Saturday, February 26, 2011

Be like a cat .....

“You throw a cat from anywhere; she will stand on her feet always. She will never injure. This person is like a cat. I have seen him for last 20 years in this organization. But in even odd days, he survived.”
“He was forced to report his subordinate. For almost 5-6 years, though he was considered management team member, his boss literally used him as an assistant to her. But he continued to work. When new management came, his days changed and he became blue eyed boy (man). When new people joined at senior level in the organization, his days again changed. He was totally sidelined. He still survived by being low profile. Again his days changed and he became important person in the organization. This lasted only for year or two.”
 “Though he was an employee, he started to act as owner of the company. Organization asked him to go home, because of his flounder behaviour.”
 “He was like a turtle. When there were problems, he used to go in the shell. He would keep everything in mind and when situation reverse, he would take revenge.”
I heard this story so many times from other people.

There are certain managers in the organization who always survive in even extreme situations. But when they gain some position in the organization, success goes to their head.
Success leads towards arrogance. When you grow in the corporate ladder, you should more humble and recognized the importance of humility. Above manager could be the successful, however he abuse his success and secondly he took revenges.
One should not forget the fact, “What you did the people, will happen with you also”.
Please don’t see this manager as a role model. But let’s understand this story as the learning perspective. What is the learning?
a)      Be patient and park yourself: Life is not consistent. But in adverse situations, remember the cat. She will always stand whenever you throw her.
b)      People will act as the situation is: People respect the authority. They understand the power center very well. They are not against you, but they have to keep their job. They want to grow. Don’t take revenge from such people, who did not support you when you are sidelined. When you are in the power, they will support you also. So work on how to be in power and authority. Use their strength to achieve your goals.
c)      Change the job: You should have the courage to take a stand and if required loose the job. If you have no importance in the organization and you are sidelined, you should look for another job. Reporting to your sub-ordinate works when you are equally competent and the situation is win-win level.
d)     Be yourself:  In any situation don’t try to change your personality. Be yourself. If you are competent, you can get lot of jobs.
e)     Look for another option in adverse situations: You may not be lucky as like above manager. Above manager could survive because of his relationship with owners of the organization. But relations do not work always.
f)        Don’t abuse the power: When you are in the authority, you should not abuse your power, authority. Being arrogant, being self centered and ignorant the people factor can be the vital factor in falling leadership.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Do you have a choice?

If you get a chance to go back in your past and change your past decisions, would you change some decisions? I can certainly say that you would definitely like to change few which had adversely affected your life. But the fact is that we can’t go and change our past. We have to live with the past we have.
The only thing we can do to choose that decision. I remember the conversion happened with my friend. We both were studying our management. One day he came with new shirt.
“Vinod, usually my parents buy shirt for me, but this is the shirt of my choice,” he said.
“Oh really?” I asked, “How you did that?”
“Yesterday, I went to the shop, asked salesperson to show me shirts and I choose one.” He replied.
“Do you think you choose the shirt?” I asked.
“Off course, I chose one.”
“You did not choose the shirt.”
“Then?”
“You saw different shirt and out of these entire lot, you selected best shirt. Is this a choice? No. you took the decision to purchase one shirt out of different shirts. There were different alternative before you and you chose one. This is not a choice, but mere you decision to purchase a best suited shirt.”
“You are crazy, you are impossible. This is all philosophy. You are playing with words.”  He laughed.
“May be! Did you have in mind what you want? And did you get in shop exactly what you had in mind?”
“No. How it is possible?” Friend asked me.
“You find out the answer.” I smiled and put the ball in his court. I remember, the discussion on choice and decision continued almost for 2 hours and we could not conclude.  

What we do in life. We take decisions and we say that we have the choice.
What you do in decisions? You have different alternatives with you and you select one option which you think is a better. In life everybody checks different alternatives; even arrange marriages are based on decisions.  
What is the choice? Choice is what you like. Choice is the freedom of choosing something with all good or bad qualities.
Taking decision is the inevitable part of life and nescience of alternative can make your life measurable. However once the decision is taken, you should not worry of its consequences. You can not go in the past and change your decisions. There should not be any regret, only lessons. We should learn from the past and go ahead.
Choose whatever you get. Choosing is accepting what you have. Choosing is accepting with wholly and not partially. You can not accept well and ignore bad.
When it comes to relations, you have to choose your relation wholly with good or bad traits. And that is the freedom of choosing. That is the choice. Even if you have any alternative in front you, have should choose thy whole heartedly.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Everybody Knows Syndrome….

One day, a blonde staying in our colony hit a biker. All blamed her for causing the accident, by making a left turn despite oncoming traffic. She angrily said, "Everybody knows I turn left here at this time every morning."

Her explanation was idiotic and definitely is metaphor for professionals. This is a unique example of 'everybody knows' syndrome. We assume that others don't need to be communicated something we know. Most of the times, we assume that other person must be knowing the said information. Even it is also assumed that the other person didn't need to know, or should have known without being told. We expect that people are superheroes and they can find out anything without being told.  

Just have a look inside the organization; you will surprise to know the frequency with which this misunderstanding occurs. In large and complex organizations, the frequency of misunderstanding increase rapidly. 

People assume that the others are on the same platform as they without realizing the fact. But the question is why we are victims of everybody knows syndrome?  Some obvious answers might be: we're too busy to consider what others need, or too rushed. Perhaps we have a difficult relationship with others who need to share the information. Or fear of loosing something can be one of the reasons. However, we should start by looking at structures and systems rather than personalities.

In many cases the superior responsible for passing down information probably did the subordinate's job herself before being promoted. That means she probably communicated much of the explicit information to her subordinate, but not necessarily the implicit information and knowledge. Implicit information is not top of mind, nor readily articulated. It needs to be raised as an issue, digested, and put into words before it can be communicated. Therefore, it's neither quick nor easy.

The best way to ensure that the information 'everybody knows,' especially implicit information, gets communicated is to develop appropriate systems, processes that make this kind of communication systemic.

One of the major causes of communication failure is the "everybody knows" syndrome. This involves a decision not to communicate because of an assumption that everyone else knows what I know. It's especially a problem for implicit knowledge, which falls outside established systems for communication. Look for ways to ensure that information and knowledge get communicated systematically.

And, while it may be tempting to look at personalities when the 'everybody knows' syndrome strikes, you'll only get good solutions by looking at structure and systems.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

Other Side of the Life

Beautiful River in between two villages was the pride for both villages. There was no bridge. My school was at other side. The only attraction for going to the school was that river. We used to play in the river while going to the school and coming back to the home. In monsoon, river had heavy floods. When we were in the school, we were worried that if flood come, we would have to stay in school.

During one monsoon, due to heavy rains, the level of the river increased. Some my friends passed the river. They were standing on the riverbank.
I asked them, “how to I get to the other side?”    
One of them laughed replied, “you already are on the other side!”


Often life is a matter of perspective, perception and viewpoint. Do you realize how many people are trying to get to the very side of the river on which you are currently standing, while you are trying to get somewhere else?

In life, we wish to go always other side of the life. We have something and still we are not happy. We have already one home, but we want to take second. We have small car, we want big car. At the end of the day we end up increasing our liabilities and tensions. I have seen so many people coming and complaining about the salary. They say, “We can not manage in this salary.” The question is, “who asked you to increase your liabilities?” Most of the time, we do it for showcasing these to the society and our community.  

If there are not the other complaints, then people have complaints about relationship, friends, kids, office, work culture, boss, colleagues etc etc.  

When you're tempted to complain, try focusing your thinking in a different direction. Make a regular habit of counting your blessings. Here are some simple thoughts that might help you focus forward each day…

“Our relationship with partner/boss/friend/colleagues isn’t perfect, but every day, we can work out and make it better.”
 “My kids aren't good in academic, but they're good in drawing.”
“Thanks God, My health is good.”
“Thanks God, I have not to borrow the money for paying bills and rents.”
 “No job is perfect, but here's what I like about mine”
 “I'm pleased that I live in a great community and that I have supportive friends”

We can control everything most of the things. Even if you can control nothing else, you can always control your attitude.
There is always other side of the river, but your side is equally beautiful. Let’s recognize this beauty of this side of the life.

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