Communication Barriers

I think that we are the most skillful people to achieve a team work. I thought that the majority of us have been working in teams since their first academic year, and for me, this was good reason to justify my theory.

Ironically, I am totally convinced with my theory, while all other careers look to developers as freaks. Well, I show up hands to agree with this. My theory isn't precise...I should add "teams of developers". At least the freaks can understand each other :)

Team chit chat

It should be curious that our teams may still have problems in communication. I got some remarks from my partners, through the projects, concerning my communication success with them.

The big majority confirmed that:

1. I have a problem in transferring my knowledge to them.
   
2. I am "expression-less", so that someone asked me to put a sign indicating my mood whether "I am sad" or "I am happy".

The 2nd point is little bit tough. The 1st point can be analyzed and managed.

It was normal that I spend time thinking about how much people think that I have deficiencies in transferring my knowledge and my talk skills. At the beginning I was trying to evaluate myself and think how can I overcome my problems.

hence, whenever someone asks me about anything, I make a flash back to the days when I was still learning that thing, memorize all the questions I got at that time, and then start my brief session.

I worked on this thinking that I am overcoming my problems with partners. But I was totally wrong.

one day, I was making a brief introduction to my partner, he shouted "Fizo, I really don't get you, your explanation is really vague....Why don't you make a flash back to the days when you started to learn this thing and explain to me based on the question you got in your head?"

"huh...?" That what I am doing all the time.

Again, there should be something wrong...This time I thought about it in more abstract way.

Evaluation Barrier
My partner's comment made me notice a small problem...

It's the "Tendency to Evaluate", this is a human nature, the first reaction of a statement is to evaluate it from "your" point of view. It's a tendency to judge, approve/disapprove person's statement. What was really happening is that my explanation was evaluated by my partner more than listening with understanding.

Listening with Understanding
You should achieve real communication by avoiding evaluative tendency. This means seeing the attitude from the other person's point of view, touch his/her frame of reference about the subject.
I see that I should answer question, in the contest I can do it. Some efforts should be done by the questioner to get and understand the whole picture. In practical life we are not open books, my head is not indexed like the book, I have no appendices pointing to keywords which the questioner look for.
What will happen when you listen to my answer and analyze it to get your satisfactory answer? Does this sound absurdly simple??
Actually "listening" is not widely used. There are a lot of reasons in my opinion to avoid the "listening" thing.

1. Most of us have a defensive attitude when it comes to opinions' discussions. We are afraid to get affected and changed by what we hear. Weird, isn't it?
2. Emotions, in some discussions emotions become strongest, so they forbid us from achieving the frame of reference of the others. (let's not focus on this right now, as we are more involved with technical discussions)
   

I don't think I am saying something new. What the entry includes is very obvious for all of us, "the importance of listening"...But the fact, is, the problem has endured because it is a basic truth about human interaction.

Leadership User Guide

Leadership has becoming more and more important due to the globalization and its effect on the effective workforce in market.

Who is a leader?

A leader is someone who makes things happen by:

* Knowing the objectives and having a plan to achieve them.
* Building a team committed to achieving the objectives.
* Helping each member to give his best effort.

A leader must demonstrate two active traits: expertise and empathy. Also he takes active roles in remaking the environment in productive ways.

What is Leadership?

Leadership involves cooperation and collaboration activities that can occur only in a conductive context. It is the art of influencing a body of people to follow a certain course of action; the art of controlling them, directing them and getting the best out of them. A major part of leadership is man-management.
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

There is a different between Management and Leadership.

Leadership Vs Management

Leadership	Management
People	Things
Empower	Control
Effectiveness	Efficiency
Principles	Techniques
Purpose	Method
Doing the right things	Do things right
Is the ladder against the right wall??	Climbing the ladder fast.

Leadership styles.

Creation of resonance can be done in six ways, leading to Six Leadership Styles. Typically, the most effective leaders can act according to and they can even skillfully switch between the various styles, depending on the situation.(According to Daniel Goleman).

	Visionary Leadership (Transformational Leadership)	Coaching Style	Affiliative Leadership (People-Oriented)	Democratic Leadership	Pacesetting Leadership (task oriented)	Commanding Leadership
How style builds resonance	He moves people towards shared dreams.	Connects what a person wants; with the organization's goals.	Creates harmony by connecting people to each other.	Appreciates people's input and gets commitment through participation.	Realizes challenging and exciting goals.	He decreases fear by giving clear direction in an emergency.
The impact of the style on the (business) climate	+ + +	+ +	+	+	Often ― ― when used too exclusively or poorly	Often ― ―
When style is appropriate	When changes require a new vision. Or when a clear direction is needed. Radical change.	To help competent, motivated employees to improve performance by building long-term capabilities.	To heal rifts in a team. To motivate during stressful times. Or to strengthen connections.	To build support or consensus. Or to get valuable input from employees.	To get high-quality results from a motivated and competent team. Sales.	In a grave crisis. Or with problem employees. To start an urgent organizational turnaround. Traditional military.

(to be continued....)

From Consultance to Danger

From time to time, I try to remain connected to postgraduates classes. I find pleasure to meet people there and to refresh my head with academic tones.
Among the classes, I prefer the "Advanced Web Programming" the most. Sometimes I contribute as an audit!!! It may look strange, specially that I am a new born in the web technologies world.
The course is under supervision of two professors. One of them was going to chase me out, he thought that I represent a danger to the students. "Students knowing me well can rely on me as a friendly consultant and as a knowledge resource, they are going to be lazy" he thought so.
On the contrary, the other Professor thinks that I am a good guy, giving help to my colleagues, through my business oriented experience.
the third party is the students, they want me to come every Saturday to attend the lectures with them! some of them felt guilty while I was accused by the Professor.

I really like to help as much as I can, I can't stop this. in the same time I don't like lazy people.
I have a theory about this...The students I deal with are not lazy, all wt I do is providing them the help through our conversations. When I figure out that who I am dealing with is not doing his best I start to to minimize my contribution with him.
I believe that we need to focus more on the keeping connection between different generations. Undergraduates should benefit from graduates experiences. Currently what happens is totally different; Only TAs are the ones involved with undergraduates.
Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right. but I am convinced in what I am doing.

Dependencies hurts..

I had an experience recently that I like to share with you..

It started a week ago, the last days of my honeymoon vacation, when i decided to check my email.. i found an email from my mother saying that she has a problem in her college..

my mother - motivated by me - has joined a PhD program.. she's a doctor.. currently making her PhD at the Institute of Public Health. She and my father are staying in KSA currently where she teaches in a girls college.


Her problem was that the PhD exam will take place on 24th of June 2007 in Alexandria. Her vacation at her workplace in KSA starts 27th of June 2007. she needed a paper that states the exam date to pass it to the people there so she can take her vacation earlier.. so we needed someone to go get that paper and send it.. i used to handle this kind of tasks.

it was supposed to be a 30-60 minutes thing, two hours max including the journey. so i thought of checking it right away, i have the car it would be easier for me to do. my brother would have done it. but he was at his work that day.. it was thursday.

i went, didn't find a lot of people due to the funeral of a professor there. the employee at Student Affairs told me there is no one to sign or seal it.. i can pass by on sunday, write a request, and get my paper directly.. i said OK and delegated it to my brother.

Sunday, my brother called, said he made the request and we can take the paper the next day morning. so i told it is ok, i can pass by early before work and take it.

Monday, it rained heavily.. all streets was jammed... the journey overhead would have been a disaster so i decided to postpone it..

Tuesday, i went there to find the paper ready. except that it did not specify the date of the exam explicitly.. i adjusted it in the request.. and it passed the person responsible on typing it on the computer again.. as an early person can expect, the person was there, the PC was off, and "el Dada betnaddaf"... i like that clean place!!!
i knew it had to be signed from the dean after that, sealed and so... so i told the employee that i'll go to my work.. and pass by later in the day to take it.. i was smart enough to take his mobile number so i can check that it was done before i make the journey again. time is valuable as u know!!

Tuesday Afternoon, i called the guy around 1pm. His phone what out of service. i decided to take my chances and go since i know they finish at 2 pm. His mobile was off till i reached there. the request was still in the computer personnel queue.. she was overwhelmed to add a "Date" to the paper..!!! i asked the guy there to push her.. and get done with all the singing and so.. and decided to take first thing next day..


Wednesday, i called the guy early morning before i go... it was typed but not signed yet.. the dean doesn't come at 9 am of course so i went directly to work.... in the middle of the day i tried calling but his mobile was off again... i miss the old land line!!!
he answered at 1:40 pm saying that it was done.. he took off... he won't be there tomorrow.. and that he left it with a colleague there.. and saying that i can go take it now... I have learned the lesson, i knew that i won't find the colleague by the time i reach there... interrupting work is a high overhead..

Thursday, i went before work... Luckily the colleague had arrived.. but she was not on her desk.. she appeared after 10 minutes... she gave my the paper, and asked me to have it sealed from the office next floor, then copied, the to bring her a copy... sealing went fine.. at the copying stage, as usual, the copying machine was not working, the guy there was trying with it.. adjusting the paper carrier, restarting it... another 10-15 minutes... then it was done..

the task consumed the time of about one and half working day (because i had experience and some communication).. was done after a week...
it is really amazing how a 2 hours estimated task can actually consume.

i had a lot of free time to think while I'm working on this... Analogies... i tried putting my self in their lazy shoes..
what if Larry was in my place and got affected and delayed because i chosed to work first on a bug that is less critical than a bug he really needs..
why do tasks tend to take so longer than they deserve?!!!
in my case... people involved didn't take it seriously enough.. they lack management.. they lack communication....

applying the same analogies... Outch!!!

the Morale of this story:
- Do not apply for PhD
- Do not motivate people to apply for PhD

regards,