Category: Softskills

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?

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?

Opportunity and You

Opportunity and You ! Once there was a king who was at war with a much larger country. His army fought with great courage but was beaten six times and finally the king and his army were driven in flight by his opponents. At last his entire army was scattered and the king was forced to hide in a cave. The king became miserable. He was tired, hungry and had given up all hope. The enemy was so powerful that he felt defeated and thought there was no use of trying anything more.As he was thinking about his future, he saw a spider trying to jump on her web. She jumped but fell short of her web. She tried again but failed again. And when she failed for the sixth time, the king thought, now she also knows what it feels like to fail for six times. But the spider didn’t lose hope and kept on trying. She made herself ready to try for the seventh time. The king forgot about his sorrows and watched her trying one more time. The spider swung herself to the corner of the cave and jumped on the web. The king’s heart came to his mouth when he saw her jumping on the web successfully. He was so enthralled that he cried and said – “Yes! I’ll also try for the seventh time.” He came out of the cave and called his men and told them what he had seen inside. He made a new strategy and regrouped his army. Then he fought for the seventh time and defeated his enemy. There’s an old saying which says, “Opportunity knocks the door once”. But, I fail to believe it. In fact we knock the doors which lead to our dreams. Opportunity is very curious and just to satisfy her curiosity, to see who is knocking the door, it opens the door and upon knowing who wants to grab her, she shuts the door in fraction of second and we miss the opportunity. Success and failure of a person depends whether he dares or not; to extend his hand, the moment opportunity opens her door, to grab it or keep on waiting for the opportunity to hold our hand and get along with us. But opportunity never opens the door to let us grab it. And we not only lose opportunity but we also lose the hope. To be successful in our lives, we need to dare and grab every opportunity that comes our way. Even if there is no opportunity, one should look for creating one. When the king was in the cave, he was defeated not only by the enemy but it was a ‘state of mind’ influenced by his circumstances, fatigue and hunger. The moment he saw the spider trying to jump on the web, he saw an opportunity in trying once again. He tried and he won the war. Moral of the story: Do not wait for opportunity to knock, chase it instead.

Lessons from Mahabharata

Mahabharata is one of our Puranas and is considered to be an ocean of wisdom. Every story of the epic teaches us so many lessons. In this post I’ll share a story from the epic and Lessons from Mahabharata. Here’s the Story: After losing their kingdom to Kauravas in gambling Pandavas were forced to go and live in the forest. Lot of their friends including various Maharishis’ used to visit them. They found it very difficult to give them food. So Draupadi, the wife of Pandavas, prayed the Surya Dev (The Sun God). He gave her one Akshaya Patra which would give any amount of food in a day, till Draupadi takes her food. With the Akshaya Patra the Pandavas were able to give food to all their guests. The Kauravas wanted to trouble them further. They requested Maharishi Durvasa to visit Pandavas late in the night. Durvasa was very short tempered and used to curse people whenever he got annoyed. Durvasa reached Pandava’s’ camp in the forest after Draupadi had taken her food. Pandavas welcomed Maharishi Durvasa and asked him if he will have dinner and Maharishi Durvasa told them that he is yet to have dinner. Knowing there was no food at home, Pandavas requested Maharishi Durvasa to go and take bath in the river so that they can keep food ready. Pandavas were very confused as they did not know what to do. If they tell him that they have already eaten food and there is nothing they can offer in Dinner, he could curse them. Draupadi prayed Lord Krishna for help. Lord Krishna came immediately. He said to Draupadi, “Sister, I am hungry, give me food.” Draupadi was confused and started crying. Lord Krishna asked her to bring Akshaya Patra. In the corner of the Akshaya Patra, one rice grain was sticking. Krishna took the rice, ate it and drank some water. He told Draupadi, “Thanks a lot, my stomach is now full”. He then went away. At that time Maharishi Durvasa was taking his bath. Suddenly he felt that his stomach was full. He was worried that he had made Pandavas cook food for him. He came and excused himself. Like this Lord Krishna solved the problem of Pandavas. From that day onwards Hindu women don’t keep their chapati boxes empty as symbol of their faith in Lord Krishna, believing if they ever get caught in such a situation then Lord Krishna will come for their rescue. You must be wondering why am I sharing this story of Pandavas and Maharishi Durvasa with you, as neither of us, under any circumstances, is going to live in the forest and nor will have guests, like Maharishi Durvasa, with the power to curse. There is certainly no formula to a Happy Life but there is certainly a will to stay happy and some lessons that would make life much easier. The above story brought to me so many inferences, read out if you can relate and learn: Kauravas were Pandavas’ enemies still Pandavas were ignorant about their strategy. Never let your competitors to be out of your sight and don’t give them a chance to trouble/hurt you when you are unarmed. We may have all the luxuries like Akshaya Patra but If we don’t save for our future, we’ll definitely end up facing difficulties/curses in our lives. Save something for future on daily basis. Maharishi Durvasa was very shot tempered but Pandavas engaged him and sent him to take bath.< It’s very easy to manage difficult people by engaging them. Though Pandavas didn’t had any food for Maharishi Durvasa, still they didn’t tell this to him. Listening is the most difficult task on the earth; learn to be calm in difficulty. Pandavas sent Maharishi Durvasa to take bath so that they can arrange for the food. Timing of your action is most important. Buy time in case of emergency and never take decisions in haste. We need to have such good friends, like Lord Krishna, who can save us from difficulties. Invest in relationships. Though Pandavas were forced to live in forest still they kept on meeting/inviting their friends and various sages. Don’t let your relationships perish with time. Keep in touch with old buddies and friends. As Draupadi used to be last one to eat food ensure you don’t use/consume all resources at one go. Trust your friends like Draupadi trusted Lord Krishna. Don’t hide things from people you trust. If you are right & truthful God himself will come for help. Never lose hope. Choose Happiness. It’s a way of life.

Creativity and Innovation – The Thirsty Crow way

Let me take you back to the age old story of ‘Thirsty Crow’. Once there was a crow. He was very thirsty. He went here and there in search of water. At last he saw a water pot. He looked inside the pot. There was very little water inside the pot. The crow saw some stones nearby. He thought of a plan. He picked some stones and started putting stones inside the pot one by one. The water level came up. He drank the water and flew away happily. This story was amongst the first few I was told during my childhood. The then moral of the story was ‘‘Where there is will, there is a way’’ but life is all about exploring and evolving constantly. Going with that we human beings are the certainly the most accommodating and we instantly look for solutions. I have been observing people, reasons vary – the pressure of circumstances, peer pressure, family expectations and what not. Everybody loves short-cuts and ‘Jugaad’ for that reason is picking up fast. It is no more a way of life…it is smart strategy. The solution and results matter at last – for my driver, the maid, the friends, the colleagues and almost everyone around. If someone bangs the idea of ethical ways – people just disregard the philosophy and feel that you are not aware of how the world works. How to get the job done is no more a concern, to get the job done is what matters. To share an experience – few days back I had gone to meet my Uncle at Aligarh and on the way back my car broke down. I was around 25 kms from the city. I called my cousin to help and in half an hour’s time he came to the rescue with a mechanic. He checked my car and told me that it needs to be taken to workshop. I told him I can’t spare that much of time as it was already 3 pm and I had an urgent meeting the very next day. He said in Hindi, “To iska koi jugaad ker deta hoon” (“He will do something”- Read it as temporary arrangement) so that I can reach Gurgaon. He connected some wires to the battery and asked me to test if the car is fine. I checked and my car was working perfectly. I thanked him and started my journey to Gurgaon and in around 4 hours I was there at my home in Gurgaon. Next day I went to a nearby service station and got my car repaired. Defining Jugaad ‘Jugaad’ is a word which is used very frequently in day to day life. As per Wikipedia, Jugaad means an innovative fix or a simple work-around, sometimes pejoratively used for solutions that bend rules, or a resource that can be used as such, or a person who can solve a vexatious issue. Both concepts express a need to do what needs to be done, without regard to what is conventionally supposed to be possible. Indovation, Chinovation, Hack, Kludge are some of the words which are used as synonyms to Jugaad. All the concepts express need to do what needs to be done without taking the same old beaten path. And The Thirsty Crow was the first to travel ‘the Jugaad way’ and now I know the current moral of the story is to use possible means, creativity and innovation whichever can help human kind to live a solution driven life.

Networking – A Skill of Winners!

We all have played Mario then Super Mario – the amazing video game. In my case, the center offered many games likes Contra, Spartan, Car Racer etc. but I always liked a game called, ‘Super Mario’. I liked its sound, powers, jumps and lot many things in the game. However I never wished my Super Mario to die but I lost it in most of my attempts. After losing each game I used to restart and play, but lost every time I played. After my ninth standard, I hardly got any time to play the Mario but the question about the end of Mario always made me think. Life went on. Like everyone, I completed my studies and joined corporate world. In profession most of us do not have a God Father so we can say we have to work and learn by experience. We all commit mistakes make more enemies than friends but we always work hard to perform well, to excel. We get promotions and keep on rising on the corporate ladder. Many a times we fail, it is something like maintaining strong & long term relationships and networking. I always; still wonder about the magic of relationship building and networking skills. One fine day, I found Super Mario game from my school stuff and I started playing the same. After reaching the 3rd stage I lost my Mario and stopped playing the game. And that was the moment, it struck me that; it was not Super Mario who died but it is the player who kills Super Mario. Then I started thinking about all those things which I could have saved but lost due to ignorance or ABC reasons. The first thing which came to my mind was my relations, which started well but never nurtured to lifelong. I gave it a long thought and discovered: ‘Our Relationships Are Like Super Mario, They Will Never Die Until We Kill Them’. In a game we never wish the Super Mario to die, similarly no one ever wish the relations to end up with fights/misunderstandings/grudges and what not. If Mario needs to be nurtured with powers to clear different stages of the game, the same way relationships needs to be nurtured with love, care, and most importantly communicating with your friends even when you don’t get chance to meet regularly. With the world becoming faster, people are becoming vulnerable. Life is demanding and hence relationships start taking a second place in the run. Why? Because we are all busy, we have deadlines, targets, bosses etc. And then we want to have an attitude, a lifestyle, money, power and what not. We want everything. And in the chase all we start losing out on is focus. Like in Mario – once you lose the focus, shifts priorities you end up losing Mario. You only save a Mario when you cross all stages with him an earn points. Similarly, if you leave the skill of networking, it is difficult that you emerge a leader and if at all you do, you lose out on points. Most people do not realize when and where they end up breaking a network or a connection. This realization only happens when we need a person who we haven’t connected from a long time. Save the connection – don’t kill the Mario. Besides your network allows you to help people in a better way. It is a trait we must work on as a skill. Effective networking is like saving the Mario and winning the game.

Indian Education System – A Real Concern!

A lot is been said & discussed on the Indian education system after the very popular 3 idiots. But my post certainly is not around just the concerns raised about the pressure created over the students by the best of internationally renowned institutions. Recently, 44 deemed universities have been de-recognized and the newspapers say, almost 2,00,000 students will bear the brunch.Most of these are marked as money making with lacunae ranging from infrastructure, facilitators; their expertise in the programs offered etc, the system is collapsing with so many private institutions making their way to become the Alma Maters for lakhs of students. The students are being disguised on various levels, graduation, post-graduation, M.Phil, Doctorate etc. Now what worries me is – Is that too a lacunae in the system that students get to enroll themselves in such institutes without prior check on the backgrounds? I mean not those who are enrolling for the post graduate programs.What made me write about this issue is a simple help I was asked for and decided to offer to an Aspiring Manager. Yeah, it’s again about the management schools- Oh! There are a number of them and I have been writing about this earlier also. Read that here. Anyways, the reason what intrigued me was the kind of study material provided by the B-schools. The pedagogy they follow and more then that the way they expect to create future managers. I myself have studied at a B-school and that’s the reason why I get worried when I discover the prevailing loopholes in management education. Some of the major problems:- The methodology of imparting knowledge. – Complete Ignorance to experiential learning. – Pedagogy – Do they know the purpose of them being the facilitators? – Course Material – Management seems to be a synopsis of study material of +1 to graduation. – Case Methodology – Are we even in the process of incorporating the same? Do we know the significance? – Examination Pattern – This too is a great cause of failure of the B-school system. Students are not even aware of what is the application of knowledge. Most of the B-schools are still offering the knowledge & not the skill set which enables application of that knowledge. Nevertheless, these are just the instant observations i could made. I am sure there is still a lot to say & more to do about this.

How Critical is it to be – Self Empowered?

I have been wondering since few days about Self Empowerment. And I have lately realized that it is critically important to be self empowered. In fact, self empowerment should be practiced as a way of life. A job, a business, a lecture, a movie, a shopping spree, an outing, a meeting everything needs self interests and a will to do it. Still, things remain incomplete. That’s because we are not self empowered. The though process is that of, ‘I want to do this but I would do it if…..’ These buts, ifs, though, may be suggesting a lack of self empowerment in most of the cases. That suggests one more thing that we are not self motivated enough to take the jobs & responsibilities at hand. Or there is a lack of will power which puts in our way of doing tasks on priority as compared to the actual tasks. Power boosting the following for Self Empowerment: External Motivation is of great help but actual help comes from the internal environment. How positive we are? And how positive can we think of? Positivism is a rule to self empowerment. I personally believe it’s a rule to life. It is necessary & important to lead a life – positively. Self Assessment at times helps us keep oneself self empowered. We need to enquire within, ask ourselves as what is stopping us and what triggers us most towards an activity. A combination of positivism & self assessment calls for a Self Talk. We need to analyze, ask & listen to our inner voice to gather ourselves. Meditation at times is also a great help. It helps us keep a Self Esteem for ourselves which in turn is most important for self empowerment. Self Esteem instills great trust & confidence in the abilities & self potential. It also helps one fight out the fears of heart & mind and enables a better concentration. A five minutes regular meditation will be of great help for self empowered. Empowering one would definitely induce self-belief and self-belief will proceed achieving. Be empowered be an achiever!

Visualization for Presenters – A Healthy Articulation Tip

Articulation is technique and talent. Some possess it by birth and others develop it through practice. PowerPoint is an important tool and it is the first impression and of course the last one too. Visualization for Presenters. Yes, that’s the technique to keeping your audience from getting bored & sleepy. Many a times, the classroom listeners agree to be sleepy with eyes wide open during the sessions. Remember, shabby decoration is a failure. Images should be logical. They shall not go out of context. One must try to keep the logic intact. Humor in between the slides mainly between topics is a good idea. It provokes interaction. Trick is to keep the relevance in topic and humor. You can replace text with images. Make sure they don’t go just out of context. Like they say a picture is worth a 1000 words. Studies have proven, human brain grasps more through images then through words. Visualize statistics (facts & figures) through visualizing modes like Tables, Pie-charts, labels, numbers etc. Keep adding more of inputs you use & appreciate in a presenter!