Cube 2.14 Blog

DO WONDER IF YOU’RE TOO OLD TO PURSUE YOUR DREAM?

For some reason we are conditioned to believe that as we grow older the likelihood of us branching out or trying things that we might have always wanted to becomes more limited. What if that wasn’t true?

You are never too old to be your dream – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

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Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Technological advancements just keep on coming, and all the while, we tout them as “more efficient” and “better.” In many ways, though, the technologies seem to only take care of “keep the lights on” tasks, mundane or routine undertakings that once “wasted” precious human time.

Are we really any more productive though? What do these technologies do to our ability to collaborate and innovate?
I recently took a trip to the grocery store with a year’s worth of change, and after about 30 seconds of dumping coins into a machine, I was given a total and a receipt for my 10 kilos worth of coinage. When I was younger, I would bring this same pile of change to the bank, and wait patiently while the teller spent 10 minutes counting it out. During this time, my parents would chat casually with one of the bank employees.
 
While this wasn’t a huge transaction, or even particularly important business for the bank, manually completing the task allowed time for relationships to be built between my parents (the customers) and various bank employees (the business).
Now the automatic coin-counting machine has replaced the teller for this task. Yes, that bit of technology frees up some time for the teller and allows him or her to “get more done,” but at the end of the day, is it really making any more money for the bank?

Getting More Done With Less
 
With all of these technological breakthroughs, most of us are able to be very self-sufficient in the workplace. We can accomplish dull tasks more quickly and more accurately than in years past. With that tech-based efficiency, however, we’ve adopted this idea that the same amount of work can be done by fewer people – and therein lies the problem. It’s true that technology allows us to be more “productive,” but what are the underlying costs to the organization?
 
A recent client of mine, an information technology group, reduced its team of database engineers from 55 to 45 employees. Because they are exceptional people with state-of-the-art technology, they were able to maintain the same level of customer and project support even with the reduction in staff. There was no noticeable drop off in performance or reliability. There were, however, some unintended consequences:

• The team has little to no ability to take on new projects
• Team member get over 400 emails every day, and that’s not including phone calls, instant messages, and texts
• Career development is stagnant – not intentionally, but because there is no time to dedicate to it
• Database interruptions, though rare, now take almost 30% longer to resolve

While the current workload wasn’t impacted, the reduced workforce left zero bandwidth available to take on anything outside of their narrowly defined roles. Customers were mildly disappointed in this lack of expandable service, and other IT teams found the group difficult to work with – because the level of stress (with no prospect of relief) has the team stretched tight like a drum.
 
Now What?

Instead of looking at how to get more done with fewer people, organizations need to start asking themselves, “what’s best for the company?”

In an emergency, sometimes layoffs can’t be avoided, but it’s worth considering that a team with adequate resources and enough members is far more capable of scaling to meet demand. When every member of a workforce is operating at maximum capacity, there is no room for additional polish on a task, no room for an expanded market share, and perhaps most importantly, no time to devote to solving problems and innovating within the company itself.

Instead of looking for ways to do more with less, companies should simply be look at how to do things better. The push to “increase productivity” is a false measure of success, because efficiency is not necessarily akin to quality. Productivity is not just accomplishing more with fewer resources, or in less time, but rather the collective result of taking on greater workloads, improving efficiency, and delivering a higher quality result at the end of the process.

There is an assumption that technology has made organizations more productive, but is this really the case?

They may be able to get the same amount of work done with fewer people, but what about taking on more work?

What about coming up with innovative solutions to customer issues? What about fostering relationships?

At what point does squeezing efficiency out of a company become strangulation?

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Why do some people in leadership roles feel the need to manage with fire and brimstone? Is there a benefit to this iron-handed method of establishing dominance and letting everyone know “who’s boss”? Is it all just posturing for the power hungry?

This type of leadership is both an abuse of (perceived) power, and frankly, awfully ineffective. A real leader derives authority naturally, not from a title or a position.

What would happen if managers took a step back to examine how others see them?
 
They might realize that fear and subservience do NOT equal loyalty, and leading from a place of dominance (instead of encouragement or collaboration) only yields the bare minimum effort, and worse, fosters disdain and dissent.
 
If team members are supposed to be the ones getting all of the work done, driving solutions and coming up novel ideas, what does it say if the leader doesn’t seem to care about the team?
 
People in leadership roles of all kinds should constantly be aware of how they are seen. Do your team members look forward to your presence, or duck out of sight when they see you coming?

Leaders are supposed to pull the best work from their teams through inspiration and motivation, not through intimidation and the crack of the proverbial whip.

What is the best example of leadership you’ve seen in your organization? 
 
Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO MAKE THE NEW YEAR SUCCESSFUL?  RESOLUTIONS?  GOALS?
 
What about creating your very own mantra?  
 
Chris Brogan does every year. He takes 3 words and makes them his drivers for the year.
 

 
The concept is truly incredible. (Please click here to see Chris’ 3 words and read his article, its really good)
 
The economy has really cranked up and it looks like the job market is beginning to turn around. Things are fun and interesting and tenuous and scary all bundled into one. In honor of that, the 3 words I chose for 2014 are Support More Success.
 
SUPPORT – 
Look for opportunities to help others reach and exceed their goals…starting with my wife.  Give away help and connect people to get them closer to what they want/need. Do this without any expectation for reciprocation or “in order to”.  Live this year with the belief that there is more than enough to go around.  But doing this, I will focus on the things I really want to do.  Make working more like play…just have fun helping others.
 
MORE – (REPEAT FROM LAST YEAR CAUSE IT WAS SO AWESOME)
Ensure that there is more than enough to go around. There are always enough pie for everyone. That goes for my wife, business, friends, time and my community. Looking to develop business opportunities that involve my great network (and all those new friends that I have “created”). Focus time to make more relationships that are lasting, full of joy and mutually beneficial. Be more to my wife and partner. Allowing her to have the more she couldn’t before.
 
SUCCESS – 
Take risks to exceed my goals.  Not stupid risks, but step out to make the things I and others want a reality.  Reach out to people in every corner to make sure that the lofty goals for myself and others are met.  Don’t worry so much about what others think about me or what I am doing, just do. Talk less, listen more, and seek out success.  Avoid lingering or wallowing in what doesn’t work or what could have been.  Be enthusiasm for others success.  Laugh a lot because that’s what successful people do!
 
So for this year, I want to support more success in every aspect of my life. Expanding opportunities for others, growing friendships and striving making the world a better place in every action I take. The only thing that its missing is an awesome theme song!
 
I’d love to hear your 3 words for the year or hear about your BHAG for 2014.

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

As 2013 has ended, America has witnessed the least productive Congress and most almost financial crisises in its history.  

Since all failures can help others to learn, what does this government failure teach us?

1. Being positional is a path to disaster. – Regardless of party or beliefs, being unwilling to see the other’s point of view or even consider that there is a middle ground is not just unrealistic, it leads to inaction. This inaction is the fastest path to failure.

2. Letting a small group dominate the majority means inaction – When the loudest voices from the smallest group control the conversation, nothing can get done.

3. When nothing gets done, people lose faith in leaders – It’s better to take an action that needs to be corrected than do nothing.

4. No one wants to hear why things are getting done, they just want results – It’s easy to point out why things didn’t happen.  Point the finger and say its someone else’s fault. But in the end, people want to see progress.  If the lights go out, does it matter who’s fault it is BEOFRE you get the lights back on?  No, not really.

So thanks Congress and the White House.  You’ve taught some valuable lessons on how not to lead.

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

When someone (anyone) proposes a solution to a problem, presents a new idea, or introduces a new design, the natural tendency of onlookers is to immediately begin deconstruction, looking for elements that won’t work and reasons why a proposed method/design/idea might fail.

Why would we ever do this to ourselves?
 
Doesn’t it seem logical that pooling a bunch of negativity at the base of a fresh, vulnerable new idea would eat away at the support structure? What could possibly be productive about shooting an idea down before it even gets off the ground?
 
Now this may seem like a radical approach, but it shouldn’t be: instead of immediately looking for the shortcomings in an emerging solution, look for qualities worth admiring, elements worth building upon.
 
Even if there’s only a shred of viability, that’s what should be noted first. If nothing else, it will get whatever team is reviewing the idea thinking in the right direction – after all, the goal is to find and create solutions, not to dwell on things that won’t solve the issue at hand.
 

 
When you can get a group (or even an individual) looking for the positives first, it opens the gates for collaboration, for the snowballing of ideas that will yield the best possible results. This is the behavior of building rather that destroying. Instead of picking apart each other’s ideas, we use them to generate ideas of our own. It’s the classic “Yes, and…” mentality, most famous in improvisational theater. It means going with the flow, exploring the path laid in front of you by a fellow collaborator, and above all, making an effort to build instead of destroy.
 
 
Just imagine how this might affect the morale of a team, if everyone’s immediate reaction to a new idea was to find its most praise-worthy points, looking for what will work instead of what won’t.
 
If this process is repeated long enough, there will be so many good ideas floating around that the best solution is bound to emerge. The next time someone proposes a new idea, look for possibilities not problems.

This doesn’t mean that every idea is golden, or that there won’t be less-than-perfect elements to a proposal, but when we allow ourselves to go straight for the downside, we may overlook a subtle opportunity that just needed a little encouragement.

Try positivity for a change – it will make all the difference. 

Anil Saxena is the President of Cube 2.14, an organizational development consulting firm that works with clients to increase both customer and employee engagement while decreasing turnover, improving customer retention, and increasing profitability within organizations.

Saxena is a certified High Impact coach and trainer and a Joint Application Design facilitator. He is also certified by both Rush Systems and IBM as a focus group facilitator. He is an inaugural member of Northwestern University’s Learning and Organizational Change program, and he earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.