She was a poor woman - a widow who had braved many a calamity in the course of her life. Misfortune and tragedy had dogged her footsteps. And yet, she always wore a lovely smile on her face. serenity seemed to envelop her presence; and peace dwelt in her heart.
Everyone who met her marvelled at her courage. How could she remain so calm and serene amidst the turbulence of her life? What was the secret of her inner peace?
To those who asked her these questions, she replied, "All the water in the sea cannot make a ship sink. But if the water gets inside the ship,
it soon sinks without a trace. So it is with sorrow.
Sorrow cannot drown you unless you allow it to get inside you!"
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
A True Leader
A lot of literature is available about leadership. But if you ask me what is the one important quality of a true leader, then I will answer like this:
Come to the edge, he said.
They said, we are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came.
He pushed...and they flew.
A leader sees the hidden potential of his subordinates. So are you a true leader?
Come to the edge, he said.
They said, we are afraid.
Come to the edge, he said.
They came.
He pushed...and they flew.
A leader sees the hidden potential of his subordinates. So are you a true leader?
LISTEN and give me your most precious gift
When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving advice, you have not done what I have asked.
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin telling me why I shouldn’t feel the way I feel, you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems, you have failed me, as strange as that may seem.
Listen!
All I asked was that you listen. No Talk. Or do.
Just hear me. Advice is cheap: 35 cents will get me both Dear Abby and editorials in the same newspaper.
And I can “do” for myself – I’m not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can (and need to) do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
But when you accept, as a simple fact, that I do feel what I feel no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you and can get about the business of understanding what’s behind this feeling.
And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious, and I don’t need advice. Thoughts and feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them.
So please, listen. And give me the most precious gift you have to give!
When I ask you to listen to me and you begin telling me why I shouldn’t feel the way I feel, you are trampling on my feelings.
When I ask you to listen to me and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems, you have failed me, as strange as that may seem.
Listen!
All I asked was that you listen. No Talk. Or do.
Just hear me. Advice is cheap: 35 cents will get me both Dear Abby and editorials in the same newspaper.
And I can “do” for myself – I’m not helpless. Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.
When you do something for me that I can (and need to) do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.
But when you accept, as a simple fact, that I do feel what I feel no matter how irrational, then I can quit trying to convince you and can get about the business of understanding what’s behind this feeling.
And when that’s clear, the answers are obvious, and I don’t need advice. Thoughts and feelings make sense when we understand what’s behind them.
So please, listen. And give me the most precious gift you have to give!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Donot GOSSIP!
A woman repeated a bit of gossip about a neighbor.Within a few days the whole community knew the story. The person it concerned was deeply hurt and offended. Later the woman responsible for spreading the rumor learned that it was completely untrue. She was very sorry and went to a wise old sage to find out what she could do to repair the damage.
"Go to the marketplace," he said, "and purchase a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them one by one along the road." Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, "Now go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me."
The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay, the wind had blown the feathers all away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand. "You see," said the old sage, "it's easy to drop them, but it's impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn't take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong."
"Go to the marketplace," he said, "and purchase a chicken, and have it killed. Then on your way home, pluck its feathers and drop them one by one along the road." Although surprised by this advice, the woman did what she was told.
The next day the wise man said, "Now go and collect all those feathers you dropped yesterday and bring them back to me."
The woman followed the same road, but to her dismay, the wind had blown the feathers all away. After searching for hours, she returned with only three in her hand. "You see," said the old sage, "it's easy to drop them, but it's impossible to get them back. So it is with gossip. It doesn't take much to spread a rumor, but once you do, you can never completely undo the wrong."
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Learn to say No or go bald!
In the old days, when men were allowed to have many wives, a
middle-aged Man had one wife that was old and one that was
young; each loved him very much, and desired to see him like
herself.
Now the Man's hair was turning grey, which the young Wife did
not like, as it made him look too old for her husband. So every
night she used to comb his hair and pick out the white ones. But
the elder Wife saw her husband growing grey with great pleasure,
for she did not like to be mistaken for his mother. So every
morning she used to arrange his hair and pick out as many of the
black ones as she could. The consequence was the Man soon
found himself entirely bald.
Moral:
Yield to all and you will soon have nothing to yield.
Friday, November 13, 2009
How does your organization deal with mistakes?
When Tom Watson Jr. was chief executive of IBM in the early 1960s, he summoned an executive to his office after the man lost $10 million in a venture. Watson asked the man, “Do you know why I called you here?” Knowing of Watson’s legendary temper, the man replied: “I assume you’re going to fire me.”
“Fire you?” Watson asked. “I spent $10 million educating you. I just want to be sure you learned the right lessons.”
So what yourself or your organization would have done in this situation?
“Fire you?” Watson asked. “I spent $10 million educating you. I just want to be sure you learned the right lessons.”
So what yourself or your organization would have done in this situation?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A Case For JITT(Just In Time Training)
In 1991, one organization put some 900 people through a basic seven-step problem-solving course, using two approaches. About half the employees came to its central corporate training facility for standard classroom training. The other half were trained in teams, on the job. This group didn’t get trained until they were part of a team that was working on a real problem. When they got to a point where they needed help, they called in a facilitator. First they learned Step 1 and applied what they learned. They didn’t worry about Steps 2 or 3 until they needed them. You might call this just-in-time training.
Three or four months later, when the organization surveyed the people who went through these two programs. Of those who had received just-in-time, on-the-job training, 80 percent said they felt they used what they learned. Of those who had received standard classroom training, only 30 to 40 percent felt they had actually put to use what they were taught. This makes out a strong case for JIIT oR Just In Time Training.
Three or four months later, when the organization surveyed the people who went through these two programs. Of those who had received just-in-time, on-the-job training, 80 percent said they felt they used what they learned. Of those who had received standard classroom training, only 30 to 40 percent felt they had actually put to use what they were taught. This makes out a strong case for JIIT oR Just In Time Training.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
5 Reasons You Don't Need Training
Today I came across a beautiful article written by Michele Martin called "5 Reasons You Don't Need Training". It is an eye opener to all those people who think Training can be used in fixing any problem. Read this and think again about your view on training.
When management finds that staff are not engaging in work behaviors desired by the organization, they often turn to training as the response for "fixing" the problem. But training frequently isn't the answer.
In this post I want to share 5 situations that won't be resolved by training:
1. To Make Up for Poorly Designed Work Processes--Many organizations have poorly designed work processes and customer flow. These processes have often been jerry-rigged to meet regulations or accommodate some shortcoming. Staff have often developed work-arounds that take them closer to their goals or that can be done more quickly and it is these work-arounds that management doesn't like.
But generally the reason that staff aren't adhering to a work policy or process is because the process isn't working. They know perfectly well what they SHOULD be doing, so lack of skill isn't their problem. Instead, they find that the process is not working for them, so they devise some other way to get their job done.
2. As a Replacement for Corrective Action
Several years ago when I was the HR manager for a large manufacturer, we had some serious problems with a couple of managers who were engaging in sexual harassment. Rather than disciplining the two offenders, my boss insisted that we needed to run a training for all of the managers in the company (over 50 people). Since they had never done sexual harassment training before, running a session wasn't a bad idea. But it wasn't the complete answer to the problem, either. What was really needed was to use a corrective action process with the offending employees.
I've found that many organizations are uncomfortable with confronting an employee who is not engaging in desired work behaviors. If a few people are having a problem with coming back from lunch on time, the next thing you know everyone is in a training on "time management." Training should never be a replacement for corrective action. It's frustrating to the people who are behaving appropriately and the staff with the problem generally don't believe that the training is directed at them.
3. To Satisfy a "Requirement" for Professional Development
One of my clients contracts to a large government agency that requires periodic staff development. Although in principle this is a good thing, in practice what happens is that managers realize at the last minute that they're supposed to be doing staff training at certain times during the year, so they run around trying to find a topic and a trainer to satisfy the requirement.
Ongoing professional development is very much a necessity in today's economy. But it can't happen just to prove that you're providing training to staff. It needs to be part of a larger professional development planning process that has clearly identified specific skills that staff need. And arranging for the training should be done thoughtfully, not haphazardly.
4. When Performance Expectations Have Not Been Properly Developed
I've written previously (here, here and here) about how performance expectations are the real drivers of staff behavior and how they must be properly formulated to be effective in encouraging staff to engage in the work behaviors you desire. People respond to the systems in which they operate--they tend to do what they are rewarded for doing and to not do the things that are ignored or punished. I can train until the cows come home, but if staff are not going to be rewarded for using the skills I'm teaching, then it's unlikely that they will actually use them on the job. Before you get someone in to do a training session, first make sure that you've set the right expectations for performance that will encourage workers to use what they're being taught.
5. When You Don't Have Management Understanding and Buy-In
I can't tell you the number of trainings I've conducted that supervisors and managers had no clue about. This is invariably a recipe for frustration and confusion because staff don't understand why they've been sent to a training about which their managers have no real knowledge. They know that the skills they're learning will not be used or reinforced on the job if their managers don't know anything about these skills, so to them, the training becomes "nice to know," rather than "need to know." And in most organizations, there's no time for "nice to know."
As I said earlier, training only works when performance expectations have been clearly articulated and the training supports those expectations. For this to be the case, managers must know what's going on in the training sessions their staff are attending. And they must be able to incorporate what staff are learning into the daily work of staff. Without management understanding and buy-in, there will be little transfer of training to the job. Which means that training has pretty much been a waste.
So when IS training the answer?
For training to be effective, these conditions must be met:
• Staff must lack skill in the area in which training will be provided. If people don't know how to properly perform a task, then training can teach them how to do that. But if there's some other reason that staff aren't behaving in a certain way, training won't help.
• Performance expectations have been clearly set and the training that's provided clearly leads to staff being able to meet these expectations.
• Managers have a clear understanding of what is being taught in the training.
• There's a plan for ensuring that staff have the tools, resources and supports to use the new skills when they return to the job. How many times have you participated in computer training three months before the computer arrived on your desk? How much did you actually remember? 'Nuff said."
• Work processes have been adjusted to incorporate the use of the new skills. If staff are being taught how to use new tools, then the use of those tools should be embedded in their daily work. If they are being taught specific ways to engage with clients, then work processes should support staff in being able to engage in those behaviors.
If you can meet these conditions, then it's time to offer training. If not, then you need to rethink what you're doing and make some adjustments to your plan.
When management finds that staff are not engaging in work behaviors desired by the organization, they often turn to training as the response for "fixing" the problem. But training frequently isn't the answer.
In this post I want to share 5 situations that won't be resolved by training:
1. To Make Up for Poorly Designed Work Processes--Many organizations have poorly designed work processes and customer flow. These processes have often been jerry-rigged to meet regulations or accommodate some shortcoming. Staff have often developed work-arounds that take them closer to their goals or that can be done more quickly and it is these work-arounds that management doesn't like.
But generally the reason that staff aren't adhering to a work policy or process is because the process isn't working. They know perfectly well what they SHOULD be doing, so lack of skill isn't their problem. Instead, they find that the process is not working for them, so they devise some other way to get their job done.
2. As a Replacement for Corrective Action
Several years ago when I was the HR manager for a large manufacturer, we had some serious problems with a couple of managers who were engaging in sexual harassment. Rather than disciplining the two offenders, my boss insisted that we needed to run a training for all of the managers in the company (over 50 people). Since they had never done sexual harassment training before, running a session wasn't a bad idea. But it wasn't the complete answer to the problem, either. What was really needed was to use a corrective action process with the offending employees.
I've found that many organizations are uncomfortable with confronting an employee who is not engaging in desired work behaviors. If a few people are having a problem with coming back from lunch on time, the next thing you know everyone is in a training on "time management." Training should never be a replacement for corrective action. It's frustrating to the people who are behaving appropriately and the staff with the problem generally don't believe that the training is directed at them.
3. To Satisfy a "Requirement" for Professional Development
One of my clients contracts to a large government agency that requires periodic staff development. Although in principle this is a good thing, in practice what happens is that managers realize at the last minute that they're supposed to be doing staff training at certain times during the year, so they run around trying to find a topic and a trainer to satisfy the requirement.
Ongoing professional development is very much a necessity in today's economy. But it can't happen just to prove that you're providing training to staff. It needs to be part of a larger professional development planning process that has clearly identified specific skills that staff need. And arranging for the training should be done thoughtfully, not haphazardly.
4. When Performance Expectations Have Not Been Properly Developed
I've written previously (here, here and here) about how performance expectations are the real drivers of staff behavior and how they must be properly formulated to be effective in encouraging staff to engage in the work behaviors you desire. People respond to the systems in which they operate--they tend to do what they are rewarded for doing and to not do the things that are ignored or punished. I can train until the cows come home, but if staff are not going to be rewarded for using the skills I'm teaching, then it's unlikely that they will actually use them on the job. Before you get someone in to do a training session, first make sure that you've set the right expectations for performance that will encourage workers to use what they're being taught.
5. When You Don't Have Management Understanding and Buy-In
I can't tell you the number of trainings I've conducted that supervisors and managers had no clue about. This is invariably a recipe for frustration and confusion because staff don't understand why they've been sent to a training about which their managers have no real knowledge. They know that the skills they're learning will not be used or reinforced on the job if their managers don't know anything about these skills, so to them, the training becomes "nice to know," rather than "need to know." And in most organizations, there's no time for "nice to know."
As I said earlier, training only works when performance expectations have been clearly articulated and the training supports those expectations. For this to be the case, managers must know what's going on in the training sessions their staff are attending. And they must be able to incorporate what staff are learning into the daily work of staff. Without management understanding and buy-in, there will be little transfer of training to the job. Which means that training has pretty much been a waste.
So when IS training the answer?
For training to be effective, these conditions must be met:
• Staff must lack skill in the area in which training will be provided. If people don't know how to properly perform a task, then training can teach them how to do that. But if there's some other reason that staff aren't behaving in a certain way, training won't help.
• Performance expectations have been clearly set and the training that's provided clearly leads to staff being able to meet these expectations.
• Managers have a clear understanding of what is being taught in the training.
• There's a plan for ensuring that staff have the tools, resources and supports to use the new skills when they return to the job. How many times have you participated in computer training three months before the computer arrived on your desk? How much did you actually remember? 'Nuff said."
• Work processes have been adjusted to incorporate the use of the new skills. If staff are being taught how to use new tools, then the use of those tools should be embedded in their daily work. If they are being taught specific ways to engage with clients, then work processes should support staff in being able to engage in those behaviors.
If you can meet these conditions, then it's time to offer training. If not, then you need to rethink what you're doing and make some adjustments to your plan.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
CLUB 99
Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.
One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the
Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, "Why are you so happy?"
The man replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies."
The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and
the servant's story, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."
"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired.
The advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep."
When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... so many gold coins!
He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, "What could've happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!" He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection.
From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th
gold coin. He stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, the servant
has now officially joined The 99 Club."
He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never content, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra 1 telling to themselves: "Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life."
We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires.
That's what joining The 99 Club is all about.
One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the
Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, "Why are you so happy?"
The man replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies."
The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and
the servant's story, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club."
"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired.
The advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep."
When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... so many gold coins!
He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, "What could've happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!" He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection.
From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th
gold coin. He stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, the servant
has now officially joined The 99 Club."
He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never content, because they're always yearning and striving for that extra 1 telling to themselves: "Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life."
We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for our growing needs and desires.
That's what joining The 99 Club is all about.
Monday, November 2, 2009
STOP SHOUTING!
A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'
Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'
Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint. Finally he explained,
'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'
The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'
MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.
Never Shout !!!
Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'
But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint. 'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'
Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint. Finally he explained,
'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'
The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love. Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.'
MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other more, else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return.
Never Shout !!!
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