Showing posts with label Mindset. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mindset. Show all posts

Saturday 4 November 2023

Power of Reflections

 Power of Reflections 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 
As we discuss the importance of developing project management skills to get things done in addition to functional expertise as we move up the career ladder, 80 % of the tasks are non-repetitive or project nature, and we may need to deal with many stakeholders who may not be directly reporting to us.

We discussed the relevance of defining outcomes, reducing the complexity into simplicity, holistic planning, big picture orientation, insights on stakeholder outcomes, reducing changes and minimizing conflicts.

The next principle i personally learned from project management is “ Reflecting from experience.”
 
What does it mean to reflect?
 
Reflecting is taking time from regular activities and looking back at the experiences to learn what went right/wrong and the reason for right/ wrong.
This process is more powerful in deep learning as it improves the confidence and assurance of positive actions and helps to learn valuable lessons from failure.
One of the unique concepts of project management is that irrespective of the project's success or failure, once the project is completed, it suggests documenting the key learning from the project.
During the key learning session, the team discusses and documents the practices that helped or affected the projects, relooking at the assumptions, what went right and wrong, etc.
 
How this practice of reflecting will help any professional?

The reflection process helps any professional who, after completing the task, spends some time thinking about what worked well and what did not work.
 
One research reveals that the habit of reflection differentiates between extraordinary and mediocre performers, and a person with courage can only do the reflection process. Initially, it will be challenging to reflect on our own mistakes and admit them.
 
How do we develop the habit of reflection?
 
  1. Whenever you finish any major task or milestone, take some time and reflect on the experience. For example, after attending the interview or meeting the new client, think about what you have done well, what could have been done, how you could have responded to the query, etc
  2. Some people have the habit of writing a journal daily/weekly/monthly, which could help to reflect upon the general experience during the period.
  3. Along with the team, sharing the experiences will also help to reflect.
 
An important point is that learning from our own experiences will be powerful learning that can be developed with self-awareness and practice.
 
Let us summarise key learnings of project management in professional development next week.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Saturday 29 July 2023

Summarizing - Art of developing influence

 Summarizing - Art of developing influence 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 

As we have discussed the art of influencing for the last 14 weeks, let us summarise the key learnings.
 
  • While we go up the career ladder, beyond a certain point, we need to get things done beyond our functional boundary, and positional power alone will not help. We need to develop influencing skills to get things done.
  •  We need to be aware of our dominant influencing style (logical, commanding, balancing, or engaging) and be mindful of other person's influencing styles. We need to modify depending on the context and other people's styles. Most workplace problem is due to inflexibility in influencing style.No single style will help in all situations. It is more about awareness. 
  • We can see some patterns in highly influencing people in the workplace. Two things we can learn from them. One is their mindset or thinking pattern, and the other is their behavior or practices to influence others.
Regarding mindset
 
  • They operate with a WIN-WIN philosophy and always look at maximizing their impact and others in every interaction.
  • They will always look at the position with pride and make their body language and tone positive, which helps to influence others easily.
  • They have a high level of clarity of what they want in each interaction/task and operate an outcome-based thinking process.
Regarding practices
  • They put their continuous effort into building their credibility by developing expertise or improving relationships with others.
  • They display respect for others by keenly listening
  • They empower others by outlining the task and not indulging in micro-management, however available when the situation is required for the people
  • They are good at communication, and they are more expressive while explaining the need for the task
  • They will always look for fixing the process than people.
  • They will develop charisma by being authentic in their domain.
 
To summarise, developing the art of influencing takes time and effort. However, the payoff will be high for any professional's growth, and everyone has to invest in it.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Charisma Vs. Influence

 Charisma Vs. Influence 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)

As we discussed the mindset and practices that highly influencing people demonstrate in the workplace to get things done, one of the queries asked by my friend related to influence.

"Some people are born with inherent charisma, and they influence people easily. Is it possible to develop charisma? 

i have also encountered this question myself at the beginning of my career. This question is relevant to the Influence topic and deserves the answer ... I've included my perspective below. 

First, we need clarity between charisma and charm as we interchangeably use both. My friend means that some people are charming by nature and use their charm to influence; Is it possible to develop charisma?
 
Charm is associated with surface-level traits like friendliness, appearance, and appealing first impressions. In contrast, charisma is related to deeper-level attributes like authenticity, quality to inspire others with conduct, trust, and admiration. It is associated with confidence and passion in what one does.

Generally, people with charm readily connect with people at first instance. They are outgoing, expressive, fun lovers, friendly nature, and attract others easily. (sometimes, too much of it lands them in trouble!
😢). 

Most of us believe that the person with the charm will have all the qualities to influence others and be good at getting things done. However, this belief is not true. It is just perception; anyone can become charismatic with effort and conduct.

For example, You are selling yourself in an interview and influence with your charm; you may be appealing instantly. But there is no guarantee that you will get the offer. However, you can get an offer if you influence with your charisma (as quality).

In a professional context, we must focus more on developing charisma to become influencers. When we concern too much about charm, it will affect our self-esteem.
 
The movie 
"M.S Dhoni's- untold story" beautifully depicts the perception of charm and its impact on others. In the early days of playing in Ranchi tournaments, on the first day of the test match, MSD did well. Then in the evening, MSD & the team met Yuvaraj Singh first time very closely on a basketball ground and internally felt inferior to Yuvaraj's charm or instantly appealing personality.

The next day, the MSD team played against Yuvaraj Singh and badly lost the match. While narrating the game to his friends, MSD said, "We did not get defeated in the cricket ground; we got defeated in the basketball ground itself." That is a very insightful observation by MSD. 

Later on, we all know how things turn around! That is, charisma wins over charm.
 
The key learning is that some people are gifted with charm, which does not mean they are successful influencers. Anyone can develop the skill of charisma with character building and consistent effort in delivering results, through which one can become a charismatic leader.

Charm is a subset of charisma. Natural charm is all about character, and it is all about how confident one is and how others feel good about their presence.

Anyone can develop Charisma regardless of their personality type.

You are highly influential and blessed if you are both charmed and equipped with charisma !!

Have a great week ahead.

Wednesday 26 July 2023

What do you want?

  What do you want? 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 


As we discuss the mindset and practices used by highly influencing people to get things done, we have highlighted the two mindsets like, 
"Win-Win Mindset" and "How do you see yourself? ".
 
The third practice is "Outcome based thinking," which is a powerful practice by all effective people.
 
Outcome-based thinking :

It is all about starting any interaction or business deal with the objective.
 
It is all about clarifying what we want to achieve in the end.

It is beyond visualization. 
 
Why is this important?

  • When you start with the end objective, it brings focus within you.
  • Half the battle is won when you start with the end objective and express yourself to others about your expectation.
  • It connects with others as they are in a position to listen 
  • When you start with the end objective, you likely think about what may go wrong and proactively prepare for it.

 
When starting any conversation or deal, the thought process of highly influencing people is as follows.

What do i want at the end?
What do others want, and what may be their objection?
If there is an objection, what would be my counteroffer? 
How will i bring to a conclusion with a win-win mindset?


In project management, one of the traits expected from a successful project manager is OUTCOME BASED Thinking and STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT and Having Plan B if something goes against the plan.
 
Anyone can develop outcome-based thinking with practice.

For example, when proposing a new idea to colleagues and management/clients, you can always apply outcome-based thinking and likely win the proposal.

What do I want at the end?
My idea has to be acceptable by others as such, or with minor modification
What is others' need, and what may be their objection?
How the new idea may affect others and what could be their views
 
If there is an objection, what is my counter-deal to be a win-win?
If my idea is not acceptable as such, what could be my other alternative which is fine for  others ( Proactiveness)
How I will bring it to a conclusion?
Either i withdraw my idea( loss-win)  or accept another's suggestion to modify my idea (win-win)
 
We positively influence others when we think about the outcome before the start.

The mindset is straightforward. In reality, except few, most of us are not proactively prepared for 360 views when we start, which causes us to be poor in influencing.

It just needs awareness and preparation with practice before getting into any conversation or business deal.
 
Have a great week ahead.

Thursday 11 May 2023

Win -Win Mindset

 Win -Win Mindset 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)
 
As we have discussed the influencing framework/process, we highlighted the importance of being aware of the context/situation. Also, being flexible in the influence style will help to get things done.
 
Now, let us understand more about the mindset, behaviors, and practices that highly influence people to apply when dealing with people and situations. They have never been perceived as commanding, misusing power, or rude, and people love to work with them. They easily get things done in the workplace despite the challenges.

Understanding and practicing those mindsets, behavior, and practices will help you become a high-influencing person in the workplace.
 
One such primary mindset that influences people to operate is a Win-Win mindset.
 
What is a Win-Win mindset?

Win-Win is a state of mind in which we look for mutual benefit in any interaction or business deal.
It is more about being empathetic about another person while focusing on your objective, fair, and flexible in finding a solution that meets both requirements.
 
Influential people ensure that the other person's needs are met in any interaction with others, either a small conversion or significant business deal sign-off.

For example,

You are spending time with one of your colleagues, and after the conversation, if both of them feel good about the interaction, get some value or solution or agreed upon mutual agreement. It is a win-win situation, and both of them win together.

If any of you leaves with an upset mood or gets humiliated or unheard, then there is a possibility of both of you being in a situation of lose-lose or lose-win, and either way, that will not be helpful.
 
In the same way, any business partnership works on a win-win basis only.
 
For example, one product organization signs a partnership agreement with the distributor. The organization has products but needs more marketing and distribution reach to customers. The distributor has access to customers but needs more products. When both sign the deal, they share the mutual value and gain revenue together. That is a win-win.

If anyone feels that the other person is exploiting others, it becomes a win-lose, and the partnership eventually breaks.
 
There is always an argument that it is not possible to have a win-win situation and mindset all the time. If both do not realize a win-win in the long run, the association or deal is not sustainable. In the short term only it works.

We can be in a win-win mindset only when we feel good about ourselves and are optimistic about our outlook. That needs awareness and practice.
 
This win-win concept is underrated, and if we apply it in all interactions and dealings, the ability to get things done will improve.

Based on this fundamental win-win mindset, some behaviors and practices are built upon, and let us discuss them further.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Wednesday 2 March 2022

Which problem do we solve MORE?

 Which problem do we solve MORE?  

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 

 
Having discussed the definition of a problem from a professional perspective, let us understand what types of problems need our attention MORE  in a professional environment.
 
There are two types of problems we always face in the workplace. One is Adhoc nature, which calls for quick fixing and the solutions are predominantly emotions-based with little logic. The solutions are not necessarily preventive.
 
The other problem is repetitive nature and looks like part of our life, and this problem needs to be fixed predominately with the logical conclusion. The solutions need to be preventive.
 
For example, at a personal level, when we get sudden health issues, we may not overthink it, and we use to take some pain relievers / any other pills and move on. Sometimes the solution also works well. This problem and solution are called Adhoc problem-solving. 

If the same health issue is repeated frequently, the same pain reliever/ pills may not work, and it may also bring other complications. This problem is called a chronic problem. These repeated health issues or chronic problems call for structured diagnostic and treatment, which is more logical, and the solution may be a permanent cure. That is a structured problem-solving process.
 
In the same way, in a workplace, when we relate to our day-to-day decision-making to solve problems, it could be either an ad-hoc problem or a chronic problem.

Which type of problems do we solve MORE in the workplace, ad-hoc or chronic?
 
In some organizations, as i  observed, people are always busy with delivery-related issues, which in my opinion, is a chronic problem. When the potential chronic problems are not solved structured, that will become day-to-day firefighting problems.
 
As a manager or leaders, our time and presence are required for solving chronic issues that need a more structured process of problem-solving, which calls for broader participation and decision making rather than spending most on ad-hoc problems. When we are growing on the career ladder, we suppose to solve more chronic issues than managing firefighting or ad-hoc issues.
 
We need to be aware of our decision-making activities on whether we are solving ad-hoc or chronic problems for most of our time.
 
To solve chronic problems, we need to be familiar with the structured problem-solving process and discuss it next week.

Have a great week ahead.

 

Problem Solving Vs. Decision making

 Problem Solving Vs. Decision making 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

 

In the last few weeks, we have discussed some aspects of emotions that affect the quality of decisions. First, we need awareness about emotions. Second, we need to develop structured problem-solving capability, which to some extent, will help us not to get into the trap of emotional bias in decision making.
 
What is meant by problem-solving?

Problem-solving is an analytical process to solve the problem. It is more of a structured way of solving the issues.
 
The problem could be making decisions on the complex business problems like

Should i invest in a new business or not?
Which candidate i recruit, candidate A or Candidate B? 
How much inventory do I need to keep to manage the uncertainty?
How should I select the stock as there are plenty of options in the market?

 
In all the above examples, you have a choice to go ahead with impulsive, emotional decisions or you have an option to apply a structured problem-solving process. Both choices will have an impact on the quality of decisions.
 
Problem-solving is a process of understanding the facts, removing unnecessary noises in the data, looking for patterns or insights or root causes, making the right actions and implementing the actions, and looking for evidence of improvement.
 
Problem-solving vs. decision making
 
Problem-solving is a process, and decision-making is an outcome of problem-solving. Both are interrelated. 
 
If we couple analytical problem solving and decision making, there is a high chance that we are making the right decisions as it is a logical or rational approach than emotional.

Why is problem-solving capability important?
 
One of the prime responsibilities of a manager or leader is making impactful decisions at the right time. Quality of decision-making will improve only when they learn the art of solving the problem in a structured way, particularly for all chronic or complex business challenges.
The World economic forum lists problem-solving competency as one of the Top 5 competencies for the 21st century. I remembered that the forum survey reported that professionals with problem-solving capability would have more demand and be paid high in the job market.
As i observed, many leaders in organizations who possess excellent problem-solving capabilities will run the organization more effectively than those who lack the same.

Problem-solving and decision-making are competencies each manager and leader to develop for professional growth.
 
Let us discuss the following insights in the next few weeks.
 
The process of problem solving and steps involved ; 
The myth of the problem-solving approach
The skillset required for problem-solving
Methods of developing the problem-solving competency as an individual and organization

 
Have a great week ahead.

Awareness of thinking traps in decision making

 Awareness of thinking traps in decision making 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)


As we have discussed the different types of thinking traps that affect our decision-making process, let us summarise the thinking traps and their influence on our decisions.

  • Except for routine activities, most of us have decision dilemmas in all business decisions.
  • We generally assume that we are logical thinkers and equipped with tools and techniques for decision-making. However, research says that despite all the resources on the rational decision-making process, we are unconsciously trapped into thinking bias which affects the quality of decision making, particularly in complex business decisions.

 
Some of the thinking traps we have discussed with examples are
 

  • Giving excess weightage to the first information
  • Maintaining the status quo even though it is not relevant now
  • Seeking confirmation evidence for our initial thought from people who are favoring us
  • Not clearly defining the problem itself
  • Judgement trap either overconfidence or underestimating.

 
In every stage of the business decision-making process, we have more stakeholders, more assumptions, and inputs coming from different ends, leading to misperception. This bias influences our choices or decision-making quality.

Some of the above thinking traps can work in isolation, or they can work in combination.

For example, we give more weightage to the first information we receive, believe it true, and seek confirmation from the people in favor of our initial thinking. Then we take some decisions that will become status quo. We stick to it as our sunk cost mentality will not allow us to detach ourselves from our earlier decisions and finally get into the trap of living with the pain of our decision.

The only protection from the different thinking trap is 
AWARENESS.
 
Even though we cannot avoid the inputs/assumptions from different stakeholders, we can build tests and be disciplined enough in the decision-making process, which will help to get into the trap. That needs a step back and challenge our thought process while making decisions in important events.

More we take unbiased choices without a trap, our confidence improves.

It is easier said than done; however, it needs awareness and practice to take the unbiased, right decisions in a complex business environment.

Have a great week ahead.

Sunday 30 January 2022

why do we make wrong decisions? (contd..)

 why do we make wrong decisions? (contd..)

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
As we have discussed some of the thinking traps that affect our decision-making ability, the next one in this thinking trap series is "looking for confirmation -evidence for our original thought."

What is meant by looking for confirmation evidence for our thought?

We biased our decision-making towards our initial thought even though there are contradictory views or data against our views. We seek people who favor our thinking and even interpret any information according to our thought.

For example,
you would like to purchase an electric vehicle and almost decided to go ahead with an electric type than IC engine. However, you are seeking information from your colleagues. Most of them are against electric vehicles at this moment, citing logical apprehensions like lack of adequate charging facilities, lack of knowledge on maintenance, service support and cost.

Since you have already fixed your mind towards the electric vehicle, you would not listen to any opinion against the electric type or look for a favorable response in line with your initial thought. That is the trap of looking only for confirming evidence for our original thought.

Sometimes we tend to interpret the information according to our initial thought.

There is an old story that goes like this.

In a classroom, a teacher wanted to give a message to the students that consuming alcohol is not good for their health. He demonstrated by taking a glass of alcohol and then putting some insects inside the glass, and eventually, insects died. He said to the students," Look, the alcohol kills the insects; hence it is not suitable for our health.One student stood and said," Sir, I have some insect trouble in my stomach, so by consuming alcohol, i can come out of the trouble, hence consuming alcohol is good for health!".😊

That is looking for confirmation by interpreting the message as one likes.
 
The key line, what you want to hear, you will listen to that, and even we distort the information according to our thought. That is the thinking trap.
 
In the organization setup, we always seek information or go to the people who would like to endorse our views or decision, which may affect the decision-making quality.
 
How can we overcome this thinking trap?
 
  1. We need to ensure whether we give all the options equal weightage or give high weightage for our initial option as ultimate. Awareness of emotions and rationality is key.
  2. We can weigh our options with many pros and cons than confining with one option; for example, In the electric vehicle purchase case, just i want to buy to be trendy and be open to other pros and cons of purchasing. That openness and flexibility will help to make the right decisions.
 
Let us discuss other thinking traps next week.
 
Have a great week ahead!

Why do we make wrong decisions? (contd..)

 Why do we make wrong decisions? (contd..)

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)


 
We have discussed two thinking traps, "giving excess weightage to first information," "not to disturb the status quo," which affect our decision-making quality. The third thinking trap is "justifying past choices even though it is irrelevant."
 
Justifying the past decision even though it is not relevant now:
 
We continue to make decisions based on past choices. Even though we believe that we make rational decisions, we sometimes fall into the trap of justifying the past decision even though it is not relevant now or future. Economists term this decision-making behavior as sunk cost fallacy.
 
For example,

Assume that you have booked a ticket for a movie of your favorite star before releasing. After the film is released, you are getting more negative reviews about the movie, and your logical mind realizes that the movie is a flop.

Will you decide to go with your earlier decision of watching the film as you already booked?

If you decide to drop to watch the movie despite your advance ticket booking cost, you are not falling into the trap of sunk cost fallacy.

If you decide to go and watch since you do not want to waste your invested money, you are in the trap of sunk cost fallacy.

Similarly,

In a stock market, our tendency to average the stock, which is continuously falling. That decision is sunk cost fallacy. We hope that we recover the past investment.

Most of us get into this sunk cost fallacy in decision making, not only from a money perspective, even from the time and efforts we spent on something in the past. That is why in the organization, we use to justify some of our people's mistakes and build decisions over them repeatedly because we have invested our time and effort with them.
 
Why do we get into this thinking trap?

Internally, we do not want to admit our mistakes or accept the failures and try to cover up the old errors with new efforts or decisions. That is the nature of us.

How to overcome this thinking trap?

1. Even smart, logical decisions sometimes go wrong. Failing is not a sin, but building over the past mistake and making decisions to cover up may lead to blunders which we can avoid with awareness. We need to accept the failures as part of our decision-making process in personal and professional life.

2. Reward yourself and your team for the process of decision-making with available data then, rather than punishing for the outcome. We need to realize that we are making judgments based on some assumptions, and the outcome depends on the various factors. The ability to distinguish between the process and result will help you accept some of the failures in the decisions.
 
When we make decisions, we are driven by various emotions and need to be aware of those emotions to make better decisions. Awareness is key.
 
Let us discuss some other thinking traps next week.

Have a great week ahead!
 

Tuesday 7 December 2021

i am good at rational decision-making!

 i am good at rational decision-making!

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

As we have discussed some of the myths of decision-making, most of us have one more misconception: "believing that i am good at rational or logical decision-making." 

In a professional environment, as a manager or leader, we firmly believe that we make decisions based on the facts, logical conclusions upon data analysis, and structured evaluation of pros and cons. It is not true, and many psychology studies proved that finally, emotions overdrive logic.

Our decisions are driven mainly by emotions which sometimes lead to mistakes or substandard performance.

For example, you might have encountered an experience when you wanted to purchase any gadgets or home appliances. You might have set the budget, decided the mode of purchase, browsed, verified with many people, and decided to buy a particular brand or product. However, at the last moment, that decision might have been changed just by one adverse information or news about the brand /model or even a solid positive opinion about an alternative brand or model by someone close to you. All your logical thinking and  decisions were collapsed just by one emotional feeling of "not to be on the wrong side."

I have a personal experience that one of my books was selling reasonably well on Amazon with positive reviews till one anonymous buyer gave an adverse comment about me and the content. Post that review; there was a considerable reduction in the sales performance. The reason could be the reader's buying decision is biased towards "not to be on the wrong side." Logically readers should go by the count of positive vs. negative comments, but reality would be biased to the latest negative comments. That is the power of emotions over any rational or logical thinking.

So, since emotion is so powerful in our decision-making process, we need to be aware of our state of mind when making important decisions in a professional environment like taking calls on people, business expansion, investment, reacting to customer's complaints. Any impulsive decisions we take in an extreme emotional state will lead to a wrong or negative consequence.

The next option is to defer the decision when we are highly emotional.

Awareness is required on emotional state when we make a decision!

Have a great week ahead!

"i need to be efficient in decision making."

 "i need to be efficient in decision making."

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

Last week, we discussed a misconception and reasoning behind  " indecisiveness," there is one more misconception, which is quite opposite of indecision. That is urge on "i need to be more efficient on decision making."
 
According to this mindset, we measure our efficiency as the speed of making decisions and the quantum of decisions we take every day. Compared to inactiveness, efficiency is relatively better, however, what matters for managers and leaders is effectivenessthe impact of the decisions on others and the business.
 
For example, consider this situation.
 
In one of the organizations, the business head is engaged and busy in instructing the team on many trivial issues like approving the leave application, fixing the connectivity issues by calling the relevant agency, and so on. Despite having an excellent team to do all mundane decisions and actions, he seemed fulfilled when he engaged himself in many trivial decisions.

Eventually, he is getting decision fatigue. Most of the critical business decisions like streamlining delivery, productivity, and supply chain decisions are not being taken by him, which he only can take decisions in the organization. The urge and practice of involving and jumping into all decisions eventually affect the organization's prospects.
 
When you are growing, it is expected to make impactful decisions than the speed of the decisions, even in trivial issues.

I have witnessed one of my ex-colleague who was considered a bright candidate at a young age due to his speed in making decisions and making things happen. When he was promoted to senior management level, he eventually lost his creditability due to his impulsive decision-making style in many initiatives, which backfired against him and the organization.
 
Except in emergencies, quick  / speed decisions are not required to solve chronic issues or any strategic future-related challenges. 
 
Having the idea of being efficient by making fast, more decision-making is just a misconception. It just needs awareness!

As professionals, we need to be aware of our effectiveness by making impactful decisions that we can only take.

Have a great week ahead.
 

Monday 18 October 2021

Are we managing time or priorities?

 Are we managing time or priorities? 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

One of the frequently asked questions in most of my management sessions is "How to manage time?".

The intention behind the question is to learn some proven techniques that can help us manage time. There are many books and resources to guide us with numerous techniques for managing time well. In fact,i had tested the checklist, formats, alarm system to prompt to keep my timing alert. But those efforts are not sustained because managing time is driven by internal motivation than external. We cannot manage the time to go slow or move fast or take a pause.

We need to understand the inner concern or dilemma we are going through when we worry about our time management. Even after doing many activities in a day, we feel guilt that we have not done what we suppose to do. When we do not spend our time on our own priorities, we feel guilty about our way of working. That is a conflict issue of what we want to do and what we do.

When we know our prime priorities, accordingly, we direct our energy and time towards them. In case if the work environment is not conducive for focusing on our priorities, we will make an effort to create an environment.

One of the busiest CEO of the conglomerate mentioned that amidst his busy professional and personal commitments, he ensured that he read a book on avg one per week. How does he find time for that activity? Since he believes that reading books is one of his priorities, he finds time to make it happen. He may probably not claim that he does not have time to watch movies or go to parties as those may not be his priorities. The key is he is thoroughly aware of his prime requirements.

If we know our priorities and spend time on those activities, we need not concern about time management techniques.

The action area would be

First, we need to be aware of our pattern of activities and the time consumption in a day.
Second, we need to know our priorities which will give more happiness or satisfaction at the end of the day.


Once we are aware of it, we can avoid some of the activities, improve our skills, or delegate to others to get our core priorities done and feel satisfied at the end of the day.

Have a productive week ahead!

Tuesday 3 August 2021

How do you look at Power to deal with conflict?

 How do you look at Power to deal with conflict? 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)


 

As we discuss the dynamics of conflict, the perception of power plays a significant role in dealing with the differences in the workplace. The meaning of Power or positional status is different for different people. In an organizational context, the straight definition of power is the ability to get things done.
 
One of the studies found that the relevance of power as perceived by self will significantly impact how one deals with conflict or differences in the workplace.

One may look at positional power as 
Fixed Pie or Abundance.

From a fixed pie perspective,

we believe that power is limited; once shared, we get less.

We think that by delegating the authority to someone, we lose control of others. This mindset will have a significant role in how we deal with conflict.

For example,
Someone at the colleague level suggests a good idea to improve the business performance. Even though we also think the idea is worthy of considering, we tend to defend and initiate the differences. We internally believe that we would be losing control or power by openly accepting the other's view immediately. In that way, we get into differences and end with either accepting or rejecting. However, we leave the scar of differences. ( debating is not a problem, but how we initiate and dealing the debate is important in a professional setup)

From an abundance perspective,

Alternatively, some people look at positional power as an abundance of resources. In this perspective, they believe that delegating authority to someone empowers. They believe that they can do more by collaborating with others. They widely accept the different views and are good at arriving at a consensus even when there are differences.

We might have observed some leaders move around friendly, mingle with anyone, and are good at getting things done. Even when the differences arise, they arrive at the consensus quickly as the mindset towards power drives them to settle things without the impression of personality differences.

The point is our perception of our power will have a significant role in initiating or managing the differences through our behaviors.
 
Changing the mindset on the perception of power may not happen immediately for all. 
Still, the awareness of our perception about the power and its significance on conflict management helps to deal with a collaborative approach to get a win-win situation than a competitive approach.

Friday 14 May 2021

Winning Mindset to deal with challenges

 Winning Mindset to deal with challenges 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 

As we conclude the topic “Achievement Orientation,” the last aspect is how an individual or effective leader deals with the challenges during the execution of any task.

 
Despite the planning process, clarity on values, purpose, being in conducive envelopment, self-commitment, and clarity on the roadmap, the reality is that the execution journey may not be rosy. The execution may not go as per plan.

Sometimes, we ended up with a different result than what we planned at the beginning of the journey. Dealing with reality needs a mindset that looks at everything as a winning opportunity in the journey. We can develop the mindset with awareness and practice.

Some of my observations from the effective leaders on dealing with the challenges
 
Embracing the challenges with excitement:

Effective leaders embrace the challenges when they initiate. I know one of the managing directors of an organization always starts with “I am excited to initiate some actions."Whenever he begins a difficult task, he began with that vocabulary. He demonstrated his energy and enthusiasm towards facing difficult task challenges, and he succeeded in most of the tasks. The key is how you look at the challenges at the beginning of the journey. That will give you the power to navigate.

Being adaptable during navigation

Effective people are good at being adaptive to the challenges or changes during the journey. Adaptability is the ability to accept the changes at the given moment and accordingly change the plan considering the task's holistic view. This emotional aspect is essential as, in reality, the plan may not go as expected. The person who has adaptability is happier than the person being rigid.
 
Learn from the experience

Another mindset the effective people demonstrate is that they take the outcome, whether favorable or unfavorable, as a learning experience. They always look at challenges in an optimistic way as "what I have learned from this experience." When you look at every outcome as a learning experience, you will not get much disappointment.

Taking a step back and self-introspect

Some people take a step back and reflect the things that went wrong from the planning. This mindset is the most effective way to deal with challenges and avoids mistakes in the future. The strong person can only admit the mistakes, and self-introspection makes the individual further emotionally stronger.
 
Our mindset in dealing with reality is essential than the celebration of the successful outcome as life is an experience than an event. The mindset to deal with each experience matters on emotional wellness!
 

Tuesday 20 October 2020

Dealing with Fear-Taking Action

 Dealing with Fear-Taking Action 

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 

Having discussed the two steps in dealing with the fear, let us understand the 3rd step, which is more powerful in overcoming fear. That is confronting the fear through ACTION.
 

As discussed, being aware of your fear WITHIN and Knowing more about fear through enhancing perspectives all lead to half of the battle won. Real confidence comes when we take action against fear. We can not build confidence through external stimuli all the time. Absolute certainty will be made deeply at the subconscious level only by doing and experiencing through actions.
 
For example,

You may have fear about your public speaking capability. You may be aware of your inner fear and learn many public speaking techniques through various external sources like books and from others. Still, you may struggle with inner fear. You can overcome fear only when you take action by speaking in a small group.

When you speak in a small group and experience success, your subconscious mind registers the successful event. Next time, when you speak in larger groups, your mind pushes you with positive reinforcement of earlier success, and you may do well. Again, the mind registers this event as a positive reinforcement. This way only, you can overcome the fear of public speaking of any size.

The point is you are overcoming the fear only by taking action instead of stopping at the first two steps. Most of us are comfortable in the first two steps.

Similarly, in a professional environment, you may fear of new initiatives or new policies or processes in the organization. Fear is natural. The only way to manage fear is by taking action as follows.
  1. Recognize it
  2. Enhancing the perspectives through external sources
  3. Confronting it by taking ACTION in small and extend it
The choice we have is either fearful or FACE it through ACTION.
 
If you are fearful, the fear engulfs you. When you confront it through action, you have control over fear. It is a process that requires awareness and action!

Let us discuss other disturbing emotions next week!

Have a great week, till then!

Dealing with Fear- Rationalise it.

 Dealing with Fear- Rationalise it.

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

Last two weeks, we discussed the intricacy of FEAR and the 3-step process of dealing with fear, either imaginary fear or fact-based fear.

1.Recognize 
2.Subsidize with rational thinking
3.Confront it through action
 
Having discussed step1 Recognize last week, let us understand more about step 2

Subsidize with rational thinking:

Fear is just an emotion. The emotion can be subsidized with rational thinking with datapoints s or enhancing the perspective.

For example,

you may have a fear of exposing yourself to larger audiences on public speaking. That is natural.

You can subsidize the emotions with logical input by asking yourself. 

What will happen in the worst case if I present myself?
Do i have any past experience of failure?
What was the context?
How are others doing, and what techniques are they adopting?



When you enhance your logical perspective from other's experience, books, observation, you eventually subsidize any emotional aspect, say fear. It just needs awareness and practice of looking at emotions with logical data points.
 
In one of the retailing organizations, the management wanted to bring a reform in its sales and cash management aspects. Still, they feared losing the existing customers even though the reform would help all in the long run.

How did they manage the fear?

First, the management team had recognized and admitted the fear of losing. That led to the second step.

 Second, they checked with few customers on a trial basis and also learned the best practices from the other industries, which helped them to enhance the perspectives on dealing with the fear of losing. 

Third, they implemented clear policies and communication processes to the dealers, and to their surprise, the market accepted the initiative.
 
The key learnings are that fear is emotion and natural. Eventually, it can be offset with reasoning. For which, we need to widen the perspective!

Let us discuss step 3 next week!

Till then, have a great week ahead.

Sunday 11 October 2020

Dealing with fear -Recognize it !

 Dealing with fear -Recognize it !

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)

 

Last week, we discussed FEAR and its dimension. Fear is unique to each individual, and through awareness and structured process, we can overcome some of the imaginary and fact-based fears.

In my personal experience, there is 3 step approach to deal with any fear.

  • Recognize
  • Subsidize with rational thinking
  • Confront through Action

1.Recognize:

First, we need to be aware of the reality that we are afraid of something. This step calls for self-introspection and honest ourselves to admit the fear.

We tend to display some of the behaviors or patterns when we have Feared of something

  1. Try to be a high perfectionist to avoid criticism or rejection
  2. Try to procrastinate the activities by citing some reasons
  3. Want to say NO but not able to do so
  4. Hiding behind excessive work or social media or other distracting activities
  5. Micromanaging the task of self and others

 Fear is an emotion; the individual only can identify the inherent pattern related to fear and acknowledge it. Once you recognize the pattern, you are in a position to address it.

For example, one of my clients struggled with micromanaging and was comfortable doing the task himself. During the probing process, he realized and admitted his fear of delegating the job to someone as they spoil his reputation. That moment is the turning point for transformation. The moment he recognized the fear, he was ready for the next step in dealing with the fear.

The key is to recognize the feeling of fear. 

The action point is to list down all the fear you have in all aspects of life and classify the fears like fear of rejection, failure, visibility, success, etc. Also, categorize them, whether imaginary or fact-based.That is the first step in dealing with fear, either imaginary or fact-based!

Let us discuss the other two steps next week.!


Tuesday 29 September 2020

Overcoming low-level emotions

 Overcoming low-level emotions  

(Emotional Management for Personal & Professional Growth Series)
 

 
One of the common problems most of us are experiencing in the workplace is getting into the mode of low-level feeling for an unknown reason and for the known reasons.

To get more clarity on the context, you come across the situations of feeing sudden sadness, feeling empty, not knowing what to do next despite a lot of activities are pending, doubting our capabilities despite many successes and achievements in our work. That is feeling low for no reason.

In another context, we may feel low due to the failure of our efforts, for example, failed to get the new order or customer, not able to convince the manager, not able to present our views with colleagues and stuck, etc. That is feeling low for specified reasons.

Both the context drains the emotions and not to be useful for personal and professional effectiveness. Each context calls for a different approach to deal with

How to deal when we feel low for no reason?

First, we need to be aware that at that moment we are feeling low and face it directly. We need to acknowledge and admit that being in sad emotions once in a while is normal for everyone.

But given the options of many distractions, we use to switch over to browsing, scanning through WhatsApp, social media, or getting into a conversation with others. The reality is after spending time with all the distractions, again we come to same state of feeling low. When this process repeats, eventually we turned out to be a victim of low-level emotions.

Hence instead of looking for a diversion, practice to deal with it and that makes you ease. Initially, we find it difficult to practice.

Once you give time for acknowledging and allowing the low-level emotions to settle down, it, quickly you may bounce back with new energy levels as i experienced many times.

But how to deal with the feeling of low for a specified reason? There only we need to practice more about self-compassion and let us learn next week!