Adaptable Versatile Flexible

Adaptable : capable of being or becoming adapted. 

adapt verb \ə-ˈdapt, a-\transitive verb : to make fit (as for a new use) often by modification

— adapt·abil·i·ty \-ˌdap-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\noun

1.     an adaptable tool that combines a screwdriver, a corkscrew, and pliers

2.     <an activities director who's adaptable to any kind of situation>

Versatile: ver·sa·tile

adjective \ˈvər-sə-t^əl, especially British -ˌtī(-ə)l\

1

: changing or fluctuating readily : variable <a versatile disposition>

2

: embracing a variety of subjects, fields, or skills; also: turning with ease from one thing to another

3

a (1): capable of turning forward or backward : reversible <a versatile toe of a bird> (2): capable of moving laterally and up and down <versatile antennae>

bof an anther: having the filaments attached at or near the middle so as to swing freely

4

: having many uses or applications <versatile building material>

 A pocket knife is a versatile tool.

Flexible: flex·i·ble

adjective \ˈflek-sə-bəl\

1

: capable of being flexed : pliant

2

: yielding to influence : tractable

3

: characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements <a flexible foreign policy> <a flexible schedule>

— flex·i·bil·i·ty \ˌflek-sə-ˈbi-lə-tē\noun

— flex·i·bly \ˈflek-sə-blē\adverb

1.     flexible branches swaying in the breeze

2.     a material that is both strong and flexible

3.     She's been doing exercises to become stronger and more flexible.

4.     Our schedule for the weekend is very flexible.

5.     This computer program has to be flexible to meet all our needs.

6.     Whatever you want to do is fine with me. I'm flexible.

The Wind Drift: Change and Adjustment

From the Change Management Notes

The Wind Drift-the average direction of the wind over a period of time.

Bonifacio Global City BGC is a walking business district. Pedestrian lanes are in place in the squared blocks without any obstacles. On each block, there is a pedestrian traffic sign and a series of white strips painted on the street to mark a crossing lane. From the Net Lima Building at the 4^th and 26^th St, walk to Market Market towards the East is a leisurely 12 minute walk. To the St. Luke's Medical Center Global at the 32th St. towards North, it is a short 5-minute walk with interruptions at the blocks if the traffic lights flash red.

February when we moved in, walking back to Headquarters requires more effort because of the wind drift that blows harder as the day deepens creating a wind draft. Like going through change, adjusting requires effort and personal initiative to cope.

The Uniform. Here at BGC, front flat slacks, leather shoes, blazers, collared shirts, signature eyeglasses, slung IDs, laptop bag and highlighted streaks of hair are the distinguishing marks of the evolving artifacts.

You know these are artifacts because they are phenomena that one sees, hears and feels, visible products of the group, visible behavior of the group and organizational processes and easy to observe but difficult to decipher.

Welcome to change management.

New Faces. New laughter. Fresh Stories. Some familiar figures are gone. Habitual responses no longer show up. The group you coalesce with is either incomplete, with a new face or worst non-existent anymore. Whether elimination or elimination, what is certain is a new team lead has taken over understanding your operations and sliding in his reforms.

There is discomfort because it is an adjustment period. There is containment because the rules have changed. There is some sort of uncertainty because your area of influence is now an area of concern.

The feelings are normal. Acknowledge them.  Eventually driving forces will show up to transition you to the new norm.

New artifacts challenge your values. What new values prevail? What can you ride on? Which ones are challenges? Be aware. Tap on them. They are key in tiding you over.

In managing change, help let go of the past. Some proven steps: Prepare them. Acknowledge change openly. Compensate for the loss. Take a part of the old. Say info over and over.  Elaborate on the ending. Mark endings-show how it ensures continuity. Treat the past with respect.

27 Feb 2013

Philippines is Where Home is

The family is the center of the Filipino.

The Filipino worker is at the core of industrial operations overseas.

Home with members of the family is where the elderly stays.

There is joy preparing a meal for the family.

This is the Philippines. This is my home.

Hands may not always be full but the heart is.

Triggered by the letter of Dr.David Harwell.

Benjamin Pimentel building on the insights wrote a reply.

Blog. FB. Tweet

I am principally a blogger via online internet using a laptop. Blogging allows me to expound ideas in stanzas and paragraphs limitless. With minimal visuals, I am able to frame a point of view.  It did not matter if it was not read. For as long as the thought is captured and recorded and can be looked back to aid recall at the appropriate moment, I am pleased.

Blogging provides me the discipline to contain and organize my lucid thoughts in a structured format. It is worth publishing if it is "a compelling idea well expressed."

Half a decade ago, I was created a Facebook account, a venue for social networking in visuals, video and in words directed to a set of acquired friends online. The open list of contacts added with the linkages attached to acquired friends is enough to keep the lines burning and the account alive. At the peak of usage especially when hot items are discussed and a constant probe by the system on "what's in your mind" the stream of messages from anywhere and anytime regardless of location and zone never settles.

Facebook even has a provision to quick acknowledgement increasing the exchanges directly or openly to all. Fortunately, there is a control safeguard where you can select friends and views to receive. FB eventually expanded to accommodate larger files, high definition videos and fotos initially slowing the system down.

Smart Phone changed the mobility of interaction. Starting with PALM then moving to IPhone and Galaxy, the unit initially used for Short Message Sending and phone calls is capable of sending and receiving the contents of a computer from anywhere, anytime in any condition.

Thousands of SMS, videos and visuals are transmitted in this handy small hardware capable in reaching a wider base of recipients. Linked with Facebook and blog, I eventually created a Twitter account to belong to the new generation of social networkers.

Twitter when connected with live media coverage of TV, cable or radio shows its competitive edge over blog and FB. There is live, real time interaction with practically anyone on planet earth who can type in a message on the phone or in a computer keyboard. Limited to just 140 characters though, it is sufficient to cleverly present a point-of-view to thousands of readers both of high and low profile, known and unknown and being responded to quickly with a reply. This containment of number of characters makes possible the multiple sending of ideas in shorter gaps to a huge base of followed twitters.

This social network phenomenon digitalizes human interaction.  Good, better, best?  Blog, good. FB, better. Twitter, best. If you wish to expound an idea, blog. If you wish to expand to a wider base, FB. If you wish quick and short interaction, Twitter. The foundation of the networking is human interaction. But as I get more engaged in the digital exchanges, I realized eventually that interaction without the establishing face-to-face experience remains to be empty in spite of the traffic. Nothing matches a senseless talk over beer with friends in a beer garden.

Chito R.

New Thoughts

Expanding these ideas in a blog article:

1. Blog is an expounded expression. Facebook is directed to a controlled audience. Tweet is short thought blasted in the open
2. Iphone or Galaxy
3. Desktop is to blog as laptop is to facebook and Iphone/Galaxy is to Tweet

Tweet from tochsr (@tochsr)

tochsr (@tochsr) tweeted at 4:49 PM on Sat, Feb 02, 2013:
Mcdo. Coffee @P25.0 Tweet tapping their wifi. Cinema Square, Greenbelt Paseo, Timog, Katipunan. http://t.co/MPtew3tG
(https://twitter.com/tochsr/status/297627745150705665)

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tochsr shared a Tweet with you:             Trial send from Tweeter           ABS-CBN News Channel @ANCALERTS VIDEO: Renowned National Geographic photographer Joe McNally on ANC j.mp/WmLyBB   03:15 PM - 03 Feb 13             Don't have a Twitter account yet? Sign up today and follow tochsr.   Join Twitter             This message was sent by a Twitter user who entered your email address. You can unsubscribe if you'd prefer not to receive emails when other people share Tweets with you. If you believe tochsr is engaging in abusive behavior on Twitter, you may report tochsr for spam. Please do not reply to this message; It was sent from an unmonitored email address. Need help? Twitter, Inc. 1355 Market St., Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94103

Tweet from tochsr (@tochsr)

tochsr (@tochsr) tweeted at 4:49 PM on Sat, Feb 02, 2013:
Mcdo. Coffee @P25.0 Tweet tapping their wifi. Cinema Square, Greenbelt Paseo, Timog, Katipunan. http://t.co/MPtew3tG
(https://twitter.com/tochsr/status/297627745150705665)

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tochsr (@tochsr) shared a Tweet with you!

tochsr shared a Tweet with you:             tochsr @tochsr Baguette and coffee in a French artisan bakery tucked in Samar st. QC pic.twitter.com/jJ1cGBf9   11:08 AM - 02 Feb 13             Don't have a Twitter account yet? Sign up today and follow tochsr.   Join Twitter             This message was sent by a Twitter user who entered your email address. You can unsubscribe if you'd prefer not to receive emails when other people share Tweets with you. If you believe tochsr is engaging in abusive behavior on Twitter, you may report tochsr for spam. Please do not reply to this message; It was sent from an unmonitored email address. Need help? Twitter, Inc. 1355 Market St., Suite 900 San Francisco, CA 94103

Familiar with this?

1 week in transit for local mail
4 weeks in transit to a US addressee.
It did not fail in surprising recepient.
Some forget where their mail box is.

Training That Matter

Faced in critical situations, what prompts one to cross over to overcome are not skills and competencies but personal values. Values are deeply rooted principles that mold our character manifested in our behavior. Training programs  that influenced where I am.

Personal



Nephew from the tropics learning how to make snow balls

1.  Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Effective Leaders. Defining personal mission.  Make the self-independent, working interdependently leads to greater results

2.  Ken Blanchard’s Situational Leadership. Leaders’ awareness that for every situation, there is a corresponding leadership style based on competency and motivation level

3.  Appreciative Inquiry. 4Ds to reach the destination from Discover to Dream, Design and Destine

4.  Heroic Leadership, a personal self-transformation program from me to a leader to a leader with a cause

Professional

5.   Performance Management System, how to drive a business unit to a high performing unit through the 5 elements of performance management system

6.  Cross Functional Performance Management System, a simple approach in driving a business units' performance to a high performing unit

7.   Ateneo Regis MBA Program, a condensed business management course to develop leaders in driving the organization

8.   Team Building. Mission Vision Setting. Change Management and 4S Assessment. A transformational course to align people to a common goal. Values and drivers are identified that lead to the vision

9.   4 Disciplines of Execution. Score card setting to drive results from the execution. 1. Focus on the Wildly Important 2. Act on the Lead Measures 3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard 4. Create a Cadence of Accountability

10.  Leadership Summit. Assessing how we are as leaders who have an important task guided by a plan with not enough time to achieve results

Visualizing a dream

11.  Achieve Global Professional Sales Coaching. Effective Coaching Conversation. Transferring skill and competency to an associate

12.  Collaboration for Value.  Working together starting with understanding customers’ needs and working operating model can lead to deeper satisfaction. Connect.  Create. Align. Execute

13.  Glendinning Negotiating Skills. Transition from negotiation to a structured commercial selling

14.  6 Sigma.  Quantitative based productivity measure communicated in structured format

15.  DDI Service Plus Beyond Customer Expectation.  Presentation Skill Certification on service orientation
16. Basic Call Procedure. Persuasive Selling Format. Most effective and simplest planned sales call to sell in and to close a sale

     As I picked up from the Coca Cola System Leadership Summit, all these build up to leadership. “Leaders have an important task guided by a plan with not enough time to achieve results. They are fact based measured by a handful of controlling objectives. When faced with a quasi-crisis, reserves show up to complete the task. Leaders look to the future with optimism.”

Welcoming 2013 Online

2013 was welcomed not by fireworks or partying but by viewing celebration in the city and elsewhere in the world on cable TV and online.

This was encouraged by the aggressive awareness campaign mounted by the Department of Health on the dangers to life by explosives.

It was jump-started when the Twitter I sent to field reports Ryan Chua and Bam Alegre who were reporting new year preparations and situationers in their respective field assignments for their TV news networks were retweeted back with positive comments.

Covering the Divisoria beat on 31 December, I sent Bam a message giving feedback on his report on prices and fruit sourcing that "price fluctuates because of change in source cost" to which he sent quickly an appreciative reply.

Extensively covering the PNP’s confiscation of illegal explosives to welcome the New Year in GMA and nearly province I asked, “paano nadedestroy ang confiscated firecrackers?” which was not mentioned in the field report, I got an immediate reply “binabasa.” When I commented on the manner he answered to the probe of news anchor Howie Severino if “Luneta was a no smoking area,” he acknowledged “oo nga di ko nasagot ng maayos” and mentioned the constraints why smokers violate.

Doing the anchor for “The World Tonight” end-to-end and at times nervously and in some segments probing questions to fire officials, I tweeted Ryan Chua “My 1^st time to see you anchor end-to-end. You held on.” He replied back positively with “Thank you. Hope to do better next time.”
Close to midnight on the eve, through online I found myself in all the crowded places in GMA, in Luneta with thousands of crowds through Bam Alegre and Ces Drillon, in the GMA at the Mall of Asia celebration through Mark Salazar, in Eastwood for the more elitist crowd. Earlier on I was in Sydney, Australia. Later on that day I was in Japan, Taiwan, London, China and in the Times Square in US.
With the advent of faster communications and superior sound and sights system, it is difficult to discern the live from the technically sourced.

But what was real is online brings you to places and more information quickly. Nothing beats though the intimacy of face-to-face engagement.

Here is to an exciting and fresh start this 2013.

Fotos from BBC News