TrainersXchange

The Key Challenges Faced by First-time Managers

2008-05-20T04:37:00.000-07:00

The highly competitive and dynamic business environment has meant that employees in new managerial roles or young team leaders are expected to hit the job running and deliver quick results.

The ‘honeymoon’ period, where in the new manager has time to acclimatize to the job, has been drastically reduced. The high attrition levels have also resulted in a situation where greater responsibilities are being thrust on greenhorn employees, some of whom are just out of college and a few months old in their jobs.

Here are a few key challenges faced by the first-time manager...

Challenge 1: Doing Things the Old Way

Generally it is the good performers who are promoted as team leads or area managers. But, successful employees need not necessarily be effective managers. The skills required to succeed as a manager are quite different from the skills needed to succeed as an individual employee.

First-time managers need to change their mindset of being just an employee to handling various functional roles such as planning, organizing, monitoring, communication, hiring and training team members, etc.

Challenge 2: Understanding Your Source of Power / Influence

A common lapse made by newly promoted managers is to think that they can use their position to get things done from their subordinates. However, to be successful, managers and leaders need to identify opportunities to gain the support and commitment of their direct reports without having to use their positional power.

New managers and young leaders need to understand their personality type, their leadership styles, and develop the ‘right’ behaviors that will enable them to build a high-spirited team.

Challenge 3: Balancing Expectations at Both Ends

This is a very important challenge faced by young managers.

How do you balance the aspirations and development needs of your team vis-à-vis achieving the targets and expectations set by your superiors. Have you developed that rapport with your boss where you are free to express your views and opinions, even if they are not in sync with what your boss thinks or what the organization does?

The young manager has to understand the managerial style of his /her boss and develop a good working relationship that individual.

And, is there anything worse than having to deal with a ‘micromanager’ boss, whose constant interference affects the morale of your team.

Challenge 4: Taking Care of Yourself

Amidst the hectic schedules, Monday morning con-calls, looming deadlines, and unforeseen time wasters, the first casualty for any first-time manager is his/her own self-development.

When was the last time you took out time to read that book, spend some quality time with your family, or develop a new hobby?

Leadership Development Workshop for Young Leaders

2008-05-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

(Click to see the enlarged image)

ATraC Management Services, a learning and development organization based in Hyderabad, has launched "Success Habits for Young Leaders," a leadership development workshop for first-time managers and young leaders.

For details, contact Shyam (9949951212) or Rajiv (9866845169).

The Art of Customer (Dis) Service - Part 2

2008-05-12T03:19:00.000-07:00

Is it really possible to ensure great customer service anytime and every time?

Recently, Shyam and I happened to drop by at the newly opened Reliance Digital store at Jubilee Hills (Hyderabad). And we were in for a pleasant surprise.

To begin with, the service reps greeted you with a Namaste and enquired if they could assist you. They were well groomed and had a pleasant disposition. What impressed us was that they were technically competent to help you make a decision about which laptop was good for your wallet or which printer had more value for money.

We checked out the home appliances section and got the same level of high quality customer service. At the routers section, the service rep asked the right questions regarding our requirements and gave us two brands of routers to choose from. And he didn’t mind spending over half an hour just helping us decide on which router to choose.

In short, this was a stark difference from other consumer appliance / electronics outlets where either you were totally ignored or constantly shadowed by the sales personnel.

A few days later, enthused by our previous visit, we dropped by Reliance Digital to buy some stuff.

And what a contrast it was.

None of the sales reps approached us as they seemed to be busy chatting in some corner. It was only when we made our displeasure known that we could get the attention of the sales reps and eventually make our purchase.

So what made the difference in service levels within a span of a few days?

We later came to know from one of the service reps that on the day of our first visit, a senior executive from the corporate office had paid a visit to the mall.

This just goes to show that in a young and growing economy like India, customer service is still a long way away even for large companies with deep pockets. No doubt these service reps were properly trained and did their job well (albeit only when the top boss was around).

The greater challenge (especially for service companies) is to ensure that their front line employees are sufficiently energized or empowered to deliver the ‘right’ customer service anytime and every time.

The Art of Customer (Dis) Service...Part 1

2008-03-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

In this age where ‘Customer is King/Queen,’ have you come across company employees who are downright rude or some front office executives who shout back at the customer?

The other day I witnessed this first hand at the classifieds office of a leading local daily. With only an hour to go before the deadline closed for the next day’s classifieds booking, there was a lot of jostling around the booking counter. To make matters worse, there was only one open counter.

When the elderly lady in front of me reached the booking counter, the employee ignored her and took a bunch of booking order sheets from a guy who had forced himself to the front of the booking counter from the opposite end of the queue. The employee didn’t seem to mind that he was not in the queue (my guess is that he was a regular customer and hence may have known the employee) and dutifully started processing his bookings. The elderly lady in front of me got angry and expressed her displeasure with the lady employee.

Instead of handling the situation politely, the employee back answered the customer in a rude manner. This erupted into a full scale fight between the two ladies. Things cooled down only when the rest of us intervened.

Any CEO or senior manager would be shocked at the prospect of a frontline employee shouting back at a customer. Yes, we know that front line executives and customer service employees are a harried lot and have to regularly deal with rude customers. But in this case the customer was not only wronged, but also shouted at by the employee. While this may be dismissed as a one-off case, I guess many of you would have come across insensitive customer service reps or front line staff who seem to have the customer’s interests at the very end of their priority list.

In another incident, some investors in Ahmedabad attacked the staff of a well known investment consultancy firm and even destroyed some of the furniture in the office. Apparently the angry customers had turned violent because they felt that they were “treated very badly by the consultancy staff and given rude answers whenever they approached them with their problems.”

In both these cases, I believe that the main issue is inadequate training to front line employees on “Customer Service Orientation.” The talent crunch (across all management levels) in India has resulted in many companies being staffed by ‘greenhorn’ employees. Given the high attrition levels and pressure to staff new positions, training has become more of a formality in many companies. Also, the attraction among job seekers toward “job-guarantee” courses or “crash-courses” makes quality training and learning through constant practice the first casualty.

Seven Colors for Trainers

2008-03-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

It’s Holi, the festival of joy and colors. Colors signify some particular qualities or attributes. Colors are also known to impact our emotions and moods. We all have our favorite colors. So as a trainer how do I add color to my training sessions? Like De Bono’s colorful thinking hats, I thought we trainers should infuse some colors in our training programs depending on the situation and need.

These seven colors will help to make your training sessions more effective, lively and inspirational.

Pink – This is the most popular of all Holi colors. Pink gives a feeling of affection, nurturing, and bonding. A trainer has to be genuinely interested in helping the participants. This involves setting the right environment and making the training more personal by knowing the names and backgrounds of the participants. It’s important to address the WIIFM question (What’s in it for me?) in the first session itself. Learners will show more interest and active participation if they are clear on how they will be benefitted by the training session. In addition to the WIIFM question, the trainer has to create a sense of bonding among the participants through ice-breakers and exercises that make the individuals come together as a group.

Red - Energy and passion are paramount for any training session. Can we expect the participants to be energized, if the trainer doesn’t radiate any enthusiasm or passion? The trainer has to not only understand the energy levels of the group, but also the energy levels of himself / herself. Use energizers, go outdoors, have activities that make participants physically move around.

Blue – There is nothing better than infusing some soothing blue after all that physical / mental activity. Have some calming breath control exercises or reflection sessions to help the participants consolidate their thoughts and improve overall recall. Regular breaks and time-outs are also representative of this color.

Green – This color brings to mind attributes like freshness, being authentic/natural, the connections in nature, etc. It’s about ensuring that the trainer taps into the diverse experience and skill levels of the participants, in order to infuse freshness and creativity in the program. It’s about providing ample opportunity for the participants to connect with each other and bring out the best in the group.

Yellow- The color preferred by the intellectual type. It’s also a color that symbolizes optimism and self-confidence. This means that as trainers we need to avoid overloading participants with information and instead provide them with opportunities to learn by using their own intelligence. Provide only the necessary information and offer choices along the way so that the participants feel that they are in control of their learning.

Orange- A summer color…full of warmth, youthful energy and vibrancy. Use it to stimulate new ideas and improve spontaneity in the group. When things seem to be getting serious, a little dash of orange humor can help liven things up.

Purple- The color of a balanced personality…the wise, imaginative, and insightful person. To gain insights on the effectiveness of the program, it is important for you as a trainer to review the program events in your mind at the end of the day. Do keep a notebook to list down the observations / learning points / goof-ups that have occurred during the program. A trainer should also review the feedback given by the participants and work toward improvement of the content and process of the program. Attend sessions by other trainers, go to a new hobby class, and see how other trainers handle their sessions. Incorporate this learning in your future programs, wherever appropriate.

Wishing everyone a very happy, safe, and joyous Holi 2008.

Pic: Sourced from www.stock.xchng.com

Why people hesitate to change?

2008-02-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

Hello

I always wonder, why majority of the people around us hesitate to venture into new areas or scared of change. Everybody feels comfortable in their own zones, not realizing the fact that one day the same comfort zone becomes so uncomfortable and it forces them to get out of it. The reasons could be umpteen

Just to name a few....

1. Parents won't allow their children to take any other subject other than Maths or Science, which eventually lead to Engineering or Medicne

2. Students don't venture into other areas other than Engineering or Medicine....everybody wants to take the same road, which is proven successful

3. SOftware programmers won't venture into learning new skill on their own unless they have fear of losing their job or somebody forces them to do it

4. Many students know their strengths & weakness but refuse to admit it. Who is losing in the whole game - student himself.

Due to competition and ever growing market demand, lot of colleges took birth like mushrooms in a very short span but to fill the seats, management had to move beyond metros - into small towns and close to villages where there is no infrastructure, no good faculty, no exposure to the external world, no practical orientation

This creates a huge gap between academia and industry....To name a few, the gap can be in the form of

a. Proper technical skills
b. Exposure to various technologies (everybody says C, C++, Java. VB.net etc)
c. Exposure to various companies
d. Good communication skills - may be because they got educated in local language and made no effort to improve their english speaking skills
e. Body language, etiquette
f. Cross cultural sensitity issues (need not be cross countries - the gap is huge between a metro and town / village)
g. Orientation on how to write resumes, handle group discussions or face interviews with confidence. They might know the subject but lack of confidence kills them at the interview

There are thousands of jobs available in the market with good pay packets but shortage of skilled manpower creates the gap. Every student must be bold enough to say that "these are my strengths and weakness". Is there somebody to help me convert my weakness into strength to get desired output

Constant learning is the key to anybody's success in life - personal or professional. Learning can happen in many ways

a. Reading books, magazines, articles or journals
b. Interaction with experts in respective fields
c. Exchange of quality thoughts with experts over social netwroking sites (not the junk ones which eat your time without your knowledge)
d. Attending seminars / conferences to know whats happening in the industry and to update your knowledge
e. Browse through good websites on the internet

Unless people come out of their comfort zones and realize the need for acuiring new skills or upgrading their own knowledge - they will perish without their notice

These are few thoughts, which i felt like sharing with you. Many more to come.

Good luck - happy learning

Shyam S Mantha
+91. 995 994 1212 (M)

Co-Founder - ATraC
Co-Founder - TrainersXchange
Founder Trustee - SMILE Charitable trust

Michael Backman on India’s Employability Challenge

2007-12-29T02:11:00.000-08:00

Am currently reading “The Asian Insider: Unconventional Wisdom for Asian Business” by Michael Backman (Backman), published by Palgrave Macmillan. Blackman is a well known business analyst and expert on corporate governance practices in Asia.

The book is a must read for those who want to know more about the political environment and business practices in Asian countries like Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and China. I personally found the book to have some incredible insights peppered with facts and interesting anecdotes experienced by the author during his travels.

With regard to the author’s observations on India, I would like to highlight one particular observation. In a chapter on India’s software revolution, the author writes about one challenge that could affect India’s software sector. He writes, “Furthermore, there is a quality issue when it comes to India’s graduates. Engineers from elite institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology can be regarded as world class but they make up only a small percentage of India’s technical graduates. The rest tend to be trained in a rote-learning, inflexible environment and lack the skills and self-confidence that multinationals require.”

Well…this book was published in 2004 and the author’s observation is still very relevant in the current scenario.

Faking IT

2007-12-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

A few days ago, some newspapers carried a report that Wipro Technologies and two other Indian IT companies had initiated efforts to create a database of candidates with ‘fake CVs’.

I had co-written a small case study (that was compiled from published sources) on this problem back in early 2006. It seems no more like a one-off issue and the problem has only worsened.

So now in addition to the challenges faced by Indian IT firms from the strengthening rupee and fears of a sub-prime led recession in the US, there is this growing problem of fake CVs right in our own backyard.

What’s disconcerting is that the fake CV racket has become a “well-oiled machinery” or “cottage industry”. Talk about using our ingenuity in the wrong direction.

Even NASSCOM has initiated the National Skills Registry to try and counteract this growing menace.

Of course, everyone agrees that embellishing one’s CV is ethically or morally wrong. But then why do so many resort to it?

‘Everyone does it’ is a usual ‘excuse’. In this highly competitive world, ‘getting the job’ is all that matters, even if it means getting a false work experience certificate or enhancing ones academic grades through Photoshop.

Job seekers, especially freshers, say that they are left with no option but to get these false certificates as they have no ‘real’ work experience. Makes me wonder as to which is more effective in convincing recruiters, just a plain work experience certificate or the learning experience they gained while on a project or at work.

I think even our education system is partly responsible for this. The lack of proper application oriented training and a focus only on testing how well one has memorized bookish knowledge is bound to put our students at a great disadvantage in their job quest.

Some people even say that we have to be realistic. It really doesn’t matter if the candidate has faked his/her CV as long as they contribute on the job. All I can say is that it’s the company’s call. But personally, I believe that honesty and integrity are paramount. An honest person who is an average performer can be coached and reskilled. The main concern with an employee with questionable integrity is that in the back of our minds we lose our trust and faith in them. And in data sensitive sectors like IT or banking and finance, this is absolutely critical.

The choice to fake one’s CV or not is actually upto the individual. Personally, I believe that it’s always best to be honest and upfront. Keeping morals and ethics aside, it’s actually more to do with your effectiveness in the interview and your behavior at work after you get the job. You can be confident that what you have put in your CV is correct and this really gives a huge boost in the way you interact with the panel members and your coworkers once on the job.

To conclude, amidst all this debate of whether one should be ‘realistic’ by Faking It or be honest and stick to their ethical / moral principles, one fact is clearly evident- Fake CVs will continue to remain a problem just like corruption or black money laundering.

It means that the only ones who have no complaints about this growing menace are the background checkers/ CV verification service providers, and of course, the fake CV operators. Both will continue to see their business grow.

The Unemployables

2007-12-02T04:49:00.000-08:00

If unemployment was the main problem during the License Raj years, unemployability has become the major concern in India’s post-liberalization period.

So it came as no great surprise when I read yet another news item / report on the growing unemployability problem in India. A recent study “India Labour Report 2007: The Youth Unemployability Crisis,” by TeamLease Services, a leading staffing services company in India, states that unemployability among the youth is a far greater problem than unemployment.

What’s disconcerting is that India’s growth story may not be hampered by just the oft cited poor roads and infrastructure or corruption, but much more due to its growing number of ‘unemployables’. Moreover, the problem of ‘unemployables’ will continue to grow given India’s young demographic profile and an ineffective education system, both at primary and higher levels.

It’s clearly a paradox situation where in companies are competing with each other for talent, when the number of unemployable youth is ever increasing. How long can companies hike salaries, and increase perks before their high employee costs impact their competitive advantage.

So what can we do to overcome this challenge?

Unemployability is a huge monster that has to be tackled on many fronts. It is a crisis, but also seems a good opportunity for entrepreneurs to bridge this demand-supply gap in skills and competencies.

On a more immediate basis, I think we need to look at the graduate and post-graduate level professional degree programs. The main concern is that most of the knowledge imparted is bookish in nature and does little to prepare the student for what he/she may encounter on the job in the corporate world.

In this regard, many corporate entities like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Wipro, etc. have initiated industry-academia partnership programs to impart more practical education to students, train the college faculty, and make the curriculum more attuned to the industry needs.

But I believe that the efforts of a few corporates may not be enough to address the full scale of the unemployability problem. There are over 2,000 colleges (many of which teach the engineering discipline) and around 1,400 management colleges (as of end 2006). Corporate entities may select only a few of the well known colleges, which leaves out a large majority.

Entrepreneurs are needed to address this opportunity by providing employability training programs and workshops that develop life skills. Also college administrators and faculty members need to initiate changes in their curriculum and change the nature of pedagogy.

Above all else, I feel that students themselves need to understand that they have to take a keen interest in their personal development, identify their skills gap, and take action by forming self-help groups or attending personal development programs. This will not only help them become employable, but also enable them to get better growth and earning opportunities throughout the course of their career.

Welcome to TrainersXchange

2007-12-02T04:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks

Welcome to trainersXchange blog. This is a platform for all the trainers who wish to exchange information related to training world, share your knowledge and personal experiences to all the trainers across the globe.

Being a trainer myself, i enjoy interacting with people from various parts of the globe.

Hope you too enjoy interacting with fellow trainers through this platform..

Should you have any queries or inputs to make this blog a better place to network and share the knowledge - you are most welcome to do so.

Cheers
Shyam S Mantha