Today's Thought For Leaders

"There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is not learning from experience" -- Archibald MacLeish

Important Tips in Feng Shui for Mischievous Children

Mischievous children are often a term and does not represent your child. Whenever you enter a children's room you will get to see a children's bed single or bunk bed if there are more children. Then you see the study table along with the wardrobe. There may also be a play area if the room has space for it.

When thinking of feng shuing your child's room the first thing you must focus upon is not your likes or the latest designs but what your child may need and enjoy. Think sideways and offbeat as children are attracted to new things and the old style of table, bed and wardrobe maybe boring thus making your child prone to mischief. You can arrange the furniture taking care of more traffic areas and thus making it comfortable for your child. By more traffic areas I mean the places where the child needs to move about frequently as example you must not place the table with sharp corners near the door as the child may get hurt frequently at times of entering or leaving the room. Keep all the toys and objects of play in a place and also make your child learn to keep these in their respective places after play. This will avoid undue clutter and also risk of accidents due to falling or getting hurt.

Place a small plant in their room and encourage them to take care of this as this will make them feel responsible. This will help them to utilize their bundle of energy positively. Try to understand why your child is mischievous. Their needs may not be met, be it physical, emotional, psychological or your child may just crave for attention from you if you are a busy working mom!

Before going in for professional help, which has now become the style for today’s parents, you can think and spend some time with your kid daily. They are presenting themselves as attention seeking individuals and by doing mischief they are getting your attention which may be through negative means. Many times children do not complete home work and also pay less attention in school. This again is leading us to bad feng shui in the house and children’s room. Your child’s energy levels are not balanced according to the environment and hence they are rebelling. Each child is different and remember to cater to them differently. Your son may be mild but the daughter may be energetic and vice versa.

First talk it over in a strong but confident tone, remember your child will reflect your energy so try not to get irritable and angry. Keep things of interest in your child’s room so that they feel comfortable and get a feeling of belonging. Invite their friends and allow them treats if they behave good. Many times they just want attention so make them understand your working life style and believe me children look small but they do understand if you explain and converse to them and even feel important part of the family. Give them a feeling of importance and then see how they are happy to take responsibility.

Try to rule out any health problems by going to a good child specialist and make sure they are not suffering form any deficiency or attention deficit disorder or hyper activity disorder. Also heck out if they lack any nutrients and give them additional tonic and vitamins for balancing their energy. Worms are another reason for children becoming irritable.

For balancing the energy of your mischievous child’s room keep many toys and activity games to keep them occupied, remember it is the free time and excess energy that is leading them to do mischief. Important feng shui rule is place a cactus plant out of the window of your mischievous child’s bedroom to ward off the negative energy. Do not use stickers of animals or the most commonly used stars in their room as this will lead them to feel disoriented. Hang beautiful paintings of happy pets playing, colourful flower paintings and beautiful landscape paintings showing sunrise. Avoid dark colours in your mischievous child’s bed room as this will make them more irritable. Select lighter and pastel shades for their walls and you can highlight with few bright colours to give some energy to the room.

Ecopark to inaugurate sample house of Pho Truc commercial area

VNRE - Viet Hung Urban Investment & Development Jsc. officially inaugurates sample houses of Pho Truc Commercial Area.

To create a retail and feasting street with cultural characteristics and linked with nature for future house owners of Ecopark, Pho Truc has been developed with 130 linked houses, each has 3.5 floors, area from 110 m2, and 2 street views. One side of houses is for retail space, while the other is peacful garden view, isolated from street noise.

Located inside Ecopark, amidst Rung Co Luxury Apartments and Vuon Tung Gated Community, Pho Truc Commercial Area is planned to be a modern retail-feasting street with European style, and will not just to serve Ecopark citizens but also appeal tourists from Hanoi and neighboring areas.

Deputy General Director of Vihajico, Mr. Bui Tien Hung said: “In early phase of our master plan, Pho Truc Commercial Area is a distinct feature for the entire Ecopark, where happens the perfect combination between business and personal living. On one view is a busy business street while the other is a tranquil atmosphere. The inauguration of Pho Truc sample houses is a great chance for visitors to experience our ideal in reality and will be the endorsement for our quality and design commitment of all products”.

Pho Truc houses are designed by top architectural firms in Vietnam and the world. The entire of Pho Truc is expected to be completed and to go to operation in the second quarter of 2012.

Source: Vihajico. For more information, please visit http://photruc.ecopark.com.vn

Book Review: The Enemy Of Engagement

"Frustration in the workplace is a silent killer," claim authors Mark Royal and Tom Agnew in their terrific new book, The Enemy of Engagement, coming out this month from Amacom.

Further, "in an organizational context, frustration is not as simple as failing to get something you want.  Rather, it involves the inability to succeed in your role due to organizational barriers or the inability to bring the bulk of your individual talents, skills, and abilities to your job."

Royal and Agnew further explain that a staggering number of highly motivated, engaged, and loyal employees quit trying--or quit, period---because they feel frustrated.

And what's causing all that frustration?  It's lack of enablement. 

According to Royal and Agnew, as employees grow in experience in their roles, they begin to focus less on learning the ropes and more on achieving desired results.  In the process, they are increasingly confronted with enablement constraints that limit their ability to get their jobs done effectively. 

• And, the employees who are frustrated are not the demotivated and disengaged employees who simply don't care enough about organizational success to become deeply frustrated.

In the book, you'll learn how to enable employees, including these techniques:

• Put them in optimized roles that leverage their skills and abilities
• Give them the tools, technology, information, and a supportive environment
• Get out of their way
• Don't introduce procedural barriers
• Don't dilute their focus
• Don't consume their energy with tasks that don't add value

Much of the book discusses how engagement and why it's imperative employees can be engaged so they feel they are contributing in a positive way to something larger them themselves.   And Royal and Agnew build the case for why both enablement AND engagement are critical.

That's because, according to the authors' research:

• Companies that both engage and enable employees demonstrate total reduction in voluntary turnover by 54 percent.
• Engaged employees are 10 percent more likely to exceed performance expectations, but highly engaged and enabled employees are 50 percent more likely to outperform expectations.

Finally, you'll find a solid list of to-do's for positioning motivated employees to succeed and for enhancing employee enablement as the authors provide expert guidance related to:

• Performance management
• Authority and empowerment
• Resources
• Training
• Collaboration
• Work, structure and process

If you are leading an organization where your employees are not engaged and not enabled, The Enemy of Engagement is a must-read book for you.  Don't let your employees be part of these findings by various Hay Group surveys (cited by the authors) where they found that:

• 30 percent of employees indicate that they do not have enough authority to carry out their jobs effectively.
• Nearly one-third of employees do not feel that their managers encourage them to come up with new and better ways of doing things.
• One-third of employees report that they do not have the resources and information they need to do their jobs well.
• Nearly half of employees do not feel that their teams receive high-quality support from other teams within their organizations.
• Nearly 45 percent of employees report that their organizations are insufficiently innovative in using new technologies or creative approaches to improve internal effectiveness.

Note:  Thank you to Amacom for sending me an advance copy of this book.

Vinpearl and Vincom seal merger

VNRE - Vinpearl Joint Stock Company will merge with Vincom Joint Stock Company to form the new Vingroup.

According to the press release, both companies’ Boards of Directors met on October 4 and approved the merger in a bid to enhance competitiveness and expand their businesses by combining resources of two of the leading companies in Vietnam.

After the merger is completed, Vinpearl shares (VPL) will be listed under the Vincom’s VIC symbol.

The merger will create a stronger corporation to rival foreign competitors in real estate development and the resort business, said Le Khac Hiep, Vice Chairman of Vingroup and Chairman of Vincom’s Board of Directors.

Hiep added the new Vingroup will focus on developing its four specialised brands: Vincom (real estate development), Vinpearl (travel and entertainment services), Vincharm (beauty care) and Vinmec (high quality medical services).

Vincom, with a chartered capital of over VND3.9 trillion (US$187.2 million), is the owner of numerous real properties including Vincom Center Hanoi and Vincom Center Ho Chi Minh City, as well as Vincom Village, Times City and Royal City in Hanoi.

Vinpearl has a chartered capital of VND 2 trillion (US$96 million) and is a leading chain of luxury resorts and hotels in Vietnam.

Merger of Vinpearl to Vincom

View more presentations from kivadang.

Source: Nhan Dan

Apartments to be downsized

Photo: Trung Hoa - Nhan Chinh Urban, Hanoi

VNRE - Before the actual market demand and requests from businesses, the Ministry of Construction has asked the Government to adopt solutions to real estate market management. Notable contents include the construction of smaller apartments and the development of house-leasing market. However, property developers want smaller apartments to boost liquidity.

According to experts, real estate prices in Hanoi have reduced by 35 percent but the trading remains quiet. This reality is partly attributed to tightened credit policy, the loss of public interest in this channel, and the loss of confidence on account of market volatility. However, house-needing people are still unable to afford apartments, leading to a continuous drop in housing prices.

Many projects have sold at breakeven prices or even lower. For instance, Golden Palace invested by Mai Linh Group has a basis price of VND35 million (US$1,700) per square metre but some investors are selling below this point although they previously purchased at over US$2,200 per square metre, excluding VAT. Investors in Mulberry Lane developed by Hoang Thanh Thang Long Company are offering apartments at approximately US$1,650 per square metre, compared with previously US$2,300 (exclusive of VAT).

In Ho Chi Minh City where housing prices are “softer” than in Hanoi and the market is always active, the business community last year proposed the Ministry of Construction to approve the small apartment model, even with an area of 20 square metres for single buyers, young families and retirees. And, one of the most important reasons is lower prices will boost the market demand.

Such a small housing model has not been ratified because authorities fear the formation of high-rise slump houses and it is contrary to State regulations. However, the market demand has affected policymakers.

In its report sent to the Government, the Ministry of Construction proposed the ratification of medium apartment model (from 70 to 90 square metres) and small apartment model (less than 70 square metres). It also proposed abolishing regulations on the ratio of small apartments in housing projects as stipulated in the Apartment Construction Standards. In big cities like Hanoi and HCM City, apartment buildings will account for 80 percent or more and deluxe housing (villas, semidetached houses with an individual from 120 square metres onwards) will be reduced to 20 percent or less of newly-built commercial housing units.

The ministry’s proposals, if approved, will allow businesses to design and build smaller apartments and build more of such apartments in their projects. However, they seem to be dissatisfied. Thus, following the proposals submitted to the Government, the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (Horea) continued to request the ministry to allow companies to build even smaller apartments with a minimum area of 30 square metres.

According Horea, the HCM City real estate market is in crisis of both redundancy and deficiency. It lacks smaller apartments for a vast majority of customers who cannot afford deluxe accommodations. If small apartment buildings are allowed to be built, people will have more chance to access affordable properties. Even, an 80-square metre apartment may be divided into two. Then, companies can sell their unsellable large flats and the market will regain growth momentum and put an end to a long lacklustre period. According to surveys, the demand for small apartments is very high in major cities and overwhelms luxury segments. However, for a long time, investors only built high-grade wide apartments for wealthy people. When their market forecasts on luxury buildings were wrong, they started to cling to the market demand. A big property investor said "The limitation on small, low-priced apartments has distorted the development of real estate market, and is a cause of speculation.”

The ministry requested localities to build affordable housing for low-income earners. It also proposed the Government instruct credit institutions to lend highly liquid projects and social housing projects for low-income earners.

Reported by Le Minh | VCCI News

How To Talk About Poor Performance With An Employee

As a leader, the time will come when you will have to speak with an employee about his or her poor performance. Here are six steps that will guide you through that process:

1. Tell him what performance is in need of change and be specific.
2. Tell him how his actions negatively affect the team.
3. Let the discussion sink in.
4. Set expectations of performance improvement and timeframe, and get his agreement on the desired outcome.
5. Remind him that he is a valuable part of the team and that you have confidence his performance will improve.
6. Don't rehash the discussion later. You made your point. Give him to make his improvement.