HOW TO SPOT A BAD BOSS/MANAGER/CEO

It's easy to spot a bad chief executive once the damage is done -- a plunge in company earnings, a failed product line, a corruption scandal. But how do you spot the flaws before it's too late, before that person is given the job of leading the company?

Here are some warning signs that board members and search committees can look for in a prospective CEO's character, and measures they can take to reduce the likelihood of hiring a dysfunctional CEO.

Here are some of THE WARNING SIGNS ...

• An overt zeal for prestige, power and wealth. A manager's tendency to put his or her own success ahead of the company's often is evident long before that person is ready to assume the CEO post.

• A reputation for shameless self-promotion. Executives and managers who constantly seek publicity, are always looking for a better job or trumpet their successes while quickly distancing themselves from setbacks are sending strong signals that their egotistical ways may eventually cause major problems.

• A proclivity for developing grandiose strategies with little thought toward their implementation. These executives may assume that others at lower levels will magically turn strategy into reality.

• A fondness for rules and numbers that overshadows or ignores a broader vision. This is the flip side of the preceding problem.

• A reputation for implementing major strategic changes unilaterally or for forcing programs down the throats of reluctant managers. CEOs have to be consensus builders.

• An impulsive, flippant decision-making style. CEOs who approach decision-making with clever one-liners rather than with balanced, thoughtful and informed analyses can expect to encounter difficulty.

• A penchant for inconsiderate acts. Individuals who exhibit rude behavior are apt to alienate the wrong person at the wrong time.

• A love of monologues coupled with poor listening skills. Bad listeners rarely profit from the wisdom of their associates.

• A tendency to display contempt for the ideas of others. Hypercritical executives often have few stellar accomplishments of their own.

• A history of emphasizing activity, like hours worked or meetings attended, over accomplishment. Energy without objective rarely leads to improved organizational performance.

• A career marked by numerous misunderstandings. There are two sides to every story, but frequent interpersonal problems shouldn't be overlooked.

• A superb ability to compartmentalize and/or rationalize. Some executives have learned to separate, in their own minds, their bad behavior from their better qualities, so that their misdeeds don't diminish their opinions of themselves. An important internal check is missing. Others are always ready to cite a higher purpose to justify their bad decisions.

NOTE:This article was taken from "Keys to Spotting a Flawed CEO -- Before It's Too Late" By TERRY LEAP.

ASSERTIVENESS = success in life ?

Have you ever felt that sometime and somewhere in your life time you deserve more than what you get? And have you ever wondered why some people always seem to get what they want, and sometime even much more than their share? How do they do it?

The answer is : they know how to ASSERT themselves.

WHAT IS ASSERTIVENESS?

Being assertive is the ability to stand up for yourself – without having to step on anyone else’s toes! It is the ability to express yourself in a manner that is clear, direct, specific, and considerate. It means saying what you mean and meaning what you say… confidently, consistently and persistently.

Being assertive is an in-between of being passive and aggressive. Passive people are often “shy” or reluctant to express their real feelings or interests. On the other hand, aggressive people do not have this problem, as they are usually “inconsiderate” towards others. In short, assertiveness is neither passivity nor aggression.

WHY IT MATTERS TO BE ASSERTIVE?

Assertive people express their feelings honestly and without guilt. They take responsibility for their feelings – for what they say or do. They don’t make or give excuses. With or without the support of others, they stand up for themselves and exercise their rights, while at the same time respecting others.

Assertive people have positive self-esteem. They like and value themselves. They are in control of their lives. Their relationships with others are usually more meaningful and fulfilling because they communicate openly with mutual respect.

Assertive people can look a person in the eye and speak in a firm yet non-threatening tone. They will not allow others to take advantage of them.

Assertiveness allows you to ask for what you want, say “no” when you want to, and get what you want out of life. It will help you socially, as people will respond to you more positively. It helps you to communicate more effectively both on and off the job – with family, friends and colleagues.

Assertiveness is a sign of a healthy, confident and well-adjusted personality. But in reality, assertive people are a rare breed. Studies showed that only 5 to 20 percent of the population is assertive.

People are not born assertive. But like other critical life skill, assertiveness is a strategy that can be nurtured or learned.

HOW TO BECOME MORE ASSERTIVE?

The first step is by eliminating all unassertive behaviors, gestures as well as speech patterns. Passive behaviors such as avoiding eye contact, slouching, speaking too softly, being indecisive, or minimizing the importance of your own needs and wants, should be thrown out of the window!

Weak gestures such as scratching, or putting hands in your pockets suggest a passive personality. Avoid giving frequent justifications or apologies, rambling and putting yourself down.

So do you think you are assertive enough to get what you want and be successful in life?

STRATEGIES in handling DEAD HORSES

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."

However, in government, the corporate world, even in the education sector, more advanced strategies are often employed in such situations, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Visiting other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course my favorite …

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position !!!

BUILDING TRUST

Trust is a critical foundation for good relationships. Families, friendships, and organizations need trust to operate effectively.

As Muslims, we are constantly reminded to emulate the 4 basic characters of our Prophet Muhammad S.A.W in whatever we do – Siddiq (benar), Amanah (jujur), Tabligh (menyampaikan) and Fathonah (bijaksana).

Siddiq is an Arabic word meaning “trustworthy” or “yang bercakap benar dan sangat dipercayai”. When we trust one another, everything works better, and easier too. But trust is not automatic, we must earn it.

Some people earn trust quickly. Their attitudes and behaviors make it easy for others to trust them. They keep their promises, whether to their colleagues, employees or clients. You can rely on them to do what they said they would do.

They tell the truth, even when it may be painful or to their disadvantage. When they realized that they have done something wrong, they are quick to apologize. They sincerely regret wronging others. And most importantly, they will not repeat the same mistakes again.

They are good listeners. They listen at least as much as they talk. They praise people generously. They are constantly watching for what others do right and comment on it.

They willingly cooperate with their staff or colleagues. They are more interested in achieving good results than in who gets the credit. They strive to understand how others feel. They are sensitive and empathetic.

They look out for other people’s welfare and interests, as well as their own. They are fair in their dealings with everyone. They clarify their intentions so others will understand their actions. They seek input on all issues from the people who will be affected by their decisions or actions.

Strong trust builders are extremely relationship oriented. They really care about others. They actively practice the Golden Rule of “treating others the way they would want to be treated.”

When leaders demonstrate these attitudes and behaviors, people will just naturally trust them. People trust them faster too. People don’t “run away” from them – in fact, people enjoy working with, as well as for them.

Making The RIGHT Decision

Most of the choices we made in life are based on the input, knowledge and information we have about certain things. If we know only a little, then we will make our choices based on that little knowledge that we have.

Actually, it is not just about having enough or not enough information, but also in our ability to filter and select the “right” information well. A lot of information today can be easily gotten by just googling through the Internet. But sometimes with too much info one can also get confused easily too.

Therefore, to be able to select what is relevant (and of course correct) and what is not, we need skills. A truly smart person will not only rely on the info from Internet alone, but will also use it to point towards people who can tell them more about a certain topic or issue.

This is important as people in general behave and make decisions in a particular way depending on what information and knowledge they already have.

Even though most organizations and governments make decisions based on a consensus among them, but there is always a leader. And this leader often “influences” the rest of the members to make a decision that he or she prefers. In fact, it would be hard for a leader to lead if he does not like the decision himself, so there has to be a lot of “negotiations” before a “compromise” solution is arrived at.

But what if the leader is no good? What if the leader has limited access to information or not knowledgeable, relying only on what other people tell him (especially those who are close to him), and then making decisions solely based on that? What if all the information he gets is all wrong or distorted?

Of course wrong information can lead to wrong decisions. Wrong decisions make people angry. But how would you know if the decision you have made is wrong?

Very simple actually. Just look around you, listen to what people are talking about. If you notice that people in general react badly, demotivated, retaliating or showing dissatisfaction and unhappiness, then the decision you have made is probably wrong !

And if you are very sure that a mistake has been done, then a good leader will not hesitate to admit, apologize and promise the people that it will not recur. He or she will immediately unchange or redo the mistake (wherever possible) while they are still in power, not wait till the end of the world ! Leaders have to take full responsibility on the decisions they've made - be it right or wrong.

But sometimes people also react badly even to a good decision. How can this happen? May be the people cannot understand why that decision was made. If this is the case, then the leader must have the guts and courage to explain clearly why such action needs to be taken.

Unfortunately, we sometimes have leaders who do not practice transparency. What more when they fail to notice or know that there are actually people out there who are reacting badly – as a result of his bad decision.

Some leaders might be fed by "butt-lickers" with info that these people react badly to them because they (the people) are not smart enough (to understand why and how the decision was made).

This gives the leader a "false" idea that the decision they made is correct, so they keep on repeating the same mistakes over and over again. People get angrier and angrier, yet the leader seems to think that everything is all right and going on just fine.

What is worse is when a leader simply does not lead. He or she is slow to respond to any issue that comes up believing it to be minor and which would simply go away if he ignores or “sweep it under the carpet”. But they fail to see that denial or ignorance only helps it spread like cancer because nothing is done by anybody to prevent it.

Then when the problem becomes too big to handle, instead of assessing the issue and deciding what to do, the leader strikes out with punishment measures. And then literally, strikes out.

In general, most people will accept any decision a leader makes as long as he can reasonable justify it. But what they will not accept is when the leader is unable to justify the action and giving reasons or excuses that insult the intelligence of people. And it is never a good idea to insult people you owe your position to.

At the end, we find ourselves in a position where we have to watch in horror as mistake after mistake is done. It is a bit like watching robbery happening in front of us and feeling powerless to stop it. Except that it takes a while to realize that in fact you can stop it. Because if you don’t, the victim may one day actually be YOU.

In short, a good leader will learn from a bad decision he made and not repeat it. At the same time, he should not ignore these problems in the hope that they will go away...

“Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation.” [William Arthur Wood]

WHAT Is A Company Profile

A Company Profile is an important aspect in a company's marketing plans. In simple terms it can be viewed as a Resume or Curriculum Vitae (CV) of your company. Having a well written profile helps the company to engage and attract the right customers or supporters for its business.

For media attention, a business needs an intriguing profile to entice editors or reporters to gain an understanding of the company's mission, products, services, personnel and uniqueness.

To acquire financing, a comprehensive company profile should be submitted with a business plan to feature unique qualifications of the company or personnel, that aren't generally outlined in a business plan.

Without a well-written company profile, a company may not be attracting the best candidates when posting job descriptions, or even suppliers and vendors to help them grow.

These 3 steps will help you craft a commendable company profile that is true to your vision, perception and even beliefs.

PROVIDE USEFUL INFORMATION IN LAYMAN’S TERM

A basic profile should include the name and address along with the general information about the company such as key personnel, descriptions of the company's products or services. 

It would be a good idea to include the mission and philosophy of the company along with the business plan which gives a fair idea to the client as to what he can expect; one can also include welfare activities, if any, that the company undertakes. All these should be presented in a manner that laymans, as well as industry personnel, can easily comprehend. Why?

Because, a reporter might be looking for relevant businesses for a story they are preparing. Naturally, including your company could possibly bring great 'free exposure' to your intended market (if it's a positive story, of course). But if the reporter -- or anyone else who is googling the product/service you provide -- cannot figure out what you offer, your profile won't help sell your products, nor entice media to interview your company personnel.

This does not mean you cannot include high level industry information, just be sure to also include some easy-to-understand layman terminology in your description.

INFUSE SOME PERSONALITY

People relate to people. So add something from a human perspective. A great company profile should be filled not only with descriptions of products or services, but also some sense or personality of the business' culture. 

Adding information about the company's purpose, community support or mission (not one of those trite mission statements, though) can add human personality to a profile, thus adding interest to the reader.

The language used should be as far as possible jargon free for easy comprehension, even if you deal in highly specialized work as it enables better dissipation of information. While highlighting the achievements one can cite client comments and also mention the employees who have performed above average (eg. excellent worker of the month) as it shows your commitment and dedication to client satisfaction.

CLAIM YOUR UNIQUE ASSETS

Last but not least, special care should be taken to mention your uniqueness as to why a client would like to do business with you. This can be done by explaining a founder's unique route to the company's development, or mention the special awards and honors a company has won, a good rank in a survey, the donations or any special service or volunteering it's employees provide the community. 

All these will contribute to your overall persona as it gives the reader some grasp of how the company is unique, special or different from others in it's same category.

Elaborating a bit on the educational qualifications and credentials, training or experience of the employees excites customers and helps them identify the company that fits their own beliefs and criteria.

Being generic and obtuse in your company description makes it really hard for any readers to understand why they would want to do business with a company or buy products/services that sound like any others.

Above all else, be direct, honest and interesting, since plenty of bland, boring and hype-filled profiles already abound. Make sure your company profile is able to differentiate your business with clear positioning to stand apart from the crowd.

RESPECT versus POPULARITY

Respect versus popularity – this is a dilemma we all have to face at work. We want to do a good job, but at the same time we want to be friends with everyone too. And the desire to keep everyone happy can become a weakness.

The truth is, if you’re doing your job properly, you’ll seldom be everyone’s favorite person. But the pay-off comes in the form of a deeper liking and admiration.

Don’t worry about popularity; work on respect. That will take you a lot further in the long run. At work, your most valuable career strategy is not to be liked or popular, but to be effective. With respect, job success can be yours.

But respect is never given for nothing; you earn it by how well you do your work. Winning respect from colleagues and subordinates starts at the very beginning – from day one of our job.

Every decision is either a building block or a stumbling block on the road of career progress. And we should use this time to lay the groundwork by being professional – in other words, be responsive, responsible, innovative, transparent and reliable.

Here are some tips to gain respect at your workplace :

• 
  Know what you believe in and what you want. Plan how to get it and stick to it. Nothing loses you respect quicker than indecisiveness and inconsistency.
• Keep your distance. Be friendly but not over familiar. Sharing with colleagues is natural, and the warmth you create helps get the job done. But know where to draw the line. Don’t confide intimate details of your personal or gynecological history. Learn the value of discretion.
• Don’t share all your dilemmas. Even if you resolve them, you’ll have left a lingering impression that you’re unable to cope with pressure.
• Be good. Know that you’re good. Self-respect is the key to it all. With that you place a higher value on all your transactions, which pays off in the way people deal with you.
• Accept that you can’t please all the people all of the time – or even some of the people all of the time.
• Keep in touch – always know how others are. Don’t ask anyone to do anything you wouldn’t do yourself.
• Communicate simply and often. A sense of humor can be one of your most effective assets. A well-chosen joke gets home the message more clearly than a hundred homilies.
• Keep your eye on the objective. Don’t get drawn into colleagues’ personal lives.
• Keep your head cool. Don’t respond instantly or say yes to everything. A calm presence is an invaluable asset.

Change Management

At any one time or the other, especially in the current climate of mergers and acquisitions, businesses will have to undergo change. And when this happened, we are constantly told to accept and embrace the change.

Some justifications given may include reasons for business survival, to improve efficiency, for competitive advantage, or simply responding to external factors like opportunities and threats. Many will say that you have to be leaner and faster to create more growth and profit. Does this sound familiar? How would you react to this change if it happens to you ?

If you have just been given the task of leading change in your organization, your first task should be to create a vision for the first 100 days. This needs to be something that you can articulate in one sentence, explaining what your organization will become and by when.

One question you must ask yourself is whether your new vision statement inspires YOU. If it does not, how can you expect it to inspire others?

Change is emotional, and people will respond to it differently at different stages. Start by getting connected within your organization. Mobilize your staff, remove barriers, see through the politics and bring the vision to life.

These may sound easy, but they are actually something that can be done only in a climate of trust, collaboration and creativity. Communication is crucial. Communicate with your staff the hard facts too, even if it’s hard to swallow. Be transparent, or else the issue can be blown out of proportion.

Expect some people to push or even fight back. They can deny or reject your ideas or requests by blatantly refusing to cooperate or, perhaps, some can also choose to agree to something at first (even though he was not interested right from the beginning), but later never quite finding the time to follow it through.

It could also be useful to identify people who really support the change and give them positions of influence – to champion your cause.

Likewise, you must identify the most influential resistors to find out why they are against the change, and work out how to win them over. It can be a big mistake to simply ignore, cut off or fight these “troublemakers”.

Never underrate them as they could be crucial individuals that if you can win them over, they can become your most powerful allies. What you may want to do is to respond to them professionally and effectively – for the benefit of the organization.

Create your vision with your management team, communicate it to everyone and then set up small teams throughout the organization to work on specific problem areas.

Small teams working on change projects will be noticed quickly, which will then help to build the momentum that you need to get "the ball rolling".

No doubt that some change is inevitable. But if you manage to handle it well with proper planning, execution and follow ups, it’ll be a smooth sailing one. InsyaAllah.

WHY employees leave organizations ?

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile ... the so-called "greener pastures". Or is it so ?

Let's look at this scenario : Early this year, Atoi, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard great things about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place - employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office, and the very best technology, even a cafeteria that served superb food.

Twice Atoi was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Atoi tendered his resignation. Why did this talented employee leave? He quits for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules". It came up with this surprising finding:

"If you're losing good people, look to their immediate boss." Immediate boss is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he/she is also the reason why people leave. When people leave, they take knowledge, experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition !

"People leave managers not companies," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. Mostly manager drives people away.

HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and nothing more - to give the boss crucial information.

If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him/her into trouble. You don't have your heart and soul in the job. Different managers and supervisors can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, or by not giving clear directions & instructions.

But they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

WHY STAFF BECOME "PROBLEMATIC"

In my twenty odd years in the workforce, I can see that there are basically three major reasons why staff become “problematic, indiscipline and under-performing.”

The first thing is they have personal problems, either intra-personal (within themselves) or with others (at home or at work). Sometimes there are also those who "simply" create the problem (on purpose) to send a message to their superior that there is "something not right somewhere" - something that they're not happy with. And hoping that the superior is sensitive enough to pick up the cue and take whatever neccessary actions to rectify the situation. This is the first area immediate superiors should look into when employees don’t perform or don't cooperate.

If it is established that personal problems are not the cause, then the immediate superior looks into the second cause, ie. talent fit. May be the worker is in the wrong job.

For example, in the civil service, if a teacher is not performing well in the teaching profession, he/she could be transferred to other departments where her talents can be put to good use, perhaps to administration or research and development, or be in charge of a school hostel or transferred out of the education ministry into another ministry which requires his/her talent.

It’s about time we realize that people trained in certain disciplines may not later perform well in those areas. In this case, we should allow for inter-department transfers. It’s time to change the rules – be more flexible. We just need to find where they can fit in. Everyone of us has his/her own specialty.

A third reason why people don’t perform is because their immediate superiors don’t know how to manage their subordinates. Once a person has an under-performing manager or supervisor as his/her immediate boss, he/she suffers.

The problem lies not in the subordinate but in the immediate superior, who has no managerial TALENT or skill. To me, there is no such thing as workers who are “problematic, indiscipline(d) and under-performing.” If they're the "problematic type", then why does the company hire them in the first place ?

Either they have personal problems (unhappy with something) or they are in the wrong job-fit or their immediate superiors don’t know how to manage !

Whatever the reasons, superiors must immediately IDENTIFY what ills their subordinates. Then RECTIFY the problem accordingly. Don't wait, or sweep it under the carpet - hoping it will go away ... as that'll only aggravate the matter.

Domain PENGARAH KPTM Kampus Cawangan Alor Star

The following is a document I prepared as guideline in executing my responsibility as Pengarah of KPTM Alor Star (Jan 2005 - Feb 2007)

PEMBUDAYAAN DAN PEMANTAUAN – domain Pengarah

Melakukan perubahan adalah mudah, tetapi untuk memastikan perubahan yang dilakukan itu dapat membuahkan hasil seperti yang diinginkan adalah tidak semudah yang difikirkan. Menyedari hakikat ini, maka sebarang perubahan yang dilakukan harus disusuli dengan langkah-langkah pengukuhan dan pemantauan.

Bagi memastikan perubahan ini berlaku secara menyeluruh, setiap entiti dalam KPTM harus diberi peluang untuk memahami kehendak dan falsafah perubahan yang digariskan oleh pihak pengurusan atasan. Pihak pengurusan di semua peringkat pula hendaklah menunjukkan contoh yang baik kepada staf bawahannya. Pada tahap ini kritikan dan teguran membina, sekiranya ada, harus disampaikan dengan cara yang paling berhemah.

Setiap perubahan hendaklah diimplementasikan secara konsisten dalam segala gerak kerja dan tindak-tanduk kita. Dengan itu, seluruh warga KPTM tidak akan ragu-ragu untuk mengikut, menghayati dan membudayakan perubahan tersebut dalam setiap amalan harian mereka.

Pembudayaan Staf

Nilai dan etika merupakan inti falsafah dan keutamaan kita dalam membentuk sikap dan tingkah laku harian kita. Ia memberikan satu haluan serta garis panduan yang jelas kepada semua staf. Nilai-nilai bersama yang dimaksudkan adalah seperti berikut :

Kesyukuran
Percaya kepada perlunya manifestasi kesyukuran ke atas nikmat yang dikurniakan kepada kita.
Berkhidmat untuk Tuhan, Negara dan Manusia dan melaksanakan tugas serta tanggungjawab yang diamanahkan sebagai amal jariah.
Mengamalkan perbelanjaan berhemah untuk mengelakkan pembaziran.

Kecemerlangan Dan Integriti
Percaya dan berusaha ke arah kecemerlangan dan integriti dalam semua pemikiran, usaha, kerja dan penghasilan kita.

Pendidikan Berterusan
Percaya bahawa pengurusan adalah satu pembelajaran berterusan baik di dalam bilik kuliah mahupun di tempat kerja.
Membudayakan teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) di kalangan warga KPTM.
Mengamalkan budaya membaca dan menulis khususnya bahan yang berunsur akademik.

Komunikasi Dan Saling Menghormati
Percaya dan berusaha ke arah komunikasi yang jelas, berkesan dan terbuka bagi memperolehi ide, maklum balas dan hasil yang dihajati dalam interaksi sesama kita dan dengan pelanggan-pelanggan kita.
Percaya kepada nilai saling menghormati untuk mewujudkan suasana hubungan kerja serta komunikasi yang harmonis dan berterusan di kalangan staf, tenaga pengajar, pelajar dan masyarakat pada keseluruhannya.

Muhasabah Diri
Percaya mengenai perlunya diwujudkan kaedah muhasabah atau penilaian diri yang berterusan bagi membolehkan kita mengambil langkah-langkah untuk membetulkan kesilapan serta memperbaiki kelemahan kita.

Pembudayaan Pelajar

Kolej Poly-Tech MARA mendukung konsep dan keperibadian yang terserlah. Atas dasar itu KPTM Cawangan Alor Star memperkenalkan proses pembudayaan pelajar untuk diamalkan oleh semua pelajar KPTM.

Pembudayaan pelajar merupakan unsur pelengkap ke arah pembentukan budaya dan identiti pelajar Kolej ini melalui kombinasi yang padu dengan budaya staf dan budaya persekitarannya. Konsepnya adalah seperti berikut :

Pembentukan Intelek dan Pembersihan Jiwa
Berdaya fikiran tinggi.
Berhemah tinggi dan berbudi bahasa.
Berjiwa halus dan berakhlaq mulia.

Bahasa Pelajar
Fasih, jelas dan persis.
Ketepatan berbahasa bertunjangkan budi.
Ide bernas dan bernilai.

Rupa Diri
Sentiasa anggun dan kemas.
Bersih dan terbelai.

Rupa Pakaian
Bersih, kemas, wajar dan sesuai dengan suasana seperti yang termaktub dalam Etika Pakaian Kolej.

Gerak Diri
Sentiasa tangkas, meyakinkan dan berkeintelektualan.

Sikap
Sentiasa ke hadapan, positif, pintar dan kritis.
Mempunyai tanggungjawab, kesediaan untuk berubah dan gigih mendalami ilmu.

PROAKTIF, PROGRESIF, PROFESIONAL

The CHANGE Success Factors

Successful change-management efforts hinge on four key factors:

a) committed leadership (that means you),

b) a compelling business case for change (which you probably have, but haven't communicated clearly enough or often enough),

c) embedding change into everyone's work, and

d) involving respected employees who can influence others.

As you read this article, take a quick temperature check to see whether your current change initiative is well-baked. It will help you gauge progress toward making your initiative a win and show you where you're falling short. Master these success factors and you'll be well on your way to becoming a master of change.

Factor #1: Active, Committed Leadership

Because employees naturally look to their leaders for direction and listen to what they say, they're sensitive to their superiors' unspoken and understated messages.

For example, if you show up for a meeting and don't seem engaged, your team will sense your apathy. If you don't show enthusiasm for a strategy or project, the team members won't either. They'll look at their own long to-do lists and put the project in the low priority bucket. Can you blame them? If you don't commit, why should they?

There are lots of reasons why you might half-heartedly commit to a plan. More than half of IT executives polled by CIO in 2007 reported being "challenged by an overwhelming backlog of requests and projects" and bemoan the "shortage of time for strategic thinking and planning." So when the heat is on, leaders often choose priorities based on which customer yells the loudest or which project catches the CEO's attention.

The first imperative, then, is to prioritize your change effort. Take the time to look at upcoming initiatives and evaluate their importance against the mission and strategies of the organization. If the initiative under consideration is truly important to the success of the organization, to the leadership team and to you, then make the commitment.

Just like any obligation, tying your knot to a change effort can bring moments of frustration and regret. That's why strategizing and planning up front is critical. That way, when you face one of those inevitable moments of dismay, you'll be firm enough in your resolve to find a way through the challenges and continue to lead the change.

Factor #2: A Clear, Compelling Business Case for Change

Here's a hypothetical question: Which of the following would better motivate you to rearrange your entire schedule for the day?

(A) Your boss says, "Our most important client is coming in from France and we need you at the meeting," or

(B) your boss says, "We need you to look into software as a service; it may help improve our bottom line."

You're probably drawn to A. It's clear, precise, significant and immediate.

Too often, leaders introduce the rationale for their change efforts in murky terms like, "It will help improve our bottom line" and then expect employees to jump to action. Why should they? They don't understand exactly what the project is, how it will help or how it will affect their work.

Workers are more likely to change when the business case is obvious, specific and urgent. You and your implementation team must be able to consistently and compellingly communicate the rationale behind the initiative and the consequences of not changing. Here's an example of a compelling business case:

If the company doesn't upgrade to the new system, it won't be able to process more than 5,000 new customers. And if the company can't keep growing its customer base, we won't be able to keep our doors open.

That's pretty clear: Corporate growth is at stake, and the consequences of not changing will hit the wallets of employees. Business cases like this one get attention.

Not all changes provide such an easily apparent business case. To identify your business case, start by rooting through superficial reasons to get to the real substance of the change. For example, a superficial reason for upgrading to a new system might be because the company has a relationship with the vendor or because "the competition is doing it."

Delving deeper leads you to more meaningful motivations, such as the upgrade leading to customer service improvements that run circles around the competitors' customer service efforts.

Once you've identified the business case, the next step is to anticipate how the change will affect individuals in the organization. Perhaps the change will mean more paperwork, better project execution or fewer irate customers. Helping employees understand these impacts aids them in preparing for change. It also helps you understand how hard you'll need to work and how visible you'll need to be during the process.

For example, if a project will cause significant workflow disruptions or will be perceived as busywork, you'll need to spend more time talking about the business case with employees and setting expectations.

Factor #3: Focus on Embedded Change, Not Programmatic Change

Everyone has a story about a flavor-of-the-month management fad that was abandoned before completion. Going through fire drills for projects that only seem predicated on some business trend the CEO read in an airline magazine is frustrating and draining for employees. Unfortunately, employees have enough negative experiences with aborted initiatives to be cautious when leaders hype a new change.

To avoid the flavor-of-the-month syndrome, your crystal-clear message has to underlie all communications, and you have to work to embed the change into the fabric of the organization.

One way to embed change is by creating goals that are linked to the success of your initiative. Start by making sure that the change supports one of the company's strategic imperatives. (If it doesn't, go back and confirm priorities and commitment with the executive team before your launch.)

Next, identify high-level goals for each business unit supporting the change. From there, continue setting goals until every affected division and department has at least one strategic goal associated with the initiative.

The final step is to embed the initiative in individual employees' work by setting performance goals tied to the initiative. Establish clear objectives on performance reviews that explain what employees need to do to help their departments achieve success.

For example, as part of a continuous improvement strategy, employees may work to "integrate the new CMM processes and procedures into all project work by the end of the year" or participate in the billing redesign working group as a department subject matter expert."

Once you've established individual, departmental and divisional goals, don't forget about them. Too often, goals become part of a musty document that only gets dusted off at the end of Q4. Best-practice companies report regularly (monthly or quarterly) on progress. Critical milestones can be celebrated in order to sustain momentum and enthusiasm during long-term initiatives.

Factor #4: Employee Participation

Remember when you first learned to ride a two-wheeled bike? It took some work to find your balance. You wiped out a few times and scraped some knees. But you did it: You figured out how to steer, brake and fly like the wind down a hill. When you did, you felt exhilarated, proud of yourself and pleased with your accomplishment.

Now compare that experience with how change often works in organizations. Boss A says to Employee B, "Here's the new process. Now go do it." Employee B is then expected to implement.

It's a one-sided conversation that takes ownership away from the people who have to make the change happen. There's little opportunity for Employee B to experience the satisfaction of learning as you did when riding your bike: They don't get to experiment (What if I give it a running start? Maybe I'll fall down less frequently.), refine a process (This works better if I don't brake suddenly.) or experience the thrill of accomplishment (Wow! I figured out how to turn!).

The keyword is : GET THEM INVOLVED !

R U a leader of CHANGE ?

Most of us like to give advice and make decisions, especially if it's going to involve a change in an organization - be it the strategic direction, the management structure or etc. But whether the change you are about to make is effective or not is another story.

For change to be effective, you need to leverage the basics of human behavior. Use your employees' innate desires to shape change, give advice and make decisions by engaging them (your staff) in planning and implementation. People enjoy being part of changes that they create.

There are many ways to engage staff in change, and every situation will require a different combination of methods. Make sure to use multiple mechanisms since each will provide different opportunities for involvement and different kinds of feedback. Here are six suggestions you can implement:

· Carefully consider the composition of your change implementation team. This group will become your primary implementers. They'll be out front in the organization talking with their peers about the change. Because of this, you should load your team with people who are respected by their peers. Look for the informal leaders in the organization—the ones whom employees naturally seek out for advice, information or support.

· Create an advisory group consisting of influencers in the organization. These employees aren't right for the implementation team because they don't have the right skills or because they're already over-allocated. But they're also ones whom their peers follow and respect. Get the advisory group together to give advice on specific decisions about implementation and approach. You'll benefit from receiving input on key decisions and you'll gain the support of the company's informal leaders.

The caveat with creating an advisory group, of course, is that you have to listen and respond to it. Ignoring advice will do more damage than if you hadn't asked for it in the first place. One way to set yourself up for success with the advisory group is to set expectations early on.

For example, you may commit to the advisory group that you'll give immediate feedback to its ideas in one of three ways:

(1) I agree, we'll do it;

(2) I need more information in order to make a decision on this. Let me get back to you once we have that information; or

(3) That suggestion is helpful, but we can't implement it and here's why.

· Institutionalize periodic, anonymous change surveys. You can use surveys to help gauge how well employees are adopting new behaviors, applying new procedures, integrating change into their daily work or progressing over time. You'll also get hard numbers that show where your initiative is succeeding and where it's falling short.

Crafting survey questions that tease out the information you really need takes time and thought. The best way to proceed is to engage a subject matter expert. You can usually find survey expertise in your company's HR department.

· Conduct periodic pulse groups. Pull employees together in small, cross-functional groups to discuss successes and challenges associated with the corporate initiative. This gives you access to the buzz surrounding your project as well as information you can use to help prioritize next steps. An added benefit is that pulse groups help break down organizational silos by bringing together staff that normally wouldn't interact.

Before you start your groups, however, think about whether you'll need a facilitator. You'll want one if you suspect that people will be reluctant to speak openly, if you'll have difficulty drawing them out, or if you simply want to listen rather than manage a discussion.

· Ask managers to hold periodic feedback sessions. In these sessions, managers bring their direct reports together for frank discussions about what's working and what isn't relative to the change. After giving employees a chance to vent, managers refocus them on problem solving by asking for suggestions on ways to make the change more effective.

Follow up the feedback sessions with a manager meeting in which they identify the themes they heard from employees and give their own feedback. Use these ideas to revise your change plan and tweak your implementation activities.

· Create a process improvement structure if your change initiative is particularly complex. Good structures prevent ideas from falling through the cracks or being adopted haphazardly. An improvement process might look like this:

(1) Employee sends the idea to the review group.

(2) The review group conducts an impact analysis of the idea and decides whether to implement it.

(3) The review group communicates its decision to the employee. For change management "extra credit," publicize adopted ideas to show how you are listening to employees and adapting the initiative to their feedback.

After all, engaging employees now is much easier (and more pleasant) than forcing them to change later on.

Now you should have a sense of what areas need work. With a little focus and effort in these areas, you too can become a change leader ...

REFERENCE : http://www.partneringresources.com/

Getting The Best Out Of An Employee

“My subordinate is not performing as expected”, “I don’t know how to motivate my people”, “Why can’t I get my people to feel happy about work ? “

All the above remarks are nothing new in the workplace for supervisors who have to motivate the people who work with them. There are many reasons for having difficulties in motivating employees. Among them are:-
• Lack of knowledge about motivational factors
• Lack of interest, ability and creativity in gathering feedback from employees
• Lack of skills in motivating employees
• Lack of interest in identifying employees personality

How To Be A Good Motivator?

STEP1 : Ascertain How You View Employees
The supervisor must first reflect on how he views employees. Does he view employees following Douglas McGregor’s Theory X which views employees as people who needs close supervision as they are lazy and do not think. On top of that the employees are only interested in money and must be coerced to produce work?

Does the supervisor view employees following Theory Y which views employees as people who like to work and has self control, are creative, mature and their self fulfillment is as important as money.

There also a Theory Z that is expounded by William Ouchi. This theory views employees as people who wants long term employment, collective decision making, has individual responsibility, moderately specialized career path and want holistic concern for their family.

STEP 2 : Find Out What Motivates Your Employee
Knowing and being truthful about how you view employees as a whole will influence the sort of approach that would be used to motivate the employees.

The supervisor must also find out WHAT sort of NEEDS that the employee is looking to fulfill.

A basic source of information for this Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which outlines that people have 5 levels of needs namely; Basic needs, Security and Safety needs, Belonging Needs, Ego Status Needs and Self Actualization Needs.
Knowing the level of need will help the supervisor to identity the suitable approach to employ. It may be the “Carrot and Stick” approach or the “Growth and Change” approach.

STEP 3 : Employ Some Rules of Motivation At The Workplace
In this step, the supervisor must employ several key rules of motivation in his workplace namely;
• Look for the best in the employee
• Challenge the employee to excel in his job
• Help employees to deal with failures and rejection
• Recognize and applaud the employees achievement
• Give positive and constructive reinforcement
• Build group morale
• Use models to encourage success

Each of these rules, if employed or is practiced at the workplace by the supervisor, they will definitely be able to motivate their employees to achieve the organizational goals. On top of this employees will have a sense of belonging to the organization and this in turn will propel them to higher level of achievement.
In summary, motivating employees is not a one-off exercise nor is it a simple task. It is something that supervisors needs to believe in and worked at continuously. The good news is of course, all these can be learnt. Nothing is impossible. Only you make it impossible!