8 semplici modI per motivare

* Show genuine interest. I believe this is by far the most effective way of encouraging others. Let them know you care. Express genuine interest by asking questions. Get them talking. I find the act of talking and thinking can fire up the engines (roar!). With some hope and luck, this can lead to positive action. But don’t be fake about it and don’t go overboard.
* Acknowledge what’s important to them. When you acknowledge what’s important to others, you provide a form of affirmation and validation about who they are and what they’re doing. Whether they can admit it or not, each of them deep down craves this acknowledgement. The affirmation and validation is like nitro for their confidence and self-esteem.
* Say “Well done”. Nothing worth doing is ever easy. If it’s easy, then it’s not worth doing. Worthwhile things always takes time and effort. One good way of providing encouragement is simply by saying “Well done” or “Congratulations”. These magical Words of Encouragement at the right time can make all the difference between “keep going” and “give up”.
* Say “Thank you”. Common courtesy. Good manners. That what this tip is about. It’s only natural to expect a reward after hard work. It’s only natural to thank someone when they do something for you. You can start now. Thank your wife after she cooks a nice meal. Thank your friend for lending you that Stargate DVD. A simple thank you lets others know what they have done is worthwhile and meaningful to you.
* Reciprocate the favour. If someone does something nice for you, a great way to show your appreciation is simply to reciprocate the favour. Think of this as a pendulum. They do something nice for you. You do something nice for them. They do something nice for you. You do something nice for them. And so on…
* Respond with something unexpected. Another effective way to encourage others is to respond with something totally unexpected. Out of the blue. That’s when the maximum impact is delivered. Such acts can reach them at an emotional level and our brains are hard wired to respond to emotional things.
* Ask for advice or confide in them. This is like flattery. Haven’t you felt like you were on top of the world when your peers asked you for advice or confided in you about something personal or important to them? Didn’t that make you want to help and do everything you can to ensure their faith in you is well founded?
* Offer to lend a hand. Waiting for someone to ask you for advice is passive. You can be proactive by offering to lend a hand. If that person sees that you are willing to commit your own time and energy in their interests, they will be more committed to seeing it through and less likely to give up themselves.

Tratto dal blog http://www.davecheong.com/

18 modi per “essere produttivo” !

1. Write out a daily task list and plan your day. There’s nothing like a task list sitting next to you to keep you focused. When you have a list of the things you need to accomplish in a day, having that close to you constantly reminding you of what needs to be done is a great way of keeping on track.
2. Allocate time slots colleagues can interrupt you. In a busy work place, people are moving and talking all the time. If you play a role in a team where others need to interact with you, try allocating a time slot they can interrupt you. Instead of having people stop by your desk every 10 mins and asking you questions, let them know of a time in the day, say between 2-4pm you can be interrupted. At all other times, you can really get some work done.
3. Apply time boxing. In a previous article, I wrote about the benefits of time boxing. Instead of working at something till it is done, try working on it for a limited period, say 30 mins. By that time, the task is either completed or you allocate another time slot, perhaps in another day, to pick it up again. This way, you keep your work fresh and engaging throughout the entire working day.
4. Setup filters in your email. If you spend a lot of your time communicating and planning in front of your computer, chances are you deal with emails on a frequent basis. Setting up filters in your email client can be a great way of sorting out what’s important and urgent from personal stuff which can wait. Instead of dealing with a single Inbox with hundreds of unread email, you only need to deal with smaller folders categorised by project, priority and context.
5. Do not check personal email in the morning. Checking personal emails can be very distracting even with filters setup. This is especially true when your friends send you links to interesting articles, jokes or videos on YouTube. If you’re not careful, you can get side tracked for hours. Instead of checking your personal email as soon as you get in, try starting work straight away. This will build up some momentum as you ease into your work day. You should check your personal email only after you have a few tasks completed or underway. Also, if you don’t want to perpetuate a particular distracting email thread, just don’t reply to it until after work.
6. Set your IM status. If you use Instant Messenger, when you don’t want to be disturbed, make use of the status and set yourself as being away or busy. Your friends and colleagues will honour that. They can either send you an email or look you up later when you aren’t as busy.
7. Listen to the right types of music. Music is a great way of settling into the working routine. In addition, having music can drown out office noises like printers and background chattering. Be careful though, depending on personal preference, some types of music are not particularly conducive to productive work. For me, I can’t work when listening to songs with lots of lyrics because the words interrupt my thinking process.
8. Use the headphones but leave the music off. Some people prefer to have absolute silence when working. I think that also depends on what kind of work you are doing. If you’re doing some serious planning or something computational, having music blasting in your ears may not be the best thing for keeping focused. Try using headphones or ear plugs to block out the background noise but leave the music off.
9. Fill up a water bottle. Keeping yourself hydrated is pretty important for all sorts of health reasons. Instead of going to the water cooler with your glass every hour, try filling up a water bottle at the start of the day. This does a couple of things – firstly, it limits the starts/stops associated every time you get up for water and secondly, it avoids being sucked into lengthy discussions around the water cooler.
10. Find the best time to do repetitive and boring tasks. No matter how much you try to avoid it, you’re going to have to face doing things which are either repetitive or boring. For these tasks, I find it is best to choose a time in the day to work on them. For example, I’m more alert at the start of the day, so it’s better to work on things which require brain power early. Working on boring tasks that can be done via auto-pilot are better left towards the end of the day when I’m usually tired.
11. Bring your lunch and have it at your desk. I’m not suggesting you do this every day, but if you really have to focus and are trying to meet a deadline, having your lunch at your desk really helps. The normal one hour lunch break can really interrupt any momentum you might have built up during the morning. I find when I’m eating lunch at my desk, my lunch breaks are shorter and I can get through a few emails while I’m eating. After I’m done, I’m straight back working on the next task.
12. Don’t make long personal calls. Most of us have a good separation between our working and personal lives (or a least try to). I think we can all agree we should avoid having work intrude on our personal time as much as possible. The reverse of this also applies. Try limiting the time you spend doing personal things during work as they can be distracting and draining on your motivation. For example, you do not really want to be thinking about your weekend away with your spouse when you really need to get things done.
13. Clean up your desk. Some of you may have desks which can only be described as ordered chaos. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as long as you can find what you need without too much digging around. However, if you can’t, I suggest cleaning up your desk. That doesn’t mean having an empty desk, it just means having neat stacks of paper, all filed in the correct location. It also helps tremendously having all the things you need easily within arms reach. For example, if you need a place to write, having your pen and notepad close by and easily accessible is incredibly useful.
14. Get a good chair. If you sit for long hours at your desk and I’m sure some of you do, you might find it helpful to get a good chair. I find it’s pretty hard to stay focused when my neck and back are sore because I have a bad setup at my desk. A good chair can eliminate this, allowing you to work for long stretches without breaks and physical distractions.
15. Use shortcuts on your computer. If you find you do the same thing with your computer more than once throughout the day, you might find it helpful to look for ways in which you can do them without too much manual repetition. For example, if there’s a project folder you access all the time, try adding a shortcut to your Explorer or Finder so you can get access to it with a single click, instead of expanding folder after folder in the tree panel.
16. Close programs you’re not using. As a software engineer, I use a lot of programs important to my work. However, in most cases, I only need a few applications open at the same time. Instead of Alt-Tabbing constantly and fighting the computer to locate the program you need, try only having the applications you need open. Close everything else. For example, if you have already located a file and no longer need a particular Explorer or Finder instance open, close it. There’s no reason to leave it around at all.
17. Limit time on Digg, Delicious, news sites and blogs. I don’t think I need to say too much about this. There are so many sites on the Internet worth looking at, including this site . Digg, Delicious, news and blogs are great from an interest perspective, but they can really take you away from the work you should be working on. Try to limit going to these sites during the working day. If you really have to, try doing it during your lunch time. No, you don’t need to have your finger on the pulse every single minute of the day…
18. Change your mindset and make work fun. For me, I find it difficult to stay focused on doing things I’m not by nature interested in doing. In most cases, there’s probably nothing I can do about it. However, be mindful of the fact that your perception of work is something you can control. For my last tip here, I suggest you try changing your mindset or turning work into a game. An unfocused mind, is an unchallenged mind. So make things fun!

Tratto dal blog di http://www.davecheong.com/

Kaizen contro kakushin

Un dualismo controverso: kaizen contro kakushin
di Cristiano Martorella

17 dicembre 2000. La nozione di kaizen (miglioramento), introdotta dai giapponesi nel sistema di produzione, comporta una revisione dei concetti occidentali alla base dell’idea di sviluppo industriale.
Con l’adozione della logica del kaizen, si introduce un rapporto con il kakushin (innovazione) che può essere anche conflittuale.
Kakushin equivale al concetto espresso in inglese con il termine breakthrough, ed è la realizzazione di un progetto di trasformazione in una prospettiva futura. Esso comporta la rimozione di fattori d’ostacolo e il rinnovamento delle strutture di produzione.

I giapponesi non negano l’importanza dell’innovazione all’interno della fabbrica, ma la avvertono come una minaccia se essa non è interna a un processo di miglioramento continuo (kaizen).
Secondo Tanaka Minoru, l’autentica innovazione è il risultato della sommatoria del prodotto di kaizen e kakushin. Per i giapponesi, l’innovazione deve essere integrata al miglioramento, se non addirittura subordinata. Non si possono introdurre cambiamenti se la qualità del processo di produzione non è buona.
Innovare significa anche rompere la continuità del processo, obbligare a un salto, e sovente con gravi spese e perdite. Sarà sicuramente vero che le perdite presenti dovute all’innovazione vengono compensate e superate dai profitti che essa fornisce nel futuro. Ma questa logica non può essere sempre adottata, e dipende anche dal tipo di economia che la sostiene. Ammortizzare delle spese è possibile in un sistema che possiede ampie riserve. Non è sempre così.
E questo spiega il mancato decollo delle economie dei paesi sottosviluppati che non hanno la possibilità di sostenere un sistema industriale.
L’idea dello storico ed economista Rostow, teneva presente appunto questa situazione. Il decollo dello sviluppo industriale (take off) deve avere alle spalle un’accumulazione di capitale e di risorse. L’economia giapponese del dopoguerra non godeva di tale condizione, e ha dovuto ricorrere a un sistema di produzione mirato ai propri mezzi ed esigenze.

Mentre Rostow, criticato aspramente da Gerschenkron, credeva che esistessero delle condizioni pregiudiziali per la crescita economica e un’unica tipologia di sviluppo, il Giappone dimostrava nei fatti che era possibile anche un modello diverso di organizzazione industriale.
Oono Taiichi ci ricorda come nel dopoguerra i giapponesi fossero consapevoli delle diverse condizioni in cui si trovassero, e che le loro scelte di economia aziendale non si potevano rifare a un’imitazione pedissequa del modello statunitense per loro improponibile.

Un’altra critica al kakushin (innovazione) è di tipo caratteriale ed emotivo. Gli occidentali hanno la tendenza a cambiare totalmente qualcosa che non funziona, buttando magari via un lavoro che necessitava di ritocchi, oppure che aveva in sé delle caratteristiche positive.
Ricordiamo che il Walkman che oggi tutti noi conosciamo e usiamo, non è altro che la versione modificata e migliorata di un magnetofono portatile che era fallito miseramente, ma che fu ripreso da Morita Akio e lanciato sul mercato con successo inaspettato.
Alla riluttanza nei confronti del kakushin (innovazione) corrisponde quindi un atteggiamento caratteriale. Ai giapponesi non piacciono le riforme che comportano cambiamenti drastici. E qui passiamo dal livello della produzione industriale a quello più articolato dell’economia finanziaria.

Le pressioni degli occidentali sul sistema giapponese per l’introduzione di riforme strutturali non ha mai portato a buoni risultati. Le lamentele degli analisti si sono fatte sentire con più forza a partire dagli anni ’90.
Un articolo di Robert Neff intitolato “Fixing Japan”, apparso su Business Week, sintetizzava bene le ragioni che spingevano a tali critiche.
Tuttavia il Giappone cambia, e spesso radicalmente, ma mai secondo le aspettative degli occidentali. In realtà le lamentele degli analisti occidentali sono giustificate. I giapponesi non applicano riforme, piuttosto si limitano a “miglioramenti”.
Sarà pure significativo il fatto che nella storia del Giappone non è stata mai messa in discussione l’autorità dell’Imperatore, nemmeno nel periodo dello shogunato che vedeva il potere effettivo nelle mani del Generalissimo, riducendo la figura dell’Imperatore a una formalità.
Tuttavia fu proprio un Imperatore del periodo Meiji (1868-1912), Mutsuhito, a spingere il Giappone al rinnovamento e all’adozione di quel sistema industriale che ha posto le basi della piena parità con le potenze occidentali.
Tutte queste stranezze non possono essere sempre additate all’arcaismo della struttura sociale giapponese.

Ragionare in termini di miglioramento comporta uno scontro con l’idea stessa di sviluppo industriale. Schumpeter aveva individuato nelle innovazioni tecnologiche il meccanismo che consentiva lo sviluppo economico superando le crisi cicliche che porterebbero alla stasi di qualunque sistema economico.
Le innovazioni costituivano una sorta di volano per l’economia introducendo un elemento inaspettato e non presente nelle variabili delle funzioni matematiche: l’intelligenza umana.

Ma l’introduzione del sistema giapponese di produzione ha comportato un modo diverso di vedere la realtà. Ed è difficile negare che non sia cambiato profondamente anche lo sviluppo storico ed economico.
Probabilmente dovremo aspettare la conclusione di questi processi per capire seriamente il fenomeno. Sono trascorsi pochi decenni dai cambiamenti di cui abbiamo parlato, ed è eccessivo pretendere di descrivere tali processi come se fossero già conclusi.
Finora molte previsioni degli economisti non si sono realizzate, e il Giappone resta ancora una incognita indisponente per chi vorrebbe vedere il mondo governato dall’omogeneità dello sviluppo economico.