Five Ways To Make the Boss Listen to You

Despite consistent performance, the boss often does not listen to the subordinate, whatever the issue. Shreya Biswas suggests ways to deal with this.

1 Don’t Confront Publicly Never confront the boss in public, especially in his or her boss’s presence. “In front of anyone else, you should look as ateam,” says K Sudarshan, managing partner, India and regional VP — Asia, EMA Partners International. 

2 Build a Good Rapport To exist in a team and perform smoothly, we need to have a good relationship with the boss. “Not all bosses take the initiative of reaching out, so the onus lies on the subordinate,” says Kamal Karanth MD, Kelly Services India. 

3 State your Challenges Often bosses ignore the challenges their subordinate face as the sole objective is to get the task done. Subordinates too don’t bring up issues in fear. “People shouldn’t wait for a crisis to communicate,” adds Karanth. 

4 Make Boss Look Good Whenever there is a chance, try to make your boss look good. “For instance, try helping with a presentation but praise your boss for it when you are lauded,” says E Balaji, MD & CEO, Randstad India. 

5 Disarm the Boss If you want to talk to your boss about his or her lack of ‘patient hearing’, try disarming him or her. “Do it tactfully, in a friendly way, so the person understands your point of view,” says Karanth.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 14-12-2012)

Five Ways To Make your Elevator Pitch Count

TO PITCH an idea, project or business proposition in five minutes is similar to asking a candidate explain his goals, ambitions of a lifetime and past experiences in a job interview. Every second counts, but the ‘elevator pitch’ can be one of the best rides of your career. Devina Sengupta shows how.

1 Know your Business Entrepreneur Hitesh Dhingra, ex CEO of online company Letsbuy, insists that any one who makes an elevator pitch should have thorough knowledge of his or her trade. The presentation should be within five slides and mailed a day before. “It helped me get our first seed funding,” he says.

2 Show the Big Picture To make an elevator pitch successful, one has to know the market and where the product will stand. The team should be clear about competition, and the chances of it being accepted. Numbers have to be on their fingertips, and they need to show the landscape clearly to the client — for instance, how the numbers will look in the next few years. 

3 Project the Team A client who will ink a pact with the team making the pitch needs to know the people behind it. It is best if the key people on the team are spoken about, says Dhingra. A slide on the group members, their background and what they bring to the table is important to instill confidence in the squad. 

4 List Out Ideas Elevator pitches, if done with help of power point presentations, should have three to five bullet points in each slide or just a paragraph. Some of the points that one can use to convince the listener to buy their argument or invest in the company include: a slide on customer focus, innovation in the product or idea, sales and a growth trajectory. 

5 Keep it Short In such pitches, there is no time to ramble and one should practice before going for the meeting. He should practice with teammates and have all probable questions and responses ready. If the client is bored, one should sense the mood but not become despondent, because it could be a technique to test how convinced you are of the product or idea. Clients and bosses keep an eye out for passion and anyone who loses interest at the mere thought of failure is ticked off. At the same time, a touch of humour without losing brevity helps as well.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 11-12-2012)

Five Ways To Prepare for an MBA While Working

Balancing the demands of work with studying and applying for an MBA can be taxing. Anumeha Chaturvedi shares a few tips from successful applicants that could help one cruise along.

1 Plan in Advance Professionals looking to do an MBA should start working on it a year ahead, says Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, co-founder of executive education programme provider Eruditus and Insead alumnus. Research business schools and interact with alumni, he says. 

2 Leverage Weekends Vaibhav Pandey, a management student at ISB and an ex-software engineer, capitalised on his weekends for GMAT studies. It is equally important to find a support system, he says. 

3 Highlight Leadership Highlight experiences that demonstrate your unique abilities, says Kalipatnapu. Mention instances that show your leadership potential and list cross-cultural experiences, he adds. 

4 Avoid Clichés “Clichés do not work at all,” says Kalipatnapu. Support your application with strong anecdotes. “Essays should tell your personal story,” says Pandey. 

5 Apply in the First Round While each B-school has a different admission format, Kalipatnapu says it’s best to apply in the first round. “If schools have a quota or are focused on diversity, it becomes hard to justify yourself in the second round,” he says.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 23-11-2012)

Five Ways To Deal With Manipulators in the Office

It could get quite challenging for a leader to deal with an employee who is a habitual liar and manipulator at work. Rica Bhattacharyya finds out ways to deal with such people.

1 Stay Away if You Can Stay away from them if possible. “When the aggressiveness is hidden, we know something is wrong... That’s when our feelings are right,” says Dhruv Desai, senior vice president and head — human resources and leadership academy, Angel Broking. 

2 Speak Directly Avoid open-ended conversations with such people . “If you need some work done, you must ask the closed-ended yes/no questions,” says Desai. 

3 Talk about Their Fears If you are his manager, confront him with facts and talk about his fears and insecurities . “If he recognises the problem then you can recommend him for a training programme,” says Abhishek Kumar, assistant professor, BIM-Trichy. 

4 Have a Witness Calmly confront the liar immediately. “Never meet him alone to resolve a situation. Doing so will set you up for more lies, including accusations,” says Desai. 

5 Ignore Them Ignoring often works best. “Not taking such a person seriously can nullify his impact,” says Kumar.

(The Economic Times, Mumbai, 30-11-2012)