BW: … on working and growing

Work, not for the sake of working (and accumulating service year), but to grow, to get things done…

Experience isn’t about years on the job, but what you did during that time. We need to ask: What did I learn, this year? This quarter? This month? What did I try for the first time at work, and what did I make different, and better? I cringe when I see résumés that start off boasting of “20-plus years of experience in X, Y, or Z.” The years are beside the point. Employers want to know: “What did you get done?”

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/jun2008/ca2008065_682633.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories

And I think (good) companies will notice the difference and should know that High Performers won’t wait…

When you have a capable person to promote in your company but that person does not have appropriate tenure, is it better to hire from outside? — Natalia Salistean, Bucharest, Romania

So,
no, you should not hire someone else for your job opening. And should
your bosses come at you to defend that decision, remind them of the
talent wars, then mention something else they may already know.
Promotion is more art than science. You can never be sure a
candidate—regardless of tenure—will succeed. You can only know if he
has passed two simple tests.The first, obviously, concerns performance. Does the candidate
consistently post superior results?

The second test concerns values. Does the candidate consistently
demonstrate the behaviors the company wants to see from its leaders?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_24/b4088104704732.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories

Independence Day!

Warning: this will sound like newspaper article reporting an event… but I can't help it!

Last Friday, my employer held an Employee Gathering event to celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day (which is actually on the 17th of August).

It is like a tradition in Indonesia (as with every country) to celebrate on that day.The most typical games are: (sorry, in Indonesian, will try to get some description for my non-Indo colleague) Panjat Pinang, Balap Karung, Tarik Tambang, and Soccer. But often we also do have chess game, singing contest, badminton, race, etc.

The event was fun enough. Games are typical but a bit different. But highlights of that day was:
1) NSN Idol: singing contest, ala American Idol, including the SMS voting talking about being a telco company

2) Balloon Challenge: it's on the top-right of this small photo — some sort of inflated arena, where you need to climb walls, ladders and ropes, crawl, and slide – ala military basic training.

3) Bazaar: to satisfy the employee's entrepreneurial instinct

All in all, it is also a necessity, we've been working quite hard since the announced merger. And this fun event was trying to ease up the tension a little bit. And not to forget: glue the employees together through fun situations.

17 Agustus-an

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Quality of Service for mobile networks

One hot topic for Indonesian telco nowadays is the question of "quality vs price". Low price is bad quality? Or not? Can we get both: good quality at a low price? Context: Indonesian GSM minute + data price is still high compared to other ASEAN countries.

On one hand, conventional wisdom tells so. To get a good quality output needs a lot of investment in input and process that eventually increases price. But on the other hand, efficiency, productivity, modern management methods, and not to mention technology can lower the cost, while giving a better quality.

Competition might help. Though not easy, the condition now is: 10 mobile operators are operating, but 3 dominant operators have ~90% market share.

(In the last few weeks I notice a serious spike in quality problem from my GSM op.: dropped calls, unable to make calls, data services not available or terribly slow, delayed SMS, customer service is unreachable, "network busy", "connection error")

Oh… how I hope mobile phone services will improve someday… (but can not really complain… we got few of the latest 3G advanced tech already here, e.g. HSDPA is already running since few months now).

Backdrop – QoS Discussion

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

BRTI Gathering (Batam)

Part of the job is to attend (telco) regulatory sessions. These kind of sessions are a mixture of meet-and-greet, info sharing, entertainment, cultural exposure, exhibition, and social event.

One recent event was held by BRTI in Batam. Highlights of the day was the influence of Batam (and Melayu) culture reflected in the event:

• they start with the MC and traditional singers performing Melayu songs
• then the opening dance ("Welcome Dance")
• then "Berbalas Pantun" throughout the sessions – each speaker started their session with a poem

MC/Singer welcoming the audience

Mixing business with culture…

PS.: "Berbalas Pantun" is a very specific Melayu culture. It is like a conversation, but here everyone speaks in poem (with rhymes).

Read and post comments | Send to a friend