Human Capital Asia Inc.

To install simplicity as a way of life in your organization would involve making it your responsibility to take charge of moving from the complex to making things simple. Simplicity will not happen on its own. It has to be someone’s task to deal with complex issues that waste time, energy and effort for the corporation. To position simplicity in your organization will call for everyone to be involved in making it work but it will need a group or an individual to take charge of the program.

Let’s take for example the process of signing up visitors at the reception desk for buildings located in active business districts. There definitely is a faster and less complex way of doing registration for guests coming for appointments with tenants in the building. Almost everyone complains about how long and difficult it is to line up to get an identification card and finally receive clearance to proceed. Why has the system not changed despite the fact that it needs changing? Why has there been no effort to simplify the system even if it has proven itself to be a time-waster? No change has happened because no one has taken the responsibility towards making things simple. Someone has to stand responsible for implementing simplicity in the workplace. (more…)

If it’s none of your business, don’t ask questions.

As a young kid there would be occasions when we would hear the grownups talk about some problem during dinner and curiosity getting the better of us would prompt us to ask what it was they were talking about. Many times the answer would be a curt, “It’s none of your business!” In our minds our response was, “I’m old enough to be part of that”, but of course you knew better and you kept your mouth shut.

It was a good lesson to learn and it was even better if you learned it early. (more…)

A recent article that appeared in a local daily pointed out that the first thing to do in developing an effective creative team in the workplace is finding the right fit. What we believe the writer meant was that for a team member to make it in this group, there must be some form of conformity with the team leader first and then the team members second. A clearer example would be likening the prospective associate to a part of a finely engineered gear in an expensive timepiece. His or her gears should mesh with the gears of the other members, and most importantly, with those of the person heading the team. Great, maybe, if what you want to do is make a watch that keeps perfect time, but not so great if what you had in mind was a team that was not afraid to change the game or question the status quo. (more…)

The permission to try thrives in an environment where encouragement flourishes and where criticism and ridicule do not exist. One of the best areas to learn that one has permission to try is during play. Play is the perfect place to put this to heart. In the world of play, we are given permission to attempt anything, be anything or anyone and shift from one character to the next as many times as we want and as fast as we want to. (more…)

One of the most persistent personalities you will encounter in the gas stations are those sales agents offering credit cards that reward you with a 5% rebate when used to load gas or diesel. Over and above your usual credit card for shopping they offer an extra credit card just for loading processed fossil fuels into your car. The problem was not that people did not like the idea of having a credit card for gasoline but that one normally did not have the time to fill out the forms and whatever other requirements were needed to have the card. It’s a gas station for heaven’s sake and what a normal motorist wants to do is put the gas into the car and go. (more…)

One of the most overpowering temptations when growing up is to attempt to try to operate some gadget or equipment that we see adults use. Sometimes we even push it as far as ignoring all the warnings our parents give and still try to do something we were told not to do. When we throw caution to the wind we sometimes end up doing huge mistakes that are accompanied by oppressive and agonizing consequences. Maybe some of you remember being told not to drive the car by yourself because you’re not ready yet. As soon as no one is home and the car keys are available we start the car and begin our grand adventure. Less than ten seconds later our grand adventure comes to a close with you smashing the rear fender on the side of the gate and taking the gate down with you. We end up with more or less a hundred years of being grounded and sentenced to clean the toilet twice a week for the next fifty years. Very similar we suppose to the Monopoly game move were we are told not to pass go, not to collect 200 and head directly to jail. (more…)

A week and a half ago we had the opportunity to listen to a multi-awarded inventor talk about the machines he would make when he was still a child. One of his favorites was the toy crane he made with two halves of a milk can that was controlled by strings to pick up things like tennis balls and the like. He said he built this toy so that he would not need to climb over the neighbor’s fence to pick up the ball that his friends happen to be playing with. It made life easier for him and his playmates and the game did not have to be delayed longer than it should. As a young boy, he was on the lookout for ways to make life easier for him and for other people. He had, by wanting to simplify his life, devised a short cut to retrieving the ball that went over the neighbor’s fence. To some it would seem as an imaginative way to get things done, while others might conclude that it was a lazy boy’s way of getting the ball back into play. (more…)

Some things just don’t work well the other way around. Take for example the process of rewarding results so that you get to inject more energy into the organization. When wanting to extract new ideas from your team and continue to get exciting suggestions, the way it will work is to reward effort which in turn translates into results. All proposals offered by your team should be recognized. Even the most absurd of ideas should receive recognition. By doing this more of the get-up-and-go attitude will surface and everyone will be inspired to forward that so called “out-of-the-box” thinking. When your team is brainstorming, what you want is for the ideas to keep on coming. You don’t want them to pull back and begin pre-judging their ideas even before they can share it. Setting the tone for this can only be done if we decide to reward continuously for effort. (more…)

Most of us have handed out resumes when searching for a job. One look at the resume and the first thing you notice is that the record is flawless. From Kindergarten to University, nothing is more obvious than how many successes we have had in our lives. Our resumes reflect the age old adage that if you work hard, you can be and do anything you want in life. (more…)

Greg Mortensen, an American, author of the best selling books, “Three Cups Of Tea” and Stones into Schools”, has been able to build at least 130 schools, most of them for girls, in one of the most dangerous regions in the world – the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. This place is known to be the heart of the Taliban country and where many of the most wanted terrorists are trained. In his books, Greg describes how he and his team from this region were able to build the schools and how they were able to get permission from armed groups to allow their young girls to come to these schools. Here is an excerpt from the book Stones into Schools: (more…)