Author: rohit dhir

Storytelling Preparation Tips! (Post 2 in Series)

In the first post of storytelling series I shared about the art of storytelling and how can we learn this art of storytelling. In this post I’ll share some storytelling preparation tips. Story telling is not just reading out a story. It’s a serious business. The way you tell a story can win or lose a battle for you as a speaker. Before you tell a story you need to work on the guidelines of storytelling. Following are some tips to make your Storytelling session better. 1. Purpose of the story: Storytellers tell stories for some reason. Ask yourself why you want to tell the story, what is the purpose for it. If you know the reasons, you can easily pick up a story which will help you to drive the point to the audience. A relevant story has the ability to take the audience where you want them to reach. 2. Master the story: Master the story inside out before you tell it. To master the story identify the three parts of the story, the beginning, the plot/body and the conclusion. If you know the story, it’ll be easy for you to present the same effectively. 3. Empower Imagination: Visualization is a great tool. It helps people understand better. To make the story visible to the audience a storyteller needs to visualize it first. Use your imagination to create various characters. If you can visualize the characters, their emotions, the situation they are in, their attire, their tastes, only then you can make your audience see it. Use your body (Gestures & Body language) and voice as tools to help audience visualize it. 4. Beginning: How we start defines the journey. The same holds right for a story too. Like we have explained in previous post about storytelling – the art, the beginnings matter. 5. Conflict: Conflict is a spicy food that feeds the listeners. 6. End: When the story is over make sure you end it too. Don’t just keep going. Let the audience know the story is over without you telling it to them. 7. Practice the Story: Before you tell story practice in front of a mirror or in front of your friends and ask for their feedback. I know a number of speakers watching their video recordings to improve and improvise in their next workshops. It is told that Adolf Hitler, before going to deliver any speech, was used to practice different styles to deliver the speech in front of a mirror. And look how he grew the ranks in Post WW-1 Germany. 8. Time the Pause: As you tell the story take your time and give time to your audience. A well timed Pause will give audience a chance to understand verbal and non-verbal components of the story. 9. Make it Interesting: Make the story interesting to the audience. You can change your voice describing the different characters. Modulation can help you to give different meaning. 10. Don’t Copy: If someone is popular don’t try and imitate him. You are unique and you have your own style. Find your style; there are people who will love your style. So these are the points to prepare for a great storytelling session. I hope you enjoyed reading them and will use them in your next training/ public speaking sessions. Do share your views and the difference you could bring by these tips.

The Art of Storytelling (Post 1 in series)

I am sure when you saw this blog title; you were quickly thinking about your childhood stories. The favorites, the inspiring and those which always helped you fell asleep. The bed time stories, the lesson driven stories and those which inspired us and instilled values which are still with us. Stories are amazing, they are relevant, they are believable and they are always remembered. What makes a ‘story’ interesting? Is it the content or the message? It is the narrator. The story teller – is simply an amazing person who has mastered the art of Storytelling. Did you know that storytelling is an art; or you believe that it is a technique? Can we learn ‘The Art of Storytelling’?   Storytelling is an art but here I am trying to take it as a very effective technique of communication that if told well can make the message easy to understand and remember. A story teller uses the listener’s brain as a canvas to paint the picture through words which involve a message and hence a learning. To become a good public speaker it is a must to learn and master the art of storytelling as stories not only cuts the age barriers between the speaker and the audience it also keep them interested in the communication. When I planned to write about Storytelling – to learn this art as a communication technique, I had so much to share with you all. And that’s why I planned a series on storytelling and here we start. In this series I’ll explain the basics of storytelling, the technique to learn this art and will share how to master the art of storytelling.  What is Story Telling? Storytelling is an art of using words and actions to encourage the imagination of the listener in order to convey the story/ event interestingly. It is like empowering imagination to make it more relevant to allow the message to get engraved.  How to tell a story? Beginning: “The beginning is the most important part of the work. -Plato” This is the first step of storytelling wherein the story teller sets the stage and introduces the various characters of the story. Usually storytellers start the story with phrases like “Once upon a time.. or I want to tell a story..” and the storytellers pause to gather his thoughts. Storyteller uses this time to take his audience to the imaginary world where they can see the various characters themselves. Beginning is important as that defines and mostly decides the interest levels of your audiences. Example: Once there was a Rabbit and a Tortoise. They had an argument that amongst them who is faster. Main Plot/Body: This is the second part of the story where the storyteller builds the story on the conflicts between the various characters and how the conflict gets resolved. Here the listener feels emotions like anxiety and curiosity, the interest levels rose as they want to know what happens next. It is like planning a Training Module which doesn’t gets boring in the mid-way. Example: They decide a race…Rabbit takes a lead…Rabbit sleeps under the shade…Tortoise keep on walking…Tortoise wins the race. Conclusion: It’s not necessary to always conclude the story. Let listeners go away thinking about the story and draw their conclusions. But it is always recommended to suggest the take away points, the lessons learnt and the knowledge gained. Example: Slow and steady wins the race. Giving up is never an option. So think about your favorite childhood story and cherish the lessons you still practice.

Why Need a Training Style?

I am sure you all must have thought about – qualities of a trainer, the must possess training abilities but what makes a trainer stand out, what makes him/her approachable for the trainees. A good trainer is one who is a continuous learner and that is what a trainer enforces his trainees to follow always. Learning about the training styles holds great importance for a trainer. We must all know & explore the training ability, the methodology and about the learners. For what may work for ‘A’ bunch of trainees, might not work for the ‘B’ bunch of trainees. The learning ability of your trainees should be assessed and accordingly a training style shall be followed for the particular program. You may be a very participative trainer but there may be some trainees who are not able to grasp things that way, they may be slow learners who need academic guidance before the activities. Some may be plain introverts who take time to learn in group dynamics. So are you reaching out to your learners? Are you leaving an impact? Do you deliver & impart training – exactly as you would like to be taught? Or you are thinking of trying something new! Let us understand why Training Style is significant Why Discover? – To Impart Effectively Why discovering your training style is important? It is important for self-improvement, for better learning and development, to improvise your skill-set and to go with the flow. Training is ever evolving. Technology for say, is adding on the training aids, making it more relevant and exciting. We need to discover the style to assess the right proportion & mix of training aids and trainer delivery. What you may teach a visual or video may not. You need to assess which training aid works best with your training style. Also it helps in adaptation & customization of training programs. From examples to slides, everything needs a certain customization – not just to your style of delivery but also with your audience. The merit of the customers, their interest levels, the program orientation and the purpose of the program you are a trainer for, all these aspects shall be well captured and to evolve forever as a trainer – discovering your merits and upgrades in L & D is a must. Discovery of your style, training aids, market needs all these are significant and this discovery helps a trainer to impart effectively. How to Choose your Training Style? We need to choose the training style. It is good to have a standard training style but you must choose the training style based on the factors involved in a particular training exercise. Following should be the factors which one must take into account for choosing a training style – Learners/ Trainees: A training style shall be adopted keeping in mind the learners. Their level of experience, qualification and previous sessions attended. Also to be kept in mind is their job profile, the skill-set required in the work conditions etc. Duration of Training: A training style shall also be selected on the basis of training duration, the hours allotted for a program and a particular subject. You may adopt a facilitation training model for the basic understanding of subject but a participator style is good if you have a good number of hours for the similar subject – which will empower the module through practical ways of imparting training. Content & Skill-set of Trainer: Content holds important in training style as the trainer need to devise the module & aids according to the content. Like Negotiation can be best taught through Role Plays but Leadership can be best imparted through Examples. Here, the trainer must also ascertain the skill-set and his comfort & confidence level. So think about & share your style?

Coaching Sales Force

There is an old saying which says, “Give a man fish and you will feed him for one day; teach him to catch fish and you will feed him for a lifetime.” Performance of the sales team is of utmost importance to all the companies as sales is the driving force behind all the activities done by any company. If managed well it can surely change the fortune of the companies and if not managed properly even the biggest companies can scramble down and be out of the business. When it comes to the sales targets almost all the companies use upward down approach wherein the top management decides about the sales targets and gives these to sales force to achieve. So the performance of the sales force is very critical for the success of any company. The sales managers face a lot of challenges in managing the front line sales force as they are not only responsible for the sales productivity but also to coach their front line. Sales managers can’t achieve their sales targets if their teams are not fully equipped and are not ready to face the market realities. A lot of Sales Managers push their teams for the productivity and ignore the other part of their job i.e. COACHING the sales force. Sales Managers usually accompany their new recruits during sales calls and bring business and assume that their team member has seen him making a sales call and is ready to go on next call and even if they share the secrets/rules of the sales GAME they hardly keep a check on their force’s future performance during sales call. We have a point here – Just asking about the business and sales closures in not enough, we also need to check the experience, the problems faced and the learning. To coach and help sales force be efficient. Sales managers use many sales training programs focused on sales process and closing. Still find some gaps in their performance. All this happens due to the assumption if the sale executive has attended a training program on the sales process he is ready to sell in the market. But as it’s said TELLING IS NOT SELLING, selling involves a lots of other things which are usually left in a controlled training environment. So the question comes how to make the sales executives do sales calls properly. Hand-holding is good for a sales trainer. And it is amazing if you can do it individually. With that sales training tip, let us explore a very effective technique called ‘ODD- Observation & Demonstration Drill’ and Rule of 3 + 7 wherein the Sales Trainer/Coach accompany the sales executives and do 3 Demonstration Calls with them and during the demonstration process they follow all the steps of the sales process. After the demonstrations are over they accompany their executives on next 7 Observation Calls wherein the entire sales process is handled by the sales executive and the sales manager observes him selling. This is a wonderful practice as ODD’s not only give a firsthand experience of the sales calls to the new recruits but it immensely help them to understand the steps of sales process and enable bonding between the manager and team members. Rules for Demonstration Call: Brief the executive before the call and ask him to observe and if possible make notes. Follow all the steps of sales process properly. Don’t focus on closing each and every call as you are on a coaching mode and not selling mode. While your focus should be on the customer at same time sales executive should not be ignored. Post meeting ask the executive his feedback on the meeting. Ask him the good, bad and the areas of improvement. Also ask him what he would do in a similar meeting and what he can do differently to further improvise. Motivate the executive and tell he can do even a better job. Rules for Observation Call: Motivate the executive as he will be leading the sales call and will also be under observation. Tell him not to ignore the sales process at any point of time. Observe the executive make notes/mind notes and discuss it post the meeting. While debriefing discuss all the points of the sales process he followed and not followed. Use PCP (Praise-Criticize-Praise) technique during the debriefing. Always start with praising the executive and tell him all the good points of the meeting. Then share the grey areas he needs to take care during future meetings. Always end the debriefing session on high note by telling him how he could do better. Use touch technique during the debriefing session. Remember if call is not going the way it should be, don’t handle the call yourself. You may win the customer but will surely lose the executive. Let him learn from his mistakes. Hope this will help you in coaching the sales force and take them to next level. In case you need any more help feel free to write at [email protected].

TEDx Gurgaon 2012 – Ever thought about taking the Road Less Traveled?

Saturday the September 1st, was another day of learnings and experience. After a hectic week of travel and meetings, I really thought it would be difficult to sit through a Saturday and listening to people. But then, I decided to give it shot – Ah! My love for meeting the people – who have believed in themselves and are walking the road less travelled. The conference began with ‘Chris Anderson’s talk on TEDx and with that we were all set to start the day of learning & networking. The Opening was by Abhinandan Chatterjee and he spoke about – ‘How to take the road less taken, everyday!’ I have heard him in the last years TEDx meet and I remembered the tiny bits of wisdom he had shared then so I was all ears. Though the theme was little abstract but I simply loved what he had to say about the road less travelled. He just urged everyone to W.A.L.K. W: What is the worst that could happen? A: All in the moment. L: Learn to learn. K: Keep Happiness ready. And yes, why can’t we just make it simple. Like they say, if you are ready for the worse – the bad can never affect you. And if we decide to live it all in the moment, we will never be caught in the hassles and worry of what might/will happen? We shall all learn to live in the moment and keep our learning nerves active. And believe me; if we can do it all we have our happiness ready. I am sure, we got a great message and now we know how significant it is to take a walk, everyday. …. The second speaker of the day was Ashish Sachdeva, a young enthusiast who ventured into and established Green Dream Foundation– well we can say that’s how he decided to do his bit for the environment and be an advocate for young & old to empower them for healthier and environment friendly activities. He talked about “Going Green, Just a trend or more”! He touched the basics for the understanding of the audience and covered why sustainability is a most required and how we are playing ignorant about the same. The video he shared with people reviews on the subject left the audience wondering – where do we stand in the lot? A simple yet thought evoking session which ended with a sane advice for the audience. …. After a refreshing tea break and some connections –the enthralled audience came back with zest to listen to – Aditi Rao who spoke about –”Peace, and possibilities of the poetry in classroom“. Honestly, her talk was abstract and inspiring but a difficult one to understand. She talked about the Drivers of openness and how empowerment is defined as a correct distribution of knowledge and power. And this empowerment so gracefully leads one to creativity and imagination. Why and how peace can only be understood through empathizing. I specially loved the way she spoke about Metaphors and how vulnerable they can be at times, I am sure the audience could very well resonate on that. ….. Post this we had a great TED video by Don Tapscott on the “Four Principles for Open World”. Quite an intriguing talk by Don on how he feels his children are turning to prodigy and how technology has changed the world by opening up and how this has made the world a better place. ….. The conference was reaching lunch hour and we had Mr.Abhijit Bhaduri, his presentation topic caught all the attention and we were on to explore. The subject was ‘It depends on the question’. Wow! A very creative way to present – he had all the slides with sketches and the message was coming straight. Now this wasn’t just learning – he just brought an experience right there on the screen. His story telling was amazing and how a question leads to answers – sometimes perfect and sometimes weird. The audience loved the way he narrated on how he thought that one has to be reasonable & practical in making choices and the way he thought on it when he got to know that his kid wanted to be ‘Hanuman’. Abhijit had some plain straight messages for everyone that, when you have decided to take the road less travelled one should start ignoring the irrelevant. Irrelevant like, what is everyone doing? Instead, we should always ponder about things like – What do I enjoy doing? What am I good at? Have I progressively abandoned my hobby? And then we shall make a choice. And whether it is the road less travelled or not, we must follow the right answers we get as ‘it depends on the question’. ….. Post lunch there was an intriguing TED Video where Arianna Huffington shared her thoughts on – “How to Suceed? Get some sleep” And her mantra to big ideas was a very small idea – Get some sleep. A humor filled video where she makes us believe that – to lead to better ideas and better decisions in life, all we need is sleep as bragging about sleep deprivation will lead everyone to – nowhere. A very convincing talk on how sleep can lead to more happiness and better productivity. ….. In the later part of the session, we had some amazing people to listen to. Certainly, they were different, they stood out and their work, their story speaks for them. The session began with Dr.Latika Rana’s talk on “Born to be Wild”. We all have heard about campaigns like ‘Save our tigers’ but listening to her was like getting to the root cause of it and living the life from jungle. I loved it because, I was awed by her decision to work in wildlife conservation. No wonder, she is aptly dubbed as the ‘tiger princess’. Not many could take up this kind of a work, she shared some beautiful memoirs of her… Continue reading TEDx Gurgaon 2012 – Ever thought about taking the Road Less Traveled?

Are you Listening?

Are you Listening? A lot is been said, discussed, trained, argued on listening skills. Be it a debate on television, a healthy discussion with friends, a critical board room meeting or anything – listening holds importance everywhere. If you are listening, you are alert and you are into the game. If you aren’t – you are surely missing something! While thinking about this phenomena, this practice, this significant trait, I was thinking about the 3 princes who left a great message for all of us about Active Listening. Once there was a king who had three sons. As the king was aging, he decided that he should handover his throne to his sons. He consulted to his wisest ministers and reached a conclusion that as he doesn’t have a big empire so he can’t divide his empire in three parts and give it to his sons. So he decided that he will hold competition which will assess the Princes on various parameters like intelligence, diplomacy, strategy etc. After some more consultations with his ministers he announced the competition and invited all his countrymen to witness the occasion. The competition began. The princes were given very difficult tasks to perform and they finished those tasks very efficiently. Then there was a competition to check their knowledge on topics like diplomacy, war, strategy, economics, politics etc. They all answered the most difficult questions with ease and at the end of the competition their scores tied. This was a big problem for the king as he was at the crossroads again. He announced to extend the competition for one more day and returned to his palace. He called his ministers again and discussed the days’ outcome. One of his ministers suggested something and the king agreed to him. Next day the competition begun and everyone was expecting something very tough to happen. The King gestured and there came three statues made up of Gold, Silver & Bronze. Then he asked all three prince to examine and pick the best statue. First came the Eldest, he examined the three statues and came back to his seat. Then came the middle one, he examined the statues and returned to his seat. Lastly it was turn of the youngest prince. He examined the statues carefully and after spending some time he too returned to his seat and sat. Now king called the eldest prince and asked his opinion. The eldest prince answered that the Gold statue is the best as it’s made of gold which the most precious metal and signifies prosperity. Hence the statue made up of Gold is the best. Unsatisfied with the answer of the eldest prince, the king called the younger one and asked his opinion, he answered that the Silver Statue is the best as nature of silver is cold so it would help control anger and a Kings greatest asset is to control his emotions and take a rational decision. So statue made up of silver is the best. King liked the answer but was not fully satisfied and called the youngest prince for his judgment. The youngest prince answered the bronze statue is the best statue. The King asked the reason behind adjudging the bronze statue as the best. To explain his choice, the prince asked a servant to bring a long bamboo stick. The servant brought the bamboo stick and gave it to him. Then the prince picked the Gold statue and put the bamboo stick in its ear. To everyone’s surprise the bamboo came out of the other ear. Then he picked the silver statue and inserted the bamboo stick in its ear and it came out of the mouth. After that he inserted the stick in the other ear and it came out of the mouth again. now he picked the third statue and inserted the stick in the ear of the same. Everyone was expecting that the stick will come out through other ear or mouth. But it didn’t. The Prince inserted the remaining stick in the ear but there was no sign of the stick. He placed it at its position. And picked the gold statue and then explained, Gold is the most precious metal but still the statue made up of gold didn’t make the best statue as this statue represent people who comes at a great cost to the nation but doesn’t listen to their king. If there king will say anything to them they will listen from one ear and throw it out from the other ear. Such people are of no use and should be removed from their positions. Then he picked the silver statue and explained, there are people whom you’ll consider as closest to you. If you ever share your secrets with them they will listen with both the ears and will go out and spread your secrets everywhere they go. Such people are enemies of the country hence should be dealt very strictly. Then he picked the last statue and explained why he adjudged it as the best. One should be like bronze statue and should listen to everything not only with his ears but also with his eyes and heart. Whatever is being said to him, he should be able to absorb it and utilize it for everyone. The king was so happy with the answer that he announced him the winner of the competition and handed over the throne to him. This is an old story which tells us the importance of active listening. But like most of my listeners, you must be wondering – why this story for listening? How is this relevant – isn’t this about the decision making and analysis. When I got further into the understanding, I realized ‘No’ there is a message for listening skills. Imagine the similar situations in the work atmosphere, link the statue traits to the people we work with, we meet in everyday life. There are people who listen and ignore because they are firm… Continue reading Are you Listening?

Find your Inner Strength

A week back, while I was working on a leadership module for a level II executive batch of middle management & senior executives, I thought of another story from Indian mythology to back my content. Like I always maintain, stories enable a total recall. Stories not only evoke our brain cells but they also summon up the lessons. To explain, let me share an incident from Ramayana– Ravan abducted Mata Sita, Lord Ram’s wife, and took her to his capital, Lanka. Lord Ram searched for his wife all over and reached Rishyamukha where he met Hanuman and Sugrive and their Vanar Sena (Army). Lord Ram helped Sugrive regain his honor and reunite with his wife, who was abducted by his brother Bali. Hanuman and his Vanar Sena pledged to help Lord Ram and find Mata Sita. Lord Ram gave his ring which was to be shown to Mata Sita to establish their identity that they were sent by Lord Ram. The Vanars lead by Angad spread all across and started searching for Mata Sita. They reached the southern end of the land and ahead was a vast ocean. Crossing the ocean was a great challenge and they were sure that they won’t return without finding Mata Sita and decided that they will fast unto death. There they met, Sampati , a vulture and brother of Jatayu, who tells them that Mata Sita is in cruel shackles of Ravan and is sitting under a tree in his palace in Lanka. Sampati asks them to use their strength and skills to cross the ocean and reach Lanka. Like any new assignment, conflict or situation in our jobs/everyday life, they did their SWOT analysis. While they discussed their strengths and calculated how far they can go in the ocean- they realized that it won’t come close to crossing the ocean. Listening to all this, Hanuman got discouraged and separates himself from the group. He was getting into a stressful pressure cooker situation – he had the pressure to perform and accomplish the task at hand. Noticing him standing alone and discouraged, Jambavanth who was older than all the Vanars, goes to him and tells him about his strengths and tells him that he’s the only one who can cross the ocean. And all Vanars starts praising Hanuman. This is how a good boss, a leader influences the team and like most of the times – few could realize their inner strength and true potential. Jambavanth kept on telling – You are as powerful as the wind You are intelligent, illustrious & an inventor. There is nothing in this world that’s too difficult for you. You possess the ability to rule against every obstacle. As per Ramayana, Hanuman was cursed by a sage during childhood that he will forget his strengths and would be unaware of the extent of his capability & potential until he’s reminded by someone. Like in the modern age, we are surrounded by so many distractions, attractions, aspirations, opportunities, ill-focus and peer pressure that we start worrying about the problem so much that we eventually forget about our own inner strengths and we end up thinking about the problem so much that we do not even think about the solution. Remember, the capability to achieve things from our own inner strength lies inside, we only need to realize it and attempt. As Hanuman became aware of his strengths, his stature became giant and he collected his inner strength, tall enough to cross the ocean he jumped the ocean to in search of Mata Sita. [You can watch the relevant video from Ramayana here] Knowing ones strengths is most important for anyone who wants to be successful in his life. A true leader knows the art of exploring the strengths of his team member and motivates them to work on their strength to reach a common objective. Circumstances, Situations, Peer pressure, People Conflict are all external factors but one’s own strength lies within. Your success lies inside you. Realize and succeed.

Trap of 99- Striking the Work Life Balance

Once there was a Seth (Rich Man). One night the Seth and Sethani (his wife) were standing on the terrace of their house and they saw their neighbor, a Brahmin, playing with his kids and seemed very happy with his kids. While Brahmin was busy playing with his kids, Sethani told the Seth that their neighbors are poor still they are happier than them, they spend more time together. Upon listening to his wife he told his wife that their neighbors are happier because they are not under trap of 99. His wife asked what he means by the trap of 99. He asked his wife to wait for some time and she will come to know. Calling it a day then, they went to sleep. Next day when the Brahmin‘s wife woke up and opened the door of their house, she saw a small bag lying in front of the door. She looked around but couldn’t locate anyone. So she picked up the bag and brought it inside and called her husband. Upon opening the bag they saw gold coins in it. Curiously they counted the coins and found it has 99 coins. Brahmin was very happy to see the money and thanked God. But his wife said, “Had there been one more coin in it, they could have had 100 coins”. Upon seeing disappointment on his wife’s face, Brahmin told her not to worry as he’ll work hard and will earn one more gold coin and make it 100. And his wife told him that they spoiled their precious time and should have tried and made some money. And from that day onward they started putting more hard work in their work to earn gold coin and they forgot playing with their kids and stopped laughing. Now Sethani understood the reason behind the change in Brahmin’s family as they were trapped by 99. The ‘trap of 99’ is nothing but a phenomena of craving for more, which defines the human nature of not being satisfied and happy with what they have but to invite stress and tensions in the chase for what all they do not have. This is an age old story which tells us not to be trapped by 99 and teaches to enjoy our lives with whatever we have and to strike a work life balance. But what we see around is most of us are running in an endless rat race. People are so busy and held up in fulfilling their aspirations that they forget to give enough time to their families which results into more stressed lives, low productivity and a feeling of incomplete life. Take a moment and think about the increasing trend in divorce cases, children going against their parents, alcohol problem, drug abuse, suicides and what not. Society is victimized by this imbalance because families are becoming nuclear, parents cannot cope up with their work, kids are over burdened to perform and everybody needs space. What a vicious circle it is – of growth and development! Cost of living is so high these days that people hardly get enough money so they try to work harder to earn more and compromise on their personal life and aspirations. After all, man is a social animal. However, the trap doesn’t deny the hard-working or chase for achievement. It just suggests that a balance is required. One should not ignore his work; neither shall one stop dreaming/aspiring. But all this should not be done at the cost of his/her family. So what do we do in such a situation? Strike a Work Life BALANCE. Balancing work with life is a matter of grave concern for the companies as well as their employees. This kind of imbalance is resulting into low productivity and high attrition. It is unfortunate to see that most of the companies remain ignorant on the long term cost involved to create a work-life balanced environment. They fail to realize that this thus leads to loss of talent, performance and ultimately revenues. Here are some simple ways on how to strike balance between family and work life: 1. Prioritize: Do not plan too many things together and don’t treat everything as top priority. Finish urgent tasks first and then take important ones. The important tasks should be finished before they become urgent. Check what can wait. 2. Have a Support System-Delegate: One cannot do everything by himself. Try and have a support system among family, colleagues and friends, who are willing to help if something unexpected happens. Learn to delegate and help others, if they are in need. This will not only help to finish the task within time limits but will also create bonding within the team. But delegate only if you are not disturbing the other person’s schedule. 3. SAY ‘YES’ to ‘NO’: You must know – what you can take up in your stride and what not. If you have a list to abide by, you don’t have to agree to everything and to everyone. Say No to something which is beyond your physical & mental stamina because neither you’ll be able to do justice with the task and nor with yourself. Through this you would also avoid unnecessary negativity and pressure. 4. Set SMART Goals: Set Specific >> Measurable >> Action Oriented>> Realistic >>Time Bound Goals. Break your goals in smaller goals. Develop plan to reach those goals on daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis and keep a tab on your progress. If things don’t change and the strategy which you have formulated is not working, alter your strategy and make it in sync with the resources you have. Alteration in your strategy should not change your goals. It’s just like taking some new route to reach your destination. Don’t forget to share your goals with your family and make them partner to your goals. 5. Create Work Life Happiness: Don’t work to earn only money. Work to create happiness, towards self satisfaction and the money… Continue reading Trap of 99- Striking the Work Life Balance

‘PEMI de Niyane’ (The Children of PEMI)- A Tale of Faith and Belief

Having come across many Introvert, Low in Confidence cases, in my training programs and; personal counseling sessions, one day I tried to explain it in a well simple way through a very simple story which I read somewhere in my childhood. Here is the story: ‘PEMI de Niyane’ (The Children of PEMI)- A Tale of Faith and Belief Once upon a time there was a farmer, called PEMI, who had two naughty kids. To stop his children from doing any mischief he used to scare them by telling them – if they will do any mischief ‘RASHA- The Wood Cutter’, who lived on the road to their farms, will catch and hurt them. This made the kids scared and they gave up their ill-discipline. PEMI was a hard working farmer and used to leave for his farms very early in the morning only to return late in the evening. One day PEMI’s wife was not well and couldn’t cook. So PEMI left for his farms without having breakfast and asked his kids to deliver his lunch at farms. By afternoon PEMI’s wife cooked food and gave it to her kids as they were to deliver the food at farm house, The moment his kids thought of crossing the road, to go to their farms, they shivered with fear. The fear created in the minds for RASHA – they now thought of him as a Monster. Once the food was ready, the mother asked them to go to the farms and give it to their father. They took the lunch box and moved towards the road leading to their farm. When they reached the road they saw a RASHA sleeping on the footpath and came back to their street. They started looking for someone who can help them cross the road. They waited for some time but it was a very hot day of summers hence they couldn’t sight any help. Knowing their father will be very hungry, they thought to cross the road but they were so sacred of RASHA that they couldn’t even dare to leave their street and walk towards the road. With every passing minute they were getting late with no help in sight. They starting thinking how can they cross the road. After many arguments over many permutations and combinations between them, both the children agreed that if RASHA will try to catch and harm them, they will tell him to leave them as they are ‘The Children of PEMI’ and he would be scared of their father and won’t say anything to them. And they started walking on the road and reached their farm safely. This story is amongst the best short stories of Punjabi literature and teaches us to keep Faith and Belief in ourselves. There could be thousands of fears in our minds but self-belief will always help us land safely. The children were scared of RASHA not because he was an evil (The story doesn’t say it) but they were simply insecure. While I pondered and discussed my take-away from this very simple story, I could extract few more and here are they: Wrong learnings have only temporary results and shall be avoided. Restrictions are good but one has to be careful that what & how are its impact. Too many of them lead to lack of confidence. Childhood lessons have great impact and if not learned properly they result in lifetime limitations. Examples shall always be realistic. They turn the explanations – better. In many cases parents do say such things to their children to stop them from doing any mischief. The intentions though right led to certain insecurity in the children’s heart and mind forever. Skepticism can lead to a weak decision making. Communication Gap Mostly children when grown-up fight certain feelings/lacunae in their life – be it at work, socially or personally. The value system which they imbibe at times, leave a gap in mindsets, they start having a mental block – a way of thinking which works as a hurdle when exposed to contrary situations. This at times makes life- all the more difficult. These gaps develop a strange resistance to ideas which are never welcomed. Communications Gaps must not be there. One should have the freedom to express, talk and discuss. For this limits the growth, the personality and the power to acceptance.