I have come to discover that change is extremely dynamic. It is therefore fundamental that before instituting change in any set up that the impetus of such a decision be clearly understood and laid out.
Once the objects of any change are wrong then there is grave danger of the whole system caving in. The strategies, and factors of change will always be available and indeed they are as dynamic as the change in itself but the final destination where the change is to get you must never be forgotten because with that lost, you will be engaged in a vicious cycle, spend endless strategic meetings and hire and fire as many experts and laborers as there exist strategies.
It’s the number one point of frustration for any change manager, when the process owners do not seem to realize that the constant shifting of goal posts is straining to the expert, the organization as a whole. Once you get the goals clear, even if it takes long to achieve, you can always measure progress against the goals set in the first place.
That can then give a good indication of whether or not you chasing after wind or actually drawing closer to your desired state.
…by Norman Ondego
Monday, December 7, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Business is war; building a strong team is the best way to prepare for battle
from Timothy Mbugua's profile
Stepping into self employment or what most would call as the entrepreneur mindset is not an easy feat. Becoming your own boss, finding and recruiting invaluable talents, creating your own projects, and ans running the show has led to many jumping impatiently onto the entrepreneurship bandwagon.Firing your boss is the clarion call, but 9 times out of 10…it is not that easy especially once you have become accustomed to a regular paycheck and a certain lifestyle.
The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence and you may find that inexperience (not lack of knowledge), lack of talent or poor management will slowly drain your passion and your creative juices will cease flowing leaving you in a dry, sorry and depressed state of self. Have I convinced you to stay “employed”? If not read on coz you are one of the few people who actually have the balls to launch out on your own. That said there are some important characteristics that you must have in-place to ensure that you stepping out is not in vain and that you will at least cross that 3 year start-up ceiling that should see you well on your way to business stability and growth.
Before you can start your own technology company, you must be clear of your objectives, focus, and direction. Understand that Rome was not built in a day and your leap of faith into venturing your own business will be tested by constant obstacles.
Recruiting Talents as Partners
Fortunately, you need not experience this alone. In order to have better success, you need to make use of others’ expertise to grow your business regardless of the industry vertical. Most tech businesses are not built alone. In order to form your dream team of partners, you must master the art of recruiting talent .
There are a few reasons why being a single founder is tougher and will easily succumb to failure. There will bound to be many difficult decisions and it might be tough to decide without another person’s opinion or banding together to call the shots. With a single founder, there would not be enough diversity in generating ideas and problem-solving processes. Look at big companies like Google and Apple, they have a wonderful pool of talented people around, and are still constantly recruiting new talents. Plus you must also realize that there are smarter people out there…get them to work for you!
Furthermore, with a partner, you can motivate each other to keep things going and see things from different perspectives. But there is the other extreme, and it is when too many cooks spoil the broth. This runs into the problem of things being debated or argued constantly, causing critical decisions to be delayed.
Same Aspirations
There is nothing more powerful than like-minded partners. To determine the correct person to join your venture, first you have to determine their aspirations. A worthy partner and a mere partner are equally busy; but because of different aspirations, their gains will also be different.
Respect Your Partners and Control Your Desire
After you have recruited the suitable talents, maybe a designer or developer, you must control your desire for power. A partner or company chief executive who cannot relate well with those around him and cares only about his personal desires is unlikely to stay successful for long. You have to control your personal desires and respect others in order to achieve great cooperation.
Rewards, Recognition and Penalty
Next, when it comes to rewards and penalty, one has to be fair. Giving due reward or penalty is an important part of the art of leadership. As times change, however, one ought to be flexible in deciding the type of reward or penalty to be meted out. Give a lighter penalty when it is difficult to decide what penalty is due and give a greater reward when it is difficult to decide what reward is due. If a project design is well received by your client, give more credit to your designer and praise him or her. And when a project messes up, do not be the first to push the blame but help to shoulder the responsibility.
Foster Good Working Relationship
No one likes to be bossed around. In terms of relationship, you must foster good relationships with your partner, superior and subordinate. A superior treats his subordinates with kindheartedness and in return, the subordinates will sincerely respect their superior.
Happiness is the Health of Your Company
A group of happy people is a requisite for company prosperity. When the people are angry or unhappy in a company, they are unnameable to the precepts of ethics. Without moral values, social cohesion is impossible and the loss of support of your team will spell the downfall of your company.
Humility is Key
Humility can get you very far no matter where you go. It’s a great attribute that is useful to cultivate. But be careful not to overly do it, as it might be perceived as fake. Always be ready to listen humbly to the criticisms of your partner and make timely corrections.
Be Willingly to Delegate Responsibility
Always give food for thought to people with high aspirations. These days, many young people are used to a life of plenty and enjoyment from an early age. In such an environment, it is difficult to nurture outstanding talent. In adversity, the survival of the weak is constantly being threatened. Be willingly to delegate your responsibility to your partner and watch them perform. Those who have the courage to accept challenges and give full play to their potential may turn out to be a valuable ally.
Meritocracy is the Way to Prolonged Prosperity
A wise leader would employ people judiciously and give key position to worthy and honest partners, thus making the company strong. Know your partners’ strength and not just allow mediocre people to hold key positions based on friendship or connection.
Take Less and Give More to The Company
Any one will desire that the company give more and take less from them. Invest more time, trust or money into your company and take less from it in order to build up the relationship.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Unified command and unified action are prerequisites for company success. A team without unified command and esprit de corps is doomed to failure. The same ingredient is also vital for the success of any organization.
Be Expectant of Adversity
A person is bound to have one form of worry or another. Nothing in the world remains unchanged. Success and failure, good times and bad times, conflicts and harmony, are all part and parcel in a company journey towards success. Knowing this, if you still does not anticipate disasters and prepares for them, a good time will soon be gone.
……………………………………………
Additional insights from Aidan Huang, a Web enthusiast fascinated by the vivid design and technology world. He is also a front-end Web developer that strongly believes in sharing exciting and noteworthy information.
Stepping into self employment or what most would call as the entrepreneur mindset is not an easy feat. Becoming your own boss, finding and recruiting invaluable talents, creating your own projects, and ans running the show has led to many jumping impatiently onto the entrepreneurship bandwagon.Firing your boss is the clarion call, but 9 times out of 10…it is not that easy especially once you have become accustomed to a regular paycheck and a certain lifestyle.
The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence and you may find that inexperience (not lack of knowledge), lack of talent or poor management will slowly drain your passion and your creative juices will cease flowing leaving you in a dry, sorry and depressed state of self. Have I convinced you to stay “employed”? If not read on coz you are one of the few people who actually have the balls to launch out on your own. That said there are some important characteristics that you must have in-place to ensure that you stepping out is not in vain and that you will at least cross that 3 year start-up ceiling that should see you well on your way to business stability and growth.
Before you can start your own technology company, you must be clear of your objectives, focus, and direction. Understand that Rome was not built in a day and your leap of faith into venturing your own business will be tested by constant obstacles.
Recruiting Talents as Partners
Fortunately, you need not experience this alone. In order to have better success, you need to make use of others’ expertise to grow your business regardless of the industry vertical. Most tech businesses are not built alone. In order to form your dream team of partners, you must master the art of recruiting talent .
There are a few reasons why being a single founder is tougher and will easily succumb to failure. There will bound to be many difficult decisions and it might be tough to decide without another person’s opinion or banding together to call the shots. With a single founder, there would not be enough diversity in generating ideas and problem-solving processes. Look at big companies like Google and Apple, they have a wonderful pool of talented people around, and are still constantly recruiting new talents. Plus you must also realize that there are smarter people out there…get them to work for you!
Furthermore, with a partner, you can motivate each other to keep things going and see things from different perspectives. But there is the other extreme, and it is when too many cooks spoil the broth. This runs into the problem of things being debated or argued constantly, causing critical decisions to be delayed.
Same Aspirations
There is nothing more powerful than like-minded partners. To determine the correct person to join your venture, first you have to determine their aspirations. A worthy partner and a mere partner are equally busy; but because of different aspirations, their gains will also be different.
Respect Your Partners and Control Your Desire
After you have recruited the suitable talents, maybe a designer or developer, you must control your desire for power. A partner or company chief executive who cannot relate well with those around him and cares only about his personal desires is unlikely to stay successful for long. You have to control your personal desires and respect others in order to achieve great cooperation.
Rewards, Recognition and Penalty
Next, when it comes to rewards and penalty, one has to be fair. Giving due reward or penalty is an important part of the art of leadership. As times change, however, one ought to be flexible in deciding the type of reward or penalty to be meted out. Give a lighter penalty when it is difficult to decide what penalty is due and give a greater reward when it is difficult to decide what reward is due. If a project design is well received by your client, give more credit to your designer and praise him or her. And when a project messes up, do not be the first to push the blame but help to shoulder the responsibility.
Foster Good Working Relationship
No one likes to be bossed around. In terms of relationship, you must foster good relationships with your partner, superior and subordinate. A superior treats his subordinates with kindheartedness and in return, the subordinates will sincerely respect their superior.
Happiness is the Health of Your Company
A group of happy people is a requisite for company prosperity. When the people are angry or unhappy in a company, they are unnameable to the precepts of ethics. Without moral values, social cohesion is impossible and the loss of support of your team will spell the downfall of your company.
Humility is Key
Humility can get you very far no matter where you go. It’s a great attribute that is useful to cultivate. But be careful not to overly do it, as it might be perceived as fake. Always be ready to listen humbly to the criticisms of your partner and make timely corrections.
Be Willingly to Delegate Responsibility
Always give food for thought to people with high aspirations. These days, many young people are used to a life of plenty and enjoyment from an early age. In such an environment, it is difficult to nurture outstanding talent. In adversity, the survival of the weak is constantly being threatened. Be willingly to delegate your responsibility to your partner and watch them perform. Those who have the courage to accept challenges and give full play to their potential may turn out to be a valuable ally.
Meritocracy is the Way to Prolonged Prosperity
A wise leader would employ people judiciously and give key position to worthy and honest partners, thus making the company strong. Know your partners’ strength and not just allow mediocre people to hold key positions based on friendship or connection.
Take Less and Give More to The Company
Any one will desire that the company give more and take less from them. Invest more time, trust or money into your company and take less from it in order to build up the relationship.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
Unified command and unified action are prerequisites for company success. A team without unified command and esprit de corps is doomed to failure. The same ingredient is also vital for the success of any organization.
Be Expectant of Adversity
A person is bound to have one form of worry or another. Nothing in the world remains unchanged. Success and failure, good times and bad times, conflicts and harmony, are all part and parcel in a company journey towards success. Knowing this, if you still does not anticipate disasters and prepares for them, a good time will soon be gone.
……………………………………………
Additional insights from Aidan Huang, a Web enthusiast fascinated by the vivid design and technology world. He is also a front-end Web developer that strongly believes in sharing exciting and noteworthy information.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Cold feet
This year has been the coldest for my feet so they say...i must say its been transition after decision after definition.I don't know if they sat down all of them and said lets get married, but most of my friends really have been on a roll this year in that sector.
so when i sit back and think about it i feel like i am not ready to do it and my immediate thought is that am having cold feet. but wait a minute...i don't feel that since the sun rose today and guys decided to wear green pants then its wrong for me to be in my yellow shorts.
I have come to learn that at times its good to define yourself and not let everyone else define you, or a circumstance dictate your flow. I believe that a situation is true only if you say it is.
I have come to realize that when i want to do something i will do it out of my own voalition and not peer pressure. If they label my decision cold feet then be ready for damn freezing year.
so when i sit back and think about it i feel like i am not ready to do it and my immediate thought is that am having cold feet. but wait a minute...i don't feel that since the sun rose today and guys decided to wear green pants then its wrong for me to be in my yellow shorts.
I have come to learn that at times its good to define yourself and not let everyone else define you, or a circumstance dictate your flow. I believe that a situation is true only if you say it is.
I have come to realize that when i want to do something i will do it out of my own voalition and not peer pressure. If they label my decision cold feet then be ready for damn freezing year.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Nothing Really
Doodling comes to mind right about now...
For some reason when one takes the carpet off your feet and you run out of steam nothing seems to makes sense anymore- at least not until you figure out where to get another carpet or where to find wood to get more water to generate steam.
Well for us Kenyans that's proving to be a daunting task considering one stima hamna ya kuchemsha maji wala miti Mau ya kukata again there's like drying rivers so no water no rain its been a drought stricken land for a while now.
In fact the drought is so severe its affecting elected leaders. I choose to call them elected coz then that helps me understand why they behave the way they do.
Leaders are born and made better but elected ones have a way of giving birth to themselves and deluding themselves that they made themselves leaders and hence have all the right to be greedy and funny. Most of the time follow their own selves.
As in for real i have nothing in particular to write but when i sit back and see all the opportunities that are coming around Kenya its amazing how the whole world is focused on Kenya apart from the Kenyan leadership who have to argue everything from the point of view of who is a bigger tribal king than the other.
We have a chance of propelling Kenya to the heights of technological development. Rather than fight to create a conducive atmosphere to support that we still fighting over who has the right to own which piece of lands illegally, who to be credited for bringing peace in Kenya and which tribe are you? during census.
yaani nimechoka.
For some reason when one takes the carpet off your feet and you run out of steam nothing seems to makes sense anymore- at least not until you figure out where to get another carpet or where to find wood to get more water to generate steam.
Well for us Kenyans that's proving to be a daunting task considering one stima hamna ya kuchemsha maji wala miti Mau ya kukata again there's like drying rivers so no water no rain its been a drought stricken land for a while now.
In fact the drought is so severe its affecting elected leaders. I choose to call them elected coz then that helps me understand why they behave the way they do.
Leaders are born and made better but elected ones have a way of giving birth to themselves and deluding themselves that they made themselves leaders and hence have all the right to be greedy and funny. Most of the time follow their own selves.
As in for real i have nothing in particular to write but when i sit back and see all the opportunities that are coming around Kenya its amazing how the whole world is focused on Kenya apart from the Kenyan leadership who have to argue everything from the point of view of who is a bigger tribal king than the other.
We have a chance of propelling Kenya to the heights of technological development. Rather than fight to create a conducive atmosphere to support that we still fighting over who has the right to own which piece of lands illegally, who to be credited for bringing peace in Kenya and which tribe are you? during census.
yaani nimechoka.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Them Funnies
Its funny how at times you get wierd answers for questions asked, or services requested. Take for example you walk to an ATM and it cant give receipts so it displays this message: SORRY THE SYSTEM IS UNABLE TO ISSUE RECEIPTS, WOULD YOU LIKE TO CONTINUE?
I found myself speechless or actionless at this point coz am wondering what else would they rather I do, stand there stare at the screen of course i would like to proceed.
Ok may be unlike me you understood this to mean do you want to proceed to other services.
Ok that still makes no sense coz am yet to meet someone who likes receipts that much to just go dispence a receipt off the ATM...
Ok how about this from Zain Uganda: SORRY WE CANNOT COMPLETE YOUR CALL DUE TO LACK OF MONEY... ok on whose part...what a way to tell a guy he has no credit.
And I have often heard the term "You sound like broken record" and never really understood the magnitude of the annyance until i sat next to this guy whom i believe is the actual record who lamented continously about Fabianski as a goal keeper and why Arshavin scored all Arsenal goals ... ok normally this would not really bother me...but the fact that he was incesantly on my ear on and on ...was very annoying...leave alone the fact that i hadn't a clue of what he was saying since he did so in Luganda...cept the occasional broken english
Oh I accidentally steppled by fingers today...now that was not funny
I found myself speechless or actionless at this point coz am wondering what else would they rather I do, stand there stare at the screen of course i would like to proceed.
Ok may be unlike me you understood this to mean do you want to proceed to other services.
Ok that still makes no sense coz am yet to meet someone who likes receipts that much to just go dispence a receipt off the ATM...
Ok how about this from Zain Uganda: SORRY WE CANNOT COMPLETE YOUR CALL DUE TO LACK OF MONEY... ok on whose part...what a way to tell a guy he has no credit.
And I have often heard the term "You sound like broken record" and never really understood the magnitude of the annyance until i sat next to this guy whom i believe is the actual record who lamented continously about Fabianski as a goal keeper and why Arshavin scored all Arsenal goals ... ok normally this would not really bother me...but the fact that he was incesantly on my ear on and on ...was very annoying...leave alone the fact that i hadn't a clue of what he was saying since he did so in Luganda...cept the occasional broken english
Oh I accidentally steppled by fingers today...now that was not funny
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
An Interesting article by Lilian Kithia
So what if I can’t cook!
By LILLIAN KITHIA Posted Friday, April 17 2009 at 18:23
Allow me to start by requesting all the sisters out there who can not cook to please raise up their hands; I will feel much more at ease pouring my heart out in this column when I know that I do not belong in this category alone. Just for the record, my concern here is far from feminist.
And this is not a piece about gender equality or any such thing. As a matter of fact, none of the issues discussed in the 1995 Women’s Conference in Beijing will arise in this column. You can call me ignorant if you want but I honestly do not have a clue as to the issues that were discussed in that conference. And If I ever go to China it will be because I want to learn how to use chopsticks. Yes, I am that archaic.
So when I write about cooking, I write, not as a liberal women’s rights activist - or anything close to that - but as a woman who simply cannot cook, appealing to those women whose gastronomic skills allow them to ‘rub shoulders’ with the likes of Martha Stewart and the ‘top chef’ crew to give ‘us’ (the women who cannot cook) a break.
It’s not my fault that I cannot cook! Yes, yes, I know this sounds lame and cliché-d, but how can it possibly be my fault that anytime I put unga (flour) and water in the same pot, I come up with something poisonous? Don’t say ‘making ugali can be a bit tricky’ because then you would have to explain why anytime I make my sukuma wiki (kales), somebody has to spend the night at the dispensary. Well, most time it’s me ending up in the ward because none of my friends would dare let me cook for them.
And no! Don’t blame it on hygiene because cleaning is one of the things that I do right. In fact, if you ask a psychologist, they will tell you that my cleaning ranks somewhere near obsessive-compulsive because I clean everything. Especially before I cook it.
It’s not that I don’t try. I do! For whatever it’s worth, I’ll have you know that I took home science as one of my subjects in high school. But something dangerous still happens between the time I light a cooker and the time I switch it off. And every time I try to cook, I get a clear reminder that this just isn’t my department. AT some point I just had to accept that I cannot cook and give it up.
That is why I feel violated when any woman - or man - goes on and on about what they think of women who cannot cook. Do not get me wrong; I personally have nothing against women who can cook. As a matter of fact, I was raised by one. Yes! I’ll go on and brag about it. My mother’s cooking can get you a gate pass into the heart of any man.
But just because some of these culinary skills did not rub off on me – despite all of her efforts to ensure they did – does not make me any less a woman. And when the time comes, it won’t make me any less a wife or mother.
Let’s be realistic here. There are lots of other ‘female’ things that I can do amazingly well and with very little effort for that matter. For example, I can rock any baby to sleep and clean particularly well. I’m not very bad with a sewing machine either.
So why should I – or anybody else - keep obsessing about what I cannot do while there are things I can do pretty well. I want to be allowed to blow my trumpet where I excel and never to be made to feel guilty where I fall short!
So at the risk of ruffling the feathers of everyone reading this article, I will ask the million dollar question. “Is there a brother out there who doesn’t mind cooking for two?”
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Theory on MIGINGO
Doesnt it strike you as strange that the 2 heads of states are rather quite as far as the island dispute is concerned...I have a theory to explain the silence.
During the post election violence Ugandan army was acused of meddling in the kenyan affairs and killing many supporters of ODM. This was strongly denied by both "leaders". But if you remember kibaki desprately needed an ally then, and he found one in Museveni.
History would teach us all that Kibaki has a way of renaging on his promises and dishonouring MOUs could this be a reminder to him of a promise he made and is now not honouring or did he give it away like the now LAICO regency?
Just a theory.
During the post election violence Ugandan army was acused of meddling in the kenyan affairs and killing many supporters of ODM. This was strongly denied by both "leaders". But if you remember kibaki desprately needed an ally then, and he found one in Museveni.
History would teach us all that Kibaki has a way of renaging on his promises and dishonouring MOUs could this be a reminder to him of a promise he made and is now not honouring or did he give it away like the now LAICO regency?
Just a theory.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Here I am
life has a funny way of re-inventing itself. I have for a while now been feeling like there's something a mis in my life and well the answer is here...
I have had so much passion in everything i do and for a while now been inspirationless just moving with the days as if nothing really matters...well here I am having been reminded that a small thing I did to a friend a while back has grown to be the one thing that has pushed her through some tough times so hey why not...i got my muse back a poet would say...
I had a conversation with someone about how she and her boyfriend were handling their relationship and a simple question like if you took one element out of that relationship say sex what remains...do you still see someone you want to be with?
well as for me wondering if i took the one attribute that makes me me...will I still be me?
Andas for that I am back here for all you who need me...a pillar when weary, a smile always when you cannot afford one and ears when all around you is noisy, a song when that is all you can survive on...A friens always
I have had so much passion in everything i do and for a while now been inspirationless just moving with the days as if nothing really matters...well here I am having been reminded that a small thing I did to a friend a while back has grown to be the one thing that has pushed her through some tough times so hey why not...i got my muse back a poet would say...
I had a conversation with someone about how she and her boyfriend were handling their relationship and a simple question like if you took one element out of that relationship say sex what remains...do you still see someone you want to be with?
well as for me wondering if i took the one attribute that makes me me...will I still be me?
Andas for that I am back here for all you who need me...a pillar when weary, a smile always when you cannot afford one and ears when all around you is noisy, a song when that is all you can survive on...A friens always
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)