Saturday, January 01, 2005

A New Year

A new year has started and I am looking forward to lot of new changes in the coming year.

About resolutions I had seen this article couple of years back and thought that today is the right time to put it here.


A to Z of New Year resolutions


A
AIM high in my work and life
Avoid mediocre thinking and performance
AnalySe my mistakes & learn from them
Anticipate consequences of my actions & communications

B
BE curious and keep an open mind
Be alert to new opportunities
Become more dependable/reliable to my colleagues and superiors

C
COMPILE a list of pending matters regularly for taking actions
Challenge my assumptions
Celebrate success of self and team regularly
Collaborate more and compete less

D
DREAM for and contribute in creating a congenial work place
Delegate more
Debrief regularly, especially after each major event

E
ENERGISE self and people around me
Experiment with ideas
Earn respect from others
Enjoy uncertainties

F
FORGIVE the defaulter but would not forget the fault
Focus on the overall objectives of the organisation and team
Follow up regularly with people

G
GIVE and receive feedback regularly
Go extra step to talk and sort out work issues instead of sending IOM's
Gear up the teammates & kill complacency

H
HONESTLY fulfil the promises
Have an understanding of the teammate's families and background
Have at least one major challenge a month to overcome
Hold back public criticism of colleagues and teammates

I
IDENTIFY wrong work habits and develop the correction plan
Inject humor in the routine drab office
Impress superiors with actions and not with 'gift of the gab'
Invite colleagues/teammates at home to strengthen informal relationship

J
JOIN a group of learners and help each other to learn new things
Judiciously deal with all subordinates and guard myself against any perception of partiality
Judge people only on the basis of their performance and contributions

K
KEEP learning new things
Keep fixing tougher targets for self and the team
Keep strengthening the IT skills
Keep anger under control
Know the problem from multiple angles

L
LISTEN emphatically
Learn to say no
Learn to respect the feelings and thinking of others
Loosen the tight controls and let people take charge of work processes

M
MENTOR new comers in the team
Market ideas effectively instead of imposing them on people
Modify past behaviour that has been irritating others
Mend differences with others
Match the individual agenda with the team agenda and organizational agenda

N
NETWORK with people in the industry
Negotiate performance expectations and results with the team members
Negotiate honestly to reduce differences amongst colleagues to develop a congenial work place

O
ORGANISE parties and get to gathers
Obey the office norms and ensure that others do the same
Overcome the wrong notions about the people who work around me
Offer tips to others whenever they get struck in their work

P
PLAN daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities
Praise people openly
Polish presentation skills
Participate effectively in meetings

Q
QUESTION effectively
Quest to create customer delight
Question myself about the contributions I make for all my stakeholders
Quality injections in all my actions

R
READ, read, read…
Relax, relax, relax…
Review, review, review…
Reinvent self

S
SERVE with the right attitude
Spot the right ideas and talent
Search for new opportunities in my work area
Set deadlines and help people achieve those deadlines

T
TEST understanding of teammates before setting them off
Train, train, train…
Try to balance emotions with actions
Take care of the money and property of the company

U
USE mistakes of others as their learning opportunities
Understand factors that hold back my people and help them overcome
Undertake implementation of at least one creative idea every month

V
VALUE evaluation of each action
Volunteering for positive change initiatives in the organisation
Voice disagreements politely and diplomatically
Vibration creation through successful action

W
WATCH against resource wastage
Weave trust and harmony amongst teammates
Weight pros and cons of each action

X
X-RAY the past to dig out the hidden bad performance of attitude
'Xchange learning with others
Xerox the successes of other teams and organizations to identify the points to meet or to beat

Y
YESTERDAY is history; take charge of today to design the tomorrow
Year after year write new action points in this list
Yearn to break my past records
"Yes and…" and not "Yes but…" approach while participating in meetings

Z
ZEAL to heal the emotional insecurities and problems of teammates
Zebra crossing to protect self instead of taking uncalled for risks
Zone of comfort for self to relax and rejuvenate
Zero defect in fulfilling the commitments made to the person sitting inside 'ME'

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Noise Pollution

Not exactly near my house but may be a km as the crow flies there are some temples. Every day at 4:00 a.m in the morning , the people there start playing devotional songs at a loud volume , trying to wake up all the residents in the area and most surprising part is they switch it off at 7:00 a.m in the morning.

I shudder at the thought what those people might be experiencing who stay close to those temples.

This is a common thing in most part of our country and inspite of Supreme Court banning use of loud speakers at night, no one cares, specially the police and administration whose duty is stop such nuisance.