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8 February 2017 In Change, Character, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Conflict Leadership, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Employee Engagement, Habits, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Sales Leadership, Talent Management By Lalita Raman

Build A Communication Style You Can Be Proud Of

I was coaching one of my clients the other day and when I asked how would he like to “reframe” his communication, he remarked, no use saying whatever I have to say if it is not received by my audience properly. Wow. Indeed, communication is not complete, till it is “received”. Communication, be it written or verbal, is not complete till your audience understands the message. Written communication, be it email, chats or even a resume is ignored or can be misunderstood if it is not conveyed in a manner that will be understood by the receiver. Poor communication often results in frustration, ineffective meetings, misunderstandings, complicated relationships, lost time, lost revenues and overall goals remaining unachieved. What are some of the 101s of communication? 1.Language that is easy to understand We often live in our own world, using jargon and terms which our audience may not necessarily understand. 2.Connect We are emotional beings and connection takes place at an emotional level. Conversations, where a level of rapport and trust is established is when a connection happens. Connect with the other person's personal interests and topics of interest. 3.Listen Listening does not happen just with your ears but also with your eyes, heart and soul. Listening to understand and

15 June 2016 In Character, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Habits, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Five Benefits To Being An Observer

I was watching a TV serial the other day. The gist of the story is as follows : Two people who love each other get married. The city they are getting married is under a high security alert. Unfortunately, on their wedding day, a bomb is found in their wedding premises and the girl's uncle and brother (who gets shot as one of the terrorists) are accused as the terrorists since the circumstantial evidence says so. The girl is a lawyer and her heart tells her that they are innocent and she decides to defend her uncle and prove that her brother was innocent. This move upsets her husband and her in-laws who have lost his brother and son respectively. As an observer, you know the real terrorist but this is not known by the girl or her husband and her in-laws. Without getting involved emotionally in the events, as an observer, you feel that the girl is right from her perspective and the same can be said about her husbands' and in-laws perspective, especially from an emotional angle. Yet as an observer you also know that this girl's husband and her in-laws are being clouded by emotions and fail

18 May 2016 In Change, Character, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Habits, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Five Keys To Establishing and Building Trust in A Relationship

Last Friday, I watched The Money Monster. There is a scene where Lee Gates (George Clooney) walks out of his studio with Kyle Budwell (Jack O'Connell), a grief-stricken bankrupt viewer who lost his money after a previous tip; in front of him, a sharp contrast to moments earlier where Lee Gates was held hostage by Kyle Budwell. However, with the negotiations that followed between Lee Gates and Kyle Budwell, a certain degree of trust is established. Since Lee Gates does not want to get shot by the police, who are trying to disarm his bomb, he hides behind, Kyle, with Kyle walking in front of him. Lee convinces Kyle that the person because of whom Kyle lost his money is there, and they can question him together. The movie is particularly not interesting but this scene somehow captured my attention because of the rapport that Lee Gates builds with Kyle Budwell who had held him hostage. There is a trust that each of them place on the other, a degree of belief in each other and their common goal is to find this person on account of whom this grievance was caused. Trust is an essential part of any relationship be it with your partner, your

27 April 2016 In Character, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Habits, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Four Keys To The Power Of Consistency

Recently at my yoga and gym classes at Pure Yoga and Pure Fitness, I have observed that the different instructors follow a sequence in a particular week, which is consistent throughout that week, for that particular style of class. Not every class of the same style [e.g. TRX (suspension training) or Body Combat or RPM] has every single move and flow the same across different days and instructors in a particular week. But there are some moves common across the same class on different days during any given week. This consistency brings uniformity across classes and you as a participant is able to practice it consistently and improve your way of doing it. In addition, the instructors don't play what they want but send a uniform and consistent message. Each instructor is unique and with the consistency that they follow, it becomes easier for the participants as well as for the instructors to deliver their best. Thus the brand name and franchise value is enhanced. I appreciate consistency, especially as a Dale Carnegie trainer, because as Dale Carnegie trainers, when we deliver flagship programs and other tailored in-house corporate programs, we need to maintain consistency in the overall way we facilitate and

9 March 2016 In Character, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Employee Engagement, Habits, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Sales Leadership, Talent Management By Lalita Raman

Six Ways To Be An Impactful Communicator

Yesterday whilst in my yoga class, the instructor was giving us a specific instruction. She was very clear in her instruction and it so happened that the woman next to me had her left leg in front instead of her right leg. The instructor noticed this and kept repeating her instruction to this woman and only after a good 30-40 seconds that the woman internalized the instruction and did the right thing. I was thinking about this incident on my way back to work and realized that many times at the gym, yoga or even at trainings that I facilitate for various corporates, many participants do not do what has been instructed or requested of them. This happens not because the instructions are not clear or the language not understood but the individual/s concerned are not listening. Their focus is on something else. They are not in the moment. They hear and yet they don't listen. [Tweet "#Listening to #connect happens when you #listen to understand. #communication #EI #leadership"] What does LISTEN mean ? 1.Learn Learn to recognize your shortcomings and accept yourself. Ask yourself, what can you do to bring back focus? Have an open mind and intention to listen. [Tweet "#Listening with an open

19 February 2016 In Change, Character, Coaching, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Employee Engagement, Habits, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Sales Leadership By Lalita Raman

Four REAL Ways To Create Customer Service Excellence

√Customer Service Excellence is the single most distinguishing factor to maintain critical competitive advantage - LR√ During one of our travels, one of the airlines in China cancelled our flight and they sent us an email asking us to call them. When we did, we went back and forth for the next 3 hours, , sandwiched between the bureaucracy of two airlines. As it happened, we had booked our entire journey through one airline, and we had to use the other airline for one sector. Every customer service person of the airline that we had booked our flights through kept telling us to speak to the other airline and that they could not reissue the ticket to the new flight following the cancellation by the other airline because they had nothing to do with the cancellation. After spending over 3 hours, we finally managed to speak to the manager and get the situation resolved. This experience left us exhausted, frustrated and not wanting to return back to that place. It showed lack of care, empathy and above all, we were made to feel as if they were obliging us (the customer), when the airline had decided to cancel a flight. In

26 October 2015 In Change, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Conflict Leadership, Customer Service and Sales, Employee Engagement, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Talent Management By Lalita Raman

How To Avoid Wasting Money and Time on Training ?

Billions of dollars are spent annually on Training and development within organizations, without commensurate Return On Investment. (Tens of billions of dollars are spent on it annually, but companies often squander these investments because the training is not geared to drive business results, say experts at The Boston Consulting Group (BCG)). Organizations invest in soft skills training and development to manage talent, to enhance leadership, communication and other soft skills amongst their employees. Transitions occurs in taking on new roles, new challenges, managing a new team, new responsibilities, new countries or even with a different team or boss. This often results in many employees feeling challenged with their leadership, communication and influential skills. Coaching and training can help in enhancement or a shift in these soft skills. There is a clear need for training and coaching within organizations. Yet, what are some of the reasons for the gap between the need for training and development and the resultant ROI? 1.Training is often not geared to drive results, based on which those who receive training are being evaluated. 2.Training is often a “band aid” solution to fix a deeper problem or challenge that may exist within an organization. 3.Training is conducted in those areas which are not

10 July 2015 In Change, Character, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Conflict Leadership, Customer Service and Sales, Emotions, Employee Engagement, Habits, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership By Lalita Raman

Three Keys To Be An Impactful Communicator

"This is urgent. So please get it done ASAP" "Can you call between 9 am to 10 am?" "I would like to meet you sometime next week or so". "Can you tell her I called?" "Client is livid, can you look into it when you get a moment, please ?" What is the common problem you see in all of the above communication? Have you been in situations when you have told somebody it is urgent or ASAP and yet your request has not been met within your specified deadline? Has this caused you frustration and increased your stress and overwhelm? However, did you use specific language in your request or your instruction ? Let's take another scenario "I'm not sure I can do this" "I'm sure, I'm going to mess it up and not be able to make that presentation properly" "I'm not going to do this interview well" "I am in no good at public speaking. I suck at making presentations in front of a group of people. Does this form of self-communication sound familiar to you? There are three factors to impactful Communication, those that lead to inspiring and influencing others or what is often known as leadership communication 1. How do you communicate with yourself? Your thoughts lead to your inner talk. Is that empowering or

24 April 2014 In Coaching, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Lead From Within, Leadership, Sales Leadership By Lalita Raman

Simplicity in Sales I – Why People Buy?

I once heard a conversation between a sales manager and one of his team members where the sales manager is telling his sales person, simplify the conversation so that even a five-year old can understand what solution you are providing and how it will benefit him. Do you know how to do that? The sales person looked a bit confused and retorted back: "Oh yeah, that is easy". Is it really that easy? How many sales people resort to simplification (oversimplified) instead of simplicity? A friend was buying a house in Singapore. One of her real estate agents showed her several houses and his main pitch was how beautiful the Jacuzzi and the swimming pool in each of these houses were. The fact was she was not keen on having either a Jacuzzi or a swimming pool and in her initial meeting with the real estate agent she had categorically specified what she was looking for and that didn't include either of the two. Worse still, he had forgotten some of the key features that she was looking for in her prospective house. Had the agent bothered to listen and remember what mattered most to my friend, his chances of getting the

3 March 2014 In Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Customer Service and Sales, Organizational Leadership By Lalita Raman

Top Ten Ways to Stand Out In Sales and From Competition

"It is not the employer who pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer who pays the wages." - Henry Ford Every time a customer comes into contact with any aspect of your business, they have an opportunity to form an impression about you, your brand and business. How do you keep your customers engaged and loyal? David Brooks, the New York Times columnist in his op-ed column dated February 3, 2014 "What Machines Can't Do", states that We're clearly heading into an age of brilliant technology. Computers are already impressively good at guiding driverless cars and beating humans at chess and Jeopardy. As Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology point out in their book - The Second Machine Age, "computers are increasingly going to be able to perform important parts of even mostly cognitive jobs, like picking stocks, diagnosing diseases and granting parole