FOOTBALL AT THE OFFICE

Extracted from “The Star – 20th Sept 2013”

A friend lamented that an employee he has treated very well recently jumped ship to a competitor and in the process, badmouthed the company and even tried to poach another employee.

   Knowing he is a fan of Arsenal FC, I comforted him that he was not alone in feeling betrayed, as in the world of English football, there are many such cases of players leaving for other clubs.

   Take Robin Van Persie last season, Arsenal stood by him for more than four seasons when he was injured but the moment he had one successful injury-free season, he left for Manchester United.

   Indeed, the experiences of the English Premier League can have many lessons for managers and bosses. Here are some of the lessons from the pitch:

1. Better as manager

There is no relationship whatever between functional expertise and managerial ability.

Jose Mourinho tried playing football as a young man, but soon realised his shortcomings. From Chelsea to Real Madrid, he has achieved outstanding success as a manager.

2. Know your talent

At the World Cup, you may see appalling performances from players who consistently excel for their clubs when fulfilling very different duties.

Talent is meaningless unless it is deployed in its most fitting context. So, knowing the strengths of your employees and matching them to the right roles will extract optimal performances from them.

Thierry Henry was an ordinary player until Arsene Wenger converted him from a winger to a striker. With Henry on the team, Arsenal was difficult to beat.

 

3. Press the right buttons

Managers must act quickly to gauge the people they are working with.

If you survey those who played under Brian Clough, they would offer conflicting narratives. Some say Clough was avuncular and caring, others that he was an intimidating tyrant.

Neither was true – he had just simply worked out how to press the buttons of different characters.

Indeed, the modern boss must be versatile with a flexible toolkit to bring the best out of each talent. The hammer cannot be your only tool.

4. Promote self-belief

If we look at our own careers as employees, most of us will say our most productive and enjoyable period was when we worked for a manager who had confidence in us.

Wenger summarised the galvanising effect this relationship has: “All great successes, all great lives, have involved the coincidence of aptitude, talent, but also the luck of meeting people who have believed in you. At some point in your life, you need someone who will tap you on your shoulder and say, “I believe in you”

As a manager, if you want to see your company succeed, you have to learn to take a leaf from football’s playbook.

5. Draw the line

A lesson to learn: You can be friendly, caring and kind but you are their boss, not their personal friend.

The company is a place for people to earn income and build their career. Very few will let friendship stop them from earning a better salary or taking advantage of better career prospects with another employer. That is their right.

So, treat employees not as friends, but as talents.

To retain people, organisations can use two different approaches concurrently; award incentives and award challenges.

Your top performers may still leave one day because other companies will also offer them great deals.

When that happens, acknowledge their contributions and let them move on – just as in football.

USING FEEDBACK AS A TOOL FOR EMPLOYER

Extracted from “The Star – 14th Sept 2013”

 

 

ESTABLISHES CRDEIBILITY

   According to Barry Posner and Jim Kouzes of The Leadership Challenge, studies have shown that “credibility is at the foundation of leadership”.

   It is necessary for leaders to walk the talk, but how would you know if your actions are correct if you have no idea what is exactly that you’re doing? A transparent environment reflects whether or not you as a team leader, have enabled an employee or a department to perform better. It also provides healthy pressure to ensure that you are effective and responsible.

   Apart from being self-aware, feedback also produces social awareness for employers. It allows for a sense of connectedness between management and subordinates while building loyalty towards the organisation. 

MANAGES EXPECTATIONS

   This is especially cogent for employees who are new to the organisation. Different companies have varying expectations of behavioural and performance outcomes and it may take some time for the newbie to align himself to the company’s vision and mission.

   Allowing for feedback provides the opportunity to catalyse this process. Employees need to understand the organisation’s core focus as well as their own department’s responsibilities in order to motivate themselves to operate at their full potential.

NECESSARY FOR APPRAISALS

   Annual reviews are perhaps the only formal way of providing feedback to employees. It is usually met with apprehension and fear, but as an employer or a team leader, you must be able to provide constructive criticism where necessary.

   Appraisals ought to be done with a more personable attitude to show that you as an employer, value the person behind the contributions and are not just obsessed with the bottom-line.

   These feedback sessions should help the employee to develop his/her own strengths. Feedback also helps to show that you are in sync with what is happening at the grassroots level, providing to the higher level management that you are a capable team leader.

RESOLVE CONFLICTS

   How many times have post-mortem sessions evolved into finger-pointing scenarios where “he/she didn’t tell me that!” becomes the recurring comeback line?

   Feedback is necessary during and after projects to ensure that any form of miscommunication or misunderstanding does not result in severe backlash. Unresolved conflict will damage the team’s productivity and these sort of arguments may develop into bitterness amongst colleagues.

   As an employer, feedback creates space for you to act upon any sort of discontent before it spreads to the rest of the team. Respecting each individual’s unique point of view also allows you to function better as a team.

GUIDELINES ON HOW TO GIVE GOOD FEEDBACK

   As an employer/manager/team leader, here are some guidelines on how to give effective feedback:

1. Specify The Actions You Want Them To Take

Help employees meet a desired outcome by giving suggestions on how to execute a particular task. Include things like deadlines, approaches, topics or elements that you would like them to implement. The guidance that you provide will be a stepping stone on which they can innovate and improve.

2. Be Specific About Goals

“Write a report” is unhelpful; “write a two-page report on last week’s event that will give a clearer picture to the new employees” is much better.

   Giving precise objectives, however, also means that employers need to have a clear idea of what they would like to see. 

3. Suggest Ways To Improve

   Whether the feedback is positive or negative, employees need to be challenged to improve. Commenting on something unsatisfactory without providing an alternative will give the impression that the employer is also unsure of how to initiate progress. 

4. Criticise The Action, Not The Person

   This can be tricky with ethical dilemmas among certain personality types, but highlight an employee’s actions rather than character flaws. “This project could have been better executed with more research,” raises positive responses compared with “you were too lazy to put more time into this”. 

5. Build Relationship

   Try not to focus on just work and reviews when talking to an employee. Building a relationship will cause the recipient of a feedback to be less defensive while giving the employer credibility.

   Trust needs to be maintained so that nobody feels threatened or sabotaged.

USING FEEDBACK AS A TOOL FOR EMPLOYEE

Extracted from “The Star – 14th Sept 2013”

 

Have you ever been in an auditorium with audio equipment, and just as the microphones are switched on, a painful high-pitched whistle is emitted? That screeching sound is known, in audio terminology as feedback.

   In layman’s terms, most of us know feedback as information given in response to a particular process or action. However, the negative association of feedback still exists: we imagine long complaining sessions or a series of “missiles” aimed at bringing us down.

   The audio definition of feedback is explained as the loop that exists between an audio input and output. Similarly, that out to be the way we utilise feedback for performance review: a constant cycle of information that connects effort with result.

   Most organisations underestimate the value of feedback but push for effectiveness and productivity with little regard given to how to encourage those results.

   Feedback must be presented in a manner that is accurate, actionable and timely. Failure to do so usually results in interactive sessions that are emotionally charged and damaging to a person’s morale.

   Accommodating feedback into management processes can be highly constructive and empowering tool for various reasons.

FACILITATES PROGRESS

   Feedback is especially helpful to measure a person’s growth and contribution, but most employees fear tracking their performance because they worry that their progress will not match their employers’ expectations.

   However, that kind of transparency is essential in ensuring that the employee develops in soft and hard skills.

   Positive performance habits are reinforced while negative traits can be identified and weeded out.

   Feedback shouldn’t just be on past patterns, but should also be establishing further steps that can be taken to accelerate towards achieving future goals.

CREATES AWARENESS OF WEAKNESSES

   Negative behaviour in the workplace needs to be recognised and inhibited before it develops. Feedback is necessary to address these flaws to ensure that errors are not repeated or translated into dismal performance results.

   Failure to weed out unsatisfactory practices will only breed terrible attitudes and lousy work ethics. Occasionally, the offender may not even be aware of his/her own actions and feedback would help him/her to improve not just as an employee but also as a person in general.

   The best way to do this without being offensive is to dwell on possible alternative actions rather than dwell on the inadequacy of past ones. Articulate your corrections thoughtfully to assure that you don’t come across as derogatory or unappreciative.

IDENTIFIES STRENGTHS

   In a similar vein, feedback ought to also be a tool to encourage positive behaviour by highlighting positive action. One thing worse than being told we are doing something wrong is not being told how to get it right.

   Acknowledging strengths affirms a person and builds his confidence; doing so tactfully in public will inspire other employees to also embody similar traits or actions.

   But it’s more than just rewarding productive; it’s also creating an environment that affirms and ingrains the organisation’s values and visions in each individual.

PROMOTES INDEPENDENCE

   Feedback cycles also encourage each employee to be more independent. They help to groom and nurture talent into effective employees as desired by the organisation.

   Feedback acts as a guidance system to help employees self-regulate with the motivations and ideal behavioural styles; they are able to autonomously set goals which will be beneficial to themselves and the organisation.

   It enables the employees to become more resourceful individuals, confident in discovering creative solutions to improve their performance as well as maintaining a sense of accountability to authority.

   But feedback isn’t just a self-improvement tool for employees; employers and managers can also use it to enhance their capacity as leaders.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN INTERNSHIP?

Extracted from “The Star – 14 Sept 2013”

It used to be that you could look forward to your semester holidays, but these days, due to increased competition amongst fresh graduates, vacations seem to be the perfect time to complete an internship. In fact, some universities make it a course requirement. But why such a fuss over an internship? Is it really beneficial? What’s the difference between an internship and casual employment? 

   An internship is like an apprenticeship in the old days; you spend time with a mentor, and he teaches you the tricks of the trade.

   Although the relationship is not one-on-one now, internships have plenty of implicit and explicit benefits that can help you develop not just as a future employee, but also a person. Most companies offer internships these days, but not all understand the purpose or how to properly utilise the interns.

   Some treat interns like cheap labour and give them unsatisfying tasks and as a future graduate looking for invaluable work experience, you would want to stay away from those kind of internships. Here are some things to consider when  looking for an internship.

WIDE-RANGING EXPERIENCE

   Internships are not a chance for you to hone your photocopying skills; instead it should honestly reflect the pains and gains of your industry, or at least expose you to office culture.

   Ideally you should be given multiple responsibilities that are related to your future industry. Get involved with actual projects and do let your supervisor know if there’s a task that you would specifically want to try out. Talk to older ones who have undergone internships for their opinions, and make sure to clarify your job scope during the interview.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR LONG-TERM EMPLOYMENT

   According to a survey conducted by South Carolina State University Career Centre, 90% of employers re-hire their interns for long-term employment upon graduation.

   Re-hiring interns reduce the opportunity of assimilation and training as employers can be assured of the intern’s fit and capacity to perform. For you as the employee hopeful, having an internship experience gives you an extra edge over the thousands of other graduates.

   Look for an organisation that openly hires fresh graduates and have various entry level positions. Gather information about your specific tasks as an intern by asking the right questions at the interview. Should these tasks seem misaligned to your career goals, then you ought to re-evaluate the suitability of this internship.

RELEVANCE TO YOUR DEGREE

   Internships are especially pertinent in fields such as medicine but regardless of your industry of choice, make sure your job scope will add value to you and your CV.

   The tasks given should help prepare you for your future career, but don’t disregard the importance of developing intrinsic skills such as report-writing, understanding office bureaucracy and maintaining professionalism under duress.

   However, don’t limit yourself to a particular field when looking for internship. So even if you do plan to enter the business world when you graduate, spend a few months with an education enterprise or non-profit organisation so that you present yourself as a well-rounded individual.

   There’s no limit to the amount of internships you can complete; at the very least you get to know for sure which industry is your calling.

MEANINGFUL WORK AND INCLUSION

   Again, clarify the job scope before deciding on the place of your internship. When possible, check if you are able to speak to the head of department or the supervisor you will be directly reporting to. Volunteer to join the meetings or brainstorming sessions; do all you can to be included in all types of tasks that a full-time employee would typically have to execute.

   Clerical tasks and grunt work are acceptable for casual employment, but not as an intern, though you should never be too proud to perform seemingly lowly tasks.

GUIDANCE, SUPERVISION AND FEEDBACK

   Take note of the person that you will be reporting to as the intern, and be prepared to readily answer when he or she asks you “what are you hoping to get out of this internships?” Most employers look for independent workers but also desire a measure of accountability. As the newbie, constantly run through your ideas and tasks with your supervisor and get them to give you constructive criticism. If possible, look for a chance to shadow someone. Your mentor’s expansive knowledge will enrich your overall internship experience.

   Here are some questions from the Santa Clara University Career Centre to help you get the answers you want during an internship interview.

• What will be the top three priorities for me in this internship?
• What projects, reports, or presentations could I be assigned?
• Will I have an opportunity to work on a start-to-finish project?
• What are the challenges that an intern may face in this role?
• What sort of training and supervision will be provided?
• What career-specific skills can I expect to learn from this internship?
• What strengths should an intern have to succeed in this role?
• What percentage of my time will be on clerical tasks?

   One final thing you should consider when deciding on an internship is whether you would want to complete the internship in an established firm or a start-up company.

   Well-known firms that have been in operation for a long time would add credibility and prestige to your CV. They may also be better equipped to handle and provide a more established internship.

   However, don’t underestimate the value of working at a start-up company. In small firms, you would have a chance to wear more hats and explore different departments given the fewer number of employees.

   Re-employment and promotion opportunities are also greater compared to that of an established firm. Nevertheless, regardless of which type of firm you choose, ensure that your internship provides you with holistic and educational experience that will help boost your career in the right direction in the future.

Life After “Friends”

Extracted from “The Star – 1 Sept 2013”

Friends left an indelible mark in sitcom history during its 10-year run on the small screen. Now, nine years after the show ended, we find out what the friends have been up to. It appears that life outside the walls of Central Perk coffeehouse hasn’t exactly been rosy for the world’s most famous group of friends.

Matthew Perry

Who would have thought that the bubbly man who played the sarcastic and witty Chandler Bing had a dark secret? Earlier this year, Perry opened up to People magazine and revealed that he was abusing alcohol and drugs during Friends’ successful run.

   Now clean and sober at 43, Perry is still very much active in the acting circle. However, the man’s spending most of his time these days advocating drug courts where non-violent drug offenders are given a chance to be rehabilitated through treatment (as opposed to serving jail time).

   After Friends ended, Perry went on to star in The Ron Clark Story which garnered him a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination for his performance. Perry’s last big outing on the big screen was with Zac Efron in 2009’s 17 Again.

   His latest show, Go On, was cancelled after just one season. The series suffered a similar fate to his 2011 series Mr Sunshine, which got axed after nine episodes.

David Schwimmer

Unfortunately for David Schwimmer, his acting career has been stuck in second gear after the end of Friends. After the series finale in 2004, Schwimmer played the titular character in 2005’s Duane Hopwood. The film was featured in the Sundance Film Festival.

   Other notable film roles include the dark comedy Big Nothing and the thriller Nothing But The Truth. His big-screen break came with the voice role in the animated movie Madagascar franchise where he played Melman the giraffe.

   In recent years though, the actor has been honing his live-theatre acting skills. He made his London stage debut in 2006 with the leading role in Same Girls and, in 2006, his Broadway debut in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial.

   Apart from that, he also had a guest appearance on several TV shows such as 30 Rock and Entourage.

   He’s also stepped behind the camera to direct a handful of indie films such as Run Fatboy Run and Trust.

Matt LeBlanc

Immediately after the end of Friends, Matt LeBlanc sought to prolong the screen time of his character Joey Tribbiani in the ill-fated spin-off Joey. The show was cancelled after just one season in 2006.

   Four years later, LeBlanc might have just found another recipe for success with Episodes, a new comedy series created by one of the producers of Friends. In Episodes, the now 46-year-old actor plays a fictionalised version of himself.

   While the critics’ responses to Episodes have been mixed, LeBlanc’s stint on the series nabbed him a Best Actor win at the 2012’s Golden Globes Award and several Emmy nominations.

   On the personal front, though, things haven’t exactly been rosy for the actor. His marriage to British model Melissa McKnight failed around the same time that Joey did. LeBlanc also made tabloid headlines after he admitted to groping a stripper at a Canadian nightclub.

 Jennifer Aniston

There’s no doubt that she’s the most high-profiled “friend” on the show. After ending her run as fashion enthusiast Rachel Green, the actress continues to make appearances on the big screen and on the pages of tabloids and magazines.

   On the professional front, the response to Aniston’s film career has been mixed. Her filmography includes Rumour Has It.., Friends With Money and He’s Just Not That Into You where she usually takes on the girl-next-door role. The Break-Up was a commercial success. Despite being panned by critics, the film grossed over US$203mil (RM677mil) worldwide. Aniston managed to silence the critics when she played the man-eating Dr Julia Harris in Horrible Bosses.

   When she found professional success, the same can’t be said about Aniston’s love life. The whole Brangelina issue aside, Aniston has been linked to men such as Vince Vaughn and John Mayer. Both relationships were heavily scrutinised by the media. The actress is currently engaged to actor Justin Theroux whom she met on the set of Wanderlust.

   But if anything, Aniston has lasting star power as evident from her appearance on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list (based on “earnings and fame”) every year since 2011.

Courteney Cox

Family was the sole focus of Courteney Cox following the series finale of Friends. Cox had been trying for so long to conceive and when she was finally pregnant with daughter Coco, she had to decline the role of Susan Mayer (which went to Teri Hatcher) in Desperate Housewives.

   The actress bounced back to TV a few years later when she played a tabloid editor in the comedy series Dirt. The show was cancelled after two seasons due to low ratings. More heartbreak ensued when Cox separated from her husband David Arquette in 2010.

   Cox didn’t take long to make another break on television, though. The actress is currently playing the role of a divorced real estate agent who’s jumping right back on the romance wagon in her 40s in Cougar Town.

   While Cougar Town has been a fan favourite, the ratings for the show have not been particularly favourable.

   Cox also managed to clinch some screen time in the Scream horror movie franchise.

Lisa Kudrow

Everybody loves Phoebe, the quirkiest of the gang. Post-Friends, Lisa Kudrow embarked on a variety of projects for the small and big screens, and even online.

   Kudrow dabbled in a number of indie films, but it was comedy that eventually put her back on the map.

   In The Comeback, Kudrow stars as Valerie Cherish, an insecure and desperate actor. She scored an Emmy nomination but the show was cancelled after only 13 episodes, much to the chagrin of fans.

   Kudrow later won acclaim for her improvised online series Web Therapy, but the transition of the series to the small screen was greeted with a somewhat lukewarm response. Apart from that, Kudrow has also appeared in a string of movies from PS I Love You to the hit comedy Easy A.

   That said, Kudrow’s most notable work would have to be an executive producer for the US instalment of the British genealogy show Who Do You Think You Are? Kudrow traced back her family tree during the first season of the show.

   Up next, Kudrow is set to guest-star in the hit series, Scandal.

 

  

 

That Gland Called The Prostate

Extracted from “The Star – 1st Sept 2013”

Do you know where your prostate is? Chances are, you don’t have a clue. You may not even have realised that you have a gland in your body called the prostate, until a doctor, relative or friend tells you about prostate diseases.

   You’re not alone, a most men do not know what or where their prostate is, much less what it does.

   However, this has to change. The prostate may be tiny and not appear to have much function, but it is actually far more important for the overall health and well-being of a man than previously thought.

   The prostate can be considered a gateway to men’s health. Learning to recognise prostate problems and addressing them early can help avert other health conditions.

What you need to know

   The prostate is a small gland that is part of the male sexual reproductive system.

   It sits between the bladder and the penis. The urethra, which is the tube through which urine and semen flow, runs through the prostate.

   The primary purpose of the prostate is reproductive in nature, as it helps keep sperm healthy for conception. The prostate secretes prostatic fluid that nourishes and protects the sperm. This fluid is whitish in colour and is expelled with sperm as semen.

   During puberty, the prostate grows until it reaches the size of a walnut. Then its size remains consistent until a man hits 40, which is when the prostate begins growing again. This is usually the time prostate problems may start to develop.

Common prostate problems

   The prostate does not serve any purpose beyond producing prostatic fluid.

   Despite its simple function, however, the prostate can be the source of a lot of problems for men.

   The most common problems are prostate enlargement (benign prostatic hyperplasia, BPH), inflammation (prostatitis) and cancer. These can significantly affect a man’s health and quality of life.

Enlarged prostate (BPH)

   When a man reaches the age of 40, the prostate starts increasing in size by 14% every year.

   BPH is very common among elderly men, affecting more men as they get older, especially in their 60s and 70s.

   BPH is not a cancerous condition, but it causes urinary problems because the prostate presses on the urethra and causes the urinal passage to become narrower.

   Therefore, men with enlarged prostates will find that they have to urinate frequently, cannot empty their bladder completely, leak after urination, have a weak urine stream or face difficulty starting urination. These symptoms are called Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS).

   LUTS will worsen as the prostate gets bigger. Many men find that LUTS interferes with their sleep routine, causes physical discomfort and disrupts their normal daily activities, although they may not admit the extent of the problem.

   In rare instances, untreated BPH may also lead to inability to urinate, incontinence, bladder stones, kidney infections, and damage to the bladder, kidneys and urethra.

   That is why an enlarged prostate and its symptoms should not be ignored or treated as a trivial matter, even if it may be a common and non-fatal condition. You do not have to live with this inconvenient and debilitating condition.

Prostate inflammation (prostatitis)

   Inflammation of the prostate, or prostatitis, occurs in a lot of men under the age of 50.

   There are several types of prostatitis, depending on the cause of the condition.

   Non-bacterial prostatitis is the most common type, while bacterial prostatitis accounts for less than 10% of cases. The latter may be present for several years (chronic) or come on suddenly (acute).

   Prostatitis causes a frequent and urgent need to urinate, just like with BPH.

   It also causes a burning sensation during urination, blood in the urine or semen, as well as pain or discomfort in the testicles, urethra, lower abdomen and back.

   You can also expect some symptoms of infection like fever, chills, fatigue and nausea.

   Prostatitis can cause poor quality of life and should be treated as early as possible.

Prostate cancer

   Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among men. It occurs when the cells in the prostate gland grow out of control.

   Prostate cancer develops very slowly, and at the later stages, may cause urinary symptoms similar to BPH and prostatitis, causing challenges in the diagnosing and treating it early.

   Prostate cancer can be fatal, although it usually grows so slowly that men die of other causes first.

   Men are encouraged to get their prostate checked annually after they reach the age of 40, by going for a digital rectal examination.

   Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening tests may be helpful when used alongside a digital rectal examination.

   Prostrate-specific antigen (PSA) screening tests may be helpful when used alongside a digital rectal examination in men who are at higher risk of prostate cancer.

   Age, race, family history and lifestyle habits are among the risk factors that make a man more prone to developing prostate cancer.

   Unhealthy habits like lack of exercise and eating lots of fat, meat and refined carbohydrates, are known to lead to obesity, high blood pressure, unhealthy lipid levels and high blood glucose – but now, it has also been found that an unhealthy lifestyle also makes Asian men more predisposed to developing prostate cancer.

   Prostate conditions and urinary problems are very closely linked to sexual dysfunctions, metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular diseases. Urinary problems are not petty complaints by “old men”, but signs of a legitimate and serious condition that could adversely impact quality of life.