Author: nadeem

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going!’

This famous English expression distinctly defines a class of people who can handle stress and conflict exceptionally well, with a postive mindset.  Contrary to popular belief, anxiety is actually absolutely necessary for each one of us, as the human brain is unable to function without a certain level of stress. While there may be varied degrees of stress among individuals, somehow, successful people learn to maintain and manage their stress and anxiety just within the required optimal levels, in order to achieve top performance.

These successful individuals are determined to take the bumpy road by redoubling their efforts in order to overcome a stressful situation. Especially in the corporate world, such people deal with conflict in a constructive way by getting to the root of the issue, invigorating their team to perform to the best of their abilities, deriving the best outcomes and creating an environment of openness as part of the company’s culture. They demonstrate a conduct that will make a company more productive and profitable, even in the face of critical failures and overwhelming odds. Weschool has identified some tools used by these individuals to overcome adversity and manage stress better.

• Acknowledge the present and the future

Successful people make it a habit as well as a priority to be grateful for what they have. These people think of the bigger picture and remind themselves of what is important, so as to keep their perspective in the positive realm.

• Positive perspective

These individuals maintain a positive outlook so as to remain happier and become more productive. This attitude brings about favorable results, as their thoughts have the ability to transform energy into reality. They use language that evoke strength and success and practice positive affirmations. Successful people visualize what they wish to achieve and draw an immense amount of inspiration from the same.

• Prioritize personal care

Successful individuals consider themselves as the most important asset and they prioritize healthy habits. They abstain from caffeine and alcohol, exercise regularly, eat healthy, get enough sleep and periodically switch off from technology. They strive to find balance to help moderate stress.

• Smile

It is close to impossible to remember to smile during a stressful situation. However, smiling is the simplest, easiest and fastest way to deal with stress. At a stressful meeting a smile induces the other person to reciprocate, thereby bringing about a positive feedback cycle and acts as a great tension release.

Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research offer individuals a powerful integration of knowledge, experience and resources. Our programs help develop and transform the organization by directing skilled leaders to achieve strategic business initiatives that require new ideas, methods and techniques allowing them to handle workplace stress with ease. Visit our website www.welingkarexedp.com to know more about our courses.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]What is at the crux of a successful business organization? There can be many equally significant answers to this question, as every organization consists of a multitude of essential elements. One of these elements is a trustworthy team, as Steve Jobs rightly puts it.

“Great things in business are never done by one person.

They’re done by a team of people”.

Trust is an invaluable part of not only a team, but also the organization. It is believed to be more powerful than power itself, andtherefore, it becomes mandatory to develop an internal culture that values, builds and supports trust.

When an organization runs on low levels of trust,they tend to place a hidden tax on every business transaction, as low productivity brings the speed down and costs go up. Contrary to this, high-trust organizations operate as performance multipliers by increasing speed and decreasing costs.

We at Welingkar have identified the secret sauce to create a high-trust organization, with the below ingredients:

• Integrity among Leaders: It is essential for leaders to demonstrate competence that is aligned with the company’s values. They are expected to display their trustworthiness, as leading by example is a key to building a high-trust organization. Leaders must be thoughtful and consistent with their actions to ensure follow-through of the same behavior.
• Effective communication: The communication process within an organization plays a key role in building a high-trust team. It is important for leaders to encourage and maintain communication along both ways of the hierarchy, in a constant flow.  Leaders need to build transparency within the system and must communicate not only the positive, but also the negative scenarious with their employees.
• Practice what you preach: Organizations need to focus on associating with companies that have a good reputation,as employees want to know that their work matters and that they are doing business with other prominent organizations. It is important to maintain trustworthy relations outside the organization as well, and leaders need to take cautious decisions, in order to sustain an ethical and honest organization and drive these values internally within the employees through leading by example.
• Articulate a higher cause: Exceptional leaders drive people towards fulfilling the mission and vision of the organization. Team members need to be actively involved in defining and shaping the organization’s vision, goal and objectives for the present and future.

After the team’s overall purpose has been defined, each member needs to understand their unique role in the contribution towards the team’s success and identified goals. When individuals are provided the power and autonomy to do their job within a team, they begin to mutually respect each other as well as the organization and tend to contribute in more ways than one.

Building and maintaining organizational trust can be tricky, but embracing these principles will help to lay the foundation for a trusting environment within. We, at Welingkar believe that trust is a result of multitude of actions and it is the repetitive and consistent nature of these actions that helps create a culture of reliance. To explore from a host of our leasership and management programs, please refer to our website www.welingkarexedp.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Millennials can be categorized as young adults born between 1980 and 2000 (The date range is up for debate). These individuals however, are largely believed to be independent, outgoing and decisive. The young adults of this milleniall era were raised by parents who focused on structure by providing planned activities and constant encouragement, thereby turning them into individuals with high self-esteem and fulfilment. Therefore, they do not prefer being micro-managed. Instead, they tend to seek ‘freedom at work’ in a quest to learn and explore. They are individuals who prefer to be ‘taught’ over being ‘told’, and they seek out opportunities where they are allowed to make their own decisions and do not encourage any form of control.

Millennials tend to work well with diverse co-workers, they prefer working together in teams and tend to grow their relationships beyond just work with their co-workers. These free-spirited individuals prefer taking up challenges instead of abiding with monotonous work daily. Though they seek guidance and structure from their older counterparts, they also expect to be duly respected for the decisions they make. They are considered to be one of the most well-connected generations, which opens up a host of opportunities. In this case, it is all the more important for the management to retain these young individuals in the workforce. They are an asset to any organization as they possess the natural ability and motivation to manage numerous tasks. The question however, would be whether it is possible to manage these individuals? Let’s find out how:

Listen before you speak: This would be an important trait that millenials seek in their leader. A leader is someone who must be keen to ‘listen’ to their followers. They believe that a good leader is one who hears out every individual opinion, before making a decision that affects the entire team. These individuals have been raised with high amounts of self-respect and this is clearly reflected in their attitude. They have been encouraged to think right from when they were children and prefer their thoughts and ideas to be heard by someone in authority.

Provide flexibility: Millennials naturally tend to bring their personal life into their work environment. They are a vocal generation, who have been encouraged to speak out their mind. They prefer having a relaxed work-environment, where they are provided flexible work hours. Family is a priority for these individuals and they have various extra-curricular interests that they like to pursue. They are also of the mindset, that as long as the work gets done in time, providing flexibility should not be a concern for the management.
Introduce in-between promotions: The millennials are eager to progress in their career, they do not like waiting for promotions, as they receive career growth and better prospects when moving from one company to another. Hence, it is ideal to encourage and motivate them by providing faster promotions and titles. Doing this makes them feel appreciated for their work and they have a will to stay with the organization.

Provide on-the-job training and education: Msot millenials are largely multi-taskers and like taking up new roles, beyond their day-to-day tasks. They like to contribute much beyond their set roles and responsibilities and like to step out of their roles once in a while. They stay motivated only when monotony is taken out of the routine. They seek to learn and appreciate knowledge, as they are constantly trying to build themselves and their growth curve. Therefore, these individuals like to gain any form of on-the-job trainings. They also expect companies to support their further education and short-term skill upgrade and development courses, by allowing them to pursue the same. The organization could help by providing flexible working hours and also grant leave during such examinations.

Weschool believes that these are small ways to relate with this young and important workforce, to keep them engaged and motivated constantly. For more information on leadership skills and training programs, please visit our website for details at www.welingkarexedp.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Silicon Valley’s of the world have witnessed innumerable success stories of startups that made it big. The bitter truth however, is that most startups fail to succeed and their end is often mysterious or goes unnoticed. In a competitive environment such as that of a startup industry, it becomes difficult to thrive and prosper, which leaves entrepreneurs in a cloud of complete misery. The most common reasons that surface would be the inability to get appropriate funding at the right time, or a completely disorganized business structure or lack of market analysis. Welingkar Institute of Management Development would attribute the failure of most, if not all startups, to management mistakes. WeSchool believes that entrepreneurs play the most significant role in the making or breaking of any organization. A few reasons why startups might fail due to the top level management’s incapabilities are discussed below:

Lack of Focus

Focus as we know, is critical for the success of entrepreneurs. Lack of focus can cause them to prioritize insignificant things, thereby leading to a downfall. It is important to keep the goals aligned both, of people as well as processes. Unfocused entrepreneurs tend to lack the drive to execute. It is essential for budding entrepreneurs to have clarity, direction, desire and drive to overcome obstacles objectively.

Lack good mentorship

Entrepreneurs sometimes lack having a good mentor to guide them on numerous key business aspects. Understanding new concepts, ideas and technology along with the way to deal with obstacles, is what makes an entrepreneur successful. These lessons can only be learned from an experienced professional, a senior in the industry and someone who has the experience and insight to take a business to it’s maximum potential. Mentorship, is therefore an essential part of helping a startup to succeed and attain the next level.

Lack of general and domain specific knowledge

Entrepreneurs often feel that leaders would be making quick decisions in the face of ambiguity. Although this is an important trait, managers and entrepreneurs need to focus on developing domain-specific knowledge or take opinions and advice from people with expertise in that relevant field. Each domain like finance, marketing and operations require a varied skill set. It is impossible for one individual to overlook functioning of each domain with expertise; hence it is advisable for entrepreneurs to be open to acquire knowledge. General knowledge about a specific busines cannot take the business too far, without domain expertise and in-depth knowledge of the industry.

The reasons why startups fail in any industry could be numerous. WeSchool focuses on providing mentorship and knowledge to new entrepreneurs, helping them develop adequate skills to steer a business entity forward. For more information about our courses, please visit our website: www.welingkarexedp.com[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]