The wordless concepts of a tacit knowledge, Part 1.

Of all the information and insights that I have contemplated over the years, none would be more relevant and timely than the conceptual and abstract knowledge I have gathered on some aspects of management.

I would say that after having partially accomplished my first trimester a graduate student of MIS in APC, it is the concepts in the different gradations of management that has always eluded me.  Yes, it is true that there is a multitude of frameworks that can be applied for specific scenarios in management, as it was repeatedly stated to me by colleagues.   However, it was my perception during the previous trimester, that I was not able to equip myself with the right tools to be able to comprehend the management concepts in supply chain that I kept on sifting the case studies for details in order for me to answer the guide questions about the scenarios.

I figured that the framework I was using in learning was for me to fully understand new concepts, I should have partially experienced it before and have some insights about it.

When learning new programming language, I would normally try to understand its most basic instructions and be able to infer other functionalities as I went along.  Hence, for management concepts, like supply chain management, I was very fixated in understanding all the little nuances I thought I needed for me to be able to move on and grasp succeeding ideas related to it.

It was only when I started to broaden my perspectives and let go of the need to fully understand the low level details in supply chain management that I began to see how related is supply chain to the tasks that I have been performing ever since.  It was only when I stepped back and started to view a bigger picture that I actually found the details I was looking for in the first place.

Ultimately, this yet to be proven framework that I stumbled upon helped me in answering my final project for that course and I was able to articulate my proposed process improvements and easily related them to some of the different topics in supply chain.

With this undocumented framework, I am once more faced with another tacit insight that I have to be able to explicitly recount if I am to confidently engage forthcoming management topics.

A brush with managers and leaders

Over the last seven years, I know that have I have served the institution well.  Marching to the rhythm of the beat that my leaders have set.  I have had my fair share of fumbling actions and decisions.  But the leadership my administrators then have showed was that of people whom I could follow to hell and back, similar to that of a crusade.  This has set in me a level of idealism of what leaders should be!

The line "nothing that is too good, lasts eternally" came to me as a realization, but in a different relationship context, and it happened for me over the course of the last two years.  It was during this period when the administrators of the insitution were replaced with managers that suddenly  implemented policies and guidelines as black and white.  This opened me to the stark differences between managers and leaders, and that the cry to peform above and beyond one's call of duty were replaced with just strictly complying with expectations.  Such that a mere nudge away from this norm branded people as disruptive and someone who goes against the politics that these managers promulgate.

It was during these last two years that I affirmed to myself, I have the inherent character to go against an administration whose politics I do not subscribe to.  Moreover, to come to peace with myself on not enduring anymore of those nonsense, and take charge of my decision to leave the path a have previously chosen and journey towards undiscovered terrain.

Simplicity Cycle

A common mistake that I have previously committed, and which I sometimes catch myself doing as my default action is to complicate things, or even over analyze.

I have always had a need to always do good and do right by my ways, that often when my initial steps would not work, I would end up either increasing the complexity of my work just to force myself to progress, ending up with a very convoluted piece of document or program code.  Or, find myself stuck on a problem and unceasingly do research to try to analyze every piece of the problem and end up with no solution in sight.

As the years progressed, I have learned to relax some of the constraints I have regarding doing good and being right all the time.  Instead of aiming to know everything, analyzing every detail, or safeguarding my solution for every possible anomaly, I have come to understand that sometimes it is better to start with what I have and produce an output that directly answers the problem.  Moreover, as requirements and parameters grow, producing a simpler answer more beneficial since it can address the concern at the same time, allows me to progress naturally.

Now I find it amusing that there is a model developed for it, and it is a strategy that can easily be applied to most situations in life and career.

Career Lifecycle is oddly similar to the Industry Lifecycle

I noticed that the Industry Lifecycle model and the journey of my career had striking similarities.

In the Industry Lifecycle, like most careers starts with rhe Introduction, Growth, Maturity, and often falls prey to Decline.  When their careers do not decline, there are those who would eventually would become complacent and eventually stagnate never improving or aiming to progress further.

A mentor recently suggested that I might want to re-evaluate my stay at the institution.  She mentioned this after me sharing my story with her regarding the recent events happening in the institution.  Somehow, she was able to provide me with a different perspective of my current state.  That even if I was pushing for innovations in the department, the administrators would normally say that these ideas were not aligned with institutional strategies, or implementing such projects is too soon for the department.  In retrospect, the whole situation did feel like the department was not growing as fast as it used to and that top management support was gradually vanishing.  These situations, for me, indicated that my career as a formator in that institution has hit a plateau.  The only way for me to innovate and continuously improve my craft and skills is to move on and get involved in a different setting where I still am able to mold minds and apply my new found skills in management.

Goodbye 2015!

Goodbye 2015!

May the grueling hardships and excruciating pain encountered during your time remain only as valuable lessons, never forgotten and moreover, never to be relived.

Likewise, all the stories of triumphs, achievements, and of laughter be always remembered and cherished.

Alignment is also a journey

I found out in the hard way, that aligning to a strategy does not happen overnight or even in one trimester.  There are stages to which one can follow to progressively align with the big picture strategy.

I initially thought that if I could forcibly align my actions to an implied strategy to meet the organizations objectives, everyone would see the value of it and be ok with it.  I had this sentiment since, as with the other preconceived misconceptions, that I should be correct from the start since the cost of being wrong is high.

It was only by the middle of the term when I started relaxing this belief and accepted that I can start with the primary stages of alignment.  Application of this concept is by starting to develop operational level systems that still provide business value to its users, and probably later plan on how this systems would integrate and provide added value to the organization.

Relaxing some acquired and developed contraints

At the third phase of my masters’ journey, I am consciously practicing the challenging task of relaxing the constraints that I have come to accept to be true for me.  These constraints involve several hard perceived truths, some of which are that I should know everything before starting to write something, that there are always only two possible options or outcomes to a given situation, and that I still lack the right skills and insights to arrive at a good strategy or recommendation for any given situation.  These constraints have regularly impeded me from moving forward in my journey of learning and at times has eluded me from realizing my goals.

Through the recurring and slightly progressive discussions I have had with very supportive people around me, I am able to slowly trust in my initial insights when coming up with a strategy to achieve an objective, I have previously set. Learning is a journey, and I suppose part of it is the continuous application of new lessons acquired in the past, this includes proceeding in the endeavor with only having enough information to start with to do it, and just acquiring other information along the way that might prove to be essential.

I would admit that these constraints and others like them still shroud my mind, I guess one way to stay in this voyage is to trust in my abilities and remind myself that i would be able to reach my destination eventually.