Thursday, June 30, 2005

Alignment of Interest and Competency Based Assessment

....We have identified our immediate goal as signing up mavens/collaborators. So we can perform our assessment and determine why the take-up rate is slower than necessary........

It has been a long trial at the Tour De France.

What are the observations made and lessons learned?

First, let's revisit the Competency Based Learning process.

The benefits confer to the group include.
Increased shareholder value
Ensuring cyclists have the capabilities to meet their objectives and those of the group so that the group's desired outcomes can be optimised.
On the job assessment can be performed on the job and is deemed to be less subjective.
Idenitfy and remedy gaps.

Improved Return on Investment on Training
As learning & development occurs on the job, cost-benefit analysis can readily be validated leading to positive return on investment.
Training is targeted and hence wastages are reduced.

Data Analytics
Identify the right cyclists for the jobs.
Create team of collaborators with complimentary skills.
Facilitate in succession planning.

The benefits confer to the individual include

Self motivation
Individual determines the pace.
On the job learning.

Existing skills and knowledge are recognized
Prior learning is recognized.
Competence is demonstrated through skills.

Reduction in Time Taken to Learn
In some cultures competency based assessment can result in the creation of standards that are widely recognized and portable.

Let's take an example of an desired outcome.

Desired Outcome
The work processes facilitate rapid decision-making and increases productivity.

Key Performance Indicators

Action taken to minimise duplication or conflict in the types of services provided.
Measures taken to encourage teamwork and co-operation.
Evidence of increased productivity and efficiency.

Possible Competencies
Ability to manage/lead
Decision-making
Interpersonal skills

We can group competency into the following categories:

Intellectual Competencies
Cognitive Capacity
Creativity

Future Building Competencies
Articulating vision

Management Competencies
Execution Capability
Organisational Awareness
Teamwork
Collaboration

Relationship Competencies
Interpersonal Relations
Communication

Personal Competencies
Endurance / Coping With Stress
Ethics and Values
Personality
Behavioural Adaptability
Self-Esteem

Typically, the more critical competencies include:
Technical Know-how
Ability to Lead or Manage
Interpersonal Skills
Creativity or Resourcefulness
Decision-Making or Judgement
Flexibility or Adaptability
Communications

However, and not suprisingly, we note that it is in the areas of soft competencies that we find ourselves most wanting in.

Ability to Lead or Manage
Flexibility or Adaptability
Dealing with Ambiguity
Communication Skills

An interesting question to raise is: In order for us to maintain our competitive advantage, which competencies will drive shareholder value the most?

We have identified our immediate goal as signing up mavens/collaborators. So we can perform our assessment and determine why the take-up rate is slower than necessary.

In order to have first mover advantage, we also need to preserve our gameplan. This means ensuring that we keep it under wrap for as long as possible. Yet in describing our model to prospective collaborators, we also want to avoid creating the opportunities for competing model to surface. We need to balance the conflicting needs and yet be able to gain traction in order to maintain a competitive edge before the inevitable sets in. The consequence is that we may not be able to achieve a high MVA ratio, a key benchmark to be a global player. ( a compelling business model can still be valuable without business traction - because of the growth / scale factor ).

This is all very fluid and dynamic, but I like to believe we are up to the task.

The question raised is: What are the competencies required to lift this task?Through the process of eliminations, I have come up with a few:organisational awareness, creativity or resourcefulness, dealing with ambiguity, decision-making or judgement, ethics and values..... That is one too many!

Going back to basics, we need to ask ourselves:
what is my role?
have I discharged it competently?
did I take ownership of the issues / gaps?
how can I contribute to make it work?
how do I know whether I have gained competency?
do I need to undergo competency-based learning?

Additionally, we have the issue on the alignment of interest. Well, we are into the learning curve and it is steep, and let's hope we do not have to pay a prince's ransom for it, and be able to breach the gap between strategy and execution.

Read more!

Sunday, June 26, 2005

New Windows to include RSS info system

It has been reported that Microsoft is to add Really Simple Syndication ( RSS ) in its next version of Wiindows. As far as trendspotting is concerned, it is spot on. Please see An Icon to Covet

RSS is used to track freshly updated information without the need to surf through a long list of webpages.....It means that as far as mindshare goes, it will take a large portion of the eyeballs away from emails, surfing etc. Early adopter who has a strong value proposition in building conmmunity as well as attracting mavens and connectors will be in pole position.

Read more!

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Trust and Leadership

Below are some quotes from Chairman Alan Greenspan of the US Federal Reserve Board in relation to trust.

Efficiency is of course a key measure of corporate governance ..... breakdowns in governance could ........ significantly erode business efficiency ................

Well-functioning markets require accurate information to allocate resources, and market participants must have confidence that our predominately voluntary system of exchange is transparent and fair........





...... market system depends critically on trust--trust in the word of our colleagues and trust in the word of those with whom we do business. Falsification and fraud are highly destructive to free-market capitalism and, more broadly, to the underpinnings of society.......

In the end, a CEO must be afforded full authority to implement corporate strategies, but also must bear the responsibility to accurately report the resulting condition of the corporation to shareholders and potential investors.

........unless the laws governing how markets and corporations function are perceived as fair, ....economic system cannot achieve its full potential.


Work hard. Save your money. Prosper. But most important, be honest in your dealings.


"It is decidedly not true that 'nice guys finish last,'"

"Material success is possible in this world, and far more satisfying, when it comes without exploiting others,"

"The true measure of a career is to be able to be content, even proud, that you succeeded through your own endeavors without leaving a trail of casualties in our wake."

"In virtually all our transactions, whether with customers or with colleagues, with friends or with strangers, we rely on the word of those with whom we do business,"

"If we could not do so, goods and services could not be exchanged efficiently."




At root was the rapid enlargement of stock market capitalizations in the latter part of the 1990s that arguably engendered an outsized increase in opportunities for avarice.

An infectious greed seemed to grip much of our business community

It is that the avenues to express greed had grown so enormously.

But even if the worst is over, history cautions us that memories fade.

We look at it from a pragmatic viewpoint, again using Nash principle of optismising group outcome. When we have trust ( and it is a one-to-one relationship ), the cost of doing business will greatly be reduced. However, we need to build in a system of mutual deterence to ensure that heavers are rewarded, and slackers are discouraged from undemining the efficient function of the model. Again we need to articulate, communicate and execute ( ACE )this ideal in order for a well-functioning market to thrive.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/hh/2002/july/testimony.htm
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/
May-16-Mon-2005/business/1676170.html


Read more!

Friday, June 10, 2005

Information Just An Eyeball Away

It is time to load the RSS Feed and enjoy fresh and useful contents just an eyeball away..Please follow the steps as outlined below.

1. Download a feedreader. Example: ( you may wish to use another software. We do not warrant the efficacy of the program )

Proceed to site to download Feedreader

2a.Go to eFrenzconnect and select the RSS Feed that you wish to add to the feedreader


2b. Bring your mouse to the relevant XML icon and right click and select "copy shortcut/link location".

3. Open the Feedreader

and select File > Add Feed, and paste the link and complete the step.

4. You are now ready to receive news live!





Read more!

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Cross hair - Million Dollar Baby

Have been fairly quiet for the past days......much has been said and done. So adding another sound ( sight ) byte for sound byte sake is not the way to go. .....so I took a step back, and volunteered to babysit four kids for a day. Takeway: learned a thing or two from these kids.

And here I am, searching for the missing ingredient. All have been said and done - we have articulated, communicated and so ....... let's just do it. That is what a grizzled boxing trainer says to his charge: "Always protect yourself." Eager-beaver Maggie replies "Yes, boss", in a Clint Eastwood's elegant, poignant Million Dollar Baby.
We have placed the issue under the cross-hair and we want to keep it within our sight.

Million Dollar Baby ignores his advice, suffers dearly for it and still finds a way to argue that "not protecting yourself" is the only way you can really live, horrific consequences be damned.1
It comes down to execution, and at this stage "protetcing yourself" means getting mavens, mavens, and mavens. This is singularly the most important factor for the business model. So do we listen to Frankie Dunn's hisses.

In making the movie, he has
..... boiled off every ounce of fat and only the essentials remain.......so quiet and unassuming .... feels like a whisper.... a model of unadorned precision--as plaintive, soulful and endlessly complicated in its direct simplicity...1

Well, when we analyse why a business model is not able to gain traction, usually it is the gap between the strategy and execution. We then need to strip it down to the basic components in order to cross-hair the problem. And it usually is a simple "protect yourself" task. So let's nail it with discipline and focus......


QED
quod erat demonstrandum
1.quoted from http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com


Read more!

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Shareholder Value Creation

When a business model is not creating value........it could be due to a number of factors:

poor selection of strategy options, lack of core competencies, or the full potential of the strategy yet to be realised.

However, without a framework to measure and manage, management gets overwhelmed .......

When formulating strategies, there is a need to understand the underlying principles....... .

Behind every product or service exists an individual consumer. ............ To satisfy a need, .............. If you can figure out that need, and the customer keeps coming back for more, ...........You need to articulate your success .......learn to understand the process that lead to your success and be able to replicate that process over and over again.


In the education arena, we believe this to be exciting time. Hopefully, we elect to be in the blue ocean ( as oppose to the red ). Again, we need to apply some basic principles that have placed us in good stead. Looking out for the weak signals. There are a number....and I will name a few ( keywords or buzzwords as you will call it ) :

technology, unarticulated, unsatisfied needs, lifelong learning, mobility, choices, bandwidth-on-demand, outside-inside, open-source codes, buzz, talent, the(mis)behaviour of markets, randomness.


We apply a simple test: When one makes a purchase, and is not satisfied with the purchase how does one expect the store to response? And what is the typical response of the store's representative? Sometimes lame excuses, stonewalling, perhaps less ( much less ) frequently would you think they deserve an accolade. Maybe most of us get miffed, and without a choice, we move on. What we experienced first as a customer is the symptom e.g. indifferent service. The root cause ( e.g. poor strategy selection, lack of core competencies ) is at a higher level. So it is better to go to the root and fix it. The consequences are fairly obvious.

Just take a winning business model, and you may notice how responsive is the customer service. Prompt response makes good marketing sense. Each and every customer is your maven, and maven has influence beyond his personal attributes. Leverage this to your advantage and not to your disadvantage.

Read more!

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Strategy Roadmap - Time Trial and Pit Stop



At this stage, we cannot over emphasis the importance of our ACE philosophy - articulate, communicate and execute. At the pitstop, we reviewed our result for the time trial and believed we have the momentum and should set the pace one notch higher.

So the broadsheet provides an indication as to how we should attack the next stage. The focus will be on balanced approach i.e. for the rest of the team to catch up and at the same time to maintain the overall pace. We must always maintain our shape moving forward. Time management is key to our success and we therefore need to priortise our tasks. Targets have been set and we hope to complete the next time trial within 3-5 days. We can seek inspiration from US Post.

Read more!

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Human Resource and Learning Development

While it is vital to focus on strategic issues, we have to eyeball on execution capabilities. In this connection, we are pleased to launch the Human Resource Development and Learning Development chapters, where we hope to interact seamlessly with our strategic collaborators in order to deal with complex issues within a dynamic environment. We can do with all the help we can get.

Although we have a clear vision, to be honest, we do not know where we are heading for as we are into uncharted waters. We have to trust our "seamanship" skills to navigate safely through the blue ocean. Bon voyage!

Read more!