Archive for the ‘soft skill’ Category

The best marketing messages have six make-or-break characteristics in common, according to a recent post by Alex Goldfayn Goldfayn’s list suggests marketers should pay careful attention to both what they say and how they say it. In summary, his key insights on successful marketing language include:

1. Simplicity – if you think your current messages are easy to understand, aim to simplify them even further for greater cut-through
2. Lifestyle – think about the consumer first, does your message make it clear how your offering will make their life better?
3. Value – describing technical specifications is less effective than detailing the value an offering brings to a customer
4. Narrative – for a good dose of reality, it’s worth sharing stories of how people use a product or service
5. Emotions – instead of using logical messages, get emotional with consumers by using language that inspires and engages
6. Consistency – no matter what happens, continue to talk to your market otherwise they will migrant to competitors

Presence along with performance attitude is a big problem for HR-HEAD at work place. Managing 100 percentage presences with 100% productive attitude is a dream of every HR Manager.

I would like to share two great experiences related with In-Time presence at work place.

One of my clients is DOSHION CHEMICALS. An organization globally recognized, which is growing with speed, in the area of water management. Presence of employee in time was a biggest challenge for the Manager–HR of this organization. We all went in to minute study of the organization and we came to know that pre-lunch output was less and pressure used to build up post-lunch hours. So, the team members had to work late evening. Most of the time people ‘called it a day’ at 9 or 10 p.m. They reached home by 11.00 p.m. and went to bed hopefully by 12-00 p.m. Naturally; they cannot join the work place at 9-00 a.m. People joined at least by 10-00 a.m. and start up. 12-30 p.m. was their lunch time. I found that pre-lunch output was really less in comparison to the post-lunch output.

We had a brain storming meeting with all HODs of the organization. After enough discussion, we went to a resolution that company will start sharp at 9-00 a.m. Common prayer will take place in the ground of the company. People, who enter late after prayer, will be marked absent and his salary will be deducted for half day. Of course, his leave account will be checked.

We have applied this decision and we found an extremely positive result of the decision. Even director of the company was jumping to get in. Otherwise, his one day salary will be deducted. We were strict and stick to the decision. Initially, we found resistance and annoyance of the few team players. Later on, they all improved. Company had a team size of 1200 people.

Team started working from early morning and pre-lunch output was improving. Most of the team members have started going home by 6-30 p.m. or 7-00 p.m. They have started balancing their roles. They managed to balance workplace and home. The result was really tremendous and awesome. The team members were really happy and enjoying their work giving more output.

Samuel Beckett said, “Fail, Fail again, Fail better.” Failure is never an end but quitting for lifetime is a permanent failure. Failure is not your failure but it is a feedback to your efforts and you have not received the result which was planned.

Your expectations have been proved wrong, not you.

Average failure hardly produces excellent lessons. Master lessons are produce by excellent failure. Average success hardly creates impact in the life and society.

Failure develops tolerate and built up strong mind, nearly complete mind. Mentor, most of the time, demonstrates a complete mind.

Failure makes you stronger from within. Ability to face today in any uneven condition should be at the optimum level. Failure creates ground nut reality and that vision helps you in leading for tomorrow.

Failure has little value but not rising up again after failure, I mean permanent failure is really miserable and pity fool. SAD BUT TRUE.

Can I have advantage from failure? Can I reward for master failure? Reward your excellent failure so you can become stronger and learn lessons for tomorrow. Failure directs you with vision for better tomorrow. Failure can be celebrated because it has given you lessons and refined you for excellent tomorrow. Isn’t great!!!!

As New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg aptly put it: “In business, you reward people for taking risks. When it doesn’t work out you promote them—because they were willing to try new things. If people tell me they skied all day and never fell down, I tell them to try a different mountain.”

FAILING PERMANENTLY IS A REAL DISASTER.

Albie Morkel was sharing with skipper Dhoni that two great players have walked out of team. Now what can be our stand? Dhoni replied, “We three (Dhoni, Hayden and Oram) can do better. You will influence the team and strengthen the team.”

Dhoni as a leader is showing leadership quality.

Leader always focus on what he has instead of what could be? Most important is to perform with available resources. Secondly, team is more important than any individual. We do agree that Flintoff can change the results but no individual is above team. Albie as a South African knows grounds and pitch. So, he can direct the team. Of course, off the ground. He knows how he can make the team members live and refresh them with local visits and restaurants. Albie also knows his role in the team.

Amazing. YES!!!

Elise Tan Roberts with an IQ of 156 is just two years and four months. She has become the youngest member of Mensa, the society strictly for geniuses. It puts her above Carol Vorderman, at 154, and just below Einstein, who was believed to have an IQ about 160.

She pressed her fingers and thumbs together to make a shape. “What is that?” She asked with a cheeky grin. Before anyone can answer, she does it for them: “An equilateral triangle.”

Elise took her first step at eight-and-a-half months and by 10 months she was running. At five months, she said her first word. She could say her name at 11 months and count to 10 by 16 months. At 18 months, she could count up to 20, recite nursery poems and knew the phonetic alphabet.

The super confident tot then recites her phonetic alphabet, most perfectly, before counting to 10 in Spanish. You are reading amazing facts for the life by the exemplary leadership of Elise. You can also perform like her. The difference between you and Elise is nothing except one. Elise has tapped her competency and talent but you have not yet tapped your talent.

You can also create a difference. WOW!!!

“People imbibe what they see and learn from senior people or people around them,” said N. R. Narayanamurthy, Chief Mentor of Infosys, recently at the time of releasing his book “A better India, A better world.”

Narayanamurthy is sharing his life experience. If I say to my staff members, “I will come at 10 a.m. but you must be here at 8 a.m.” This is not fair. These way things won’t work. While I was working, I used to come at 6 a.m. the reason is that secretaries wake up their children, give them breakfast, take them to school or bus stops, and then take a bus and are here by 7.45a.m. If they can be here then my appreciation for them has to be shown by my being here at 6 a.m. The only way to inculcate any value in younger generation is only if we walk the talk.

NBA coach and player Jerry West said, “You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days you feel good.”

You have to perceive through adversity and complexity bringing out the best of the talent. You cannot become dull, negative, rigid and average talented person. You must learn from the tennis ball to bounce back and go ahead in the endeavour of life. No matter how many times you face failure.

You can’t have attitude to perform better in the good days. You will walk faster on the slope and when tough road starts you become scared because of the rock climbing. Leader strikes back with double energy and make things happene.

Feeling is different and controlling feeling is different. Riding over feeling and striking with new spirit, new strategy and finding out the new way to finish the work is the essence of ‘Leadership 2009’.

No Brake down….Spring back…..AHHH!!!! …..YES! That’s Leadership.

Author Julio Melara, a dynamic keynote speaker, was able to learn lessons of life and carry it up to adulthood. “Here is the list of all the jobs you will not find on my resume but lessons that have lasted a life time.” This is from the book; ‘It only takes everything you’ve got.’

Lessons for a life:

· Started cutting grass for a profit at the age 11.

Lesson learned: It is important to give things a clean professional look.

· Stock clerk at local food store.

Lesson learned: Making sure that if I am going to sell something, the merchandise needs to be in stock.

· Dishwasher at local restaurant.

Lesson learned: Somebody always have to do a job that no one else wants to do. Also, most of the people have lots of food on their plates. (They do not finish what they start.)

· A janitor at an office building.

Lesson learned: The importance of cleanliness as it related to image.

· Fry-and-prep cook at steakhouse.

Lesson learned: The importance of preparation and the importance of right presentation.

· Construction helping hand (lug wood and supplies from one place to another.)

Lesson learned: I do not want to do this job for life time.

· Sold newspaper subscription for daily newspaper.

Lesson learned: The job of rejection had to knock on at least 30 doors before I ever sold one subscription.

· Shipping clerk at plumbing supply house.

Lesson learned: Delivering your project or service on time is just as important as selling it.

· Breakfast cook at 24-hour restaurant shop.

Lesson learned: How to do 15 things at once. Also learned about the weird things people like to eat on their eggs.

· Cleaned cars at detailing shop.

Lesson learned: The importance of details. You can pay $ 15 just to wash the outside of the car or $ 50 to clean the car inside and out and cover all the details. Details are pain but details are valuable.

· Shoe salesman in retail store.

Lesson learned: To sell customers what they want and like. Also learned to compliment people and be sincere.

· Busboy at a local dinner.

Lesson learned: People enjoy being served with a smile and they love a clean table.

Every stage of life presents lessons to be learnt. You should have open mind and attitude of learning for growing more or a close mind to stop your growth.

DECISION IS YOURS……

“No plan is worth the paper it is printed on unless it starts you going.”- William Dan Forth.

Your dream will not lead to superb success without homework. Today’s preparation determines tomorrow’s achievement.

Value of preparation had its own value in life. Musical performers, Sports stars and Military officers do a lot of preparation and homework. Preparation gives you confidence; it also cut down pressure, at the time of performance.

Pre-work, prior a final performance always benefited and enables you for better results. In fact, preparing prior performance is strongly suggested attitude. I strongly recommend thinking on paper. Put your plans on paper at micro level, which leads you to action. It makes a major impact on final results.

Once you start preparing yourself on papers then results can be more appreciative and will be very close to your expectations. Preparation is under your control. I believe result is not under your control but preparation is right under your control.

I firmly believe that pre-planning add high level of confidence in you at the event of final performance.

Arthur Ashe profoundly said, “One important key to success is self confidence. And, an important key to self confidence is preparation.”

So, keep preparing.

If you are in Europe, Far East or in USA, you can see in meeting rooms, people are seating together and ideas floating. They use brainstorming technique too frequently. Silent mobile phones and power point have been invented as a result of these ways only in meetings. Company allow activity in the report for being creative. You could be forgiven for being creative in the company. Top management is aware of value of ideas. American social philosopher Erich Fromm quotes, “Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.”

Actual practice at work place is found very much different. Creative people become frustrated at work place as there is a huge pressure because of unorganised and unplanned working methodology. Serious amount of pressure is created at work place, which does not motivate team player and he stops getting floating ideas.

Abraham Maslow narrated, “The key question isn’t “What fosters creativity?” But it is why in God’s name isn’t everyone creative? Where was the human potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question might not be why do people create? But why do people not create or innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of amazement in the face of creativity, as if it was a miracle if anybody created anything.”

Everybody is creative and everybody say we are for creativity. Genius is always inside everyone and once a time you are very close to the genius. But, the actual practice is very much different and work place is full of pressure and almost every employee is found under threat and become hostile at the work place. Conflicts, poor team spirit, fluctuation, disturbances and over leaping of leadership make work place more unsatisfied and unpleasant.

Even in the creative industry like Entertainment, Media, Designing, Content development and digital world, these work places are found under pressure and threat. I find editor is under pressure and facing deadline. Of course, pressure created increases output but it is fine just once in a month, not every day.

I came across skill holders who are thinking for 2011-2012 in the laboratory. Right now; they are making value addition to the product in the MNC. Creativity is the passport to travel to the world of mankind. Creative ability and personal responsibility are the strongest when the mind is free from supernatural belief and operates in an atmosphere of freedom and democracy. Be democratic, be pleasant, and be creative.