Project Management Process

1. Project Stake holders
Project stake holders are individuals and organizations that are actively involved in the project or people whose interest may be affected as a result of project execution or project completion. They may also influence the project’s objectives and outcomes. Project management team must identify stakeholders, determine their requirements and expectations. Manage stake holder’s influence to the requirements to ensure successful project completion.

Positive stake holders are those who get benefited by the project outcome, whereas negative stake holders are those who will be facing negative impacts from the project outcome. Identifying all stake holders at right moment is a challenge for Project managers. Stake holders who don’t carry out their project responsibility will be a burden for the project, same way project manager who ignore stakeholders also will be calling for trouble.


2. Project charterProject charter is the document that formally authorizes a project. The project charter provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities. A project manager is always assigned prior to the start of planning. Mostly it is done while project charter is being developed.

Project charter is issued by the sponsor of the project. Sponsor of the project will be the person funding the project. A market demand, business need, a customer request, a technological advance, a legal requirement or a social need can trigger project charter.


3. What are the nine project management areas?
1. Integration Management
2. Scope Management
3. Time Management
4. Cost management
5. Quality management
6. Human resource management
7. Communication Management
8. Risk Management
9. Procurement management

4. What are five project management process groups?
1. Initiating process groups
2. Planning process group
3. Executing process group
4. Monitoring & Controlling process groups
5. Closing process group.

5. What is WBS?
Work break down structure is the breakdown or decomposition of the project into manageable tasks so as to accomplish project objectives. WBS divide project into smaller units called work packages which can be schedules, cost estimated, monitored and controlled.

6. What is activity definition?
Defining the schedule activities involves identifying and documenting the work that is planned to be performed. Activity definition will identify the deliverables at the lowest level in the WBS, which is called work package. Work packages are decomposed into smaller components called schedule activities to provide a basis for estimating, scheduling, executing, monitoring and controlling project work.

7. What is rolling wave planning?
WBS and WBS dictionary reflect details of project planning till work package level. Rolling wave planning is a form progressive elaboration planning, where the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in details at a low level of WBS, while work far in future is planned for WBS components that are at a relatively high level of the WBS. During early strategic planning, when information is less defined, activities might be kept at the milestones level.


8. Activity sequencing
It’s a process of identifying and documenting the logical relationships among scheduled activities. Activities can be schedule with proper precedence relationships as well as leads and lags to support later development of a realistic achievable project schedule. Sequencing can be done manually or using automated techniques.

How to manage your employees during recession period

An year ago there was no fear of recession among people and the main worry for all those IT people were to find the right equity fund or a share to invest their salary and bonuses. Now the tables have turned and the people are worried about their job, worried about their investments and worried about their future. Economy is in turmoil, no bonus and salary is not enough to meet sky rocketing costs.

Many employees have big financial commitments for every month in the form of loans, credit cards etc. To add fuel to fire, the constant threat of layoffs hangs in the air like a ghost. Is there anything else required to make an employee depressed?

When the ups and downs in the economy are quiet natural, people normally tend to forget that reality when economy show a downward trend, but at the same time they enjoy upward trend to any extend.

During recession rather than leaving employees to handle their worries by their own means companies can extend their hands in helping employees to tackle the situation. There are few ways by which organizations can keep their employees motivated, like offering right rewards, internal brand positioning and displaying leadership initiatives.

Cut down expenses for parties and vending machines, concentrate more on training resources. This is one of the best mechanisms for retaining employees. Training need not be expensive, concentrate on value of the training. Training should be conducted in such a way so that employees should feel that they are gaining something very important. By providing training in advanced technologies, companies improve their chances in tough competitive markets and can win new projects. It will help companies to find new clients and there by increasing revenue.

Companies should concentrate more on their best talents during the time of recession as due to lack of increase in salary, they may tend to jump for small gains. To avoid this talk to these employees with empathy, make them understand that this recession is only a temporary phenomenon, things will change soon and company will roll back to its normal smooth functioning. Let employees know about the prospects of staying with the company in long term.

Shifting focus away from recession is a good way to relieve people off from the stress and pain. Shift focus to future plans and kind of prospect, company can provide to its employees. Always guide people with energy and enthusiasm. Talks between employees and management should be motivating, should add a sense of security and integrity in the hearts of employees. Inform them about challenging future projects.

Try to provide increments and positive appraisals to right people. In situations where few people are to be laid off, make sure company pass clear and unambiguous explanations to all employees. Provide incentives in the form of insurance policies, health insurance, retirement benefits etc.

Communication is the key factor especially during recession to keep employees motivated. During recession time all gossip mongers come up with different kind of annoying or disturbing news every day. They create stories with their imagination and most of the time which doesn’t have much to do with reality. Tackling such people is a difficult task. Best possible way to handle this situation is to explain company’s stand clearly to employees. When poorly managed communication or lack of it can breed ill will, bad feelings and a lot of negative feelings within the organization.

Recession period is always a testing time, but it is also a chance for organizations to prove its leadership qualities and consolidate its talent base when other companies are falling apart.

Discipline your habits to accomplish better results

I have noticed many technology based employees finding it very difficult to finish their work in time. In spite of working 12-16 hours per day, most of them fail to achieve expected results. This article is an effort to find a solution to this issue. There are few techniques which can help you to accomplish your goals in time.

One most important thing to remember is to stay focused and organized. Disorganized people come under great stress and pressure. They lag behind schedules and may have to spend extra time to catch up. Unsystematic approach to work makes it difficult to focus on the task at hand, making them prone to errors and poor quality work.

You will be surprised how simple planning and disciplined work habits can help you to stay on top of your job and enable you to achieve more in less time.

Planning your day effectively is one of the most important parts of planning. Sometime people with weekly or monthly work schedules might feel that planning for the day is a waste of time and energy, but in reality it will help you to achieve goals in an effective way. Have a day planner, which will help you to organize your day’s time in a more effective way.

Have a TODO list for each day and towards the end of the day check which task you have achieved and what is pending. You will come to know how much time you have spent on each work and thus give an insight on how you spend the day. This information can give chance for a self retrospect on your mode of work. A TODO list can improve the quality of your work and focus on work as you are well aware what all to be achieved for the day. This way you wont’ be surprised to see the deadlines approaching in the last minute.

Being time conscious is very important and it is the most difficult thing to achieve as well. Definitely there will be distractions which will continue to interrupt you, but setting realistic form of time schedule can help a lot. While setting time schedule always take into account of unavoidable disturbances that may interrupt your work schedule.

Concentrate more on difficult tasks and complete them first, this will help you to run through easier tasks faster and complete work as per schedule. Avoid chatting, browsing or reading emails during work hours. Keep separate time for all these tasks. Prioritizing items in the TODO list in the order of their importance will be very helpful. When priorities changes, renumber the items again, setting reminders and time limit that you may need to complete each task will be a good ready reference that can guide you through the day.

In a professional environment, the ability to manage deadlines and meet emergencies is integral to your success. Always set reasonable deadlines and remember when negotiating for deadlines, it is always better to under-promise and over deliver. Once a deadline schedule for the project is created, stick to it. Break big projects into smaller modules and schedule it and complete each module in stipulated time frame.

In all projects there will be a lot of unproductive meetings which waste both your time and your company’s money. Schedule meetings where there is an absolute need for it, and attend meetings only if they are really necessary and server your purpose.

Prepare for the meetings well in advance. Exhibiting professionalism and discipline in meetings is the best way to manage time and impress the team. To increase your chances of success in your career you should have good communication skills, discipline, focus, and bring order into your work habits. Effective work habits can increase your productivity and help you to deliver consistently.

CollectionBase in C#

In order to bind a collection to a data source we must implement ICollection and IEnumerable. For directly inheriting these interfaces we have to implement several functions, some of them may not be useful. By deriving from the abstract class CollectionBase we automatically derive ICollection and IEnumerable.

Sample program given below will illustrate the use of CollectionBase

Create a new project in C#, give the name as CollectionBaseDemo and save it to your sample folder. Add a class module to your project and paste the code given below.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Text;

namespace MyCollectionBase
{
public class Product
{
int mintID;
string mstrItemName;
double mdblRate;

public int ID
{
get
{
return (mintID);
}
set
{
mintID = value;
}
}
public string ItemName
{
get
{
return (mstrItemName);
}
set
{
mstrItemName = value;
}
}
public double Rate
{
get
{
return (mdblRate );
}
set
{
mdblRate = value;
}
}
}

public class Products : CollectionBase
{
public Product this[int index]
{
get
{
return (Product )this.List[index];
}
set
{
this.List[index] = value;
}
}

public void Add(Product product)
{
this.List.Add(product);
}

public void Remove(Product product)
{
this.List.Remove(product);
}
}
}


Create a form and name it as frmSample.cs and design it as given in the Fig. given below.



Give the name of buttons as btnAdd, btnRemove and btnShow, button1.
Name of combobox should be cboItems.



Take the code window of form and paste the code below.

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace MyCollectionBase
{
public partial class frmSample : Form
{
Products objProducts =null;

public frmSample()
{
InitializeComponent();

objProducts = new Products();

}

private void btnAdd_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Product objItem = new Product();


objItem.ID = Convert.ToInt32 (textBox1.Text.ToString());
objItem.ItemName = textBox2.Text.ToString();
objItem.Rate = Convert.ToDouble (textBox3.Text.ToString());

objProducts.Add(objItem);
}

private void btnShow_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
int intIndex=0;
try
{
intIndex = Convert.ToInt32(textBox1.Text.ToString());
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
Product objItem = new Product();

objItem = objProducts[intIndex];
if (objItem != null)
{
textBox2.Text = objItem.ItemName;
textBox3.Text = objItem.Rate.ToString();
}
}


private void btnRemove_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
int intIndex=0;
try
{
intIndex = Convert.ToInt32(textBox1.Text.ToString());
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
Product objItem = new Product();

objItem = objProducts[intIndex];

if (objItem != null)
{
objProducts.Remove(objItem);
MessageBox.Show("Item Removed");
}
}

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
try
{
cboItems.ValueMember = "ID";
cboItems.DisplayMember = "ItemName";
cboItems.DataSource = objProducts;

}
catch (Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
}
}
}

ADO.net Simplified

How to open a connection using ADO.net?

To use ADO.net connection object, add System.data namespace and for using connection with databases other than SQL Server use System.data.Oledb.

Let us see how to generate a connection string for accessing a access database Sales.mdb, which is located in d:\Sales path.

using system;
using system.data;
using system.data.Oledb;

private OleDBConnection OpenConnection()
{
string strConnection = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OleDb.4.0;";
strConnection += @"Data Source=C:\Sales\Sales.mdb”;
strConnection +=@"Persist Security Info=False;";

OleDbConnection objConnection = new OleDbConnection(strConnection);

objConnection.Open();
if(objConnection.IsOpen()))
{
Messagebox.Show(“Connection Opened”);
}
objConnection.Close();
}

How to use dataReader in C#?

DataReader in C# is used to read data from a table. This is a faster way of accessing data from a table. When you want to generate reports use this object.

OleDbCommand command = new OleDbCommand();
command.Connection = Connection;
command.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM Items";

OleDbDataReader dataReader;
dataReader = command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.CloseConnection);

How to read data from a dataReader?

int nFields = dataReader.FieldCount;
while (dataReader.Read())
{
String [] subitems = new String[nFields];
for (int i = 0; i < nFields; i++)
{
subitems[i] = dataReader[i].ToString();
}

}
dataReader.Close();



How to use a dataset to display data in a Grid?

string strSQL = "SELECT ID, description FROM items";
DataSet objDataSet = new DataSet();
OleDbConnection objConnection = new OleDbConnection(strConnection);
OleDbDataAdapter objAdapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(strSQL, objConnection);
objAdapter.Fill(objDataSet, "Items");
DataView objDataView = new DataView(objDataSet.Tables["Items"]);
dgNameList.DataSource=objDataView;
dgNameList.DataBind();

How to use a Command object to insert records into a table?

String sSQLCommand = "INSERT INTO Person (Age, FirstName, Description, Updated) " +
"VALUES( 55, 'Bob', 'Is a Penguin', '2001/12/25 20:30:15' );";

ADOCommand cmdAdder = new ADOCommand(sSQLCommand, DB_CONN_STRING);
cmdAdder.ActiveConnection.Open();

int nNoAdded = cmdAdder.ExecuteNonQuery();

Updating a table using command object

String sSQLCommand = "UPDATE Items SET Rate = 27 WHERE Description = Jaya Rice";

Deleting a record using command object

String sSQLCommand = "DELETE FROM items WHERE Description = Jaya Rice";

Increase your memory power in 21 days - Simple Harmless Steps

Memory is the ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information. There were numerous studies made to understand the mechanism of memory retention process and how to increase the memory power. Numerous medicines were introduced and many techniques were devised all to improve human memory power.

By increasing memory power we can achieve wonders. Mind power and memory power are two related entities, by improving memory power we greatly improve our mind power as well. These two tools together can bring out great results. We can invoke our inner thoughts so that our mind and actions remains focused on what we are doing. This way our efficiency in all areas will improve, thereby make us a better employee, better family man and all together a better personality for us.

Just practice this exercise for 15-20 minutes every day for 21 days. Your memory power and sharpness will be doubled. People around you can feel the difference. But the best judge of what you are is you; nobody else can understand you better than you yourself. So make a self assessment towards the end of the course and others will naturally feel the difference.

During my research days, my first effort was to find the best time for doing this exercise, finally I found late evening just before going to bed is the best time for doing this exercise. It hardly take 15-20 minutes, so it won’t affect much. It is not at all necessary that you have to keep some specific time for this, but the best time is before going to bed.

Before going to bed brush your teeth wash your face and clean your hands and legs. Now you are ready for the exercise. Sit straight and relaxed on your bed or in a chair. Make doubly sure that you are sitting comfortably and relaxed no tensions on your body. Now slowly take a deep and long breath, retain it for 5 seconds and slowly release. Repeat this for 10-15 times, nothing special here, by doing this you are providing more energy for your body. This energy is required after a long day’s work, which would have exhausted your mind and body. Now you are ready for the final step.

Start recapping all those things happened for the day. Start with your wakeup time, and then move on step by step. Initial days you may not be able to recap all events, but as the days progress you will be able to improve on it. No need to strain for finding the events, initial stages you can pick events randomly also. But as you progress order it well in the order in which it had happened during the day.

One most important care you have to take while doing this exercise is never follow the events, when you try to recollect the event your might get dragged to different directions, that should not happen. Tell all your thoughts to come later and finish this job first. Everything said here might looks simple but believe me the effect of this exercise is excellent. Once you do it for 21 days, you will be able to increase your memory and retention power by 25% to 200% depending on the kind of effort you put. If you can make it as a practice for the rest of your life, your efficiency will be improved many fold. So help yourself by spending 15-20 minutes a day.

Innovative Leaders are Great mentors

There’s no better method for a person to learn and perfect a craft than by having a mentor guide them along the way. The increased worldwide interest and growth in project management has sparked an unprecedented need for mentors in the field. And many companies and organizations, as well as PMI chapters, are stepping in to help fill that need. But the demand for capable and willing mentors appears to outstrip the supply. I’d like to encourage you to consider adding mentoring to your toolbox of skills. You’ll find great benefits in taking on the role. Here are some of the most noteworthy: A good mentor can promote collective innovation, to help organizations to perform better.

Discover the rewards of helping others. There’s no greater satisfaction than giving to others in a way that helps them help themselves—and then, in turn, help others.

Pick up new skills. I may have learned more from teaching others than I have from doing things myself. When you handle tasks yourself, there’s only so much knowledge you can gain from the limited environments within which you work. But when you’re teaching others, many more challenges can emerge. Figuring out how to deal with those issues can help mentors sharpen and fine tune their own skills. New lessons learned or adopted by mentoring others some time leads to innovation. This type of collective innovation is a surprise output of good mentoring by Great leaders.

Make new friends and colleagues. One of the perks of mentoring is that you can often develop closer business relationships and meet people with whom you otherwise would not have had contact.

Improve your stock value. The respect people have for you will likely increase, as will your overall worth to the organization, company or community.

Contribute to the state of the art. The more you immerse yourself in the project management craft, the more you’ll experience opportunities to develop new tools, methodologies and thought leadership that can lead to the advancement of the field. You may find yourself not only assisting individuals, but helping full communities and industries. Are there downsides to being a mentor? Yes, but not too many, and they’re not as significant as the benefits. Here are two worthy of mention:

Mentoring can demand a lot of your time. You may find yourself wanting to give more of yourself than you have time for, especially because mentoring is likely only a small portion of your job.

It can be hard to say “no.” When you see great potential in people, you may wish that you could work with all of them.

A Working Relationship
There are many ways that a mentor can work with mentees. It can be as informal as being on “standby” should counseling be requested. Or, it can be as structured as working with the mentee to create a mentoring plan that outlines the goals, milestones and specific events to be undertaken. Depending on what skills mentees need you to teach them, you may want to attend some of their meetings and meet some of the people they frequently work with.I often perform what I call “shadowing.” I spend a full day with the mentee and attend all of his or her meetings. Then, we retire to his or her office to discuss the events of the day. I note all the good things the person said and did, but also offer suggestions for improvement where applicable. If there’s time throughout the day to reflect on events immediately after they occur, do so, but the person may be too busy. As a mentor, I have encountered two unexpected surprises. The first was related to the type of project management skills being requested. I expected most of the calls and contact time with mentees would be about the technical skills of planning and tracking projects, applying earned value techniques, and so on. What I discovered was that most of my time—at least 80 percent—was spent talking about leadership, people skills and relationships. Now, I devote about 95 percent of my mentoring time to those topics. The second surprise I encountered: When mentees contact me with a problem, I often ask them what they think they should do. More than 80 percent of the time, they come up with the appropriate response on their own. The greatest value I often bring to the mentor mentee relationship is validation that the mentee is headed down the right path. In other words, we often know what the appropriate action is in a certain situation, but having a trusted confidant as a check and balance or a sounding board can really boost a mentee’s confidence to move forward. Leaders always focus on innovation and collective effort of the team members. The best leaders are also teachers—and mentoring others can be a wise and rewarding investment. Now, go make a difference

Lateral thinking a way towards Collective Innovation

Lateral thinking is a term coined by Edward de Bono, a Maltese psychologist, physician and a writer. Lateral thinking is a deviation from vertical thinking; it is a way of innovative thinking. In lateral thinking, thinking pattern is not predictable, as in the case of vertical thinking. But at times the result of lateral thinking turns out to be an innovation.

There are numerous tools or methods that can bring about lateral thinking.

Random entry: Choose an object at random, or a noun from a dictionary, and associate that with the area you are thinking about.

Example: The world today is facing energy crisis, most of the developing countries have acute electricity shortage. Currently we depend on hydro electric projects, thermal projects, nuclear projects, wind projects etc for generating electricity. We never thought or explored some mechanism for generating electricity by human beings. Yes a bicycle like device with dynamo attached can be used to generate electricity in small quantity, but in a regular manner.

Provocation: Declare the usual perception out of bounds, or provide some provocative alternative to the usual situation under consideration. Prefix the provocation with the term 'Po" to signal that the provocation is not a valid idea put up for judgment but a stimulus for new perception.

Example: The usual way of software development start with requirement gathering, preparation of documents, sign off of documents etc. But this approach often land into failures, especially when the client is not aware of pros and cons of computerization. Few circumstances are even worse as the client may be good in business knowledge but can’t express it properly to software designers and leads to a project failure. Let us take a different approach here, to start with make an overall quick study and come up with a proto type with basic functionalities. Make user work on prototype and improve proto type with new requirements. This approach may help to reduce time and rework involved in the project development.

Challenge: Simply challenge the way things have always been done or seen, or the way they are. This is done not to show there is anything wrong with the existing situation but simply to direct your perceptions to exploring outside the current area. This approach some time leads to evolution of wonderful innovations that can give the vital competitive edge to business organizations.

Example: Military service around the world follows a uniform specific to their countries norms and a strict reporting time and a set of routine jobs. There is nothing wrong in doing that but we can think of a scenario where in military people are given with a set of tasks rather than orders and let them finish it at their own convenience.

Mostly people depend upon lateral thinking when they want to think out of the box. Thus always collective innovations will be possible when there is lateral thinking from all or a session of people in a group.

Lateral thinking Managers to Promote Collective Innovation among team members

Conventional approach to the problem solving was based on taking requirements from clients, design the requirement and develop the solution in a given technology. Solution then tested and implemented. This is a vertical approach to the problem solving, here it’s a routine job, and no innovation only technical expertise of the developer is involved.

Today’s managers think differently, they ask their work force to look for a different approach. Developers get an opportunity to think aggressively and come out with some solution, that solves the current issue and add some other value to the system and to the customer. This kind of collective innovation helps to improve the goodwill of the company and there by succeed in the competition.

An example for lateral thinking that lead to value addition to the organization


There are many organizations functioning in technology front, real estate, tourism, transportation and many governmental organizations, all with huge human resource and most of the people with full or part time access to computers. These organizations will have a well maintained intranet and some may have access to internet as well.

Employees of such establishments may be coming from different parts of the world and may not be familiar with people, culture etc. Most of the time employees find it very difficult to find out good hotels, cinema halls, place for worship, places of tourism interest, contacts of local people who can repair two wheeler, car or may be a small work like changing water tap etc.

This is where we can add value to the organization by providing an intranet portal, which can list each of this information, separately. For this purpose a database of all these people and institutions maintained with clear map and detailed information. So this innovation will become a big help for the employees. But there are more advantages like organization can charge these people to publish their details in the site, as this will become a good advertisement for them, they will be always happy to pay. This way a collective innovation can lead to a great help to the employees and a way to generate revenue as well.

Know few tricks to bring out Collective Innovation

New emerging working trends like cross functional teams, joint ventures and collaborative projects are making greater cooperation among work force an imperative. Getting things done through collective innovation and cooperation has become a major challenge for Managers and Leaders. Now its not just subordinates but peers and even superiors of various divisions or personal from other companies are there in the team and all should be coordinated well enough to generate a collective effort. Remember the need of the hour is to bring out collective innovation from the team.

As a manager you may wonder everyday on how to motivate a highly individualistic work force and get innovative ideas and collective effort from them. You really need some kind of magical power to mesmerize the audience and turn opponents into followers. But very few people possess such eloquence as a natural gift. But this art of persuasion is some thing that can be developed in everyone. What you need to do is play up to the innermost psychological needs of people around you. Spent extra time, to help team members to realize the need of collective and cohesive effort to achieve the goal.

In the present day work environment more than formal authority it is the power of persuasion that has a great impact on the behavior of other people. In a group setting, securing consensus is a premise to move ahead. However consensus does not always come by easily and you are bound to encounter resistance on the way. Your attempt to succeed resistance will be a success only when you know the reason for resistance. Find new innovative ideas to overcome resistance and make your opponent a follower.

Generally people exhibit three level of resistance. Level one resistance relates to the contents of your idea, that is the other party differ from your views. Level two resistances arise from a feeling of fear experienced by the other party. They don’t like your idea because they perceive it to be against their interests. Level three resistance springs from the fact that the other party does not like you.

Whenever you face an objection you need to explore the existence of resistance at all the levels. Many people fail to turn opposition into support because they fail to acknowledge the presence of resistance level three.

The trick lies in acting well before actual resistance crop up. Following are few easy methods to overcome resistance.

1. Listen well to build trust: To build trust with others first you must make genuine attempt to listen to their views. Only then you stand a chance of persuading them to view things from your perspective.
2. Present other perspectives: While dealing with highly contentious issues present your opponent’s point of view before your own. When you present a two sided argument the other party has no option but to participate in the solution. This technique is particularly useful when forging long term relationships and is considered to be more valuable than obtaining gains in the short term.
3. Discover similarities: People like people who are like them, is a fundamental principle put forward by behavioral scientists. You can use similarities to create bonds with your team members, superiors or clients. Through informal conversations try to discover at least one similarity be it a hobby or a common background. This helps to build a relationship early on and you can count on their goodwill and trust when the need arises.
4. Identify positive traits: Praise can be used to build productive relationships as well as repair damaged ones. People like those who like them. Identify at least one positive trait in all the people you deal with. Make appreciative comments about the trait in all the people you deal with. Make appreciative comments about the trait when you meet them. This has big impact in making them incline in your favour and finally make them contribute well in the collective innovation.
5. Model the behavior: Give others what you expect to receive from them. When you extend cooperation or foster a sense of trust you can expect a similar behavior from others. When you help your colleague or boss to achieve his goals he is more likely to help you reach your own milestones.

By establishing rapport with the people around you can increase your persuasive power manifold. Noticing similarities, offering compliments and lending a helping hand are very useful in building bonds and a collective team work, which might leads to innovations, thus make collective innovation a reality.

Now let us say goodbye to bruising battles to overcome resistance. Win support for your ideas through friendship and mutual trust. A leader always lead team with the goal in mind, so for a manager to be a leader always keep focusing on the goal, hence always avoid conflicts with team rather motivate them to achieve the goal as a collective teamwork.

Collaborative innovation a form of Collective Innovation

The ENTOVATION a form of Collaborative knowledge innovation methodology includes 10 dimensions of Innovation strategy, the first being the collaborative nature of the process itself. The term Collaborative innovation is an output of explosion in virtual networks, cross boundary interactions and development of shared purpose. Knowledge leadership has became a matter of being able to create value through collective competencies often harnessed through vertical and diagonal initiatives versus the traditional hierarchical management techniques.

As a result of Collaborative innovation there are many changes happening to companies and community as a whole.

Company to community: The validity of the current concept of abstract corporate legal entities is being questioned as being part of the discredited rationalist doctrine, which separates mind and body and thoughts and emotions. A new community value system based on compassion is advocated.

Collaboration to Cohesion: It now almost goes without saying that collaborative relationships are being increasingly emphasized at the corporate level. Competition remains the dominant paradigm at the level of the nation state. Here is the first indication that beyond collaboration, there exists another more intense relationship called cohesion.

Communities of Practice to Shared Meaning: When the certainties of our era dissolve before our eyes into chaos, the time has come to make new meanings. Sharing best practice is not about asking question “why”; sharing meaning is.

Security to Trust: Cheating in an open knowledge-trading environment is not sustainable since it would quickly lead to exclusion. Trust and reliability are seen as becoming more important, as security and contractual enforcement become less certain.

The focus on knowledge and collective innovation has provided a common language across functions, sectors, stakeholders and nations. Education based strategies are seen as an equalizer between industrialized and developing nations. There is a major shift from teacher oriented to learning centered education strategies enabled by advanced technologies and the explosion of internet and intranet communications.

Study of best practices and adopting into business was the common techniques followed by organizations so far. But this method has lost its punch in today’s fast growing world, where competitors are moving very fast. Only mechanism that can keep one in business is innovate new concepts and technologies in a regular basis and provide value added products to customers on a regular basis.

Global consciousness based on a critical mass of individuals sharing both knowledge and meaning is seen as the way to ecological and economic sustainability. Knowledge professionals are expected to become increasingly key players in the world of trade in a “dematerialized” economy. Product life cycles are predicted to be short with new waves and more complex generations spawned by intensive innovation.

In today’s world partnering and successfully managing strategic alliances becomes a norm not an exception. To manage strategic alliances effectively there need to be a shift from self-interest to group interest. As more and more collaborations happen knowledge should be shared across boundaries, so as to promote collective innovation.

New rules are being shaped; and they are based upon collaborative strategy. The new game is one of leadership, that will get there first and become the enterprise to emulate. Those who establish the managerial standars are likely to be successful.

The core premise of the future is collaboration. This does not mean that organizations don’t compete. This is inevitable. But there will be a shift in orientation, organizations collaborate for mutual success. This era is of knowledge and focus of all organizations will be to tap that resource more than anything else. Organizations are now creating a integrated connection between the human values, capital and economic prosperity. Creating the Innovation Language, culture and shared vision is, by definition is a collaborative process. The faster the companies realize the need for collective innovation and collaborative strategies, the faster it progress.

Develop Leadership Qualities to make you a Successful Manager - A true leader always promote Collective Innovation

People in managerial roles often struggle between being a good manager and a leader. In the initial stages of career as a manager, one may feel that being a good manager could not be a good leader. If a person tries to be a good manager and not a leader, success will be for a short period. If leadership qualities are exhibited then the success will be long standing. So managers should strike the right balance between managerial skills and leadership traits to pursue a successful career.

One of the most important traits that can make you a successful leader is trustworthiness. Trust is fundamental for leadership. Leadership necessitates influencing others to put them on the right track. But people are willing to be led only by the person whom they trust. So a leader should essentially exhibit all the aspects of trustworthiness to assume the responsibility of guiding others. For this he first needs to have a proper understanding of trust and dynamics. A leader should always promote collective efforts of the team, rather than concentrating individual innovations.

According to Charles M Green trust is composed of credibility, reliability, intimacy and self-orientation. Credibility is how believable a leader is. Reliability is how dependable he is. Intimacy rates how safe people feel sharing information with the leader. Self-orientation is how much the leader focuses on himself compared to his focus on others.

At workplace employees evaluate your trust-worthiness by analyzing factors like their experiences with you, your record, competence and attitude and the organizational culture. So you must use your speech and actions to make the right impression on your employees.

Here are few guidelines to begin:
 Keep up your promises
 Do not put blame on others for your mistakes
 Contribute all you can do for the success of your team
 Keep developing your abilities
 Talk to your employees honestly and clearly
 Do what you believe is right though you have to pay price for it
 Be confident
 Listen to what others have to say and do it with empathy
 Trust your employees and their abilities
 Praise them for their success and share their success stories with others
 Accept people as what they are and respect them
 Place interest of your team members before yours
 A leader should always promote collective innovation.

To gain trust from others you must first trust them. Distrust is the biggest obstacle in the way to becoming trustworthy. But trusting others can sometimes land you into trouble, so you must promote a trust based work environment. The initial struggles you may face in this attempt are worth it as such an environment promotes good teamwork and success. A leader always motivates employees to come out with innovative ideas.

Once mutual trust based relationship is established between you and your employees, leading them becomes easy. The task of management is a cakewalk for a good leader. You can educate, counsel, inspire and motivate them. But you must also ensure that you do not through any actions that raise doubts about your trustworthiness.

Remember it takes years to build trust but it could be broken by a single action.