Personal & Professional Development | Transitions Intl - Part 6
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Transitions Intl / Personal & Professional Development
25 December 2012 In Coaching, Comfort Zone, Life, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

5 Strategies To Get Out of Your “COMFORT ZONE”

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience.”  Emily Dickinson We all like our comfort zones.  It feels cozy, and we feel we are in cruise control.  Comfort zones however lull us into believing that the fear we feel to try something new is justified and acceptable. However, being in the comfort zone leads you to stop growing and learning. No matter who you are, you cannot stop learning and to learn you need to get out of your comfort zone. You may have heard your friends or colleagues who have the fear of public speaking or doing bungee jumping or swimming or even hiking a steep hill. Common statements you hear from this fear is "I'm no good at public speaking". "I hate public speaking." "I'm scared of heights." "You are too good at this, there is no way I can make such good presentations". Most of these are, more often than not, self-limiting beliefs.  I agree each of our talents are different but unless you try how would you know if you are good at it or not? What are you limiting by being within your comfort zone? 1. Your Talent and full Potential  You are the only one who can use your

6 December 2012 In Coaching, Life, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Top 5 Uses of “Powerful Questions”

Understanding a question is half an answer - Socrates How many times have you been confronted, during a presentation or at a meeting, with a question? A question that has made you think, engage you and pull you back into the conversation or dialogue where you might have lost focus. In all forms of communication, one's impact is most effective when we pay attention to the receipt of our influence.  Questions, in my view, allows one to listen and interject at the relevant time and get the other party engaged and excited about the conversation or the subject being discussed. In the relevant context, a question constructed and asked properly acts as a catalyst. Questioning skills deserve much more attention than they usually get. Why Question? 1. Tools - I have observed that in my coaching sessions that through proper questions, the clients come to their own extraordinary personal and professional solutions.  Questions in the right framework are simple and yet precise as surgical tools. 2. Facilitates Listening - Questions asked in the right context forces you to listen, be-present and gives an opportunity to the talker to readdress something and possibly allows them to understand another's perspective.  Practice listening first then use simple strategic and powerful questions. 3.

18 October 2012 In Coaching, Personal & Professional Development, Talent Management By Lalita Raman

TOP TEN QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ASK, TO RETAIN GOOD PEOPLE

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well” ― Voltaire Employees who feel valued are more likely to be engaged in their work and feel satisfied and motivated. Employee turnover is a significant cost to any firm.  Retention is a big issue. Typically people stay because jobs are hard to find or get. When things open up the “best  people"  leave. This leaves performance and productivity holes in the Company. According to a survey by the American Psychological Association (APA), feeling valued is a key indicator of job performance. You get the right people on the bus ( refer my post on Marcus Buckingham Alert for Talents) but equally important is retaining the good talent so that they don't get off the bus. How do you retain your good people? Does everyone know what is expected of them. Do they have a clear and concise description of the job and the expectations from them to deliver the job. You are what your talents and values are. Do you allow your people to develop their talents ? Do you give them opportunities to take advantage of the multiple skills your people possess. Do you provide the necessary tools and

11 September 2012 In Coaching, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Marcus Buckingham Alert: Hiring For Talent

Joanne sits back in her chair deep in thought. She is concerned about her daughter Maria who has become very withdrawn, agitated at times and losing interest in whatever she is doing. She has two daughters Ann and Maria who are identical twins. She thinks back on the training and the access to facilities that she has given both her daughters. They have always been given the same training no matter in sport or any other field. Yet, Ann has been a consistent performer and enjoys whatever she does. Maria on the other hand seems disinterested in any of the activities. Maria has an innate talent to sing, to write poetry, to draw and she enjoys the few moments in her day when she does what pleases her inner soul. She has no interest in dance, swimming or learning the various languages. She forces herself to go to classes with her sister since her mom wants her to. How many of you have been in a similar position? Or as parents not recognized the innate talents of your children ? How many of us in our organizations have not been recognized for our strengths and our innate talents? How many of us have left our

27 August 2012 In Coaching, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

How To Practice Positive Leadership

Pauline is sitting at her desk immersed in her own thoughts and going down the memory lane of her past 30 years. Pauline still remembers the big day when she was 8 years old. She is waiting for her big day, the final competition for being declared "The Best Child Dancer under 10" in the biggest competitions held by a TV channel in her country.  She is passionate about dancing and spends hours on her practice. The Finale arrives and she gives a mind-blowing performance. She wins the competition. She gets accolades, awards, appreciation of her performance.  She is exhilarated. A smile returns to her face when she thinks about this moment. She has won many awards thereafter not only in her country but also internationally. Dance is her passion but Pauline has always kept it as a hobby rather than make a career out of that. She is multi skilled and has never had any issues in trying out diverse things and out shining in each of those.  She is currently a Senior Executive with a top multinational  - she has spent over 10 years with this Company and has grown in her role.  She is one of the top performers and

14 August 2012 In Coaching, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Four Little Known Personality Traits That Could Affect Your Relationships

Picture a scenario in a playground or in a jail where a large bulky kid beats up a small kid or a large honcho in a jail victimizes a relatively weak soul. Most of us can easily associate with this character and the term they are known by is Bully. Bullies are one we either witness as a child or one some of us may have been victimized by. In organizations as well we do face bullies but the behavior is not in the form of beating up somebody physically. The Karpman Triangle describes some habitual roles or positions that people tend to take up in a negative situation or while in conflict. This model suggests that each of us display unconsciously motivated behavioral patterns with the people whom we are in contact with.  There is an unconscious belief/s that drives our behaviors or actions which causes or contributes to evoke a feeling.  This feeling augments beliefs or perceptions about ourselves and others and how we fit in and how we are treated.   Most of these beliefs or perceptions are negative.   The model posts three habitual psychological roles. But research by some of the Coaching Institutes have added a fourth behavior. The three

31 July 2012 In Coaching, Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Success : What does It Mean To You ?

What does success mean to you?  I was asked this question by one of my friends last week. Definitely got me thinking and after some thought I responded to her by saying it is something that appeals to my within, an act and achievement of that act.  She looked at me with the most surprised look and remarked, "oh!, so it is not about promotions, getting compliments, having a big house, or a successful business". Yes, success to many of us at some point in our lives may be associated with materialistic concepts because as we are growing up in life those are the things that are given importance to.  I've been there, yearned for the same things but life has taught me that success at the end of the day is how well I choose to face my disappointments and change my path to achieve the vision, one that still appeals to my within.  To achieve success one requires confidence, clarity and self-awareness. Success does not mean absence of failure. In fact, I would say not trying at all is possibly the worst failure. Our thoughts guide us through our journey in life and a lot of this depends on what you

7 June 2012 In Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

Commitment : Top 15 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself

“What we speak becomes the house we live in.”-Hafez. How many times have you heard friends or colleagues or family members or yourself say, "I've tried to convince the person so many times on this idea, but fail to do so." Sounds familiar? Have you ever evaluated why does that happen to you or others? Is it because the other party has not bought into your vision or is it because you fail to keep your commitment? In other words, have you failed to live up to your word innumerable number of times that the person doesn't trust you enough, to buy into your vision? Failing to keep your commitments is an indication that you don’t care about your vision, or word, your client, their time, and the outcomes. Questions you need to ask yourself when your actions are not in sync with your word are: Do you have a clear goal and vision Are you trying to pursue one too many goals or things to do at the same time Are you trying to get some brownie points by agreeing to do something but have no real intention of doing it Are you trying to avoid a situation of open communication and dealing with the situation Have you

28 May 2012 In Personal & Professional Development By Lalita Raman

5 Steps To Overcome Self-Limiting Beliefs

Did you know that our self-limiting beliefs are one of the worst obstacles to moving forward in whatever we seek to achieve.  Self limiting belief is that inner thought in our head of doubting oneself and not trusting ourselves. What are some of these self-limiting beliefs that sabotage our career, our development and our life Could it be I'm no good at public speaking I'm no good at keeping time I'm no good at job interviews I suck at relationships I mess it up in organizing I'm ugly I just can't be an entrepreneur There is no way I can be bold like you I make a mess in organizing events Just writing some of these negative statements has had a debilitating effect on me, so can you imagine what a cascading detrimental effect you create on yourself, every time such a negative thought rests in your head. Obviously some of the self-limiting beliefs listed above are easier to work through than others but all of them require you to start somewhere. Life has taught me that there are many things to which we are predisposed and we refuse to try out many things that we are capable of.  We allow our negative thoughts and frustrations to deter our ability to adapt, to learn,