Personal & Professional Development | Transitions Intl - Part 5
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Transitions Intl / Personal & Professional Development
31 August 2013 In Coaching, Customer Service and Sales, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

How Are You Connecting With People?

Businesses and organizations run because of the people, the relationships and the connections between people. When we network with people we look for common interests or topics to break the ice, strike a conversation and thereafter get into a discussion. In a business scenario, during interviews, a set of questions is asked by different people in an organization of a potential candidate. In each of these situations, be it at work (or in daily life), there is  judgment being made based on skills, qualifications, the ability to make an elevator speech, the way a person talks or present themselves, all of which are external factors.  Also, in today’s age of social media, there is an eagerness to strike a conversation with people who have large number of followers, or if they are famous. Again these are extrinsic factors. However, part of the judgment rests with our own gut feel or our intuition. In today’s world there seems to be a lot of communication and modes of communication but is real connection happening? Leaders connect because they are human and understand that trust and rapport can’t be built without real connection. Meaningful communication is possible only with real connection. How do you connect?

31 August 2013 In Coaching, Communication, Habits, Lead From Within, Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Fake It Till You Make It Or Feel It Till You Make It

One of my sister’s friends’ colleague Anita, submitted her resignation recently, since she had found another job. Whilst she was serving her notice period, she still kept hoping that she would be asked to stay in her current organization. She was almost nearing the end of her notice period when my sister’s friend asked Anita why she wanted to stay back. Anita did not have any job in hand. She had pulled a fast one since she believed in doing so, she would get a salary hike with her current company. You have probably heard of “Fake it till you Make it” ever so often. I have always wondered about this statement. Do you fake →your values, authenticity, talents and skills? →your job, salary, what you can afford? →your emotions, compliments and the way you articulate? →who you are? Fake it till you make it or become it seems to be losing its essence in the way people are using it. I have always understood “Fake it Till You Make it” as, to get over your negative self talk, to believe in yourself, to achieve your dreams and not have your inner critique take over. From when did it become not being authentic, or being a hypocrite or

30 August 2013 In Coaching, Employee Engagement, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

The Human Touch to Leadership

In today’s day and age we are bombarded by more stimuli than ever before. This stimuli can be from various sources like social media, emails, chats, demands from the real world and from every possible source. Amidst this stimuli, we are expected to be thoughtful and yet give responses in nano seconds or a fraction thereof. In this environment of keeping up to demands, not feeling left out or as if we missed the boat, we create feelings of vacuum and stress within ourselves and amongst others. Now let’s take the situation of Emily who is either looking to diversify her business or seeking to change her job or starting up a new business venture. She is excited, enthusiastic, is eager to make connections and engages with different people from various walks of life. She meets various types of personalities in this journey. Who are you among these personalities? FOR FULL POST REFER LINK For Coaching, Facilitating, Speaking and Conducting Workshops Connect

11 June 2013 In Change, Coaching, Leadership, Life, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Do Your Habits Determine You ?

A friend of mine, Jane, a senior manager with a FMCG company, manages six direct reports who in turn manage four to five people each. Jane to us, is one of the most enthusiastic, authentic and a gregarious person. When she started leading a team, about 4 years back, she faced issues of underperformance from her team. She did not realize that this underperformance was mainly from her leadership skills or rather from one of her age-old habits. She initially attributed the reasons for underperformance to pressures of time and lack of resources. She decided to hire a coach after reflecting on the consistent underperformance of her team. It was only then that she realized that it was her habit of assuming that her team understood and bought into every change that was introduced, was the key reason for the disconnect. We are all creatures of habit, good or bad. Some of these habits we are unaware of just like Jane, till we start reflecting, and making ourselves aware and then looking at the consequences. We become what we repeatedly do. Did you know that our subconscious mind is much more powerful than our conscious mind? It is our subconscious mind - the habitual

4 June 2013 In Coaching, Comfort Zone, Leadership, Life, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

How Are You Living Your Values?

It is Friday evening and you are looking forward to your long  overdue vacation. You are working on the final touches of your proposal to get a new line of business approved. The proposal is almost ready barring some details on some legal challenges that you are  awaiting from your legal department. You receive the legal opinion and when you read it, you realize that a key element is missing. Not considering this aspect might hurt the franchise of the business in the future. The only person aware about this is you and none else. What would you do? Would you rather let it go because you’ll never be found out or blamed or would you listen to your inner voice which tells you how important it is to highlight this specific legal risk. What is this inner voice that whispers to you at various moments in your day and life. A whisper to the effect “There is no way you can do that. it’s not right”. Each of us have core values whether we realize it or not. Core values is what is imbibed in us from the day we are born. Some values we instill in us as we are growing. Values sit within

20 May 2013 In Change, Coaching, Comfort Zone, Leadership, Life, Personal & Professional Development, Yoga By Lalita Raman

Top 5 Leadership Lessons From YOGA

Are you wondering what yoga has to do with leadership? I have done yoga for almost 10 years and I still continue to learn not only the yoga poses but what yoga can teach about myself, life and leadership. When I started yoga 10 years back, it was purely as an exercise and to improve my flexibility. Most of the yoga instructors will tell you that yoga is a connection between mind, body and soul and the common link is through your breath. I used to hear this but never quite understood the real essence. My journey with yoga in the first two-three years, was one of hate and love. However, where I stand today with yoga is one of love, where I have learnt to overcome some of my frustrations of inflexibility. This is where yoga is like leadership, in that a leader doesn’t take credit only when the going is good but stands through tough times and journeys through them. Leadership Lessons 1) Humility - most start-off with yoga with the aim to be able to do all the complicated poses. Some of us are able to do these poses easily whilst some others aren’t. If you are able to do almost all the

12 May 2013 In Coaching, Leadership, Life, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

10 Leadership Lessons from My Mom

Today is Mother’s Day and normally I don’t write blog posts on my mother on this day. A mother, I believe is someone who needs to be honored, loved, cared every single day and not just on Mother’s Day.  Why did I decide to write a blog post this year? I was having a chat with a business colleague yesterday and we were discussing leadership, qualities of a leader and people who have inspired each of us. On the topic of inspiration, many have inspired me but none better than my mom and my dad.  Since the discussion is fresh in my mind and Mother’s Day is today, I thought, why not translate these thoughts into a blog post. My mom has never considered herself as a leader and even if you tell her she probably doesn’t understand how she can be a leader. My mom is in her 70’s and she comes from a conservative background. She got married when she was 19 and she has always been a housewife who always found pleasure in looking after her home, her family and in building a temple of values. Why do I consider my mom as a leader ? 1. Love and care - every

2 May 2013 In Coaching, Employee Engagement, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development, Talent Management By Lalita Raman

Does “Employee Engagement” Matter?

John was with his company for a little over two years. He was one of the senior management reporting directly to the CEO and Chairman. He was very soon expected to take over as CEO and Chairman. However, John was frustrated and has been mulling over leaving the firm to pursue other opportunities.  John had joined this firm with a lot of expectations in terms of the vision he saw for this company. This was the second firm in his 15 year career so far. Employee engagement has become a key word and an area of focus within organizations more so from the point view of retention. What is employee engagement? Employee engagement is the emotional commitment that a person has to their organization. What is the Key to Employee Engagement From Gallup 12 questions for Employee Engagement 1) Do you know what is expected of you at work? 2) Do you have the materials and equipment to do your work right? 3) At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? 4) In the last seven days, have you received recognition or praise for doing good work? 5) Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person? 6) Is

17 January 2013 In Leadership, Organizational Leadership, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Are You A Leader or a Manager ?

A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe Leadership and management go hand in hand but yet we have great managers who may not be great leaders. Have you identified why? Have you had a high turnover because of your manager ? Have you analyzed the traits of the team and those of the manager - High D,or C or S or I?  Most of you may associate with the following descriptions of a leader and a manager. Leader – one who inspires others by their actions and behavior. Leadership is a philosophy of life. Leadership is not about managing things but about developing people. It is about helping people to liberate the fullness of their talents while they pursue a vision that you have inspired them to buy into as a worthy and meaningful one. Great leaders are great teachers as well as great coaches. Manager – managers direct and tell their team what to do. They plan for the achievement of day-to-day tasks and the goals of the department or group whom they manage. Managers, by nature, are concerned with outcomes. A leader is not necessarily one with an organizational title but why don't we have more managers