Decoding the Purpose of Life!

If it is not easy to say , then the person is not clear !

Yes! you can see many  Guru's explaining the purpose of life but are you clear!

If you do not understand then you can be rest assured that the so said GURU is also in the journey of Identifying His Purpose of Life.

I welcome you all to an expedition in identifying Purpose of life!

To make it simple let me state the Goal first :  Goal of Any living being is to give back to Nature. In sanskrit the verse goes like this ,

" Paropakarartham idham sareeram". Meaning this body is to give back to nature. ( Not the exact translation)

So No 1 Question is answered : Give back to nature!

Then comes the second Question what do you have!!

Why this question comes !! - Living beings are different. A banyan is meant to give good shadow and cleansing air where as we plant mango tree to get fruits.

So the next question is what do you have !

I realized that those who interact with me remember me for supporting them Solve their Problems!

If you mirror and see yourself , you will understand what you are. ( Few questions can be asked for self to identify what you are - I am in the process of designing those - Please send me a mail  if you wish to receive a copy).

This gives answer to my question No 2. think about yours!!

Then the third question is how can we use our unique skills to contribute to nature!

I realized many individuals have problems in understanding purpose for their existence!!

So  Q.No 3 for me is  : " identify a simple solution to a  problem-"helping people understand the purpose of their life". so that they can identify and unleash their true potential.

What about yours!!

Then the last question How are we going to do that!

This is the most easy and difficult area. I have decided to  use the ancient manuscripts to decode the answers but challenge is "decoding itself" ,

Now that question no 4 is answered the final challenge ( Question No 5 ) is When we can do this!!.. Answer to this lies in Nature! As the nature decides when to give fruit to a tree!

So in short i believe answer to these five question can help an individual understand their purpose of life!!

Please feel free to contact if you wish to discuss  further on his topic.

Lets break from Inside - Series 1 Accommodating comments

You did an Excellent Job  !!!

Are you happy and excited ?

The question here is , what should be your emotion here ?

Is this the time to excite or is that comment "a feed back" !!

If it is the time to excite , what will be your response to " you messed it up , its the worst performance i have ever seen in my life"....Dejected ? !!

Again the question here is , what should be your emotion here?

Lets start our thought from, "why we want what we want" and why we do what we do !!

We do certain things,because we like our profession !!

Then the comments stated should be taken as a feedback !

When i say feed back , that is for performing well or to continue same performance!! It should be a guiding light for our existence. It should not influence our mood swing!!

You did well can also be interpreted as the customer expectation was low!

Similarly , you didn't do well can be interpreted as a higher expectation from you for the customer!

So what do you want ?  You want a person to trust your skills or a person who don't expect from you!!

Its a dilemma ....Do not allow any body to break you from outside and loosing track. loosing track happens when you are in happy world or a sad world!!

Break from inside !! Let the life begin! Be emotionally stable accept all comments as feedback - Strive for inner happiness which you get when you progress in life not on the comments!!

So next time when you hear a comment, tell your self - let me categorize this comment for a better tomorrow.

Have a great Life!

" Are all comments to be accommodated " - Lets discuss in next series!

Lets have mind of a "vast ocean" to accelerate growth of Matsya!

Lets start our discussion from one of the stories from Mythology. The story of   first avatar of Vishnu ie. Matsya goes like this , Matsya ( fish) was separated from sea and kept in a pot to ensure its growth. Matsya grew to an extend that pot was unable to hold and Manu ( The creator) kept changing the pot to manage the fish. If we equate Manager to a pot and fish as growing system, unless pot is self growing like ocean , it does not have existence beyond a point. Question here is why this is important in today's context!

Many growing organisation replace so called Head’s stating that they are incapable of managing future growth. But the so called “head” get puzzled thinking that why I am not given chance to prove!! All this happens due to a simple concept “How management expects "head" to manage organisation and How "head's" manage organisation!”.

We can sensitize a point here , a good manager who have grown in the system would have seen phase of “team leading” to reach a manager level. While he was facilitating thoughts of individual players in the first level, he may try training team leader when he reaches to managerial level. This is due to a belief that “ I have seen it, I know it – I need doer’s not thinkers. But buck stops there , a growing system do not accept a stagnant pot. It tries to break the pot.

So thump rule here is

1. Recruit for Skills and Values
2. Monitor Values
3. Facilitate thinking.

What do we mean by this. Lets take the first point, Recruit for skills and values.

In any relation, the process goes like

Now lets see from where this threat feel arise – this happens when I look at what I manage in a person , I manage values and facilitate thinking . Instead many managers expect their subordinates to be replica of what they are  to measure the level of their success . This is a myth as they feel management expects them to do so but the fact is this not how management’s eye see this case. Management see this as a limited growth opportunity instead of unlimited growth potential.

So what’s the thump rule

1. Your team member should be more competent than you in his job.
2. Your role is facilitating thinking – only a competent employee can think of improvising.
3. Define and Monitor values – “ Passion to work is a value”

Lets have a mind of vast ocean to accelerate growth of Matsya!

7 Powerful Rules to get your point across to Big Boss -The Unsaid Leadership Competencies Series - 4

Arvind was so excited about annual meeting that his department have conducted and he shared his experience with his colleague akash. Akash also wanted to conduct such meeting in his department as it will help team bonding and he approached his big boss and requested for this.

Big boss started shooting questions.

Big Boss : How was the program?

Akash : Excellent feed back, we should also do this.

Big boss : Why do you say so.

Akash : All people are happy about the program.

Big boss : Whom did you discuss this with?

Akash : I spoke to Aravind and he was thoroughly impressed.

Big boss: Lets not take this, as he always goes and attend programs for enjoyment his words cannot be taken. How can you take HIS words ??..

Akash :((..........loosing energy or in high energy for fighting.....))

.....This happens to many of us ??

What happened here?

Please understand there is difference between sharing expressions/ emotions etc and communication!!

what Akash did was sharing expressions and his emotions !

This will not impress big boss to buy his idea.

Lets see what can be done in scenarios which involves high stakes and communicating with senior officials.

Rule  1 : Business leaders want clarity on why they should listen to you, in the beginning itself !

Rule 2 : You are in communication not in exchanging emotion.

Rule 3 : Follow 3 T - Tell them what you are going to tell them - Tell them - Tell them what you have told them.

Rule 4 : Most important rule ,

Follow SCQA Rule .

S - Situation ( Our present situation , example : Our team lack motivation)
C - Complication ( present issues , Example : Productivity target is increasing and margins are lowering and our budgets are limited so have to do the best possible program to motivate team )
Q - Question  ( Question to our self , Example: We were discussing who were the best vendors who will help us in conducting an annual meeting with in budget , which we can do immediately and in cost effective manner!)
A - Answer :( Possible answers ,Example:  I compared cost of 3 best possible options for conducting annual meeting as a solution 
Cost of XYZ is Rs 1000000, Cost of ABC : is Rs 800000, Cost of ZXT is Rs 12,000,00.
I also had chat with few team members of other department who did this program before and the feedback was excellent for XYZ. 
Even though his cost is not the cheapest , it is reliable. request your concurrence sir.)

Rule  5 :Please remember to give logical sequence to your answers like Time - Cost - Quality benefit for the suggested solution.( like provided in above example)

Definitely this method will create wonders.

Please practice before trying this method on how you are going to present.

Rule 6 : Even after this  if questions arises, never move to state of  - Inside shell or Blast . always remember the objective of communication and what made you to start the communication.

Rule 7 : If you feel that in one sitting solution cannot be achieved ask for time and represent with solid details instead of rushing for solution.

Kindly practice the steps consciously. 

Hope this will help you in your day to day work. Happy reading.

Please feel free to write back if you need any further clarity on this. 

Vijay

The Unsaid Leadership Competencies Series - 3 Introspect!

First step in treating any disease is identifying the disease and cause , Similarly first step in improving the voice is to Identify the problem  in our voice and cause.

In situations where we have to represent our concern or performance , we may have identified that a significant amount of pressure comes up while presenting. But After presenting the case , the discussion may not go well and we complain that " Boss is not in good mood today". Is it so? or we have not made an impact !.

Understand that In 80-90% cases , it is we who have not made an impact with the presentation.

So what is the issue?

Issue is in the way we speak. It is not your problem , it is because nobody trained you on how to speak, what you see in society is what you absorb . This is the precise reason why many of us have slight issues in the way we speak. The Good thing is, it is possible to improvise through conscious practice.

Lets discuss about few of the specific problems that any individual may come across, Post understanding this , please identify which is your communication issue.

1. Fast Talkers: Rate of your speech may fit your temperament and you may feel comfortable with that but rapid pace of speech production may result in shortcut in articulation which force other person to work to understand you.

People may develop this as a cultural style for example : family members speaking fast , this would make listener to follow the sense of urgency of speaker rather than speaker following the need of listener.

Is your rate of speech is high ? Then you need a strategy to break your habit!

2.Loud talkers :Few of us have tendency to increase (amplify) our speech volume during emotional exchanges  and then whole office knows about this. In normal circumstances we may speak at average volume but it does stay consistent. People may not agree to this or justify saying that they were upset or happy , in fact it is an issue in communication.

Is your volume of speech is high ( fluctuating) ? Then you need a strategy to ensure consistency!

3. Soft talkers:People talk soft cannot share their confidence to the listener. This happens because of lack of

A. Motivation : They may have put a lot of effort into a preparing plan/ achieving targets but have they organised their content to speak! If no , it directly reflects in the motivation.

B. Energy : Energy plays vital role in communication, this can be explained in simple way.

C.Air : Like a trained singer , any individual who is in the business of communication ( every professional) requires a skill to develop a tone through preparation and effort , a good supply of air and confidence to use it.and ensure the person is in a breathing friendly posture.

Is my voice soft ! Then i need a plan to practice!

4. Raspy Talkers : If you see professional shuttle players , first thing you can notice is their placement of shuttle. You can hear the voice from shuttle bat which is clear and crisp. How much ever a novice try , it takes effort and practice to develop this skill. Similar to this is the placement of voice.
People may hold back their voice in throat or they speak from their nose in both case communication end up in muffled articulation. If we miss to place our voice correctly that will end up in rough hoarse sound irritating the receiver.

Is your placement of speech is right ? We have to first identify this and If the answer is no , we have to work on this!

5. Indecisive talkers:This happens when people miss to realise the word which requires stress and ends up in fairly flat tone. They fail to organise the communication and neither give clarification. If listener ask or interrupt they try to act tougher , this ends in social disaster.

Are you falling in this trap!

6. Breathy talkers : This happens to professionals in Asia . In Asia , soft and breathy voices are encouraged at home and when the professional interact in office , it reflects in their voice and it sounds as intimate and sensual.

Is my voice breathy!! time to observe!

7. Fading talkers : Communication is an art , to be specific it is an art of mixing speech with air, that is when the great voice is produced. For few professionals , they start the conversation with right mix but towards the end they miss to take enough air ending in a low tone communication. The colleagues and Bosses interpret this as lack of confidence . The fact is missing proper mix.

Is this a feed back i have receive in my work !!

Now that we know one of the major issue is with the way we use the voice . 
Design your action plan in improving the voice !

Problem is yet to resolve, what about articulating the thoughts!

Is there any simple way to articulate things while presenting to my Big Boss!

Lets see in the next series! Happy Learning.

Reference  : " Its the way you say it " by Carol. A. Fleming. 

If you need more discussion on this topic please feel free to write to me.