and feel safe to be themselves. While the tactics vary depending on the situation, at a high level, it means demonstrating empathy for team members and customers, advocating for colleagues with less institutional power, increasing your cultural and emotional intelligence, and establishing a culture that values (rather than merely accepts) diverse perspectives.

Diversity is all around us but it is up to leaders to decide whether or not to make full use of the diversity in their organisation. Inclusion is about fostering the structure, culture and mindset in an individual and leader, that enables that person to say, I fit in here, I feel valued, and I can be my true self and do not have to hide parts of my character – and because of this I can contribute to this organisation.

Lots of articles about inclusive leadership list personality traits of inclusive leaders, but that’s not the approach I take here. I believe anyone can (and everyone should) demonstrate inclusive behavior, so I focus on actions that will help develop your inclusive leadership style.

Tips for Becoming a More Inclusive Leader

What can you do to improve your inclusive leadership style? Here are a few places to start:

Reflect

I invite you to start paying attention to your own frame of reference.  Consider how your background affects the way you show up at work. Think about the ways your education, race, gender, age, physical or mental health all come into play. How comfortable are you discussing those things at work? How comfortable are your reports doing the same? 

Build trust

Inclusive leaders trust their people. They are totally committed to ‘we’ before ‘me’. If your people have to trust you as a leader you have to trust them to bring their expertise to work. Fostering trust will enable your people to feel safe and willing to contribute their unique perspectives

Slow Down

In a world where “Move fast, break things” is printed on company walls, it can feel radical to ask someone to slow down. But a few minutes of planning and thought can go a long way. Speed and spontaneity are rarely inclusive—they rely on ingrained habits, not empathy and understanding. Build new, more inclusive habits and you’ll still be able to iterate quickly without asking your underrepresented colleagues to bear the burden. 

Relationship Building

Inclusive leadership cannot be transactional. Inclusive leaders invest time in building real relationships with their team members, peers, and other employees, getting to know what matters to them and what they need to be successful. They know that each employee is a whole person who has more to offer than just the task or output they are delivering today. 

Building relationships goes beyond tolerance or accommodation. Inclusive leaders know the importance of not just being seen, but being understood and appreciated, for their whole self. 

Ask Questions

Don’t be afraid to ask questions: How do you pronounce your name? Am I addressing you the way you’d like to be addressed? How am I doing? Is there anything more you’d like to discuss?  You can’t read your employees’ minds, but you can make the space for discussion to happen.   Tip: Consider anonymous options for collecting feedback, paired with public acknowledgment and commitment to improve—remember, your employees don’t always know if they’ll have backup and may not be willing to share right away.)

Recognition

Inclusion is proactive. Inclusive leaders make an effort to recognize people for their work and support their efforts and growth. That means recognizing specifically and personally the unique contributions of others in ways that are motivating and elevate their sense of personal accomplishment. Individualized recognition and support let employees know that the skills and experiences they’ve contributed and the risks they’ve taken are seen and valued.

Encouraging participation

Inclusion is an invitation, extended day after day. Inclusive leaders use a variety of approaches to seek input and feedback directly from people who might not speak up. and check- in on what people need to be successful. They also stay attuned to obstacles that might get in the way of participation — not just in meetings but in the way work gets done — and look for ways to minimize these obstacles. 

Focus on Culture Add, not Culture Fit 

A diverse team is smarter and does better work. So why focus on whether or not someone also likes craft beer and board games? Reframe the conversation so your hiring plans can look for what new and exciting perspective someone brings to your team. As my own manager Drew Gorton puts it, “If you want better results, surround yourself with people who are meaningfully different from you.” 

Empathy

Creating an inclusive space requires having an appreciation for where others are coming from and what they might be experiencing. Inclusive leaders are warm and encouraging in their interactions, embracing compassion in order to foster deeper connections with others. They make an effort to stay connected to the daily pulse of what is going on for employees and whether they are feeling seen, valued, and respected. When a leader prioritizes empathy and models nonjudgmental behavior, it helps everyone feel more able to share their experiences and state of mind.

Fair

Inclusive leaders treat people equally in terms of opportunity and fairly according to ability. We can only do this if we know our people. Curiosity is a trait of the inclusive leader. One way to check how to be fair is by substitution. Substitute one group for another when you are looking at questions for an interview or the language you are using. 

Social connection

Interactions with other people drive our sense of being included. Inclusive leaders encourage people to recognize each other as humans, not just co-workers or adjoining parts of a process. They create opportunities for people to engage with each other — both in and out of work — to deepen their connections and model the importance of maintaining close personal relationships with supportive people in our lives.

Alignment 

Inclusion means being able to do your best work. Inclusive leaders provide shared vision and clarity to guide others. They set their people up for success and create avenues for contributing to the larger outcome. Inclusive leaders also make space for people to find their own meaning and purpose. When employees know what the organization and team are driving toward and what matters most to the organization’s success, they can better determine how best to contribute. 

Inclusion is not just about diversity. It’s about competitive advantage. And it’s a choice.

Your Role as an Inlusive Leader is Creating Cultures of Belonging Where Everyone Can Thrive.

Remember, Actions Matter 

Your actions as a leader matter. Maybe you’ve never had formal leadership training—many of us haven’t!  Whether or not you intended to end up as a manager, a team lead, or an open-source maintainer, you now hold the power to materially improve the lives of the people around you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want this power.  As long as you are in a leadership position, it is yours and you can use it for good. 

As leaders we must remember: our teams are watching our behavior to know what is and is not acceptable. If we turn a blind eye to harassment, harassment will flourish. If we turn a blind eye to microaggressions, microaggressions will flourish.  

On the other hand, if we do a good thing, others will follow our example. If we hold ourselves and others accountable, our team will, too. If we take the time to use the right pronouns, or have an inclusive holiday celebration, our team will know it’s okay to do the same. And that’s a magical thing. 

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1)

 

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Niksen: The Art of Doing Nothing


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Everyone wants to be happy. It’s a fundamental human right. It’s associated with all sorts of benefits. We, as a society, spend millions trying to figure out what the key to personal happiness is. The Dutch people are some of the happiest in the world. Their secret? They are masters of niksen, or the art of doing nothing. Do not already start juding the statement. COntinue reading to get clear picture about Niksen.

When I visited Netherlands in 2019, for the first time I heard word “Niksen” the Dutch concept of doing nothing, and thought, “Ah yes, I know this practice well. I do it everyday.” During Pandemic, I got chance to do more research about “niksen” and other wellbeing cocnepts like hygge and lagom .

Niksen

First there was hygge, the Danish concept being cozy and full of contentment. Pronounced “hoo-gah,” this Danish expression is an attitude towards life that emphasizes finding joy in everyday moments. Rather than drudge through the winter, hygge is about celebrating coziness, warmth and family, as well as practicing mindfulness. This tradition is carried down by generations when family members cuddle up in blankets and warm clothing from head to toe and gather by the fireside and candlelight together to enjoy simple pleasures

Then there was lagom, the Swedish mindset of approaching life with an “everything in moderation” mindset. It means “Not too little. Not too much the right amount, and is a philosophy that aims to balance, in every area and juncture of everyday life. Lagom is the secret that explains a lifestyle based on social awareness, moderation and sustainability. Just right.” This term represents their slower-paced, simple life. In Sweden, they value a healthy work-life balance.  

Now there’s another Northern European trend that’s being embraced as a way to combat our increasingly busy and often stressful lives: niksen. The Dutch concept is as simple as, well, doing nothing.    

Niksen is an increasingly popular Dutch relaxation technique where you relinquish control and just … stop. Niksen is not a form of meditation, nor is it a state of laziness or boredom. It’s not scrolling through social media, or wondering what you’re going to cook for dinner. Rather, to niks is to make a conscious choice. 

What is niksen?

The practice promotes taking conscious time to simply do nothing.

Niksen “literally means to do nothing, to be idle or doing something without any use,“. With niksen, which most closely translates as ‘nothing-ing’ in Dutch, you have to be intentional about doing nothing.Stop doing everything right now. Congratulations, you just did a niksen. It is essentially sanctioned daydreaming.

When most of daily life is consumed by the need to maximize productivity, to make the most of our time, the constant stress of this can be daunting. Hence, taking time to be idle might require some mental adjustment as the results of this cannot be quantified or measured.

Instead, we simply feel lighter, less cluttered mentally, and healthier.

Practicing niksen could be as simple as just hanging around, looking at your surroundings or listening to music — “as long as it’s without purpose,”

Niksen enables us to take a step back from whatever we’re doing to just let everything be as it is without being an active participant in it. Ideally, practicing niksen and allowing your brain to wander “can enhance creativity,” benefits of doing nothing?

Why will making sure you regularly do nothing increase your feelings of happiness? Unproductive time can make us healthier and happier, according to science. When we remain idle with no agenda, we turn on the creativity centers in the brain. People experiencing work stress and burnout at a coaching center in the Netherlands reported decreased feelings of stress and increased happiness when they practiced niksen versus when they didn’t practice it regularly.

“It frees up space we use to ruminate so that all that energy that is utilized to focus on doing something can be freed out. We can get room to be more productive and perhaps do [our work] with a calmer, less judgmental approach.”

It’s not mindfulness; a better definition would be a short period of mindless relaxation. 

Whereas mindfulness is about being present in the moment, niksen is more about carving out time to just be, even letting your mind wander rather than focusing on the details of an action.

Niksen is a time without devices, without a screen, without immediate gratification. You’re just able to be.

Not into meditation or mindfulness? Borrow this technique from the Dutch: doing nothing — but with a purpose. I tried it and it was harder than I thought it would be.

Do not ever feel guilty for doing nothing. Being Busy is often seen as the sign of success and  productivity. Is it possible to be productive all the time? . Absolutely not. Sometimes you want to do something but you feel you don’t have that energy. Then you think that you are lazy or you are not productive. Many  are going through such situations where your energy is low and you want to do some work. The mistake that everyone makes is  to force yourself to do that specific task though you feel that you have low energy to do. The output is more stress and anxiety. 

This practice is perfect for anyone who feels overwhelmed, burnt out, or exhausted, NIKSEN does not tell you to work harder. Instead, it shows you how to take a break from all the busyness while giving you sincere, heartfelt permission to do nothing. For Example

  • AT HOME: Find a comfy nook and sit. No technology or other distractions. 
  • AT WORK: Stare at your computer. Take in the view from your office. Close your eyes.
  • IN PUBLIC: Forget waiting for the bus, enjoy some relaxing niksen time.

I encourage you to loosen your concept of time and productivity and practice this simple exercise. Allowing your brain to rewire from stress by doing nothing is a wellness practice worth implementing. If you are sitting in a cafe, you can indulge in some stress-busting niksen but sipping your coffee and looking out the window. Leave your phone in your pocket, and let your mind wander. It’s not mindfulness; a better definition would be a short period of mindless relaxation. 

If you’re not sure where to begin, “start by staring out a window,“. “You don’t have to stay thinking about what you see, but it can be helpful to have a starting point. Begin by simply looking at a tree and then just let the thoughts go where they will.”

Niksen is just one of many ways you can deal with stress. What matters is that you successfully manage work-related stress and not let it negatively affect your health.

If niksen doesn’t work for you, that’s ok. There’s something out there for everyone, just do what feels right for you!

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1)

 

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Power of your Wasted Efforts


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Probably every person has the same feeling every time they go out into the field, that will they be able to deal with the “fear of rejection”?

We all know that there will always be many more rejections compared to our successes and achievements. However, we grapple with the fear of rejection many times which leads to doubting our own capabilities. In the last 15 years with a career in Quality Assurance, I have acknowledged that along with the fear of rejection.

The journey that I have been making did not started in a high-end car but more like on bicycle. Its a very very special journey from a village kid who is Milk Vendor( person who used to sell MILK by going to each house) in a village to Qulaity Manager in London,  developing teams, implementing effective QA Practices. It is all possible, only by accepting Fear of Rejection and understanding The Law of Wasted Efforts

Do you know that lions only succeed in a quarter of their hunting attempts — which means they fail in 75% of their attempts and succeed in only 25% of them.

Despite this small percentage shared by most predators, they don’t despair in their pursuit and hunting attempts.

The main reason for this is not because of hunger as some might think but it is the understanding of the “Law of Wasted Efforts” that has been instinctively built into animals, a law by which nature is governed.

Half of the eggs of fish are eaten… half of the baby bears die before puberty… most of the world’s rain falls in oceans… and most of the seeds of trees are eaten by birds.

Scientists have found that animals, trees, and other forces of nature are more receptive to the law of “wasted efforts”.

Only humans think that the lack of success in a few attempts is failure… but the truth is that: we only fail when we “stop trying”.

Success is not to have a life free of pitfalls and falls… but success is to walk over your mistakes and go beyond every stage where your efforts were wasted, looking forward to the next stage.

Life can be a rocky road; the challenge is not to let it grind you into dust, but to polish you into brilliant gem.

I learn from my mistakes or failure and move on & the fact is our expectation towards life to be perfect and in a better way and my way is the biggest reason for our unhappiness. So friends we need to understand the law of impermanence of nature & I keep saying for many people that after each sunny day there has to be dark night and night is also good because you are able to get good sleep, rest well when there is a night. If you want to see a full moon to come again it has to pass through no moon right? and if you want to see the rainbow this summer…is it possible? you have to wait for the rain to come + the sun to shine to see the rainbow.

Again friends, in this imperfection of nature there is perfection. Stop taking your failures to your heart and making it so huge and get hurt deeply & mess the whole life. Believe that it is just the cycle which u need to pass through & that’s part of your life. However, get conscious not to take too much time to bounce back & learn how to decide quickly & it is not uncertain situations but an uncertain mind that often leads to failure. So believe in nature and prepare yourself because even failures cannot be permanent.

I agree 100% this feeling `fear of failure or rejection’ would still bother your subconscious mind. Just see around the journey of life, instances like a mother giving birth; the child growing; when the child starts going to school; getting admission to school; when the student working on his final year; employee of his project deliverables; getting into relationship & every instance there exists a fear.

so I want you to be aware consciously & get ready to get absorbed to deal with the fear of failure or rejection.

BTW, get ready there will always be many more rejections compared to our success and achievements. Let’s grapple with this which leads to self-doubt about our own capability and knock this off to get better. I acknowledge whenever I failed or got rejected for my projects, I appreciate the process I focus on learning and continue with never give up attitude and that’s what `Law of Wasted Efforts’ is all about.

I have to share a few exemplary leaders’ examples here:-

  • Apple will be the top brand when it comes to phones and the then CEO Steve Jobs was once a College dropout, fired from his own company & then succeeded in becoming a CEO of Apple again & he’s known as a master of innovation.
  • I’m sure we have grown up in this childhood story, hearing to Thomas Alva Edison story where his teachers told him he’s too stupid to learn anything and he failed thousand times while inventing the lightbulb and he turned out to be a winner of 22 Academy Awards
  • For all our cricket fans – MS Dhoni, one of the greatest cricketers initially played badminton and football, & he took up the job of a train ticket examiner in the Indian railways as he hails from a lower-middle-class family & today Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the captain of Indian Cricket Team and his records are the best among all Indian captains to date and his leadership style has become learning for aspiring leaders.
  • Coming to politics – Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, has faced many odds in his path. He started working at an early age by distributing newspapers after school & he had average grades in his schooling. From there on, Dr. Kalam joined thee Aeronautical Development Establishment of Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as a scientist and went on to head the organization as an Indian scientist and he also became the 11th President of India.

There are 100’s of examples around us and look at all successful people around you from Amitabh Bachchan to Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Walt Disney , Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayan Murthy, Sachin Tendulkar and observe all other successful people around you. They have failed multiple times before becoming successful in whatever profession they are in.

BTW, get ready there will always be many more rejections compared to our success and achievements. Let’s grapple with this which leads to self-doubt about our own capability and knock this off to get better. I acknowledge whenever I failed or got rejected for my projects, I appreciate the process I focus on learning and continue with never give up attitude and that’s what `Law of Wasted Efforts’ is all about.

So I finally understood that whether it’s about surviving in nature or hunting as a predator or playing the game or building an IT giant company, this awareness of wasted efforts made these people sharper, better, richer to ultimately succeed in reaching their goals.

To conclude,

You can halt or take rest momentarily but you cannot say QUIT, because success does not come after a few attempts of failure; you need to keep trying, never give up till you succeed, so learn to grow in your life at each stage and go beyond by understanding the Power of your Wasted Efforts.

Also, let’s agree that all of us are vulnerable to faults, we have our own weaknesses, and failures will happen. Don’t shy away from owning your mistake or failure. When it happens believe that that you are wiser today than you were yesterday as you have enhanced your knowledge in this process.

If there is a phrase that summarizes this world, it will simply be: continue all over again.

The universal success secret mantra for Law of Wasted efforts will simply be `Learn from Failure… Take Action… Don’t Quit… Continue! all over again….. until you Succeed!

Refrences: plyinsight, Prajvitha Knowledge, LinkedIn

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1).

 

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Leadership Starts with Simply Being a GOOD Person


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

It doesn’t matter if you are running a business, managing a team, or teaching a class–leadership skills are important. Some people seem to be born knowing what to do to inspire and lead people, but for most of us it doesn’t come that naturally.

Being good is all about our core VALUES as a person.  Every one of us has a set of core values.  Our values have been built from a young age into adulthood.  From day one, the people that have raised us, our parents, relatives, guardians, and friends, have been IMPRINTING values upon us.  When you were young and impressionable, you were just young and impressionable. 

Not everyone will become a great leader, but everyone can become a better leader.

What makes some people excel as leaders often feels shrouded in mystery. You can read about leadership, research it, and talk about it, yet the interest in leadership alone will not necessarily teach you how to be a good leader.

You will have more information than the average person, but learning effective leadership is lifelong work. It requires experience – and lots of it. Most importantly, it requires observation and a commitment to action.

Remember words like these: “Show respect for your sister; that type of behavior may be okay for your friends, but not you; do your chores, everybody does their role in this family.” Those words instilled the values of respect, strength, and hard work. Take a minute and reflect on words you may remember from your childhood. Now let’s fast forward from your childhood to, if appropriate, parenthood. As a parent, have you ever heard your parents voice come out of you as you talk to your kids?  Most parents have, and it’s cute and scary all at the same time. 

In living and leading a fearless life, values are an integral part of navigating and overcoming fear.  In life, when things are good our values are beneficial and positive. However, when a crisis strikes, tragedy sets in, a roadblock is thrown up, and the value of your values skyrockets. I’ve always felt that you learn more about a person when the chips are down. During challenging times our values can be our bedrock, our lightpost and something that carries us through the challenge. 

It is really interesting to reflect back on the first global crisis I had to lead a company through.  It was September 11th and I was in the middle of a capital raise to keep our company alive.  It was also on the heels of the Internet Bubble bursting.  I was leading a struggling tech company in Silicon Valley that was running out of money and America just got hit by terrorists.  In fact, on September 11th we had investors from New York and Chicago in our offices in California and we became their hosts for over a week as all planes were grounded. 

In the face of adversity, the values that immediately struck were STRENGTH, COURAGE and FAITH.  Just a day earlier the company relied on its own strength, but today the company needed mine.  Everyone was shaken, and I don’t mean professionally.  We were all shaken personally and as Americans we were literally numb. As a company we pulled together for our employees, served our clients, but more importantly served our community, all while we were struggling and running out of cash.  We were courageous in the face of fear and had faith that if we did the right things, good things would happen to us. We made it through September 11thstronger as a company and closer as a family.  And our Fearless Leadership was rewarded with a successful capital raise and the company stayed in business and grew. 

The lessons I learned during that crisis I have been able to apply at other times in my career – during the financial meltdown of 2008-2009 and most recently during the global pandemic we are all experiencing. In all of these instances, I have lived and learned that simply waking up and being a good person is perhaps the biggest part of being a steady and consistent leader during troubled times.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to be a good leader, first and foremost, is an inside job. You must focus on growing as a person, regardless of the leadership title that you hold. You cannot take others where you yourself have not been. So focusing on yourself, regardless of your time or where you are in your career, will have long term benefits for you and the people around you.

Being a Fearless Leader is built on being a good person and living your core values. Values are great in good times, and they are literally the super-glue during the tough times. 

Author: Brendan P. Keegan

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1).

 
 

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Project Management Processes


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

What is Project Management ?

Project management is one of the critical processes of any project. This is due to the fact that project management is the core process that connects all other project activities and processes together. Whether it’s constructing a building, launching an app, or rolling out a marketing campaign, every project requires a series of processes to bring it to fruition.

Each of the project management processes has a specific purpose through the project life cycle and when done right, they guarantee the successful completion of projects.

When it comes to the activities of project management, there are plenty. However, these plenty of project management activities can be categorized into five main processes.

The basic phases in the project management process are:

What are Project Management Processes ?

The key project management processes, which run through all of these phases, are:

Scope Management

The scope refers to all the work required to complete a project which is defined by a work breakdown structure during the planning phase. In simple terms, scope management consists of including all the activities, and clarifying what won’t be done. This is the base for scheduling, budgeting, and task management.

Task Management

This process begins with careful planning. Once you’ve constructed your work breakdown structure, you’ll be able to know every task needed to complete your project. Then you can assign these tasks to your team members. It is important to understand the task dependencies so that you know the order in which they need to be completed.

Resource Management

Consists in effectively identifying, acquiring and allocating resources such as people, capital, equipment and materials to complete tasks and produce deliverables. Once you have defined the project scope you’ll be able to determine the resources that will be needed for each activity. As the project progresses, the use of resources must be controlled.

Schedule Management

The schedule management process can be divided in 3 sub processes: estimating, scheduling and controlling. First you estimate the time for each activity, milestone and deliverable. Then you develop schedules based on your time estimates. Once the execution phase begins, you have to monitor the project schedule.

Risk Management

The risk management process helps you identify what might happen to throw your project off track and then define a response so you’ve got contingency plans in place.

This is usually done on larger projects, rather than smaller. Although even for small teams, a short sync up with the team to help identify potential problems in the plan would be useful to guard against the unexpected and have plans of action in case it does. There are several types of risks, but the most important are those that affect the triple constraint.

Quality Management

During the initiation phase, the stakeholders express their quality requirements for the project deliverables. Based on that, project managers develop a quality policy which defines the quality control procedures that will guarantee quality assurance.

Stakeholder Management

Stakeholders are the soul of a project. By understanding their needs and frequently communicating with them throughout the project life cycle, you’ll be able to meet their requirements.

Cost Management

This process is applied to every stage of the project life cycle. It involves cost estimation, establishing budgets and cost control. Simply put, you begin by estimating the cost associated with each task, and then you create a budget that will cover those expenses. Once the execution phase begins you have to monitor the cost of the project as it progresses.

Issue Management

An risk is a problem that has affected the project. Issue management is how you deal with problems when they turn up on your project and it’s worth working out what this is going to look like for you because something is bound to go wrong.

The process will cover who needs to be notified, how you make decisions about what to do next, and who has the authority to take action.

Change Management

Every project has changes. Sometimes that’s because the objective wasn’t defined particularly well at the outset. Or because the business strategy has changed and the project needs to be updated accordingly. You must create a change management plan, which will include your project’s change management procedures and forms.

Procurement Management

Many projects involve working with suppliers and there is normally a process around how you engage and contract with them so that everyone knows what to expect and what you are getting for your money.

Communications

Yes, communication is a process! You have to identify who needs to get which message when and which method of communication is most appropriate. A communication plan will help you do this.

Pro Tip: If you do nothing else on your project, make sure you develop a communication plan and actually communicate! This is the fastest and most efficient way to stay on top of your project performance.

These are the most common processes, but you can also create in-house bespoke processes to help you deal with the quirks of your organization. The key thing is to make sure you aren’t starting from scratch every time, and that you are introducing standardization into how you manage projects as much as possible.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1).

 
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Posted by on March 10, 2021 in Technical, Work Place

 

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Workplace Happiness Matters


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Happiness at work is heavily surveyed and it is proved that an average human spends over 90,000 hours at work over his/her lifetime. People still figure out how to work on feeling happy or coming in terms with your work. Just like everyone, you may be also thinking that happiness should be the primary goal of having a good work-life.

Most people chase success at work, thinking that will make them happy. The truth is that happiness at work will make you successful. How often do you consider quitting your job and feel that you are not getting paid enough for the dedication and service you offer your organization?

Happiness and satisfaction are subjective concepts – while for some of us monetary benefits can be equated with job satisfaction, some might strive for recognition of their hard-work and lose motivation on failing to achieve so. For some people, having a friendly environment at work is an essential requisite for deriving pleasure. No matter what the standards are, being content with our careers is crucial for maintaining the ‘work-life’ balance.

Being happy is the first step to anything that we want to do successfully. Going to the office, mechanically performing all the duties assigned, and coming home to spend the rest of the day with a drink in hand and the TV in front is an ideal picture of an unhappy life.

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” ~Dalai Lama

How to work toward happiness at work

So now that we know the essence and benefits of happiness at work, how can we foster, support, and build it?

There’s no single, simple answer to this question. However, in developing our course, we have identified four key pillars of happiness at work: Purpose, Engagement, Resilience, and Kindness—or PERK, as in to PERK up your happiness at work, or make happiness your company’s best PERK.

Studies report multiple ways to strengthen each pillar of PERK on personal, social, and structural levels at work—through individual exercises and activities, the development of key social skills, shifts in leadership style, organization-wide initiatives, or changes to company policy. While this field is young and ideas overlap, we offer PERK as a flexible, integrated framework to help guide thinking about how to increase happiness at work.

A happy worker will reach office on time because he respects his punctuality and will perform all the daily tasks because he enjoys doing it. He will work out of love, not out of compulsion.

1. Happiness Multiplies Success

Happiness at work can spread like fire. Employees who feel pleasure in doing their work form a great example to others who are less motivated.

For example, when a team leader is happy with his position and work, he can influence his team with more positivity and maintain great functionality in the group. Happiness in the workplace is directly correlational to increased productivity and better group performance at work.

2. Happiness Builds Positivity

A troubled mind can be the storehouse of negative contemplations. When we work out of compulsion and don’t feel passionate about the contribution we make to the organization’s success, our mind starts wearing.

We become stressed, lose focus, and indulge self-deprecating thoughts like “I have to quit”, “I cannot take it anymore”, “I am not worth it”, etc. On the contrary, a professional who has strong positive feelings about his job will undoubtedly be more enthusiastic and focus on building himself. Rather than focusing on the problems, he would look into ways of solving it.

3. Happiness Reduces Stress

Annie Mckee, an International Leadership advisor, and writer, in one of her publications in the Harvard Business Review, mentioned that when employees are unhappy, their brain starts to disconnect from the positive emotions, and damages their power of creative thinking and reasoning.

She further said in her article on the link between our thoughts, feelings, and actions. If any of these breaks down, it is sure to hamper the others. If we feel happy in the 8 hours that we spend at work, if somehow we can hit the strings of positivity that will keep us uplifted, it can remarkably improve our responses to stress and redirect our focus to the positive aspects of the work-life.

4. Happiness at Work means a Healthy Life

If we allow the work stress and disappointments to enter into our personal space, there is no way that we can get rid of them.

Successful professionals who can optimize their work are less likely to suffer from hypertension, cardiac arrests, substance abuse, and other stress-related disorders.

When we are happy from inside, we get that power to fight diseases and the will to recover and get back on track.

Remaining physically or mentally sick can bring unprecedented hurdles even at work. We lose the energy to give it our best shot, become less focused on work and more focused on the woes, and consequently, kill our productive soul.

Not just that, happiness at work also makes us less prone to work-related stress and burdens.

5. Happiness at Work Increases Likeability

We all like to stay around people who have a positive attitude and look content with themselves. In a happy state of mind, people are more innovative and inspired. They are willing to improve their existing skills and contributes toward creating a fun and creative performance culture at work.

Finding happiness in work helps in building strong interpersonal relationships at work and encourage people to work together for the common welfare of the organization they are serving. It is the backbone for innovation, loyalty, responsibility, and success.

Happy workers can create a pleasant environment at work that is easy for others to cope in, and the more people get into it, the better the team grows.

Dyfed Loesche, an eminent statistical and data journalist, in one of his publications about countries having the best and the worst work-life balance, mentioned that the Netherlands is one of the happiest countries concerning the work-life balance.

His interactive chart (given below) represents the countries that have great work-life balance, starting with the one that has the happiest working population.

Happiness Workshop Ideas for Employees

  1. Workshop Activities To Build Team Success – Access here
  2. The Work Happiness Workshop – Access here
  3. The Employee Stress Management Online Workshop – Access
  4. Happiness In The Workplace Everyday – Access here
  5. Team Building And Effective Communications Workshop – Access here
  6. Happiness At Work In-depth Workshop by Alexander Kjerulf – Access here
  7. Arrive At Happy Workshop – Access here

Finding happiness is as much about the decisions and actions you take as it is about having good things happen to you. And remember, if you don’t enjoy your life, change it! Doing the same thing today will create the same results tomorrow. Try some of these strategies and put yourself in a position for happiness.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1).

 

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Comfort zone is graveyard of our Dreams


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

It has always been said that life begins at the end of your comfort zone, so then why are so many of us afraid of stepping outside of it? I will tell you why, because being inside your comfort zone minimises stress and anxiety. This makes it super duper easy to never push the boundaries, because it’s pretty darn comfy inside your little safety bubble, right?

Coming out of your comfort zone is tough in the beginning, chaotic in the middle, and awesome in the end…because in the end, it shows you a whole new world. We always tend to slide into our comfort zones whenever we find a familiar environment. It is time to get out of our comfort area and challenge ourselves to attain new dimensions in life. What can seem like small marginal gains start to stack together to create a rhythm that is unstoppable.

The comfort zone is a psychological state in which one feels familiar, safe, at ease, and secure. You never change your life until you step out of your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone. I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.

The comfort zone is nothing else but a graveyard for your dreams & ideas.

For some people, the thought of stepping out of their safety bubble is unfathomable, especially if you know for certain that anxious feelings will arise.

Doing everyday normal activities is so familiar that it doesn’t create any apprehension. However, flying solo across the world, jumping out of an airplane, or following your bucket list dream of opening a new business will probably make people a little jittery. Really, why would you want to provoke feeling anxious? Here’s why. Because, every time you do you will grow-each time a little piece of the fear of the unknown is removed and replaced with a little piece of empowerment. And if you continuously do this the size of your fear bubble will get smaller while your comfort bubble gets bigger. With that said, we all need a little extra motivation every now and then to face our fear and step out of our comfort zone bubbles, and these comfort zone quotes will help you do it.

Sometimes it is good to be in uncomfortable situations because it is in finding our way out of such difficulties that we learn valuable lessons. Each time you try something for the first time you will grow-a little piece of the fear of the unknown is removed and replaced with a sense of empowerment. Real change is difficult at the beginning, but gorgeous at the end. Change begins the moment you get the courage and step outside your comfort zone; change begins at the end of your comfort zone

I will guarantee you that the day you step outside your comfort zone by making success your goal, is the day you discover that adversity, risk, and daring will make life sweeter than you ever imagined.

This is the new year the new you. You can pass through another year, coasting on cruise control. Or you can step out of your comfort zone, trying things you have never done before, and make 2021 as the year that you elevate from where you are & soar high. Make it happen!

It is time to rise above NORMAL!

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1).

 

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Patient Management System


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

The advancements in healthcare industry are not just confined to the quality medical care solutions but also to change the delivery system and patient experience as a whole. All the industries have understood the innate potential of automation and the results are quite optimistic. It is a now time for the healthcare industry transformation, in the light of emerging automation solutions in the hospital management system.

In the current age, Time and health are two precious commodities. Patient management can help improve both. It helps in Improving the quality of patient care, making optimal use of resources, ensuring compliance with all statutory requirements and at the same time staying ahead of the competition requires stable IT support.

Patient management is a broad term, with two categories of definitions. One definition refers to a software tool that streamlines processes within a medical practice or hospital, and the other refers to an entire system of care involving both patient and practice. 

Paying attention to patient management can have many benefits for medical practices and hospitals. Speeding up communications and administrative tasks reduces administrative staffing time and allows staff to focus on direct patient care. The amount of time spent on data entry, record keeping, and appointment reminder phone calls is also reduced.

A patient management system often goes beyond just being an electronic health record or electronic medical record (EMR). Government incentives helped expedite the move towards electronic health records, and many practices realized that other software and systems could be beneficial. Patient management software can integrate appointment history, patient information, diagnoses, prescriptions, billing records, and more. It can also help practices and hospitals reduce costs by automating some tasks like appointment scheduling, sending reminders, and billing. 

Functionality and needs differ depending whether or not the medical practice is small and independent or part of a larger medical group. PMS systems work entirely differently within a hospital setting. The software can link practices and medical offices so things like patient records are easy to access on a variety of devices in different settings.

A patient management software system can provide any of the following functions. Not all of the patient management software features listed below are included in any single software application. However, each feature is part of some patient management systems currently available. This comprehensive list can help you understand your practice’s unique requirements and get a head start on the software selection process.

  1. Welcome patients to a practice or hospital and allow people to sign in
  2. Screen identification and print badges for visitors
  3. Complete forms before appointments to decrease patient time spent in the waiting room and administrative time spent inputting data
  4. Keep medical records and allow easy accessibility from a variety of locations including from a mobile device
  5. Schedule appointments and allow patients to see what is available and pick the best time for them
  6. Send confirmations of appointments and place them on an electronic calendar
  7. Send reminders about appointments, hopefully reducing the number of no-shows
  8. Send follow-up health information, advice, and reminders of what physicians said to do to increase patient participation in their own health care
  9. Notify physicians when patients arrive to decrease wait times
  10. Keep records of patient encounters so both physicians and patients can refer to previous conversations and appointments
  11. Monitor and receive data from medical devices and provide alerts both to physicians and patients if medical attention is necessary
  12. Allow emails and conversations between patient and physician
  13. Generate bills and insurance claims
  14. Regardless of the software a medical practice or hospital chooses, it still needs to adhere to some pre defined rules and comply with GDPR

Final Thoughts

Patient management software sets new standards for excellence in patient care. It provides healthcare facilities of all sizes with greater economy, enhanced quality of service, more accuracy and more efficiency. Programs are available to suit a variety of medical practice needs. Now that you know what features to expect, you can start gathering requirements and comparing vendors in the industry. Good luck on your journey to better patient care!

References: DigitalHealthBuzz, Smartsheet, Selecthub and healthcare portals

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin1).

 
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Posted by on October 2, 2020 in Technical, Work Place

 

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Parental guide during Covid-19 lockdown


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

The coronavirus outbreak is affecting people across World in different ways. For parents of school-going kids across the countries, the experience has been overwhelming and exhausting. As a parent I can observe and feel that the Parenting is turning to be harder by uncertainty, stress and economic hardship. Parents and children are living with increased stress, media hype and fear, all challenging our capacity for tolerance and long-term thinking.

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The coronavirus pandemic has left a lot of parents panicking about how on earth to make sure their children keep safe and keep learning during lockdown. As schools are closed in various countries around the world, keeping kids engaged at home has become a major concern now. I also learnt that For many, the economic impact of the crisis increases parenting stress, abuse, and violence against children,”

While everyone is fighting the war against coronavirus, you can turn this into an opportunity to make your children learn new skills. Here are few ways to engage your kids at home during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Do not miss this phase of Life

During this lockdown phase, there are going to be interesting, diverse scenarios taking place in homes at the moment. Don’t get frazzled, because teachers don’t lose it – they are quite calm. And just remember that your children are transitioning as well. We need to use lots of negotiation and give and take. crl5azqxeaagy2r

Every parent is concerned because we’re taking up a new role here, which we’ve never had to do before. But it’s not going to be permanent. There’s no quick fix, and you’re not a failure, because this is brand new to us all. The positive thing is, we’re going to get to know our children more.

Talk to your children

First, explain clearly to children why we are all forced to be indoors and the importance of adhering to this restriction. Once they understand the reasoning, you will be surprised at how much more willing they will be to comply.

Parents should talk openly to children about their behaviour because communication was critical at this time. During this phase parents had all the time in world to get to know their children a little bit more. It was the perfect opportunity to have regular discussions with them.

Set up a Daily routine

91tmCTsTBtL._AC_SX569_It starts with a routine, not only for kids but also for us parents. Creating a schedule with a daily routine can be an effective way to tackle anxiety. This would make the kids feel at ease, safer and more relaxed.

The important thing here is to create a plan with some room for flexibility. Set up a schedule for waking up, eating, and learning activities and fun things to do. This will help you as well as the kids to feel normalcy while also maintaining discipline.

Let them start painting!

You can plan and conduct any painting challenge with innovative painting ideas. Each day, you can make them give painting one hour of their time and simply experiment with whatever idea they get for the day.It can be anything from a fruit, a memory, a place or abstract designs with paint.

Painting is a very natural form of expression and it can be meditative too as it soothes their mind and keeps it calm. So, let you kids go ahead and explore this creative language!

Engage them in doing exercises and practicing yoga

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Exercising improves strength, flexibility, agility, and mobility and most importantly it can help build your kids immunity during this Coronavirus pandemic.

Practice meditation and pranayama to destress your life and relax their soul. This will also inculcate a lot of energy and boost their stamina.

Let them chat to friends

It’s really important for the children to communicate with their friends. Parents can set up Zoom talks, skype calls with their children’s friends. Not every day, but during the week, there should be some way they’re connected with somebody else that’s not you, and not another adult.

Plan virtual fun activities with their peers

Plan fun activities over video call with their peers to give them time to socialise. Making study groups can be a great way to make your kids socialise and will decrease the feeling of isolation.

Create an activity plan with parents of their peers so that they can do some activities together over video calls for example, quizzes, karaoke, singing competitions, story telling, DIY activities .

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Support them to Grow plants at home

This lockdown time can be utilized in growing plants in your garden. Make your kids grow as many plants as they can. Encourage them them in gardening by making them grow tulsi and aloe vera which emit oxygen.

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As the world is deprived of clean air, they will work wonders when they grow into trees in a few decades even if you may not be there to see them. If you grow 5 to 10 oxygen-emitting plants, you will add to the pre-existing resources.

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Give them a push to Make Creative stuff

Engage the kids in creative activities of all kinds. Stock up on craft supplies (instead of toilet paper!). Make paintings, knit a scarf, start a daily sketchbook journal, create a stash of cute pop-up cards, sew a baby quilt, make a scrapbook.

Teach them how to bake cookies and bread and how to make simple dinners such as homemade mac ‘n cheese, vegetable soup, and pasta sauce. Build an awesome cardboard box fort, tree fort, or set up an indoor tent. Redecorate a bedroom.

Try and limit screen time

Lots of parents have contacted us to say they’re worried about children sitting in front of the computer for five hours a day.

Parents will be strongly tempted to stick their kids in front of screens for multiple hours a day, just to get their own work done, but this isn’t healthy, nor is it fair to kids who deserve more of an active role from their parents, especially if they’re missing school. I think it’s reasonable to let them have a half-hour a day . Whatever screen time rules you set should be made clear up front, so that the temptation for kids to ask is eliminated right away. (And if they keep asking, they lose the privilege of watching altogether.)

Let them watch Inspirational movies and educational TV series

There is a long list of TV series that will educate your kids on various topics. The National Geographic documentaries are a way fun way to learn. Let your kid pick the genre of their choice and go watch them online. There are many online learning portals and youtube channels for kids.

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If you have access to a Netflix connection or Amazon Prime, there are a vast number of documentaries and docu-series you can watch on a variety of genres.If you want to watch the top movies, just check out the IMDB top 50 list and check which ones you haven’t watched. If you are lucky, you can find them online or you can always download.

Get their hands deep in experiments

Give your kids some time to focus on fun activities like DIY science experiments, craft, drawing, watching documentaries and educational videos.Try to not be too hard on them (remember, they are having a hard time). Save your interventions for when you really need them! reading-for-meaning

Let them Lose in good books

Book reading is always a best habit. These are certain books that people of all ages can enjoy here are a few engaging books your kid should be able to find interesting .  You can find books online for free to make this Coronavirus lockdown time a fun experience for their lazing around with an engrossing book.

Share the responsibility

We need to jointly plan and give them that sense of responsibility. It’s quite powerful for them to take control of what they’d like to do. And if that’s being in their room drawing, then give them that time, make them exhausted from doing that, because they will get bored very soon.

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And when they want to do other things, that’s where, as a parent, you’ve already got all these resources and ideas ready to go.

Encourage them to Learn a new language

Learning a language is a fun experience but it does need dedication. A language learned will give anyone an edge over others. It will add weight to their profile and will help them in career as well.

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That will also open new avenues of education and jobs in the future.Check out the various online courses and mobile apps available to easily learn new languages. Make them attend the online classes and appear for the test to get an online certificate for their new language skill! This will not let them get bored while everything is locked down.

Learn about future goals & understand your role

Its wonderful opportunity for every parent to understand their kinds needs and learn about their life goals. If they do not have any yet, its time where you explain them what is goal and why they are important in life. Make them read books, magazines, online websites on career planning and life goals and plan your targets in life.

Ask your child to list down what they want to be 10 years from now and let them start working on their goals during the Covid-19 lockdown.Study journals and books that will take them closer to their dreams and start working on them. This practice can become the most fruitful practice during the Coronavirus lockdown period.

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Last, but not the least, share your stories

All of us like posting our pictures and stories on our social media accounts. So, tell us how you spent your day when everything is locked down. Share with us on the mail or on our Facebook pageLately, people have been playing with Instagram challenges, posting stories, and asking questions Covid-19. Write about how you made a quarantine time period productive.You can also start your own blog about what you are doing during the Coronavirus lockdown and post there every day along with interesting photos of what you are doing around the house.

School, colleges shutdown is also a chance to make better relationships with our children and teenagers. One-on-One time…makes children feel loved and secure, and shows them that they are important.

Children are quite observant about what it is going on in their surrounding environment. Regardless of age, every kid is aware that the lifestyle has currently taken a pause and can sense that the adults around them are at unease. So communication becomes the utmost necessity wherein talking with your children in a calm, simple and factual way enables you to control the narrative, providing essential information without promoting distress.

Placing boundaries on media exposure is a good preventative action. Try to think of yourself as their mentor and step up! Do reach out to your friends and family in time of need. Remember, this will pass.

A crisis often brings out the best in you and you discover qualities that you never knew existed within. 

A time of crisis is not just a time of anxiety and worry. It gives a chance, an opportunity, to choose well or to choose badly.

Any deep crisis is an opportunity to make your life extraordinary in some way.

Any kind of crisis can be good. It wakes you up.

As for any of us in crisis, hope is the one thing that’s everything. 

Trust me, we together beat this crisis. Stay at Home, Stay Safe.

 

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin).

 
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Posted by on March 10, 2020 in Experiences of Life., Family & Relationship, Life & It's Importance, Work Place

 

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Resignation is not a CRIME


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Employee Resignation, we know it is inevitable in any organization. Sooner or later, even the best employer has employees resign. The reasons are endless for what causes an employee resignation. But, each employee resignation poses the employer with the same series of questions. Unexpected resignations present big challenges for leaders, managers especially those unaccustomed to dealing with them. It’s probably a frustration you haven’t had for a whileand if you’re a relatively new manager, you might not have ever experienced this before.

As our team members grow in their careers, they may branch out beyond what is available to them in their current role or company. Sometimes, what they are looking for next isn’t something we can offer.  I agree, It’s a dreadful moment when a well-liked member of your team tenders their resignation. You experience a cocktail of emotions ranging from fear about how the rest of the team will react.

illustration-large-resignation-letter Read the rest of this entry »

 
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Posted by on January 22, 2020 in Experiences of Life., Work Place

 

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Potluck Lunch helps in Team Building


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

In any organisation, team work can make all the difference between success and failure. That’s because collaborative teams excel at dividing responsibilities and working towards the same goal. Realising this, most teams are focusing on team building exercises that can bring teams closer.

Maintaining a healthy work culture, one that keeps the entire team motivated and enthused, can be a tough task. You see your employees going through their everyday tasks in a routine, and on the surface, everything might look happy and gay, but you never know when monotony can kick in and leave the entire system uninspired.

Just a small activity is enough to see the change in the overall enthusiasm and energy of the office. It can also be a great way for newbies to feel comfortable and at ease with the rest of the team.

Recently we had a team Potluck lunch organised by my lovely team ladies. Special thanks to my loving Vijaya Ragi & Team for handling everything in a smooth way. It is well planned and organised.

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If you want your team to feel energised at all times, to enjoy what they’re doing and love working for you – and for this, you cannot lay enough emphasis on the need for recreational activities. While some offices go for activity outings, we actually have a simpler and cheaper alternative that can be just as rewarding. The other simple yet effective team building activity is a potluck. It can be organised  by anyone without costing a penny to the company.

But what exactly is it and how does it help in building teams?

What Is an Office Potluck?

In simple terms, a potluck is an occasion when attendees bring food to be shared with everyone. Whether it has a theme or not, is completely up to the team members.

The main idea is to add some fun to the workplace and encourage employees to connect with one another over food.

How to Organise  an Office Potluck

The best thing about a potluck is that you don’t need a big reason to organise  it. It could be an occasion to celebrate a holiday or just the first day at work after a long holiday.

You simply need an organiser  to send out the emails and coordinate with everyone involved.

Sometimes the organiser  may allocate responsibilities to the team members. For example, you may ask two employees to take care of the dessert and two others to bring some appetisers . Or you may choose to let the employees decide among themselves.

Office Potluck for Team Building

Do you sense a growing lack of communication between two team members? A potluck lunch can be of great help.

Get those two employees to plan the potluck. Ask them to coordinate the menu and come up with two dishes that everyone can enjoy.

The objective here is to get them to communicate with each other and find a simple solution. You may or may not oversee how they do this, but the end result can help them connect with each other.

At a later point, you may even speak to the two employees separately to get an idea how they felt about the whole exercise.

A potluck is also a great occasion to bring a close-knit team closer. As many small businesses have fewer employees working for them, a potluck lunch can give them a reason to discuss things beyond work. Often such discussions may reveal hidden talents and opportunities for business growth.

Whatever you do, remember to have fun and enjoy some good food.

Below are some glimpses of my teams Potluck events.

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In conclusion, I would like to point out one very important fact. This is the deciding force. More convincing than any research paper or analysis. This is the real, ultimate deal-breaker: Your office is going to be flooded with yummy home-made FOOD for one whole day! Do you still need another reason?

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honoured  if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

If you wish to follow my journey outside of my writing, you can find me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MunnaPrawin) Instagram(MunnaPrawin) and Twitter(@munnaprawin).

 

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Journey with my Team


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

I miss my team. I miss the inside jokes, the feelings of communal accomplishment, the team dinners, even the endless drama… I miss it all. I loved complaining about the workouts, the politics, and the bad apples (every team had them). I loved the friendships that were established in the every step of journey..

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I miss confiding in my teammates everything on my mind and heart, and miss them being such a huge part of both.

I cannot imagine achieving new goals without you, lads! You made this company reach new milestones with all your hard work! Big thanks to all of you. Congratulations to you for all the hard works and positive thinking. You took the meaning of teamwork to a whole new level. Appreciate your good work! I don’t think it would have been possible to achieve the goal without each and every one of your efforts! You guys deserve a treat!

I’m lucky to be part of a team who help to make me look good, and they deserve as much of the credit for my success as I do for the hard work we have all put in on the training ground. I am so blessed to have worked with such an amazing team of individuals, who care so much for each individual they come in contact with. Each wonderfully happy moment and every single heartbreaking moment has its place here.

My team saw the best of me. They worked so hard, accomplished big dreams part of me. The leader by actions part of me. The motivated, determined me. The healthy and strong me. They saw the shinny gold me.

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My team celebrated with me. They jumped and danced and squealed because of me. Just for me. Alongside me. We hugged, high-fived and scarfed down an extra large victory Blizzard together.

My team commiserated with me. They cried and apologized because of me. Just for me. Alongside me. We hugged. We ugly-cried.

My team saw the worst of me. The couldn’t keep up, failing part of me. The excuse making, finger pointing, complaining part of me. The depressed, discouraged me. The broken and weak me. They saw the darkest shadows of me.

My team saw every part of me. Even the parts very few others have ever seen. My team, my teammates, my people; they never walked away.

My team never gave up on me. They pulled me up. Pushed me forward. Even when I preferred sitting down.

My team let me be courageous. I was free to dream. Free to try. Free to fall and do it all over again.

My team kept me accountable. Kept me humble. Kept me driven to something bigger than myself.

I miss my team.

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For all those years, I did all I could for the betterment of the team. For a united goal. For a prize awarded to “us.” Through it all; the elation and desperation, the fatigue and failure, the praise and adoration, my team was working for me. Helping me. Loving me. Shaping me.

But I am forever thankful they let me be me. Forever thankful they are MY team. Always. Thank you for not only your good work but also for all the support you have given each other throughout the project, that’s what makes the team stronger! Thank you for all your effort!

But from the bottom of my heart I want my guys to know that are wonderful .Love you guys and my prayers are with y’all!! 🐶🐱🐾❤

I miss my team. I miss my teammates. I miss my people. I miss those moments.

Every second, every minute, and every hour spent with my team was the time of my life.

 

 

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Why, When & How Women cheat their Partners


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Why do women cheat? The answer is as complicated as one might imagine. A lot of the time the reasons are physical, sometimes they’re emotional, and, sometimes, as much as we don’t want to admit this or know this, sometimes it’s just a matter of somebody having an opportunity,”

bacadc577a68fbaa761514ae0ba8c76c (1)There is a common misperception that it’s only men who step out on their partners and that women are always faithful. To that, I say: Who are all these men cheating with exactly? Do heterosexual men only cheat with single women and each other?

Unlike previous generations, currently women and men cheat at approximately the same rates, though the reasons why women cheat may be different from men. The main reasons for cheating in women are: lack of love for primary partner, desire for sexual variety, and situational factors (like being drunk or on vacation) and many more.

The simple truth is that approximately as many married, heterosexual women cheat as married, heterosexual men. Research suggests that 10 to 20 percent of men and women in marriages or other committed (monogamous) relationships will actively engage in sexual activity outside of their primary relationship.

Typically, females step out on a committed partner for one or more of the following reasons:

  • They feel underappreciated, neglected, or ignored. When you ignore your woman’s needs especially the emotional and intimate wants, her moods towards you will change drastically more than they do when her estrogens and progesterone levels fluctuate on every ovulation. They feel more like a housekeeper, nanny, or financial provider than a wife or girlfriend. So they seek an external situation that validates them for who they are, rather than the services they perform.
  • Revenge: If her partner has had an affair or has damaged the partner in some way, the offended partner may feel a need for revenge resulting in an affair. Few Woman, wanna take a revenge by sleeping with other Men.
  • Idealistic expectations from a relationship. Some women fantasise beyond the thresholds of realism which leaves them extremely disappointed in the relationship with their partner. Women with this utopic mindset expects eternal pampering from their spouse like having them around round the clock all 365 days. Though such expectations are not realistic, they look out for other men who may turn them true.
  • Her man is bad in bed. One of the key reasons why women cheat is the partner’s lack lustre performance. It is hard enough being in a relationship where sex is insufficient; if this is coupled with poor quality performance then it is only a matter of time before the disgruntled partner seeks gratification elsewhere.
  • They are lonely. Women can experience loneliness in a relationship for any number of reasons. Maybe their spouse works long hours or travels for business on a regular basis, or maybe their spouse is emotionally unavailable. Whatever the cause, they feel lonely, and they seek connection through infidelity to fill the void.
  • They expect too much from a primary relationship. Some women have unreasonable expectations about what their primary partner and relationship should provide. They expect their significant other to meet their every need 24/7, 365 days a year, and when that doesn’t happen, they seek attention elsewhere.
  • Material Favors. People get attracted to flashy things from time to time; it gets even worse if these are things they can’t afford. A woman may be attempted to cheat while hoping that the besotted extra wheel will be kind enough to throw in the desired gifts as a way of showing gratitude.
  • Lack of enough satisfying intimacy, passion and sex. There is a societal misconception that only men enjoy sex. But plenty of women also enjoy sex, and if f1778c84509ba4146d4ec406358bd957they’re not getting it at home, or it’s not enjoyable to them, for whatever reason, they may well seek it elsewhere.A relationship that lacks sexual intimacy is as good as dead to a woman. This is mostly true in a relationship that previously enjoyed a vibrant sex life only for situations to end up reducing and completely killing intimacy.
  • Need for Attention and being wanted. As witnessed in the points above, the reasons why women cheat on their partners is propagated by intertwined emotional factors. Remember that many men in their optimum to impress will always lure a woman with sweet words and total attention. If you fail to attend to your woman’s needs and offer a listening ear, she will cheat on you because she will fell more appreciated and wanted elsewhere.
  • The Thrill, Adventure.Cheating may also happen when people let their lives fall into a continuous boring routine. In a bid to seek the missing adventure, cheating becomes an attractive preoccupation. Many women had admitted to being turned on by the risk of getting caught and the adventurous nature of extra-marital sex.
  • Want to test the water first. Another reason why women cheat is uncertainty of the relationship at hand. In this case, a woman may pretend to be committed in a relationship only to be in another or even other relationships, all in the quest of finding “Mr. Right”.
  • They crave intimacy. Women tend to feel valued and connected to a significant other more through non-sexual, emotional interplay (talking, having fun together, being thoughtful, building a home and social life together, etc.) than sexual activity. When they’re not feeling that type of connection from their primary partner, they may seek it elsewhere.
  • They are overwhelmed by the needs of others. Recent research about women who cheat indicates that many women, despite stating that they deeply love their spouse, their home, their work, and their lives, cheat anyway. These women often describe feeling so under-supported and overwhelmed by having to be all things to all people at all times that they seek extramarital sex as a form of life-fulfillment.
  • They are responding to or re-enacting early-life trauma and abuse. Sometimes women who experienced profound early-life (or adult) trauma, especially sexual trauma, will re-enact that trauma as a way of trying to master or control it.
  • She wants to experience something new. Many women are pushed to cheat because they want to try things they deem they should have tried long ago. A lot of this is borne of the conversations they have with friends. If they feel their experiences are mute compared to what their friends relate then they might be tempted to even the scores.

As with male cheaters, women who cheat typically do not realize (in the moment) how profoundly infidelity affects their partner and their relationship. Cheating hurts betrayed men just as much as it hurts betrayed women. The keeping of secrets, especially sexual and romantic secrets, damages relationship trust and is incredibly painful regardless of gender.But cheating doesn’t have to be seen as the end of a relationship; instead, it can be viewed as a test of its maturity and ability to weather the storm.

There are several reasons, why women are cheating their partner and I’m pretty sure that more than 50% are guilty of it. But how should you know if your girlfriend is loyal? Below are the most common signs that can help you tell whether your woman is cheating on you.

23598b264c041b0b4ebf5447dabb0617--quotes-about-married-womanShe Stops Caring. Women are wired to care about the smallest details about their men and relationships. She cares how many times you call and whether you make time for her. She gets angry with you when you forget those important dates in your relationship and will make a big fuss about it. So when your lady stops caring that you didn’t call and when she doesn’t throw a fit that you forgot all your special dates, then you have cause to worry.

If she start paying more attention to appearance. This sign doesn’t always mean that she is cheating you – especially if they’ve already discussed with you wanting to change their appearance. However, if your partner goes from not caring much about how they look, to suddenly preening like a peacock, they may be trying to impress someone else.

They’re (too often) home late from work. . One of the strongest signs of cheating is when your woman starts falling in love with her work more. If your partner is usually home by a certain time every day, but suddenly they’re staying late at work, it could be an excuse for them to see someone else behind your back. It’s a common enough excuse that many people don’t think too much about. She could be spending time with a male co-worker instead of you. 

Secretive phone or computer use. Cheaters tend to use their phones and computers more frequently than before and to guard them as if their lives depend on it. If your partner’s phone and laptop never required a password before, and now they do, that’s not a good sign. If your partner suddenly starts deleting texts and clearing their browser history on a daily basis, that’s not a good sign.

If she picked up new habits. These habits can be anything from suddenly being over-protective of their phone, to not picking up their phone when you call. The new habits that your partner exhibits will often be hard to explain away, and your partner may feel defensive if you try to bring them up. This can be a sign that they’re seeing someone else and they don’t want you to know about it.

Sexier Inner-wear & change in Perfumes.When a woman is involved with someone new, she often will go out and purchase sexier bras and panties – because she feels sexier. There is a pleasure women get in being appreciated as a sexual being and will behave a little more sexier… maybe she’s leaving an extra button undone on her blouse or wearing her hair down instead of neatly tied up. Maybe she has changed her perfume. She may also change the way she wears make-up for similar reasons.

Stops sharing the details. When your love was young, sweet, and full of promise, your girl just couldn’t wait to share everything with you. When she was having an issue at work or with friends, she always opened up. But now she always says that she is fine or tells you not to bother. These are very bad indicators that show your relationship is almost over and you have every right to be paranoid. If she starts being all cagey, then she is planning on being a cheat – if she isn’t one already.

She starts telling lies. It might be hard to trust her anyway if you have already caught her telling you lies about who she is with, or where she has been.

Acting defensively . If your woman is cheating on you she is afraid of getting caught; she will get defensive and anything you ask or say to her will be taken as an accusation. You can know she is cheating if she is defensive about how she spends her time, who she spends it with and when she refuses to answer simple questions.

Significantly less, or more, or different sex in your relationship. Both decreased and increased levels of sexual activity in your relationship can be a sign of infidelity. Less sex occurs because your partner is focused on someone else; more sex occurs because they are trying to cover that up. Yet another possible sign is that your partner is introducing new techniques and activities into your sex life. As much as you might enjoy that, it’s possible that they are learning new tricks outside of your relationship. bdd720db4a881db986548a558bd27f98

Unexplained expenses. If there are odd charges on your partner’s credit cards, or there is suddenly less money in your or your partner’s bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, etc., that’s a possible sign of infidelity. If you ask your partner about these expenses, and their answers seem untrue, it’s likely that they are untrue.

She doesn’t invite you out with her friends. One sign that your girlfriend might be cheating on you is if she is suddenly spending more time with friends, but leaving you at home. If she isn’t inviting you out or is insisting that you stay home and watch the game, you might be right to be concerned.

Sudden strange friends. If your woman begins to have mysterious friends that are taking most of her time, there are high chances that she is cheating on you. It does not matter whether it is a friend or a workmate but as long as she is not willing to disclose more information, it is a direct telltale sign that she is cheating.

Spending less time with your family or friends. If a woman begins to detach herself from the family, there are strong signs that she is cheating. There are also other women who will stop any close relationship with your friends for fear of showing off their guilt. The woman may be feeling guilty and being close to your family or friends is painful because symptoms of guilt may manifest.

These signs are a clear indication that your woman is cheating on you, or intends to do so. If there is no cheating, the same signs may be a suggestion that the relationship is not where it should be, but don’t get paranoid unless there is a combination of the above signs that make you feel like something is wrong.

If the many signs above add up, consider asking her directly if she is seeing someone else. I have collected the most popular reasons why woman cheat from various sources, always be aware of them, when it comes to choosing the right woman for a relationship.

Many people who are cheating think it’s easier to find a “quick solution” than do the hard work, or so it seems. Bottom line is an affair may seem like an easy answer, but it will only create more work and hardship. Don’t do similar mistake like many of us committed in our lives.

Appreciate your partner, and show them how much they mean to you, pounder them in love and care. But, most importantly, put your phone down, stop looking up towards co-workers, avoid pornography, stop looking living with social sites and look into the face in front of you. It might be the one.

 

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below. If you enjoyed this, or any other other posts, I’d be honored if you’d share it with your family, friends and followers!

 

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Toxic Co-Workers


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Article by an Annoyed Employee in IT..

You can pick your friends; you can pick your job. But you can’t pick your colleagues any more than you can the next assignment to come down from upper management. It’s no surprise, then, that not every colleague is a good one.

The first, and by far the best, kind of co-workers are the nice ones. You know, the ones who are always quick to offer you a hand whenever you need one. They’re friendly, helpful, and normal to your standards. With them, everything’s peachy! You have absolutely no complaints when it comes to the nice co-workers. Heck, they may be the only aspect of the workplace that’s keeping you sane!

The next category is toxic co-workers. They may be disguised as nice co-workers or even weird, annoying, or obnoxious co-workers, but they actually belong in a whole different category. Those co-workers are out to intentionally or unintentionally hurt your career, and you need to avoid them at all costs. 2013_bsl_CopeToxicWorkers_01

Greed, laziness, selfishness and backstabbing behaviors are an all-too-common part of many company cultures. Often, the people who personify these behaviors within organizations step on the colleagues who are just trying to put in an honest day’s work—so they can get ahead or get out of pulling their load—and it’s time to call them out.

The backstabber: Watch out for this one – he might appear to be on your side, but behind your back he will bad mouth you, lie about you and may be out to destroy you. The backstabber tries to make himself look good at your expense – by making you look bad. Pay attention to how you feel around this person and what you hear; seek clarification if you’re getting mixed signals.

The Politician. Promotions based on merit are not what these schmoozers believe in. Instead, they participate in office politics—popping in the boss’s office every five minutes, declaring their indispensable worth. The Politician is consumed with company politics. Her work life becomes a game in which she is constantly trying to “win” the next job, the next promotion, the next project. However, she spends little or no time fulfilling her current responsibilities.

The time sucker: This is someone who doesn’t think about the schedules and time of others. This employee will simply show up at your workstation to ask questions and go on tangents, with no consideration for your time, prior commitments, deadlines, etc.

The gossiper: Keep in mind that those who gossip to you will gossip about you. It doesn’t hurt to listen to what you hear – just don’t participate in the conversation. Often, the industry grapevine is true, but the gossiper tends to exaggerate, so beware. Some people feel they’ll make themselves look better by spreading information, especially about someone else. The good news is that most people catch on to this tactic, but not always before damage is done.

The Taskmaster. Have you ever come across someone at work who spends all of his time worrying about what everyone else is doing, while at the same time complaining that no one else in the company ever does anything and that he is saddled with all the work? This is the Taskmaster. Taskmasters are quick to assign tasks to other people to avoid having to do anything—and yet as soon as a task is completed, somehow the Taskmaster is there to take credit for getting it done. The Taskmaster constantly works to create the perception that he is so busy that he just couldn’t possibly work one more thing into his day.

The credit-robber: There are people who take credit for other people’s ideas in order to shine the light on themselves, no matter whom they steal from to do it. The credit-robber usually steals the spotlight when you least suspect it, and in front of others. Being caught off-guard makes it difficult to know how to respond and, by the time you catch your breath, you’ve lost your moment.

The unsupportive supervisor: This is a tough one: When you don’t have your supervisor on your side, you’re on your own. Many supervisors feel threatened by their staff; some thrive on the power they feel from making others feel small. You must be very careful when the problem is your supervisor – as with any negative scenario, you need to take a step back to evaluate the situation and do everything you can to protect yourself.

For most of us, working in an office can offer a pleasant, exciting, and motivating path to a successful career. However, sometimes we encounter unprofessional, unhappy, and downright hostile colleagues. When there are unhealthy people within your organization, you’re not just fighting the market and your competitors, you’re now fighting internal battles between teams and individuals just to get something done.

You can pick your friends, you can pick your job. But you can’t pick your colleagues. It’s all up to us how wisely we react and handle the Toxic Co-workers at work environment.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below.

 

 
 

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Your Team is What &Who You Are


Each minute of our life is a lesson but most of us fail to read it. I thought I would just add my daily lessons & the lessons that I learned by seeing the people around here. So it may be useful for you and as memories for me.

Leadership is lonely. No matter how big your team, sometimes it’s just you–which means you sometimes need to look inside yourself for motivation and inspiration.

An article by the PraWINS Team……..

There are times in your professional environment when you need to support and fight for your team. As a leader, it’s your job to support your team members, so they can get their respect, protect their rights and get their job done at workplace. Today, I would like to speak about my Lead/Manager more than all he’s loving friend “Mayank Shah” who is so FullSizeRender.jpgInspiring and Motivating with his ideas, behavior, way he foresees the things, moves and Personality. His words brings the change in environment and inspires team. Mayank, is such a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit. All the time he displays courage and goes to bat for the people by sending a message that Teams success and achievement is his priority. He wins both respect and loyalty of the team members. He believes in one thing “When the team succeeds, so do you.”

Here are few traits of Mayank that i would like to share. He’s a Good Person, Lead, Manager who’s respected by everyone in the team and organization.

Empowering. He Inspires, motivates and make the associates feel emboldened and powerful, not diminished and powerless.

Care. He doesn’t care about project alone, but about the people in it and the people impacted by it. He also makes it visible that, he care through his words and actions. Care shouldn’t be a four-letter word in our workplace today — and the best leaders know it.

Supportive. He foster a positive environment that allows team to flourish. He provides constructive feedback to make team energized and deliver better results. He’s so supportive professionally and personally.

Powerful. “Power isn’t control at all–power is strength, and giving that strength to others. A leader isn’t someone who forces others to make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own.”

Passion. Whatever it is, he’s so passionate for what he’s doing. He believes in “Live, breathe, eat and sleep your mission.”

Respect. Not playing favorites with people and treating all people — no matter what station in life, what class or what rank in the org chart — the same.

Collaborative. He have a nature to solicit input and feedback from those around him so that everyone feels part of the process.

Communicative. He’s very open to suggestions and ideas. He share the vision or strategy often with those around him.

Fearlessness. He’s not afraid to take risks or make mistakes.  He helps team to learn the mistakes and the outcomes.True leaders make mistakes born from risk.

Confidence. He’s so confident on the things which he know. He’s rock solid in thoughts and the way to implement them. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will.

Clarity. The only way you can get confidence is by becoming really, really clear about who you are and what is most important to you. New leaders fail when they try to become all things to all people, or try to do too much out of their area of excellence. Clarity helps you say “yes” to the right things — and “no” to others.

2016-11-21-PHOTO-00000188.jpgYet interestingly, in my work environment, people who don’t own this mindset get promoted into leadership positions every day, and it’s quite possible that you’ve encountered or heard about such types in your career. These are those stereotypical sorts of leaders who care more about winning the political favor of their superiors than the respect of the people they’re assigned to lead. Self-serving and ego centric, these types of leaders quickly offend and fail to earn the trust of their people, making enemies rather than supporters of their teammates. There are many Leads/Managers, who could always throw team to the wolves. But there are a lot of managers out there who seem to think that’s the clever option, the right choice. What do you think? I’ve worked for and with some, and believe me they quickly lose staff.

Meanwhile, sometimes leaders don’t fight for their teams because they don’t like conflict or understand how critical the team support is to the company’s ultimate survival and success. Their leadership style may be immature, weak, naive, out-of-touch, disengaged — or any combination thereof. In such cases, there is always hope for growth and improvement, but revolutionary change is undoubtedly required. The problem here is that change of this magnitude can take a long time and in today’s world, few have the patience for that!

The very opposite of these two types of leaders are the disciplined, fearless and balanced ones — and you probably know some of these, too. They’re the ones who have built rock-solid trust with their direct reports and created loyalty and alignment within the culture. When times get tough, everyone knows these courageous, tenacious types have “got their backs.” Team members feel secure and safe.

These leaders, who aren’t afraid of outcomes are ready to fight for rights the team. They have talent, knows the value of team, understand the problems, have skill, grace and a lot of common sense. They know when and how to pick their battles. Instead of fighting each and every issue, they take a disciplined approach in standing up for what’s important and are more likely to win. They’re also calculated and balanced — these great leaders get the facts before they react to potential or current threats and are skilled in presenting their case in a clear, non-emotional and logical manner. They focus on the “Vital Few,” primarily defending whatever is aligned to those critical measures of a company’s goals and controls. Why? Because these types of leaders truly understand that without their team members’ respect and support, neither the team nor its leader can function, much less win.

Your team is what you are and who you are. Without your team and that can be one lone person or tens of people—you are nothing. Without your team you are an empty page waiting to be written or typed. You must support your team, praise it, fight for it, to the death if need be. The brilliant manager—we don’t need to say who that is by now, do we?—generates loyalty and respect by being the team cheerleader—that’s you, that is.

You have to make people on your team see that you are not only their mentor, leader, guardian, and protector but also their champion, their hero, their defender. If anyone tries to hamper the team or their spirit by criticizing them, you will rise to their defense. If anyone tries to take advantage of them, you will rush to protect them. If your team needs you, you should be there all-time. If your team has seen you defend them once, they will know they can trust you to have their best interests at heart. That if something unfair is being imposed on them, you will stand up for them. This also means that if you accept something, they are likely to accept it, too—which makes for a smoother life all around.

Tell us your experiences with leaders who have mettle in them.

Please feel free to share your story and any lessons you learned, you experienced, you came across in your life in the comments below.

 
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Posted by on November 22, 2016 in Experiences of Life., Work Place

 

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