“I am not able to sleep at night. There is too much work in the project, please move me to some other project.” As Dhanesh was complaining I could hear the frustration in his voice. Obviously, there was something wrong. “Can you tell me something more about it?” Proposing a solution without hearing the problem, can make the situation worse. Also, many times...
“Makarand, this new development work I am handling is very delicate. I think it is going to break at several places.” Ritu was a new entrant in the delivery team. Great that she was very enthusiastic and willing to drive for perfection. “Yes, you are right, anything that can fail will fail. That is exactly why we need someone like...
“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” -Anonymous “It’s like a dream come true. I was waiting for this opportunity for years. However it is a very big change, and I am not sure how to decide on this one.” I was talking to Dinesh, a senior leader in a large multinational, who was thinking of starting...
“All work is the avoidance of harder work.” ? James Richardson “The website was down after the automatic update, Ramesh jumped in as soon as he saw the problem and the site was up again within minutes. This saved us a potential loss of revenue.” We were in the process of nominating team members for the employee of the month award. The...
“I know I have to do it, I mean I have to give it to someone. I am overwhelmed by the work that needs to be done. And I just can’t do everything.” Sameer sounded quite frustrated. Well, it looked like he had the right answer. He just needed some help to actually do it. “That problem has been solved many times before, and...
“Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.” – Anne Frank “Good morning friends, how was the long holiday?” Manish appeared very cheerful as he entered the coffee room. We were just returning back to work after the long Diwali holidays, and coffee was the best option to get things going again. “Well, the holiday was excellent. But that makes it difficult to get back to work....
“Ajay is back in action, this time with double energy. Your suggestions worked.” I could see the excitement on the face of Mangesh. “I need to find some way to avoid this in the future. I want all my team to be in good shape.” “That is excellent. Any leader will want that. What do you plan to do?” This time...
“Ajay had called, he is not well and can’t attend office for a couple of days. He is a member of a very critical project and his absence can delay the next release cycle.” Mangesh looked very worried as he was sharing the thought. “Ajay was also sick a couple of weeks before, and I am really worried about...
“When you’re a manager, you work for your company. When you’re a leader, your company works for you.” - Stan Slap “We need to move very fast. We have a release coming up in two weeks from now, and I want everyone to be focused on their work.” A heated debate was going on in the daily stand-up meeting. Rasik...
"Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear" - a safety warning on side mirrors of motor vehicles. “Makarand, I get close to a thousand emails every day. I want to answer every mail, but it is overwhelming. Any tips?” In an informal conversation, Ramesh was sharing his experience in the new job. He had recently joined us from a...
