xCAT Labs (Executive Change Agent Temenos) For Product Managers

The present-day business environment is incredibly diversified; markets are global, changes are complex and your clients are facing more and more challenges. You may have seen, in a company there are many decision makers and many influencers. They are the maestros of your business development. But when it comes to clients, they don’t care about the features or knowledge of your excellent subordinates.. All they want to know is how you are going to manage my product? What’s the value you are bringing to me? Do you understand my business? If you do understand, then I can make you my strategic partner.. Very simple. Isn’t it?....

This is the point where you as a change agent need to think about how you can be a world-class product manager.

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Product management is definitely not product development. This is obviously NOT a job title or a strategy that marketing people follow. So what is product management?

“Product Management is the commitment of an organization for the efficient management of products from the beginning to end. It doesn’t mean idea to launch or launch to discontinuation--it means from the start to end.”

A product manager is a person who is appointed by the product owners and he/she is responsible for leading the cross-functional teams.

As you can see, product managers are the change agents. To understand the product, first you need to understand the people who are involved with the development, selling, marketing and support of the particular product. And also you have to earn the credibility of those people to make them follow your decisions.

The present-day scenario of the Product Management
Today's business world needs different kinds of exit strategies to reciprocate with the upcoming changes. So, the big industries are hunting for those few talented change agents, with the mindset of thinking beyond the box. Major corporate empires such as Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Yahoo, have standardized AND well-balanced product management system. As you can see in each passing year their product growth is incredible. It’s like they have found their secret sausage of business.

But what about the start-up industries? Those are still clung to traditional work cultures and sketchy product management systems. The product managers are unfocused and the system values are still being misunderstood by the organizations. Not only small industries but also some big industries have suffered a lot by underestimating this role. As a result, they are missing out the valuable opportunities to improve their product and efficiency, as well the chances of success.

Desirable things about a Product Manager
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The Product managers should always possess the right Mindset for Success even after facing failures.

Every so often truly groundbreaking ideas come along. The ideas that come out as big surprises create the waves of new changes. No matter what age it is, the people who are involved in creating these brimming ideas are always same...They all are great imaginators, who always hold the “Free-thinking” mindset as their main standpoint of discovery. No matter what situation, freedom ignites passion, imagination, and initiative in a leader.

There are times when a leader has to choose between his people and business. In this scenario, most of the leaders abandon their people to manage the pressure in the organization. But there were some who managed to suppress the situation and introduced change in the organization without much sacrifice and conflict.

In an emergency, a leader should always possess the attitude of “What kind of new innovative ideas can we produce? or what can we do differently than others?”

Containeering
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“Containeering” also known as “Temenos Change Agentry” is the process of giveing the required stance, skills, practice and tools to the change agents. Our aim is to lead the change agents into the next level of freedom leadership with a growth mindset.

“The modern civilization undoubtedly depends on the Technology, but that is NOT enough to produce a change; we need skills and techniques much more powerful than the machines and tools.”

The another objective of our organization is personal and collective transformation. We utilize some sophisticated techniques and theories for change agents.

Our training sessions will embellish you with the right attitude of a Product Manager---. “You are being challenged by the changes; that is inevitable, but you will have the options to manage and control it.”

Enhance Your Leadership Skills With Us!
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Introspection
The word introspection hardly needs any description – it refers to the process of inquiring your own mind and discovering the commands that oversee the functions of our attentive mind. You can relate words like self-observation, self-examination, self-realization or self-reflection with introspection.

"The unexamined life is not worth living." --- Socrates

The idea of “Introspection” dates back to the ancient Greek---Philosopher Socrates; he spent his whole life by taking introspection theory as a main objective of the blissness. He also influenced others to do so.

There was a time when introspection was the foremost topic among the researchers, but after certain displeasing mentions from some old behaviorists the theory started fading away from the studies of psychology and philosophy. They pointed the theory for being so unscientific and irrationally involved with strange illusions. Some even commented the theory is practically impossible to apply in day-to-day lives---even with all controversies “Introspection” wasn’t completely abandoned.

The enthrallment towards this ideology has been picked up recently and the modernized theism is getting more popular among the followers. Our container Temenos is one of the organizations that is a strict follower of "Introspection and self-analysis". Through our modeling and practice, we want to guide the change agents about the ways of introspection, that we perform in our organization in a regular basis.

According to Franz Brentano, “There is a paradox exists between observation of inner mental states and outward observation.”

Alas, introspection is quite impossible through our naked eyes, but is achievable with the non-visualistic “Eyes” of our awareness-- Because eyes see the immediate objects that penetrate through the cornea; a biological phenomenon without the right awareness of a person. So, you need to develop the another layer of visualizing skill through introspection.

Visualisation
We live in an immense container called earth. As a part of this mega vessel every moment we bring a tremendous amount of energy into it. Not only we bring energy, our surrounding has been filled up with the resonating energy of others. This energy level vibes towards our thoughts and actions; that means our visualization of everything puts an impact on this big container. Our thoughts are forever trying to express themselves through our lives, the sooner we realize this, the sooner we can be the formidable architecture of our lives.

Of all the techniques we have learned from old ages to get prosperity, visualization is the best-known technique among those-- It’s a mental practice that uses the natural power of the mind. By visualizing a certain event, situation, or an object, you attract it into your world. It is a similar process as dreaming, you calculate the memories and start drawing pictures in your mind. You need to repeat this image capturing process over and over again. You don’t need to care about other’s thinking or expectations, you just need to be focused on the things you desire. It is perfectly fine if certain dreams seem quite unrealistic and unreachable in your present life, but you believe that someday it will happen then don’t hesitate to visualize them.

I have seen many famous people reaching their goals for their accurate visualization of their wish. Many famous business tycoons, actors, players---all the famed people start everything with this basic technique---it’s a technique to connect your mind with the reality.

When your subconscious mind accepts the thoughts that you repeat regularly, it changes your mindset accordingly. Your habits and actions change towards the direction of your will.

Strong thoughts are always bestowed with the immense creative power to mold one’s life. Our personality shines and create an aura around us and helps to enhance our confidence. The energy surrounding that is so strong it travels from the creator to other individuals, and many attracted people start to follow that thought.

Creation of your visualization is also a kind of art. You have to live and feel it. It can convert your prophesied fantasy into true reality. Sometimes the subconscious mind cannot distinguish between real and imagined events. So, your may end up following the delusional paths, there you need the help of a guide to convey the process and help you to express the right thoughts in a right way.

Articulation
Articulating your vision is vital for a visionary. Just having a vision is not enough, because most people have that and we call them dreamers, not leaders. If you want to lead those dreams to reality, you should take the courage to articulate that.
Articulation of your vision needs courage, you take the risk that the vision may or may not happen in the future. This may be scary for many people, but you have taken the first steps towards your destiny, which is really a big achievement. By sharing the vision; you will find that people who believe in the vision and willing to take the journey with you.

Before proceeding into story-telling, our guides tell prospects to draw their imagination in a paper. Drawing gives a better persuasion of your dreams. Pictures can say many things than words; they attract the attention of others too. After sketching images that are in mind, we proceed to the storytelling process, where we explain every story related to those pictures. In the articulation process, two types of people get involved; storyteller and listener.

Lewitz (2012), a Temenos Fellow, provided an explanation of three steps that take place within the exploration of past, present and future. These three steps are introspection, visualization, and articulation. Introspection allows the participant the time and space to reflect, Lewitz stated that “the visualization deepens the reflection process and supports the storytelling [articulation step], and enhances our ability to remember the stories we are told.” It is through these steps for all three states that empowers the compelling shared vision.

Listening
What makes great leaders more effective is the skill of active listening. Leadership qualities entail the quality of listening to others with undivided attention.

When was the last time you actually listened single-mindedly to one of your subordinates? Can you listen calmly to your subordinate’s advice in time of emergency?

In every organization, there is a necessity of the faithful leadership that not only hear the voices of the employees but also listens what they want to be heard. As you know, employees seek more attention, feedback and support from the leader. In this case, a leader should listen to them individually. So that he/she can drive away the obstacles and motivate the followers in a right direction.

Leaders who listen are able to create trustworthy relationships that are transparent and pragmatic. By saying what you do and by doing what you say, you can gain the absolute trust of your team.

Storytelling
Storytelling is a natural process; it conveys feelings and information.

From ancient times humankind has been well acquainted with story-telling. It has been there from ages and had a big role in human evolution. When people were oblivious about written language, they used the stories as the best way of communication.
They did it in many ways like gestures, sign languages, sounds or movements. Stories of their struggling lives or hunting of animals in the forest or invention of something new; they told it through stories, that have passed down from generation to generation.

Even after the development of rock art, cave drawings, and the written language, oral storytelling was still the primary idea of communicating. Many classic pieces of literature are originated from the ageless art of storytelling; like “The Iliad and the Odyssey”, “Cinderella”. Most of the world mythologies and holy books had their genesis from oral storytelling.

That’s why I love the process of storytelling. As my role being a storyteller, I try to transmit my feelings as much as I can. I serially design my story-telling to link stories in a way that the listeners can understand. I don’t hesitate to tell things because it’s a process of self-healing too; hiding truths won’t help you much.

Under each drawing I write some morals of that particular story; if you are not writing then please tell the audience that what kind of transformation that particular event caused you. A story-teller needs to be clear and audible to others. Don’t add comments on other participant's lives. Your storytelling is yours solemn process, don’t try to relate or involve other people’s stories in yours.

Before storytelling try to relax your mind because there are stories that you have never shared with others, but that’s fine. Because everybody possesses past that they avoid to share with others; you are no different from others. So have confidence and honesty!

Observing
This is about focusing exquisite attention on your environment so that you can notice the changes easily and quickly. A change agent with an outstanding observation skill can do many amazing things. We help you to develop this skill in such a way that you can able to pick up problems easily. It will help you to understand how your client is responding to what you are doing. How they are responding to your queries and the actions you are about to take. This is really essential. Because as soon as you pick up these key things you can change your work pattern if it is not putting the impact you want.

So, it allows to adjust your approach to fit with the client and their way of thinking. If the clients are having any problem, with this skill you can predict what is their current way of thinking and how is it creating problems for them. This means you will have a lot more to work for and more options will open for you to coach or train your team resolve the problem.

For you this particular session will be the way to understand where you are in the ability notice changes around you.

Modeling

We teach this skill to change agents of the organizations, who are in desperation of a culture transformation. It's about teaching the methods to transform your culture with your own hands as per the organizational needs.

Consider Tim Solso Ex-CEO of diesel manufacturer Cummins. He became CEO of the company in the year 2000. As a C.E.O his first act was to recuperate Cummin’s goals and values, but after six months of his debut, Cummins got struck by the recession. To ensure the company’s survival, Solso and his team decided to close Cummins’s original diesel manufacturing plant in its hometown of Columbus, Indiana. As a result, they had to remove many workforces.

Giving layoffs to the employees was really difficult for the company, but Solso made a motivational and focused culture that made others invest their time in learning new skills and techniques. The trial was fruitful and as a result, by the end of 2007 Cummins stock price had increased more than fivefold. Total employment had increased by more than a third, and the workforce was strongly committed to the new strategy. This is how a true leader must lead his people, without expecting any turnout from the future, only focusing on the present scenario and taking decisions according to that.

Attunement
Attunement is the ability to enter into other people’s minds, realizing their thoughts and exploring their everything. In simple words, this is a transformation, in which you are in harmony with another being.

Sympathy
You are wondering why does this term comes into the business world. There is a misconception in people that Sympathy is a weakness for aspiring leaders.

It’s such a pity that people do not understand how powerful this skill can be.

“Successful leaders must be in sympathy with their followers. Moreover, they must understand them and their problems” – Napoleon Hill

Some managers or leaders just can't get along with their teams. Slow-but -sure you are noticing that you are disconnected from your team. I know from childhood you have taken this advice from many people that “Be sympathized to others.”

Sympathy is a skill, that allows a leader to stand with the people they lead in the course of tough challenges. Because of their deep understanding towards other people’s mindset, they can lead effectively. It’s not about just understanding but also acknowledging other’s desirable and undesirable things and helping them to build their mindset.

A sympathized leader can have the attitude to develop shared support and shared vision in an organization.

Equipoise

This symbolizes the meaning of “Balance & Counter balance”; the ability to serenely monitor the movements of one’s own mind and correct for biases and shortcomings.

A change agent having right control over his/her mind can transform to a great leader. It’s a process of self-correction to balance your emotional forces.

Our mind is a gigantic vessel filled with countless images. The most basic nature of human mind is boundless freeness and it hates to be disciplined. It's like a world of fairytales where impossible things can be possible, unlike the reality. Since humans have the weakness towards their sweet delusions, so it's quite easy to control a creature like us. Many temptations start to occupy our attention with and drag us far from the actuality.

The choice is yours; without jumping on the wave of thoughts and focusing on the worthy side of the life is what we need.. Focus comes when you recognize the things that you truly desire and a distracted mind is not capable of fulfilling that purpose.

This skill makes you a true visionary, who never gets distracted from the outer interruptions, because he/she knows “The thing I seek is not here, so I need to walk on the right direction of my true destiny.”

Metis
The meaning of this Greek word is “Wisdom” or “Skill”. A change agent who has a vast amount of knowledge regarding many things can act like a counselor for many people.

You can say it's the ability to see patterns in the world and derive a gist from complex situations.

Limerence
An intense feeling or desire to connect with other people. In many leader’s lives, this triggers a transformation.

This isn’t a talent as much as a motivation. The conscious mind hungers for money and success, but the unconscious mind hungers for those moments of transcendence when the skull line falls away and we are lost in love for another, the challenge of a task or the love of God. Some people seem to experience this drive more powerfully than others.

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xCAT (Executive Change Agent Temenos) For Product Managers#2

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