Transformers, Lost Souls and Fence Sitters

There are three Basic kinds of people in an Organization/Group.

One are Transformers:
Transformers, although few in numbers , but are always looking for new ways.
They can be recognized by the fire in their eyes, and the length they wish to travel inorder to complete a project in hand. Usually these transformers need constant feeding, and appraisal, and since they are difference creator, good organizations provide them with enough resources and advantage to help them perform better for the rest.
Lost Souls: are usually those bugs, who constantly feed negative data about the group or the organization.
They are unhappy, because they are always doing benchmarking.
Benchmarking means, they are in constant flux to find out resons why transformers are growing, and why they are given advantage, without analyzing self.

They are the parasites, who feed on other aspects, but they are required, in the group, to ensure, Transformers feel priveledged.


Fence Sitters: highest in number when it comes to organization,, are people who are neutral.
They listen to both Transformers and lost souls but ensure that they keep mum at the right time.
They beleive in "Wait and Watch" strategy, and if you count on them, you are better dead than alive.

Now the idea:

A great organization understand how to use these three forces effectively, a great CEO, knows how to value the Transformers in the organization, by providing them all the necessary benefits to help the system run.
A great HR understand to treat the Transformers well, by constantly giving them the desired resources within the organization, so that they feel enhanced at work, and takes care of the Lost souls, to ensure minimum Negative Flow.
What kind of CEO and HR are you????

DECIDE, Whom you give more importance,

The Transformers, The Fence Sitters or the Lost Souls.

Your decision can change your company.

Enigma at Office

How will you behave if you know a thing is done wrong, still have to do it.
What will you say, if you know that whatever will be done today will decrease your worth in office.

Enigma is a defined as One that is puzzling, ambiguous, or inexplicable.
its a speech which is perplexing, like a riddle,
and most often than not, the boss communicates this way.
That is probably one big reason behind Email been sent across, to communicate something to the person sitting next to you at office.

Why? because 
We are more concerned about whats happening in the life of a person who is in the facebook and is far away, than the guy who is sitting next.
Thats probably the reson you tend to waste more time trying to figure out the other than yourself.Next time you are faced with enigma, instead of seeking email as the solution,
try sitting down with a pen and paper with the concerned person.

You will be more clarfied, relieved and give better results.

The Independence Race- Case of Ujjawal Jwellers and Nirman TMT

The thought

We all celebrated independence day of India, yesterday.

With every working executive witnessed flag hosting, two ideas flew freely and like a virus for sure.

1. One more Sunday- Gone.

2. This year every Festival is on Sunday.

 What the system has led us to beleive is the fact that its the scracity which makes us want more and yearn for  it. Scarcity of freedom, led us to yearn for independence.
Scarcity of holidays led us to yearn for it.
So now if you again want your country men to value the independence, create a scarcity of it.
Now obviously I do not mean that take away the independence, but rather stop only doing the same old, Lal Kila rituals.
Do something which makes me feel the freedom?Hmm Like
Oki,
like
1. Can you allow a free entry to cinema hall to most people, and show them some great movie.
2. Can you have a free, Fly an aeroplane by answering few questions, and see whats the human is capable of contest and make people fly first time in life.( Kingfisher, here is an idea for ur business- No one ever forgets the first things in life.)
3. Can you give me a party of freedom, where the 12:00 o clock midnight, I can dance as much I want, then early morning, I can ensure to give people food as much as they desire to eat, and touch the lives of thousands of people.

If independence stands for 1st, the very first day of our freedom, there are endless opportunities for a Brand to gel with it and create the difference.

The Case





Ujjwal Jwellers, and Nirman TMT along with some local FM channel partnered at the city of Raipur,
and hosted the biggest flag of the city at a place called "Shahid Smarak".

Well what have they got out of this?
How many people care about the flag been hosted by Ujjwal Jwellers or Nirman TMT, and even if they hear about it will they buy the product?

Why Independence day is not a Celebration like any other festival, but rather seems as a tough task to  complete, and a National Holiday?
No they won't because, the target customers are no longer interested in these issues.

Instead if Ujjawal Jwellers could have hosted a small Fashion show, ( the industry they belong to, jwellery and fasion), where only hand made products was shown by some good enough models,
they would have automatically got the media exposure, and the right target audience could have been buzzed by their name.

If Nirman TMT, could have distributed, Baloons, the Tri colour ones, to one school, along with their name on it, and asked them to make a "Chain of Youths", they could have buzzed the right sentiment, of building a chain of youth.
Every parent whose child was involved in the process could have directly become involved, and then
they could have given a beautiful certificate of participation to these students.




Imagine what this could have done for the brands like Ujjwal Jwellers or, Nirman TMT.

But then these are tough things to do, and the easiest thing for todays marketer is
to buy ad space in some media channel and go on expecting a very high return.
I call this a blind race,

Just because we have made it though, its not necessary to continue to do it.

and its "WE" who can change it.

Objective of your Business

An organization depends upon the Obejctive and the planning which goes towards achieveing this objective. If you have a well defined plan, you have the chance to execute it better and thus fulfill your objective. But still we see most plan fails, most ideas dying. Why does this happen?

Planning is the core of any idea. If you have not planned your objective, your idea is bound to fail.
But most often, organization keep on working towards either execution or planning.

And then when the envitable happens- The Failure, organizations look for the person to blame, and the people at the top identify one of the weak lamb and fire him.

The two points worth noting is

1. If the person who is to be fired, is a weak Lamb, cross check the HR, and identify, why the process of selection was not right, and whether enough efforts were put to cross check the person.
2. If the person has not improved over time, what was his boss doing since long.


The objective of every organization now is not only to earn profit,
but it must be make Life's.

The Pleasure of Sunday

The thought

The sundays are meant to be a stoppage from the long run. But what is your sunday brings with it, and what you can do with it.

Everyone has their own idea of fun and no one thought can be limited to possiblity of enjoyment. One can get satisfaction from reading a book, other can get it by going for a walk or spending time with a family. But everything, and msot thing we do on sundays, exhaust us, which we take in as refreshment.
A recent statistics revealed that highest heart attacks happens on Monday Morning.
Why? Yes you guessed it right. The late night heavy dinner, that extra piece of walnut cookie.
Here is a simple 5 step plan to extract pleasure from Sunday

1. Make more time for yourself early in the morning. Get up a bit soon, its your free day and you don't want to let most moment go in sleep.
remember, " You will have enough time to sleep when you die".

2. Make the Power ful breakfast, read an amazing Book, watch a beautiful movie ( depends upon the state of life you are like newly wed can watch If Only, while a bachelor can go for something life Shawshank redemption)

3. Have Lunch with friends, spend the whole afternoon pulling yourself rather than pushing for something. Friends are the best medicines.

4. Relax late evening, hear the song you locked inside, play the guitar which is craving for your attention.


5. Take EARLY sleep, with a warm bath in a shower. Yes, it relaxes your muscles and changes your way of Life. and Dont forget to change the bed sheet.


Enjoy the upcoming Sundays of your Life.

If you are gonna Live for next 50 Years,
you or going to get only 250 Sundays.

Make the Most out of them.

The Power of Silence

Try being silent for a day. Very Few words, less clutter, less noise, less talks - both self and others.

Avoid everything which creates sound, give break to your ipod, and above all your ears.

Above all, enjoy the silence Power of Silence.

Just Chill.

Reject Success Adopt Strive

The Thought:

We tend to push ourselves to be successful. Ask any one at the top, and they will tell you that it all boils down to success. But with changing time, the demands has also changed. A professional must reject Success and Adopt to strive more in the dynamic environment.

Success is a relative term, and so is failure. For a professional Marketer getting a 2% response from its advertising campaign can be a great success, but for a Permission marketer, 20% response rate can be termed a failure.
So, the idea is to remove such a relative parameter to define your campaign true worth.
The real parameter must be how hard you strive, how much effort you put in.
Even if you fail, you will learn more than following the already laid strategies and ideas.
If you can adopt yourself to strive and create and establish yourself as a brand which stands for " Strive",
even if you fail, your organization and the world will consider you a successful individual.

In order to adopt strive you can follow these simple steps.

1. Understand what exactly you want out from your action.
As the great say, if you can't define the outcome, dont put the effort.

2. Give stake to everyone in your group.
A true leader makes the world around himself, and creates room for breeding more leaders.
By giving stake, you can ensure that people bring their best at work.

3. Measure and track the efforts.
Everything boils down to how you measure it. Time your performance, know where you must head to create a niche for yourself.

Following these 3 simple steps will surely give you an unparallel edge.

Exceptional work

The Thought

With increasing competition, everyone is looking forward to be exceptional at work.

A continious race between being exceptional and showing up great at work is the need of the hour.

But, can we really, everytime be exceptional? How can we shine exceptionaly at work, and what are the requirements for it.

"Exceptional at work", a phrase often repeated but rarely understood.
For most, being exceptional at work means, showing up on time, working till late, and doing things as directed.
This has been the need or ask, but suddenly with the kind of environment change and market response,
things seem to change.
Now Being exceptional at work means

1. Doing things which matters
2. Understanding and ability to choose priority
3. Executing that great idea which is lingering on.
4. Doing small things which are larger than bigger things.
5. Punching the clock, instead of Pushing.
6. Running fast, but knowing the Direction.( No directionaless Running)
7. Avoiding and forgiving the Egostic people at work. ( The tough task, but it matters)
8. Making Mistakes- Success is about exhausting all possiblities of failure at time.
9. Under Promise and Over deliever- This still is the Manifesto
10. Risk is the Most interesting thing. Take it with you.


Follow these 10 Steps to do "Exceptional Work".


Cheers

Sundays Questions

The Thought

What happens to the thousands of professionals on Sunday evenings? Is there lies an opportunity for some new business to thrive..

Sundays late evening, professionals are more worried about the tomorrow morning, rather than enjoying this time.
I beleive Sunday late evenings are few of those most repetative un explainable feelings experienced days when,
the idea of the next whole week starts haunting a professional.
Instead of living the Moment, we are more concerned about the ifs and buts of tomorrows and the issues lying pending to be entertained tomorrow.
Lots of books, psychologist and scientist have tried to decodify the reasons behind it, and you can do a google search to find the answers.
I am not going to add yet another theory, but look this issue as an opportunity for a Business to thrive.
A SMALL LIST OF OPPORUNITY

1. An organization/group of people/secretary/software, which can prepare your agenda sheet for tomorrow, even if you am not the CEO of the organization?
2. An organization/group of people/secretary/software, which can ensure that all your first half work is done and completed before you reach office?
3. A small Surpise Gift ( not costly but invaluable) sent to each important employee ( remember everyone is important), atleast once a Month.
4. A note from a CEO, thanking the employee of his contribution last week. ( a third party can do that for CEO-Silently and discreetly)
5. A Healthy dose of Breakfast, as soon as You reach office, with a small note "We care".

Just Random Sunday Munchings of My brain.................

Some one said,
"Questions are the door to Opportunities".

Sunday Questions..........

Weekend breaks

The Thought.

What does a weekend break means for you? Depends on what you plan, depends on how you feel about your self, and importantly its depends upon what you feel about job, your own Job.

"Its saturday, evening, 7:10, my office pays me to stay here till 7:30. Do you I love my office,
Offcourse, I do, but on Sunday's only."
This very old Joke/punch line, still begs for attention.

From aeons when Henry Ford, who started giving Saturday and Sunday as off for his assembly lines,
employees started yearning and earning for Saturdays and Sundays.
Henry Ford knew, that the job was not what a Human is worth for, and it was more mechanical than Human, hence he gave the "Free time".
We still follow the system, and now if you note,
There are business which have prospered because of this system,
even my New industry.

But, imagine, why you need a saturday/Sunday still,
Its because your job never gives a sense of fulfillment.
One collegue said to his boss before leaving saturday evening, " Take a Rest on Sunday, and don't just read book or do work".Just Enjoy,

But why can't working be an enjoyment. Why can't reading a Book is a process of self discovery?

Businesses must try to work on Profiles,in which the Employee starts enjoying,
having fun, and unleash his creative genius.
and did I tell you, each one of us are creative genius, only need is to arise that feeling in ourselves.

Week end breaks are not meant to run away from job, but rather,
take some time to think, and think hard. Weekend breaks can be the most tough days if you really have a purpose in life,
and if you are still searching for your purpose,
well than, there are enough malls, shopping plaza and many games and other options to just
forget about yourself.

and do you remember,
Life never forgets, it always remember .................

Have a great weekend breaks.

The Sunday and the Monday

The Thought

Monday like any other day doesnot bring ray of hope, or a new opportunity for professionals. For long we have been ditched to agree that its Monday where the problem lies. In fact the problem lies a day before Monday, i.e Sunday. What is this problem and what can be the solution..........

Long back an ad of Tata Safari Decor took eyeballs, it was around 2008, when the ad starting lines were
" I always wanted to quit on Monday mornings". click here to see the ad.
The ad surely persuaded good enough MBA classes to discuss and  consumers to buy.
The problem most see on Monday, is they wish to continue to live life like Sunday, but due to work, they have to give away this fun day.
The success of this line and "Reclaim your life" campaign does tell us, that maximum of workers are not happy with their job. Most of us have missed the bus and now lack the courage to chase it again.

We are not enjoying the work, or feel that our abilities are not being utilized completely.
Just couple of days back, I was taking an interview of the prospects for a particular post in an organization.
I asked one common question to all,

" How much do you expect"?
What amazed me was that, no one, absolutely no one spoke anything other than monetory terms.
Someone could say, " I expect a healthy working environment", or " Opportunity to handle one project per month individually"or " one New thought to work every weekend"........... etc etc.

The idea is we have monetized everything, and the parameters of success is now ,based on how much money you have earned, rather than, how much value you have added.
and with that thought prevailing everywhere,
its very common to expect employees, to feel stuck on Monday morning, as they are not looking forward to work, but are afraid of the money that they will loose if they quit.

An Idea:

In each month, give 24 Hours, without monitoring to all your employees. The only condition should be to share the results at the end of 24 Hours, and be set to be amazed and surprised with even the level 4 employee.

Can you create an organization where every Employee look forward to come on Monday?

Art vs Effort

The Thought

Most often we hear the employees say," I work so hard still nothing seems important in the eyes of my boss. He/she want something else, and I can't figure out what. I do all that I am asked to, everything thats in my agenda, still the other guy gets the promotion. This company sucks, I am looking forward to another job".

Try standing among the discussion of employees, over a cup of tea and this will be the most common topic of discussion.The problem is not only with the management, but with the employees as well.
The parameter of growth and success for employees is "Effort".
Most employees beleive and live the thought that
" The more effort I put at work, more value I will get from the organization".

This is what used to pay some ten years ago. Now the rules of the game has changed.
Its not the Effot, but "ART" which is paying.
Art is about not looking for orders or doing things as told alone.
Its about doing things which matters, and having the guts to ask why's.

Just imagine, if you can do a task well, and complete everything in your agenda, and never miss a deadline, you are irreplaceable. Right.

And what about this thought

Don’t be irreplaceable. If you can’t be replaced, you can’t be promoted.


A great thought by Amber Naslund, on difference between Indispensable vs. Irreplaceable,( click here to read the post) from Seth Godin's latest book, "Linchpins". You can click here to buy a copy from Amazon.

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