Success Blog

The first step to better result is to get a winning team in place. Today we will see how we can go about this. Keep these essentials in mind when motivating your team.

1. YOU WILL NEED A MODEL

Workplace teams are different from sports teams so someone has to show you what to do. As a first step, I would start by sharing with all your managers successful examples and case studies. it is also good idea to develop your team through effective training where they will learn basic communication skill as well as strategies for setting up good teams.

2. DELEGATE FOR BETTER RESULTS

They don’t just bring employees within the department together for a weekly meeting just to pass on information or listen to complaints and excuses. Instead, even worker teams at the project level should be asked to identify problems, including the costs associated with them. They then should be empowered to solve those problems.

3. ENCOURAGE TEAM INTERACTION

Many of the successes team-oriented workplaces have seen come because they bring together groups of workers who never before talked. For example, technical/project management and customer service teams frequently are at odds with each other; Customer service wants the product out as soon as possible but project management has multiple deadlines to meet and doesn’t want to give poor service to anyone. However, by bringing the two groups together to solve a problem, they will agree on the results and both sides will feel as though the other understands what their concern are.

4.TEAMS CAN GET STALE

The whole idea of teamwork is to bring together people with different areas of expertise to address a specific problem.  As a result, teams should be formed and disbanded as needed. When a person or group identifies a problem, teams are formed by gathering employees with the necessary information to help solve it. when one task is complete, the team ends, new problems are identified and new teams are formed.

5. YOU MUST PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR TEAM

To be effective, teams need access to key functions and services such as varied technical skills and processes, customer service, marketing, HR as well as continuing management and technical education via consultants. They will need money to conduct studies such as comparison of two processes or benchmarking process with other companies.

6. DEAL WITH DIFFICULT CO-WORKER

we all have people in our lives that we don’t like but we can’t ignore. We also know the toll these relationships take on our own mental - and sometimes even physical- health. You dread having to be in the same room with him/her. Your heart rate start to skyrocket at the mere through of having conversation with him/her. Worse yet, you spend hours of precious time you could be working just dealing with the bad feelings. Yet it doesn’t have to be this way. You don’t have to like everyone you come into contact with, but you can make the relationship easier on yourself by following a few key communication tactics.

BEGIN IN A FRIENDLY WAY

You’ll realise a huge difference when you make a conscious effort to smile at your co-worker and ask him a non work question, such as how his family is doing or what he thought about the local football team’s latest game

SHOW RESPECT FOR THE OTHER PERSON’S OPINION

Never tell the person he or she is wrong. This can be especially difficult, especially if the person is antagonistic or poorly informed. However, we’ve found that it often doesn’t take long for a difficult person become more easy- going once he’s truly being listened to.

SEE THE THINGS FROM THEIR PERSPECTIVE

Again, this can be a challenge when you’re convinced that the other person is coming from a completely alien mindset. Yet,  with a little practice, you can begin giving people the benefit of the doubt and start see why they might feel that way.

GIVE HONEST AND SINCERE APPRECIATION

Remember: ‘ if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.’ It may seen quaint, but it works, especially when you’re in a contentious realtionship.

Of course, there will still be tense moments, but you and your co -worker will be able to handle them as professionals, instead of letting your emotions get in the way. The higher you are in your organizations, the more important it is to work in teams and know how to deal with people. As you learn to successfully manage your inter-personal relationships at work, you will have a definite leg up on many of your peers.

- Originally written by Pallavi Jha and published in Bangalore Mirror.

Well I understand that success cannot be defined in absolute terms but they can definitely be graded. Success becomes more so sweet when it comes against all odds. It becomes more so satisfying when nobody even gives you a chance. And one person who can get in this character easily in recent times is no other than Saurav Ganguly. Yes, Indian Cricket team’s former captain and most successful captain. If we go through his career graph, we will notice that Saurav made a almost forgetable debut in Australia way back in 1991. After which he was droped - some say because of alleged attitude problem. But if it was not for his Never Say Die attitude the the name Saurav Ganguly would have never emerged in the cricketing arena. After his great comeback in 1996 during the tour of England he has performed consistently and even scored faster than Sachin Tendulkar. Since 1999 when we was crowned captain after the infamous match fixing saga, he not only upped the morale of the team but also gave a new dimension call Team India and the winning mantra.

Since 1999 he was almost the unquestioned king of the team till the beginning of 2005. He had a great run in the 2003 world cup leading India to the final. But in 2005 form started deserting him and so his luck. With Guru Greg as Coach I am not sure if it was a personality clash but I feel guru greg has gone too far in his endevour. He was stripped of cpataincy and dropped from the team. He may never be able to come to know what went behind the doors, those leaked emails, personal ambitions etc. But from succes point of view he has taken all this in his stride and went on to play domestic games. Now see what self belief and determination can do shown when made a stunning comeback again in 2007. This should be seen as a great example of persevearence and determination to show I am still in the game. In 2007 he is the second highest run getter in Tests. Also, in ODIs his avarage is above 50. He is a great inspiration to any body who is up against all odds that it can be done.

Now I think he is in the final leg of his career and given that he is a good strategist he might have planned his retirement too. So why humiliate a man who has done so much for Indian cricket when he is performing well. It becomes more disturbing when we hear news that the present ODI captain do not want him. If the present ODI captain is not able to handle seniors then I think his time as a captain of the ODI team may not have arrived. Teams need to be selected based on the player’s merits and not who likes or dislikes or cannot handle what. Is it so difficult to digest success of our peers in India? That we need to humiliate them. As a symbol of success, Saurav Ganguly deserves dignity. Let us not deny this to him - he has earned it.

I wanted to put into prespective what success feels when it comes against all odds. When the wind is blowing against you and everything looks pitted against you. Very few things can be sweeter than success achived this way.

“Nothing succeeds like success“, I read somewhere. Very True! Success inspires beyond doubt so reading about successful person will do a world of good. Here I am going to refer to a special issue of “Outlook Business” dated 17th November 2007. Particularly, those who are interested in business, I would recommend them to buy a copy which cost just Rs 15 and read it. It has covered the cream of the most successful business personalities in India. Nicely Designed and written in the categories as follows:

India Inc’s Best Brand Icon: Ratan tata

The Most Admired Global India: L N Mittal

The Most Business Minister: P Chidambaram

The Most Socially Responsible Leader: Kumar Mangalam Birla

The Most Admired Businesswomen: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw

The Most Promising Leader Of Next Decade: Naveen Jindal

The Most Admired Entrepreneur Ever: Dhirubhai Ambani

Buy a copy of that to check the whole list. Very nicely told in a gist with individual’s brief bio data. Read about some of the biggest business visionaries in India. This can be read by people in general and not only business enthusiasts to see that Indian can and India has produced success in spite of great difficulties.