Happy New Year 2015

Resolution of following the resolution

Do you make the list of resolutions to be followed in New Year? The question is how to follow the same. I remember, when I was in college, I use to make the big list of resolutions.

From 1st Jan,

I will wake up early in the morning

I will start daily exercise

I will study at least one subject after the exercise

I will enroll for additional diploma

I will spend at least one Sunday with underprivileged children and so on….

When I look back and review why resolutions are not followed, I get simple answer and it is we do not commit to ourselves. We recognize the importance of resolutions. That’s why we make it. But it does not come from our heart as they are not priorities for us. You just check the list of resolutions people do. If you do not follow these resolutions, you do not suffer so much immediately. Unless we do not make them the priority we would not be able to follow them.

Second reason is we do not convert them into objectives and goals. And when you convert them into the goals, you are forced to put the timeline. Most of the times, it is wish list we make and label them resolutions.

We have lot of excuses to break these resolutions. We do not plan them properly. Sometimes we do it for 15 days and then we forget…

So on the eve of last day of this year, at least make one resolution...

“Whatsoever, I make any resolution; I make it to happen.”

______________________________________________________________

Happy New Year

With the first rays of the Sun on the Earth and with the first day of the week, 2015 will be started. New beginning is ahead. There are lot many things to do in New Year; Lot of plans and resolutions. (http://vinodtbidwaik.blogspot.com/2010/12/resolution-of-following-resolution.html) 1st Jan is the same as yesterday, but with new hopes.

Yesterday on one TV show, one actor asked another one, “What does New Year mean for you?” Actor replied, “When my wife asks me to bring new calendar, I assume that the New Year is ahead.”

Earth rotates around the Sun as usual, birds go out from their nest as usual, but for human being, it is the new day for new thinking. Human being thinks what he has achieved, gain in a last year and what he would achieve in New Year. However we should not forget the spirit of enjoying the New Year. We keep back the baggage and hope for the best in New Year. Somebody may say that 2014 was more challenging and volatile, but that is the life. It gave you total new experience. There is one English movie, “Clean Slate”. In this movie one character suffers one type of amnesia, when he goes to sleep each night he forgets everything that happened to him before that time. A woman who had cheated him asked him to forgive. The character even is not aware what she did with him and he is totally clueless.

As you welcome the New Year, your past has nothing to influence your future. The great year is ahead with hopes and lot of positive energy. If you believe on the “Law of Attraction”, then this year will bring more joy and positive energy in your life. No matter what has happened in last year, you have the power to create your next year as you choose. For this you have to choose the freedom of choosing. (http://vinodtbidwaik.blogspot.com/2011/02/do-you-have-choice.html) You are now deeper, wiser, and stronger by one more year.

Wish you all Happy New year! May this New Year 2015 bring for you happiness, success, health, prosperity and wonderful surprises in your life!”

Cheers!

Christian - The Lion, The Story of Love

Somebody sent me this clip on WhatsApp few days back. This clip is mind-blowing. This is a true story. The cub who was put for the sell was taken by two friends, John and Ace. 

Cub and friends developed great relationship. Due to the space, the lion is sent at South Africa. The lion become wild and the leader of the group, pride. When John and Ace decided to visit South Africa to meet the big cat, they were told that the animal is wild and leader of his own pride and would not remember his old friends…

It was big surprise for all when Lion responded in a unique way… see what’s happened next…       

Kaash… Human would learn something from such animals… 

Do you have your PDP, IDP?

We always think that the Personal Development Plan (PDP) or Individual Development Plan (IDP) is the responsibility of employer. We have the basic postulation that company is responsible for everything related to us, either development or career because we think that companies hire & keep us because we are indispensable. It is true that if company puts efforts in developing employees, their productivity may increase. But at the end of the day, is it only employer’s responsibility? It is also employee’s responsibility.

Someone (perhaps me :-)) has rightly said that we are the driver of our own growth, our own career, our own life and we should independently think on our own development. In this process if organization is supporting, it is well and good. However first you should be ready with your plan.

How many times we are clear in life about ourselves?

Have you challenge yourself?

What is that time, when you ask yourself what you want to do in the life and what you want to achieve within next 5 years, 10 years etc.

Second question, how many time you have reflected on “where are you today?” you may want to be the Vice President within next 5 years, but have you thought on your current status of strength, development areas, situation, circumstance etc.?

Further have you asked yourself, “How would you achieve your goals as asked in question number 1? What are that efforts you would take to go there? Learning, developing or just changing the job??

Frankly speaking and after interacting with so many people, I have found very few people who have such plans in place. Those few people may not call the plan as PDP or IDP, but they have all  answers on all above questions. Rest of the people flow in life as per the organizational, society, community flow…     

If you would like to reflect & want to make a PDP/IDP, just follow the process of:

Thinking about where you are now, what you like/dislike, reflecting on your strengths and improvements you would like to achieve.

Planning where you want to get to, what skills and knowledge you will need to develop and how you will acquire them via learning opportunities open to you.

Doing – putting your action plan into practice; recording the development you make; identifying when you have reached a goal.

Reflecting on your learning and achievement and, in the light of this, where you want to go next (and so the cycle begins again)

It is not so simple & easy, but just try…you will come to know your true potential. 

New year is approaching…may be good idea to work on… but don’t take it as a resolution, take it as a commitment. Commitment to yourself.

Need help? Just write….

Time to review your performance management system…

“You are asking employees to be collaborative and at another side everybody in the organization is assessed based on their individual targets. Where individuals are more focused towards their own targets, how can they be collaborative. In fact, “my targets” feeling is actually detrimental to team spirit.” One employee was challenging his supervisor during annual performance evaluation meeting. Superiors are superiors and they have explanation for everything, but when they don’t have any valid justification, they refer the matter to HR.

The supervisor also referred the employee to HR. When employees went to the HR Manager, she actually had no explanation either. The performance management system was established in the company almost few years back on the recommendation of some top consultant. When the system was implemented the circumstances were different, however there were no changes in the performance management system.

Above story is common in corporate world. Almost everybody follows the similar performance management system, same KRA and KPI system; based on “What should be achieved”. Some organizations add the element of “How it should be achieved” by introducing some competencies, capabilities and behaviour where they make the system more equivocal. At the end of the year. Off course they also don’t forget to classify their employees in forced distribution. By doing this all, they don’t even consider the nature of their business. At the end of the year, it becomes just one of the rituals and tool for giving salary hike to beloveds in the hand of line managers. You can see the examples where business is not doing well, but employees in team are rated excellent. Most of the times, HR is clueless as usual. Line managers are more smarter than HR to adjust any HR system as per their convenience.       

Deloitte consulting had published the research on global HR trends and clear cut assumption is related to performance management. It says,:    

“Today’s widespread ranking- and ratings-based performance management is damaging employee engagement, alienating high performers, and costing managers valuable time.

Only 8 percent of companies report that their performance management process drives high levels of value, while 58 percent said it is not an effective use of time.

Leading organizations are scrapping the annual evaluation cycle and replacing it with ongoing feedback and coaching designed to promote continuous employee development.”

We need the system where employee would be evaluated but also be fairly evaluated. However the system should be in align with your organizational business and culture. If your business needs more teamwork and collaborative thinking, you may have to choose the combination of team based and individual based targets and complimented by bahviour, but if your business needs “daily bout” like FMCG segment or media marketing,  you may choose to have more focus on individual targets.

I am not saying the whole performance management should be replaced, but we need to take the holistic approach as per the business need and cultural context of the organization.   

Also read Performance Rating Or Quota System....

Your views please….

Make your own Luck…

Luck is the choice and you can actually design your luck.

Do you believe on luck? Almost all believe on these two words. There is positive and negative connotation to the words. But do you think that you can always be lucky? Luck means occurring by chance, which implies that luck just happens by chance and it can’t be planned or obtained by intention.

Off course you can’t influence the decision of raffle or lottery or roll of dice. So here you can’t win by wishing or hoping, yet you can be lucky, how? Just observe following,

Know what you want: I decided to take a new car and it was clear in my mind that I would like to purchase Honda City. When I decided, I seemed to see the Honda city everywhere on the road. While driving, car next to me or car besides to me was Honda City. Off course it hadn’t just appeared, it had always on the road. But it was only after I had learned the Honda city that I noticed it.

If you don’t know what you want, how will you know when you find it?        

After few days, I was the owner of new Honda City.

In a similar way, when we become aware of opportunities, we notice them everywhere. Like my new Honda City. When we feel lucky, we see opportunities everywhere. When we do not feel lucky, we miss them completely. Off course, the opportunities are always there, but we are not aware of the, unless we feel lucky. Opportunities of all kind around us, but we recognize them only when we feel lucky.

Let people know what you want: if you let others know what you want, they pass on to useful information and tips. If your friends are not aware that you want to change the job, they can’t help you. But if you communicate, they would definitely

communicate opportunities.

Try, try and try again, but if it still doesn’t work, then try something else. If something is not working well inspite of all efforts, give up and try something else, when you have done your best. But give it your best first.

Believe on your intuition: Respect your feelings. This does not mean you gamble on, it means that you listen to your feelings and intuition. Consider them carefully and check them well. you don’t know, you may discover something all of sudden from your insights. Some may be hidden and you may have to take it out from you.

Do you know that chain of carbon molecule was invented in dream…here is the story.

August Kekule, a Germen scientist, is regarded as one of the principal founders of modern organic chemistry, the chemistry of carbon-based compounds. In 1858 he showed that carbon can link with itself to form long chains. In 1865 he reported his discovery of the benzene ring as the basis for another major group of carbon molecules. Kekule told that he had a dream after falling into a reverie aboard a horse-drawn London bus. “The atoms were gamboling before my eyes!'' he saw how the larger ones formed a chain, dragging the smaller ones after them but only at the ends of the chain. Kekule literally invented how the carbon chains are formed while in dream. This is a power of intuition.   

Believe you will succeed: Many great achievements did not overnight. Often they were precede by many false start and difficulties. You need to maintain your faith that you will soon succeed in small things and in times in great ones. Never give up on your dreams.

You can be lucky, not by magic or dreaming, but by following some of the time tested tips mentioned above. However they do not substitute to smart work and efforts.

Good Luck.            

What is the source of your energy?

Lots of people ask me the common question, “how do you get the time to write blog, column in newspaper & magazines, going to colleges for interaction. How you do all this stuff?”. My simple answer is “I received the tremendous energy by doing so. This energy is necessary to do my job effectively at office. So by doing this, if I am gaining something, I have to take out some time. Perhaps, I manage my time effectively to accommodate such activities.”

People need energy to live the life fulfilling. Energy doesn't mean only physical energy, it is also related to mental energy. The status of mind created to do the tasks effectively. How many times, we think on our energy source?     

Sources of energy are different for different people. These energy sources may be as under:

1. Goal achievement: Some people are very happy when they achieve their targets /goals in their life or at job. For them this sense of achievement itself is a source of energy. 
2. Hobbies: Some people focus on their hobbies. I know few friends who are pursuing their hobbies further like music, dancing, acting, gardening, tracking, mountaineering  etc. One of my colleagues, teaches Persian Language in Universities. People get the energy by doing this and they are happy to do so. When they come at the office, they equally focus on their tasks.
3. Interacting with people: Some people are very extrovert. They like meeting new people, networking, associating with people. Meeting and interacting people is the solid source of network for them. 
4. Touring, vacations: Some people like to go on vacations regularly. This may be one or two time activity for them, but this lasts for next 6 months for them. 
5. Social Work: One of my friends is associated with NGO. He spends his time with social activities. He usually tells that he gets satisfaction by doing so and whole week he is energized. 

There are people whose energy sources is partying, gossiping etc. This helps them to be energetic during the whole week or month. 

Sometimes, we are not much aware about our energy sources, in that case, it is the time to just relax  and think… “What are that few things… by doing that, I get the sense of satisfaction, rewarding feel and by doing so I get energized?” I am sure you will definitely get some source of your energy… then?…Just do it… 

Organizational Context: In organizations, you will find different people whose energy sources are also different. If they get some energy from something and if it is aligned with your organizational values, you can also design the talent management plan & employee engagement plan as per the energy sources of people. As a line manager, identify energy sources of your team and encourage them to follow the sources… you will definitely get more productivity from your employees.  

Wining Asia Pacific HR Leadership Award 2014....

Asia Pacific HRM Congress 2014....

I was at Asia Pacific HRM Congress 2014 on 11^th Sept 2014. It was a great pleasure to be there and interact with CEOs and top HR leaders across industries, Indian and MNCs. I was one of the recipient of  “Asia Pacific HRM Leadership Award”. I had received the mail from Congress somewhere in April that I was short-listed for this award by the research team of Congress. I was delighted and proud to be short-listed for such award and that at Asia Pacific level. I am always committed to the profession but before that I am passionate for what I do. I like to work on innovations in HR and build the team so that they excel in their career. I express my sincere thanks for selecting me for this award. This is really a great honour and I dedicate this to my family, team and my known, unknown mentors in my life.

 I also spoke in the congress in the session on “Creating Global Leaders.”  This session was chaired by Rajiv Noronha, (Head –OE, BPS-TCS). Rajeev has written well on his blog about the session. He writes, “First presentation by Vinod Bidwaik, HR Director at  DSM India Pvt Ltd,  brought out how leadership is key to securing the future for company which is driven by innovation.   The company had evolved  over a period of 110 years from a mining company to a high tech speciality plastics products company and also getting into some amazing innovations that will drive the growth.  To enable this you needed to shape the right behaviours right from entry  screening to retention and motivation and the right leadership was needed to provide that direction.   After all Leadership is a verb and not a noun.  It is all about driving momentum and bringing change and not about remaining good where you are.  The six stage model that was presented made an interesting learning from the companies five year journey.”

Please refer Rajiv blog, http://rnor.blogspot.nl/2014/09/discussions-on-creative-leadership-at.html for details and perspective of other speakers, Wing Commander Naresh Taneja Head HR for IRB Infrastructure Services and also Rajiv.

Be A Proactive Employee

Why Proactive employees are successful?

Proactive employee are self-directed.
They believe at all times that they have a choice.

Why few employees get very good or excellent rating during performance appraisals? Why few employees get promoted? Why few employees don’t get opportunities in spite of their so called hard work? And why only few employees lead teams?

If you ask me, I will say that those who get good career opportunities have potential and are more pro-active than others. Few employees just follow what managers tell. They neither try to change the system nor give any suggestions & ideas to improve.

Most leaders and managers want employees who can manage themselves, make decisions without careful direction, and take responsibility. Whether it is front-line customer service employees taking it upon themselves to ensure that the customer gets the best experience possible, or a team leader engaging in creative problem-solving of their own, rather than bringing every issue to the boss. Proactive employees constantly find new and better ways of doing their work.

What exactly does it mean to be a proactive employee?

We can identify this in two ways, first, we examine who and what a proactive employee is. Then we look at what a proactive employee is not.

You will find that proactive employee is “self-directed” and non-proactive is “other-directed.” The self-directed employee takes responsibility for his own decisions and actions. The other-directed employee adopts an “I have to” mentality, and responds only to direction.

Difference between proactive & Non-Proactive employees:

Other-directed people believe they have no control over their own lives and instead are controlled by people in authority. For an other-directed person, the locus of control is external to himself.

On the other hand, the self-directed person sees the locus of control as internal: I have control of my life. The basic underlying belief of the other-directed person is “I have to…” meaning there is no element of choice in following what the authority has requested. For the self-directed person, the belief is “I choose to.”

Let see the personality details of both employees trough following visual:

Personality of Other –directed employee (Non-proactive employee)

When employees comply and do something they do not want to do, their natural feeling is to resent the authority for forcing them to do it. Even though the other-directed employee will eventually complete the task, he will do it grudgingly, and only well enough to avoid trouble.

underlying belief of the other-directed person is “I have to…” meaning there is no element of choice in following what the authority has requested. For the self-directed person, the belief is “I choose to.”

Whether other-directed people comply or rebel, their attitude is: I am not responsible. 

They either behave like victims, feeling sorry for themselves and complaining to friends and co-workers about the boss, or they plot revenge. Sometimes they will do both. In either instance, their intention is to undermine, a leader, want to accomplish.

Personality of Self-directed employee (Proactive employee)

The central difference between other-directed and self-directed team members is that self-directed people believe at all times that they have a choice. When you ask self-directed employees to do a new task, their thinking is to either agree or disagree with doing it.

If they agree to do the task, then they will do it to the best of their ability, because it is their choice. If they disagree, they will explain to their manager the reasons why they disagree. Either way, the feeling that self-directed people have is one of acceptance of whatever the outcomes are of their decisions.

They accept the consequences of their actions because they feel ownership of them. If self-directed team members agree to do a job and do not do it to expected standards, then they will accept the consequences for not having given their best. If they disagree with the task, and there are negative consequences for doing so, they will accept these consequences, too. That’s what self-directed people do. Prior to making decisions they consider the consequences of the decision, then act based on their understanding of those consequences. Since self-directed people are responsible, they are only likely to disagree when they believe that what they are being asked to do is unreasonable, or is the wrong thing to do.

If you are en employee, check in which category you are and if you are a manager, make the strategy to deal with both type. As a manager, you don’t have much issues with Proactive employees, focus on Non-Proactive employees… 

Power of Rituals…

This is a festive season. Lord Ganesh has arrived at devotees’ home. The whole atmosphere is positive and energetic. Lord is worshiped by devotees with full of passion and devotion.

After Ganesha, there will be Deshera and then Festival of Lights, Diwali. In between there will be lot of festivals. Everybody, from rich to poor, seniors to juniors, will perform and rituals whole heartedly.

What do these seemingly unconnected individuals have in common? All are practicing magic and rituals. Magic and rituals have long been connected.

There is magic in any ceremony that we do, whether it of a routine nature, such as making a wish on our birthday, or whether it is a sophisticated ritual involving all kinds of movements, lights and music or worship of God.

In both cases we are using the power of the ritual in order to create magic in our life.

By doing rituals, we connect to the nature and universe. This brings the energy & positivity in life. Every time that we consciously connect to the universal energy in order to direct it to a specific result that we wish to manifest in our life, we are utilizing magic. The purpose of rituals is to demonstrate this connection between nature and its laws. Rituals are a reminder to us that we are an intricate part of this vast universe.

Ritual contributes to your wholeness by allowing enough safety and freedom for all the parts of yourself to be expressed.

Rituals are important in our daily life, because they allow us:

•          To bring positivity in the life;
•          To build the confidence in what we are doing;  
•          To be as creative as we wish;
•          To enjoy ourselves and have fun;
•          To experience beauty and pleasure in our life;
•          Positive thinking brings positive things in the life.

Hence whatsoever you believe, follow the rituals. They have powers and magic… 

What? You have not listened what I said?

Identify your communication style

All problems in organizations are due to lack of communication or improper communication. People have different styles of communication. You have to choose the right style in particular situation. However people do not tune their style as per the situation. To ensure we communicate effectively each time we speak, we must understand our own communication style and preferences.     

There are four styles of communication normally people chose while communicating. Dr. Carl Jung, a famous & noted psychologist has described a unique model on this as per the figure 1.

Spirited (Expresser): Spirited communicators get excited easily and tend to ask “Who?” They dislike boring explanations and react by “selling” ideas or becoming argumentative. They like to be applauded and recognized and prefer to save on effort and rely heavily on hunches and intuition. For best results, they should be inspired to aim for bigger and better accomplishments.

Considerate (Relater): Considerate communicators like positive attention, to be helpful and to be regarded warmly. Tend to ask “Why?” They dislike rejection, uncaring and unfeeling attitudes and reacts by becoming silent, withdrawn and introspective. They love to be with friends and nurture close relationships. For best results, they must be allowed to care and provide detail; be provided specific plans and activities to be accomplished.

Systematic (Analytical): Systematic communicators seek a lot of data and ask many questions. They tend to ask “How?” They dislike making an error and being unprepared and react by seeking more information. They love to be measured by activity and busyness. In this regard, they aim to save face; they hate to make an error or be wrong. For best results, they should be given a structured framework and be provided time to make decisions at their own pace.

Direct (Driver): Direct communicators like to have their own way; they are usually decisive and have their own viewpoints. They tend to ask “What?” They dislike someone wasting their time by trying to decide for them and react by attempting to take more control of the situation. They love to be measured by results and are goal-oriented, save time, and be efficient. For best results, they should be allowed freedom to do things their own way.

Each style has its strengths and weakness.

Please refer figure 2 for strengths and figure 3 for weaknesses

You can identify your dominant style based on above descriptions. However you can’t use your style in all situations. You have to be flexible to be effective communicator.  

How to deal with these different style of people?

Recognizing another’s style allows us to make adjustments in our own behavior to accommodate that person’s style. This, in turn, makes that person feel more at ease and helps us to achieve our goals more readily. It takes some willingness and effort to expand beyond one’s own style to interact with others. It is generally appreciated, however, and may make the difference between success and failure in an interaction.

Please refer figure 4 for this.

Action – Reaction…

Three learnings while dealing with conflicting situations…

I always see the people in stress when something goes wrong. People even push the panic button and start acting without thinking. I understand that the reaction is natural after any action, but without understanding the action, you can’t design your reaction. Adverse situations are always challenging, you actually hone your skills while handling such situations.  

I remember the situation when I was working with one of the biggest automobile company in their engine manufacturing plant. There was a discussion going on wage demands. Those were typical days when such discussions are in progress. The negotiations were long pending and workmen were adamant on their demands. They were not willing to discuss on the productivity expected by the management as per the standards.

They tried every resorts like boycotting the founder day, annual day, go slow etc. However management was firm and we handled the situation. We identified troublemakers and opinion makers. Trouble makers were put under observation and opinion makers were properly communicated. We also completed almost 10 domestic enquires against the workmen involving habitual absenteeism. These 10 workmen were counselled and instructed not to take a single leave without permission in a year. The counselling sessions were documented in front of the union leaders. Their termination was kept on hold.

We came to know that workmen are planning to take mass leave. They did this and next day nobody turned to the job. This was a case of flash strike.

Next day, 10 workmen were out of the company…we terminated their services. Union had totally ignored this and they were shocked… after few days, MoU was signed. We asked them to implement productivity as per the norms and then only we signed the settlement.

This situation taught me few things which I always remember.                 

Don‘t respond immediately: During the whole process we thought a lot with the team on the actions. We were knowing that workmen will go for flash strike, but we decided the action after much thought. We also deducted the salary as per the law. The deduction and termination of 10 workmen was the strong point with us during negotiations. The pressure built by other workmen and opinion makers helps us to get the union on the table to discuss productivity issues.     

Try to understand before you act: The consequences would have been totally different. We had completed domestic enquiries and all 10 workmen were liable for punishment considering their records. However we had decided to give them one chance, going on flash strike also means absenting from the job which is not sanctioned by the management. Irrespective to all pressures they should have come to the job. They lost. I was criticized by few colleagues for giving the opportunity to those workmen. We didn't terminated them before because we didn't wanted to create a negative environment during collective bargaining.     

Keep the end in mind: This situation was the opportunity for us. Union came forward for the discussion. They had to take the full retreat. When we reacted on the situation, it was clear that we want to break the unwavering which we did.

Off course this was the team work. I also would like to clear that decisions in such situations are logical during particular situation and not necessary, they will be applicable in all such similar situations. However above learnings are applicable before acting in any situations.       

Memory Power

Does your mind skip the task given by your manager?

“This is skipped from my mind Sir, really sorry, I will work on this..”

Do you give the above feedback on some important tasks given by your manager? There are many activities you have to handle in professional life. Multitasking is the first requirement of the job now a days. Every day, there are meetings to attend and e-mails to respond… and sometimes you miss the deadline because your mind has fully ignored the particular task.

Making the “To Do List” is perfectly right, but not necessary you check it every minute. Sometimes your boss asks you to some reference and you don’t remember the same. Most of the times, you can’t say that you need to check the said reference at somewhere.”

I have written in past on Learning Agility (http://vinodtbidwaik.blogspot.in/2014/06/learning-agility.html) few weeks back. 

If you want to climb the ladders of success in your career, your learning agility counts. But when your memory is not with you, you may face the issues and you may be stamped as slow learner…

Have you thought on your memory power?

Memory power is the ability of a person in recollecting the past events or previously learned information or skills…Typically when we learn something, we receive the information from somebody (say coach, boss r trainer)..the said information is retained in our brain. This stored information is required to recall when necessary.

We attend training, we learn many things on the job… in some jobs demand conceptual clarity, references and organization specific terminologies. I have seen the members who have to struggle with recalling the said information at right stage.

There is a simple method for improving the memory power… “OAR”

Observation: Simple concentration and focus is the key to retain the learning. Keep your eyes and ears open. The person who has the good observation skill can relate the things easily. “Seeing and doing” is the perfect way to improve the memory. In learning process you should be like “sponge”, but this is possible only when you are open to new information.

Association: When I was the kid, we use to play the game of association. We randomly use to select the sentence and associate with some objective. It was fun.. anchoring is also another way for recalling the information. For example, if I have to remember the name of the person who meets me in public forum, I relate his characteristics like his voice, hair style, his look with some bird or animal.  It is a funny way to remember people. Association is relating funny and interesting objectives to something.

Recall: Recall or retrieval of memory refers to the subsequent re-accessing of events or information from the past, which have been previously encoded and stored in the brain. In common parlance, it is known as remembering.

There are two main methods of accessing memory: recognition and recall. Recognition is the association of an event or physical object with one previously experienced or encountered, and involves a process of comparison of information with memory, e.g. recognizing a known face, true/false or multiple choice questions, etc. Recognition is a largely unconscious process.

Recall involves remembering a fact, event or object that is not currently physically present (in the sense of retrieving a representation, mental image or concept), and requires the direct uncovering of information from memory, e.g. remembering the name of a recognized person, fill-in the blank questions, etc.

If you observe and associate, anchor your learning greatly recalling will be very easy.