Category: Coaching & Training

Life Lessons from Bird Watching

I was a toddler when my parents used to take me to ‘Dinga Pull’, a local pond, near my home town of Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala District. The pond was full, of a number of local as well as migratory birds like cranes, black winged stilts, herons and geese etc. Those were the days when air conditioners were a luxury only a few could afford. And most people used to sleep on rooftops during summers. Early in the morning everyday, I used to count number of big flocks of migratory birds. And I didn’t realize when bird watching became my hobby and continues to be the hobby I enjoy the most until today. The only difference is now I capture them in my digital memory as well. What amazes me the most about the birds is the variety of color, sizes and feather styles they exhibit. I love to watch them sing, dance, feed their chicks, eat, fight and sometimes trick human beings. My grandmother had at least two to three stories to tell on each bird I used to tell her about after coming back from my bird watching expeditions. In Greek culture the hell is described as ‘Averno’ a place without birds and I too believe in the same. God has surrounded us with birds and in our culture birds are symbol of our faith and trust on God. In addition to being impressed by the sheer beauty and diversity of the bird kingdom, I am equally amazed by their mannerism and behavior patterns. Over many years, I have learned a number of life lessons from bird watching and in this post I’ll share some of the key ones. 1. Evolution Sixty Six million years ago a ten kilometer wide asteroid collided with Earth; such was the impact of the collision that the dominant animal group at the time, the mighty dinosaurs went extinct, at least most of them. Though the impact was equivalent to a force of millions of nuclear bombs and eventually ushered in a nuclear winter like scenario for Earth’s climate, still one peculiar type of dinosaur made it through the catastrophe and survives today. We know the current descendants of these dinosaurs as ‘Birds’. There have been a countless studies to why did ancestors of modern birds survive while many of their close relatives succumbed. Recent research suggests that prior to the extinction event, a line of the dinosaurs shrank in the size gradually over millions of years as they developed flight capabilities and beaks (instead of teeth). And they were able to sustain themselves eating seeds long enough to survive the climate conditions and emerge as survivors. Evidence also suggests that seeds are usually tough naturally and can withstand catastrophic phenomena. It’s possible that changes in diet actually lead to leaner structure overtime and their bones and muscles evolved become lighter (and therefore the flight). This was possible in part because birds evolved and adapted to the environmental changes. And of course the conditions created by the collision were favorable to their long term survival, so they got lucky as well. In order to grow and to be successful in our lives we also need to change and adapt as per the situation. 2. No One Wins Alone Birds fly in V shape formation and each formation has a leader and each member of the formation follows the leader. When the lead bird flaps its wings it creates uplift for the followers and helps save their energy and they can fly farther. When the leader gets tired another member from the formation takes his place and the leader shifts to another position without any feeling bad about losing his position in the formation. Once they reach their destination their hierarchy ceases to exist and all of them spend time with each other as equals. If they see any danger they shout and also tell others about the danger. A great team beats a great individual any day. When you surround yourself with like minded people with a winning attitude you benefit from fresh ideas, profound insight and positive energy. 3. Know the Route and Travel Together Migratory birds fly thousands of kilometers every year and they follow the same route for generations. As they say, “if you want to go fast, go alone and if you want to go far, go together.” No one understands this phrase better than birds. They fly together as flying together increases their chances of survival. 4. Wake Up Early You will never find a bird sleeping late in its nest. Birds wake up very early and welcome the sun with beautiful songs and start their routine with positive energy. This is one trait found in all successful people world over- they all are early risers and start their day when others are still sleeping in their beds. If you want to develop habit of waking up early click here. 5. Self Care Birds struggle the whole day feeding and taking care of its ever-growing chicks, still you will not find a single bird untidy. Birds take care of themselves and they keep themselves clean and tidy. When we are stressed at work with loads of to do list and overdue tasks, the first thing we do is to skip meals, stop exercise and ignore our social life. Ignoring self care only makes things worse. Self care helps us in preventing the overload burnouts, reducing the negative effects of stress and helps us to refocus. If you can’t take long breaks to rejuvenate your energies even small breaks go a long way to help you perform better. 6. Come Back Home Birds start their day early for the search of food and sometimes they fly to distant places looking for food but when sun sets in they always come back to their nests. A number of people ask where do migratory birds belong to and I always answer that their home is where their families are. Travel… Continue reading Life Lessons from Bird Watching

Management Lessons from Ali Baba & Forty Thieves

Ali Baba and 40 Thieves is amongst most told stories from the Arabian world and I am sure most of you must have listened to this amazing story.  I came across this amazing story recently while preparing for my upcoming program and immediately some thoughts crossed my mind. In this post I’ll share the Management Lessons from Ali Baba & Forty Thieves. Here is the story of Ali Baba & Forty Thieves* Ali Baba and his elder brother Qasim are the sons of a merchant. After their father’s death, the greedy Qasim marries a wealthy woman and becomes well-to-do, building on their father’s business. Ali Baba marries a poor woman and settles into the trade of a woodcutter. One day, Ali Baba is at work collecting and cutting firewood in the forest, and he happens to overhear a group of 40 thieves visiting their treasure store. The treasure is in a cave, the mouth of which is sealed by magic. It opens on the words “open sesame” and seals itself on the words “close sesame”. When the thieves are gone, Ali Baba enters the cave himself and discreetly takes a single bag of gold coins home. Ali Baba and his wife borrow his sister-in-law’s scales to weigh their new wealth. Unbeknownst to them, Qasim’s wife puts a blob of wax in the scales to find out what Ali Baba is using them for, as she is curious to know what kind of grain her impoverished brother-in-law needs to measure. To her shock, she finds a gold coin sticking to the scales and tells her husband. Under pressure from his brother, Ali Baba is forced to reveal the secret of the cave. Qasim goes to the cave, taking a donkey with him to take as much treasure as possible. He enters the cave with the magic words. But in his greed and excitement over the treasure, he forgets the words to get out again. The thieves find him there and kill him. When his brother does not come back, Ali Baba goes to the cave to look for him, and finds the body quartered and with each piece displayed just inside the cave’s entrance, as a warning to anyone else who might try to enter. Ali Baba brings the body home where he entrusts Morgiana, a clever slave-girl from Qasim’s household, with the task of making others believe that Qasim has died a natural death. First, Morgiana purchases medicines from an apothecary, telling him that Qasim is gravely ill. Then, she finds an old tailor known as Baba Mustafa whom she pays, blindfolds, and leads to Qasim’s house. There, overnight, the tailor stitches the pieces of Qasim’s body back together so that no one will be suspicious. Ali Baba and his family are able to give Qasim a proper burial without anyone’s asking awkward questions. The thieves, finding the body gone, realize that yet another person must know their secret, and they set out to track him down. One of the thieves goes down to the town and comes across Baba Mustafa, who mentions that he has just sewn a dead man’s body back together. Realizing the dead man must have been the thieves’ victim, the thief asks Baba Mustafa to lead the way to the house where the deed was performed. The tailor is blindfolded again, and in this state he is able to retrace his steps and find the house. The thief marks the door with a symbol so the other thieves can come back that night and kill everyone in the house. However, the thief has been seen by Morgiana who, loyal to her master, foils the thief’s plan by marking all the houses in the neighborhood similarly. When the 40 thieves return that night, they cannot identify the correct house, and their leader kills the unsuccessful thief in a furious rage. The next day, another thief revisits Baba Mustafa and tries again. Only this time, a chunk is chipped out of the stone step at Ali Baba’s front door. Again, Morgiana foils the plan by making similar chips in all the other doorsteps, and the second thief is killed for his failure as well. At last, the leader of the thieves goes and looks himself. This time, he memorizes every detail he can of the exterior of Ali Baba’s house. The leader of the federation pretends to be an oil merchant in need of Ali Baba’s hospitality, bringing with him mules loaded with 38 oil jars, one filled with oil, the other 37 hiding the other remaining thieves. Once Ali Baba is asleep, the thieves plan to kill him. Again, Morgiana discovers and foils the plan, killing the 37 thieves in their oil jars by pouring boiling oil on them. When their leader comes to rouse his men, he discovers they are all dead and escapes. The next morning, Morgiana tells Ali Baba about the thieves in the jars. They bury them, and Ali Baba shows his gratitude by giving Morgiana her freedom. To exact revenge after some time, the leader of the thieves establishes himself as a merchant, befriends Ali Baba’s son (who is now in charge of the late Qasim’s business), and is invited to dinner at Ali Baba’s house. However, the thief is recognized by Morgiana, who performs a sword dance with a dagger for the diners and plunges it into the thief’s heart, when he is off his guard. Ali Baba is at first angry with Morgiana, but when he finds out the thief wanted to kill him, he is extremely grateful and rewards Morgiana by marrying her to his son. Ali Baba is then left as the only one knowing the secret of the treasure in the cave and how to access it. This is how this story ends for everyone happily for everyone except forty thieves. The forty thieves were rich and powerful but still they not only lost all their fortunes but also their lives. Ali Baba was neither more powerful nor smart still he managed to get everything by making best use of… Continue reading Management Lessons from Ali Baba & Forty Thieves

Tips For An Awesome Co-Facilitation (Last post of the series)

In my last post on ‘The Art of Co-Facilitation’ I talked about Co-Facilitation, its types, advantages and potential disadvantages. A co-facilitation program is very different than conducting a solo program as a lot of planning and co-ordination needs to be done with the partner facilitator. Following are some quick tips for an awesome Co-Facilitation: Before the Program Plan and Document: This is the first step before every program. Write down the plan on a piece of paper or a word document. Make sure your plan includes the agenda, session plan, time allocation and key deliverables by each of the facilitators. With this the co-facilitators can further plan their individual sessions, who’ll take lead on which part of the program, and who will be responsible for logistics. Share Expectations: Before you go for the program you need to share your expectations with your co-facilitator as he may have a different understanding of the co-facilitation and any disconnect between co-facilitators lead to conflict and ruining the program. Leveraging Strengths: Co-facilitators may have different styles and capabilities. You must discuss your strengths and weaknesses and plan how you can leverage on each other’s strengths to run the program successfully. Practice: Practice gives real time feedback on the flow and various other aspects of running a co-facilitated program. It helps in testing assumptions and fixing the time for various interventions. Doing this actually helps you to intervene if your co-facilitator deviates from the plan. Inspect the venue: Have a look at the venue and check the sitting arrangement, various logistics, sitting arrangement for the co-facilitator. During the Program Support your co-facilitator: While your co-facilitator is conducting an activity you need to pay attention as he may need some props or your help to keep scores etc. or you may write on the white board while your partner is having some discussion with the participants or you may help your co-facilitator in distributing handouts/books etc. Neither interfere nor contradict: Very basic but very important. Neither interfere while your co-facilitator is conducting some activity nor contradict him (unless it’s critical for learning). I strongly recommend when one facilitator is conducting his part of the program the co-facilitator should be out of the sight of the participants as if both of the facilitators will be there the participants may find it difficult to focus on the one who’ll be running the program. The other co-facilitator should be on the stage only if there’s some activity or he’s assisting the lead facilitator of that part of the program. Stay on time: Remember you can finish the program in designated time only if both the facilitators stay on time. If one facilitator takes more time than what is allocated, it may impact the other facilitator activity and overall program. Team Work: Co-facilitation is all about team work and you can’t be successful if your co-facilitator fails. Support each other and help each other to play your roles well. The best learning and memory you can give is of a great team work. After the Program Share feedback: It’s very important to ask and share feedback. You may ask your co-facilitator what went well? What didn’t work as planned? What is the biggest learning? How differently would you run the program during next co-facilitation? Note down the responses and refer to these when you co-facilitate another training program. Take care of the logistics: Check out the status of the logistics. There may be times when you have a lot of unused training material and you may have to courier it back. Also the attendance and other training records needs to be e-mailed and there could be follow-ups with the clients. Co-facilitators can divide and finish the tasks. Hope these two posts will help you conduct an awesome co-facilitation program. Feel free to share your experience/feedback.

The Art of Co-Facilitation

I have been a trainer and facilitator for last 11+ years and have conducted a number of training programs successfully. Recently I got an opportunity to co-facilitate a Leadership training program with my colleague Mr. Kunal Chakrabarti wherein he was the lead trainer and I was second in command. This was my first ever co-facilitation program and I was little worried so I requested Mr. Chakrabarti to help and guide me as how can we make it a success. He helped me with various tips which actually helped me to run the program successfully. In this two series blog I’ll share my views on the art of Co-Facilitation, Advantages and Potential Disadvantages and how to master the art of Co-Facilitation. What is Co-Facilitation? Co-Facilitation is defined as, “Meeting or other group process by two or more persons in a cooperative, collegial manner to achieve a given outcome. Each facilitator is capable of assuming the lead role. Those not taking the lead role can support the lead facilitator in various ways.“ In their book, ‘Co-Facilitation’, Joana Knight and Warren Scott has write, “The distinguishing feature of co-facilitation is that it is intended to be a partnership, where two or more facilitators take joint responsibility for filling the facilitator role. The purpose of this partnership is either to enable and maximize group and individual learning, or to help the group to achieve other ends such a making a business decision.” Three models of Co-Facilitation Alternate Leading: In this model each facilitator leads the part of the session. The alternating roles are decided at the time of the planning process. Shared leading: In this model the facilitators are not responsible for a specific session but they can chip in and flow out as per the need of the session. There are times when one facilitator might be in lead role and the other facilitator may chip in to explain a point or clarify any doubt. The key challenge in this model is sometimes the session is hijacked by the other facilitator giving no time to the facilitator to make his point. The Apprentice Model: In this one facilitator is more experienced than the other. The experienced facilitator takes the majority of the session allowing the apprentice (less experienced facilitator) to learn and practice safer activities. It builds the confidence of the less experienced facilitator as he knows there’s someone who can step in if things doesn’t go the way as planned. Co-Facilitation enhances the possibility and outcome of group programs, ensuring the facilitation experience comes from a place where the sum totals more than the parts. While there are a no. of advantages of co-facilitation, there are some potential disadvantages also and if you are going to co-facilitate a session you need to consider both to avoid any dangers of ruining the session. Advantages of Co-Facilitation Synergy: When people work together collaboratively and share their skills, resources and energy a synergetic effect often develops and usually the outcome of the deliberation exceeds the sum of individual contribution. Capitalizing on Strengths: Facilitators may have different styles and strengths and they can divide the session in a way that lets them to capitalize on their individual strengths. Lightens the Load: Co-facilitation eases the pressure of full responsibility. There’s a huge list of things which needs to be done before and during the session such as preparation, design, holding the space for the group, observing what is going on from a process standpoint and dealing with logistical issues. Robust Approach: It brings different approaches, attributes, energies, experiences, skills, styles and perspectives to the program and allow for a more robust approach. Enhanced Creativity: In co-facilitation different skill sets of the facilitators can be used to make the session more interesting by enhancing the creativity. Skill Development: Facilitating is a lonely activity and the opportunities for personal and professional development are less as usually the participants don’t give meaningful feedback on the facilitator competence. In Co-facilitation both the partners get feedback from each other for their work which in turn can help them to sort out the issues and become more proficient. Conserving Energy: It is very difficult to conserve your energy for a daylong session for a lonely facilitator. I remember falling ill during a training program and how hard it was to continue the session. Co-facilitator provides that breather to his peer facilitator where he can recharge himself and shine. Potential Disadvantages of Co-Facilitation Egos: Sometimes the co-facilitators do not lean into the relationship equally and they try to dominate each other and their egos may get in the way of effective co-facilitation. Competition: Sometimes the co-facilitators may become competitive with each other and adopt competitive rather than collaborative approaches. May be stressful: Co-facilitation may be stressful as there may be mismatch of the styles of the co-facilitators. Co-facilitation may be stressful for the participants as they may have to adjust as per the styles of the facilitators. Time consuming: Co-facilitation can be time consuming as it does not only need only joint planning but also evaluation and feedback. Different Styles and Orientations: Co-facilitators may have different styles and different orientations- theoretical, technical and personal- potentially spoiling the effectiveness of each other. Overtraining: With highly energetic two or more facilitators sometimes overtraining is very likely due to too many interventions which stifle both participants and learning. Blind Spots: If Co-facilitators are same in their theory/ technique and approach they are very likely to have mutual blind spots in recognizing different dynamics. There’s a possibility that both the facilitators missing out significant learning opportunities. This is first part of two part series on ‘The Art of Co-Facilitation’. In my next blog I’ll write about the ‘Tips for an awesome Co-Facilitation’. Happy Reading 🙂

Why Organizational Change Fails?

In order to survive and cope up with new challenges in the market place, almost every business goes through a very tedious task of organizational change under various names like restructuring, rightsizing, re-engineering, turnarounds etc. Only those businesses which were able to change and evolve as per the market realities have been successful. While others have failed miserably even though they were pioneers in their fields at some point. Nokia, Toshiba and Kodak were top ranked companies and dominated their respective markets. However they failed to embrace the evolving market realities and change the way they worked. And it just took a couple of years to become obsolete and none of them is in business. The only thing that is constant is ‘Change’ and there’s no denying it- change is tough. When an organization decides it needs to change certain processes/ systems, it is very common for the employees to feel uncomfortable or even intimidated. According to Rick Maruer, author of the book ‘Beyond the Walls of Resistance’ 70% of the attempts to change organizations fail. Such a high failure rate does not only lead to many missed opportunities but also waste so many scarce resources which if used well could change the fortune of the organization. Below, I share some insights   why organizations fail to implement change and what could be done to bring a successful change. Organizational change can fail due to following reasons: 1. It’s not compelling: Usually the organizational change is interpreted as more work and more stress for the same pay. Change needs a strong reason. Employees can’t be pushed to change until they are not convinced of the urgency. Employees will not  commit to change if they will not find it compelling. 2. It’s not deemed as required: Change can’t be an option. Change is a requirement. Sometimes leaders fail to understand the need of the change. They try solutions which are familiar but not appropriate to bring any change. Lack of conviction on part of the leadership leads to abandonment of change. 3. Lack of proper communication: Sometimes it is not the message but the way it is communicated that does all the harm as the leadership may find it difficult to deliver a tough message and the employees may find the message inconsistent and may interpret it differently. Consequently employees do not embrace the change and hamper the very idea of organizational change. 4. Differing Agendas: Sometimes hearing about a change many employees assess the implications for their jobs/positions and resist the change due to their ego and self interests. 5. Lack of Leadership: Though the change strategy is formulated by the senior management but it is the people at lowest level who make the change happen. Sometimes people at lower levels don’t trust their higher ups and hence don’t participate in the change management process. Due to which the intended effect becomes very difficult to achieve. And a number of times change fails for a simple reason that leaders do not know what not to do. 6. Lack of performance measures: Organizational change is all about improvement. There has to be clear set of performance measures to check whether the organization is on track. Without the performance indicators managing and sustaining change will be practically impossible. 7. Lack or poor allocation of resources: Organizational change is a long term process and it requires a long term investment to sustain. Change can fail if there is a lack of resources. Sometimes leader find it very challenging to allocate proper resources to all the areas of change and they tend to allocate more resources to certain area of change which they find more compelling while compromising other areas. – See more at: http://sankarshan.in/why-organizational-change-fails/#sthash.8cEhdX97.dpuf

How to Develop the Habit of Book Reading?

Let me begin with the fact that I have been a reader in the past and then I was just busy like all of us and then I renewed by friendship with books again. On a serious note, I am aware how habit of book reading adds perspective and meaning to our lives but I also have an experience to share, which I am sure will help you in developing habit of book reading for all great reasons like self development, career growth, career switch and even the young parents can read and seek help for positive parenting and develop habit of book reading in the kids. During my MBA I had read 114 books, apart from my subject books! Those included self-help, business management and non fictional. I met with an accident on 4th April’03 and I was in coma for some time. I spent more than a year recovering from the accident. A lot of things changed due to accident and I missed two which were very close to me. First, driving, and the other, book reading. I recovered gradually and started my life as a normal person and started my career with Indian Express and also started driving. I was happy as my life was back on track and I was doing well in my career. But still I missed reading and my favorite seat at my B- School library. Though I was reading a lot on my mobile, laptop etc. but I was not reading books the way I was used to. I asked two of my friends, Mohit Pawar and Jimmy Jain, who themselves are voracious readers, to help me get back to the reading habit and they helped me with some simple but very effective tips which I found are of great help if anyone wants to develop this habit. I am back to the rhythm and my own small library is flourishing again. This blog is for my friends who want to develop book reading habit. Quick tips to develop habit of book reading: 1. Always carry a book: As they say out of sight is out of mind. Always carry a book and whenever you get time try and read during the day. You can read while traveling or waiting for someone in a restaurant or a cab, a train station – wherever you have free time. A lot many people listen to audio books while driving but I don’t recommend that as when you are driving you should focus on driving and listening audio book needs concentration and then you will not be able to concentrate on driving. 2. Make a reading list: Keep your hobbies/ interests in mind while deciding what kind of books you enjoy reading and make a list of the books. And if you come to know about a good book you can add the book to your list. I keep my reading list on my email and I email myself if someone recommends me a good book which is not there in my reading list. 3. Go to a used bookstore: In the beginning one may find books he wants to read to be expensive. The used bookstore can be of great help as it will help you save a lot of money and you will be able to buy more books and read more. 4. Minimize TV Time and Social Media Time: TV and Social Media consume a lot of our productive time and as per some medical reports they have a bad effect on our brain and health. Reducing our TV and Social Media time will be little challenging at first but once you make concentrated efforts you will be amazed how much free time you have for book reading. 5. Go to library: You can find those expensive and rare books, which are not there in used bookstore, in library. The memberships are quite affordable and helpful for the starters. 6. Set a Goal: To start with set a goal of reading at least 25 pages or two chapters of a book in a day and once you have finished a book now set another goal on how many books you will read in a year. 7. Have a reading time: Assign a time for book reading in your daily schedule and unless you will not schedule it you will not find time in your busy schedule. Assign even if you have 15 minutes in entire day and stick to it no matter what happens. 8. Buy Books don’t Borrow: I prefer to buy book and not to borrow as I can re read it after some time and I do it quite often. Though there are some expensive and rare books which are difficult to purchase. For all such books use library and make notes after reading which can be helpful for future references. 9. Know when to give up: To start with find books which are fun and compelling and keep you going. If you are reading a book and you find the first 50 pages as boring then give up. The idea here is to cultivate a habit. Once you have cultivated reading habit you can always pick up the same book and read. 10. Reward yourself: Make your reading time pleasurable. Have some tea/coffee when you read. And treat yourself with pizza/chocolate/ice cream after finishing the book. I hope this helps you and if you are trying and still find it difficult to develop habit of book reading, let us connect and I might help you with some recommendations and preferences. You can write to me on [email protected] Happy reading 🙂

Govardhan Puja: Thanks Giving Day to our Parents- Lessons from our Puranas

Today’s the fourth day of Diwali festival and Hindus across the world celebrate this day by performing Govardhan Puja. Govardhan Puja reminds me of stories I had learned during my childhood. In this post I’ll share those two stories and lessons from our Puranas. Story 1: Krishna was playing with his friends when he saw villagers of Varindavan carrying eatables for a Yaga to please Indra, the God of Rains. Krishna asked them why do they pray a God who’s so distant and instead they should pray Mount Govardhan which actually brings rains and provide food and shelter to so many creatures. He initiated a festival that paid respect to Mount Govardhan by offering food and many other things. Krishna then assumed the form of mountain and accepted the offerings of the villagers. Indra got very angry upon seeing shift in the devotion of villagers towards Krishna and Mount Govardhan. To teach villagers a lesson he directed lightning storm and heavy downpour upon Varindavan. To protect the villagers from the calamity, Krishna lifted the Mount Govardhan on his little finger and the entire village came under Mount Govardhan to take shelter from storm. Indra after causing such heavy downpour for seven days ultimately gave up and bowed to Krishna’s superiority. Click here to watch the story. Story 2: Once Maharishi Narad gave a divine fruit to Lord Shiv and Mata Parvati and told them that whosoever will eat this fruit will get supreme knowledge and immortality. Kartikey and Ganesha, sons of Lord Shiv and Mata Parvati, both wanted to eat that fruit and both requested their parents to give the fruit to them. Now the situation was tricky as whom to give the fruit. So Lord Shiv told them whoever will circle the entire world seven times and come back first will get the fruit. Listening this Kartikey took his vehicle, Peacock, and started his journey around the world. On the other hand Ganesha’s vehicle was mouse and he thought he can’t defeat his elder brother by riding mouse. So he thought what does the world mean to him and who’s his world. Ganesha loved his parents and whoever we love, becomes center of our lives and all our life energy goes into it. So Ganesha circled his parents, who were his world, seven times and got the blessings of his parents. Ganesha was adjudged the winner of the race. Hence he was given the divine fruit. Click here to watch the story. These two stories, and lessons from our Puranas, remind us that our parents are our Mount Govardhan and our world. All their lives they try and protect us from all the evils and difficulties. They provide nothing but the best of means to grow and help us excel in our lives. When the whole world is performing Govardhan Puja today by circling Mount Govardhan, let’s all Thank our Parents for all the sacrifices they have made and all they have done to ensure our well being and make us what we are today. May God Bless everyone’s Parents!

How to Choose your Training Partner and Plan for an Out Bound Training Program?

When was your last out bound training program? Did you have fun? Remember the take away of your out bound training program? I am really happy if you do but after having met and spoken to several connections in the industry, I am afraid that we do not remember much of the take away. Reason, is simple – the industry is facing a price war, a competition with the event companies that are slowly moving towards corporate companies to tap parts of their employee events. Corporate companies welcome these companies largely for two reasons – Price and Relationships. I must say, some of the ‘team building companies’ are very good as the people behind them are experienced, come from training industry and launched themselves right on the identified gap by the event industry. Training Companies are going through a robust change, at 2 levels some are adding value in delivery mode though right training simulations and content expertise. Others are cashing on low budgets and have found their space between team building activities and employee retreats. There are few who have created a perfect amalgamation of team activities & retreats and have labeled the product offering as ‘corporate retreats’. The idea here is, to understand the thin line between Outbound Training Programs are corporate picnics, which are being framed as a popular jargon ‘corporate retreats’. Here are few pointers, which you as an HR must understand to plan an Out Bound Training Program: Know Your Audience As the training organizer or coordinators, it is important to streamline the audience. You cannot plan an event for all in entirety. Understand the purpose of Program The most significant aspect of having a program is to work on the design & delivery of the program which is only done by a trainer who understand the competency model of the program. This is equally important in context to the previous point, you need to understand the audience. When we design programs, develop content – the primary facet of the same to understand the audience, competency mapping of the audience and then developing the program for them. Use Science & Technology to its Best The very purpose of a training program is – adding value to your team, your employees and to upgrade their professional capabilities. Training Industry is upgrading to simulations, it is about the science of training largely designed on the basis of neurosciences and how effective they could be in adult learning techniques. Differentiate between OBTs and Retreats Once you have understood the above requisites of an upcoming program, you need to clearly demand the training partners- they need t differentiate between an OBT and a retreat program. Retreats are good for team rejuvenation but OBTs are different and need to be focused and result oriented. OBTs should cover the following: Audience Orientation aligned with the KRAs. Outdoor activities should be about Positive Challenges to your team, mental as well as physical. Team Games is not all an OBT needs, there has to be a defined cause & effect for each training element. Action in an OBT needs to be completely allied with the learning objectives which a training partner should design with Reporting Managers of the audience or the HR. OBT Objectives for the Trainer As a trainer, I believe little bit of customization and tweaking is required as per the industry, the audience, their job profiles and KRAs. Some of the standard objectives however will be, Structure the training program based on brief of HR, Employee roles and program design. Make your participants comfortable and be appealing throughout the program. Align the learning objectives with the OBT activities. Aptitude & Ability to understand the profiles, and interact with them to understand the problem areas. Deliver lessons sensitively but keeping the OBT environment light & candid Firstly, you need to understand the need for certain training program, plan it in a structured way, define goals for a program, explain it to the team and bring the training content in sync with the client requirements, follow & inculcate the above trends and now you are good to go. In case you need any further help on choosing  your Training Partner and plan for an Out Bound Training Program, feel free to write to me on, [email protected].

Developing Ownership

Business Ownership is a looked upon personality trait for leaders, team builders and those who are managing people. Taking ownership about things is a human trait. But taking ownership of situations, circumstances and people doesn’t comes easy. A number of business managers complaint about the lack of ownership among the team members. Developing ownership amongst employees is the challenge a number of leaders come across. I was finishing up a TNA – Training Need Analysis at a Company in BFSI industry and somewhere during the process – felt that all a company lacks these days is the – Employees with ownership & belongingness as a trait. This post is been due since three weeks and the idea was to share and ponder with you my readers – on what companies can do to develop ownership among it employees? Following are few tips I could streamline, please feel free to share your take and ideas on the same: 1. Delegate Smartly: Usually employees don’t take decisions or take ownership as they are afraid of taking a decision which will not be supported by the management. This problem can be solved by delegating effectively. You need to clearly communicate the responsibility of decision making as well as responsibility of the results. When you assign any responsibility to someone you also need to give him freedom to make necessary (at least routine) decisions required to executive the assignment. For any strategic decisions regarding the project you need to take your employees in confidence. Delegation requires a lot of will, time and energy to communicate your expectations but once done properly it helps developing ownership. 2. Have a Plan: Align your team with the vision of the company and help them understand where do they fit in the picture. Once people have understanding of the key objectives, the ownership comes in automatically. As a leader you also need to ensure your team is engaged properly with the broader goals and if you help them succeed and grow, you may be surprised to see what they achieve. 3. Let Employees Speak Out: Employees feel more empowered when they are allowed to speak and contribute ideas and solutions to the problems. Their voice will define the value they bring to the organization. 4. Allow for Mistakes: As a project manager one may have to make a number of decisions in a day and there are many project managers who keep on delaying decisions as they are afraid of taking a wrong decision which may hamper their growth in the company. Allowing people to make mistakes plays a very important part in building a sense of ownership. Mistakes help people learn new lessons and broaden their horizon. 5. Create United Sense of Purpose: When you collaborate on goals and decisions with your employees and connect them to the bigger picture, they develop a united sense of purpose and they tend to be more participative and look beyond their role. The united sense of purpose that employee ownership delivers helps attract and retain the best talent. 6. Build in Daily Reminders of Your Mission: For the first time when I visited Shoppers Stop to conduct a training program, I encountered an amazing but incredibly simple way of reminding all its employees of its mission. At 10:45 am all the Shoppers Stop employees across all the stores PAN India, including their corporate office staff at Mumbai, will stand up and everyone will sing their anthem. Shoppers Stop anthem has a wonderful lyrics and reminds their company mission to their employees. I found it as a very powerful daily reminder of the company mission. Due to such inbuilt daily reminder no doubts Shoppers Stop is amongst most admired retail brands in India. 7. Reward Employees: Who Go Beyond the Norms: Nothing can quell desire to give extra than not feeling recognized. Rewarding employees who go beyond the norms helps in developing ownership amongst employees. I remember a store manager of a retail store in Mumbai opening the store very late in the night to help a customer. The customer was to get engaged the next morning but had lost her luggage in the flight. Though opening a retail store in the absence of the security staff posed a big risk but to help his customer the store manager went beyond the norms. And he was recognized for going beyond the norms and helping the customer by his company. Nothing motivates an employee more than recognizing his contribution to the company goals.   These are the 7 tips which I could think of as a practice for developing ownership among the employees. I am sure these are helpful not only for big corporates but also for SMEs, which mostly work on resource restrictions. The above pointers are also some of the reasons why some of the startups have excelled quickly.