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…)

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…)

What if you asked the people who work for you to make a list of the things they expect from you as their leader? What do you think would be written down on the list? The list would possibly have words like:

• To give hope
• To be fair
• To be honest
• To have integrity
• To be courageous
• To stand for what is right
• To accept mistakes
• To have a strong moral fiber
• And not hesitate to take chances. (more…)

How many times have we attempted to do something only to find out the hard way that the consequences would not have been as bad if we had asked for help in the first place? (more…)

Courage – Where does it come from? Are we born with it? Does it come packaged with our genes? Is it an array of medals kept behind glass cases depicting actions that required heroism? What are the things we do that take courage? (more…)