Business Value calculation for Digital Transformation Initiatives

My Friend is preparing for an Interview in one of the finest digital Company, Some of the questions they inquire related to how do you measure the success of Digital Initiatives?? a Retrospect on that query.

Digital transformation — the adoption of technology to radically improve performance or ability of enterprises. It helps maximize productivity and enhance the customer experience.

Digital transformation should produce something unique.

As Forester suggests, genuine transformation is a journey, not a destination.

Digital transformation include Transforming Operations, Transforming the Customer Experience, Transforming Processes, Transforming Business Models

According to Forbes, 70% of all digital transformation initiatives fail.

Recent reports by Gartner back this up: they explain that approximately 50% of CEOs have no metric for digital business transformation.

Digital transformation involves using digital technologies to transform a process to become more efficient or effective.

Digital transformation can comprise many diverse technologies, but the hottest topics right now are cloud computing, the Internet of Things, big data, Blockcahin, Computing power, Machine Learning and artificial intelligence.

Digital transformations require cultural and behavioral modifications such as a measured risk-taking, increased collaboration, and customer-centricity.

A true digital transformation project involves fundamentally rethinking business models and processes.

The business value is the standard value measure used in business valuation.

PMBOK® defines business value as the entire value of the business; the total sum of all tangible and intangible elements.

Business value consists of :

• Increase revenue
• Decrease cost
• Improve productivity
• Differentiate the company
• Improve client satisfaction

How would we characterize the progress achieved in becoming a digital business?

Most marketing KPIs are “vanity metrics,” said Jen Grant, CMO of business intelligence software maker, in an interview with CMO.com. They “feel good but don’t really give you a good view of whether your business is healthy or in trouble.”

According to Gartner, the best metrics:

• Have a clearly defined and defensible causal relationship to a business outcome
• Work as a leading, not lagging, indicator
• Address a specific, defined audience
• Can be understood by a non-IT audience
• Drive action when they change from green to yellow to red.

Business leaders must rely on fresh KPIs for effective IT measurement.

Traditional IT measurement, with its long-term focus on efficiency metrics for the managing infrastructure, applications, and components, is no longer acceptable.

Is there a clear cause and effect relationship between the change and the resulting gain that can be quantified and measured on the income statement ?

• Key elements of digital transformation include focusing on the digital experiences of both customers and employees.
• The number of licenses department purchased to the number of employees who are actually utilizing the software.
• How department digital tools are being used will give you a clearer picture of how effectively your employees have adopted the tools and actually achieve meaningful benefits.
• Change in customer behavior over time across channels
• Number of customer touch points addressed to improve customer experience positively
• Reduction in time to market new products to customers
• Number of innovative ideas reach concept to implementation
• Percentage of revenue from new products/services introduced
• Percentage of the profit from new ideas implemented
• New on boarding to the platform , new user are using this platform, they are growing or stagnant
• How new Digital platform is enabling customer/user KPI 
• Survey user satisfaction
• Responsiveness of the user 
• Data Volume(TB), Variety(Types of data source), velocity( Data generated/analyzed per time period) , What is the cost savings due to this easy data usages?

Leading indicators measure change. They deal with immediate progress and show the likelihood that you will achieve your goals.

• Unique visitors
• Daily active users
• Time spent on the website
• The average revenue per user

Lagging indicators measure results. This means they are the direct result or output of your organization’s activity.

• Brand recognition
• ROI
• Customer acquisition costs
• Customer renewal rate
• Churn rate

Success requires consistent monitoring and course correction based on what we find out.

We are Transformation Change agents, we need to guide the team to come out with better KPI to measure the transformation initiatives.

Building your next Curve for Growth?

Bejan developed the principle 15 years ago and has been using it to describe and predict an extensive variety of man-made and natural phenomena. The current analysis views this ubiquitous S-curve (also known as the sigmoid function) as a natural design of flow systems.

A sigmoid function is a mathematical function having a characteristic “S”-shaped curve or sigmoid curve. 

When studying at the personal growth life cycle, we can identify among 4 distinctive stages: Ferment, Takeoff, Maturity, Discontinuity.

This could be the same as the product or technology development life cycle.

Do you notice we can map this with our career growth and progress?

Where are you in the S curve?

How many S Curve so far have you introduced to remain relevant in the industry and how rapid?

Are you still providing value by coming out with a disrupting offering in the growth path?

Positioning a unique offering into the industry/new role assists professionals to figure out what is the potential of it and also determine a particular innovation strategy that will fit best for it.

The phases of the S curve: 

Era Of Ferment – This phase is at the beginning of the S-Curve pattern of innovation or growth life-cycle. It is when the individual is absolutely new into the unique offering or role. As a result, a dominant style in the job hasn’t been established yet. Usually, at this stage, most of the resources are concentrated on research and development(Discovery phase).

Takeoff – In this phase, due to the ability to overcome a major technical obstacle or the ability to satisfy a demand of the organization, the individual offering has been adopted by the early majority and managed to cross the chasm and an outstanding offering has been established already. Hence, the offering will be characterized by rapid growth in service, and the individual career/contribution will progress swiftly towards full organizational acceptance.

Maturity – Here, individual growth is adopted almost completely by the organization and is usually approaching a value limit. Due to the strong competition among the other team members in the organization which is evidently defined at this stage, most of the talents at this point are spent on improving the value offering processes and making them cheaper. Therefore, oftentimes the individual offering at this stage becomes completely standardized and the innovations at this stage are considered incremental.

Discontinuity – At this phase the innovation occurs, as a new S-Curve pattern can pick up. Since the previous individual offering/value generation reaches an era of maturity, there is an opportunity for a unique offering to appeal to the innovator’s segment in the industry and will create a unique offering/role/value generation life cycle which is generally treated as the Disruption.

My S Curves when I reflect. Wondering what will be my next S curve?

All of us are pushing additional S-Curves as the growth progresses, what is the span of the S curve?

Are you making your next S curve for disruption?

Are you introducing multiple S curve?

How good are you on your growth life cycle management?

Are we in flow state in our career? Or Relax zone? or Anxious?

Why will Lion eat Grass? Corporate Climate Change!

When a lion cannot find the flesh to feed on, it has no choice but to eat the grass.

African Proverb

Have you seen this story in real life? 

A tale to report.

Once upon a time, in Software service company the rule was to everyone should be a billable resource. There is no bench concept. In a good time, every team member was in demand and they were capable to clock 100% billing.

As an when competition increases there are a couple of more company started entering into the existence.

There was an Agile consultancy farm, they used to support Agile consultancy and training. In good old days, they managed to get 100% engagement from the client. The agile transformation was in the boom. Agile was a silver bullet!

As an Agile implementation got wildfire, there are many agile farms flourished and started providing offering service. Agile cup, agile mugs, agile dresses, etc.

Supply was more than demand, Agile coaches are not able to engage themselves. You need to wear a coat written Agile! that’s it to claim Agile coach!

When the economy becoming tightening...

Business is asking what value Coaches will bring? Sr Agile coach what Value they will bring vs entry-level coaches, there are so many junior coaches, why Sr. Coaches? at the Half price, the team was getting coaching services! why Sr Coaches? somewhere team is asking why coaches, teams are mature and can manage. 

Now, Agile coaches to remain relevant and get billing, Many Sr agile coaches are doing Scrum Master role, Few Agile coaches are playing the role of Project managers, Many agile coaches are playing the role of PMO. Few Agile coaches joined the AI machine learning course. Perhaps this will secure the future!

Whatever require to get billing, Lion has to eat grass.

Nothing awful, when the situation is rough, we have to work out everything which keeps the engine running and bring food to the table...

Have you heard such a tale!! It is just a fictitious narrative, such a condition will never appear ;-)

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The Story of Number 500!!

Today is a symbolic day for me!

I am certain nobody observed it! I stop here and glance back…

Today I have arrived at one of the MILESTONES, which set for myself 5 years back.

I HAVE REACHED MILESTONE 500 IN MY BLOGS POST IN LINKED IN!!!!

Thanks to all my associates!!! I thought I will never come to this spot. 

My BLOGGING journey commenced in 2015.

I used to joke with my colleagues in ABB @2015 that once I should get number 500, and we used to joke, each article will be like the Indian Penal Code, which will be called whenever demanded.

The blogging journey triggered because I used to fail consistently in the interview! I was fed up with this process. I had started thinking if I could establish a knowledge repository where I should be able to find all the challenges and answer whenever I search for it.

That is the launching moment, I started picking up all the challenges, difficulties, pain, and hatred in the form of a blog for future use since 2015.

Since then I have been walking and shutting my mouth, looking down and writing, reusing my blogs whenever required.

Any of colleagues asked any question for guidance, I generally send them my blog. in case if it helps them.

I always read my blogs before my interview in case it helps!

Most of the blogs people liked, some blogs people abandoned.

Every year I completed 100 blogs so far.

Now like addiction, I feel something is missing when I can not log a blog in a week.

I look for a challenge in the assignment which will confront me and compel me to think, exploration and exercise some model, framework which I will apply and take away a few vital observation.

I am indebted to all my colleagues who encourage me to write, challenge me to write, criticize me to write, know me as I write, invite me to the conference as I write!

Some people identify me, I am a cut-and-paste blogger; I encourage them to come with me and cut&paste, this will particularly help all of us, in a process they will not waste anything only gain wisdom.

This blogging gave me 2 books from my side to the world, I will not be there but the book will be there, I know many people will not buy these books but still, it will be there in Amazon. 

One of the biggest challenges, I have till now; I have spent a significant portion of the earlier study in Bengali languages, so my English is miserable, I get the feedback from my reader, which I yet to correct. I am now fed up with the deficiency. Every new year’s resolution is failing to improve the same. My speaking English is also Bengali English with Hindi mix! so communication is also a challenge! which encourages me to sit home and communicate less! Less social!

Over a period of time I realize, I could be a storyteller, in most of my training, people like the way I present the message. I have been a trainer for more than 10+ yrs in my 2 decades of experience.

I use most of the blogs in my training as it is ready to consume at any point in time. I use my blogs in any conference, as it is invariably ready, it is a different story that I rarely get the opportunity to speak!

One of the finest satisfaction from blogging is that my kids are also like to read and write, as a role model I could able to establish some signature in their mind. 

I wish I will continue on till 1000 and people may read or may not, but for my mental hunger and food, I should keep moving... 

If the first 500 produced 2 books, the next 500 will generate 3 books, in the last mileage of my career in the coming decade, I should finish my innings with 5 books in Overall. 

Looking forward to all of your support....…

How These Guidebooks can make you stronger?

The Agilist's Guidebook - A reference for Organizational Agile Transformation

and

The Scrum Master Guidebook - A reference for obtaining Mastery

Both these guidebooks are for Agilists who wants to learn from the mistake and experiment of others.

The Agilist's Guidebook - Based on the Pancha Bhoota Model, where 5 main forces have to be strengthened to build a robust organization.

The Scrum Master Guidebook - Based on Seven chakra model, where all the 7 chakras need to strengthen.

These books talk like a guidebook, which can be referred to along with other books, these books are not substituted of other agile books, these books are the supplement of other books.

Pancha Bhoota Model is all about helping Organizational Agility wherever you are working in.

What can we try to develop Coaching force? We are all coaches from whatever role we are playing.

What can we try to develop Leadership force? we are all leaders from whatever role we are playing.

What can we try to develop High-Performance team ? we are all team players from whatever role we are playing.

What can we try to develop growth Mindset? We all have to change our mindset from whatever role we are playing.

What can we try to develop Organizational Transformation? We all have to enable Organizational Agility from whatever role we are playing.

In the last chapter, Chapter 6 talks about several case studies.

Organizations will be able to handle external changes/forces when these 5 forces(Pancha Bhootas) are robust and supporting each other.

Please have a look for more

https://theagilistguidebook.blogspot.com/

***********************************************************************

The 7C chakra Model, this is to achieve Individual Agility.

The Scrum Master Guidebook, is based on the 7C chakra model, how can Individual Strengthen these Chakras.

Everything is context-specific,

First Chakra focus on Communication, Connecting with all, How can we strengthen this Chakra?

The Second Chakra focus on Creativity and Innovation, Bring something new, How can we strengthen this Chakra?

Third Chakra focus on Companion-ability, get along with all, How can we strengthen this Chakra?

The Fourth Chakra focuses on building a competent team, How can we strengthen this Chakra?

The Fifth Chakra focuses on a drive for Change, How can we strengthen this Chakra?

Sixth Chakra focuses on the drive for Leadership development , How can we strengthen this Chakra?

the Seventh Chakra focuses on to be the Catalyst, How can we strengthen this Chakra?

All these are essential skills to develop for 2020.

Please look for more

https://thescrummasterguidebook.blogspot.com/

The Agilist's Guidebook cost 100 INR and The Scrum Master Guidebook cost, 180 INR, it takes 3-4 months to complete these books and start experiment with the context.

It took 5 years to create these books. The Agilist's Guidebook has 800 copies in the market and The Scrum Master Guidebook has 50 copies, since introduction into the world.

Let us help each other and learn from each other.

https://www.amazon.in/Scrum-Master-Guidebook-Reference-Obtaining/dp/1647335493/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=chandan+lal+patary&qid=1574218334&s=books&sr=1-2

https://www.amazon.in/Agilists-Guidebook-Reference-Agile-Transformation/dp/9387456641/ref=pd_sbs_14_2/259-9968289-5244353?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=9387456641&pd_rd_r=cdb193f0-9cfb-4f0d-9038-03dcd60bdfeb&pd_rd_w=QNdPQ&pd_rd_wg=Lwjma&pf_rd_p=fbf43daf-8fb3-47b5-9deb-ae9cce3969a9&pf_rd_r=0VSZP3Z3SGZDH905R3FF&psc=1&refRID=0VSZP3Z3SGZDH905R3FF

Pancha Bhoota Model for Achieving Organizational Agility

Look at these companies, how they have maintained their success?
5 forces are well balanced in the organizations who are still surviving.

The Agilist's Guidebook 60th Comment......

I have received 60 review comments from my numerous book readers for my The Agilist’s Guidebook; It supports me to reach as many readers as feasible. Because of this remarks, Amazon automatically removed delivery charged + add into Prime membership + 10% discount on the book price. Neither myself nor my publisher has done this offering. Gratitudes to all the readers and taking time out to distribute their book review comments, it supports my reader to procure this book at the lessened cost.

How keeping coaching Journal/log/notebook aided me to compose 2 books?

According to psychologist Barbara Markway, ‘there’s simply no better way to learn about your thought processes than to write them down.’

One of my mentors once recommended a couple of years back to keep a journal for all the teams I am coaching as a coach.

That was a golden word for me for my growth personally and professionally, which I cherish till today! when I look back, I am thankful to her.

I have started maintaining a word document and journal to arrest my observation.

Now a days, I observe more minute details and share with the team members weekly, what is my observation, and what is my recommendation.

After several months of coaching , some time, those word documents mature into a 500-page document!!

After coaching discussion, it is legitimate that we won’t remember everything we see, hear, and think about our members’ growth, so record it down in a devoted place.

Journal writing is the blueprint to success in coaching; that is what I personally work out.

It is the responsibility of coaches to ensure that they follow a methodical and comprehensive approach of record keeping. We can not recall everything afterward and we engaged in numerous teams coaching at the same moment.

Consistent journaling stimulates improvement, progress, and development during a coaching process. This is for both the coach and coachee.

To facilitate assessment, planning, and evaluation of progress journal/log/notebook serves to precisely recall and reflect.

The purpose of journaling is not the result but the process.

Thoughts, conclusion, and key observations of the last coaching session should be part of the journal/log/notebook.

Compose about the situations you have experienced in the coaching context promptly after the session.

Document milestones and occasions of achievement are also a better subject to capture.

Observations, ideas, aha-moments, queries for myself, what not, everything should be part of the journal.

Journaling gives room for ideas and explanations. Most of the ideas appear to me when I studied back the noted journal for a team. I pick up better and further thoughts for the experiment when I talk against previous observation.

The journal could be generated during the session to capture key messages, words, language, and themes, empowering the coach to remind themselves and draw the notes back into the conversation.

Keeping a journal during the process of coaching allows coaches to chronicle the team member’s way of growth, development, and achievement.

Sometimes coaches will maintain a formal written contract, which will be utilized and confirmed by the learner and coach, both will retain a copy.

Journaling helps coach and coachee to analyze everyone’s thoughts and feelings. Both can maintain the journal, but as a coach for me, it is a must.

The coaching log has to be visible and present for you to literally use it.

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Anne Frank

In some cases, I may aspire to record each coaching session in exceptional detail, and in some cases, I may choose to create only sketchy observations. 

Sometimes I also record specific observation experiments that add lessons learned captured. In some cases, the coach may provide the team members with a standardized training evaluation sheet to seize the improvement items for all.

After each coaching discussion or session, I as a coach ask

1. What can I serve to aid this team member’s development between now and our next coaching session?
2. What did I understand from this session that I didn’t notice going in?
3. What did the individual I’m coaching learn? What key messages were reinforced in the session?

It’s an impressive open secret for all the members who are occupied in coaching. If we practice this accurately, it will transform all of us. Predominantly in the constructive manner.

Transformation Guidebooks....Manual for all Agilists

Self Development to------>>> Team Development, An adventure that will continue for every agilist’s career.

I have been traversing this expedition and still continuing …..

The 2 guidebooks which I have composed, The Scrum Master Guidebook and The Agilist’s Guidebook has, a distinct purpose. They focus on unique demands. But every agilist’s can gain benefit from these 2 books.

The Scrum Master Guidebook starts with self-development.

This book concentrate on the most important role every delivery organization requires to strengthen with utmost seriousness. Because this role carries tremendous impact in the Delivery and execution process. The Pillar of any agile organization is this Scrum Master role. Accept it or not, look at the current Pillar maturity model and success rate of the delivery.

This book propose for all the Scrum Master to pass through 7C chakra Model.

7C chakra model talks about how I can as a scrum master strengthen all these 7C areas so that I can perform better.

The challenges scrum masters faces can be addressed when we strengthen with this 7C Chakra model.

There is definitely no ambiguity when all these 7C s are strengthened by you as a scrum master, you will be able to deal with the situation better.

This workbook will highlight the below chapters or 7C chakras —

1. Chapter I How to develop awesome Communication skill?
2. Chapter II How to develop Creativity?
3. Chapter III How to develop Companionable skill?
4. Chapter IV How to develop a Competent team?
5. Chapter V How to develop Change Management skill?
6. Chapter VI How to develop Charismatic leadership skill?
7. Chapter VII How to develop Catalyst skill?

On the other way, The Agilist’s Guidebook is all about Organizational Agile Transformation.

The challenges agilists will experience to transform the organization has been explained

The Panch Bhoota, 5 forces that dominate us, has to be taken care.

We treat organizational as a Living Being, no more machine, every living being is governed by these 5 forces.

Five elements in the Pancha Bhoota Model are the enabler which will benefit the organization to gain agility.

The Agilist's Guidebook will highlight the below chapters ( 5 Forces- Pancha Bhoota Model)

1. Chapter I, How to develop ourselves as a better Coach by focusing on a few of the essential areas.
2. Chapter II, Coaching on Leadership development
3. Chapter III, Coaching focus on the High-performance team, how a coach can help?
4. Chapter IV, Coaching focuses on the right mindset and how to change this?
5. Chapter V, Coaching focus on Organizational Transformation

When we have both these books and we take actions around these 2 models ( 7C for self-development, 5 forces for Organization development) an individual will be better armed with the transformation journey.

We are gearing ourselves for the digital challenges thrust upon us.

We have to actively visualize and practice both these concepts to self-development and Organization development. 

We will have many challenges. These books are like, Army training manuals and it is the army personnel after the training has to exercise this knowledge on the battlefield and bring various heroic stories back home!

Manual is the same but individual do many heroic exercises which no training manual can capture.

https://thescrummasterguidebook.blogspot.com/

https://theagilistguidebook.blogspot.com/

You as an individual need to set up a development plan for yourself after reading these workbooks.

I am positive, we will have many stories from the ground when we started applying all these concepts.

“Companies that change may survive, but companies that transform thrive. Change brings incremental or small-scale adaptations, while transformation brings great improvements that ripple through the future of an organization.”– Nick Candito

The Agilist Guidebook

Maturing Social Intelligence ?

Social intelligence is the capacity to know oneself and to know others.

The original definition by Edward Thorndike in 1920 is "the ability to understand and manage men and women and boys and girls, to act wisely in human relations"

According to Daniel Goleman - Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.

Awareness is about improving social intelligence. If you can not see, hear, or feel the dynamics of a conversation, you can not manage them - John Stoker

How can we Maturing Social Intelligence ?

Let us put these traits on a scale and improve these traits as a maturity journey.

It will take a lot of time moving from scale 0 to scale 5 , which is highest, will help individuals to better in Social Intelligence.

There is something I call social intelligence. You can do a lot in life on your own and you can do all kinds of stuff, but if you're really bad with people, if you're really naive or aggressive and push people away, if you don't know the political environment you're in, it invalidates all the things you know. You're not going to get anywhere. - Robert Greene

The Scrum Master Guidebook is coming soon....

The Scrum Master Guidebook: Arriving soon in a few days, impatiently waiting for the days when my new creation will be brought in to the world......For my companion Scrum Masters to get to know numerous scrum master stories...Please continue looking for the launch…

Comment from Naresh

Early in the morning, you open the laptop and read such an amazing message !!! It emboldens me to go the extra mile, compose some more and continue working .....Miles to go before I sleep...Thanks, Naresh and all the readers for your encouragement…

The Agilists Guidebook

Tools for Coaches

All these tools I am actively applying for my coaching engagement.

The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools. - Confucius

• Spheres of Influence: 

3 part of this tool

1. Subjects we can control
2. Subjects we can influence
3. Subjects we can’t influence, either right now or at all times

Helping them determine what is within their control, what is in their sphere of influence, and what cannot be controlled. 

Most of the time , I explain this tool to my scrum master to apply this and check if they can do anything about the situation?

• Journaling:

Having a journal can be advantageous for many diverse reasons as a coaching exercise. Daily journaling facilitates observation and can stimulate useful brainstorming about how to better strive toward the objectives. Coaches can help ensure that their clients journaling is essential by maintaining some guidance.

We as a coach also maintain a journal about our observation about a team and reflect and help the team to become better.

• The GROW model:

The GROW model is a simple method for goal setting and problem-solving in coaching. It includes for stages:

G for Goal: The goal is what the client wants to accomplish. It should be defined as clear as possible. You could combine it with the SMART method described earlier

R for Reality: That’s the status quo, where our client is right now. The client describes her current situation and how far she is away from her goal.

O for Obstacles and Options: What are the obstacles (roadblocks) that keep your client from achieving the goal? Once these obstacles are identified you can find ways to overcome them – the options.

W for Way forward: Once identified the choices need to be translated into action steps that will take your client to accomplish her goal.

• Identifying Limiting Belief:

Compose a list of all your limiting beliefs; the beliefs that stop you from moving forward. You start questioning your limiting beliefs you will start to create doubt which will lead to you changing your beliefs questions that you can ask yourself to challenge this belief.

It helps team members to come out with many assumptions which were bothering them.

• Wheel of life and how to balance it is :

All these are the below pillars of the Wheel of life

1. Health
2. Wealth
3. Happiness
4. Spiritual
5. Mental 

How balanced they are ?

As a result of this exercise, your client will have a visual map – which will look almost like a spider web. This visual map will give your client a general idea of their desired state of being in relation to their current state.

• SMART goals: 

SMART goals bring structure and accountability into goals.SMART is an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Therefore, a SMART goal incorporates all of these criteria to help focus your efforts and increase the chances of achieving that goal.

• Powerful question:

Why, What, How, When and more open-ended questions.

Powerful questions are a reflection of engaged listening and finding out the other person’s viewpoint that is established through paraphrasing. This offers a progression from listening, paraphrasing for learning, and then asking powerful questions that provide clarity or mediation of thinking.

• Personal SWOT Tool.

Help clients analyze their Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. A Personal SWOT helps clients think about careers in terms of their strengths—and identify potentially “transferable” strengths.

• Working Agreement :

A Working Agreement is a valuable tool to employ for installing a shared understanding and way of working for teams. Also called a Social Contract, this practice is an excellent foundation for building high performing teams.

In coaching engagement , it is essential we form the coaching agreement and contract with the client.

• Value discovery and Purpose identification:

Identifying your personal core values is an anchor or turning point. When there is conflict or a boundary issue, it’s possible because someone has stepped on a personal value. Once we are connected with Value and bigger purpose , we become self driven and unstoppable.

I share this tool with the scrum masters to use this tool with their team members.

• Socratic Questions:

The Socratic Questioning technique is an effective way to examine ideas in depth. It can be used at all levels and is a helpful tool for all teachers. Question related to Conceptual clarification questions, Probing assumptions, probing rationale, reasons and evidence, Questioning viewpoints and perspectives, Probe implications and consequences, Questions about the question.

• Eat the Frog :

As Mark Twain once said “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” Eating the frog means to just do it, otherwise the frog will eat you meaning that you’ll end up procrastinating it the whole day. Take the most important item first.

A good tool improves the way you work. A great tool improves the way you think. Jeff Duntemann

• Collaborate or not?

Because no two individuals have exactly the same expectations and desires, conflict is a natural part of our interactions with others.

The Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument is designed to measure a person’s behavior in conflict situations. “Conflict situations” are those in which the concerns of two people appear to be incompatible. In such situations, we can describe an individual’s behavior along two dimensions: (1) assertiveness, the extent to which the person attempts to satisfy his own concerns, and (2) cooperativeness, the extent to which the person attempts to satisfy the other person’s concerns.These two basic dimensions of behavior define five different modes for responding to conflict situations:Competing ,Accommodating ,Avoiding ,Collaborating and Compromising 

• Force Field analysis:

Force Field Analysis was created by Kurt Lewin in the 1940s.The idea behind Force Field Analysis is that situations are maintained by an equilibrium between forces that drive change and others that resist change.For change to happen, the driving forces must be strengthened or the resisting forces weakened.The tool is useful for making decisions by analyzing the forces for and against a change, and for communicating the reasoning behind your decision.

I am sure , you are already using these tools or more. Please do share if anything more , we can use.

It is essential to have good tools, but it is also essential that the tools should be used in the right way.

Wallace D. Wattles

Are we cocooning? Why Should we?Not?

True transformation occurs only when we can look at ourselves squarely and face our attachments and inner demons, free from the buzz of commercial distraction and false social realities. We have to retreat into our own cocoons and come face-to-face with who we are. We have to turn toward our own inner darkness. For only by abandoning its attachments and facing the darkness does the caterpillar's body begin to spread out and it's light, beautiful wings begin to form.Julia Hill

Cocooning is the operation of isolating or hiding oneself from the natural social environment, which may be observed as disturbing, unfriendly, dangerous, or otherwise objectionable, at least for the present.

The caterpillar is an immature butterfly or moth, also known as the larval. A caterpillar transforms into a butterfly or moth after hibernating in a cocoon.

The term was popularized in the 1990s by marketing consultant Faith Popcorn in her book The Popcorn Report: The Future of Your Company, Your World, Your Life.

Popcorn suggested that cocooning could be broken down into three different types:

• the socialized cocoon, in which one retreats to the privacy of one's home;
• the armored cocoon, in which one establishes a barrier to protect oneself from external threats;
• the wandering cocoon, in which one travels with a technological barrier that serves to insulate one from the environment.

Cocooning is self-nurturing, which may consider distinctive to each individual and change often.

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” – Carl Jung

“Remind yourself that you cannot fail at being yourself.” – Wayne Dyer

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” – Aristotle

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear.” – Ram Dass

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

Occasionally, we require to calm down the inner parental expression or just subdue it completely.

Even if you are balanced and healthy, you choose to safeguard yourself from other people’s dramas and the stress of urban life.

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again but expecting different results.” Albert Einstein

Neil Thompson, in his book People Skills, suggests that there are six steps:

• Read - around the topics you are learning about or want to learn about and develop
• Ask - others about the way they do things and why
• Watch - what is going on around you
• Feel - pay attention to your emotions, what prompts them, and how you deal with negative ones
• Talk - share your views and experiences with others in your organization
• Think - learn to value time spent thinking about your work

Here’s the Cocooning Process in an essence:

• Establish a definite time for yourself
• Establish a silent location
• De-clutter that location
• A meditation that works for you
• Examine and write down
• Listen to yourself
• Maintain A Journal
• Ask questions

Why Should we? Not?

• It’s fundamental to understand self at a deeper level.
• Self-awareness and a little soul searching are crucial to prosperity in all sections of life.
• Obliges you to figure out and see situations from a particular point of view.
• Promotes a deeper level of learning and knowing
• Build up a better insight into what’s working and what’s not. 
• Build two components to emotional intelligence: self-awareness and self-regulation. 
• Diminished anxiety and depression, calmness and increased discernment.

A couple of my companions goes 1-month cocooning treat once in six month cycle, they are developing into better as a human being. They travel to Mountain, Jungles, Deserts, Beaches, North poles wherever they can devote moment with nature but away from urban corporate clamors!

I am trying for last several years, it is a good practice and helps a lot. Many of my friends have tried it and recommended me to do so....