*Sigh* When I have some free time, I visit Brazilian news websites. The news are always the same: some politician was caught pocketing public money (without being punished), some violent crime happened, some idiot reality show character did something, someone is striking/manifesting about something and some public tragedy happened with a lot of people complaining about their fates. Brazil in a nutshell. But last week I saw the most shocking thing I ever imagined, and it was in my home city, Porto Alegre.
Some bicyclists were all on the street in a kind of a protest ("someone is striking/manifesting about something", remember?) and this one guy just gets tired of waiting for the bikers who are blocking the street and decides to kill all of them by storming past the middle of the cyclists.
Serious.
If you have the courage, watch the video bellow, but be warned it is strong:
For me this kind of sum up the Brazilian attitude that is the root of all evil in the country: Brazilians (in general, not all) have an absolute lack of respect for others. Politicians steal because it is "no body's money", criminality happens "because I don't have opportunities, so I am going to steal from others - but I am not limited to stealing, I can kill for a simple pair of shoes, because I don't care about others", people will cut the line because they find some friend in front (not caring about those before that were waiting longer), people will make a scandal if their rights are not respected (not caring if they themselves are disrespecting the rights of everyone around) and, of course, people will be completely insane in traffic, because "the only car that matter is mine".
I don't know the background of the video, but this is what I imagined happened (as per the traditional Brazilian behavior): bikers were on the street, mostly blocking the cars. Car driver gets pissed off and starts using the horn and shouting on the window to the bikers. Bikers get pissed off and start blocking more and more that one car and start screaming back, maybe even kicking and punching the car. Then the car driver tries to make a strike with the bikers.
Brazil (Brazilians) needs a culture shift towards respecting others. In this sense, Brazilians have a lot to learn from Norwegians. Norway just doesn't happen to be a rich country. It can be a point that Norway is rich because of the natural resources (oil), but we cannot forget that Brazil is rich in resources (including oil), so are several African countries. The secret? In my opinion it is respect for the society and for others. Instead of thinking about themselves (in this case, always the shareholders of big corporations), Norwegians thought about the society. Respect is just underrated, but it the basis for a healthy world: if people respected each other, how could there be war, terrorism or crime?
Brazil never fails to disappoint me. Shame of my country. *Sigh*
28 February 2011
25 February 2011
10 February 2011
23 January 2011
TED Talk: The child-driven education
Can non-English speaking children in a village in India learn by themselves using a pc and only English instructions?
Via Sokanu
Via Sokanu
20 January 2011
19 January 2011
My team management book – what do you think?
During a the new year’s eve collective delusion, I decided it would be fun to write a short ebook to help people to manage teams better. The idea come from the amount of people that came to me to get advice on how to run a team like I ran mine when I was AIESEC Norway’s President.
I set a deadline to finish the book by end May (geez…) and that before my birthday (21st of January) I would have the basic structure in place. And this post is exactly about this last bit, the structure. I will post it here and I would appreciate if you could feedback or give some insights that could help me to improve it. Ah, and if you have ideas for the name of the book, please let me know also.
What I want the book to be:
- - It’s a funny and easy to read book only about managing/leading a team
- - If the readers put the tools/advices in the book in practice, it will help them to manage better their teams
- - Examples to illustrate
What I don’t want the book to be:
- - Full of theory or impractical
- - Talk about other aspects of my leadership experience (Organization management/development, change management, strategy, recruitment, finance…)
- - Personal leadership (I am unsure about this in fact, since there is a component that impacts quite a lot on the management of the team – so I think I will have to touch it a bit)
Structure:
- Introduction
o This is not about theory, it’s based on nothing else than my experience and observations.
o Read and do it. If you don’t want to try anything or don’t have enough discipline to do it, this book will be useless.
o Adapt and feel what is right for your leadership style as well as your team needs. There are no 100% formulas for team management, because in the end it is about people
- Building and starting a new team
o Build the team or it will build itself
o What is the foundation of building a team?
§ Team purpose (team mission / vision -> what is success for this team?)
§ Individual roles and responsibilities
§ How we work (How we deal with each other in the team, outside the team and with work/challenges, team values, ground rules, expectations)
§ How we make the team work (team operating processes)
§ When dealing with humans, don’t forget the social stuff
§ Role modeling
o When a newcomer joins a team that already exists
o After it is built, it needs more building (Every day is team building day, even if you don’t realize it)
- Team purpose
o What is it?
o How to do it? (both fluffy and hard core)
o How to use it?
§ Visible
§ Take decisions / get directions
§ Assess current situation
§ Celebrate or change and tweak it
- Individual roles and responsibilities
o Breaking down the purpose into the individual (both responsibility and goals)
o Adapt the job to the people, not the other way around
o Don’t allow “support” roles to sprawl
o Don’t allow silos, but don’t allow “everyone is responsible” also
o Change roles as purpose evolves
- How we work
o Team values (building and using)
o Expectations and Ground rules (building and using)
o Prioritizing what to do and what not to do (planning and stuff)
o Decision making (who and when)
o Team learning
o Team Meetings
§ What to use it for? When not to use it?
§ How often
§ Calling
§ Preparing
§ Conducting
§ After the meeting and follow up
§ Tools for idea generation
§ Tools for decision making
o Individual meetings
§ What to use it for? When not to use it?
· Team member oriented
· Professional oriented
· Maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses
· They really want your honest assessment
· Don’t give all the answers, but don’t play riddles in the dark
§ How often
§ (ask, don’t assume)
§ Tools
o GTKEO (constantly)
o Building trust in the team
o Feedback
o Social agenda
o As a leader, everything is your fault (seriously) -> consistency role model
o Feel it and speak up (ask, don’t assume), even if you are unsure, test and listen
o Doggie style: reinforce good behavior, call out bad behavior
o Give honest feedback and ask for it (and then listen carefully!)
o “I was wrong” and “I don’t know” are source of power, not weakness
o Incentivizing mistakes, but not sloppiness
o Solution oriented approach
13 January 2011
Will the middle manager job disappear?
At least Lynda Gratton, from the Future of Work, think so. She thinks there are 4 reasons why the disappearance of the middle manager is on the cards:
- Technology has become the great general manager. It can monitor performance closely, provide instant feedback, even create reports and presentations. When technology can play much of the role of the manager – why have one?
- Skilled team members are increasingly self-managed. That’s not to say they need a team leader – but this is likely to be taken from a member of the team who is highly skilled and it could well be a rotating role. So when teams can manage themselves – what can a general manager add?
- Attitudes toward management have also changed. As my research makes clear, Gen Y workers see no value in reporting to someone who simply keeps track of what they do, when much of that can be done by themselves, their peers, or a machine. What they do value is mentoring and coaching from someone they respect. Someone, in other words, who is a master—not a general manager.
- It was possible in the past to manage ‘intuitively’ and for good management skills to come as part of the whole ‘decent person’ angle. Now management is fiendishly difficult – particularly if people are located virtually across the globe. These situations take extreme specialist skills to lead.
I couldn't agree more. But I also have another reflection on it: while the classic middle manager is subject to extinction from all the above, the job of the "middle leader" (?) will always be necessary. The leader, capable of shaking the status quo, driving change, inspiring, bring a strong team together like glue, pointing to the right direction and making people lose sight of distractions, will always be necessary. The difference might be that MAYBE we will evolve so much that anyone and everyone will be expected, capable and responsible for playing this role (which I think we still have a loooong way to go to get there).
For now, no machine can beat the gift of the linchpin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)