Blogs - Dimensions

November 30, 2020 

We are indeed living in highly turbulent times, VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Challenging and Ambiguous) is passé as the pandemic has given a whole new meaning to crisis and escalated it ten-fold to a new high. With a major economic recession looming large on the horizon, businesses have had to redraw strategic blueprints to avoid the operational cul-de-sac & develop the agility to take the right detour towards excellence and brace oneself against the impending fallout of the situation.

In these distressful and alarming times, all our homegrown and validated axioms on leadership may not be good enough to steer us through this unprecedented crisis. It is here that John Maxwell, Bestselling author & Leadership expert in his new book, LEADERSHIFT © 2019 outlines for us a pathway to growth through the exercise of nimbleness and adaptability that will help businesses to stay ahead of the curve by not only relying on speed but thriving on timing, innovating and making changes before they are necessary. Instead of staying the course, you can change your trajectory and position yourself to leverage on new and challenging opportunities.

We know very well that the only constant thing in life is change. But while we realize the need for change, what is still more important is to continue changing. How does a leader do more than just hang on and survive in today’s hostile and threatening environment? The key is to learn how to continually make Leadershifts and a Leadershift, according to Maxwell is an ability and willingness to make a leadership change that will positively enhance organizational and personal growth. Maxwell illustrates this beautifully by quoting a NYT article on Cheetahs which teaches us a lot about the importance of agility when it comes to success: Anyone who has watched a cheetah run down an antelope knows that these cats are impressively fast. But it turns out that speed is not the secret to their prodigious hunting skills: a novel study showed that a cheetah chases his prey by using a subtle combination of speed and agility…with a top speed of 58 mph it can suddenly decelerate to 9 mph within a single stride and with great agility can leap sideways, change directions abruptly and slow down suddenly thus outmanoeuvring its fast and nimble prey.

A recent study conducted identified the three top leadership qualities that are needed in today’s “BEYOND VUCA” world:

• Ability to motivate staff (35%)
• Ability to work well across cultures (34%)
• Ability to facilitate change (32%)

All these three qualities require Adaptability. Most recruiting firms today insist that almost 91 per cent of future recruiting in the workplace will be based on people’s ability to deal with change and uncertainty and the capability to change to fit new circumstances and situations.

According to Maxwell, “Good leaders adapt. They shift and Adaptability is the ability to sense the change in wind direction and alter course to take advantage of the shift. Leaders who Leadershift must be like water. They have to be fluid. Water finds a way; it makes a way. First, it changes with its circumstances. The environment dictates the change. But moving water is also forceful. It first moves around an object, but at the same time it begins moving the object. It can wear down solid rock over time. If you want to be an effective leader, you must Leadershift. You cannot be the same, think the same, and act the same if you hope to be successful in a world that does not remain the same.”

This is so true of today’s pandemic struck world. If we hope to get out of this quagmire soon, we will have to program into our minds the words of Albert Einstein: ‘We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them’

The words of the nineteenth century preacher, Phillip Brooks, the author of the famous hymn, “O little town of Bethlehem”, should inspire us in our quest to break free and chart a new course for the future: “Sad will be the day for every man when he becomes absolutely contented with the life he is living, with the thoughts he is thinking, with the deeds that he is doing, when there is not forever beating at the doors of his soul some great desire to do something larger, which he knows that he was meant and made to do.”

John Maxwell enumerates for us 7 important principles of LEADERSHIFT

CONTINUALLY LEARN, UNLEARN AND RELEARN – redundancy is the name of the game. We need to embrace change every day. We must be willing to let go of what worked yesterday and learn new ways of seeing, doing and leading.

VALUE YESTERDAY, BUT LIVE IN TODAY – People may honour you for what you did yesterday, but they respect you for what you are doing now.

RELY ON SPEED BUT THRIVE ON TIMING – For leaders, timing is critical. Good timing enables leaders to seize the moment and gain victory for the team When the leader sees the bandwagon, it’s too late to lead

SEE THE BIG PICTURE AS THE PICTURE KEEPS GETTING BIGGER –A leader must imbibe the process of layered learning as the picture becomes bigger and bigger. Leadership is all about growth and a leader learns to keep growing seeing the big picture getting bigger

LIVE IN TODAY BUT THINK OF TOMORROW –Leaders must have a natural bias for action & they must be proactive today for the sake of tomorrow

MOVE FORWARD COURAGEOUSLY IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY – If there was no uncertainty, we would not need leaders. It requires courage to demonstrate leadership amidst uncertainty

REALIZE THAT TODAY’S BEST WILL NOT MEET TOMORROW’S CHALLENGES – Good is the enemy of the best, but best is the enemy of the better

It is the quality of our leadership and our ability to LEADERSHIFT that will decide how well we navigate through the fallout in the aftermath of covid-19. We may come out bruised and battered but with our spirits intact and strengthened by an inner resolve that we can be down but never out.

November 30, 2020

Even as the COVID-19 crisis continues to create a world of uncertainty, the goal must be to rebuild for the longer term. The pandemic is fueling a wave of grief and loss that threatens to derail leaders and hurt organizations.

 Yet when addressed well, grief can be a creative force that turns loss into inspiration. Companies and Institutions that are strong and resilient will be better placed to survive and prosper. Those are qualities that can’t be taken for granted; they need to be cultivated.

A vision provides clarity and eliminates the distractions that lead you into activities that drain your time and energy. We all know the bible verse: “Write your vision down and make it plain.” At Dimensions, we are bound by a shared vision to create a Christian Business Community with unlimited prosperity. This along with our mission and guiding values provides us a sense of direction.

It is believed that having goals with a focused action plan have helped individuals, groups, companies and even countries achieve success. Going forward, a set of specific and measurable objectives for our different chapters will help us review our progress regularly and course correct as we arrive at our destination.

We would need to track chapter performance through targets for attendance, one-to-ones conducted, referrals generated, visitors invited for our events and thank you notes exchanged for completed business. This will help us define, achieve, recognize and celebrate accomplishment.

We will organize leadership training and educational programs for our members for conducting productive and engaging meetings, facilitating quality one-to-ones through an effective sales pitch, giving quality referrals that open up a world of possibilities as well as attracting visitors that offer us business opportunities and the potential of joining Dimensions as committed members. 

We are also exploring the possibility of creating and offering a Signature Incubation Program (SIP) to build, connect and grow Christian Entrepreneurs (Youth and Others) which is our primary mission at Dimensions. The program will provide education to the budding entrepreneurs to develop the right mindset and skill sets that will help them move from ideation to execution.

If done well, we will be able to achieve a win-win-win for the Entrepreneur, for the Investor and for our Dimensions members who will provide the entrepreneur the required advisory services in terms of branding, coaching, finance, insurance, legal, valuation, etc.

There are many challenges and difficulties on the path to any worthwhile vision, and as leaders we need to have a far broader set of competencies and a sense of commitment to draw people forward and keep our teams aligned through the everyday realities and travails that underlie real achievement.

In the words of Joel Barker, “Vision without action is merely a dream; Action without vision just passes the time; Vision with action can change the world.” Let us work together to make great things come to be.

November 30, 2020

I happened to chance upon this book at the Goa airport on my way back to Mumbai from a lovely vacation. This is truly an inspirational and practical handbook which will help leaders guide their team to achieve their goals.

“Leaders do not get paid for what Leaders do. Leaders get paid for what they can get others to do.”

This is a very IMPORTANT STATEMENT. This book tells you exactly how to go about it in a very simple language with lots of examples and ideas. We all know how challenging it is to get work done by others and that too to our satisfaction. Imagine if we have to get our team to perform consistently with high performance energy day in and day out? This consistency is only possible when we bring about a change in the human behavior of our team. This book shares simple steps and a structure on how to get the most done from our team. Not only your team but also how to make our selves more productive by using the 4 Disciplines of Execution.

Few key points of the book :-

Discipline 1 : Focus on the Wildly Important Goal (WIG) : We all get so caught up with the Daily Whirlwind – Urgent tasks that keeps coming up which require to be attended immediately, that we tend to lose focus and time towards our long term projects. This discipline helps us to channelize our work so that once we start focusing on important things, the daily urgent tasks are reduced.

A simple formula – To move from X (present position) to Y (to where we want to be / target to achieve) by when (deadline).If we try to explain our goal in this simple formula, it looks easy and achievable, which the team can relate too.Your highest WIG is a point of laser focus one to which you will give a disproportionate amount of energy because it requires a change in human behavior. There will always be more ‘good’ ideas than there is capacity to execute. Choose the one which will make the most impact. Execution starts with a focus.

Discipline 2 : Act on the Lead Measure – They are predictable and influenceable.Once your WIG has been finalized. The same has to be simplified into achievable steps, which can then be accounted for.Remember the key principles of leverage. The lever (Lead measure) must move a lot for the rock (WIG) to move a little.

Discipline 3 : Keep a Compelling Scoreboard :- A nice simple colorful scoreboard is very essential where the team can view its progress every week. This keeps the team charged up and focused on achieving their goals. Once you see the behavioral change that is happening with the team, results begin to show.

Discipline 4 : Create a Cadence of Accountability :-Accountability on the team is shared. We make commitments and then we’re accountable to our boss, but more important to each other for following through.

I have just shared a few points in short, but this book explains everything in detail, from how to start with taking baby steps and apply the principles to the entire organization. Each point is explained with a lot of examples and best practices from the best. The challenges that one would face and how to tackle them. There is a personal take home too at the end of the book which I will share it here in short. A lady wished to lose weight. Her WIG – Bring down her weight from 80 kgs to 70kgs by 31st May 2020 (defined as X to Y by when). Her Lead measure – Take 10,000 steps every day (Her diet was already in control, so she chose this specific lead measure to achieve her WIG). Scoreboard – Behind her bathroom door a chart was put up which she maintained and monitored every week. Cadence of Accountability – Her husband was given the task of keeping a tab on her progress and keep her focused on her goal.

Going by the principle of 4dx and following all the steps. Her entire family got excited with her goal and not only her husband but her children motivated her to meet her goals. The days she would be bored they would accompany her for her walks and keep her encouraged. This is just a tiny example of how as a team and for the individual the 4 disciplines of execution worked.

Roshni D’souza – Director : Lighthouse Entertainment Pvt. Ltd

November 30, 2020

A while ago when our Core team at the Central Chapter was brainstorming and we were attempting to think how we could leverage Dimensions to give each of its members more for less. We had Adrian Goldwin come up with a brilliant idea where he requested all of us to list our pain points and suggested why not we start some specific Training programs by professionals and experts from amongst us to address these areas. Thus, was born the concept of Dimensions – Value Creation.

We had a couple of trainings for our members conducted by none other than our very own Vincent D’Silva an expert in training small and large organisations on various topics. We picked the topic of Communication Skills and members sponsored their staff to attend. The program was well accepted and appreciated by business owners and staff.

Similarly, as we all know our Government ordered a Lock-down to avoid transmission of COVID-19 towards the end of March 2020 and it was a shock for most people. This time Denver Annunciation showed us the way. He introduced us to Zoom Conference and it changed the way we conducted our meetings. However, the satisfaction was limited and we as a team wanted more to keep our morale high. The core team had recently had a discussion and had decided to focus on new member acquisitions and ensure that existing members get business to make Dimensions attractive. We also wanted to Market the Dimensions Brand. Putting all this together along with the lock-down in the background, the team decided why not experiment with having an Education Series of some basic Skills and Information that will be useful to members at large and also the resources within Dimensions would get a platform to share their skills.

To experiment this, we looked up to our absolute best, Vincent D’Silva, who readily agreed to do a session on Leadership Essentials on a pro-bono basis. To support him we had Martin D’Souza our Branding & Marketing Wizard, who put out a professional and attractive flyer. The information on the session was shared with members and guests. The response was magical as we observed that our members who were stressed under the burden of all negative thoughts, found a great outlet to relieve themselves. Catching up on a bunch of fellow businessmen, participating in a knowledge filled session and sharing their thoughts and views on the knowledge gained.

This session was followed by two more session by Vincent D’Silva on Customer Service Excellence and Cash is King-both master pieces and apt for the situation we all were in. These presentations just captivated the audience – our Dimensions members and our guests. The number of attendees started rising. And we soon realized that people had started asking for the session login details. Martin had also started posting on Face Book and other digital mediums. This helped us get a lot of momentum.

In April we had Transformatrix LLP, the firm born as a result of Dimensions, present. CA Arun Vaz and CA Agnel D’Souza spoke about Compliances in the wake of COVID-19. This got everyone thinking as to what they could do during to lock-down to ensure they had a better tomorrow on compliance. They shared on the critical matters that are often taken for granted and shared their valuable insights.

Coach Raymond D’Souza was next. He explained the context that most of us operate in and the mindsets we carry. He shared that if a business must grow exponentially it is essential to not only change the role of the Entrepreneur from a doer to a Manager, to a Guide and Investor who would eventually be an Enterprise Owner. The Business then not being dependent on the day to day efforts of the Enterprise Owner who would be more of a guide and a Vision provider to the Enterprise.

Following this Lloyd Rego, made a presentation on how an Individual or a Family could De-Risk themselves. Similarly, he shared how a Business be it Small, Medium or Large Enterprise must De-Risk. The focus was on Risk Transfer. He shared various thoughts on securing Health, Wealth and Future / Potential Wealth of a Family. He threw light on how Business owners must mitigate their Risks by seeking adequate protection through various types of Insurance such as Fire, Engineering, Marine & Liability covers. Finally, he emphasised on how one could secure their Trade Receivables in such uncertain times.

These Dimension Value Creation Series had created a rage and we were seeing participants rise from 35 to 70+. These programs had got addictive and we found members wanting to come and get maximum knowledge and exposure. So, to cut the monotony we decided to have one session to step back and evaluate past sessions. We wanted to check; whether it was going in the right direction, what are the aspects we need to change, where we could improve things etc. In this session too we got valuable feedback on managing the timing, preparing a registration form, collecting the data on guests and members, giving it an improved and professional touch.

Post this feedback we incorporated these changes and we realised that members were delighted to attend the presentation by Advocate Sanjay Rego who spoke on Legal Aspects during COVID-19. He shared how contracts are likely to be dishonoured sighting forced lockdown and he guided the audience with his views and interpretation of these sensitive and vital aspects, given his legal background and years of experience in the field.

This presentation was followed by Martin D’Souza who presented on Building a Strong and Memorable Brand. A very Colour full presentation with a live demonstration on how a Visiting Card could make a lasting impression. The punch line was “Jo Dikta Hai, Wo Bikta Hai” meaning always display and present yourself (your Brand) well. Because what is seen, is sold.

Steven Fernandes presented a particularly important topic that impacts all of us – Investing in the time of Covid -19. He shared the basics of how one should organise oneself, what type of Mutual Fund one must choose keeping the goals and purpose in mind. He demonstrated the all asset classes have their highs and lows and there is nothing such as one best asset class. He endorsed the best way to approach investments was to balance the portfolio across asset classes.

Ronnie Fernandes was next in turn. His topic was Lean Management Tools. Being a Management Consultant in Quality Systems, he shared how simple things could be used to reduce wastage and maximise profits for organisations. He shared case studies on how he used simple techniques without any further investment by an organisation to produce savings. He gave examples of both manufacturing and services industries and set the audience on to a thinking spree.

We had three sessions every week of April keeping all our members in high spirits. As the month was coming to an eventful end, we had Nilesh Menezes speak on Risk of Revenue Leakage and Frauds. This was quite a unique topic as to how an organisation can add value by plugging the holes in the systems and make them more efficient. He shared examples of how incentives to customers could be misused by staff. He brought to light how tools from his kitty could be used to compare various operation teams to identify unassuming slips in the system adding to the bottom line.

We hope all our Diamonds enjoyed the topics and the presentations from each of our experts. We thank them for their active participation and engagement of so many guests for these sessions. We hope to continue these for the near future and improve upon out past.

Lloyd Rego – Founder of LMN Financial Services

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