QAspire

MARCH 11, 2014

'In an industrial age, people went to factories and worked together to produce the outcomes. When required, they collaborated in person. Supervisors commanded and controlled others and leadership was often equated with “taking power”. Factories depended heavily on rigid top-down hierarchies and people were viewed simply as dispensable workers. With technological advances, our world of work changed dramatically.

Leadership 176

Leadership Self-aware Bottom-up Project 176

QAspire

FEBRUARY 2, 2014

'Companies spend considerable amount of time and money on developing leaders through training programs and workshops. My experience so far suggests that these time-bound and finite interventions fail over a long run in developing leadership capabilities. I have attended a number of such training programs and workshops and have observed the impact of these interventions.

Training 172

Training Development McKinsey Long-term 172

QAspire

JANUARY 8, 2014

'I have been hosting the annual management improvement carnival (organized by John Hunter ) for last 3 years and I am glad to be continuing that streak. This year, I am reviewing three blogs and featuring their best 3 posts that I enjoyed reading. This is also my opportunity to thank them for all the lessons they share through their blogs. Jesse Lyn Stoner’s Blog.

Management 171

Management Blanchard Benchmarking Blog 171

QAspire

APRIL 13, 2014

'“It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” — Charles Darwin. The biggest difference between command and control leadership versus collaborative leadership is – a collaborative leader knows that position in the hierarchy is no longer the source of power.

Bottom-up 169

Bottom-up Brainstorming Tools Document 169

QAspire

MARCH 2, 2014

'The caterpillar was turning into a butterfly. In that biology lab, the teacher explained how butterfly struggles to break the cocoon as students curiously observed this metamorphosis. Before leaving the class, she urged students to just observe and not help the butterfly. After a while, one of the students took pity on the struggling butterfly and broke the cocoon to help.

Class 165

Class Career Development Management 165

QAspire

DECEMBER 10, 2014

'Nek Chand Rock Garden in Chandigarh, India is a true marvel of creativity and innovation. Built by Nek Chand Saini , a self-taught innovator, Rock garden is one-of-its-kind sculpture garden in Chandigarh which almost looks like a miniature of an ancient kingdom spread over forty acres. What makes this truly unique is the fact that all the sculptures in this garden are made from recycled material like ceramic pieces, bottles, glasses, ceramic pots, earthen pots, bottle caps, sinks, electrical wa

Creativity 159

Creativity Travel Innovation Planning 159

QAspire

MAY 25, 2014

'One of the skills that Google looks for before hiring is “Emergent Leadership”. In a connected, volatile, networked and virtual world of work, it is crucial for us to step out of traditional definitions of leadership and look at leadership as a role and not as a title. I was honored to be invited to share my insights on #IndiaHRChat on the topic “ Emergent Leadership ”.

Leadership 157

Leadership Leadership Pipeline Blanchard Bottom-up 157

QAspire

AUGUST 11, 2014

'Pablo Casals was a great Spanish cellist and conductor who is considered one of the greatest cellists of all time. He believed that music has the power to save the world. When he was 93, he was asked why he continued to practice the cello three hours everyday. Pablos response to this question, in my view, is the hallmark of excellence. He said, Because I think I am making progress and improving..

Power 153

Power Development 153

QAspire

JULY 22, 2014

'Recently, I had my first MRI scan to diagnose a herniated disc in my lower back area. Not a great thing to have, but fortunately , not very severe either. I just need to be extra careful with my back, do exercises and manage the stress well. MRI, or Magnetic Resonance Imaging involves going into a narrow magnetic tube through which images of internal body structures are taken.

Self-aware 147

Self-aware Bottom-up Workshop Sports 147

QAspire

JANUARY 26, 2014

'A novice painter once put his first painting at a busy cross road for people to mark mistakes. End of the day, the painting was full of cross marks! Next day, he made the same painting and displayed at the same cross roads. This time, he kept colors and brush there and requested people to not only point out mistakes but also correct it themselves. The day ended and painting was intact with no corrections made!

Construction 147

Construction Development Management Leadership 147

QAspire

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

'My friend Utpal wrote a blog titled “ Your Mirror is a Powerful Tool ”. While his post is about reflecting upon the right questions in life, it reminded me of one of my favorite poems “The Guy in the Glass” by Dale Wimbrow. It is a powerful poem that emphasizes on being integral and true to our own selves. Right from the time we start the school, we are taught to meet external expectations like grades and ranks.

Bottom-up 142

Bottom-up Follow-up Tools Power 142

QAspire

DECEMBER 29, 2014

'I am so glad to announce that my next book is just released. It is an actionable guide titled “Implementing Lean Six Sigma in 30 Days” that aims to help readers in understanding the Lean Six Sigma methodology and solve problems that undermine quality and inhibit efficiency. This book is for business owners, quality improvement professionals and anyone in general who is driven by the desire to improve their team performance.

Six Sigma 140

Six Sigma Books Quality Content 140

QAspire

DECEMBER 14, 2014

'I have seen people feeling more comfortable about a presentation or a meeting when they have all the details and facts lined up in a presentation. They massage the message and try to cover as many statistics and nice looking pictures as they can. They feel comfortable because they focus on communication – transfer of [.].

Team Building 138

Team Building Team Management Development 138

QAspire

JANUARY 19, 2014

'The coach felt the undercurrent. There was a visible problem between the two teams who were trying to kill each other’s morale before the big game. One day, the coach gathered both teams in one room. He then drew two lines on the board; one longer than the other. When one of the captains was asked to match the lines, he just erased the part of longer line to match.

Morale 137

Morale Career Team Development 137

QAspire

OCTOBER 13, 2014

'Management has a lot to do with answers. Leadership is a function of questions. And the first question for a leader always is: ‘Who do we intend to be?’ Not ‘What are we going to do?’ but ‘Who do we intend to be?’ - Max DePree. Specific, measurable and time bound goals are important to set expectations on results and drive performance in short term.

Short-term 128

Short-term Bottom-up Team Building Goal 128

QAspire

MAY 11, 2014

'“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” — Ryunosuke Satoro. Generally, traits such as vision, charisma, thinking, intellect, decisiveness, clarity, confidence and action-orientation characterize leadership. All of these are important and necessary, but not sufficient. The biggest challenge for a collaborative leader is to drive results from a diverse set of people across geographies who may or may not have a direct reporting relationship with the leader.

Self-aware 128

Self-aware Covey Emotional Intelligence Charisma 128

QAspire

DECEMBER 22, 2014

'I came across the hash tag #2014in5Words on Twitter and that prompted me to write more about it. It is interesting how 5 discrete words can describe the core themes of a year gone by. On Twitter, I wrote: #2014in5Words Opportunities. Change. Learning. Serendipity. Love. Opportunities. In 2014, I got plenty of opportunities to make a positive difference to individuals and businesses.

Learning-by-Doing 117

Learning-by-Doing Career Agility Resistance 117

QAspire

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

'It is very likely that your best ideas will get shot down. It happened with me a few years ago. I went to the boss with my bright idea that had potential to generate additional revenue for the organization. My idea was shot down at first. No wonder, I was disappointed. When our best ideas are shot down, there are reasons behind it. Sometimes, you are not able to explain the idea in a way that it generates the required buy-in.

Trends 109

Trends Creativity Analysis Consultative 109

QAspire

JANUARY 15, 2014

'Looking back at 2013 fills me with gratitude. It was a remarkable year – both personally and for this blog. I did a lot of writing here and elsewhere, participated in some enlightening conversations with folks in-person and virtually, signed a new book deal (details soon), contributed photograph clicked by me on a book cover and did speaking at various respected forums.

Blog 98

Blog Participative Influence Mentor 98

QAspire

MARCH 18, 2014

'Being in a band is always a compromise. Provided that the balance is good, what you lose in compromise, you gain by collaboration. —Mike Rutherford. At the core of being an effective leader is ability to analyze the situation and then lead in the most appropriate manner which is best suited for that situation. A leader knows that there is no single optimal style to lead everything.

Leadership Styles 176

Leadership Styles Decentralization Competitive Advantage Objective 176

QAspire

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

'Lisa Haneberg is an expert (and lifelong student) in the areas of organization development, management, leadership, talent management, and personal and organizational success. With over 25 years of experience she has provided departmental leadership, consulting, training and coaching solutions for manufacturing, health care, high technology, government, and nonprofit organizations.

System 177

System Books Health Care Blog 177

QAspire

MAY 20, 2014

'A man approached JP Morgan with an envelope and said, “Sir, in my hand I hold a guaranteed formula for success, which I will gladly sell you for $25,000.”. JP Morgan replied, “I don’t know what is in the envelope, however if I like it, I will pay you what you asked for.”. JP Morgan opened the envelope, and extracted a single sheet of paper. He gave it one look, a mere glance and paid him the agreed-upon $25,000.

Succession 160

Succession Tips Learning-by-Doing Development 160