Productivity - What is it??

Some of you might know that my first job after graduation was with the Productivity and Standards Board or PSB for short (now known as SPRING Singapore).

Reason why I got hired was because my Master thesis was on measuring productivity using Econometrics modeling. During that time, there was an on-going debate by Alwyn Young and Paul Krugman about the productivity, or lack of, in Singapore's manufacturing sector compared to the other Asian 'dragons', such as Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Now, with productivity back in the headlines it is a question I ask myself if I should dust off my thesis and look for relevant learning points or is this productivity a really different one?

After much thoughts, I reckon that while the computation of productivity is still valid, the variables and coefficients are now very different.

Let me illustrate. In the past, we determine how productive we are through the use of labor and capital in an optimal fashion and in the most effective and efficient way. Therefore, two firms with the same quality and quantity of labor and capital used in the same combination should produce identical outputs. However if one firm manages to outdo the other, then in comparison it is more productive.

In this new economy, using the same quality and quantity of labor and capital in the same combination will not yield the same output. And this is because of one key differentiating factor. And if this factor is harnessed to the max and properly nurtured (note: not managed) it will bring about extensive competitive advantage.

This differenting factor is 'ideas'. And I believe ideas is something that requires an elegant expression of calculus to capture, which then allow us to solve and hence seek solutions in the process.

To help us learn how to nurture ideas in our workplace, we suggest the 4E Framework and with it a four-step process in nurturing ideas.

Explore: this is simply to encourage our people to ask questions, challenge assumptions, think "what if we can ...", and see things from different perspectives. At this stage, it is important that we really explore all areas to see how we can better ourselves.

Experiment: here, we provide seed funds for projects that were explored in the first phase. Individuals are encouraged to be creative and innovative in their ways to solve the areas identified in the explore phase.

Expand: once the experiments are completed it is essential to see how it would contribute to the organizational goals. This is where we determine which ideas are given an expanded lease of life.

Excellence: implementation at the macro level may not be as smooth as implementation at the controlled level. Therefore at this phase, a close assessment and review process must be employed to refine the ideas further in order to experience excellence.

Research and real-life stories have shown that the above process brings about significant productivity gains for organizations. Do you have some form of framework and/or process that mirrors that of the 4Es described above?

Please share with us. Thank you.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Posted from my iPhone)

Most Important Element of 21st Century Skills

We spent a considerable amount of time researching, discussing, and defining the 21st Century Skills (21Cs). During the process, we discover that the most important element that needs to exist before these skills-set can be laid upon is simply this - responsibility.

First, the 21Cs list a wide repertoire of skills that is required for one to survive in this new economy. To make it happen, one has to consider a series of factors. And the most important of all is, to us, responsibility.

Why?

Let us do an exercise together in order for us to illustrate the point. Think of a goal that you have set in the past that didn't materialize. Now, reflect upon what happened that caused you not to achieve this goal. Next, list down all the possible reasons you think caused this to happen.

Got it?

What we would like you to do now is to put a tick next to all the reasons that caused you not to achieve this goal that were within your control. And place a cross next to all those that were not within your control.

Tally up your score of ticks and crosses. See for yourself. Do you have more ticks than crosses?

If you had more ticks then, congratulations. You are someone who is responsible. However, if the converse was true then you'd really need to re-examine your action plan.

You see, if you have more ticks, then you have a good chance of succeeding. Why? Because if you correct those factors then it will greatly increase your chance of succeeding the next time. But if you have more crosses, then even if you were to try even harder, chances are you will not succeed.

Now, back to the 21Cs. A lot of these skills can be taught. It can be learned. It can be role-modeled. But unless one takes personal responsibility to be taught, to learn, and to role-model others who already have these skills; then trying to equip that person with the 21Cs will be extremely difficult.

And that is because more often than not, this person would be blaming others for his own demise.

We welcome your comments and look forward to engaging you in this dialogue and for you to share with us your thoughts.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Posted from my iPhone)

Listen - Silent Your Mind

I was watching a training video on YouTube recently, on "The Art of Charisma" and one of the main take-away for me was this: Charismatic individuals listen to you. They pay attention to what you are saying. They are focused on you. It's you they want to know more.

And she went on to say, if you scramble the letters in the word "LISTEN", what do you get? It actually spells "SILENT". Isn't it amazing?

Perhaps, allow me to share our experiences with the schools, where we discuss about the "culture" in the school. To begin, we always get the teachers to describe in their own words what do the school values mean to them. This process allows the school leaders and middle management to really listen, learn, then lead the entire school towards defining the desired culture.

In fact, a lot of things happen when teachers describe in their own words what do the school values mean to them. Firstly, they are describing it from their interpretation of the world. In other words, they are telling you how it is like in their world. For instance, for someone the value of "care" could mean really showing respect to your colleagues, while another may extend the same value towards the environment and community as well. Both are right in their world but they describe differently because of their interpretation of the world, their experiences, their background. This is where we say they reveal their mental models.

Secondly, when they describe in their own words what the school values mean to them, they are revealing their standards to you. They are telling you what is important to them. What would really make them upset. What would mean to "cross their lines". What would violate their trust. It is really important to pay attention to what they are saying here. This is where we say they reveal their values to you.

Finally, while facilitating such sessions, we always end of by asking them what it would be like when they have arrive at a common goal. In most cases here, the common goal would be the desired outcomes of the pupils. By giving them the context of the end-in-mind, we would invite them to describe the same set of values again. Here, our objective is to get them to visualize the context in which these values would be translated into desired behaviors when they have arrived at their desired outcomes. This is where we get them to bond together based on the shared vision.

Here, as a Big-Pictured Thinker, we need to be able to silent our mind and really listen. Not listen to respond but listen to understand. Listen to learn. So that we can expand our view of the world by understanding how other people think, how they perceive the world.

To e-book or not?

Of late, especially with the announcement of the iPad, there are several discussions on whether e-books (or for that matter e-textbooks) should be introduced in the classroom. For instance, in this article; the future of textbooks is discussed; while another article here provides a more balanced view of the advantages and disadvantages.

Some agree that e-textbooks will really allow learning to come alive; imagine when you are on the topic of tropical rainforest and right there, on your e-textbook, you will be able to activate a video that will show you the rainforest right there in the classroom.

Some disagree as they think that using e-textbooks readers will distract students in the classroom. In fact, not using e-textbooks will encourage students to get up and conduct their own research, instead of having research conducted for them.

Do share your thoughts with us on e-textbooks:
- What are your thoughts on this?
- What are the advantages (or disadvantages) of using it in the classroom?
- Are you an educator, student, or parent?

Thank you.

Learning Continually

Big-Pictured Thinkers learn continually. They understand that there are always new ways of doing things better, that there can be other areas of knowledge hich they have yet to learn.

Some useful benefits from continual learning include; ever expanding your map of the world, a new subject or area of knowledge will bring about new perspectives, and most importantly to me is that continual learning is fuel for ideas generation.

If we do not learn continually from things, people, books, movies, art, music, then where do we get new ideas?

What works for me is this:
Every week during your weekly review, identify the key opportunities for new learning.

This can be very exciting because let's say in your upcoming week's agenda you find that you have a meeting with an old friend, decide that you will learn something from him/her. It can be his/her pespective of work, life, certain aspects of government policies, etc.

Or let's say you are going to the movies this week with your spouse, decide to find a key learning point from the movie.

Interesting things happen when you made that decision. First, you've programmed your subconscious mind to seek out that learning opportunity that you might otherwise elude you. Second, you approach the event with humilty (to learn) instead of arrogance (of what new thing can this event or person teach me).

So can I challenge you to look at your upcoming week schedule and identify an event where you seek to learn something from it.

As we hope to engage our friends here so please share with us your experiences after you have done the action exercise.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Posted from my iPhone)

Mindset of Big-Picture Thinkers

In our advanced goal-setting seminar, the first step in the entire process is Big-Picture Thinking.

Reason why this is right at the top is because if your goals are not big (yet realistic) it will not only fail to excite you, it will also be difficult to enlist others to join you in achieving the goal.

Another key reason why this is so critical especially for advanced goal-setting is because we believe that your goals should not be about yourself (that's for first level goal-setting; where first you must be able to lead yourself before leading others). In fact your goal should be towards service and not self-serving at this level.

Here, we will like to share the four "Ls" of Big-Picture Thinking. In summary, the four "Ls" are: learning continually, listening intensely, look extensively, and live completely.

We will cover each of the "Ls" in turn, starting with 'learning continually' in the next discussion.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Posted from my iPhone)

ABCD of Engagement - A great teacher inspires

We all recall those days of chalky boards and flying dusters (at least for folks my age). These days in schools we aim to engage our pupils in the ABC.

A is affective, where we do things to engage them in that particular domain. I am a firm believer that the reason "we do what we do when we know what we know" is because the affective domain is not engaged.

Perhaps one of the best examples is in the health arena. We all KNOW that it is good to exercise for at least 30 minutes three times a week; but we do not DO it because we are not MOVED to act in a particular manner that inspires us to take action.

Henceforth, a child (adults alike) may be effective in the intellectual domain but if s/he is experiencing certain emotional drawbacks s/he is not likely to perform well. Of course one can argue that there are individuals who leverage on such negative emotional events to spur them on, as in Brookfield (1987).

We feel that once the affective domain is engaged, then the next domains to work on would be Behaviorial and Cognitive.

The Chinese proverb: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."

This is where things get interesting. Because this is where the systemic benefits happen due to the multiplier effect.

We could explain it this way; when we are emotionally engaged, feel good about learning we tend to take action in learning which then leads to us knowing more in depth about a particular subject. And because we now know more we are more confident to share and that lead to even more learning.

The effect is just phenomenal.

Now, if we can add the "D" to the engagement; it would be Definitive Purpose. As long as there is Definitive Purpose, one would find that it begins to find learning meaningful and relevant.

Perhaps to end off this blog, to share a quote from Maya Angelou:
"I've learnt that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Posted from my iPhone)

Key Goal: Learning to "Think"

One of my goals this year is to sharpen my "thinking".

My reason for the choice of the goal is simple.

If we want to thrive and be a leader in our chosen field, our success hinges on one factor; that is if we are able to be always ahead of our time.

In other words, can we continually be successful in our fields, and of course the answer is yes. The what is it that we need to do to stay ahead?

The answer, as I have figured out, is "ideas". If we are able to continually generate ideas and be effective in executing those ideas, then we will always be able to create, add, and maximize value for all those that we serve.

But where do ideas come from? And how can we be effective in executing those ideas? I believe the answer lies with our ability to think.

Hence, we will be starting a series of blogs on "thinking" from here on and we certainly hope to share these ideas with you.


Your friend,
Melvyn
(Posted from my iPhone)