Where did the normal people go?

After a couple of very challenging days, to put it mildly, I cannot help but wonder if there are still any people left in our environment, or if we only have ‘The System’.

In our try to be more and more efficient, we have created ‘The System’. You want to register/ deregister/ make a change in your data: ‘Sorry, it is not possible, we have already saved the data in The System’. Or, at your hotel, you stand in front of the reception and tell them you want to prolongue your stay: ‘Sorry, it is not possible; we have already deregistered you in The System’. Or you want to pay cash but you realize you don’t have enough money, so you decide to pay by card: ‘Noooooo, I have already registered a cash payment in The System’. And so on and so far….we are always revolving around this System. Instead of being more flexible, we get more and more bureaucratic, we have created systems over systems which have started to rule our daily lives.  

It does not matter anymore if you stand in front of someone and communicate something – if it is not in the system, it does not exist. We only analyze the data in our system – what happened to direct communication or just picking up the phone and discussing a topic? Since when does everything need to be in a System?

Everywhere you go, regardless of what you have to do, you have to face a System.  Even if you pick up your laundry and stand in front of the laundry employee explaining that you had one more jacket, which is now missing, he/ she will convince you that you didn’t because….it is not in The System!!

So I am wondering, when did all the people disappear? When did their brains and normal, healthy thinking get replaced by a System? When has life become so complicated?

Every day we get confronted with The System, talk to robots and buy stuff from machines, if we have a problem, we have to talk to a robot for half an hour until our call gets re-routed to Dave, in India, who will most definitely assure us that our request is now registered in The System and will be handled shortly.

I am fed up with The System, I would like to be able to have normal conversations with normal people who listen to what I say, and not to what is registered in some System.

But I guess that all the delightful events are just a warm welcome to the era of the Homo Sistematicus…

The new generation of workaholics

Yesterday I read again an article about the ‚workaholism‘ in Romania – according to Eurostat statistics, Romania is under the top 3 when it comes to the sum of annual working hours. I must not say that the situation is not really directly proportional to the economic situation or income of the active working population. But this is something we already know – more means not better.

Still, the new generation of workaholics is constantly increasing, as statistics show. When I still worked in Romania, I kinda felt bad when leaving the office after ‘only’ 8 hours of work…working long overtime and feeling exhausted has become some kind of national ‘pride’ among young people. It is normal not to have a good relationship, or a relationship at all, not to have time to go to the gym, to eat in front of the computer, not to have any real hobbies, not to spend time with your friends and drink your brains out on weekends because…remember, you don’t have any other hobby.

This should not be our reality and thinking that you can’t change anything about it is false! People should not work longer than 8 hours a day, and definitely not spend more than 10 hours a day in the office. It is not normal to do overtime just because you can’t step up to your manager and say that the workload is too high for the existing headcount. There is always a solution…but why bother looking for one, when you still have enough workaholics around that do the job just fine? Why hire 8, when you can make your 4 employees work on weekends and give up their holidays? If only we would not be so afraid of….of what, actually? If everybody would change their attitude towards life, and acknowledge that there actually is a life after work, then the employer – employee relationship could shift. The working environment is always shaped by the two parties, not only by the multinational employer who does not care at all about who you are or what you do.

Why has it become normal to sacrifice your best years for company X? In order to prove what? Of course, it is difficult to stand up and leave the office at a reasonable hour, while the rest of your colleagues is getting ready to sleep in the office. Of course that it will shed a bad light on you, regardless of the fact that you have done your job great. This is a collective problem, it needs rethinking from the grounds and a change can only be done if everyone changes attitude.

Our parents already gave up a big part of their personal lives, to work for the communist ‘collective wellbeing’, there is no need to keep up this tradition. I have found a working environment where people are happy, relaxed, work normal hours, have really cool hobbies and can take their vacation days yearly – and guess what, the company still works. They still make profit, they still have a sustainable growth strategy and no, there are no sweatshops in 3^rd world countries. Reality has shown that it is possible to work and live at the same time.

I hope I will see the same in Romania in the near future…I hope people will not sell their abilities, skills, time and best years for 500 – 600 EUR a month anymore! Every single one of us can change the market, we are not a low-skill country and therefore should we not be a low-wage one either!

Oas Country - Country of contradictions

'What good is it to have money, if you can't show it?'

There are a lot of stories cruising about Tara Oasului, a region from Satu Mare county. I think that it is one of the most controversed regions in Romania, due to the contrasts that shock you from the second you arrive.

I am glad to see that the development of Oas has been captured in a captivating project, called Pride and Concrete. If you want to get a glimpse into Oas and if you want to understand why the people from Oas work so hard abroad ('cause they do work hard), what drives them and what keeps them coming home, no matter where they have travelled, take some time to visit  Pride and Concrete (romanian version: Mandrie si Beton).

Get to know a different side of the story!

Crowdsourcing – using the ideas of the world

After all of the brains in a company have been stormed, and no WOW-idea has been born throughout the process, maybe it is time to use all the ideas that are outside your company’s doorstep.

Instead of having one or two people doing the job, come up with an idea, you can now outsource it to a large group of people outside the company – you can reach into the minds of so many people! The term ‘crowdsourcing’ was first coined in 2006, but the rise of the crowdsourcing platforms has only been more significant in the past 2 years.

The best people to offer you feedback on your ideas or products, the best to suggest improvements or innovations are your customers – or potential customers. Instead if investing resources into analyzing what your customers’ needs or wishes might be, why not ask them? This is the solution to a successful launch of any product or service: involve your customers from the beginning of your creation process, ask them for feedback, listen to their ideas and they will feel like part of your idea, hence more prone to buying it. Instead of facing them with a final products or service, and afterwards investing huge amounts of money into convincing them that they need what you have just served there, let them be part of your story.

It is effective, it is cheap, it is fun and it is a win-win situation for all parties involved.

Famous Example: Wikipedia. Instead of Wikipedia creating an encyclopedia on their own, hiring writers and editors, they gave a crowd the ability to create the information on their own. The result? The most comprehensive encyclopedia this world has ever seen.

Crowdsourcing’s biggest benefit is the ability to receive better quality results, since several people offer their best ideas, skills, & support. Crowdsourcing allows a company to select the best result from a sea of ‘best entries,’ as opposed to receiving the best entry from a single agent. Results can be delivered much quicker than traditional methods, since crowdsourcing is a form of freelancing, using online platforms. Companies can get a finished video within a month, a finished design or idea within a week, and microtasks appear within minutes.

In return, the people providing their ideas, get promotional articles from the companies, small gifts, or even a small reward payment. The ROI is higher than in any traditional method.

To get some information on crowdsourcing platforms and how they work, you can visit:

Symbid

Crowdcube

Rockethub (Crowdfunding)

NameThis

If you want to read about several successful crowdsourcing ideas, here is an inspirational list:

Open Innovators

One City, One Book

Just imagine standing in the metro in the morning, going to work, reading your book between stations – you look left, you look right - and all around you there are people reading the same book as you. Strangers – but you know you have at least one thing in common – you are all reading the same book. I think that would be a great feeling and would create an instant sense of community. 

I do not know if you ave heard of the ‚One City, One Book‘ initiative, but I just loved the idea the second I heard about it. It is quite old, as it started in 1998 in Seattle under the title ‘If All of Seattle Read the Same Book’. The point is that, during one month of the year, an entire city should read the same book. People can vote in advance on a website and choose the book they want to read – afterwards they can attend different book clubs, readings or meetings to discuss the book or just to meet new people. Nowadays it is even easier to advertise the idea via social media – just image what we could create.

In a big city, characterized by anonymity, a simple book can bring so many people together… We pass by so many people every day – wouldn’t it be great to know that we all have at least ONE thing in common? That we are all lost between the pages of the same book?

I would love to organize such a project, so if anyone is interested, please contact me J

A great example is Dublin!

Step away from the microwave, Ma’am!

When rules are there to be followed

Driving one evening from Vienna to Linz, I realized that I would not find any supermarket open by the time I got home, so I decided to grab a quick sandwich from a gas station. Good food for good value, right? I took a cold sandwich and asked the lady at the counter to warm it up for me.

 Shock. Wonder. 

A cold sandwich – from the cold foods section – cannot be warmed up. It is from the cold foods section, meaning that you are supposed to eat it cold. If you warm it up, the consistency of the ham would change, because it is not a ham that you are supposed to warm up. It is just the order of the world – sandwiches from the cold foods section are to be eaten cold. It is the way things should be, and any deviation from the rule would cause chaos!

You can imagine that this extremely trivial occurrence got me thinking – when are rules to be followed, and when are they to be broken? Can you assume that some rules are more important than others? That some rules must be followed, and others can be bent? And if so, who decides which rule is more important?

Every society follows rules, but not every rule is followed by society.

Having lived for the past years in a highly flexible society when it comes to rules, I have developed a very permissive attitude towards rules, more like: I know about the rules, but I only apply them when I need them. Comfy…but wrong. 

After having seen the other side of the coin, I started thinking: you cannot expect a society to follow some ‘important’ rules whilst ignoring the rest. They either respect the concept of rules, or not. That is why in some countries the system works, and in others it is just a big mess. It is not about deciding which rules are more important, it is about respecting the concept of a rule – if you respect the concept, you will apply it in everyday life and act accordingly. Traffic will be civilized, terms will be respected, work will be valued, people will not cut in lines and cold sandwiches will be eaten cold. But it is just a small price to pay, compared to all the benefits which arise for society.

If we want to be respected, we have to start respecting first. If we want to live organized, we have to start following the ‘little’ rules first.

It all starts with a cold sandwich…

What a horse can teach you about business

Yesterday I went riding again, after a long break of a couple of years. Upon arrival I was taken to my horse Feli and we started to get ready for the riding lesson. But in the end the experience was much more than a riding lesson – it resembled more of a business lesson.

How come a horse can teach you something about how you should work? It’s easy – a horse can teach you several valuable lessons, it will actually teach you the same lessons you would hear in business school:

1. You have to work before you can hop on!

You cannot just take the horse, hop on and start riding. You have to let it smell you first, get to know you, have to brush it, stroke it, talk to it and let it get used to who you are. You first have to make the horse trust you, before you can take it for a ride.

 Just like when meeting a new business partner, you cannot just get to business – you first have to do some work, gain a partners’ or clients’ trust before you can get started on anything.

2. Set the boundaries first!

Every horse will test its rider, see how far it can go with you in the saddle. So do not be afraid to show exactly where the limits are, what you accept, and what you don’t. In the professional life things are quite similar – people will test your limits, see how far they can go. Be clear from the beginning – it is much more difficult to correct things after a while.

3. Apply moderate pressure!

When the horse does not listen, you have to start applying pressure – through pressing of the legs, pressing with your heels, using your voice or pulling the holster. But if you do all this at a time, the horse will be confused. You have to apply the pressure gradually, have it react to the first signs – if you apply too much pressure from the beginning, you will have no room to increase it.

Again, it is the same in your professional environment – if things do not go in the right direction, you should start applying pressure – but gradually. Try to get things back on track starting with a low pressure degree, do not get too pushy from the beginning.

4. Keep your horse focused!

You are in charge of where you want to go, it is not the other way around. There are so many more interesting things for a horse to do: follow another horse, stop and eat, stare at a bucket or just stand around. Riding for you may not seem very appealing to it, especially compared to the staring-at-a-bucket option. Still, whatever distractions come your way,  you have to be able to keep your horse focused on where you want to go, on your destination.

It is just the same with keeping your business partners focused on your destination – they will see other opportunities along the way, some of them more appealing than what you have to offer, but you always have to know how to keep them on track, otherwise the ride will come to a quick end.

5. Find a common pace!

Too fast, too slow, I can barely keep myself in the saddle… It is not easy to find a common pace with your horse – one that you can both keep up with. You will not be able to force your pace on a horse, because it won’t let you, just as a horse will not be able to force its’ pace upon yourself, as you are the one trying to stay in the saddle.

Setting a common pace is also crucial when working with someone. It is important to have a steady common development of a project, a working pace that keeps everyone motivated, but not exhausted. Goal is that you and your partners can stay in the saddle for the entire ‘ride’.

6. One wrong step, and you can be in deep s***!

So you have built up a relationship with the horse, you trust each other, you are ok in your saddle, tabbing at a relaxing pace…do not become less careful. You always have to pay attention, horses are unpredictable – one wrong step and you can be in deep s***.

 But then again, so are people.  Unpredictable. Never lose them out of sight. Always pay attention to your business partners and react timely to changes. Do not let your horse or partner take you by surprise.

7. Do not stand where you cannot be seen!

Horses have a limited eye sight – there are a lot of interesting articles about equine eyesight in the web. They have been born with a blind spot and many predators, meaning that they cannot see you, if you stand around their back. So if you go to your horse, you should not touch it in the back area first, because it cannot see you and it will get scared. This will obviously trigger a negative reaction. That is why, when going to a horse, you should start stroking it from its head, continue to the neck, body and the back – this way, the horse can feel your touch and knows where you are.

You should avoid blind spots in your professional life as well, as they are dangerous and can trigger highly negative reactions. Feel your way around, let your partner always know where you stand and avoid taking him by surprise. Remember that we all have our blind spots!

8. You can wash, but the smell will stick!

After finishing the ride, cleaning the horse and cleaning yourself, you will observe that a slight smell is still in the air, in your clothes or hair.

People also leave a trail, the work you have done leaves a mark, every action you take is still in the air, even after you have moved on to something new. Do not think that you can just ‘shower’ something off, because you can’t. People can smell you and can tell how you have acted so far in your professional life. Therefore, always consider your professional decisions in advance, consider your actions before taking them, because their reminiscence will stick with you for a long time.