NU 12 submissions by A. Dela Cruz

Good afternoon sir:)

Here are my remaining NU entries.  I've pasted all of them here—five in total.

Sorry for the length!  I went up to four paragraphs for most entries:/  I genuinely have fun with these topics, and can really go on and on sometimes.  (sana hinabaan mo)

Anna Mae Dela Cruz

S10

What pisses you off at AGSB?  What must be done?

The thing pisses me off the most about GSB is the variability in the quality of instruction, but let me reserve today's discussion for a more recent disappointment.  A few weeks ago typhoon Yolanda struck the Visayas region.  Relief operations were launched, one of the biggest being the relief operations at Ateneo Loyola, which was designated as a DSWD satellite packing center.  The government agency gave Loyola a target of 80,000 packs to be completed within four days.  Government-procured relief goods arrived by the truckloads and students, faculty, and alumni worked around the clock to meet the target.  Ateneo units nationwide pitched in:  All schools and campuses ran donation drives; alumni networked like crazy to get trucks, planes, buses, boats, and any equipment or supplies that ran out as operations were ongoing; all cashiers were equipped to receive and account for monetary donations; all Ateneo-related social media sites were abuzz with people mobilizing resources.

There are many ways people can help, and indeed all means are appreciated.  However we must also be cognizant of the unique and significant means by we are particularly equipped to contribute.  AGSB ran a donation drive, but the real question is:  What is AGSB uniquely able to contribute?  I spent two days at the relief operations and assessments of former co-professors on social media sites concur with mine:  What we needed the most was operations savvy.  Supplies were abundant and anyone and everyone in the Ateneo community could donate something.  But the problems were not about material resources, but about the ability to organize logistics and workflow such that operations were intuitive and quickly understood by waves of new and transient volunteers and such that bottlenecks were not created by processes that were slower than others or resources that were more abundant than others.  

Ateneo President Fr. Jett Villarin said this:  "I would like to encourage our students and faculty to ramp up their creativity in harnessing the power of their academic discipline and learning, the force of social media and other tools, to connect us to each other, especially to those in need."  Would it not have been a crying shame if Ateneo med students never volunteered for medical missions at this critical time, when medical services are in great need and they, unlike majority of the population, are able to render these services?  In the same way, it is a crying shame that what AGSB offered was nothing more than what anybody else could have offered, when it holds  the one field of expertise that the relief operations so badly needed.

I've never been a believer in student councils if only because I find much of what they do irrelevant (especially in contexts where student rights so well-protected anyway).  It is high time we put meaning into the student organizations we have at AGSB.  I understand that it is particularly difficult in the context of a graduate school where students and faculty are so transient.  However would it have been too much of a stretch to quickly convene a working group of even just 10 students and faculty who can sit down, design an optimal operations workflow, and help organizers at Loyola execute it?  In the same way that the Loyola DREAM Team has a protocol for mobilizing quickly every time a disaster strikes (and this seems to be happening more and more frequently), perhaps we can have a protocol for convening such a group and offering technical assistance to these operations.  It is really the least we can do.  <we must run a course on disaster management.  But then again the young people must do it;   when I led a group of MBAH in a mission, there was the usual gulo in registration, crowd control and I had to talk to the class President in a loud voice about crowd management;  we do what we do always;  it is  habit, even if we acquire degrees as MBA)  4

Anna Mae Dela Cruz

S10

What pisses you off in your office?  What do you think must be done?

Today what pissed me off the most was that I have so many meetings I can't get any real work done.  Apparently this is a predicament so common that OD consultants often pick on the "meeting culture" of companies.  Too many companies have meetings too often, spend too much time on any one meeting, or involve so many people in these meetings that productivity plummets.  I'm a big believer in group work sessions and team discussions yet I am completely overdosed and there is a fine line between meetings that are productive and those that aren't.  I'm not sure if I should have picked a problem that is more related to entrepreneurship, but right now this is a real problem to me and I figure it must be as well for entrepreneurs who start off as teams of business partners that must work closely together.  Sometimes the attempt to involve all business partners in all transactions and meetings can hamper their ability to work quickly, which is crucial to a start-up.

But what can be done?  In my experience the following can help, though imposing these rules are easier said than done:

1. Do your homework.  People must come prepared with background research and other inputs that can be done prior to meetings.  Meetings can proceed much faster if all the information needed for decision-making is already ready.  If people have already been encouraged to think through some key questions before coming to the meeting, idea generation or brainstorming can also proceed much faster.  I usually assign homework or food-for-thought questions before any meeting.  Anything that can be done before or after a meeting, should be done before or after the meeting.
2. Assign an effective facilitator.  Somebody must be in charge of presiding and making sure the discussion stay on track.  Meetings can run forever getting nothing done but chismis or the ramblings of a very dominating team member.  Facilitation is a particularly hard task in the case of the latter.  There's a good reason why professional facilitators get paid so much haha.
3. No matter what, stick to a time limit.  Meeting durations, as a rule, must be kept down to 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour depending on the nature of the meeting, but no more than that.  Some companies even institute and brand their meetings, calling quick regroupings "huddles" for example.  
4. Lean and mean.  Establish a tightknit working group comprising only those individuals you absolutely must involve and who have a big stake in what's being discussed so that they stay engaged.  The rest can simply be sent your outputs later on for comments.  Choosing people from different levels/positions/departments helps, but in my experience choosing people with expertise in multiple disciplines and different thinking styles is a better strategy.  3  (implementing the old, the tried and true being forgotten)

Sometimes the innovation can simply come in the form of new or different practices and management styles.  When talking about what pisses us off in our offices, the solution is rarely a new business idea, only a new practice or perspective.

Anna Mae Dela Cruz

S10

Serendipity walk - take a walk along a busy street near you.  List down as many business opportunities you can think of.  Just list down.

I've been so confined to my work lately that I haven't "walked along a busy street" in a long time.  The closest I've come recently is the long pathway in front of the restaurants at Ayala Triangle Gardens.  However even that can yield ideas, right?  

Here are some that might work for Triangle or for pocket parks in BGC.  This is no ordinary street; it is a pathway within a park, within a rich and affluent community.  Hence, the emphasis is more on creating events or experiences that will draw crowds into the parks and increase sales (and higher rental fees) for nearby establishments, than on adding new stores/services.  While it is possible to do this as well, we also have to consider the effect having more stalls could have on the beauty, serenity, and security of the park.  Other kinds of events (e.g. concerts) could also draw in large crowds, but to the detriment of the cleanliness of the park.  For the same reason, crowd-drawing events also should not happen daily.

1. Lights and cultural shows - The annual lights show already draws hundreds of people to the Gardens each year (and huge business to the nearby establishments).  Perhaps other events spread throughout the year could do the same, just so the increase in sales is not confined to the Christmas season.  I forgot what they're called but what I have in mind are those dancers who swing fire around along the beaches of Boracay.
2. Flying lanterns event - This may be a hazardous idea, but are you familiar with the flying lanterns featured in the Disney movie Tangled?  They're beautiful and can actually be done.  Each participant could be charged a fee and given a standard (and safe) lantern to decorate and release.  I suspect this would draw an even bigger crowd than the lights show.  And while the lights show is mostly patronized by families, this would draw in yuppies.  The Gardens could then be marketed as having something for everybody, all year round.
3. Modern art exhibit - Another attraction could be having modern sculptures and other art pieces displayed on the lawns every now and then—similar to the pieces seen on the High Street lawn.  
4. Segway rentals - We don't want Triangle to turn into QC circle and suddenly have so many cyclists spinning around, but perhaps the park can handle a few Segways.  Guards in shopping malls (as well as these parks) are often seen on them and I know a lot of people would love to try them.  Perhaps idle Segways (since these are not constantly in use but do cost quite a bit) can be rented out for a price.
5. Dog walkers - There are some residents of nearby condos who walk their dogs there at times, but seeing as these are busy professionals, perhaps a service that picks up their dogs and walks them for them would be welcome.
6. Street food vendors - Not so many that the Triangle's manicured lawns start to look like a county fair.  I mean two, at most three, duly "accredited" vendors (maybe dirty ice cream, taho, and fish balls) whose carts are a little fancier than usual.  It could add a fun and very Filipino vibe to the park, and attract hundreds of employees who just want something cheap, light, and familiar, without necessarily stealing sales from the restaurants there.
7. Tree planting event - Perhaps a small and empty portion of the Garden (if there is any left) could hold plants with donors' names on them—similar to how new trees in La Mesa Dam bear the names of people who donated them.  Since only so many additional trees can be planted in the Garden, each tree could command a very high price.  The idea of forever having your name on a tree in Ayala Triangle would be far more enticing than having it on a tree in a place no one sees.  It could be a fundraising event for some environmental cause.  3

Anna Mae Dela Cruz  (I tried to cut and paste the articles on hospitals, and I lost the post)

S10