Leadership | Transitions Intl - Part 2
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Transitions Intl / Leadership
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

11 January 2016 In Change, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Emotions, Habits, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Sales Leadership, Talent Management By Lalita Raman

Four Mindful Ways To Be More Effective

One of my friends is into mindfulness and has engaged in it for past several years. In almost every conversation with him, I have observed that he gets irritated with something that has happened or something that is about to happen. Yet, he is quick to clarify that mindfulness has helped him and he swears by it. I am not sure why he offers this clarification every time. Mindfulness and courses on mindfulness has grown in geometric progression in the past two years. Anything with a mindfulness angle surely gets noticed. ⇒Are all those who talk about mindfulness and those who promote mindfulness, always mindful ? ⇒How can we be mindful in the time driven world of ours? Does it necessarily involve hours of practice, silent retreats and meditation?⇐ I read an interesting article on HBR that piqued my interest The title of that article was Mindfulness -Search Inside Yourself It talks about "just six seconds of mindfulness" can make you more effective. The crux of this article which caught my attention is that you can do away with the mental baggage, during your day, when you approach each new situation with a present, focused mind. You achieve a calm and agitation free mind by consciously taking one

30 November 2015 In Change, Character, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Communication, Emotions, Habits, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Four Easy Ways To Let Go Of Judgement

Two weeks back on Friday, when I was walking down to a meeting, I suddenly noticed an old man struggling to balance himself on the four or five stairs down the hill. I immediately stopped and asked him if I could help him and he readily consented. I made sure he was okay and asked him if he needs me to help him further down which he politely refused. He indicated that he will hold the railing down the footpath. I continued to be worried because of the steep slope and occasionally kept turning behind. I noticed he was slowly making his way down. I immediately wondered why would a man at his age risk, going on his own, down such a steep slope. Why can someone not accompany him or why can he not take a different path? He is putting himself at a huge risk of falling by going down such a steep slope, especially when he seemed to be challenged with his balance. Then I stopped in my thoughts and asked myself who am I to pass judgment? I don't know him or his circumstances. →How many times do we judge others and their situation, based on what we see?  My

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

23 February 2014 In Change, Character, Communication, Emotions, Habits, Lead From Within, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Don’t Take LIFE For Granted

  Don't Condemn Criticize or Complain This is one of the Human Relation Principles of Dale Carnegie. The simplicity of this statement is complex in itself. It is one of the most difficult to practice especially when things go wrong, you are experiencing a down and out day, and many moments in your life is filled with chaos, suffering and adversities. Take for instance, when a customer service doesn't take action and keeps saying sorry for the inconvenience caused and yet doesn't show any signs of resolving the issue, most of our reaction is to criticize and get angry. There are many such similar events in our life when our patience is tested and we either complain or criticize. If you observe, we criticize, condemn or complain not only about others but also ourselves. How many times have you chided yourself ? It is good to vent out, to seek improvement but we need to be thankful in life. Three years back, after finishing my boot camp, whilst getting down some stairs on my way home, I fell down and fractured my ankle. I realized, how much I missed walking normally, how much I used and needed my ankle. I have had many injuries and accidents and each

22 February 2014 In Change, Character, Coaching, Communication, Emotions, Integrity, Lead From Within, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership By Lalita Raman

Leadership And Compassion

  I had met Victoria recently who had hired me as a coach. Victoria is a highly motivated, energetic, determined and passionate woman in that she is driven by her purpose and vision in life. She is a senior executive with a multi-national firm and she has progressed very well in her career. She is one of the youngest managing directors within her firm and somebody whom people within the firm envied and looked up to. Victoria is a caring and compassionate individual but at the same time very goal oriented and at times in that drive may seem to appear as impersonal. Victoria normally is prompt and punctual. However on this day, she arrived to my office 10 minutes late. She profusely apologized. I observed that she seemed agitated and particularly stressed about something. I accepted her apology, smiled and requested her to take a seat. I allowed her to calm down and I did this by being silent for several minutes. That helped her to calm her nerves and regain her composure. She had a glass of water and she started narrating how her day was, what caused her to be stressed out and the reason for her delay and