Progress monitoring?!

As a boss to Program or Project Management Office, surely you need to have overall view or overview on the progress of programs or projects in your company. One of the famous ways to do this is to have a 'war room' where you have projects/programs update with 'traffic light' indicator to tell you which programs/projects are on track or behind schedule/target.

But sometimes, a company would not have the luxury to convert a room into a 'war room', due to space limitation, etc. If that is the case, as a boss to the Program or Project Management Office, you have to sacrifice your room to be a 'replica' to the 'war room' by pasting programs/projects update on the wall of your room, like the one in this picture. Great! Sacrifice, they call it. And expect your sacrifices to be handsomely rewarded.




Hold on!

You are a boss of Program or Project Management Office. And all you have on the wall of your office (replica of the war room) is a sheet of A3 and a sheet of A4 paper to monitore your staff's annual leave like in the picture below.




What kind of Program/Project Management boss are you?

An asshole!

Time clock

What kind of boss are you when...

Your staff stay back to finish their works when you're not around in office, and go home right on time (to the exact second) when you're around in office.
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Don't think too hard...
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You're just an asshole boss!

When the asshole boss calls

An asshole boss normally calls you on weekends, or when you're away on leave. What should you do? Should you simply don't answer those calls, or you answer them but hang up soon after you answer them. Why not? Not brave enough?! Even President-Elect Barack Obama got hung up by one of his congresswoman.

(from Yahoo! News) On Wednesday, the Republican congresswoman got a call from President-elect Barack Obama, didn't believe it was him, and hung up on him. Twice. According to Ros-Lehtinen's flack Alex Cruz, the congresswoman received the call on her cell phone from a Chicago-based number and an aide informed her that Obama wanted to speak to her.

When Obama introduced himself, Ros-Lehtinen cut him off and said, "I'm sorry but I think this is a joke from one of the South Florida radio stations known for these pranks." Then she hung up. Moments later, Obama tried again, this time through his soon-to-be chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. "Ileana, I cannot believe you hung up on the President-Elect," Emanuel said. And then--yes, you know what's coming--she hung up on Emanuel saying she "didn't believe the call was legitimate."

A short time later, Ros-Lehtinen received an urgent call from Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who informed her that she indeed hung up on Obama. So, Obama tried again and this time he was successful. (Phew!) "It is very funny that you have twice hung up on me," Obama said.

Ros Lehtinen responded by telling Obama that radio stations in South Florida always make these sorts of jokes. Obama said similar pranksters reside in Chi-town. "You are either very gracious to reach out in such a bipartisan manner or had run out of folks to call if you are truly calling me and Saturday Night Live could use a good Obama impersonator like you," Ros-Lehtinen joked with the president-elect.


So, the next time your asshole boss calls you on weekend or while you're away on leave, just hang up. When you got back to office, tell him "I thought the calls were from that stupid 'Kena Kantoi' radio show." Even if your boss got angry, at least it put a smile on your spouse's face!

Human Capital? What a word!

Do you believe that word? Show me! What have you got to show? When the going has been tough for subodinates you got your friends up thers sitting what is righteously ours! That what human capital means from what I am experiencing. We stayed because we have towork till 55/56. You guys only got 3 years windows! What have you done to us? Fast track 3 years! PIP here PIP there! You go but we are here to stay. Another same breeds comes in, new faces of course, here we go again, fast track!! What have you done to the human capital you are pressing on? You never realise, you have never asked you only ordered all these time!

We were doing the same thing before this 3 years things came years ago. But we never ordered, the human capital volunteered! They want to make improvement themselves. They knew what need to done, but need a little guidance, facilitation and cordination to get the whole organization on a single track. We shared our experience nationwide not just a corporate level success. Things are much better then, we knew a Kelantanese, Kedahan, Sarawakian, Sabahan at working levels and we communicated nationwide accross the board. We used to have the platfofm to know our colleagues in other states and that has given us a true meaning of working in organization.

We gave those up, for growth and other interested parties. Can we not have the balance in life, in a working enviroment? We may not be a world class but a world class in our human capital. When the human are happy the results will speaks for itself! But you need a lot of patience, lots of them and 3 years....you better have patience. The foundations that was built many years ago have gone, lost! and the rebuilding is painful..we were almost there then, when the new waves came and spoilt it all...

Human capital, human resource or people whatever you name it, it is just a name! How you treat these people is more important than changing names. If you treat them right and just, there ill follow. Human capital is like that, they have feelings and some are already tired of these never ending songs of changes.

I guess you guys need some thoughts to understand the soft part of human capital!

Adios!

A true leader

A true leader requires no bootlicking antics. If all leaders are 'true' leaders...

(taken from forwarded email)
The Norwegian newspaper VG has reported a truly amazing story about a newly-wed trying to get to Norway to be with her husband, and the stranger who helped pay an unexpected luggage surcharge. The blog 'Leisha's Random Thoughts' has translated the story:

It was 1988, and Mary Andersen was in line at the Miami airport checking in for a long flight to Norway to be with her husband. When it was finally Mary's turn, she got the message that would crush her bubbling feeling of happiness. "You'll have to pay a 103 dollar surcharge if you want to bring both those suitcases to Norway ," the man behind the counter said.

Mary had no money. Her new husband had travelled ahead of her to Norway , and she had no one else to call. "I was completely desperate and tried to think which of my things I could manage without. But I had already made such a careful selection of my most prized possessions," says Mary.

As tears streamed down her face, she heard a 'gentle and friendly voice' behind her saying, "That's okay, I'll pay for her." Mary turned around to see a tall man whom she had never seen before. He had a gentle and kind voice that was still firm and decisive. "The first thing I thought was, Who is this man?"

Although this happened 20 years ago, Mary still remembers the authority that radiated from the man. He was nicely dressed, with brown leather shoes, a cotton shirt open at the throat and khaki pants, says Mary.

She was thrilled to be able to bring both her suitcases to Norway and assured the stranger that he would get his money back. The man wrote his name and address on a piece of paper that he gave to Mary. She thanked him repeatedly. When she finally walked off towards the security checkpoint, he waved goodbye to her.

Who was the man? Barack Obama.

Twenty years later, she is thrilled that the friendly stranger at the airport may be the next President and has voted for him already and donated 100 dollars to his campaign:

"He was my knight in shining armor," says Mary, smiling.

She paid the 103 dollars back to Obama the day after she arrived in Norway . At that time he had just finished his job as a poorly paid community worker in Chicago , and had started his law studies at prestigious Harvard university.

Mary even convinced her parents to vote for him: In the spring of 2006 Mary's parents had heard that Obama was considering a run for president, but that he had still not decided. They chose to write a letter in which they told him that he would receive their votes. At the same time, they thanked Obama for helping their daughter 18 years earlier.

And Obama replied. In a letter to Mary's parents dated May 4th 2006 and stamped "United States Senate, Washington DC ' Barack Obama writes:

"I want to thank you for the lovely things you wrote about me and for reminding me of what happened at Miami airport. I'm happy I could help back then, and I'm delighted to hear that your daughter is happy in Norway. Please send her my best wishes. Sincerely, Barack Obama , United States Senator".

The parents sent the letter on to Mary.

Mary says that when her friends and associates talk about the election, especially when race relations is the heated subject, she relates the story of the kind man who helped out a stranger-in-need over twenty years ago, years before he had even thought about running for high office.

Ok, now ask from your boss $100! lol