SAMPLE JOB OFFER LETTER 5
Ref: <NO> Date: <Date>
<Name>
<Address>
Sub: - Offer letter the post of <Post>
Dear <Name>,
With reference to your Interview conducted at our office premises on <Date>. We have pleasure to inform you that your credentials are matching our requirements.
Hence we would like to offer a post of <Post>. We expect you join our firm from <Date>. In case you have any difficulties kindly let us know in advance.
Your salary package will be as follows;
Rs. <Amount>/- Basic / Consolidated
______________
Rs. <Amount>/-
______________
Other Expanses are as applicable after completion of Probation period.
Kindly confirm your acceptance by acknowledging the same.
Thanking you,
Regards,
For <Company Name>
Head (HR)
Accepted the Job Offer:
Name : ____________________________________
Sign : __________________________
Date : __________________
SAMPLE JOB OFFER LETTER 4
SAMPLE JOB OFFER LETTER 4
To
xxxxxxxxxx
ADD
Subject: Offer Letter
Dear Mr. xxxxxxxxxxx
Further to our discussions, we have pleasure in giving you an offer in our organization as xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. This offer takes effect from your date of joining xxxxxxxx which shall not be later than xxxxxx
We would request you report at the following address,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Your compensation package would be as in Annexure A. However, the structure of your compensation plan may be altered / changed from time to time in line with the Compensation policy and practices of the Organization.
As per organization policy, the probation period applicable to you shall be six (6) months. You would be posted at the above address. However as and when required, your service will be transferable to any of the offices in India or abroad.
During probation, the period of notice required for resignation is one month on either side.
You will abide by the rules and regulations of the Company as may be in force from time to time and if any violation made would be subjected to the Disciplinary action.
Your appointment is subject to satisfactory reference checks and clearance from any secrecy / service agreements that you may have executed, which could have a bearing on your working with us.
This letter of offer is based on the information furnished in your application for employment and during the interviews you had with us. If, at any time in future, it comes to light that any of this information is incorrect or any relevant information has been withheld, then your employment is liable to be terminated without notice.
This offer is valid till xxxxxxxx, if you do not confirm the acceptance, Crecento Technologies Private Ltd., has the right to withdraw the offer.
We welcome you to our organisation and look forward to your contribution to the growth of the organization and yourself.
On the date of joining, please bring the following documents for verification / submission.
1.Original and copies of educational certificates and mark sheets.
2.Relieving letter & experience certificate from previous employer[s].
3.Salary certificate from previous employer.
4.Original & copy of your passport
5.Three passport size and one stamp size colored photograph
Kindly sign and return to us the duplicate copy of this letter and Annexure as your Acceptance.
Wish you all the best
Yours Sincerely,
for xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.,
Authorized Signatory
To
xxxxxxxxxx
ADD
Subject: Offer Letter
Dear Mr. xxxxxxxxxxx
Further to our discussions, we have pleasure in giving you an offer in our organization as xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. This offer takes effect from your date of joining xxxxxxxx which shall not be later than xxxxxx
We would request you report at the following address,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Your compensation package would be as in Annexure A. However, the structure of your compensation plan may be altered / changed from time to time in line with the Compensation policy and practices of the Organization.
As per organization policy, the probation period applicable to you shall be six (6) months. You would be posted at the above address. However as and when required, your service will be transferable to any of the offices in India or abroad.
During probation, the period of notice required for resignation is one month on either side.
You will abide by the rules and regulations of the Company as may be in force from time to time and if any violation made would be subjected to the Disciplinary action.
Your appointment is subject to satisfactory reference checks and clearance from any secrecy / service agreements that you may have executed, which could have a bearing on your working with us.
This letter of offer is based on the information furnished in your application for employment and during the interviews you had with us. If, at any time in future, it comes to light that any of this information is incorrect or any relevant information has been withheld, then your employment is liable to be terminated without notice.
This offer is valid till xxxxxxxx, if you do not confirm the acceptance, Crecento Technologies Private Ltd., has the right to withdraw the offer.
We welcome you to our organisation and look forward to your contribution to the growth of the organization and yourself.
On the date of joining, please bring the following documents for verification / submission.
1.Original and copies of educational certificates and mark sheets.
2.Relieving letter & experience certificate from previous employer[s].
3.Salary certificate from previous employer.
4.Original & copy of your passport
5.Three passport size and one stamp size colored photograph
Kindly sign and return to us the duplicate copy of this letter and Annexure as your Acceptance.
Wish you all the best
Yours Sincerely,
for xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.,
Authorized Signatory
SAMPLE JOB OFFER LETTER 3
SAMPLE JOB OFFER LETTER 3
[Date]
[Recipient Name]
[Title]
[Company Name]
[Street Address]
[City, ST ZIP Code]
Dear [Recipient Name]:
With reference to your interview with us last week, it is our pleasure to offer you a position as ------- as per the terms and conditions we discussed with you. If you agree to these terms, we would like you to join our company on or before dd/mm/yyyy.
Please submit the following documents to HR at the time of your joining: 1) a copy of this offer letter 2) photocopies of your degree certificates 3) technical certifications, if any 4) experience/ relieving letters 5) two color passport-size photos and 5) latest salary slip from your previous organization.
I also request you furnish the names and contact details of two references. We will then issue your formal appointment order.
We look forward to your joining our organization,
Best Regards,
xxxxxxxx
HR Manager
[Date]
[Recipient Name]
[Title]
[Company Name]
[Street Address]
[City, ST ZIP Code]
Dear [Recipient Name]:
With reference to your interview with us last week, it is our pleasure to offer you a position as ------- as per the terms and conditions we discussed with you. If you agree to these terms, we would like you to join our company on or before dd/mm/yyyy.
Please submit the following documents to HR at the time of your joining: 1) a copy of this offer letter 2) photocopies of your degree certificates 3) technical certifications, if any 4) experience/ relieving letters 5) two color passport-size photos and 5) latest salary slip from your previous organization.
I also request you furnish the names and contact details of two references. We will then issue your formal appointment order.
We look forward to your joining our organization,
Best Regards,
xxxxxxxx
HR Manager
Salary Slip Request Letter
Salary Slip Request Letter
Date:_______
To________________
Designation
Company/Organization Name
Address
City
Subject: Salary Slip Request Letter
Dear Sir/Madam,
I’m writing to request you to please issue my salary slips since June. I have received all the salaries but official salary slips were not issued. I need all the slips for taxation purpose and salary records. I also request you to please issue me salary slips with monthly salary.
Thanking You,
Your Name and Signature
Date:_______
To________________
Designation
Company/Organization Name
Address
City
Subject: Salary Slip Request Letter
Dear Sir/Madam,
I’m writing to request you to please issue my salary slips since June. I have received all the salaries but official salary slips were not issued. I need all the slips for taxation purpose and salary records. I also request you to please issue me salary slips with monthly salary.
Thanking You,
Your Name and Signature
HOW TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP SKILLS
HOW TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP SKILLS
Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less, as said by a leadership expert. In other words, leadership is a process by which a leader with his leadership attributes influences others to accomplish an objective and directs an organization in a way that makes it well integrated and rational. It’s about getting things done through people to reach certain goals.
To have the ability to lead, one needs to be a good leader and the basis of a good leadership is indigenous character and selfless service. Honored leaders concentrate on what they are, what they know and what they do. As they know that it is the followers and not the leader who decides whether the leader is a successful leader or not. If the followers don’t have trust in their leader they will remain uninspired. So to achieve success you have to convince your followers.
The question that arises here is, How to develop leadership skills in one’s self to have effective leadership. People want somebody to guide them who has a clear direction. There are no rules for leadership but there are certain skills that every good leader should have. You might be searching these skills but you never know you might have these locked inside you. You just need to explore these.
#1 One of the basic skills is to have a sense of responsibility. Being a leader you should be responsible to get the task or the job done. You should not feel that being a leader your job is just of honor; instead it’s more than that. The others take you responsible for the job being done. So, if you lead them, they will do the job but if you don’t then they may expect you to do the job or task all by your self.
#2 The second important feature is communication. Communicating seems to be such a simple thing, yet the process of learning how to communicate effectively can take a lifetime.
Communication involves two ends and it’s hard enough to get your end right. You should communicate in such a way that being a leader the message sent by you should be received on the other end in the same meaning as sent by you and not in the wrong meaning. This is because being the sender you don’t have a direct control over the making of the meaning by the receiver. So, you can just observe the manner in which the message has been taken and can adjust the next time. This is the reason effective communication plays important role.
# 3 The third skill is of relationship building. It takes a long time to understand, develop and maintain relationships. Paying attention towards your colleagues and listen to what they have to say can do this. Interacting in a powerful and positive language can also help in building cordial relationships. This can even create a comfort level among the colleagues towards you. Also praise them if you like a certain piece of work done by them. The foundation of this successful relationship is the leader’s ability to make people feel important
Therefore, sense of responsibility, communication and relationship building are the keys to a successful leadership. They play a vital role in successfully leading the people.
The eminent leadership relationship can inspire people to become more than they might have been without the relationship.
Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less, as said by a leadership expert. In other words, leadership is a process by which a leader with his leadership attributes influences others to accomplish an objective and directs an organization in a way that makes it well integrated and rational. It’s about getting things done through people to reach certain goals.
To have the ability to lead, one needs to be a good leader and the basis of a good leadership is indigenous character and selfless service. Honored leaders concentrate on what they are, what they know and what they do. As they know that it is the followers and not the leader who decides whether the leader is a successful leader or not. If the followers don’t have trust in their leader they will remain uninspired. So to achieve success you have to convince your followers.
The question that arises here is, How to develop leadership skills in one’s self to have effective leadership. People want somebody to guide them who has a clear direction. There are no rules for leadership but there are certain skills that every good leader should have. You might be searching these skills but you never know you might have these locked inside you. You just need to explore these.
#1 One of the basic skills is to have a sense of responsibility. Being a leader you should be responsible to get the task or the job done. You should not feel that being a leader your job is just of honor; instead it’s more than that. The others take you responsible for the job being done. So, if you lead them, they will do the job but if you don’t then they may expect you to do the job or task all by your self.
#2 The second important feature is communication. Communicating seems to be such a simple thing, yet the process of learning how to communicate effectively can take a lifetime.
Communication involves two ends and it’s hard enough to get your end right. You should communicate in such a way that being a leader the message sent by you should be received on the other end in the same meaning as sent by you and not in the wrong meaning. This is because being the sender you don’t have a direct control over the making of the meaning by the receiver. So, you can just observe the manner in which the message has been taken and can adjust the next time. This is the reason effective communication plays important role.
# 3 The third skill is of relationship building. It takes a long time to understand, develop and maintain relationships. Paying attention towards your colleagues and listen to what they have to say can do this. Interacting in a powerful and positive language can also help in building cordial relationships. This can even create a comfort level among the colleagues towards you. Also praise them if you like a certain piece of work done by them. The foundation of this successful relationship is the leader’s ability to make people feel important
Therefore, sense of responsibility, communication and relationship building are the keys to a successful leadership. They play a vital role in successfully leading the people.
The eminent leadership relationship can inspire people to become more than they might have been without the relationship.
THE HARD WORK OF BEING A SOFT MANAGER
THE HARD WORK OF BEING A SOFT MANAGER
No executive can forge a successful career without volunteering for high-risk assignments. But some risky jobs seem to promise only disaster, not advancement. Consider William Peace's decision, against the advice of his closest aides, to meet alone with 15 people he had just laid off. The encounter was emotionally bruising, just as Peace knew it would be. He sat and listened as his former employees poured out their grief, anger, and bewilderment. When they were through, he patiently explained why the survival of the business required that he let them go, even though there was nothing wrong with their performance. And then he explained again.
The meeting had a surprising denouement, which you can discover for yourself in the pages that follow. But it's giving nothing away to point out that Peace's display of vulnerability and accessibility was seen for what it was: a sign of strength, not weakness.
The 1991 article that Peace crafted out of his experiences added a new dimension to the portrait of the leader. Quietly but thoroughly, he smashed the icon of the armor-plated hero and replaced it with a flesh-and-blood human being-fallible, vulnerable, and for those very reasons, credible and effective.
I AM A SOFT MANAGER. Unlike the classic leaders of business legend with their towering serf-confidence, their unflinching tenacity, their hard, lonely lives at the top, I try to be vulnerable to criticism, I do my best to be tentative, and I cherish my own fair share of human frailty. But like them, I too have worked hard to master my management style, and on the whole I think it compares favorably with theirs.
In my vocabulary, soft management does not mean weak management. A tentative approach to a critical decision in an unfamiliar environment is not a sign of indecision but of common sense. Criticism from your subordinates is not necessarily a sign of disrespect; they may be offering the wisdom and experience of a different perspective.
Conversely, tough management does not necessarily mean effective management. Self-confidence can be a cover for arrogance or fear, "resolute" can be a code word for autocratic, and "hardnosed" can mean thick-skinned
I believe that openness is a productive management technique and that intentional vulnerability is an effective management style. The soft management I believe in and do my best to practice is a matter of making hard choices and of accepting personal responsibility for decisions. I have a couple of stories that illustrate what I mean.
In the early 1980s, I was general manager of the Synthetic Fuels Division of Westinghouse. Unfortunately, the decline in oil prices that followed the second oil shock in 1979 had led Westinghouse top management to decide to get out of the synthetic fuels business, so my staff and I had to find a buyer and consummate a sale within a few months or face the prospect of seeing our division dismantled and liquidated.
In an effort to make ourselves attractive, we had already trimmed the workforce from 240 to about 130, most of them engaged in the design, testing, and marketing of a coal gasification process that we were confident would one day produce electric power from coal efficiently, cleanly, and economically. While we believed in the technology, we realized that, in the midst of a recession, there weren't many buyers for energy businesses that could offer only future profits.
For the employees in the division, closure would mean more than unemployment. It would mean shattering the dream of building a great new business, a dream many of us had been working toward for more than five years. Unfortunately, even with the reduced workforce, we had a dilemma. The continuing financial drain we represented tended to shorten the corporation's patience, but if we cut employment too much, we would have nothing left to sell. Moreover, as winter approached, my staff and I became concerned that Westinghouse was about to set an absolute deadline for selling the division.
My senior managers and I approached this dilemma as gingerly as we could, with much discussion and no foregone conclusions. We decided that a further reduction in force of 15 people was both necessary to sustain the corporation's goodwill and tolerable, perhaps even desirable, from the point of view of selling the business. We then examined various alternatives for selecting the people to lay off. We agreed that our criteria would not include performance as such. Instead, we decided to choose jobs with the lowest probable value to a potential buyer, provided only they were not essential to the task of selling the business. For example, we decided that we could get along with two technicians in the chemistry lab instead of three.
After about an hour of give-and-take, some of it heated, we agreed to a list of 15 names, and as the meeting drew to a close, one department head said to the others, "Well, let's go tell them." It had been our practice in past layoffs to choose an hour when all managers with people on the reduction list would call them in and give them the bad news.
"No," I said, "I'm going to tell them myself."
"But that's not necessary," someone replied.
"I think it is necessary," I said.
I was concerned that a further reduction in force might lead the remaining employees to conclude that management had given up on selling the business and that it was only a matter of time before we laid off everyone else as well and closed the business down. If they were to draw that conclusion, many of our most valuable people would leave. During months of uncertainty about the future of the division, our best engineering and marketing people had located opportunities with other companies, and they were now sitting on those offers waiting to see what would happen to Synthetic Fuels. They needed to hear the real reasons for the layoffs from me-personally.
I asked my senior managers to send all employees on the reduction-in-force list to a conference room early the following morning. I wanted to explain as truthfully as I could what it was we were doing and why.
Walking into the conference room the next morning was like walking into a funeral home. The 15 employees sat around the table in mourning. Most of the women were crying. Most of the men, stunned and dejected, were staring at the table-top. Their managers sat in chairs against the wall, clearly wishing they were somewhere else. I had not expected my staff to announce the purpose of the meeting, but, obviously, people knew.
I summoned my courage and took the chair that was at the head of the table. I told the employees we were going to lay them off and that all of us, I in particular, felt very bad about it. I went through our reasoning on the reduction in force, putting particular emphasis on our belief that this RIF would improve our chances of selling the division-as opposed to closing it. I told them we were, in effect, sacrificing a few for the benefit of many. I explained the criteria we had used and observed that while we felt our thinking was sound and believed we had matched people to the criteria in good faith, we understood that they might well disagree. I said we were doing the best we could-imperfect as that might be-to save the business. I asked them not to blame their managers. I ordered them not to blame themselves-our decision was in no way a value judgment on them as individuals, I said. If they wanted someone to blame, I urged them to blame me.
These remarks took about 15 minutes, and then I asked for questions. The initial responses were all attempts to discredit the selection process. "But why aren't you taking performance into account?" one woman asked. "My supervisor has told me my performance is excellent. What's the point of doing a good job if you only get laid off?"
"I've been here for 11 years," said a male technician. "Why shouldn't I get more consideration than someone who was hired only a couple of years ago?"
I responded by repeating that under the circumstances, we believed only two criteria were relevant: first, that the position be nonessential to the selling process and, second, that it be one that prospective buyers would see as having relatively little value to them in the short term.
The questions kept coming, and for a time the tearful, funereal mood persisted, but eventually other sorts of questions began to surface. Did we really think the division could be sold? Did we think there really was a future for synthetic fuels? Why couldn't Westinghouse wait a little longer? The question period went on for a good 45 minutes and was without doubt one of the most painful I've ever attended. And yet, as it ended, I felt a certain new closeness to those 15 people. I shook hands with each of them and wished them good luck. I thought I sensed that most of them understood, and even respected, what we were trying to do, however much they might object to our final choice of sacrificial lambs.
For weeks the meeting stayed fresh in my mind. We'd hear, for example, that now Nancy's husband had been laid off from his job, and I would remember Nancy sitting at the conference table with tears streaming down her face, and the memory would be so bleak that I'd think, "Why did I insist on meeting with all of them myself? Why didn't I just let their bosses break the news?"
At the same time, however, I was beginning to notice a change I hadn't expected: The remaining employees seemed to have a renewed determination to hold the business together. For example, tests on the pilot plant continued with a new optimism; whenever I was in the test structure, the technicians seemed cheerful, positive, and entirely focused on the task at hand. And at a meeting to discuss the status of another project we wanted to hold onto, not only was the lead engineer still with us-pockets undoubtedly filled with attractive offers from oil companies-but he was explaining his ideas for reducing the project's capital costs.
A couple of months later, we did finally sell the business, and what happened next was even more gratifying. The new owner gave us funds for some additional work, and we suddenly had the chance to rehire about half of the 15 people we'd laid off. Without exception, they accepted our offers to return. One or two even gave up other jobs they'd found in the meantime. One secretary gave up a good position with a very stable and reputable local company to rejoin her friends at our still somewhat risky operation with all its grand dreams.
It gradually became apparent to me that my very painful meeting with those 15 employees had been a kind of turning point for Synthetic Fuels. Clearly, this was due in part to the two messages I sent in that meeting on behalf of senior management-first, that we would do everything in our power to keep the business alive and salable and, second, that we saw layoffs as an extremely regrettable last resort. But as time goes by, I am more and more convinced that the "success" of that meeting was also due in part to the fact that it made me vulnerable to the criticism, disapproval, and anger of the people we were laying off. If that sounds cryptic, let me explain by telling another story, a story I remembered only later, when I began to analyze what had happened at Synthetic Fuels.
In the early 1970s, I worked for the vice president of the Westinghouse Steam Turbine Division, which was located just south of the Philadelphia airport in a sprawling complex of factories that had employed more than 10,000 people during World War II and was still a union stronghold. My boss, Gene Cattabiani, then in his 40s, had a reputation as a good engineer and a "people person." In fact, his success in previous assignments had had much to do with his ability to get along with the people above and below him.
One of the most difficult issues facing Gene at Steam Turbine was an extremely hostile labor relations environment. Back in the 1950s, the Union of Electrical Workers represented the entire hourly workforce. It was a tough, unfriendly union, so much so that the McCarthy hearings had labeled it Communist.
I had seen two faces of this union. On the one hand, its leaders were as stubborn as mules at the negotiating table, and its strikes were daunting. Several men once threatened to throw a small boulder through my windshield when I tried to cross a picket line to get to work. In 1956, the violent, confrontational mood of one nine-month strike led to a shooting death outside the plant.
On the other hand, I had also seen thoughtfulness and warmth. One year when I was chairman of the United Way campaign, we asked the union leaders to serve with me on the organizing committee. It was a very successful campaign, partly because they worked so hard to get the hourly workforce to contribute, though few had ever given in the past.
By and large, however, attitudes were polarized. Most managers viewed shop floor workers as lazy and greedy, a distinct business liability. On their side, most union members viewed management as incompetent, overpaid, and more or less unnecessary.
When Gene took over, the Steam Turbine Division was not particularly profitable. There was a compelling need to cut costs and improve productivity, and it was clear that much of the opportunity for improvement was on the shop floor. Yet the historic animosities between labor and management made it seem unlikely that any fruitful negotiation could take place.
Gene decided it was up to him to break this impasse and begin to change attitudes on both sides by treating union leaders and the workforce with respect, honesty, and openness. To me this made a great deal of sense. If managers began treating union members as human beings, with dignity and worth, they might just respond by treating us the same way.
But it was not just a matter of style. The business was in trouble, and unless the union understood the extent of the problem, it would have little incentive to cooperate. Historically, union leaders had assumed that the business was very profitable. They believed their people deserved a thick slice of what was in their view a large pie. By the time Gene arrived, however, the pie had become pretty skimpy and was threatening to vanish altogether. Gene decided it was essential to inform the union of the real state of the business.
In the past when there was any informing to be done, the labor relations vice president would call a meeting with the union leadership and tell them what he wanted them to know. Not surprisingly, since they saw everything management said as entirely self-serving, union leaders had always viewed these meetings with disdain. This time, however, Gene decided he would do it differently. He would give a presentation on the state of the business to the entire hourly workforce, a thing that had never been done in the long history of the division.
Many of us wondered if this was really necessary. We knew the rank and file saw the vice president and general manager-Gene-as the ultimate enemy. Wouldn't it be easier, we wondered, and maybe more effective, to have someone else make the presentation? Maybe they would listen to the financial manager. But Gene clung- stubbornly, I thought-to his decision.
To reach the entire workforce, Gene would have to repeat the presentation several times to groups of hundreds of workers. The format was a slide presentation, simple but complete and clear, followed by questions from the floor.
The initial presentation was a nightmare. Gene wanted the workforce to see that the business was in trouble, real trouble, and that their jobs depended on a different kind of relationship with management But the workers assumed that management was up to its usual self-serving tricks, and there on stage, for the first time, they had the enemy in person. They heckled him mercilessly all through the slide show. Then, during the question-and-answer period, they shouted abuse and threats. As far as I could tell, they weren't hearing Gene's message-or even listening. I felt sure he had made a mistake in deciding to give the presentation himself.
But Gene persisted. With obvious dread but with grim determination, he made the full series of presentations. While I could see no evidence that people even understood his state-of-the-business message, much less believed it, I did begin to see an important change. When Gene went out on the factory floor for a look around (which his predecessors never did unless they were giving customers a tour), people began to offer a nod of recognition-a radical change from the way they used to spit on the floor as he walked by.
Even more remarkable was his interaction with hecklers. Whenever he spotted one, he would walk over and say something like, "You really gave me a hard time last week," to which the response was usually something like, "Well, you deserved it, trying to pass off all that bull -- !" Such exchanges invariably led to brief but very open dialogues, and I noticed that the lathe operators or blading mechanics he talked to would really listen to what Gene said.
Suddenly, Gene was credible. He had ceased to be an ordinary useless manager and had become a creature of flesh and blood, someone whose opinions had some value. Gene was my boss, and I liked him for his sense of humor, honesty, and warmth. But I knew it had to be more than personality that won him respect in the eyes of that hard-bitten, cynical workforce.
Now, years later, as I thought about those presentations to the hourly workers and about Gene's daily interactions with subordinates and peers as well, I realized that he often set up encounters in such a way that the people he met felt free to complain or argue, even to attack. Gene made himself vulnerable to people, and it was this deliberate vulnerability that seemed to draw people to him. Because he avoided defensiveness and opened himself to criticism, people were much more inclined to believe that the strength and force of his position were not merely contrived and rhetorical but real.
But there was more to it than that. By making the presentations himself, Gene took the heat for his own point of view. Had he let someone else deliver the message, he would have avoided some of the most unpleasant consequences of his position-not the business consequences, which he would have suffered in any case, but the personal consequences, the face-to-face consequences of conveying bad news. People want to confront the source of their difficulties. Gene gave them the chance, and they respected him for it.
From those presentations on, union-management relations Wok a sharp turn for the better, and Gene rapidly built credibility with the workforce. He made important changes in Steam Turbine's work rules and gave individual employees broader, more flexible assignments. He also imposed layoffs, and he raised standards with respect to both throughput and error-free performance. With each change, Gene continued to open himself to arguments, complaints, and anger-all of which gradually diminished as results continued to improve and as Gene's vulnerability and courage continued to disarm opponents.
Combined with many other changes that reached well beyond the factory floor, the division's increased productivity powered Steam Turbine to greatly improved financial performance, and before long Gene became an executive vice president. More important, from my point of view, Gene became a role model for me-more of a role model than I realized at the time. He taught me how important it is to be a flesh-and-blood human being as well as a manager. He taught me that soft qualities like openness, sensitivity, and thoughtful intelligence are at least as critical to management success as harder qualities like charisma, aggressiveness, and always being right- Most important of all in the light of what happened at Synthetic Fuels, he taught me the value of vulnerability and the benefits of taking the beat for your own acts and policies.
What I had done in my meeting with the 15 employees at Synthetic Fuels was to repeat, in a smaller format, Gene's experience at Steam Turbine. As a result, it was a turning point not only for the division but for me as well. I went well beyond anything I had done previously in opening myself to others. On the surface, I was motivated by what I saw as a business need and didn't give much thought to how vulnerable the meeting would make me. Deep down, I think I was also motivated by Gene's example, by an internalized picture of the soft manager succeeding in the face of hard challenges.
Being a soft manager is no job for the fainthearted. On the contrary, it takes a certain courage to be open-minded, well-informed, and responsible, to walk straight into adversity rather than seek to avoid it. Staying open to different possibilities can, of course, lead to vacillation, but it can also lead to tougher, better decisions drawn from among a wider range of choices. The object of soft management is certainly not to be lax or indecisive.
By the same token, whenever I'm tempted to insulate myself from the painful emotional consequences of some business decision, Gene's experience reminds me that it's more productive to listen to objections and complaints, to understand what subordinates are thinking and feeling, to open up to their arguments and their displeasure. It was this kind of vulnerability that made Gene credible to the people whose help he most needed in order to succeed.
Unfortunately, openness and vulnerability are anathema to some people. I've worked with at least two men who found my management style upsetting. Both were supremely bright, self-confident, and articulate, the kind of men who take charge of situations and of other human beings. I'm sure it's very uncomfortable (at an unconscious level, perhaps even frightening) for people who like to feel they're in absolute control of their surroundings to see someone like me stand so close to what they must view as a precipice of indignity and lost authority.
In any case, they didn't like me, and I didn't like them. I believe they saw my vulnerability as exactly what they wanted to be rid of in themselves. I know I saw their exaggerated self-assurance as arrogance and insensitivity-something that I wanted no part of in myself.
My position on soft management comes down to this: Proponents of all management styles will probably agree that to manage other people effectively, a person needs a battery of qualities that are not easily acquired. These include intelligence, energy, confidence, and responsibility. Where I differ from a lot of my colleagues is in believing that candor, sensitivity, and a certain willingness to suffer the painful consequences of unpopular decisions belong on the list. Being vulnerable to the give-and-take of ordinary emotional cross fire and intellectual disagreement makes us more human, credible, and open to change.
The stereotypical leader is a solitary tough guy, never in doubt and immune to criticism. Real leaders break that mold. They invite candid feedback and even admit they don't have all the answers
No executive can forge a successful career without volunteering for high-risk assignments. But some risky jobs seem to promise only disaster, not advancement. Consider William Peace's decision, against the advice of his closest aides, to meet alone with 15 people he had just laid off. The encounter was emotionally bruising, just as Peace knew it would be. He sat and listened as his former employees poured out their grief, anger, and bewilderment. When they were through, he patiently explained why the survival of the business required that he let them go, even though there was nothing wrong with their performance. And then he explained again.
The meeting had a surprising denouement, which you can discover for yourself in the pages that follow. But it's giving nothing away to point out that Peace's display of vulnerability and accessibility was seen for what it was: a sign of strength, not weakness.
The 1991 article that Peace crafted out of his experiences added a new dimension to the portrait of the leader. Quietly but thoroughly, he smashed the icon of the armor-plated hero and replaced it with a flesh-and-blood human being-fallible, vulnerable, and for those very reasons, credible and effective.
I AM A SOFT MANAGER. Unlike the classic leaders of business legend with their towering serf-confidence, their unflinching tenacity, their hard, lonely lives at the top, I try to be vulnerable to criticism, I do my best to be tentative, and I cherish my own fair share of human frailty. But like them, I too have worked hard to master my management style, and on the whole I think it compares favorably with theirs.
In my vocabulary, soft management does not mean weak management. A tentative approach to a critical decision in an unfamiliar environment is not a sign of indecision but of common sense. Criticism from your subordinates is not necessarily a sign of disrespect; they may be offering the wisdom and experience of a different perspective.
Conversely, tough management does not necessarily mean effective management. Self-confidence can be a cover for arrogance or fear, "resolute" can be a code word for autocratic, and "hardnosed" can mean thick-skinned
I believe that openness is a productive management technique and that intentional vulnerability is an effective management style. The soft management I believe in and do my best to practice is a matter of making hard choices and of accepting personal responsibility for decisions. I have a couple of stories that illustrate what I mean.
In the early 1980s, I was general manager of the Synthetic Fuels Division of Westinghouse. Unfortunately, the decline in oil prices that followed the second oil shock in 1979 had led Westinghouse top management to decide to get out of the synthetic fuels business, so my staff and I had to find a buyer and consummate a sale within a few months or face the prospect of seeing our division dismantled and liquidated.
In an effort to make ourselves attractive, we had already trimmed the workforce from 240 to about 130, most of them engaged in the design, testing, and marketing of a coal gasification process that we were confident would one day produce electric power from coal efficiently, cleanly, and economically. While we believed in the technology, we realized that, in the midst of a recession, there weren't many buyers for energy businesses that could offer only future profits.
For the employees in the division, closure would mean more than unemployment. It would mean shattering the dream of building a great new business, a dream many of us had been working toward for more than five years. Unfortunately, even with the reduced workforce, we had a dilemma. The continuing financial drain we represented tended to shorten the corporation's patience, but if we cut employment too much, we would have nothing left to sell. Moreover, as winter approached, my staff and I became concerned that Westinghouse was about to set an absolute deadline for selling the division.
My senior managers and I approached this dilemma as gingerly as we could, with much discussion and no foregone conclusions. We decided that a further reduction in force of 15 people was both necessary to sustain the corporation's goodwill and tolerable, perhaps even desirable, from the point of view of selling the business. We then examined various alternatives for selecting the people to lay off. We agreed that our criteria would not include performance as such. Instead, we decided to choose jobs with the lowest probable value to a potential buyer, provided only they were not essential to the task of selling the business. For example, we decided that we could get along with two technicians in the chemistry lab instead of three.
After about an hour of give-and-take, some of it heated, we agreed to a list of 15 names, and as the meeting drew to a close, one department head said to the others, "Well, let's go tell them." It had been our practice in past layoffs to choose an hour when all managers with people on the reduction list would call them in and give them the bad news.
"No," I said, "I'm going to tell them myself."
"But that's not necessary," someone replied.
"I think it is necessary," I said.
I was concerned that a further reduction in force might lead the remaining employees to conclude that management had given up on selling the business and that it was only a matter of time before we laid off everyone else as well and closed the business down. If they were to draw that conclusion, many of our most valuable people would leave. During months of uncertainty about the future of the division, our best engineering and marketing people had located opportunities with other companies, and they were now sitting on those offers waiting to see what would happen to Synthetic Fuels. They needed to hear the real reasons for the layoffs from me-personally.
I asked my senior managers to send all employees on the reduction-in-force list to a conference room early the following morning. I wanted to explain as truthfully as I could what it was we were doing and why.
Walking into the conference room the next morning was like walking into a funeral home. The 15 employees sat around the table in mourning. Most of the women were crying. Most of the men, stunned and dejected, were staring at the table-top. Their managers sat in chairs against the wall, clearly wishing they were somewhere else. I had not expected my staff to announce the purpose of the meeting, but, obviously, people knew.
I summoned my courage and took the chair that was at the head of the table. I told the employees we were going to lay them off and that all of us, I in particular, felt very bad about it. I went through our reasoning on the reduction in force, putting particular emphasis on our belief that this RIF would improve our chances of selling the division-as opposed to closing it. I told them we were, in effect, sacrificing a few for the benefit of many. I explained the criteria we had used and observed that while we felt our thinking was sound and believed we had matched people to the criteria in good faith, we understood that they might well disagree. I said we were doing the best we could-imperfect as that might be-to save the business. I asked them not to blame their managers. I ordered them not to blame themselves-our decision was in no way a value judgment on them as individuals, I said. If they wanted someone to blame, I urged them to blame me.
These remarks took about 15 minutes, and then I asked for questions. The initial responses were all attempts to discredit the selection process. "But why aren't you taking performance into account?" one woman asked. "My supervisor has told me my performance is excellent. What's the point of doing a good job if you only get laid off?"
"I've been here for 11 years," said a male technician. "Why shouldn't I get more consideration than someone who was hired only a couple of years ago?"
I responded by repeating that under the circumstances, we believed only two criteria were relevant: first, that the position be nonessential to the selling process and, second, that it be one that prospective buyers would see as having relatively little value to them in the short term.
The questions kept coming, and for a time the tearful, funereal mood persisted, but eventually other sorts of questions began to surface. Did we really think the division could be sold? Did we think there really was a future for synthetic fuels? Why couldn't Westinghouse wait a little longer? The question period went on for a good 45 minutes and was without doubt one of the most painful I've ever attended. And yet, as it ended, I felt a certain new closeness to those 15 people. I shook hands with each of them and wished them good luck. I thought I sensed that most of them understood, and even respected, what we were trying to do, however much they might object to our final choice of sacrificial lambs.
For weeks the meeting stayed fresh in my mind. We'd hear, for example, that now Nancy's husband had been laid off from his job, and I would remember Nancy sitting at the conference table with tears streaming down her face, and the memory would be so bleak that I'd think, "Why did I insist on meeting with all of them myself? Why didn't I just let their bosses break the news?"
At the same time, however, I was beginning to notice a change I hadn't expected: The remaining employees seemed to have a renewed determination to hold the business together. For example, tests on the pilot plant continued with a new optimism; whenever I was in the test structure, the technicians seemed cheerful, positive, and entirely focused on the task at hand. And at a meeting to discuss the status of another project we wanted to hold onto, not only was the lead engineer still with us-pockets undoubtedly filled with attractive offers from oil companies-but he was explaining his ideas for reducing the project's capital costs.
A couple of months later, we did finally sell the business, and what happened next was even more gratifying. The new owner gave us funds for some additional work, and we suddenly had the chance to rehire about half of the 15 people we'd laid off. Without exception, they accepted our offers to return. One or two even gave up other jobs they'd found in the meantime. One secretary gave up a good position with a very stable and reputable local company to rejoin her friends at our still somewhat risky operation with all its grand dreams.
It gradually became apparent to me that my very painful meeting with those 15 employees had been a kind of turning point for Synthetic Fuels. Clearly, this was due in part to the two messages I sent in that meeting on behalf of senior management-first, that we would do everything in our power to keep the business alive and salable and, second, that we saw layoffs as an extremely regrettable last resort. But as time goes by, I am more and more convinced that the "success" of that meeting was also due in part to the fact that it made me vulnerable to the criticism, disapproval, and anger of the people we were laying off. If that sounds cryptic, let me explain by telling another story, a story I remembered only later, when I began to analyze what had happened at Synthetic Fuels.
In the early 1970s, I worked for the vice president of the Westinghouse Steam Turbine Division, which was located just south of the Philadelphia airport in a sprawling complex of factories that had employed more than 10,000 people during World War II and was still a union stronghold. My boss, Gene Cattabiani, then in his 40s, had a reputation as a good engineer and a "people person." In fact, his success in previous assignments had had much to do with his ability to get along with the people above and below him.
One of the most difficult issues facing Gene at Steam Turbine was an extremely hostile labor relations environment. Back in the 1950s, the Union of Electrical Workers represented the entire hourly workforce. It was a tough, unfriendly union, so much so that the McCarthy hearings had labeled it Communist.
I had seen two faces of this union. On the one hand, its leaders were as stubborn as mules at the negotiating table, and its strikes were daunting. Several men once threatened to throw a small boulder through my windshield when I tried to cross a picket line to get to work. In 1956, the violent, confrontational mood of one nine-month strike led to a shooting death outside the plant.
On the other hand, I had also seen thoughtfulness and warmth. One year when I was chairman of the United Way campaign, we asked the union leaders to serve with me on the organizing committee. It was a very successful campaign, partly because they worked so hard to get the hourly workforce to contribute, though few had ever given in the past.
By and large, however, attitudes were polarized. Most managers viewed shop floor workers as lazy and greedy, a distinct business liability. On their side, most union members viewed management as incompetent, overpaid, and more or less unnecessary.
When Gene took over, the Steam Turbine Division was not particularly profitable. There was a compelling need to cut costs and improve productivity, and it was clear that much of the opportunity for improvement was on the shop floor. Yet the historic animosities between labor and management made it seem unlikely that any fruitful negotiation could take place.
Gene decided it was up to him to break this impasse and begin to change attitudes on both sides by treating union leaders and the workforce with respect, honesty, and openness. To me this made a great deal of sense. If managers began treating union members as human beings, with dignity and worth, they might just respond by treating us the same way.
But it was not just a matter of style. The business was in trouble, and unless the union understood the extent of the problem, it would have little incentive to cooperate. Historically, union leaders had assumed that the business was very profitable. They believed their people deserved a thick slice of what was in their view a large pie. By the time Gene arrived, however, the pie had become pretty skimpy and was threatening to vanish altogether. Gene decided it was essential to inform the union of the real state of the business.
In the past when there was any informing to be done, the labor relations vice president would call a meeting with the union leadership and tell them what he wanted them to know. Not surprisingly, since they saw everything management said as entirely self-serving, union leaders had always viewed these meetings with disdain. This time, however, Gene decided he would do it differently. He would give a presentation on the state of the business to the entire hourly workforce, a thing that had never been done in the long history of the division.
Many of us wondered if this was really necessary. We knew the rank and file saw the vice president and general manager-Gene-as the ultimate enemy. Wouldn't it be easier, we wondered, and maybe more effective, to have someone else make the presentation? Maybe they would listen to the financial manager. But Gene clung- stubbornly, I thought-to his decision.
To reach the entire workforce, Gene would have to repeat the presentation several times to groups of hundreds of workers. The format was a slide presentation, simple but complete and clear, followed by questions from the floor.
The initial presentation was a nightmare. Gene wanted the workforce to see that the business was in trouble, real trouble, and that their jobs depended on a different kind of relationship with management But the workers assumed that management was up to its usual self-serving tricks, and there on stage, for the first time, they had the enemy in person. They heckled him mercilessly all through the slide show. Then, during the question-and-answer period, they shouted abuse and threats. As far as I could tell, they weren't hearing Gene's message-or even listening. I felt sure he had made a mistake in deciding to give the presentation himself.
But Gene persisted. With obvious dread but with grim determination, he made the full series of presentations. While I could see no evidence that people even understood his state-of-the-business message, much less believed it, I did begin to see an important change. When Gene went out on the factory floor for a look around (which his predecessors never did unless they were giving customers a tour), people began to offer a nod of recognition-a radical change from the way they used to spit on the floor as he walked by.
Even more remarkable was his interaction with hecklers. Whenever he spotted one, he would walk over and say something like, "You really gave me a hard time last week," to which the response was usually something like, "Well, you deserved it, trying to pass off all that bull -- !" Such exchanges invariably led to brief but very open dialogues, and I noticed that the lathe operators or blading mechanics he talked to would really listen to what Gene said.
Suddenly, Gene was credible. He had ceased to be an ordinary useless manager and had become a creature of flesh and blood, someone whose opinions had some value. Gene was my boss, and I liked him for his sense of humor, honesty, and warmth. But I knew it had to be more than personality that won him respect in the eyes of that hard-bitten, cynical workforce.
Now, years later, as I thought about those presentations to the hourly workers and about Gene's daily interactions with subordinates and peers as well, I realized that he often set up encounters in such a way that the people he met felt free to complain or argue, even to attack. Gene made himself vulnerable to people, and it was this deliberate vulnerability that seemed to draw people to him. Because he avoided defensiveness and opened himself to criticism, people were much more inclined to believe that the strength and force of his position were not merely contrived and rhetorical but real.
But there was more to it than that. By making the presentations himself, Gene took the heat for his own point of view. Had he let someone else deliver the message, he would have avoided some of the most unpleasant consequences of his position-not the business consequences, which he would have suffered in any case, but the personal consequences, the face-to-face consequences of conveying bad news. People want to confront the source of their difficulties. Gene gave them the chance, and they respected him for it.
From those presentations on, union-management relations Wok a sharp turn for the better, and Gene rapidly built credibility with the workforce. He made important changes in Steam Turbine's work rules and gave individual employees broader, more flexible assignments. He also imposed layoffs, and he raised standards with respect to both throughput and error-free performance. With each change, Gene continued to open himself to arguments, complaints, and anger-all of which gradually diminished as results continued to improve and as Gene's vulnerability and courage continued to disarm opponents.
Combined with many other changes that reached well beyond the factory floor, the division's increased productivity powered Steam Turbine to greatly improved financial performance, and before long Gene became an executive vice president. More important, from my point of view, Gene became a role model for me-more of a role model than I realized at the time. He taught me how important it is to be a flesh-and-blood human being as well as a manager. He taught me that soft qualities like openness, sensitivity, and thoughtful intelligence are at least as critical to management success as harder qualities like charisma, aggressiveness, and always being right- Most important of all in the light of what happened at Synthetic Fuels, he taught me the value of vulnerability and the benefits of taking the beat for your own acts and policies.
What I had done in my meeting with the 15 employees at Synthetic Fuels was to repeat, in a smaller format, Gene's experience at Steam Turbine. As a result, it was a turning point not only for the division but for me as well. I went well beyond anything I had done previously in opening myself to others. On the surface, I was motivated by what I saw as a business need and didn't give much thought to how vulnerable the meeting would make me. Deep down, I think I was also motivated by Gene's example, by an internalized picture of the soft manager succeeding in the face of hard challenges.
Being a soft manager is no job for the fainthearted. On the contrary, it takes a certain courage to be open-minded, well-informed, and responsible, to walk straight into adversity rather than seek to avoid it. Staying open to different possibilities can, of course, lead to vacillation, but it can also lead to tougher, better decisions drawn from among a wider range of choices. The object of soft management is certainly not to be lax or indecisive.
By the same token, whenever I'm tempted to insulate myself from the painful emotional consequences of some business decision, Gene's experience reminds me that it's more productive to listen to objections and complaints, to understand what subordinates are thinking and feeling, to open up to their arguments and their displeasure. It was this kind of vulnerability that made Gene credible to the people whose help he most needed in order to succeed.
Unfortunately, openness and vulnerability are anathema to some people. I've worked with at least two men who found my management style upsetting. Both were supremely bright, self-confident, and articulate, the kind of men who take charge of situations and of other human beings. I'm sure it's very uncomfortable (at an unconscious level, perhaps even frightening) for people who like to feel they're in absolute control of their surroundings to see someone like me stand so close to what they must view as a precipice of indignity and lost authority.
In any case, they didn't like me, and I didn't like them. I believe they saw my vulnerability as exactly what they wanted to be rid of in themselves. I know I saw their exaggerated self-assurance as arrogance and insensitivity-something that I wanted no part of in myself.
My position on soft management comes down to this: Proponents of all management styles will probably agree that to manage other people effectively, a person needs a battery of qualities that are not easily acquired. These include intelligence, energy, confidence, and responsibility. Where I differ from a lot of my colleagues is in believing that candor, sensitivity, and a certain willingness to suffer the painful consequences of unpopular decisions belong on the list. Being vulnerable to the give-and-take of ordinary emotional cross fire and intellectual disagreement makes us more human, credible, and open to change.
The stereotypical leader is a solitary tough guy, never in doubt and immune to criticism. Real leaders break that mold. They invite candid feedback and even admit they don't have all the answers
WHY EXIT INTERVIEWS ARE ESSENTIAL
WHY EXIT INTERVIEWS ARE ESSENTIAL
Understanding why your employees leave is almost as important as understanding why they stay. Some would say it is even more important. An employee’s real reasons for leaving can be revealed in exit interviews. Interviews that are conducted by the human resources department or other company employees at time of resignation may or may not produce accurate and legitimate answers. Most departing employees are reluctant to reveal important demotivators because they do not want to burn their bridges. They may not want to offend the management at that sensitive time of saying good-bye.
An experienced third party, a consultant or firm that specializes in conducting these sensitive interviews and collecting a wealth of invaluable inputs, can often accomplish effective and productive exit interviews. The information gathered in this process can guide corporate management in making changes that will reduce future turnover, as well as potentially solve other problems in the organization.
What is the best way to process an employee’s exit? HR always recommends an exit interview. The process is predictably simple while most people think it’s a big waste of time. If a person resigns, you already know why he is leaving. But mostly the stated reasons are far from true, most resignations state personal reasons or better prospects. If one is being discharged, he will be angry and won’t tell anything useful anyway. Why bother then?
There are a lot of good reasons to bother—administration, protection and good management practice are among them. From an administrative standpoint alone, an exit interview provides an opportunity to get needed information (like where to send the employee’s settlement cheque, TDS certificate, retrieve company property (keys, mobile, swipe cards credit cards, laptops, etc.), clear up any outstanding issues like expense advances and deliver required information.
Administrative details are important, but the real value of an exit interview is in the information one can obtain to protect the company and save a lot of time, trouble and expense later. For example, it is not uncommon for an employee to resign, or be discharged for a reason, but when tactfully handled can reveal the real reasons in an exit interview. For instance, recently when I had handled an exit interview, a very senior executive told me that he is quitting because he is pretty annoyed with the CEO’s arrogance and style.
In a broader perspective, exit interviews provide information about overall management style of the company. An employee who is discharged may not be happy about it, and his or her comments will have a negative slant. But there’s usually plenty of truth to be learned as well. In one case we had observed that one department had a high turnover and exit interviews reflected problem areas like partisan attitude of the supervisor. Consistently high turnover in certain positions can be an indicator that the job or the work is not defined properly, thus, the wrong people are being hired. Reasons for voluntarily separation may be valid, like lack of benefits or low pay or even unsatisfactory designations, improper grades, etc.
Some thoughts about how you say good-bye to employees, whatever be the reason for their exit, salvage some credibility. If it’s a discharge, you’ll want to do damage control as much as possible. Recently, two people who were asked to go within two months of joining, told me how brutal the HR general manager was in handling the exits. Depressed and victimised they felt more angry and vengeful for the simple reason that the HR was even forcing the person to interview candidates on the very morning when he was told to go.
Treating people as human as possible is a good management practice and that dictates he or she be treated with professional courtesy and respect. Conduct the exit meeting as privately as possible. Taking a more positive view of the exit—this is also the time when many employees are willing to point at deficiencies in the company, comments such as, “poor management or supervision”, “complete lack of supervision and support”, “poor communications”, etc, have come quite often when I had handled exit interviews. Any company management that is honest with itself will use these responses to look into the claims and make corrections where the allegations are found or known to be true.
While handling exit interviews handle the employee in simple, direct terms and discuss under what circumstances the decision has been made or try and figure out what triggered the decision to quit. It is invariable that something snapped inside. Without a debate on the merits, gather all required information and record and do paperwork and handle the exit with the final settlement check, so that whatever suspicion the person has is nullified. Whether the separation is voluntary or not, HR has to make sure that the employee leaves without any incident. Exit interview and counselling can avoid much of unpleasantness, someone who can handle the person at times of emotional disturbance is only the HR person.
Exit is just as important as the procedures one uses while hiring. Handled in a professional way, exit practices can be constructive, useful and improve your work environment and above all add to retention.
Understanding why your employees leave is almost as important as understanding why they stay. Some would say it is even more important. An employee’s real reasons for leaving can be revealed in exit interviews. Interviews that are conducted by the human resources department or other company employees at time of resignation may or may not produce accurate and legitimate answers. Most departing employees are reluctant to reveal important demotivators because they do not want to burn their bridges. They may not want to offend the management at that sensitive time of saying good-bye.
An experienced third party, a consultant or firm that specializes in conducting these sensitive interviews and collecting a wealth of invaluable inputs, can often accomplish effective and productive exit interviews. The information gathered in this process can guide corporate management in making changes that will reduce future turnover, as well as potentially solve other problems in the organization.
What is the best way to process an employee’s exit? HR always recommends an exit interview. The process is predictably simple while most people think it’s a big waste of time. If a person resigns, you already know why he is leaving. But mostly the stated reasons are far from true, most resignations state personal reasons or better prospects. If one is being discharged, he will be angry and won’t tell anything useful anyway. Why bother then?
There are a lot of good reasons to bother—administration, protection and good management practice are among them. From an administrative standpoint alone, an exit interview provides an opportunity to get needed information (like where to send the employee’s settlement cheque, TDS certificate, retrieve company property (keys, mobile, swipe cards credit cards, laptops, etc.), clear up any outstanding issues like expense advances and deliver required information.
Administrative details are important, but the real value of an exit interview is in the information one can obtain to protect the company and save a lot of time, trouble and expense later. For example, it is not uncommon for an employee to resign, or be discharged for a reason, but when tactfully handled can reveal the real reasons in an exit interview. For instance, recently when I had handled an exit interview, a very senior executive told me that he is quitting because he is pretty annoyed with the CEO’s arrogance and style.
In a broader perspective, exit interviews provide information about overall management style of the company. An employee who is discharged may not be happy about it, and his or her comments will have a negative slant. But there’s usually plenty of truth to be learned as well. In one case we had observed that one department had a high turnover and exit interviews reflected problem areas like partisan attitude of the supervisor. Consistently high turnover in certain positions can be an indicator that the job or the work is not defined properly, thus, the wrong people are being hired. Reasons for voluntarily separation may be valid, like lack of benefits or low pay or even unsatisfactory designations, improper grades, etc.
Some thoughts about how you say good-bye to employees, whatever be the reason for their exit, salvage some credibility. If it’s a discharge, you’ll want to do damage control as much as possible. Recently, two people who were asked to go within two months of joining, told me how brutal the HR general manager was in handling the exits. Depressed and victimised they felt more angry and vengeful for the simple reason that the HR was even forcing the person to interview candidates on the very morning when he was told to go.
Treating people as human as possible is a good management practice and that dictates he or she be treated with professional courtesy and respect. Conduct the exit meeting as privately as possible. Taking a more positive view of the exit—this is also the time when many employees are willing to point at deficiencies in the company, comments such as, “poor management or supervision”, “complete lack of supervision and support”, “poor communications”, etc, have come quite often when I had handled exit interviews. Any company management that is honest with itself will use these responses to look into the claims and make corrections where the allegations are found or known to be true.
While handling exit interviews handle the employee in simple, direct terms and discuss under what circumstances the decision has been made or try and figure out what triggered the decision to quit. It is invariable that something snapped inside. Without a debate on the merits, gather all required information and record and do paperwork and handle the exit with the final settlement check, so that whatever suspicion the person has is nullified. Whether the separation is voluntary or not, HR has to make sure that the employee leaves without any incident. Exit interview and counselling can avoid much of unpleasantness, someone who can handle the person at times of emotional disturbance is only the HR person.
Exit is just as important as the procedures one uses while hiring. Handled in a professional way, exit practices can be constructive, useful and improve your work environment and above all add to retention.
TIPS/PRACTICES TO RETAIN PEOPLE
TIPS/PRACTICES TO RETAIN PEOPLE
1. Take a Direct Personal Interest in All Your Team Members
This can be done by following these simple guidelines:
(i) Know Everyone by Name
Incredible, but true. I have met too many managers who do not even know the names of their team members. Any corporate structure is like a pyramid. No matter what part of the pyramid you occupy, the strength of the pyramid depends on the bottommost layer and it becomes imperative that you know all the people who report to you directly or indirectly. At least, the best managers have an uncanny knack of remembering peoples’ names and making casual personal enquiries about the well being of anyone they meet. Since this kind of behavior is not always experienced, it makes the people realize that they are being given personal attention and builds loyalty in the team. It satisfies the basic human craving of being noticed.
In his classic book “Strategies for success”, Jim Dornan mentions this very principle in the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, and I quote “An excellent example of this from history can be seen in the way Napoleon Bonaparte interacted with his men, he knew every officer of his army by name. He liked to wander through his camp, meet an officer, greet him by name, and talk about a battle or maneuver in which he knew this officer had been involved. He never missed an opportunity to inquire about a soldier’s home town, wife and family. When he did, it always amazed the man to see how much detailed personal information about him his Emperor knew.
Since every officer felt Napoleon’s personal interest in him – proved by his statements and questions- it is easy to understand the devotion they all felt for him.”
(ii) Connect with Everyone
Tough one to explain but let’s consider an example. Archimedes discovered the lever concept wherein let’s say you wanted to move a heavy rock you would be better advised to use a long rod rather than trying to move it with your bare hands.
Similarly, when it comes to people, you are better advised to build relationships first and then steer people in the direction you want them to move. Moreover, in this case, people will follow you willingly. Learn to persuade, not dominate. There is a vast difference between the two phrases ‘Can you please ensure that this is done?’ and ‘You need to complete this work by EOD today.’ One is a slight nudge or a request while the other is a kick. No one likes to be kicked.
Unfortunately, most managers are guilty of using “positional authority” to achieve their ends. John Maxwell talks about the various levels of leadership in his book “Developing the leader within you” and it is clear that positional authority is the worst form of leadership.
One way to measure where you stand on the leadership scale is to check how many juniors come to you for career advice and advice in other areas of their life. If people do not approach you, it means that you are not approachable which is a sorry state of affairs. You simply cannot progress if you are unable to connect with people and you can connect with people only when you take a genuine interest in them, their careers, lives, etc.
(iii) Protect Your Team at all Costs
Protect your team from:
Overenthusiastic sales personnel who try to impose their sales targets on developers
Powerful stakeholders who impose deadline pressure
Prima donna developers who start dominating juniors
Have genuine concern and take true care of your team – the best leaders are the ones who go to extreme lengths to protect the interests of their team. Sometimes, this may mean that you need to lock horns with your immediate superiors and higher management.
Remember, your team is your 1st concern.
Address all team concerns proactively - a concern, like a bomb can be handled if detected early. The greater the delay, the worse it becomes.
The result – people will start recognizing you as a person in whom they can put their faith and trust and become fiercely loyal.
(iv) Solve Problems Even If it is Outside the Scope of the Project
One of your key responsibilities as a Project Manager is to clear all the obstacles which come in the way of your team members and prevent them from performing at the optimum level. While most PMs do handle all the nagging problems faced within the office premises, very few actually look beyond that.
Onsite projects, for example, are always plagued with problems. Adjusting to the local food, travelling and place of residence, are basic requirements which should be taken care of at the very outset. I recall an onsite project wherein I had to visit a foreign country where the employer provided some excellent facilities like:
1 free telephone call every week to keep in touch with the family
A video conference with family members once in 6 months
Occasional weekend trips to famous spots in the city
The buddy concept wherein one local staff whom the onsite person had to interact with regularly was also asked to help him during his stay for other nagging problems – in fact, this was a KRA for the year.
Small acts like these ensured that the employees were happy and there was negligible attrition in the project for almost 3 years. Funny, but treating every team member as if he is your biggest customer yields rich dividends in the long run.
(v) Be Absolutely Honest and Transparent
Trust is the foundation stone of all relationships. Break trust and invite disaster. Be it organizational changes, cost cutting, layoffs, or any other news which impacts the team, always be the first one to inform the team openly and accurately.
In “The 7 habits of highly effective people”, Stephen Covey mentions the ‘Emotional Bank account’ and I quote “An Emotional Bank Account is a metaphor that describes the amount of trust that’s been built up in a relationship. It’s the feeling of safeness you have with another human being.”
Do all your team members feel safe when it concerns you – if not, you need to work towards building up the deposits in that emotional bank account with everyone.
2. Identify your Best People
Suppose you have access to a pool of 10 developers and need to identify the best candidate to commence work on a difficult module. If you fail to identify the right person, you will face problems later on with unfinished, substandard work and compromised deadlines. I usually use what I would like to call the POC – "Proof of Concept" strategy. Assign the task of developing the POC for a project related problem to the entire pool of available developers. The advantages are:
The proposed solution will tell you a lot about the individual’s capability Usually, the turnaround time for any POC is a couple of days – effectively, you do not lose too much time in trying to determine who the right candidate is. Over a period of time, you will be able to determine what the strengths and weaknesses of each individual in your team are, but the POC method always works at the initial stage.
3. Practice the 80/20 Rule
The Pareto principle, in the project management context would mean that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the team. This means that once you have identified your core 20%, make sure you are spending 80% of your time with them.
Sometimes, the weakest developers in your team can end up eating up your entire time and bring down the entire project over a period of time. The same applies to your core team as well – remember, your team is only as strong as its weakest link. Sometimes, the best developers end up spending most of their time in resolving problems faced by their weakest colleagues. Never allow this to happen.
The Pareto principle is beautifully illustrated in the book “Developing the Leader within you” by Dr. John Maxwell.
4. Place the Right People in the Right Areas
Over a period of about 3-6 months, you will be able to pinpoint people’s strengths and weaknesses if you are always involved at the ground level and not just living on updates like average project managers. At this point of time, it is important to strengthen the roles for the core 20% as all high-fliers eventually get restless. The following strategy can be used:
Excellent at analysis, design and finding solutions – needs to be in product development, should be assigned the most difficult modules. It’s a win-win situation, on the one hand, the module gets delivered and on the other, it also provides enough challenge for the developer and keeps him motivated.
Excellent at customer interaction and trouble-shooting. Understands the business impact well – needs to be in production support and over a period of time can occupy the team leader’s position in production support.
Excellent at co-ordination and customer interaction – can be assigned the role of an implementation expert. This role mainly involves interacting with other teams like DBAs, change managers, business users, testers, etc. It also demands that the person has the capability to understand an implemented solution entirely. Such a person may not necessarily be good at finding solutions but remember, his role as an implementer does not demand the same most of the time.
Make sure expectations and responsibilities of the assigned roles are made clear to everyone involved. This tells the top performers that their careers are being taken care of. At the same time, it also ensures that the right responsibilities are being delegated to the right people and will eventually result in the project manager having greater control over his time. Designations are limited but roles can always be created.
Sometimes, people may require counselling to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. More often than not, developers are only interested in coding new modules and do not realize where they can excel. This is where your powers of persuasion will be tested.
Delegation is a two-edged sword, do it right and it will allow you to take up more work and lead to an increase in responsibility, do it badly and you will end up answering escalation emails and attending damage-control meetings.
5. Create Career Development Plans for all your Key People
Most project managers never quite get down to working this step, yet, this is the key step to stem attrition and hold on to your best team members. The best people are usually interested in the following aspects of a job:
Career growth, i.e. growth in responsibility
Growth in income
Better role
Overall, the best people are mainly interested in knowing if the current job provides them enough opportunities to advance towards their long term career goals which might be of becoming an enterprise software architect, project manager, etc.
The following steps can be followed:
(i) Identify the Long Term Career Goals for Each Individual
Use one to one meetings to identify the long term goals of each individual. This will be possible only if you have connected well with each individual as detailed in the earlier steps – if not, you may not even be able to initiate this meeting. The key here is to identify what aspects of the job the individual likes and where he would eventually like to end up in the field. At the end of this discussion, both the individual and you should be clear about the following things about the individual:
Long term career goal, for e.g. becoming an enterprise architect
Current strengths – technical and personal
Current gaps – technical and personal
What should be the next step towards moving towards the role of enterprise architect?
What technology has the candidate not worked on till date and needs exposure?
What are his training needs which will help him move faster towards his goal?
Make sure all these points are documented well and kept confidential. This discussion becomes the basis of future discussions.
The candidate should start getting a vision and game plan as to what is required to achieve his long term goal and what is the next step. For example, a software engineer should first aspire to become a Senior Software Engineer followed by Tech lead and so on.
(ii) Map Individual Goals to Project Goals
This is an extremely powerful concept. If you have followed project management practices at some level and have a clear idea of the project deliverables and the different technologies which will be used, you will be in a position to do work allocation correctly. Before allocating any task, ask yourself:
Is the individual capable of completing this task?
Does it provide him “controlled stretch” which means whether the task will force the person to stretch his abilities and grow in the process?
Does it help him advance towards his long term goal?
Do this right and you will end up having a high-performing team which is also highly motivated.
Every assignment you allocate to an individual should help him move toward his next career goal. Between the decision to quit and the next job lies the quality of assignments given – it is the project manager who decides the team’s attrition rate to a great extent.
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
- Zig Ziglar
(iii) Create a Leadership Incubator
If you have done the earlier steps right, you will soon reach a point wherein you will have high-performing team members who will continuously take up new challenges. Over a period of time, the entire team environment will start reflecting the same.
(iv) Some Will Still Move On
Despite the best of opportunities, some people will still choose to move on due to various reasons.
Some will outgrow their immediate environment, i.e. your project and will move on – thank them for their contribution. They will always remember you for the role you played in mentoring them.
This is the point where the leadership incubator you have created will be put to good use – others will be ready to occupy the position of the person who has moved on. Succession planning needs to happen at all levels and not just at the topmost management levels.
(v) Believe in Everybody – Wait for Nobod y
One word of caution – you can only help someone to rise higher if he himself is interested and committed towards the same. People can be divided into 2 types – types A are the moving cars (ambitious, career oriented people) which only need to be steered in the right direction. Type B are the parked cars (comfortable, stagnating people) which need to be started off or even pushed in some cases. Do not spend too much time on Type B – remember the 80/20 rule.
(vi) Replace Yourself Eventually
Remember, your influence as a person will grow only when your people grow. You cannot rise unless you replace yourself first. For insecure people, this will be hard to digest. You cannot occupy a new chair unless you vacate the chair which you currently occupy.
This principle is beautifully brought out in the book “The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership” by Dr. John Maxwell. 3 laws mentioned in the book are relevant in this context.
The Law of Empowerment – only secure leaders give power to others
The Law of Reproduction – it takes a leader to raise up a leader
The Law of Explosive growth – To add growth, add followers – to multiple, lead leaders
While it goes without saying that reaching this point will take time and effort – this is the only way to go forward and rise higher. The transformation happens within you first and the eventual handing over of higher responsibility to you is only an acknowledgement of what you have already become on the inside.
6. Praise Publicly and Criticize Privately
Never miss spotting someone doing the right thing – and always acknowledge and reward the same. People literally crave for a kind word and will eventually repeat their best performance when they are recognized for the same.
On the contrary, if a situation demands that some harsh words need to be spoken, then always ensure that this happens in a closed door meeting and never in public. Also, take particular care that you do not violate someone’s sense of self-respect but at the same time you make a person realize the gravity of his mistake.
7. Show Empathy, Not Sympathy
Empathize with people when they miss project deadlines due to personal problems, but do not sympathize.
The dictionary meaning of sympathy is “the feeling of being sorry for someone”,” support for or approval of something” and that of empathy is “understand and share the feelings of another”. There is a qualitative difference between both. When you show sympathy, you will allow a person to drag you into his well of woe whereas when you show empathy you will help or empower him to solve his problem or move on and find someone else to do the job.
Let’s face it, any real project will throw up countless problems at the project and at the individual level. Having empathy will ensure that you give everyone a fair chance but overdoing the same will only lead to a bad situation. This is a key factor to consider when a team member’s personal problems lead to failed deliverables or compromised deadlines.
8. Share Successes with the Team, but Take Responsibility for Failures
Always ensure that the top performers get public recognition for their efforts. This is easy in organizations where you have a quarterly rewards and recognition program. In organizations where this is not the case, the project manager needs to be creative. One way to do this is to be a good promoter of people, this leads to people becoming more and more motivated and striving to consistently meet the high standards they themselves have set.
On the other hand, all failures need to be handled internally. Never reprimand the team members responsible for any mistakes in public. Failure makes a person feel miserable anyway – and highlighting the same too much only adds to his woes. The Project Manager needs to play a key role here in shielding his people.
This is the hallmark of all great leaders. In “Wings of Fire: Autobiography of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam” an incident is mentioned wherein Dr. Kalam took total responsibility for the SLV-3 (Satellite Launch Vehicle) failure in front of a big group of scientists. The book also mentions another incident when he asked his team members to present their individual reports on the areas they were working on rather than he doing it himself thus giving the team an opportunity for recognition in front of the scientific community. No wonder he is considered one of the most successful scientists to have led India’s space and missile program.
9. Organize Trainings
The training budget is a powerful tool in your hands, use it wisely. Create the training calendar in the beginning of the year keeping in mind the following requirements:
Technical requirements of the project
Individual training requirements to boost career growth
Any gap in skills that needs to be addressed
Quite often it happens that a year passes by without the organizing of any proper training programs and the last quarter is packed with training programs of little value to the individuals involved and the organization itself. Never allow this to happen.
Internal training programs can also be conducted by the various individuals involved in the project on technologies used in the project itself or otherwise. This is an opportunity for personal growth for many individuals.
Trainings always give individuals a good release from project pressure and also helps to reinforce the conviction that the organization is serious about their future and increasing their skills.
10. Celebrate Phase Completion
Whenever a major project phase is over, celebrate. Put the staff welfare budget to good use. Nine pin bowling matches, group movie outings are opportunities which allow people to recharge their batteries. It also provides ample opportunities to build team spirit and strengthen relationships.
11. Balance the Workload Well
Ensure that no single individual is getting overburdened. This also calls for proactive leave management of the entire team. On occasions, you may also need to force some workaholics to take leave.
It is small acts such as these which help you make small deposits in the emotional bank account which we talked about earlier. And these deposits reap rich dividends when the time comes.
12. Do Not Ask for Too Many Updates
Do not be a status update maniac – trust your people to be responsible and deliver results. Ask for an update only when necessary – the best people will usually themselves keep you apprised of the status of the tasks they are working on.
13. Lead by Example
Always be a person worthy of emulation. Set high standards for yourself and do not impose any rule on the team which you do not follow yourself. People automatically follow what they see you do on a daily basis and not what you tell them to do. If you cannot be the first person to enter office, at least be the last person to leave after a hard day’s work and do this only after personally ensuring that your entire team has left for the day. Always walk the extra mile for the team – always come to the forefront when required, be it project problems, technical problems, any problem which hampers progress. When people observe you walking the extra mile consistently, a wonderful chain reaction happens. Some of your elite team members start following your example and this leads to a multiplication of efforts and results.
Consider the equation:
1 person = 1 extra mile
10 persons = 10 extra miles
Do you think this will have a big project impact, you bet !
As John Maxwell says, “The right to lead is earned, not given.” In his classic book “Right to lead” Dr. Maxwell mentions an incident wherein Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf stepped into a mine field to save an injured soldier and the ripple effect it had on all the people in his division. No wonder he was called upon to lead the critical operation during the Gulf war.
True leaders always emerge out of nowhere when a major crisis develops.
14. Motivate the Maintenance Team
Quite often, you will be faced with a situation wherein the production support team starts to feel that they are a group of 2nd class citizens and will develop an inferiority complex and get demotivated which can have a serious impact on the service delivery function. Motivating the maintenance team is a tough task but I have used the following techniques to good effect:
Emphasize the fact to the maintenance team that since they interact with the business users on a daily basis, they are the custodians of the image of IT more than anybody else, including you. The responsibility of the development team ends with project success, but the maintenance team is mainly responsible for ensuring that operations run smoothly and ongoing business success.
The job, contrary to the traditional belief is tough. More often than not, the maintenance team is at the receiving end of bad design decisions taken during development and has to put in quite a lot of performance enhancing fixes in place as the usage of the system increases.
Only maintenance engineers understand a system and the business domain in totality. This is due to the sheer nature of the work. Development engineers never usually seek to understand modules outside the scope of what has been allocated to them.
The crucial life skill of crisis management – taking decisions under mounting pressure can only be learnt in production support. This can never be learnt in development where someone senior will shield you.
When maintenance engineers understand the above points, they gradually begin to understand the value of the work which they do on a daily basis and where it fits in the bigger picture. And once people realize that their work is being valued, they usually stop complaining.
The same point is beautifully brought out in Sir Winston Churchill’s life during the Second World War. Dr. John Maxwell calls this the Law of the Big Picture in his book “The 17 indispensable laws of teamwork.” The book mentions how Sir Churchill managed to motivate coal miners to continue working on the inglorious task of working in the mines against opting to fight in the war on the frontline. A must read account if you are serious about going up on the leadership scale.
Moreover, there are ample career options in production support as well. With most organizations embracing ITIL and standards such as ValIT gaining ground, the service delivery function is being seen as a key provider of ongoing business value. Once maintenance engineers realize that they are not in a dead-end situation and career growth options are available they will not display negative attitude. This is where the project manager plays a key role. Organize ITIL trainings and watch how the maintenance team starts enjoying their role.
15. Sack Non-performers Tactfully
If you have recruited the person after proper evaluation, you will never be faced with this option. However, on occasions you will be called upon to do the inevitable. How do you still retain trust and loyalty in the team? The following strategies have helped me:
Ensure that you give the non-performer a fair chance – try to place him in an area which involves routine work and which does not involve much thinking. Many routine maintenance tasks involve only log monitoring – poor performers can be accommodated in such areas.
Use counselling to good effect – give the person a chance to close gaps and raise his performance to an acceptable level.
Ensure that all the other team members are well aware that the guy is failing to meet the minimum requirements of the job. This needs to be done in a subtle manner – it should not be too obvious.
Exercise all options before giving the final notice – and ensure that all the other team members are well aware that there really was no other option available.
Maintaining transparency in such matters ensures that there is no loss of trust and loyalty in the team. People realize that no one can be continuously paid for doing nothing.
In an interview on CNBC, Mr. Narayan Murthy, the chief mentor of Infosys mentioned that the best leaders have the ability to cast vision and the best people need to see themselves growing into important roles and achieving bigger goals in that vision.
1. Take a Direct Personal Interest in All Your Team Members
This can be done by following these simple guidelines:
(i) Know Everyone by Name
Incredible, but true. I have met too many managers who do not even know the names of their team members. Any corporate structure is like a pyramid. No matter what part of the pyramid you occupy, the strength of the pyramid depends on the bottommost layer and it becomes imperative that you know all the people who report to you directly or indirectly. At least, the best managers have an uncanny knack of remembering peoples’ names and making casual personal enquiries about the well being of anyone they meet. Since this kind of behavior is not always experienced, it makes the people realize that they are being given personal attention and builds loyalty in the team. It satisfies the basic human craving of being noticed.
In his classic book “Strategies for success”, Jim Dornan mentions this very principle in the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, and I quote “An excellent example of this from history can be seen in the way Napoleon Bonaparte interacted with his men, he knew every officer of his army by name. He liked to wander through his camp, meet an officer, greet him by name, and talk about a battle or maneuver in which he knew this officer had been involved. He never missed an opportunity to inquire about a soldier’s home town, wife and family. When he did, it always amazed the man to see how much detailed personal information about him his Emperor knew.
Since every officer felt Napoleon’s personal interest in him – proved by his statements and questions- it is easy to understand the devotion they all felt for him.”
(ii) Connect with Everyone
Tough one to explain but let’s consider an example. Archimedes discovered the lever concept wherein let’s say you wanted to move a heavy rock you would be better advised to use a long rod rather than trying to move it with your bare hands.
Similarly, when it comes to people, you are better advised to build relationships first and then steer people in the direction you want them to move. Moreover, in this case, people will follow you willingly. Learn to persuade, not dominate. There is a vast difference between the two phrases ‘Can you please ensure that this is done?’ and ‘You need to complete this work by EOD today.’ One is a slight nudge or a request while the other is a kick. No one likes to be kicked.
Unfortunately, most managers are guilty of using “positional authority” to achieve their ends. John Maxwell talks about the various levels of leadership in his book “Developing the leader within you” and it is clear that positional authority is the worst form of leadership.
One way to measure where you stand on the leadership scale is to check how many juniors come to you for career advice and advice in other areas of their life. If people do not approach you, it means that you are not approachable which is a sorry state of affairs. You simply cannot progress if you are unable to connect with people and you can connect with people only when you take a genuine interest in them, their careers, lives, etc.
(iii) Protect Your Team at all Costs
Protect your team from:
Overenthusiastic sales personnel who try to impose their sales targets on developers
Powerful stakeholders who impose deadline pressure
Prima donna developers who start dominating juniors
Have genuine concern and take true care of your team – the best leaders are the ones who go to extreme lengths to protect the interests of their team. Sometimes, this may mean that you need to lock horns with your immediate superiors and higher management.
Remember, your team is your 1st concern.
Address all team concerns proactively - a concern, like a bomb can be handled if detected early. The greater the delay, the worse it becomes.
The result – people will start recognizing you as a person in whom they can put their faith and trust and become fiercely loyal.
(iv) Solve Problems Even If it is Outside the Scope of the Project
One of your key responsibilities as a Project Manager is to clear all the obstacles which come in the way of your team members and prevent them from performing at the optimum level. While most PMs do handle all the nagging problems faced within the office premises, very few actually look beyond that.
Onsite projects, for example, are always plagued with problems. Adjusting to the local food, travelling and place of residence, are basic requirements which should be taken care of at the very outset. I recall an onsite project wherein I had to visit a foreign country where the employer provided some excellent facilities like:
1 free telephone call every week to keep in touch with the family
A video conference with family members once in 6 months
Occasional weekend trips to famous spots in the city
The buddy concept wherein one local staff whom the onsite person had to interact with regularly was also asked to help him during his stay for other nagging problems – in fact, this was a KRA for the year.
Small acts like these ensured that the employees were happy and there was negligible attrition in the project for almost 3 years. Funny, but treating every team member as if he is your biggest customer yields rich dividends in the long run.
(v) Be Absolutely Honest and Transparent
Trust is the foundation stone of all relationships. Break trust and invite disaster. Be it organizational changes, cost cutting, layoffs, or any other news which impacts the team, always be the first one to inform the team openly and accurately.
In “The 7 habits of highly effective people”, Stephen Covey mentions the ‘Emotional Bank account’ and I quote “An Emotional Bank Account is a metaphor that describes the amount of trust that’s been built up in a relationship. It’s the feeling of safeness you have with another human being.”
Do all your team members feel safe when it concerns you – if not, you need to work towards building up the deposits in that emotional bank account with everyone.
2. Identify your Best People
Suppose you have access to a pool of 10 developers and need to identify the best candidate to commence work on a difficult module. If you fail to identify the right person, you will face problems later on with unfinished, substandard work and compromised deadlines. I usually use what I would like to call the POC – "Proof of Concept" strategy. Assign the task of developing the POC for a project related problem to the entire pool of available developers. The advantages are:
The proposed solution will tell you a lot about the individual’s capability Usually, the turnaround time for any POC is a couple of days – effectively, you do not lose too much time in trying to determine who the right candidate is. Over a period of time, you will be able to determine what the strengths and weaknesses of each individual in your team are, but the POC method always works at the initial stage.
3. Practice the 80/20 Rule
The Pareto principle, in the project management context would mean that 80% of the work is done by 20% of the team. This means that once you have identified your core 20%, make sure you are spending 80% of your time with them.
Sometimes, the weakest developers in your team can end up eating up your entire time and bring down the entire project over a period of time. The same applies to your core team as well – remember, your team is only as strong as its weakest link. Sometimes, the best developers end up spending most of their time in resolving problems faced by their weakest colleagues. Never allow this to happen.
The Pareto principle is beautifully illustrated in the book “Developing the Leader within you” by Dr. John Maxwell.
4. Place the Right People in the Right Areas
Over a period of about 3-6 months, you will be able to pinpoint people’s strengths and weaknesses if you are always involved at the ground level and not just living on updates like average project managers. At this point of time, it is important to strengthen the roles for the core 20% as all high-fliers eventually get restless. The following strategy can be used:
Excellent at analysis, design and finding solutions – needs to be in product development, should be assigned the most difficult modules. It’s a win-win situation, on the one hand, the module gets delivered and on the other, it also provides enough challenge for the developer and keeps him motivated.
Excellent at customer interaction and trouble-shooting. Understands the business impact well – needs to be in production support and over a period of time can occupy the team leader’s position in production support.
Excellent at co-ordination and customer interaction – can be assigned the role of an implementation expert. This role mainly involves interacting with other teams like DBAs, change managers, business users, testers, etc. It also demands that the person has the capability to understand an implemented solution entirely. Such a person may not necessarily be good at finding solutions but remember, his role as an implementer does not demand the same most of the time.
Make sure expectations and responsibilities of the assigned roles are made clear to everyone involved. This tells the top performers that their careers are being taken care of. At the same time, it also ensures that the right responsibilities are being delegated to the right people and will eventually result in the project manager having greater control over his time. Designations are limited but roles can always be created.
Sometimes, people may require counselling to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. More often than not, developers are only interested in coding new modules and do not realize where they can excel. This is where your powers of persuasion will be tested.
Delegation is a two-edged sword, do it right and it will allow you to take up more work and lead to an increase in responsibility, do it badly and you will end up answering escalation emails and attending damage-control meetings.
5. Create Career Development Plans for all your Key People
Most project managers never quite get down to working this step, yet, this is the key step to stem attrition and hold on to your best team members. The best people are usually interested in the following aspects of a job:
Career growth, i.e. growth in responsibility
Growth in income
Better role
Overall, the best people are mainly interested in knowing if the current job provides them enough opportunities to advance towards their long term career goals which might be of becoming an enterprise software architect, project manager, etc.
The following steps can be followed:
(i) Identify the Long Term Career Goals for Each Individual
Use one to one meetings to identify the long term goals of each individual. This will be possible only if you have connected well with each individual as detailed in the earlier steps – if not, you may not even be able to initiate this meeting. The key here is to identify what aspects of the job the individual likes and where he would eventually like to end up in the field. At the end of this discussion, both the individual and you should be clear about the following things about the individual:
Long term career goal, for e.g. becoming an enterprise architect
Current strengths – technical and personal
Current gaps – technical and personal
What should be the next step towards moving towards the role of enterprise architect?
What technology has the candidate not worked on till date and needs exposure?
What are his training needs which will help him move faster towards his goal?
Make sure all these points are documented well and kept confidential. This discussion becomes the basis of future discussions.
The candidate should start getting a vision and game plan as to what is required to achieve his long term goal and what is the next step. For example, a software engineer should first aspire to become a Senior Software Engineer followed by Tech lead and so on.
(ii) Map Individual Goals to Project Goals
This is an extremely powerful concept. If you have followed project management practices at some level and have a clear idea of the project deliverables and the different technologies which will be used, you will be in a position to do work allocation correctly. Before allocating any task, ask yourself:
Is the individual capable of completing this task?
Does it provide him “controlled stretch” which means whether the task will force the person to stretch his abilities and grow in the process?
Does it help him advance towards his long term goal?
Do this right and you will end up having a high-performing team which is also highly motivated.
Every assignment you allocate to an individual should help him move toward his next career goal. Between the decision to quit and the next job lies the quality of assignments given – it is the project manager who decides the team’s attrition rate to a great extent.
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
- Zig Ziglar
(iii) Create a Leadership Incubator
If you have done the earlier steps right, you will soon reach a point wherein you will have high-performing team members who will continuously take up new challenges. Over a period of time, the entire team environment will start reflecting the same.
(iv) Some Will Still Move On
Despite the best of opportunities, some people will still choose to move on due to various reasons.
Some will outgrow their immediate environment, i.e. your project and will move on – thank them for their contribution. They will always remember you for the role you played in mentoring them.
This is the point where the leadership incubator you have created will be put to good use – others will be ready to occupy the position of the person who has moved on. Succession planning needs to happen at all levels and not just at the topmost management levels.
(v) Believe in Everybody – Wait for Nobod y
One word of caution – you can only help someone to rise higher if he himself is interested and committed towards the same. People can be divided into 2 types – types A are the moving cars (ambitious, career oriented people) which only need to be steered in the right direction. Type B are the parked cars (comfortable, stagnating people) which need to be started off or even pushed in some cases. Do not spend too much time on Type B – remember the 80/20 rule.
(vi) Replace Yourself Eventually
Remember, your influence as a person will grow only when your people grow. You cannot rise unless you replace yourself first. For insecure people, this will be hard to digest. You cannot occupy a new chair unless you vacate the chair which you currently occupy.
This principle is beautifully brought out in the book “The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership” by Dr. John Maxwell. 3 laws mentioned in the book are relevant in this context.
The Law of Empowerment – only secure leaders give power to others
The Law of Reproduction – it takes a leader to raise up a leader
The Law of Explosive growth – To add growth, add followers – to multiple, lead leaders
While it goes without saying that reaching this point will take time and effort – this is the only way to go forward and rise higher. The transformation happens within you first and the eventual handing over of higher responsibility to you is only an acknowledgement of what you have already become on the inside.
6. Praise Publicly and Criticize Privately
Never miss spotting someone doing the right thing – and always acknowledge and reward the same. People literally crave for a kind word and will eventually repeat their best performance when they are recognized for the same.
On the contrary, if a situation demands that some harsh words need to be spoken, then always ensure that this happens in a closed door meeting and never in public. Also, take particular care that you do not violate someone’s sense of self-respect but at the same time you make a person realize the gravity of his mistake.
7. Show Empathy, Not Sympathy
Empathize with people when they miss project deadlines due to personal problems, but do not sympathize.
The dictionary meaning of sympathy is “the feeling of being sorry for someone”,” support for or approval of something” and that of empathy is “understand and share the feelings of another”. There is a qualitative difference between both. When you show sympathy, you will allow a person to drag you into his well of woe whereas when you show empathy you will help or empower him to solve his problem or move on and find someone else to do the job.
Let’s face it, any real project will throw up countless problems at the project and at the individual level. Having empathy will ensure that you give everyone a fair chance but overdoing the same will only lead to a bad situation. This is a key factor to consider when a team member’s personal problems lead to failed deliverables or compromised deadlines.
8. Share Successes with the Team, but Take Responsibility for Failures
Always ensure that the top performers get public recognition for their efforts. This is easy in organizations where you have a quarterly rewards and recognition program. In organizations where this is not the case, the project manager needs to be creative. One way to do this is to be a good promoter of people, this leads to people becoming more and more motivated and striving to consistently meet the high standards they themselves have set.
On the other hand, all failures need to be handled internally. Never reprimand the team members responsible for any mistakes in public. Failure makes a person feel miserable anyway – and highlighting the same too much only adds to his woes. The Project Manager needs to play a key role here in shielding his people.
This is the hallmark of all great leaders. In “Wings of Fire: Autobiography of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam” an incident is mentioned wherein Dr. Kalam took total responsibility for the SLV-3 (Satellite Launch Vehicle) failure in front of a big group of scientists. The book also mentions another incident when he asked his team members to present their individual reports on the areas they were working on rather than he doing it himself thus giving the team an opportunity for recognition in front of the scientific community. No wonder he is considered one of the most successful scientists to have led India’s space and missile program.
9. Organize Trainings
The training budget is a powerful tool in your hands, use it wisely. Create the training calendar in the beginning of the year keeping in mind the following requirements:
Technical requirements of the project
Individual training requirements to boost career growth
Any gap in skills that needs to be addressed
Quite often it happens that a year passes by without the organizing of any proper training programs and the last quarter is packed with training programs of little value to the individuals involved and the organization itself. Never allow this to happen.
Internal training programs can also be conducted by the various individuals involved in the project on technologies used in the project itself or otherwise. This is an opportunity for personal growth for many individuals.
Trainings always give individuals a good release from project pressure and also helps to reinforce the conviction that the organization is serious about their future and increasing their skills.
10. Celebrate Phase Completion
Whenever a major project phase is over, celebrate. Put the staff welfare budget to good use. Nine pin bowling matches, group movie outings are opportunities which allow people to recharge their batteries. It also provides ample opportunities to build team spirit and strengthen relationships.
11. Balance the Workload Well
Ensure that no single individual is getting overburdened. This also calls for proactive leave management of the entire team. On occasions, you may also need to force some workaholics to take leave.
It is small acts such as these which help you make small deposits in the emotional bank account which we talked about earlier. And these deposits reap rich dividends when the time comes.
12. Do Not Ask for Too Many Updates
Do not be a status update maniac – trust your people to be responsible and deliver results. Ask for an update only when necessary – the best people will usually themselves keep you apprised of the status of the tasks they are working on.
13. Lead by Example
Always be a person worthy of emulation. Set high standards for yourself and do not impose any rule on the team which you do not follow yourself. People automatically follow what they see you do on a daily basis and not what you tell them to do. If you cannot be the first person to enter office, at least be the last person to leave after a hard day’s work and do this only after personally ensuring that your entire team has left for the day. Always walk the extra mile for the team – always come to the forefront when required, be it project problems, technical problems, any problem which hampers progress. When people observe you walking the extra mile consistently, a wonderful chain reaction happens. Some of your elite team members start following your example and this leads to a multiplication of efforts and results.
Consider the equation:
1 person = 1 extra mile
10 persons = 10 extra miles
Do you think this will have a big project impact, you bet !
As John Maxwell says, “The right to lead is earned, not given.” In his classic book “Right to lead” Dr. Maxwell mentions an incident wherein Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf stepped into a mine field to save an injured soldier and the ripple effect it had on all the people in his division. No wonder he was called upon to lead the critical operation during the Gulf war.
True leaders always emerge out of nowhere when a major crisis develops.
14. Motivate the Maintenance Team
Quite often, you will be faced with a situation wherein the production support team starts to feel that they are a group of 2nd class citizens and will develop an inferiority complex and get demotivated which can have a serious impact on the service delivery function. Motivating the maintenance team is a tough task but I have used the following techniques to good effect:
Emphasize the fact to the maintenance team that since they interact with the business users on a daily basis, they are the custodians of the image of IT more than anybody else, including you. The responsibility of the development team ends with project success, but the maintenance team is mainly responsible for ensuring that operations run smoothly and ongoing business success.
The job, contrary to the traditional belief is tough. More often than not, the maintenance team is at the receiving end of bad design decisions taken during development and has to put in quite a lot of performance enhancing fixes in place as the usage of the system increases.
Only maintenance engineers understand a system and the business domain in totality. This is due to the sheer nature of the work. Development engineers never usually seek to understand modules outside the scope of what has been allocated to them.
The crucial life skill of crisis management – taking decisions under mounting pressure can only be learnt in production support. This can never be learnt in development where someone senior will shield you.
When maintenance engineers understand the above points, they gradually begin to understand the value of the work which they do on a daily basis and where it fits in the bigger picture. And once people realize that their work is being valued, they usually stop complaining.
The same point is beautifully brought out in Sir Winston Churchill’s life during the Second World War. Dr. John Maxwell calls this the Law of the Big Picture in his book “The 17 indispensable laws of teamwork.” The book mentions how Sir Churchill managed to motivate coal miners to continue working on the inglorious task of working in the mines against opting to fight in the war on the frontline. A must read account if you are serious about going up on the leadership scale.
Moreover, there are ample career options in production support as well. With most organizations embracing ITIL and standards such as ValIT gaining ground, the service delivery function is being seen as a key provider of ongoing business value. Once maintenance engineers realize that they are not in a dead-end situation and career growth options are available they will not display negative attitude. This is where the project manager plays a key role. Organize ITIL trainings and watch how the maintenance team starts enjoying their role.
15. Sack Non-performers Tactfully
If you have recruited the person after proper evaluation, you will never be faced with this option. However, on occasions you will be called upon to do the inevitable. How do you still retain trust and loyalty in the team? The following strategies have helped me:
Ensure that you give the non-performer a fair chance – try to place him in an area which involves routine work and which does not involve much thinking. Many routine maintenance tasks involve only log monitoring – poor performers can be accommodated in such areas.
Use counselling to good effect – give the person a chance to close gaps and raise his performance to an acceptable level.
Ensure that all the other team members are well aware that the guy is failing to meet the minimum requirements of the job. This needs to be done in a subtle manner – it should not be too obvious.
Exercise all options before giving the final notice – and ensure that all the other team members are well aware that there really was no other option available.
Maintaining transparency in such matters ensures that there is no loss of trust and loyalty in the team. People realize that no one can be continuously paid for doing nothing.
In an interview on CNBC, Mr. Narayan Murthy, the chief mentor of Infosys mentioned that the best leaders have the ability to cast vision and the best people need to see themselves growing into important roles and achieving bigger goals in that vision.
TWENTY FIVE WAYS TO REWARD
TWENTY FIVE WAYS TO REWARD
1. Flex those hours. If there's one free reward that rises above the rest, it's flexible work schedules. Nearly every expert we contacted suggested flex time as a perk that offers the most gain with the least pain.
“Give a little latitude in determining work schedules and to take time for family or personal issues (such as doctor’s appointment and banking errands),” advised Richard Martin, president of Alcera Consulting Inc. “As long as the employee is deserving and doesn’t abuse the privilege, this can go a long way to building trusting and mature relationships with key workers.”
2. Send a handwritten note. Supervisors should ask top brass to write a personal note to employees who deserve recognition, advised Cindy Ventrice, author of "Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works." For example, AdvancedMD CEO Jim Pack handwrites his thank-you notes to employees on a $2 bill. “In three years of doing this, only one employee has asked if he could spend it,” said company spokesman John Pilmer.
3. Make work fun. “During a business coaching engagement, I found employee morale to be way down,” said Terri Levine, president of The Coaching Institute. “We created a weekly event to boost morale. One week we asked everyone to bring in a baby picture, post it on a wall, then pick which person matched each picture. Everyone was having fun and socializing while productivity went from 58 percent to 72 percent — all in the same week.”
4. Help them connect. Introducing employees to key suppliers, customers or someone in senior management can help make an employee's career, says Ventrice — and it won't cost you a thing.
5. Lose the shoes. Kaerie Ray, an account executive with the Echo Media Group public relations firm, said implementing a “no-shoes policy” can make employees feel right at home with each other, which translates into increased productivity. (But she suggests keeping the footwear handy in case clients come in.) “It's great to be in an office where employees are more concerned about doing quality work than what shoes or jewelry they have on,” she said. “We get so much done.”
6. Send them to the showers. (As in parties, not lathering and rinsing.) “Every birth and wedding deserves a shower,” said Ray. “Echo employees always leave early on shower days, and the food is on the house. No need to make up the time.”
7. Reward effort as well as success. Even if their ideas sometimes fail, you want employees to keep producing them, said Alan Weiss, president of the Summit Consulting Group Inc. “When I consulted with the CEO of Calgon, we created an annual award for 'the best idea that didn't work' and presented a loving cup at the annual awards dinner. This stimulated innovation and positive behavior, not 'winning.'”
8. Give them a free pass. Levine suggests giving out a certain number of free days off to employees to use as they see fit. “Employees get a few of these a year and can use them as they like,” she said. “They don't have to pretend to be sick. They can go to the beach, read a book, play with their kids ... it doesn't matter.”
9. Dole out cream and sugar. During the busiest times of the year, executives at the Cigna Group push coffee carts around the office, serving drinks and refreshments to their colleagues, noted Steve Harrison, author of "The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies." As they serve, executives coach and encourage colleagues and hear about real consumer issues.
10. Blow out the candles. Cisco Systems Inc.'s CEO John Chambers hosts a monthly hour-long birthday breakfast for any employee with a birthday that month, says Harrison. “Employees are invited to ask him anything. They feel recognized, and he gains loyal employees who share their ideas.”
11. Spread the love. Ask co-workers to write something they truly like or admire about an employee on a scrap of paper, then frame them along with a photograph of the employee, suggested David Russell, author of "Success With People – A Complete System for Effectively Managing People in Any Organization."
12. Offer a swap. Giving your best employees a chance to pick their own projects or trade tasks with a colleague empowers and rewards them at the same time, said Harrison.
13. Applaud their efforts — literally. If someone has done something really worthwhile, have your entire staff give them a standing ovation at the next meeting, suggested Sharlyn Lauby, president of HR consulting firm ITM Group Inc.
14. Say it with flowers. Professor Linda M. Lopeke, principal of SmartStartCoach.com, sayid she used to reward top employees by bringing in flowers from her garden and arranging them in a spectacular crystal vase on their desks. “Everybody knew what having the custody of the flowers meant,” she said. “Surprisingly, even the men competed fiercely for custody of the flowers.” In the winter, she'd substitute a showpiece display of floating glass fish.
15. Walk it as you talk it. The City of Dallas sponsored a walkathon where employees set goals for walking a certain number of steps each day, offering a free gym membership to those who walked the farthest. Not only did they get more fit, they turned their daily walks into traveling staff meetings, says city spokeswoman Danielle McCelland.
“Group members were able to update one another on projects, solicit team input and improve their fitness,” she said. “The organized program ended after three weeks, but the work group still holds their traveling staff meetings two months later.”
16. Pass the bucks. Handing out monopoly money that can be redeemed for gifts and other goodies may not be strictly free, but it pays off handsomely in the long run. For example, associates at BankAtlantic can pass out “WOW! Bucks” to colleagues who've done something outstanding, said bank vice president Gregory Dalmotte. The bucks can eventually be traded in for real goods. “There's a clear correlation that words of encouragement have created associates who perform at a higher level,” he says.
17. Share the memories. “My team created a scrapbook chronicling the impact I'd had on their company and gave it to me on my last day in the office,” said Lopeke. “People who’d worked on my teams wrote testimonials and creative graphics highlighting some our team successes. It's the best gift I ever received in my 40-year career.”
18. Elect them to the Wall of Fame. Several experts suggested setting aside a public space inside your firm and placing photos of employees who've accomplished something truly special, along with the details of what they did to earn their place on the wall.
19. Create your own "Club Med." Set aside a quiet space or unused office in your building where employees can meditate, chill out, nap or otherwise re-center themselves, said John Putzier, author of "Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work."
20. Stoke their passion. “Great employees are not mercenaries,” said Dr. Richard Chang, CEO of Richard Chang Associates Inc., a performance-improvement consultancy. “They don’t just want to enjoy their work, they want to be passionate about it ... if you want your employees to feel valued and inspire their passion on your behalf, encourage them to make their own decisions. You can have systems in place to control the implementation of ideas, but you must be certain not to compromise the enthusiasm, creativity and hard work that make them possible in the first place.”
21. Give them a place to park it. Reserve the best parking spot for employees who've done something truly worthwhile, said Lopeke. And if it's next to the CEO's Lexus so the employee can chat him or her up on the way into work, so much the better.
22. Remember the spouses. Independent management consultant Nan Amish recalled one time when she had 16 employees trapped in a hotel lobby on a Sunday night, waiting for the ballroom to open so they could set up a trade-show booth. “I bought flowers at a farmers market, a nice $6 bouquet of roses for each person,” she said. “I told them to take them home to their significant others, apologizing for me taking them away from their families on a Sunday. The next day I got thank-yous from most of them. One wife sent a letter saying I could keep her husband until Friday.”
23. Publicize their successes. “We like to publicly recognize employees so the whole company can share in their accomplishments,” noted Scott Ragusa, president of contract businesses for staffing firm The Winter, Wyman Companies. “Each week, nominations for our quarterly 'Clutch' award are shared with the whole company. The Clutch nominations are a way to recognize our administrative and nonmanagerial professional staff members who have come through in the clutch in supporting their departments or the firm.”
24. Let them phone it in. Telecommuting programs can relieve stress and make workers feel more appreciated, as well as more productive. “Reward the employee by starting with one day of telecommuting, then add additional days as performance heightens,” suggested Brian Margarita, president of IT staffing firm TalentFuse Inc. “Having the option to cart the kids to soccer practice, visit the beach during the afternoon or cut out early to avoid traffic congestion is becoming more important than working an 80-hour week for a larger paycheck.”
25. Remember the secret words. “The two most underused words in corporate America that get the highest ROI (return on investment) and ROT (return on your time) are the simple words 'thank you,'” noted Michael Guld, president of the Guld Resource Group author of "The Million Dollar Media Rep: How to Become a Television and Radio Sales Superstar."
While telling your employees you appreciate them should be obvious, added Amish, no one does it enough or is specific enough about what the employee did. “So when you share your appreciation, be specific about what you really liked, so they not only feel appreciated but can do it again.”
1. Flex those hours. If there's one free reward that rises above the rest, it's flexible work schedules. Nearly every expert we contacted suggested flex time as a perk that offers the most gain with the least pain.
“Give a little latitude in determining work schedules and to take time for family or personal issues (such as doctor’s appointment and banking errands),” advised Richard Martin, president of Alcera Consulting Inc. “As long as the employee is deserving and doesn’t abuse the privilege, this can go a long way to building trusting and mature relationships with key workers.”
2. Send a handwritten note. Supervisors should ask top brass to write a personal note to employees who deserve recognition, advised Cindy Ventrice, author of "Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works." For example, AdvancedMD CEO Jim Pack handwrites his thank-you notes to employees on a $2 bill. “In three years of doing this, only one employee has asked if he could spend it,” said company spokesman John Pilmer.
3. Make work fun. “During a business coaching engagement, I found employee morale to be way down,” said Terri Levine, president of The Coaching Institute. “We created a weekly event to boost morale. One week we asked everyone to bring in a baby picture, post it on a wall, then pick which person matched each picture. Everyone was having fun and socializing while productivity went from 58 percent to 72 percent — all in the same week.”
4. Help them connect. Introducing employees to key suppliers, customers or someone in senior management can help make an employee's career, says Ventrice — and it won't cost you a thing.
5. Lose the shoes. Kaerie Ray, an account executive with the Echo Media Group public relations firm, said implementing a “no-shoes policy” can make employees feel right at home with each other, which translates into increased productivity. (But she suggests keeping the footwear handy in case clients come in.) “It's great to be in an office where employees are more concerned about doing quality work than what shoes or jewelry they have on,” she said. “We get so much done.”
6. Send them to the showers. (As in parties, not lathering and rinsing.) “Every birth and wedding deserves a shower,” said Ray. “Echo employees always leave early on shower days, and the food is on the house. No need to make up the time.”
7. Reward effort as well as success. Even if their ideas sometimes fail, you want employees to keep producing them, said Alan Weiss, president of the Summit Consulting Group Inc. “When I consulted with the CEO of Calgon, we created an annual award for 'the best idea that didn't work' and presented a loving cup at the annual awards dinner. This stimulated innovation and positive behavior, not 'winning.'”
8. Give them a free pass. Levine suggests giving out a certain number of free days off to employees to use as they see fit. “Employees get a few of these a year and can use them as they like,” she said. “They don't have to pretend to be sick. They can go to the beach, read a book, play with their kids ... it doesn't matter.”
9. Dole out cream and sugar. During the busiest times of the year, executives at the Cigna Group push coffee carts around the office, serving drinks and refreshments to their colleagues, noted Steve Harrison, author of "The Manager's Book of Decencies: How Small Gestures Build Great Companies." As they serve, executives coach and encourage colleagues and hear about real consumer issues.
10. Blow out the candles. Cisco Systems Inc.'s CEO John Chambers hosts a monthly hour-long birthday breakfast for any employee with a birthday that month, says Harrison. “Employees are invited to ask him anything. They feel recognized, and he gains loyal employees who share their ideas.”
11. Spread the love. Ask co-workers to write something they truly like or admire about an employee on a scrap of paper, then frame them along with a photograph of the employee, suggested David Russell, author of "Success With People – A Complete System for Effectively Managing People in Any Organization."
12. Offer a swap. Giving your best employees a chance to pick their own projects or trade tasks with a colleague empowers and rewards them at the same time, said Harrison.
13. Applaud their efforts — literally. If someone has done something really worthwhile, have your entire staff give them a standing ovation at the next meeting, suggested Sharlyn Lauby, president of HR consulting firm ITM Group Inc.
14. Say it with flowers. Professor Linda M. Lopeke, principal of SmartStartCoach.com, sayid she used to reward top employees by bringing in flowers from her garden and arranging them in a spectacular crystal vase on their desks. “Everybody knew what having the custody of the flowers meant,” she said. “Surprisingly, even the men competed fiercely for custody of the flowers.” In the winter, she'd substitute a showpiece display of floating glass fish.
15. Walk it as you talk it. The City of Dallas sponsored a walkathon where employees set goals for walking a certain number of steps each day, offering a free gym membership to those who walked the farthest. Not only did they get more fit, they turned their daily walks into traveling staff meetings, says city spokeswoman Danielle McCelland.
“Group members were able to update one another on projects, solicit team input and improve their fitness,” she said. “The organized program ended after three weeks, but the work group still holds their traveling staff meetings two months later.”
16. Pass the bucks. Handing out monopoly money that can be redeemed for gifts and other goodies may not be strictly free, but it pays off handsomely in the long run. For example, associates at BankAtlantic can pass out “WOW! Bucks” to colleagues who've done something outstanding, said bank vice president Gregory Dalmotte. The bucks can eventually be traded in for real goods. “There's a clear correlation that words of encouragement have created associates who perform at a higher level,” he says.
17. Share the memories. “My team created a scrapbook chronicling the impact I'd had on their company and gave it to me on my last day in the office,” said Lopeke. “People who’d worked on my teams wrote testimonials and creative graphics highlighting some our team successes. It's the best gift I ever received in my 40-year career.”
18. Elect them to the Wall of Fame. Several experts suggested setting aside a public space inside your firm and placing photos of employees who've accomplished something truly special, along with the details of what they did to earn their place on the wall.
19. Create your own "Club Med." Set aside a quiet space or unused office in your building where employees can meditate, chill out, nap or otherwise re-center themselves, said John Putzier, author of "Get Weird! 101 Innovative Ways to Make Your Company a Great Place to Work."
20. Stoke their passion. “Great employees are not mercenaries,” said Dr. Richard Chang, CEO of Richard Chang Associates Inc., a performance-improvement consultancy. “They don’t just want to enjoy their work, they want to be passionate about it ... if you want your employees to feel valued and inspire their passion on your behalf, encourage them to make their own decisions. You can have systems in place to control the implementation of ideas, but you must be certain not to compromise the enthusiasm, creativity and hard work that make them possible in the first place.”
21. Give them a place to park it. Reserve the best parking spot for employees who've done something truly worthwhile, said Lopeke. And if it's next to the CEO's Lexus so the employee can chat him or her up on the way into work, so much the better.
22. Remember the spouses. Independent management consultant Nan Amish recalled one time when she had 16 employees trapped in a hotel lobby on a Sunday night, waiting for the ballroom to open so they could set up a trade-show booth. “I bought flowers at a farmers market, a nice $6 bouquet of roses for each person,” she said. “I told them to take them home to their significant others, apologizing for me taking them away from their families on a Sunday. The next day I got thank-yous from most of them. One wife sent a letter saying I could keep her husband until Friday.”
23. Publicize their successes. “We like to publicly recognize employees so the whole company can share in their accomplishments,” noted Scott Ragusa, president of contract businesses for staffing firm The Winter, Wyman Companies. “Each week, nominations for our quarterly 'Clutch' award are shared with the whole company. The Clutch nominations are a way to recognize our administrative and nonmanagerial professional staff members who have come through in the clutch in supporting their departments or the firm.”
24. Let them phone it in. Telecommuting programs can relieve stress and make workers feel more appreciated, as well as more productive. “Reward the employee by starting with one day of telecommuting, then add additional days as performance heightens,” suggested Brian Margarita, president of IT staffing firm TalentFuse Inc. “Having the option to cart the kids to soccer practice, visit the beach during the afternoon or cut out early to avoid traffic congestion is becoming more important than working an 80-hour week for a larger paycheck.”
25. Remember the secret words. “The two most underused words in corporate America that get the highest ROI (return on investment) and ROT (return on your time) are the simple words 'thank you,'” noted Michael Guld, president of the Guld Resource Group author of "The Million Dollar Media Rep: How to Become a Television and Radio Sales Superstar."
While telling your employees you appreciate them should be obvious, added Amish, no one does it enough or is specific enough about what the employee did. “So when you share your appreciation, be specific about what you really liked, so they not only feel appreciated but can do it again.”
5 STEPS TO ACCOMPLISHING YOUR GOALS BY DAVE CHEONG
5 STEPS TO ACCOMPLISHING YOUR GOALS BY DAVE CHEONG
Most of the time I think we can cruise through life without having any major goals. However, for things that are truly worth accomplishing, specifying the ins and outs of a goal is pretty important. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few simple steps we can follow to describe how we can approach our goals and ensure we accomplish them?
Well, here’s my attempt at defining a nice simple 5 step framework anyone can follow. In this post, I’ll use losing weight, getting fit and going to the gym as one concrete example. However, you can apply it to any goal you have as the steps are equally as relevant.
1. Define your goal and give it shape
The very first thing you need to do is to define your goal. After all, without knowing what the goal actually is, how can you go about accomplishing it?
Goal setting is an art form. It is about articulating what your goal is about, being realistic in whether you can accomplish it or not and providing the metrics to track your progress. I’ve written about the characteristics of a good goal before, so read that post first if you haven’t yet done so.
To give your goal shape, I find it is helpful to actually write it down. Get a fresh piece of paper and describe each of the following characteristics for your goal.
In my example of losing weight and getting fit:
Conceivable: I intend to lose 24 kgs within 12 months and be capable of running 3 kms in 10 mins.
Achievable: I am able to commit to two 90 min sessions. With a proper training program and commitment, I am assured by various fitness instructors that this is achievable.
Measurable: I will track how many kgs I lose each month. In the simpliest scenario, I must lose 2 kgs per month to attain my goal.
Aligned: Losing weight and getting fit is congruent to my other goals in life which is about being happy about who I am and how I look.
Worthwhile: I acknowledge this is a challenging task, but it is something worth accomplishing. I would like to live a healthy life so I can watch my kids grow up and get married.
Desirable: This is something I truly wish to accomplish and will do everything I can to attain it. I desire this more than eating fried chickens and carrot cakes.
2. Identify the next few tasks
Once you have your goal properly defined and shaped, identify the next few tasks you need to do in relation to your goal. Unlike traditional project management where you define all the tasks, dependencies and contingencies, this step is about identifying the next few tasks only.
Why the next few only? There are a couple of reasons: Firstly, unless you are used to planning or have a crystal ball, there is no way you can accurately plan every single action you need to take to accomplish your goal. Secondly, you can only work on a few things at a time, so all you need is a few actions to start the ball rolling.
In my example, the next tasks to being fit and healthy are:
Assess the equipment, staff and pricing for all local gyms.
Buy two sets of appropriate gym wear.
Get some good headphones to plug into the gym’s music system.
Free up all after work commitments for Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Although there are possibly a myriad of other tasks I would have to act on to accomplish this goal, they are not essentially the next tasks. For example, getting a trainer and an exercise program are tasks I can only perform after signing up with a particular gym so I don’t bother writing these down now.
Try it for yourself. First write down the definition of your goal. On the same piece of paper, write down the next 3-5 things you need to do in relation to this goal.
3. Set aside time and work through your tasks
After you have defined your goal and identified the next tasks and actions, prepare some time to actually work on them. One effective technique I have found which works for me is Time boxing. Essentially, Time boxing is a technique in which we limit the amount of time we spend on a given task. So instead of working until the task is “done”, we spend say 30 mins on it. It is either “done” at that point or we schedule another 30 mins to work on it another time. Time boxing is effective because we instantly focus on what’s important, avoid potential overruns and can act as a motivator against procrastination.
Another thing I should mention here is the importance of actually dedicating a time slot for working at your tasks. By this I mean, actually blocking out a period in the day or week in which you are actively looking at your task list and crossing things off. The reason why this is important is because we can have busy lives and sometimes we use this as an excuse not to do something. By allocating time, we have no excuses and can also establish good habits and positive patterns.
In my example, blocking out 90 mins on Tuesday and Thursday nights after work applies both the Time boxing and the regular routine techniques to my weekly patterns.
4. Review and reward
One of the most important thing about accomplishing goals is measuring your progress and reviewing your goal and assumptions as you go. If you are measuring well against your goal, you can reward yourself.
The trick about reviewing your goals and tasks is to pick a system that you trust. Some people prefer the paper based planners, whilst others prefer the electronic alternatives like a PDA or Microsoft Outlook. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is to have a system you trust and will look at periodically. In the past, I used Outlook to track my outstanding tasks. However, this has proved ineffective for me because I split my day between work and home and never do I have a single Outlook installation which has both my “work” and “personal” tasks available at the same time. As a consequence, I didn’t look at the tasks periodically and eventually stopped adding them altogether.
Why is it important to reward yourself? Well, some goals are difficult to accomplish and may require both time and ongoing effort. Rewarding yourself is simple way keep motivated. In my example on fitness and going to the gym, I can reward myself by buying a new set of running shoes in order to encourage myself to reach that 3 kms in 10 mins benchmark.
5. Revisit, revise and reassess if required
The flip side of tracking well is not tracking well. You may have to revise your goal or reassess any assumptions you may have made in order to be pragmatic and realistic about how achievable your goals really are.
Why is it important to revise our plans? Sometimes we set goals which are simply unrealistic, perhaps through no fault of our own. For example, dedicating two days each week to go to the gym could be too demanding on our schedules. Perhaps we have to pick the kids up from day care after work or we have a deadline which requires us to stay a bit later. Whatever the reasons, sometimes things don’t pan out as we originally planned. That’s ok, all we need to do is revise our plans. That could mean scaling back our commitments or planning around them. If work is making us stay back late, perhaps we can consider going to the gym in the mornings or take shorter lunch breaks.
One common mistake I see people make is punishing themselves when they fail to meet a certain commitment. For example, if I have committed to two days per week of going to the gym, missing one session may provoke a vengeful reaction from my inner self. I can punish myself by promising to go three times next week. In my experience, this is usually a bad idea for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we may make good on our promise in the short term but seldom would it work in the longer term. So what happens if we miss another session or another or another? Are we going to keep promising to have three session weeks? Secondly, it associates a negative thing to our goal. Given enough occurrences of this negative thing, we may give up the goal entirely which is obviously something which we do not want to happen.
I prefer the approach of revising our plans or our initial assumptions. This keeps our mind focused on the positives of our goal and outcomes. The trick is to determine the fine line in the sand between revising our goals because the assumptions were incorrect and our general “slackness” in working at our next tasks and actions.
In conclusion
The 5 steps I have described above hopefully can provide you with a framework for accomplishing your goals. Remember, start with a well defined goal by ensuring you describe the 6 characteristics of a good goal. If you want more reading material, you can also take a look at Steve Pavlina’s latest post in which he talks about setting goals you will actually achieve. Once you have your goal defined, identify the next immediate tasks and actions. Then set aside some time and block it out so you can actually dedicate some brain power and resources to completing them. Frequently review your progress and either reward yourself or revise your plans.
If you have any comments about goal setting and this simple 5 step framework, feel free to leave a comment.
Most of the time I think we can cruise through life without having any major goals. However, for things that are truly worth accomplishing, specifying the ins and outs of a goal is pretty important. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few simple steps we can follow to describe how we can approach our goals and ensure we accomplish them?
Well, here’s my attempt at defining a nice simple 5 step framework anyone can follow. In this post, I’ll use losing weight, getting fit and going to the gym as one concrete example. However, you can apply it to any goal you have as the steps are equally as relevant.
1. Define your goal and give it shape
The very first thing you need to do is to define your goal. After all, without knowing what the goal actually is, how can you go about accomplishing it?
Goal setting is an art form. It is about articulating what your goal is about, being realistic in whether you can accomplish it or not and providing the metrics to track your progress. I’ve written about the characteristics of a good goal before, so read that post first if you haven’t yet done so.
To give your goal shape, I find it is helpful to actually write it down. Get a fresh piece of paper and describe each of the following characteristics for your goal.
In my example of losing weight and getting fit:
Conceivable: I intend to lose 24 kgs within 12 months and be capable of running 3 kms in 10 mins.
Achievable: I am able to commit to two 90 min sessions. With a proper training program and commitment, I am assured by various fitness instructors that this is achievable.
Measurable: I will track how many kgs I lose each month. In the simpliest scenario, I must lose 2 kgs per month to attain my goal.
Aligned: Losing weight and getting fit is congruent to my other goals in life which is about being happy about who I am and how I look.
Worthwhile: I acknowledge this is a challenging task, but it is something worth accomplishing. I would like to live a healthy life so I can watch my kids grow up and get married.
Desirable: This is something I truly wish to accomplish and will do everything I can to attain it. I desire this more than eating fried chickens and carrot cakes.
2. Identify the next few tasks
Once you have your goal properly defined and shaped, identify the next few tasks you need to do in relation to your goal. Unlike traditional project management where you define all the tasks, dependencies and contingencies, this step is about identifying the next few tasks only.
Why the next few only? There are a couple of reasons: Firstly, unless you are used to planning or have a crystal ball, there is no way you can accurately plan every single action you need to take to accomplish your goal. Secondly, you can only work on a few things at a time, so all you need is a few actions to start the ball rolling.
In my example, the next tasks to being fit and healthy are:
Assess the equipment, staff and pricing for all local gyms.
Buy two sets of appropriate gym wear.
Get some good headphones to plug into the gym’s music system.
Free up all after work commitments for Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Although there are possibly a myriad of other tasks I would have to act on to accomplish this goal, they are not essentially the next tasks. For example, getting a trainer and an exercise program are tasks I can only perform after signing up with a particular gym so I don’t bother writing these down now.
Try it for yourself. First write down the definition of your goal. On the same piece of paper, write down the next 3-5 things you need to do in relation to this goal.
3. Set aside time and work through your tasks
After you have defined your goal and identified the next tasks and actions, prepare some time to actually work on them. One effective technique I have found which works for me is Time boxing. Essentially, Time boxing is a technique in which we limit the amount of time we spend on a given task. So instead of working until the task is “done”, we spend say 30 mins on it. It is either “done” at that point or we schedule another 30 mins to work on it another time. Time boxing is effective because we instantly focus on what’s important, avoid potential overruns and can act as a motivator against procrastination.
Another thing I should mention here is the importance of actually dedicating a time slot for working at your tasks. By this I mean, actually blocking out a period in the day or week in which you are actively looking at your task list and crossing things off. The reason why this is important is because we can have busy lives and sometimes we use this as an excuse not to do something. By allocating time, we have no excuses and can also establish good habits and positive patterns.
In my example, blocking out 90 mins on Tuesday and Thursday nights after work applies both the Time boxing and the regular routine techniques to my weekly patterns.
4. Review and reward
One of the most important thing about accomplishing goals is measuring your progress and reviewing your goal and assumptions as you go. If you are measuring well against your goal, you can reward yourself.
The trick about reviewing your goals and tasks is to pick a system that you trust. Some people prefer the paper based planners, whilst others prefer the electronic alternatives like a PDA or Microsoft Outlook. As far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is to have a system you trust and will look at periodically. In the past, I used Outlook to track my outstanding tasks. However, this has proved ineffective for me because I split my day between work and home and never do I have a single Outlook installation which has both my “work” and “personal” tasks available at the same time. As a consequence, I didn’t look at the tasks periodically and eventually stopped adding them altogether.
Why is it important to reward yourself? Well, some goals are difficult to accomplish and may require both time and ongoing effort. Rewarding yourself is simple way keep motivated. In my example on fitness and going to the gym, I can reward myself by buying a new set of running shoes in order to encourage myself to reach that 3 kms in 10 mins benchmark.
5. Revisit, revise and reassess if required
The flip side of tracking well is not tracking well. You may have to revise your goal or reassess any assumptions you may have made in order to be pragmatic and realistic about how achievable your goals really are.
Why is it important to revise our plans? Sometimes we set goals which are simply unrealistic, perhaps through no fault of our own. For example, dedicating two days each week to go to the gym could be too demanding on our schedules. Perhaps we have to pick the kids up from day care after work or we have a deadline which requires us to stay a bit later. Whatever the reasons, sometimes things don’t pan out as we originally planned. That’s ok, all we need to do is revise our plans. That could mean scaling back our commitments or planning around them. If work is making us stay back late, perhaps we can consider going to the gym in the mornings or take shorter lunch breaks.
One common mistake I see people make is punishing themselves when they fail to meet a certain commitment. For example, if I have committed to two days per week of going to the gym, missing one session may provoke a vengeful reaction from my inner self. I can punish myself by promising to go three times next week. In my experience, this is usually a bad idea for a couple of reasons. Firstly, we may make good on our promise in the short term but seldom would it work in the longer term. So what happens if we miss another session or another or another? Are we going to keep promising to have three session weeks? Secondly, it associates a negative thing to our goal. Given enough occurrences of this negative thing, we may give up the goal entirely which is obviously something which we do not want to happen.
I prefer the approach of revising our plans or our initial assumptions. This keeps our mind focused on the positives of our goal and outcomes. The trick is to determine the fine line in the sand between revising our goals because the assumptions were incorrect and our general “slackness” in working at our next tasks and actions.
In conclusion
The 5 steps I have described above hopefully can provide you with a framework for accomplishing your goals. Remember, start with a well defined goal by ensuring you describe the 6 characteristics of a good goal. If you want more reading material, you can also take a look at Steve Pavlina’s latest post in which he talks about setting goals you will actually achieve. Once you have your goal defined, identify the next immediate tasks and actions. Then set aside some time and block it out so you can actually dedicate some brain power and resources to completing them. Frequently review your progress and either reward yourself or revise your plans.
If you have any comments about goal setting and this simple 5 step framework, feel free to leave a comment.
7 TIPS FOR ACCOMPLISHING YOUR GOALS
7 TIPS FOR ACCOMPLISHING YOUR GOALS
When it comes to accomplishing our goals we’re encouraged to reach for the stars and set big hairy audacious goals. Although it’s great to be ambitious when we set goals like this, we get so overwhelmed by how we’re going to actually manage to accomplish such things that we don’t bother to take action in the first place. As a result our goals simply remain unrealized dreams.
With a few changes in the way we do things and the adoption of some simple mindsets we can make progress towards our goals much faster.
Bite Off Less Than You Can Chew
Most people never take action or stop half way to the goal line because they bite off more than they can chew. Eventually the goal they have in mind goes from being the pursuit of a dream to a daily chore. As a result they lose the motivation to work on a goal and before they know it the goal is yet another thing they didn’t follow through on.
By starting with bite sized pieces, our view of how much progress we’ve made shifts dramatically. Let’s say you want to write a book. Rather than concerning yourself with finishing the whole book, focus on finishing the first chapter or even the first page. It’s far less daunting and you will actually feel a sense of accomplishment as opposed to feeling like you’re goal is so far off.
Take Action Daily
The only way to get any sort of result is to take action towards a goal. By taking action every single day you create momentum. As momentum increases, the results taken from your action will become much more substantial, and eventually you’ll be at a point where you actually can’t stop because you’ve reached the point of no return.
Celebrate Small Victories
When you assess the progress towards a goal you have choices. You can either focus on how far you have to go or look at how far you’ve come. When you do the latter, it tends to motivate and inspire you. When you do the former it demoralizes and demotivates you. We’re so caught up in getting to where we want to go that we forget to enjoy the journey and celebrate the small victories along the way.
Learn from Setbacks
Setbacks and failure are a part of accomplishing anything worth doing in life. In almost every story of massive success that you’ll come across, there are MAJOR setbacks that took place. Setbacks are usually opportunity in disguise and we have to remember that sometimes we’ll take 2 steps back in order take 20 steps forward. If you look back over the course of your life you’ll notice the serendipitous nature of setbacks.
Keep Charging Forward
Many people tend to give up on a goal when they feel stuck or as though there is not light at the end of tunnel. One of the best ways to get past this is to adopt that attitude belief that when you feel the most frustrated and most ready to give up, you’re on the verge of a major breakthrough. It would be a shame to make so much progress towards a goal and abandon the pursuit in your final hours. Often, accomplishment occurs on the final hours of a goal.
Take a Break
We live in a world today where people seem intent on moving a million miles an hour. As a result people suffer from anxiety and diseases that didn’t exist before we got ourselves in such a hurry. It’s important to make a point daily to take a break from everything and do something without any purpose other than for the enjoyment of whatever you’re doing. Don’t walk for the sake of exercise. Just walk for the sake of walking.
Detach from the Outcome
Our need for instant gratification is so strong that when we don’t see a result form something we’re working on immediately we become tempted to abandon its pursuit. But consider the actions you take the seeds that you plant in order for your goal to come to fruition. If you pull those seeds out of the ground to check on the progress of their growth you’re essentially starting the process all over again. So, let nature take its course and stay detached from the outcome.
Treat your goals as part of the game of life and don’t take everything so seriously. If you do that you’ll find yourself not only enjoying the process but making much more progress.
When it comes to accomplishing our goals we’re encouraged to reach for the stars and set big hairy audacious goals. Although it’s great to be ambitious when we set goals like this, we get so overwhelmed by how we’re going to actually manage to accomplish such things that we don’t bother to take action in the first place. As a result our goals simply remain unrealized dreams.
With a few changes in the way we do things and the adoption of some simple mindsets we can make progress towards our goals much faster.
Bite Off Less Than You Can Chew
Most people never take action or stop half way to the goal line because they bite off more than they can chew. Eventually the goal they have in mind goes from being the pursuit of a dream to a daily chore. As a result they lose the motivation to work on a goal and before they know it the goal is yet another thing they didn’t follow through on.
By starting with bite sized pieces, our view of how much progress we’ve made shifts dramatically. Let’s say you want to write a book. Rather than concerning yourself with finishing the whole book, focus on finishing the first chapter or even the first page. It’s far less daunting and you will actually feel a sense of accomplishment as opposed to feeling like you’re goal is so far off.
Take Action Daily
The only way to get any sort of result is to take action towards a goal. By taking action every single day you create momentum. As momentum increases, the results taken from your action will become much more substantial, and eventually you’ll be at a point where you actually can’t stop because you’ve reached the point of no return.
Celebrate Small Victories
When you assess the progress towards a goal you have choices. You can either focus on how far you have to go or look at how far you’ve come. When you do the latter, it tends to motivate and inspire you. When you do the former it demoralizes and demotivates you. We’re so caught up in getting to where we want to go that we forget to enjoy the journey and celebrate the small victories along the way.
Learn from Setbacks
Setbacks and failure are a part of accomplishing anything worth doing in life. In almost every story of massive success that you’ll come across, there are MAJOR setbacks that took place. Setbacks are usually opportunity in disguise and we have to remember that sometimes we’ll take 2 steps back in order take 20 steps forward. If you look back over the course of your life you’ll notice the serendipitous nature of setbacks.
Keep Charging Forward
Many people tend to give up on a goal when they feel stuck or as though there is not light at the end of tunnel. One of the best ways to get past this is to adopt that attitude belief that when you feel the most frustrated and most ready to give up, you’re on the verge of a major breakthrough. It would be a shame to make so much progress towards a goal and abandon the pursuit in your final hours. Often, accomplishment occurs on the final hours of a goal.
Take a Break
We live in a world today where people seem intent on moving a million miles an hour. As a result people suffer from anxiety and diseases that didn’t exist before we got ourselves in such a hurry. It’s important to make a point daily to take a break from everything and do something without any purpose other than for the enjoyment of whatever you’re doing. Don’t walk for the sake of exercise. Just walk for the sake of walking.
Detach from the Outcome
Our need for instant gratification is so strong that when we don’t see a result form something we’re working on immediately we become tempted to abandon its pursuit. But consider the actions you take the seeds that you plant in order for your goal to come to fruition. If you pull those seeds out of the ground to check on the progress of their growth you’re essentially starting the process all over again. So, let nature take its course and stay detached from the outcome.
Treat your goals as part of the game of life and don’t take everything so seriously. If you do that you’ll find yourself not only enjoying the process but making much more progress.
HOW TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS? BY M.S.RAO
HOW TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS? BY M.S.RAO
ABSTRACT
The article highlights about the problems being faced by many people in recognizing their inner strengths and the problems involved in setting goals and achieving the same. The concepts like treasure mapping, visualization and stretch goals have been talked about in this article. It dwells in depth about the concept of goal, its significance and ‘why do people fail?’ The goal setting for students by taking Indian Civil Services Examination as an example has been created so that the same can serve as a case study and which will serve as an approach for other careers for all students. The article lays emphasis on Indian culture of goal setting. The author has mentioned the types of goals and evolved a new concept ‘MSR Goals’ at the end. The tools and techniques and the innovative methods that can be deployed to accomplish the goals is focussed. At the end, the practical problems related to goal setting, obstacles involved, how to overcome the same has been effectively addressed to reach one’s cherished goals.
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“ THE WORLD MAKES WAY FOR THE MAN WHO KNOWS WHERE HE IS GOING” – RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
WHAT IS GOAL SETTING?
Every human being has an inherent, innate urge to grow and get recognition. It is natural trait amongst all the human beings to do something unique and extraordinary in order to get noticed. It is because of this strong desire, man invented many things right from the Stone Age and evolved himself as the most intelligent animal that can talk, memorize and reason. All the latest technology, comforts, innovations, inventions etc., are the result of the root desire to excel and get noticed from the crowd. Although all human beings are gifted with many qualities and traits, it is only a few who explore their inherent strengths and succeed in the society. And the majority gets absorbed in the crowd. Goal setting as a tool had been existing since time immemorial but very few realized that goal setting as a science and as a tool. All people those who succeeded from Stone Age to space age has set their goals one way or the other.
Goal setting is a wonderful and interesting tool and, if used as the right technique, man can succeed in his life. The management books do lay stress on this as it has become a vital and pivotal for the success of any institution or organization. In this century and especially in the recent years this tool is being added in various academic institutions in order to get the best results.
IMPORTANCE:
Everyone has a goal either directly or indirectly and whether one pursues seriously or casually and whether knowing it consciously or unconsciously. Goal setting as a tool can unlock the vast hidden human potential. Harvey Mackay quoted, “ Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day. Goals tend to tap the deeper resources and draw the best out of life”.
Goal setting as an idea can change the world within you and around you. It makes an individual to plan properly. It provides a sense of direction and prepares one to organize himself properly. It constantly awakens an individual to remain alert both physically and mentally. It builds up confidence and competency. It raises the levels of energy and enthusiasm. It cultivates passion and it brings out the best from the people. And it helps in managing one’s time efficiently and effectively.
TYPES OF GOALS:
Goals vary from person to person depending upon the values one cherishes. For example, the goal of Mahatma Gandhi was to attain independence for our country from British. The goal of a sportsman is to win goals medals in Olympics. The role of a businessman is to stand numero uno in his business line. The goal of a student is to stand first in his class or to stand first among all institutions. Likewise goals differ from individual to individual depending upon his tastes and temperaments.
However, the goals are basically divided into short term and long term goals. Again, the span of long term and short term differs from context to context. Usually less than a year, it is known as short-term goal and if it is more than a year, it is known as long term goals. One needs to have both short term and long term goals and one must see that these two are closely related. To lay stress on the significance of long term goals Charles C. Noble rightly said, “You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short term failures”.
For instance, if some one wants to become a successful businessman, he must set his short term goals in such a way that the successes or achievements made out of the short term goals must be intertwined with his long term goal. Even if there are short falls or set backs resulting out of short-term goals, the long-term goal will not be lost sight of as aptly said by Charles C. Noble.
In marketing language, goals are known as targets and the marketing people continuously strive to reach their marketing targets. By this way also the companies expand their business.
Jack Welch of General Electric (GE) highlighted about stretch goals. When the goals are stretched, people work with more dedication, determination and discipline. Because stretching oneself leads to touching upper limits and touching one’s upper limits bring a great sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. One way the stretch goals are encouraging and enlightening and force an individual to stretch to greater limits.
HOW TO SET YOUR GOALS?
Abraham Lincoln said, “ A goal properly set is half way reached”. First, find out the strengths and weaknesses and list it out. It is desirable to consult your trusted colleagues to assist you in this exercise. All human beings have biases and prejudices. And if assessed by yourself it may not give you correct analysis. Acquire the correct analysis and report of your strengths and weaknesses. After listing out your strengths in the assets side and weaknesses in the liability side, you can deeply analyze and can come to a conclusion about your personality profile. Then you list out your inner ambitions and goals whether they are matching with your profile. Whether it can be attained or reachable and what are all the obstacles or hindrances or the stumbling blocks on the way to reach the same. It is a typical mental exercise but once the process is completed it is almost like a winning half of the battle.
All efforts must be made very clear to see that the goals are not conflicting and contradicting with each other. Check whether your goals are in tune with your principles, policies, philosophy and ideals. If found to be in tune than go ahead. It is like what Epictetus said, “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do”. The next stage is to break the goals into smaller parts or elements. You can also divide the goals into short term and long-term goals. Here another important thing is to commit your goals on paper. Some one rightly said, “Write it down. Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants; can’t into cans; dreams into plans; and plans into reality. Don’t just think it – ink it! ” Studies revealed that 95 percent of the people don’t write their goals and it is only 5 per cent write and their success rate is higher.
After classifying written goals into short term and long term goals, break down the tasks further on a daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly and annual based. By executing in this way you will get focussed and it becomes easier for you to monitor your performance periodically. It is like a few people making annual resolutions on every New Year day and tracking the same at the end of the calendar year.
Goals should be set in such a way that you must be able to work with passion rather than under compulsion. While setting the goals there should not be any influence from parental side, family side or friends’ side. And don’t set the same goals, which others have set and succeeded, as goals will vary from person to person based on attitude and aptitude. In a nutshell, don’t copy others’ goals.
While setting goals, usually set small, achievable, and reachable goals. Any effort to set bigger goals in the initial stage itself will lead to failure and becoming a demotivating factor and thereby upsetting the apple cart. Global steel giant Mr.Lakhsmi Niwas Mittal said, “Set realistic and achievable goals. After achieving the same, set further higher goals”. For each goal there should be a deadline and fixed time frame. Ensure that the goals have multiutility purposes and objectives. At times intuition can prove handy in setting goals.
It is rightly said, “A successful person doesn’t quit trying once a goal is reached, but sets a new one and keeps going”. Always reward yourself after reaching each small goal. It boosts your energy levels and also serves as a motivational tool.
GOALSETTING FOR STUDENTS:
Students should recognize their inner and inherent abilities in the childhood itself. A goal, which is focussed for a long time and that too from the tender age itself, will become more meaningful and realistic. “Goals are discovered, not made”, said Richard J. Foster. In this context, the parents must play a pivotal role to find out the hidden talents of their children by scientific or psychometric analysis tests and must nurture the children. Simultaneously, teachers have also a vital role to play in this context. They are also involved in shaping the minds of the students. If the approach is triangular i.e. from parental, teacher and from the student level then the probability of reaching goals faster and quicker are brighter.
If a student dream of becoming an IAS (Indian Administrative Service which is a prestigious civil servant post in India), he should get equipped him right from the elementary school level itself. For this, there should be both short term and long term goals. In short term goals, the student should stand first in the class by reading the entire subjects voraciously from different dimensions. He must be a good leader in the school level itself by organizing various social and cultural activities. He must excel in all types of competition such as quizzes, essay writing, extempore speech etc., He must also participate in sports and extra curricular activities, which builds qualities like team spirit, camaraderie, killer instinct, organizing ability and sociability. Like wise, he must be all rounder right from the school level itself so that when he comes to higher level of education he will have strong foundation. Rather he will become jack of all trades and when he joins in degree level he will become master of a particular trade.
The short-term goals, which he achieved, will indirectly correlate to his long-term goals of becoming a prestigious civil servant. The extracurricular activities like reading newspaper daily, winning in essay writing, extempore speeches; debates will groom him to become an eligible participant for civil services. The student is sure to succeed in the competition examinations and will come out with flying colors because he knows something of everything and everything of something. Such a wonderful example of a particular career is given to effectively combine both short-term goals and long term goals chronologically and systematically in order to make it like a case study for all students with a career of his choice.
GOALSETTING IN INDIA:
Although goal setting is a universal thing, there will be difference in analysis and application of this tool from one country to country because of diversified cultural, social, political and economical backgrounds. In the case of India, goal setting is based on herd mentality/instinct, and it is mostly dictated and directed by parental wishes and guidance. Rather to put in a nutshell, goal setting is not based on aptitude but on attitude. Once upon a time, going for Class I Indian Civil Services Examination was considered respectable and commendable. Many students showed their eagerness to get into these services because of the prestige and power associated and attached to it. Gradually things changed the other way round with the changing times, technology, tastes and temperaments.
Indians are basically strong at mathematics and now they are strong at Information Technology. Students began concentrating on professional qualifications like engineering, medicine and management. These days everyone wants to become an engineer or doctor or a management executive. It is basically because to get fat pay and perks, to get placements faster and to get settled quicker with comforts. So we can conclude that Indian culture of goal setting is purely based on herd instinct. Parents also want the quick settlement of their children in their lives.
WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL?
“The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time”, quoted Sydney Smiles. People fix too many goals at a time and get confused. The so-called multitasking is not effective in goal setting, as the individual is not able to focus on a singular activity with concentration. Such things lead to confusion and chaos resulting in failures. And it is a known fact that failure rarely stimulates positive vibes except in case of a few extraordinary individuals.
Some people are good starters but are poor finishers. When they are faced with obstacles their initial enthusiasm gets fizzled out thereby neglecting their goals. Overconfidence is the worst enemy. People tend to rate themselves as superior humans and take everything for granted resulting in failures. Some people are a confused lot and they keep changing their goals frequently resulting in a fiasco. Lack of involvement and resources could result in giving up goals.
Setting unrealistic goals could prove to be counter productive. People often fail to break a big goal into small elements and make futile efforts to achieve and fail miserably. Lack of sincere and sustained efforts may be another reason. “Vision without action is a day dream, action without vision is a nightmare”, goes the Japanese proverb. In few cases people work without any proper planning thus resulting into a fiasco. People often get confused between hard work and smart work. In fact what is needed is the combination of hard work and smart work that can deliver healthy and positive goods to reach goals. Improper time management is one of the key reasons to failures. Procrastination is the thief of time. People are in the habit of postponing the difficult tasks thus resulting into procrastination. Once the goal is set there has to be determination to reach by any means. In some cases, people do not organize actively towards their goals due to lethargy. In this context Elbert Hubrard clearly said, “Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal”.
OBSTACLES TO GOAL SETTING:
The globally renowned American author, Dale Carnegie said that man had to conquer six types of fears. Firstly, fear of criticism, secondly fear of failure, thirdly fear of old age, fourthly fear of poverty, fifthly fear of ill health and sixthly fear of death. It is fundamentally both the fear of failure and fear of criticism that are the stumbling blocks to goal achievement. People tend to bother and tend to be oversensitive and as a result, they fail to retry even after their repeated failures. One should make a note that success is the product of successive failures.
Wavering mind is the worst enemy of a man. Once the goal is fixed the mind should neither wander nor waver from the goals. People, at times, get engaged with too many other activities resulting in ineffective concentration on goals. Lack of emotional support either from family or friends can divert the attention. Inadequate resources may become another obstacle. People are often faced with internal and external threats. In most of the cases, the internal threats can be managed. Where as the external threats can not be managed effectively which are in fact beyond human control. Even if one is sidetracked temporarily due to threats he must be able to place himself on the right track mentally. Things like insecurity at times become another major mental block.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS:
Always develop the ability and capability to hit the bulls’ eye. Periodically monitor and review your goals. Whenever you reach your goals, try to reward yourself with a small break or holiday or a gift which drives your energy level to the higher level. Regularly check yourself whether you are sidetracked or sidelined from your committed or chosen path. Set reminders to cross check whether you are on the fast track or not.
Daily read the written goals once in the early morning when you get up from your bed and again when you go to bed. By doing so, your goals will automatically go to your subconscious mind which will serve as a reminder whenever your mind goes out of sight or out of the way of your chosen goals. Try to come out from your comfort zone and enter into effective zone, which brings thrill and joy and keeps you going. Always attempt to touch your upper limits. Once you reached a goal, set tougher goals so that you tend to touch your upper limits further.
Try to motivate and hypnotize your mind and visualize that you have reached your goals. Treasure mapping and visualization work as a wonderful tool to reach your destination. Close your eyes for some time, picturize and visualize the success and then open your eyes, you will find yourself with radiating energy and enthusiasm. It refreshes and recharges your mind.
Daily allocate fixed amount of time for your both short and long term goals. Try to remove your psychological and mental blocks and myths, which hinder to the path of reaching your goals. Create a friend circle that contributes towards your goals and values either directly or indirectly. Collaborate your different goals into one and streamline rather than indulging in conflicting, confrontational and competing goals.
You should always be guided with single objective, which must be highly focussed. In the Hindu epic – Mahabharat, the teacher Dronacharya was often blamed by his students who belong to the faction of Kauravas and especially Duryodan that he was showing partiality to Arjun of Pandava faction. The teacher Dronacharya who was vexed with frequent allegations by Duryodan offered a test to showcase the skills what Arjun possessed. Dronacharya arranged a fish, which was kept hanging with a thread with in a tree and asked all his students to tell what did they see in the tree. Every one could not notice the fish and said that they found leaves and fruits. But it was only Arjun who said to his teacher (Dronacharya) that he was able to see an eye (i.e. eye of a fish). It shows that Arjun was highly focussed on his goal (i.e. eye of a fish) not even the fish. Then Dronacharya told his students that all his students were equal but it was Arjun who was more dedicated, concentrated and focussed on his goals. Therefore, you must stay focussed on your goals and that is the mantra of success and the secret of success.
Wherever it is possible, simplify your life by removing complexities. Be committed and always do not say ‘yes’ to all other unrelated tasks for the sake of courtesy as such things will divert and divest you of your objectives. Try to keep motivational and inspirational postures related to your goal at your home and at your work places. The author has a poster of Swami Vivekananda with a slogan, “Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached” at his bedroom which constantly motivates and takes him towards his goal. Listen to the audio CDs related to your goals and watch video CDs that will elevate you. Always think, dream and sleep with your goals and one day, you would find that you have reached your goals and the entire world applauding over your achievements.
CONCLUSION:
The road from nowhere to number one is not easy and it is an uphill task. It requires a lot of planning, organizing, directing, preparation, controlling both internal and external deviations, which might sidetrack or sideline the cherished goals. Materially, motivationally and managerially, it requires a confluence of various factors and resources. In this context, Aristotle aptly said, “First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends, wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.”
You should accept goal setting as a strategy and adopt it as a powerful tool and technique. Set your goals rightly, get into the correct track, follow the right track and be always on the fast tract to reach your beloved and cherished goals.
M S R GOALS:
Jim Collins’ ‘Good to Great’ gave a tip to have ‘Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals’.
Goals must be motivational and inspirational. The goals so set must move you constantly on your toes. It must provide daily fuel to your body and mind and energize with enthusiasm. Arnold H.Glasgow rightly said, “Make your life a mission – not an intermission”. Your life will be filled with energetic activity with a mission to achieve your goals.
Make your goals simulating and stimulating. The goals will make you to visualize your success in simulated conditions. Such simulated mental success will in fact raise your interest to achieve your goals in realistic world.
When you set reachable and practical realizable goals, then there will be a higher success rate to accomplish your goals. When one set practically possible goals it enhances confidence to move ahead with optimism and dynamism.
MESSAGE:
Never change your goals. Setting goals is like setting your destination towards success. If required, change only your strategies to reach your destination but not the destination itself, however problematic the path towards your destination might be. Madam Curie won Noble prize twice. She said that path to success was not easy. She always worked against all odds and reached her goals successfully.
Remember the wonderful words of Ursula K. Leguin, “It is good to have an end to journey, but it is the journey that matters in the end”.
ABSTRACT
The article highlights about the problems being faced by many people in recognizing their inner strengths and the problems involved in setting goals and achieving the same. The concepts like treasure mapping, visualization and stretch goals have been talked about in this article. It dwells in depth about the concept of goal, its significance and ‘why do people fail?’ The goal setting for students by taking Indian Civil Services Examination as an example has been created so that the same can serve as a case study and which will serve as an approach for other careers for all students. The article lays emphasis on Indian culture of goal setting. The author has mentioned the types of goals and evolved a new concept ‘MSR Goals’ at the end. The tools and techniques and the innovative methods that can be deployed to accomplish the goals is focussed. At the end, the practical problems related to goal setting, obstacles involved, how to overcome the same has been effectively addressed to reach one’s cherished goals.
* * *
“ THE WORLD MAKES WAY FOR THE MAN WHO KNOWS WHERE HE IS GOING” – RALPH WALDO EMERSON.
WHAT IS GOAL SETTING?
Every human being has an inherent, innate urge to grow and get recognition. It is natural trait amongst all the human beings to do something unique and extraordinary in order to get noticed. It is because of this strong desire, man invented many things right from the Stone Age and evolved himself as the most intelligent animal that can talk, memorize and reason. All the latest technology, comforts, innovations, inventions etc., are the result of the root desire to excel and get noticed from the crowd. Although all human beings are gifted with many qualities and traits, it is only a few who explore their inherent strengths and succeed in the society. And the majority gets absorbed in the crowd. Goal setting as a tool had been existing since time immemorial but very few realized that goal setting as a science and as a tool. All people those who succeeded from Stone Age to space age has set their goals one way or the other.
Goal setting is a wonderful and interesting tool and, if used as the right technique, man can succeed in his life. The management books do lay stress on this as it has become a vital and pivotal for the success of any institution or organization. In this century and especially in the recent years this tool is being added in various academic institutions in order to get the best results.
IMPORTANCE:
Everyone has a goal either directly or indirectly and whether one pursues seriously or casually and whether knowing it consciously or unconsciously. Goal setting as a tool can unlock the vast hidden human potential. Harvey Mackay quoted, “ Goals give you more than a reason to get up in the morning; they are an incentive to keep you going all day. Goals tend to tap the deeper resources and draw the best out of life”.
Goal setting as an idea can change the world within you and around you. It makes an individual to plan properly. It provides a sense of direction and prepares one to organize himself properly. It constantly awakens an individual to remain alert both physically and mentally. It builds up confidence and competency. It raises the levels of energy and enthusiasm. It cultivates passion and it brings out the best from the people. And it helps in managing one’s time efficiently and effectively.
TYPES OF GOALS:
Goals vary from person to person depending upon the values one cherishes. For example, the goal of Mahatma Gandhi was to attain independence for our country from British. The goal of a sportsman is to win goals medals in Olympics. The role of a businessman is to stand numero uno in his business line. The goal of a student is to stand first in his class or to stand first among all institutions. Likewise goals differ from individual to individual depending upon his tastes and temperaments.
However, the goals are basically divided into short term and long term goals. Again, the span of long term and short term differs from context to context. Usually less than a year, it is known as short-term goal and if it is more than a year, it is known as long term goals. One needs to have both short term and long term goals and one must see that these two are closely related. To lay stress on the significance of long term goals Charles C. Noble rightly said, “You must have long term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short term failures”.
For instance, if some one wants to become a successful businessman, he must set his short term goals in such a way that the successes or achievements made out of the short term goals must be intertwined with his long term goal. Even if there are short falls or set backs resulting out of short-term goals, the long-term goal will not be lost sight of as aptly said by Charles C. Noble.
In marketing language, goals are known as targets and the marketing people continuously strive to reach their marketing targets. By this way also the companies expand their business.
Jack Welch of General Electric (GE) highlighted about stretch goals. When the goals are stretched, people work with more dedication, determination and discipline. Because stretching oneself leads to touching upper limits and touching one’s upper limits bring a great sense of fulfillment and satisfaction. One way the stretch goals are encouraging and enlightening and force an individual to stretch to greater limits.
HOW TO SET YOUR GOALS?
Abraham Lincoln said, “ A goal properly set is half way reached”. First, find out the strengths and weaknesses and list it out. It is desirable to consult your trusted colleagues to assist you in this exercise. All human beings have biases and prejudices. And if assessed by yourself it may not give you correct analysis. Acquire the correct analysis and report of your strengths and weaknesses. After listing out your strengths in the assets side and weaknesses in the liability side, you can deeply analyze and can come to a conclusion about your personality profile. Then you list out your inner ambitions and goals whether they are matching with your profile. Whether it can be attained or reachable and what are all the obstacles or hindrances or the stumbling blocks on the way to reach the same. It is a typical mental exercise but once the process is completed it is almost like a winning half of the battle.
All efforts must be made very clear to see that the goals are not conflicting and contradicting with each other. Check whether your goals are in tune with your principles, policies, philosophy and ideals. If found to be in tune than go ahead. It is like what Epictetus said, “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do”. The next stage is to break the goals into smaller parts or elements. You can also divide the goals into short term and long-term goals. Here another important thing is to commit your goals on paper. Some one rightly said, “Write it down. Written goals have a way of transforming wishes into wants; can’t into cans; dreams into plans; and plans into reality. Don’t just think it – ink it! ” Studies revealed that 95 percent of the people don’t write their goals and it is only 5 per cent write and their success rate is higher.
After classifying written goals into short term and long term goals, break down the tasks further on a daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly and annual based. By executing in this way you will get focussed and it becomes easier for you to monitor your performance periodically. It is like a few people making annual resolutions on every New Year day and tracking the same at the end of the calendar year.
Goals should be set in such a way that you must be able to work with passion rather than under compulsion. While setting the goals there should not be any influence from parental side, family side or friends’ side. And don’t set the same goals, which others have set and succeeded, as goals will vary from person to person based on attitude and aptitude. In a nutshell, don’t copy others’ goals.
While setting goals, usually set small, achievable, and reachable goals. Any effort to set bigger goals in the initial stage itself will lead to failure and becoming a demotivating factor and thereby upsetting the apple cart. Global steel giant Mr.Lakhsmi Niwas Mittal said, “Set realistic and achievable goals. After achieving the same, set further higher goals”. For each goal there should be a deadline and fixed time frame. Ensure that the goals have multiutility purposes and objectives. At times intuition can prove handy in setting goals.
It is rightly said, “A successful person doesn’t quit trying once a goal is reached, but sets a new one and keeps going”. Always reward yourself after reaching each small goal. It boosts your energy levels and also serves as a motivational tool.
GOALSETTING FOR STUDENTS:
Students should recognize their inner and inherent abilities in the childhood itself. A goal, which is focussed for a long time and that too from the tender age itself, will become more meaningful and realistic. “Goals are discovered, not made”, said Richard J. Foster. In this context, the parents must play a pivotal role to find out the hidden talents of their children by scientific or psychometric analysis tests and must nurture the children. Simultaneously, teachers have also a vital role to play in this context. They are also involved in shaping the minds of the students. If the approach is triangular i.e. from parental, teacher and from the student level then the probability of reaching goals faster and quicker are brighter.
If a student dream of becoming an IAS (Indian Administrative Service which is a prestigious civil servant post in India), he should get equipped him right from the elementary school level itself. For this, there should be both short term and long term goals. In short term goals, the student should stand first in the class by reading the entire subjects voraciously from different dimensions. He must be a good leader in the school level itself by organizing various social and cultural activities. He must excel in all types of competition such as quizzes, essay writing, extempore speech etc., He must also participate in sports and extra curricular activities, which builds qualities like team spirit, camaraderie, killer instinct, organizing ability and sociability. Like wise, he must be all rounder right from the school level itself so that when he comes to higher level of education he will have strong foundation. Rather he will become jack of all trades and when he joins in degree level he will become master of a particular trade.
The short-term goals, which he achieved, will indirectly correlate to his long-term goals of becoming a prestigious civil servant. The extracurricular activities like reading newspaper daily, winning in essay writing, extempore speeches; debates will groom him to become an eligible participant for civil services. The student is sure to succeed in the competition examinations and will come out with flying colors because he knows something of everything and everything of something. Such a wonderful example of a particular career is given to effectively combine both short-term goals and long term goals chronologically and systematically in order to make it like a case study for all students with a career of his choice.
GOALSETTING IN INDIA:
Although goal setting is a universal thing, there will be difference in analysis and application of this tool from one country to country because of diversified cultural, social, political and economical backgrounds. In the case of India, goal setting is based on herd mentality/instinct, and it is mostly dictated and directed by parental wishes and guidance. Rather to put in a nutshell, goal setting is not based on aptitude but on attitude. Once upon a time, going for Class I Indian Civil Services Examination was considered respectable and commendable. Many students showed their eagerness to get into these services because of the prestige and power associated and attached to it. Gradually things changed the other way round with the changing times, technology, tastes and temperaments.
Indians are basically strong at mathematics and now they are strong at Information Technology. Students began concentrating on professional qualifications like engineering, medicine and management. These days everyone wants to become an engineer or doctor or a management executive. It is basically because to get fat pay and perks, to get placements faster and to get settled quicker with comforts. So we can conclude that Indian culture of goal setting is purely based on herd instinct. Parents also want the quick settlement of their children in their lives.
WHY DO PEOPLE FAIL?
“The shortest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time”, quoted Sydney Smiles. People fix too many goals at a time and get confused. The so-called multitasking is not effective in goal setting, as the individual is not able to focus on a singular activity with concentration. Such things lead to confusion and chaos resulting in failures. And it is a known fact that failure rarely stimulates positive vibes except in case of a few extraordinary individuals.
Some people are good starters but are poor finishers. When they are faced with obstacles their initial enthusiasm gets fizzled out thereby neglecting their goals. Overconfidence is the worst enemy. People tend to rate themselves as superior humans and take everything for granted resulting in failures. Some people are a confused lot and they keep changing their goals frequently resulting in a fiasco. Lack of involvement and resources could result in giving up goals.
Setting unrealistic goals could prove to be counter productive. People often fail to break a big goal into small elements and make futile efforts to achieve and fail miserably. Lack of sincere and sustained efforts may be another reason. “Vision without action is a day dream, action without vision is a nightmare”, goes the Japanese proverb. In few cases people work without any proper planning thus resulting into a fiasco. People often get confused between hard work and smart work. In fact what is needed is the combination of hard work and smart work that can deliver healthy and positive goods to reach goals. Improper time management is one of the key reasons to failures. Procrastination is the thief of time. People are in the habit of postponing the difficult tasks thus resulting into procrastination. Once the goal is set there has to be determination to reach by any means. In some cases, people do not organize actively towards their goals due to lethargy. In this context Elbert Hubrard clearly said, “Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal”.
OBSTACLES TO GOAL SETTING:
The globally renowned American author, Dale Carnegie said that man had to conquer six types of fears. Firstly, fear of criticism, secondly fear of failure, thirdly fear of old age, fourthly fear of poverty, fifthly fear of ill health and sixthly fear of death. It is fundamentally both the fear of failure and fear of criticism that are the stumbling blocks to goal achievement. People tend to bother and tend to be oversensitive and as a result, they fail to retry even after their repeated failures. One should make a note that success is the product of successive failures.
Wavering mind is the worst enemy of a man. Once the goal is fixed the mind should neither wander nor waver from the goals. People, at times, get engaged with too many other activities resulting in ineffective concentration on goals. Lack of emotional support either from family or friends can divert the attention. Inadequate resources may become another obstacle. People are often faced with internal and external threats. In most of the cases, the internal threats can be managed. Where as the external threats can not be managed effectively which are in fact beyond human control. Even if one is sidetracked temporarily due to threats he must be able to place himself on the right track mentally. Things like insecurity at times become another major mental block.
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES TO ACCOMPLISH YOUR GOALS:
Always develop the ability and capability to hit the bulls’ eye. Periodically monitor and review your goals. Whenever you reach your goals, try to reward yourself with a small break or holiday or a gift which drives your energy level to the higher level. Regularly check yourself whether you are sidetracked or sidelined from your committed or chosen path. Set reminders to cross check whether you are on the fast track or not.
Daily read the written goals once in the early morning when you get up from your bed and again when you go to bed. By doing so, your goals will automatically go to your subconscious mind which will serve as a reminder whenever your mind goes out of sight or out of the way of your chosen goals. Try to come out from your comfort zone and enter into effective zone, which brings thrill and joy and keeps you going. Always attempt to touch your upper limits. Once you reached a goal, set tougher goals so that you tend to touch your upper limits further.
Try to motivate and hypnotize your mind and visualize that you have reached your goals. Treasure mapping and visualization work as a wonderful tool to reach your destination. Close your eyes for some time, picturize and visualize the success and then open your eyes, you will find yourself with radiating energy and enthusiasm. It refreshes and recharges your mind.
Daily allocate fixed amount of time for your both short and long term goals. Try to remove your psychological and mental blocks and myths, which hinder to the path of reaching your goals. Create a friend circle that contributes towards your goals and values either directly or indirectly. Collaborate your different goals into one and streamline rather than indulging in conflicting, confrontational and competing goals.
You should always be guided with single objective, which must be highly focussed. In the Hindu epic – Mahabharat, the teacher Dronacharya was often blamed by his students who belong to the faction of Kauravas and especially Duryodan that he was showing partiality to Arjun of Pandava faction. The teacher Dronacharya who was vexed with frequent allegations by Duryodan offered a test to showcase the skills what Arjun possessed. Dronacharya arranged a fish, which was kept hanging with a thread with in a tree and asked all his students to tell what did they see in the tree. Every one could not notice the fish and said that they found leaves and fruits. But it was only Arjun who said to his teacher (Dronacharya) that he was able to see an eye (i.e. eye of a fish). It shows that Arjun was highly focussed on his goal (i.e. eye of a fish) not even the fish. Then Dronacharya told his students that all his students were equal but it was Arjun who was more dedicated, concentrated and focussed on his goals. Therefore, you must stay focussed on your goals and that is the mantra of success and the secret of success.
Wherever it is possible, simplify your life by removing complexities. Be committed and always do not say ‘yes’ to all other unrelated tasks for the sake of courtesy as such things will divert and divest you of your objectives. Try to keep motivational and inspirational postures related to your goal at your home and at your work places. The author has a poster of Swami Vivekananda with a slogan, “Arise! Awake! And stop not till the goal is reached” at his bedroom which constantly motivates and takes him towards his goal. Listen to the audio CDs related to your goals and watch video CDs that will elevate you. Always think, dream and sleep with your goals and one day, you would find that you have reached your goals and the entire world applauding over your achievements.
CONCLUSION:
The road from nowhere to number one is not easy and it is an uphill task. It requires a lot of planning, organizing, directing, preparation, controlling both internal and external deviations, which might sidetrack or sideline the cherished goals. Materially, motivationally and managerially, it requires a confluence of various factors and resources. In this context, Aristotle aptly said, “First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends, wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end.”
You should accept goal setting as a strategy and adopt it as a powerful tool and technique. Set your goals rightly, get into the correct track, follow the right track and be always on the fast tract to reach your beloved and cherished goals.
M S R GOALS:
Jim Collins’ ‘Good to Great’ gave a tip to have ‘Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals’.
Goals must be motivational and inspirational. The goals so set must move you constantly on your toes. It must provide daily fuel to your body and mind and energize with enthusiasm. Arnold H.Glasgow rightly said, “Make your life a mission – not an intermission”. Your life will be filled with energetic activity with a mission to achieve your goals.
Make your goals simulating and stimulating. The goals will make you to visualize your success in simulated conditions. Such simulated mental success will in fact raise your interest to achieve your goals in realistic world.
When you set reachable and practical realizable goals, then there will be a higher success rate to accomplish your goals. When one set practically possible goals it enhances confidence to move ahead with optimism and dynamism.
MESSAGE:
Never change your goals. Setting goals is like setting your destination towards success. If required, change only your strategies to reach your destination but not the destination itself, however problematic the path towards your destination might be. Madam Curie won Noble prize twice. She said that path to success was not easy. She always worked against all odds and reached her goals successfully.
Remember the wonderful words of Ursula K. Leguin, “It is good to have an end to journey, but it is the journey that matters in the end”.
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