All entries for January 2012
January 30, 2012
…what is a joy in leading?
Leadership is such a big word.....
everyone does have a certain degree of leadership in themselves, some are blessed with lots some are not and so they are quite passive.
what is a joy in leading people? How come some people always wanted to lead?
I am actually a bit convinced by Rasmus today, his argument went on about; if people like Brett (the pilot) was not put in the leading position, he would eventually find his way to lead anyway (hence there maybe conflict between Brett and the appointed leader). However, Rasmus' team also thought that Roger (training manager) can act as a deputy and manipulate Brett as occasion arises, does it suggest that Brett as a leader lacks some quality as a leader since he needs Roger to bridge the gap?
what is the prime characteristic of good leadership?
direct....asssertive.....decisive.....good listener....good interpersonal skill...connect with people (influence)?
Leader, if not always, most of the time comes with ego.
Without believing in himself, leader would not be able to make a decision (whether is a good one or bad one, good leader always confident with his action).
January 16, 2012
active organisation
It seems like it all come down to people again when talking about implementing anything new in an organisation.
the reason that Six Sigma is so successful in GE is because CEO like Welch is willing to open his arm widely to this new approach, not only that, he is so active as a leader, which set the tone of an organisation, and fill the air with thirst for knowledge and new challenge, a learning organisation.
learning can be boring sometimes, especially when you dont know what to get out of it, or how it will benefit you.
I believe organisation must help their employees to develop goal within/allign with organisation's vision and give them full support so that they can grow into it.
when we move, we move together...
Six Sigma for safety
Six Sigma, one of the most popular quality improvement concept a company should adopt; I wonder if quality is the most important element a company should consider. Agree as evidently proven that a good process of reducing defects bring forth an increasing financial profit and customer satisfaction, but a big chunk of profit can be dented by some other important factor, a lawsuit perhaps. Several of my good friends are working in an energy powerhouse and they were taught to remember that the first thing should cross their mind is safety. Despite spending millions on safty promoting activities including something similar to the Six Sigma of safety, none of them really believe the company truely care about their well-being, but rather afraid to be sued by its own employees and that could be substantial to the net profit and stock values. For example, an employee might sue the company for giving him a bad ergonomic chair, causing him a permenant spine damage.
Thus to me, a company should adapt two concepts in parallel. One is the Six Sigma in safety, a statistical process to measure employee well-being at work and control all the potential incidents that might worsen this statistic - define, measure, analyse and so on, together with the ordinary Six Sigma; for the best of the company's financial status.
before browsing Lean
My family owns a Toyota, it was one fine car. Up until when I initially came across the "Lean" concept of reducing the wastes without knowing anything else in details, I wasn't sure that my next car would be another Toyota. I wasn't sure of what exactly defined wastes and reducing does not necessary mean a lower quality in production, but it gave me some concern for going for another Toyota while there are many other options, like Honda, another Japanese car supremo.
Nevertheless, in late 2011, when Thailand was hit by the worst flood in 50 years, Honda's production factory including over a thousand freshly manufactured were submerged under water for over a month while Toyota was pretty much dry. I was thinking, besides their "Lean" concept (presumably a good one, else we wouldn't be studying it), there must be something else about Toyota. They must have carefully selected the location before settling down; they must had seen that the flood was coming.
While Honda is too busy destroying their wastes; yes, that's over a thousand vehicles, I'm getting more and more impressed of Toyota as I get to understand more and more of the concept.