Five Ways To Get Your Ideas Accepted (25-01-11, Mumbai Edition, Economic Times)

YOU’VE COME UP WITH A CRACKER OF an idea and now, the only thing left to do is to get it accepted and adopted. But before you take it to the people who matter, get your act together. For many a good idea has come a cropper for no other reason than poor presentation and bad marketing skills. Here’s how to do it right, says Sreeradha D Basu.

Make a business case for your That is paramount, if you have an idea worth pursuing, advises A Sudhakar, head, HR, Dabur India. Get your facts and data in place. And do your research thoroughly. Otherwise, your idea is just on paper. "For a new product, for instance, one needs to have background information, data about the market, the competitive scenario and such," says Sudhakar 


Pitch it to the right people Be clear about presenting your ideas to the right people, those who have the authority and the budget to sanction it. Says HR consultancy Ma Foi Randstad director and president E. Balaji: "Make sure you have the right audience. Sometimes people aren’t clear about who the relevant person is." If possible, meet with stakeholders before the formal presentation to generate interest and pre-sell them on the idea. 


Keep it Crisp Detailed and lengthy doesn’t cut it; crisp and concise does. "Sell the benefits first: the benefits to the organisation, even the person you are presenting it too," says Balaji. 


Don’t knock the old methods Salil A, who works in an ad agency, recalls how he once rubbed his seniors the wrong way while presenting the idea for a new campaign for a product that had been with the agency for a long time. "I was new to the organisation and found faults with the old campaign, forgetting that some of them had worked on it. They found plenty of reasons to turn me down." The next time, Sahil played it safe. "I presented it in a way that showed I was simply building on their old ideas. I just sailed through," he laughs. 


Discuss the limitations upfront Every idea is bound to have some shortcomings. Figure them out before someone else does and suggest ways to work around them. "That way you are fully prepared and won’t give your critics any chance to wear you down," says Sudhakar.

Five Ways To Work With A Hated Co-worker

AMIT GARG WAS GIVEN THE RESPONSIBILITY to head a team of 30 people in a Gurgaon-based consulting firm. Little did he know that within months of joining the new organisation, he would be one of its least liked co-workers. He was having a tough time handling his team, until someone made him aware that his short fuse was to blame. According to HR experts, the next time you start hating a colleague at your workplace, try and help him instead of avoiding him. Here’s how to make things work with someone you hate in the office, says Mahima Puri.

Help create buddies
It is the responsibility of the peer group to help fellow colleagues make friends, says Umesh Dhal, head of HR &MS at LG Electronics. HR can too play an important role in this if such feedback is received from a team. “Sit with the team and check acceptability status of the concerned person. Get help from some specially designed activities that can gauge if the person has problems with social behaviour,” he says.

Offer personal counselling
One of the ways to deal with the situation could also be to offer the colleague personal counselling. The HR department can do this job after receiving feedback from the irksome employee’s peers.

Find areas of mutual interest
As colleagues, one can identify areas of interest that you and the concerned person may share. For instance, if cricket is an area of mutual interest, colleagues can sit together and watch or discuss cricket. This helps in breaking the ice and making the person more acceptable at the workplace.

Give feedback
You have to make your colleague aware of his behaviour that is making him the least acceptable in the office environment. “Give positive feedback and try and explain things instead of complaining. Most of the time, colleagues can be rude or short-tempered but they may not realise this. Be gentle in your approach,” says Gagan Adlakha, founder of HR consulting firm Vyaktitva.

Talk to peers
Another solution could also be to send the person to an open programme, wherein management and behavioural training is provided. “Feedback from the peer group may not work always. Sometimes, it is advisable to get feedback from a third party. The person may be more open to this,” says Mr Adlakha. He adds that this helps the person see himself in new light, without feeling that his peer group is biased.

Five Ways To Pump Up Employee Morale (18-01-11,Economic Times, Mumbai

A RESURGENT ECONOMY AND WAR FOR talent has increased attrition beyond the normal level across sectors. While instances of mass exodus are yet to take place, HR experts say its high time that bosses take note to prevent such a crisis. Writankar Mukherjee spoke to a cross-section of seasoned HR professionals on how bosses can take guard and boost employee morale.

Make the office a learning ground
Research has shown people don’t change jobs just for money. It is the job profile and the ability to learn within a organisation which often becomes a deciding factor. More so, in case of today’s generation of professionals who want to learn and move up the ladder fast. “When bosses and organisations continuously help an employee develop their capabilities, they will not quit as they have a sense of enrichment. Bosses should give correct feedback to employees on their performance, help them learn on the job and build their capabilities,” says AkzoNobel India’s HR director Sangeeta Pandey.

Chart the employee’s growth
HR experts say employees who know in advance their growth plan within an organisation are much more motivated. “Even though youngsters tend to change jobs every two years, they do so for career growth. So, why not show employees their future career growth within the current organisation, which highlights their potential salary and future role?” says YV Verma, COO at LG Electronics India.

Reward and recognise
Like talent management should ideally be a year-round phenomena for every employee-friendly company, so should be reward and recognition. “Giving a pat at the back at the right time is important. Such rewards or recognition then becomes a kind of psychic income. It sends the message that employees come before customers,” says Max India Group director (human capital) P Dwarkanath, a veteran HR professional.

Make your company a dynamic one
The best way to boost employee morale is by constantly evolving their role and responsibilities. HR experts say organisations should be dynamic enough to offer that challenge to their employees. Top performers like new challenge and tends to get bored doing the same thing for a long time. Godrej Consumer Products VP (HR) Rahul Gama admits it is like walking on a tight rope when it comes to balancing a person’s tenure in a role and ensure he does not quit for delay in upward movement. “Rotation of professionals in different roles is a must to ensure equitable growth of the organisation and individual,” says Gama. Godrej tends to rotate an employee’s role every three years.

Identify the employee’s sweet spot
HR experts say bosses should identify an employee’s sweet spot, be it job security, faster growth, desire to work out of a particular location, or be part of a new business, and try to nurture it. “People work for themselves and not for an employer. Each boss should know the eco-system of an employee well enough. And then give him the ability to perform, which if he lives up to then compensate him adequately and nurture his emotional and sentimental well-being. These should be the responsibility of all bosses,” says Ajit Isaac, HR analyst and MD at Ikya Human Capital Solutions.

Five Ways To Help Your Employees Feel Secure (11-01-11, Mumbai Edition, Economic Times)

EMPLOYEES NEED EMOTIONAL security above everything else. Shreya Biswas shares a few tips on what a company/boss can do to overcome apathy at the workplace

Assign work according to ability Don’t make a fish run the marathon. A tweak of the KRAs and job rotation can work wonders. “Those who enjoy what they do, don’t have to work a single day of their life,” says A Sudhakar, executive VP, HR at Dabur. 


Stay in sync “All of us are social creatures. We want to know what is happening around us,” says Muralidhar Rao, CEO, Future Human Development. “If someone takes the trouble to let us know this, it sends a positive signal.” Aligning the employee's performance with the company’s, is important. 


Appreciate good work As a society, we are stingy about providing appreciation. Appreciation should be specific, timely and authentic — and should not contain a ‘but’ or ‘however’. “Give your employees a pat on their back when they deserve it and make them feel wanted,” says K Sudarshan. 


Give feedback Not necessarily positive. In fact, once the three points, above, are operationalised, it is critical to provide timely feedback. Be genuine; unnecessary praise or rebuke will not be appreciated. Pause before providing feedback to think how it will help the employee. “A formal, written feedback, as we provide at Dabur, might be better. That way, employees can chart future course of action,” adds Sudhakar. 


Apologise when wrong Employees expect their boss to be human. Owning up to your mistakes is perhaps the best way of connecting with employees. “The management can also ensure that senior employees don’t get away with mistakes, and ensure the rules are the same for everybody, irrespective of rank,” says Rao. This will help garner the most valued virtue for the company — the employees’ trust.

5 Effective Ways to Use Anger in the Office (Dave Logan, Tribal Leadership)

Now that we’re past the season New Year’s resolutions, here’s a commitment to take seriously in 2011: get angry, stay angry, and direct the anger to things that matter.

A little known secret to leadership is that great leaders tap into their dark side (thinkBill Clinton), while wimpy leaders don’t, or don’t have a dark side to tap into (thinkJimmy Carter).

The challenge is how to tap your dark side without being consumed by it (think Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer or Darth Vader).  Here are some ways to use your dark side to sharpen your leadership skills:

1.  Get mad at something that matters.

Martin Luther King, Jr. got mad.  So did Lincoln, and Churchill, and Reagan.  It’s worth taking a moment, right now, and surveying your company to see what irks you, and better yet, pisses you off.

2.  Think and get mad at the same time.

When people get white hot angry, the part of their brain that controls the fight-or-flight response has hijacked their ability to think rationally.  Anger is helpful, blind rage can be disastrous.  To avoid unthinking anger, ask yourself what value is being violated that is making you so upset.  This action forces in rational thought, and lessens the chance that you’ll say something you regret.  Dr. King got mad about the lack of justice and equality.  Lincoln got angry at people trying to break up national unity.  Churchill was upset with naïve politicians who ignored the truth about the Nazi’s actions.  When Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,” you could see the passion that only comes from tapping anger about the violation of one of his core values–freedom.

3.     Direct anger, don’t wallow in it or intellectualize it.

There are two major pitfalls with anger: swimming it, and thinking about it.  Staying angry without directing it makes people passive aggressive over time.  Another way to say “passive aggressive” is “bad at leadership.”

President Obama spent much of 2010 showing us the other pitfall: getting angry and then explaining the source of the anger in webs of logic no one cares about.  Anger is powerful because it cuts through clutter.  So get to its source (the violated core value) and then use clarity in moving to a solution.

The most important way to channel feelings of being upset is in getting others to declare that they won’t accept the situation as it is, because it violates a value you and they share.

4.  Channel anger into a commitment to fix the problem.

You need a simple method of going from values to a robust plan to make a difference in a short period of time.  There are many free resources on how to do this.  One of the better ones comes from the research in Tribal Leadership: a 90 day strategy map.

5.    Form a trusted relationship so you don’t get lost in the dark side.

Anger is a useful place to visit, but you don’t want to live there.  People who fly off the handle aren’t trusted, just as people who always respond in a Vulcan manner aren’t respected.  It’s worth noting that Obama spent months in 2010 coming across as calm and collected when people were outraged, over the BP spill, the lack of new jobs, and the souring deficit.  He showed directed anger when he bucked his own party late in the year and compromised on tax cuts to get an extension of unemployment benefits, and the result was progress on legislation and an uptick in his popularity.  Make sure you have trusted friends to make sure you don’t get mad too often, or stay mad without a sense of direction.  Just as important, make sure you have friends who don’t let you stay a Vulcan too long.

About the Author

Dave Logan is a USC faculty member, management consultant, and the best-selling author of four books including Tribal Leadership and The Three Laws of Performance. He has served on the USC faculty since 1996, and teaches leadership and management at the Marshall School of Business. From 2001-2004, he was Associate Dean of Executive Education. He is also Senior Partner of CultureSync, a management consulting firm, which he co-founded in 1997. The firm consults with dozens of Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits, and governments worldwide. He has a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School at USC.
Learn more about Tribal Leadership
Follow Dave on Twitter @davelogan1

source - http://www.bnet.com/blog/tribal/5-effective-ways-to-use-anger-in-the-office/384?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

Five Ways To Get In The Good Books Of The Boss (07-01-11, Mumbai, Economic Times)

JUST ABOUT EVERYONE WANTS TO LOOK good in the eyes of the boss. But it’s not about being a yes-man as much as it is about working hard, says Sreeradha D Basu

Exceed your boss’ expectations The easiest way to impress your boss is to be competent in the area where you work. “Be disciplined, be proactive, and help your boss in all situations, especially the more challenging assignments. Making sure you have your facts right, being well-prepared, delivering and then communicating to your boss about the good work you've done. “Always be around to take responsibility and go beyond his/her expectations,” says Rahul Kulkarni, head — HR, Kale Consultants.

Punctuality goes a long way Another no-brainer, but it’s often ignored. “Whether it’s attending meetings on schedule, finishing projects on time or meeting timelines and time commitments, this is something that gets you into your boss’ good books,” says TeamLease Services MD Ashok Reddy.

Give credit and earn goodwill When you complete a project, thank your boss for his inputs and support. At the same time, show that you genuinely value them, rather than just trying to massage his ego. If your boss gives you an assignment, treat it as top priority, even if it means pushing yourself to complete it. “It’ll earn you loads of brownie points,” says Ritesh Bhatia, who put in late nights at work for over a month to complete a job. At the end of the year, it bagged him a substantial bonus.

Show initiative “Take ownership and responsibility of your own tasks. Put timelines and find solutions,” says Team-Lease’s Reddy. “The use of initiative is very important for a boss to realise your full potential,” he adds.

Never bad-mouth your boss Don’t talk behind your boss’ back. If you have something you don’t like about him/her, keep it to yourself. Otherwise, it might end up reaching his/her ears one day. So save your criticisms, and say good things about your boss.

Five Ways To Effectively Manage Your Time At The Office

We've all heard that old saying, "time is money." When it comes to time spent at work, it couldn't be more true. Managing your time at the office as efficiently as possible makes a big difference in your effectiveness-and your bottom line. Here, we'll go over a few tips on how to streamline your time management at work.

Organize your desk. If you can barely see the surface of your desk for all the paper, you need to reorganize. Many people with messy desks will insist that they "know where everything is"-but this is in fact rarely true, especially if it's documentation for a project that's been on the back burner for a while. Over time, you'll waste hours just looking for things that should be easy to locate.

To get back in shape, set aside an hour to a day-or even more, depending on how chaotic your desk is-to sorting, filing, and organizing your office. You'll need a filing system that works for you. Put everything within easy reach-you should never have to spend more than thirty seconds locating a single piece of paper. Even though you may feel like you don't have the time to pay attention to organization, this investment of time will pay you back over the long run.

Delegate when you can. High-achieving business owners and managers often hate to delegate, because they feel out of control when they're not doing everything themselves. However, strong and effective leaders know the strengths of their employees-and how to rely on those strengths to best advantage. If you feel overloaded in your tasks, delegate to trusted employees when you can. Choose someone who's eager to prove herself, but who also isn't too inexperienced to do a good job-and when you can, choose employees who have talents to match the task.

Schedule e-mail time. Constantly checking email is just another way of procrastinating on other things. Turn off the automatic notification feature on your email-it kills concentration-and only check your email two or three times per day. That way, you won't feel like e-mail is taking up all your time at work.

Get rid of your paper in-box. If a document crosses your desk that you have to take care of, handle it now-don't set it in a "to-do" pile. We all tend to procrastinate with paperwork-but the more quickly you get it done, the less you'll feel like it's controlling your life. Don't let paperwork sit on your desk for more than a day if you can possibly help it.

Make sure you have the right software. If your business management involves a lot of software-spreadsheets, documents, data management systems-you could be wasting a lot of time just transitioning from one program to the next. Look for a software solution that combines mutually compatible programs that take care of all your data management needs. The best ones include tracking features that will let you keep track of time, efficiency, defects, financial information, and other information crucial to your business's effectiveness. That way, you'll be able to manage all relevant data, track your time, and make sure you're running your business as efficiently as possible.

Crucial time management is crucial to your bottom line and to your work-life balance. Get it right, and you'll work efficiently and have time left over for your family and yourself. Get it wrong, and you can start to feel like your work is taking over your life. Follow these tips, and you should be able to get it all done-with time to spare.

About the author

About the Author:
This article was written by ArtifactSoftware.com, creators of a free time management software program that was built for software developers. Please visit www.artifactsoftware.com

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/five-ways-to-effectively-manage-your-time-at-the-office-81239.html#ixzz19wvsdtve
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

5 Ways to Get More Time: Time Management Techniques for Super-Busy People (Susan Ward, About.com Guide)

Who hasn't wished at some point that there were more hours in a day? It sometimes seems that we spend so much time rushing from place to place or task to task that we don't actually accomplish anything except feeling more frustrated.
But we can accomplish what we want to each day if we put some basic time management principles in place and follow them. Be warned: these are not all easy things to do. You might have to struggle and work at these time management techniques. But the time you invest in learning how to do these things and practicing them will be paid back a thousand-fold. Use these five time management techniques consistently and you'll have more time, accomplish more, and feel better.

Time Management Technique #1: Recognize you can't do it all.

Too many of us are stretched too thin because we've bought into the myth that everyone can (and should) do it all. We should all work full-time, spend quality time with our children and spouses and pets, spend time with our friends, do volunteer and committee work, get involved in causes, work at staying fit and healthy, and spend time relaxing and rejuvenating ourselves.
This kind of balancing act is best left to the Flying Wallendas. And you know what? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are healthy and happy with how you’re spending your time. Decide what roles and activities are important to you and live your life accordingly.

Time Management Technique #2: Prioritize.

The other part of the myth that we all can and should do it all is that everything is equally important. It's not. Just look at your daily calendar on any given day. Is picking up the dry cleaning really as important as that meeting with a client? No. So if you have to choose between them, it's easy to decide to leave the day cleaning pickup for another day.
Don't just rush from task to task throughout the day. Review the list of what you have to do that day at the day's start and then pick out the things that you 'must do' that day. (Try to keep these 'must-dos' to three or less for starters.) Then focus on getting those things done. At the end of the day, you'll have a feeling of accomplishment, no matter what else got messed up or went wrong.

Time Management Technique #3: Learn to say "Yes" and "No".

The inability to say "No" is the cause of an incredible amount of misunderstanding and frustration. Instead of saying "No," people say "Maybe" or "I might be able to do that" or "I'll see", creating the expectation that they will do whatever it is on the part of the listener and the pressure on themselves to do it. Then when they don’t do it, the person they said "Maybe" to instead of "No" is disappointed/annoyed/hurt.
Make it a general rule not to say "Maybe" at all when you're asked to commit to something. Learn to make quick decisions and say "Yes" or "No" instead. And don't get hung up on elaborating. You don’t have to give extensive reasons for your decision. A simple "No, I can’t do that" is enough. The person you're speaking to will appreciate your honesty and your disinclination to waste their time. And you'll be without the pressure to fit in yet another activity or event you weren't that interested in anyhow.

Time Management Technique #4: Unplug.

Another modern myth that you have to disregard if you want to manage your time effectively is the idiotic idea that we all have to be reachable and 'connected' all the time. We don't, and in fact, there are times when it's important or useful to be unreachable to everyone or everything except the person or the task immediately in front of us.
For instance, if your child is telling you about a traumatic thing that happened to him at school that day or you're doing an estimate for a potential customer, you need to be listening to/communicating with the people right in front of you, not the ones calling or sending you email.
So recognize this and 'unplug' yourself when appropriate. And make yourself the manager of your technology rather than being managed by it. Do not read every piece of email as soon as it comes in, for example, or feel that you have to personally answer every phone call. Don't let incoming texts or Twitters interrupt you when you're working. Set aside particular times of day to read or listen and respond to email and phone calls.

Time Management Technique #5: Take time off.

Many business people in particular fall into the seven day trap. They feel that the more time they pour into their business, the more successful their business will be. Before you know it, they're working seven days a week every week and wondering why they feel so tired and frazzled all the time!
And is their business more successful? Maybe. Maybe not. You see, the success of their business depends on what they do, not on how much time they spend doing it.
Consider this analogy: if you want to learn golf and you spend eight hours a day seven days a week golfing but are holding the club wrong every time so that every ball you hit has a pronounced swing to the left, what happens to your golf game? It doesn't matter how much time you put into doing something if you're not doing it right.
So incorporate time off into your schedule. When you take time off, whether it's an afternoon or a weekend or a week, you return to your work refreshed and more productive, able to accomplish so much more in the amount of time available.

5 Time Management Techniques Equals More Time?

No. You won’t physically magically get more hours in a day when you put these time management principles into action. But you will be able to more effectively manage the time you have. And in terms or what you get done and how you feel, that will make all the difference.

About the author

Susan Ward and her partner run Cypress Technologies, an IT Consulting business, providing services such as software and database development.

Source - http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/timemanagement/a/getmoretime.htm

Five Ways To Tread with caution on Twitter or FB (01-01-11, Mumbai Edition, Economic Times)

LAST WEEK, A BANGALORE-BASED SOFTWARE engineer got into big trouble over a tweet, which said: “Because of the whims and fancies of XYZ company, my long-awaited weekend party has gone for a toss. Feel like suing them.” His frustration had the client that his IT company services, take quick notice, and he was on the verge of losing his job. 

Companies are increasingly securing channels of information, believing every piece of information that appears on a public domain to hurt business interests. All the more reason for an employee to be careful about what they post on Facebook, Twitter, blogs or social media platforms, says Shreya Biswas.

Don’t identify your employer 

It might be great to flaunt that your employer as the world’s ‘biggest software company’, the best bank in the world or the best car manufacturer amongst your friends or family but don’t put it up on any of your social network accounts. It might welcome trouble.

Don’t link it all up Differentiate between social and professional networks. “It is not great for your professional contacts or prospective employers to know what you do in your personal life,” says Delhi-based Gautam Ghosh, an enterprise 2.0 expert and management consultant. Let them be unaware of your booze parties, a troubled relationship, if any, your friend from the rival company or people you hate the most in office. It might expose you to scrutiny and bias. 
Check your privacy settings Social networking sites are a great platform to share your life with friends but be sure you know exactly who are the people with whom you do not want to share the details of everything you put up there. Check privacy settings to keep certain people off the content.

Don’t get personal Avoid picking and choosing, name-calling and being abusive on such media, specially about your office staff. Even if you have a strong urge to vent your frustration, be discreet and keep people anonymous. You would not want to chew your words when you later face up to them or are pulled up by your function head for indecent behaviour. 

Comply with the rules “If you can’t share information on email you can’t share it on social media either,” says Asim Handa, country manager, Futurestep, a division of Korn/Ferry International. If you are a blogger, have a disclaimer that your views are personal and not those of your employer. Having opinions is fine till the time it gets you into trouble or people take it for someone else’s views and react accordingly.