The makings of a high performing manager.

Even before one embarks on a discovery of what one needs to do to be a good manager, one needs to have a clear definition of what IS a good manager.

There are many different interpretation of what is a good manager, and none of them are wrong. Even to an individual, their idea of a manager who is worthy of his title may change according to different circumstances, or even, different days of the week.

Change is important and inevitable. A rigid approach to managing limits growth and success. A good manager knows how to use different strategies to tailor to different facts of the case.

However, there needs to be a set of core values that one should be able to fall back on, no matter what the situation may be.

The following are what I believe I should strive to achieve. I've thought long and hard about whether or not to put this out on the net, but considering that these should be values that should I should be proud of, and the fact that I believe the success rate will increase if I solidify them in words (plus no one would actually read it besides myself) I guess there's no harm in doing so.

> IMAGE

Presentation is key. It is no longer enough to just do a good job, you have to be perceived to be doing a good job. You have to appear to be someone who is confident, strong, compassionate. Perception becomes reality.

How to do it?

Wake up every morning at 6.30 a.m. and turn up at work by 7.30. Start work an hour and a half earlier than others and make sure more things are done in one day.

Reply emails by 8.30 - 9.00 am and start clearing the day's task. By 4.00 p.m. reply another round of emails and stop entertaining request past 5.30pm. Leave the office by 6.30 pm to ensure that there's enough time for dinner or exercise or just drinks (or even a movie) with family and friends.

This will be a daily goal and will contribute towards having an individual work-life balance that everyone scoffs at as an impossible dream.

Showing your subordinates that having a fulfilling day at work AND life is possible while doing a job well done is key to motivating them to attaining the same goals.

>KEEP YOUR WORD

Many a times, you may have agreed to certain timelines/schedules and if you continuously fail to meet them, your subordinates will start taking them for granted, expecting you not to meet them yourselves.

How to do it?

Simple. Stick to your promises. If you really cannot avoid it, do not wait until the last minute to update your team. They need to know they are not working towards some arbitrary and indeterminable deadline.

Conversely, you should not turn up unexpected as well with demands that were not communicated earlier and with enough time for your team to prepare for.

> SHOW (OR FAKE) PASSION be positive

When it is so easy to slip down the road to pessimism and negativity, when herd mentality means people are more prone to being stress together than being happy together, when the misguided notion that working harder and longer than your peer means you are doing a better job permeats a team, a manager has to be equiped with the necessary skills to turn the tide.

How to do it?

Be positive yourself! Do not panic and do not look stress. In fact, embrace challenges and know that there are no problems without solutions and that at the end of the day, somethings got to give. So, why not make the journey to the conclusion as painless and as stress-free as possible? If there is a leader where the team knows they can depend on in times of chaos, it gives them a sense of security, and a calmness within themselves as well.

The obvious thing to do here is:

1. Smile more.
2. Do not raise your voice unnecessarily, although sounding determined and steadfast is crucial.
3. Listen when your team talks. This helps them to share their burden with you, hence lightening their load of worries.
4. Pay compliments and show positive feedback. This encourages a more conducive working environment where people want to turn up for work, rather than dread it.
5. Don't complain about your job or the engagement. Show how much you love it (even if you don't sometimes)

> PEOPLE

People are important. Keep those that you trust close to you. Make their career and personal development goals as important as yours.

How to do it?

Just be nicer to people, but do not back down when faced with incorrigible subordinates. Sometimes it is okay to cut your losses and just move on.

Also, it is important to be there. Just be there.

How to pay off your credit card debt

The main mantra that one should adopt when faced with seemingly insurmountable personal credit card debts is "maximise cash inflow, minimise cash outflow". The result of doing so should all then be channelled into paying down your credit card debt.

Maximising cash inflow

1. Work smart in your current job to increase the potential quantum of reward from your employers. This could be in the form of a promotion, an increment, a bonus etc.

2. Monetising your hobbies/talents, whether this is via writing part time for online journals, providing photography services, selling artwork online, trading collectibles (comics, cards, stamps, postcards), or any other variety of money making ventures.

3. Selling things that you no longer need i.e. books, magazines, comic books, toys.

4. Ensuring that you are making timely and accurate expense claims from your company to ensure you are not subsidising the operations of the company inadvertently.

Minimising cash outflow

1. Learn to say no. Whether it is to your nearest and dearest, or to a colleague or a distant acquaintence, it is best that you cut down on social activities, weekend getaways, and outings of any sort that involves money coming out from your wallet. This is especially true if you are the most senior of the lot, or the only guy, and your pride dictates that you either foot the bill before charging others, or (gasp..even worse) giving an all out treat.

2. Look in the mirror and if one of the reason that you have accumulated the mountain of debt is that you spend a huge sum of money on food every month, at the same time putting on excess weight that is pushing you towards obesity, it's time to go on a diet. That way, your wallet grows fatter while you get thinner (and healthier). Some dieting adjustment such as cutting down on sushi, western food like chicken chop, spaghetti or fish & chips, premium priced coffee and beverages, while increasing intake of greens (which always cost less than meat) and sticking to just plain water, is not beyond anybody.

3. Don't buy on impulse. And impulse can last for months! That DSLR camera that you want, and that you keep finding excuses to buy, can wait! It will be a guilt-free purchase if you buy it only AFTER you settle your debts. Rationalise, especially when you are at your weakest and most vulnerable, and when you are faced with various promotions, and friends who are already owning the latest gadgetary. Remember, it's not the equipment that matters, rather the artist behind the equipment that makes the difference.

4. Stop incurring fines. Drive safe on the road. Don't get into fender benders that may set you back a couple of hundred. Don't beat the red light and you don't have to bribe the policeman.

How to make an auditor happy.

1. Tell him that he is technically sound.

2. Exempt him from writing appraisals for one year. Conversely, change all appraisals into Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ) where all you need to do is select options which are already presented to you.

3. Exempt him from doing up his timesheet for one year (or even a month). This can be easily solved if technology is sped up to catch up with our expectations. An application that tracks how long you spend on an audit file would be more than sufficient to replace the tedious task of manually filling up a timesheet.

4. Give him staff that have no life and no study leave.

5. Fill up the pantry with better food and drinks, preferably things that can be categorised as intoxicants.

6. Give hum a gym, a basketball court, a pool table, or just something for him to hit, punch, kick and scold.

7. Install a stand alone air conditioner to be used when the building's centralised air conditioners are switched off.

8. Shower room. To stay fresh. And smell free.

9. Pay him more so that it doesn't seem like slave labour as compared to his ex-highschool friends who are in the IT line or is a lawyer.

Digital Watercolor

1. Open a photo and press Ctrl+J to duplicate it.

2. Double click the layer name and type Dry Brush.

3. Click Filter.

4. Click Artistic

5. Click Dry Brush.

6. Click and drag the sliders to adjust the Dry Brush style.

7. Click OK.

8. With the Dry Brush layer still selected , press Ctrl+J to duplicate it.

9. Click Filter.

10. Click Blur

11. Click Smart Blur.

12. Click and drag the Radius and Threshold sliders to adjust the blur.

13. Select High in quality.

14. Click OK

15. Click the New Layer button to create a new empty layer.

16. Click the Opacity in the Layers panel and drag to the left to lower the opacity to 50%.

17. Press D to reset the default foreground and background colors.

18. Press Ctrl+Backspace to fill the layer with white.

The top layers fill with translucent white.

19. Click the Eraser tool.

20. Click brush picker.

21. Click a large chalk style brush and adjust ites diameter as necessary using the slder.

22. CLick and drag in the document using short irregular strokes until the painting is white.

23. Click the word Opacity and drag to the right to increase the opacity to 100%.

24. Press the left bracket key several times to reduce the brush size.

25. Continue clicking and dragging in the image to complete the painting.

26. Press Ctrl+E to merge the two top layers.

27. Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer.

28. Click Filter > Texture > Texturizer

29. Select sandstone

30. Click and drag the Scaling and Relief sliders to look like rough water color.

31. Click OK.

32. Click the layers option and select Screen.

High Contrast Stylised Image

1. With an image open, click the Threshold button in the Adjustment panel.

2. Click and drag the slider to the right to make more tonal values shift to black or to the left to change more tones to white.

3. Click the New Adjustment Layer button.

4. Click Gradient.

Note: Clicking Solid Color produces a two-tone stylized effect with only one color and either white or black.

The Gradient Fill dialog box appears.

5. Click in the color bar to open the Gradient Editor.

6. Click a different preset.

7. Click OK to close the Gradient Editor dialog box.

The gradient is applied as a seperate adjustment layer covering the image.

8. Click the option box above the layers section and select Lighter Color to make the gradient cover only the black areas in the image, leaving the other areas white.

The gradient layer blends with the high contrast of the image.

Tip: Instead of Lighter Color, click the blend mode in the Layers panel and select Darker Color.

Tip: Create own custom gradient in the Gradient Editor by double clicking in each of the lower color stops under the gradient to open the color picker and select a new color.

Posterize a photo - Andy Warhol style

1. Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the background layer.

2. Click the Black and White button in the Adjustment Panel.

3. Click Auto to see if the contrast improves.

4. Move the color sliders to enhance the contrast.

5. Click the arrow to return to the Adjustment panel list.

6. Click the Posterize button in the Adjustment panel. The options in the Adjustment Panel changes.

7. Type a low number such as 4 in the levels data field.

8. Click the arrow to return to the Adjustment panel list.

9. Click the Gradient Map button in the Adjustment panel.

10. Click in the gradient.

11. Click two areas below the gradient bar to add two more color stops.
(Note: The number of color stops should match the levels of posterization that you entered in step 7.)

12. Click the leftmost color stop to select it.

13. Click the leftmost color stop to select it.

14. Click and drag the color slider.

15. Click in the color selector to select the darkest of the four colors you will use.

16. Click OK to close the Select stop color dialog box.

17. Repeat steps 12 to 16, selecting each of the other three color stops to change the color.

18. Click OK to close the Gradient Editor.

19. Click the Black and White adjustment layer.

20. Click and drag the color sliders to change the amount and areas of posterised colors.

21. Press Ctrl+S to save the file with all the layers so you can readjust it later