Tease your brains a bit

According to Andersen Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the
professionals they tested got all questions wrong. But many
preschoolers got several correct answers. Andersen Consulting says
this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have
the brains of a four year old.

The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and tells whether
you are truly a “professional”. The questions are not that difficult.

Think each question through before reading further because the answers
are just beneath each question

Have fun!

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and
close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple
things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Wrong Answer : Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close
the refrigerator. Correct Answer : Open the refrigerator, take out
the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your
ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference, all the animals
 attend except one. Which animal does not attend?

Correct Answer : The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator.
This tests your memory.

OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly,
you still have one more chance to show your abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles.
 How do you manage it?

Correct Answer: You swim across. All the Crocodiles are attending the
Animal conference! This tests whether you learn quickly from your
mistakes.

Leadership Redefined

In our nation many people who hold or occupy leadership position have tend to wrongly define leadership by their actions or inactions. Let me clarify the term by examining the meaning of true leadership.

A leader strengthens and inspires the followers to accomplish shared goals. According to James Macgregor Burns “a leader instills purpose and is not one who controls by brute force”. He adds that leaders shape the organisational’s value, promote the organisation’s value, promotes the organisation’s value and exemplify the organisation’s value.

Ultimately Burns says “Leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality. Are you developing leadership skills?

Oluyemi Adeosun

How Are You Smart ?- Deolu Akinyemi

I saw this article on deolu's site and i decided to share with you folks. Now lets read from him

For years we have asked the question, “How smart are you?” rather than ask, “How are you smart?”. We have created a standard, called it IQ test, and measured everybody by these standards in a bid to answer a wrong question. Current research has shown that it is indeed a wrong question to ask “how smart are you?”, there are many ways in which one can be smart, and everybody is smart in one way or the other. The real question ought to be, “How are you smart?”. When you answer this question correctly you get to see that everyone of us has a genius inside, that the school system by creating uniform standards have overlooked. “How are you smart?”

This topic of smartness or intelligence is an area where there needs to be a paradigm shift, not only in some countries, all around the world. Not to get too technical, a paradigm is a way of looking at things, it is the lens through which we see the world. This frame of reference affects our beliefs, behaviours and sets our limitations or freedoms.

A paradigm is a way of thinking, usually arrived at as a conclusion of the facts at hand. The concept of Paradigms is a very interesting one, you can study the works of Thomas Kuhn (Professor Emeritus) and philosopher to gain more insigths into how paradigms work. A quick example though is the paradigm in the world at a time was that the world was flat. This way of thinking set the behaviour for those times. People rearly to ventured too far away from their houses for fear of falling off the edge of the earth. This paradigm limited exploration, limited adventure, limited the thinking of the people of the time and defined their freedom.

After a while, some thinkers challenged this thinking with the paradigm that the world was round, as soon as this became proven, the world was literally set free. It is interesting to note however that paradigms do not just shift overnight, before the people who have strongly believed in a position will ever give it up, there has to be a paradigm crisis. This is a point where so many anomalies are noticed in the former theories that necesitates either blind ignorance or poignant questions. If the earth is flat, how come no one has ever fallen off, how come shadows are not along just one straight line all year long? As soon as paradigms shift, new truths emerge. I have gone through all that to say one thing, the paradigm that asks how intelligent or smart are you, has too many anomalies and is in the center of a crisis.

How else will you explain the fact that Albert Einstein was rated as unintelligent in school to later become the smartest man that ever lived? How did Thomas Edison nearly pass for one with ADS Attension Deficiency Syndrome become the greatest inventor that ever lived? Why? Simple, because rather than finding out how people are smart, the systems have found out how they are not smart in the paradigm of intelligence that schools presently measure.

In the works of David Lazear, he discovered that human beings have multiple intelligences. Different people are smart in different ways. The fact that my IQ score is 140 or 50 doesn’t say how smart I am, it only says how possibly logic smart I am. David Lazear had 8 intelligencies in his research. I recommend you read his book - OutSmart Yourself! While I do not intend to rewrite his book, I think there is a lot in their that will help you discover yourself and your sense of worth. The eight types of smart that exist are as follows. These are further grouped into 3 categories. And don’t box yourself, you might find yourself in many, there is a survey that helps you know your leaning.

Object based intelligences
1.Image Smart - This is the intelligence that people who love to think in pictures,shapes, colours e.t.c have the most. They like to paint, draw, match colours, find their way with a map, know how a room out to be decorated, doodle as they learn e.t.c. They are usually excellent when it comes to activities that involve using the minds eye. You can easily guess the kinds of careers they would be successful in.

2.Logic smart - This is the intelligence that uses, numbers, logic and math to form patterns. They like to see patterns in things that others miss. They are analytic, love to work with numbers, perform experiments e.t.c.

3. Body Smart - Learning by doing This intelligence manifests in strong body awareness, connects well with activities peculiar to the body and hidden from the mind. Like how to dance, ride a bike, parallel park a car, run fast, walk on a rope, learn kung fu e.t.c.

4. Nature Smart - You have a strange connection with nature, you love the outdoors, you enjoy the scenery, you love animals, identify plant species, weather fascinates you, the farm appeals to you…this is you

Object Free Intelligences
5. Sound Smart - (I dear say this is strongest in Africa…but that was just me thinking out loud) You are very sensitive to sounds in the enviroment, you even remember past events by the sounds, various sounds and tones have visible effects on you, you can reproduce a rhythm having heard it once, your wife/hubby wonders where and when you heard all these songs.

6.Word Smart - you tend to think in words, you have highly developed skills for reading, writing and speaking, you like word games, making up poetry and stories, you enjoy debatting, remembering and telling jokes e.t.c.

Personal Intelligences
7. People Smart - If this is how you are smart, you learn more from interacting with people, you learn more in a team environment, you have many friends, empathise with people, understand different peoples points of view. You are likely good at drawing others out, you are sensitive to peoples feelings and ideas. What you read in a book sticks less than what you had a friendly discussion about.

8. Self Smart - Hmmm, this is the intelligence that provokes “hmmms”. You are very self aware, introspective, you are more likely to be in tune with your inner feelings, values belief and sense of purpose of life. You sometimes like to work alone, stay away from the crowd and range alone.You are very intuitive and are more self motivated than externally motivated. You are often strong willed, opinnionated and self confident, people naturally come to you for advice.

So the question goes to you, how are you smart? I’m sure reading this could help you come to a little understanding of my kind of smart as well. The first step is to know yourself, then as you begin to settle that puzzle, all your friends and acquaintances will fall into perspective. If my daughter comes home with a report card that says failed? I know better, what was measured was not her smart.

Deolu Akinyemi

MD Generis Solutions

Staying Relevant at the Workplace

Objectives

• To inculcate continuous learning desire into employees
• To make workers relevant even as reorganizations take place

I got a call from a friend recently and he confided in me that he had just being relieved of his job. Has it ever occurred to you to have a back up plan in case you lose your job? I hear you say God forbid. In this era of downsizing, rightsizing, restructuring or whatever name it is called, you need to have a back up plan. You could either do a business plan or begin to develop transferable skills that will make you become almost indispensable.

What are skills?

Skills can be defined as developed talents, abilities, competencies and capabilities which could be technical or interpersonal that can be used to solve problems and overcome challenges in order to achieve organizational or individual goals.

Where are you heading to?

Whatever you do now, it’s important you know and identify the direction in which your career, organizational strategy and national economy is heading towards. This will enable you to determine the skill, knowledge and attitude gap. Hence you will be able to chart a course to bridge the gap. You do this by revitalizing technical skills that date very quickly, building transferable skills and continuous learning. Developing your skills take you out of the competitive plane and place you in a class of your own. By doing this you ensure your employability and survival in an age where job description change quickly. It also helps you to take advantage of opportunities that may arise, or that you may create.

How to develop your skills

It is important you identify learning opportunities around you. You could consider furthering your education in a tertiary institution around you or pursue and online course. You could also go for training programmes which are usually vocationally relevant, and address specific measurable aim and objectives. In addition to this, you should take personal responsibility for developing yourself by private reading.

Even if you do not desire a promotion, you still need to develop yourself to maintain your present position. You need to develop yourself to use your full potential at each stage. Look at the people who are at the top 10% of your organization and assess your skills against them. That gap is what translates to the difference in remuneration and opportunities. I will like to remind you that there is nobody today who knows something that they did not learn or develop.

How close to Indispensable are you?

Commitment to learning and development is what can convert your talents to skills. Talent without skills will not suffice. You can survive with talents but you need skills to be significant. Are you indispensable? How quickly is it easy to replace you? If you tell your line manager today that you are going will he try to convince you to stay? Answers to these questions may be an indicator to how skillful you are. Remember that you need to continuously acquire, update or improve both technical and interpersonal skills.

Position Yourself to become a Star

If your organization sends you on training programmes, count it a privilege. Note that nobody owes you development. After all you reap the benefit of a developed you. Today my friend has realized that the reason why he lost his job is simply because he failed to update his skills. Finally let me submit that “the more skills you develop, the less the likelihood that you will be stranded”

Oluyemi Adeosun

A Consultant with Generis Solutions

www.yemiadeosun.blogspot.com

Time Management

What is time management?

Time management involves utilizing time to create maximum personal effectiveness and efficiency. This is achieved by planning how best to use your time and successfully implementing the plan.

Benefits

· Achieve control over your activities

· Balance work, rest and play

· Develop a style that is proactive and not reactive

· Deal with problems as they arise rather letting them grow

· Build in time for constructive personal development

· Save money by increasing your efficiency and achieving more

· Complete important assignment on time and avoid wasting time on unimportant task

· Have time to listen to others

· Be well perceived by others and differentiated from less well organized colleagues

· Relieve pressure and stress

· Go home from the office on time

What do you do?

1 Establish how your time is spent

2 Identify your problem areas

3 Clarify your objectives and priorities

4 Tackle the enemy without

5 Tackle the enemies within

PLAN

· Map out your activities a week in advance

· Spend five minutes each morning reviewing your time plan; adjust it as circumstances change

· Build slack time into your schedule so that you don’t constantly overrun

· Have a back up plan for contingency situations-decide which task can be dropped, who can be called on to help out, and who need to be notified if you are consequently delayed with other activities

· Plan time for relaxation and recreation as well as work

OLUYEMI ADEOSUN

Self Development Plan

What is development?

Developing is a life long process of nurturing, shaping, and improving your skills, knowledge, and interest in order to enhance your effectiveness and adaptability and minimize the chance that your skills will become obsolete or you might be made redundant.

It does not necessarily imply upward movement; rather; it is about enabling you to improve and use your full potential at each stage.

What does Development Require?

· It involves establishing what you want to achieve or where you want to go in the short term or long term and identifying your needs in terms of skills, knowledge, or competence

· The plan also defines the development that is appropriate to meet those perceived needs

· Scheduling and timing are important, but cannot be too regimented

Benefits

· Reappraising where you want to go and how you can get there quickly

· Revitalizing technical skills that date very quikly

· Build up transferable skills

· Continuous learning

· Gain satisfaction from a sense of achievement

· Ensuring your employability and survival in an age where very few jobs will be the same in five years from now

· Take advantage of opportunities that may arise, or that you may create

Challenges

· Getting started in the in a constructive way

· Assigning importance to developing activities that may not have seemed so important in the past

· Being too modest, too demanding, or perhaps too unrealistic

· Getting the right balance between workaholism and inertia-between work, rest and play

Adapted by- Oluyemi Adeosun

HOW I INTEND TO USE CONSULTING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN NIGERIA

This article was written by Kamal

While growing up, I often heard that the” greatest problem in Nigeria and indeed all black Nations is that of leadership” and ever since I had resolved in my mind to choose a career path that will help in building the leadership capacity of my dear country. I discovered also that the opportunity to actualize my dreams can be found in consulting where you have the opportunity of being a leader’s leader.

I intend to make a difference in Nigeria via consulting by providing creative and innovative solutions for people and organisations, as they face unprecedented challenges, fierce intra-industry competition, overwhelming governmental policies and regulations, technological advancements, multicultural diversity in the workforce, customer expectations and retention, and micro and macro economic unpredictability; this I intend to do using a blend of coaching, workshops, Role Plays etc. By so doing I would have provided them with information and advice which leads to real and lasting solution of a problem.

I will constantly think, analyze, brainstorm, cajole and challenge good organizations to become even better by adopting new ideas. I also intend to tread the path of great consultants by being able to step into ambiguous, sometimes hostile situations and sense what changes need to be made, driven by ideas and a strong desire to have a positive impact on clients.

By doing all these I would have increased my bandwidth and shifted my paradigm, which would have made me a better person, I also believe that “Repetition is the mother of skills” as I do these repeatedly I become exceptionally good and skillful at my work.