11th NU12: Paradigm Shift by JC

Hi Prof Jorge,

Herewith is my 11th NU12: Paradigm Shifts: The 90/10 Principle.

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    11th NU 12

                                         "PARADIGM SHIFT: The 90/10 Principle"

What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breaking down. The plane may be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%. How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light, but you can control your reaction. ( an excerpt form the 90/10 Principle)

Let's take this as an example:

I just watched "Call Center Agent" played by Pokwang. It made me remember the life of a call center manager and his agents where my humble beginning after college began. Being with BPO: call center industry is a challenge to specialists and also with operations' management. Sales quotas and metrics are used to measure everyone's' performance. Regardless of the business industry we are in, there is a measure for success.

You are a BPO unit manager. It is normal that on a long weekend due to a holiday that bosses are out for a vacation. You received a phone call from your boss telling you that he is returning from his vacation and will report to the office today, amidst long vacation weekend. And as fate would have it, your boss wants to check your weekly progress on some deliverables (sales) in your department today. It was unannounced believing that he won't care about work being a vacation, yet you were asked to prepare right away. Because of the short notice, you then asked all your agents for quick meeting in your office and inform them of the sudden news.

Unfortunately all your agents never hit their targets/sales yet. What do you do now? Your boss needs you to present some good scores today, however since it was such a short notice and you never would have thought that your boss would return back from his vacation sooner than you thought, you get pressured and don't know what to do.

You feel like the world is crashing down, all because of your boss' unprecedented arrival, SOMETHING TO WHICH YOU HAVE NO CONTROL over. Now at this point the outcome will all depend on how you react to the situation.

You curse and yelled at your agents blaming them for their lack of preparedness and poor performance in the past couple of days.  Because of this you are now late for your boss' meeting. You rushed out of the meeting room and into your office, check all files and gather the most recent team performance you can get to present to him to no avail that is of a good mark.

You came out of the meeting room feeling down as your boss expressed his thoughts about how you were not able to show him some good team reports on your team's sales deliverables. As you got out you realized that you have you made your boss disappointed thinking that it might lead to a poor year-end bonus or appraisal on your salary as a manager. This day couldn't get any worse.  You also realized that you have now created a wedge or a gap in your relationship between you and your agents.  Why? Because of how you reacted.

Why did you have a bad day?

a.)   Because of your boss retuned to work unexpectedly.

b.)   Because your agents we're not prepared on showing you a good report.

c.)    Because you caused it.

The answer is C. You caused it. You have no control over your boss' unexpected early return from vacation. How you reacted under pressure is what caused your bad day.

Here is what could have or should have happened:

You answered the call, greeted your boss a wonderful day and expressed how surprised but relatively happy you are that he is returning today. And as he asked you to do a weekly report on your team's progress, you gently and honestly say, "I apologize, Sir. We have been currently working on our deliverables and sales quotas, however due to the short notice I'm afraid my team still needs a day more for this. Is it okay if we schedule it for tomorrow?" Your boss would be a little bit concerned about it, but nevertheless he says "Alright, tomorrow I expect a full and complete good report". You then meet with your team and inform them about how they should all work and get their targets meet today. You get on with your work, feel a little bit pressured but at least you have the day to prepare and not a single scolding to your agents will happen. It turned out to a good day.

Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended differently. Why? Because of how you reacted. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% is determined by your reaction.

The 90/10 Principle is one of the many Paradigm Shifts we can adopt both in our daily lives at home and at work. It may not be as simple like an instant Lucky Me noodles but it is a practice. I remember a special report in my Entrepreneur class where it was stressed that "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." The same with paradigm shift, a continuous habituation of positive reinforcement, behaviour, idealism and habits may have a large effect in creating harmonious life balance to you and to the people around you. 3

Thanks,

John Carlo "JC" De Galicia
Unit Manager, Sun Life Financial
Ivy New Business Office
5/F Ace Building, 101-103 Rada cor Dela Rosa Sts.
Legaspi Village Makati City, 1229

Off: (632) 893-2740
Fax: (632) 819 6124
Mobile no: 0927 6431079
johncarlo.p.degalicia@sunlifeph.onmicrosoft.com
jcdegalicia@gmail.com