Inspiring Story - teamplay & fairplay

This is the story that i have read in today's newspaper under speaking tree, written by Sudhamahi Regunathan. This story is told the Tainos, the indigenous people of Puerto Rico Island to their children showing them the way to good life.

I am mentioning here the three lessons of good life, being highlighted in this story.

1. Your size doesn't matter, your voice and words are more important. Means, it doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor, you are having special powers or not, what matters is that people should respect your words, and you should speak good. Good speech is always appreciated by everyone.

2. Teamwork always wins. Teamwork can defeat an opponent of any size.

3. Whatever said and done, fairplay should be the rule defining your life. You should not do anything which is against your own personal ethics and values. You should lead a life which is an example to others, and you should follow the rules, which can be all or any combination of natural laws, universal laws & your own values.

The story goes like this......

The animals had taken to easy life and were all becoming fat. This became a cause for concern because they could not move about at all. Life came to a standstill. Queen Iguaca, the parrot that ruled the forest with care, was worried. No progress was made because of the sheer laziness of her jungle mates. And so, the Tainos would tell their children, never be lazy. It will take you nowhere.

Queen Iguaca wondered whom to consult. She spoke with the agile and evermoving wind who looked in amazement at the bloated condition of the animals, some of which were special to Puerto Rico: the lizard was so huge that it could no longer climb trees, a species of snake was so fat that it barely slithered, the giant toad that was as big as a bull, and a bull that was worried to see a toad catching up and so ate more – and the coqui. The coqui is a small frog which is different from others of its species, not only because of its very small size but also because it does not have webbed feet.

The queen announced a race with an attractive award for the winner, to motivate the animals to exercise and return to shape. The animals were excited. Each dreamt of getting the award. The coqui, however, was small anyway and it found it had no chance of winning against the other larger animals. But the coqui needed a voice desperately. To be small-sized and without a voice is a curse… another lesson to be remembered, said the grandparent Taino. They had to overcome it.

The community of coquis decided to work together, for they felt that it was only in teamwork that success be achieved. A senior coqui suggested a plan of action. So good was the plan that they won! But there was a problem – that other contestants pointed out. It was not entirely fair play. As in a relay race, the coquis had positioned themselves at different points so that each time one of the bigger animals shoved them out of the race, another stepped in. That’s how they had won.

The queen considered the case and announced the verdict. The coquis were the winners because they had worked together as a team, strategised and won. And so they would be given a voice. But since there was an element of unfair play, they would get their voice only after sunset and till sunrise.

Even today the coquis sing every night in Puerto Rico. They jump up on to the branches of trees at dusk and call: “Co-kee, co-kee” and that’s how they got their name. They make such a loud but very musical noise that one would think an amplifier had been attached to their voice box. The coquis begin singing with the onset of dusk through the night till the first rays of the sun fall on the land. They remind everyone that team spirit is great but anything done unfairly never sees the light of day.

Today when the Tainos have been long gone and the Puerto Ricans have experienced different cultures with the coming of the Spanish, Africans, Chinese and Americans, the coqui, symbol of the island, still sings for them every night, with the same message: Be one and be fair.

Face It To Change It

Sometimes small incidents in life leaves you with big learnings. Such an incident happened today morning.

I am sure, you all have seen one for sorrow, many times... Whenever i see one, i try to avoid looking at its direction, as if even the sight of the bird would bring some bad luck. Can not help my superstition. But today morning, when i saw one for sorrow, i turned back and to look at it again...

And you believe me, i saw one more bird, which was behind the first one, and hence my one for sorrow turned into two for joy. If i would not have turned back to have a relook at one for sorrow, and thought of avoiding it, i would miss the chance to see two for joy.

It immediately strikes me, how we try to avoid sufferings, and bad luck in life. But if we are strong enough, and we face the problem headon, then we have the power to change any adversity of liife in a positive experience.

Its only when we are scared to face the situation, the situation haunts us. Hence we should never let the situation rule us. But lets Face it and change it..

IT Services leading the employment numbers

Tata Consultancy Services is the number one employer in India with 1,63,700 employees as on June 30th, 2010 and the number two spot goes to IBM. With more than 50,000 employees working in the BPO arm of IBM, IBM Daksh, total employee count of IBM is estimated at 1.30 lakhs

Infosys, Wipro and Cognizant are other IT services companies leading the list with maximum number of employees. Tata Motors, a manufacturing company on number 8 with 24,000 employees to be mentioned in the list.

The details are mentioned in a news report by Times of India.

Inspirational Article from the net

This is a very nice article i found on internet. I am not sure, who has written this. But this is really inspiring.




One day I decided to quit...I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality... I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with GOD.



"GOD", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?" His answer surprised me...



"Look around", GOD said. "Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"



"Yes", I replied.



"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them. I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.



In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo." GOD said.



"In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit. "



"In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo see. I would not quit." GOD said.



"Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive. I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle." GOD said to me.



"Did you know, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots?"



"I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you." "Don't compare yourself to others." GOD said.



"The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern. Yet they both make the forest beautiful."



"Your time will come", GOD said to me. "You will rise high" "How high should I rise?" I asked.



"How high will the bamboo rise?" GOD asked in return.



"As high as it can?" I questioned



"Yes." GOD said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can." I left the forest and bring back this story. I hope these words can help you see that GOD will never give up on you.



GOD will never give up on you



"Life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be enjoyed" Keep Smiling

Golden Egg Technique

When you purify your centre, you become receptive to higher vibrations. Creativity happens in this space. Carnatic music composer Thyagaraja discovered a new raga by listening to a bee. A monk observing a snake and a crane fighting discovered the martial art, Tai Chi.

There’s a technique called the golden egg technique: Imagine that there is an egg and in it there exists gold. The gold is hidden inside the egg. Treat every problem you encounter as one such egg. Imagine that there is a golden opportunity hidden inside every problem. Whenever you are faced with a problem, don’t lose hope. Instead of getting disheartened, try to understand that it is only an egg with precious gold tucked away deep inside. Delve deep into the problem and recognise golden opportunity. This attitude will invoke creativity in you.

There are many more ways of dealing positively with problems. Try this. When you come face to face with a problem, think of at least 20 ways of dealing with it. Play a game. Write down all the possible solutions. OK, now that you’ve written down 20 options, choose five out of the 20 and begin working on them. With those five kinds of solutions, find 20 ways of fulfilling them. Ask your friends to give ideas. The mother of creativity is the attempt to generate ideas. Play with it.
All these methods can be applied provided you remember not to view a problem as a pain. If you do so, then your hurt body will increase and you will pass on your pain to your children. Are you distressed that your son is lazy? Apply the golden egg technique. In the problem of your lazy son, there is gold hidden... an opportunity hidden. Treat it as a great opportunity to study the reason as to why he is lazy. Be an anthropologist and study the causes of his laziness. By doing this you are in a proactive state and this state of your being will motivate your son.
Next, apply the second method. See 20 ways to make your son active. Take help from friends, as this will help in expanding your ideas. Creativity opens up when there are ideas. Include your son in the game plan and make him your teammate. You will observe the inspiring energy that you create and as a result your family will have a meaningful goal.

Use transformational vocabulary. Use empowering language. There are no winners in an argument. Hence use words wisely. When someone expresses something, try and understand their point of view instead of branding and labelling them as something or other. The moment you brand them, you will see only the labels. As a result you miss seeing the person.

Stop treating differences as conflicts. View them as points of view. Learn to appreciate variety. Appreciate differences rather than viewing them as pain. The moment you relate to differences as pain, you will experience them as pain. View differences as creative versions and you will feel positive energy flow through you.

source : Times Of India - 15th June 2010. The Speaking Tree - Discourse: Swami Sukhabodhananda

Aegis plans to hire 11,000

Mumbai: Aegis Ltd, a BPO company from the Essar Group, will hire 11,000 people in the current financial year, according to its managing director and chief executive officer Aparoop Sengupta.

“We see a huge demand across geographies for BPO services. The hiring is to meet the demand,” said Sengupta.

Meanwhile, looking at the crunch of people to manage customer experience management across sectors Aegis is looking to training and recruiting people.

It has set up Institute of Customer Experience Management (ICEM) to train students specifically for the service industry (retail, banking, financial services and insurance, ITeS) focusing on the customer experience and customer lifetime value. The first batch of 400 people will start from August this year in Coimbatore.

“This might be the first of its kind initiative towards improving the entire process of customer experience. Whenever we spoke to clients, be it of our parent group company or others, they have always said it is needed. So we would now set up more such campuses across India as well as outside. We would like to set up another five ICEM campuses in the next three years,” said Subir Ghosh, president - Aegis Global Academy, the division that runs ICEM.

While Aegis has tied up with other firms for placement of all 400 students in various companies, the firm itself would absorb about 100 from every batch of ICEM.

The firm has tied up with IIM-Indore and SQC Singapore to design specific course materials for ICEM.

“I believe this is practical and fruitful strategy by firms to meet the gap between service requirement and actual execution. Going forward, I see this will be a trend being taken up by firms of other sectors, too,” said Prof Ravichandran, dean IIM - Indore.

On May 19, the firm purchased education finance service provider Sallie Mae’s customer service centre in Texas, US.

Under that deal, about 350 of Sallie Mae employees will join Aegis whose headcount stands a little over 40,000.

Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_aegis-plans-to-hire-11000_1389176

RIOTOUSLY HILARIOUS

We in HR always encourage people to be creative. But sometimes, we ourself become so much creative that the we forget the distinction between creative and riotously hilarious . Here is one example of an applicant who tried being witty and end up being buffoon. Please find below the CV which he has sent as an attachment. Its ok if he is applying for ad agency or so, but sending such CV to an IT company is like a crime.


Also i really have to share his application letter. Its height of over confidence and informality.


Hi,
:))

I understand that you are in recruiting, if you or your clients are interested in filling an HR, L&D or any interesting vacancy then you can help me.

I have +9 years of international experience across the HR and L&D function. I have managed cross-functional L&D and HR operations and delivered complex projects with aggressive time lines and large teams. While being well versed with all functions in L&D I have an excellent understanding of effective IT enabled HR & L&D projects and New-Employee life cycle. Besides I am open for anything bigger & better immaterial of the function.



I really wanted to write this reply to him, but just didn't...


Thanks for your interest in our company. Your profile was really interesting, but unfortunately our company focus more on work rather than buzz. Wdont believe in inventions, but evolutions. We don't believe in retirement, but growing beyond work pressures.

Anyways, all the best for your search. Hope you get a job where monday mornings are not that killing.

One last minute tip... if u want to be in mainstream, behave like mainstream rather than somebody who is not only out of stream, but out of control.

Can i ask the right question?

We all are taught how to write correct answers. But has anyone ever taught us how to write correct questions. Questions are so important in life. Really???

When we use to be a kid, we asked so many questions, but then gradually all adults asked us to shut up and listen. Our curiousity to ask question died somehow. But so important it is to ask questions, right kind of questions. Because, if you do not question, you would never be able to move ahead, never be able to break the current situation, never be able to get the truth.

A lot of time, we dont even ask question to ourself, and thats why more than 90% of the population live their lives and die without any significance. Has any of us , ever asked.

• What I want?
• Why I want?
• How would I achieve it?
• Am I happy in my current situation?
• How can I improve my situation?
• Why I can not achieve more?

If and only if i ask such uncomfortable questions, I would be able to find answers as well. Answers may not be easy, answers may not be straight forward. But I would be able to move ahead in the journey called LIFE... with my eyes wide open and my mind open to environment and my heart filled with joy called LIFE...

In today's times of India, speaking tree discuss the same thing. To quote from the article... An interesting questioning process is ‘The Work' of Byron Katie, author of Loving What Is. Part of this approach is a process of inquiry that includes ‘The Four Questions', that pull you progressively deeper into your unquestioned assumptions and really make you look closely at your habitual reactions:

• Is this true?
• Can you absolutely know that it's true?
• How do you react, what happens to you, when you believe that thought?
• And most interestingly – who would you be without the thought?

On another level, Sam Keen suggests that what shapes our lives are not just the questions we ask, but those we refuse to ask, or never think of asking.

Hope and wish... we all ask the right questions..... here are two clippings from my favourite series dilbert.... about questions...

Those who enjoy life more likely to be happy at work

In today's newspaper i have read this article. How true it is. If a person is happy himself and enjoy life, then only he would be happy at work too. Most of us, keep our work as first priority, family as second and ourselves as last priority, though it should be reversed. Own self should be the first priority in life. If myself is not happy and content, then i would not be able to keep my family happy, and finally my work life also would not be great. If I am happy myself, and able to take care of my family, then but of course, the positivity would reflect in my work as well, and i would be more successful on my work front.


The secret to satisfaction at work lies in people’s happiness with their own lives, according to a new study.

The Wright State University study, a review of previous studies on the subject, found that people who are unhappy in life are unlikely to find satisfaction in their work.

"We used studies that assessed these factors at two time points, so that we could better understand the causal links between job satisfaction and life satisfaction,” said psychologist Nathan Bowling who led the meta-analysis. “If people are satisfied at work, does this mean they will be more satisfied and happier in life overall? Or is the causal effect the opposite way around?” Bowling and colleagues reviewed 223 studies that investigated the link between job and life satisfaction and looked at sub-dimensions of job satisfaction, which included satisfaction with the work itself, supervision, coworkers, pay and promotion.

They examined the relationship between the subjects’ happiness, or “subjective well-being,” and overall job satisfaction and found a positive link between the satisfaction in job and life.


Source : Times of India , April 05, 2010

Jumping Juhi does not want to work with Donkeys (Her Team)

Jumping Juhi has a team of ten employees based all over India, and rather than encouraging team bonding, she always wants them to compete among themselves. A healthy competition is always good, but this is turning out to be a sad affair with the department productivity going down.

When Jagan - assistant to Juhi discussed this with her, he got the reply that competition is good. Jagan understands that competition is good but not of the level where department synergy and productivity is lost.

To improve the productivity, Jumping Juhi has implemented following measures
- Daily concall at 9.00 am in the morning
- Daily concall at 6.00 pm in the evening
- Daily reporting at 2.00 pm in the evening

If team only keeps on reporting, when would they work? HR work is not like BPO, its not just numbers and data. There is lot of qualitative measures involved in HR, which is not being taken into consideration by my jumping Juhi.

Also in every call the language being used by Jumping Juhi is threatening and now a days abusive as well. How can a leader speaks of firing her complete team in each and every call. When she says that she would prefer hiring from outside than working with donkeys, team not only gets demotivated but also negative attitude creeps in.

When you get threatened on every con call daily, then the whole intent of threatening is lost. I doubt if this team can make successful HR department together..

Jumping Juhi is an imaginary character. All her similarities to people around us is coincidental. Jumping Juhi is a light hearted series to portray work related scenarios in a fiction mode. The intention is not to malign anyone's image or to make fun of anybody.

Burn The Boat

A country "A" was in the war with another country, "B". Country "A" was a small nation, but it attacked country "B". Country "B" was fighting on its own ground, they had more resources, latest technology, more number of trained fighters, and all which was required to win the war. Country "A" was a small nation, but still they want to overrule country "B". It was less equiped, low on resource, but the only thing which country "A" had was tough people.

The leaders of country "A" thought about various strategies which can give them advantage in this fight of unequals. Finally they come up with an idea, and this gave their army a boost which helped them won the battle.

The strategy followed by the leaders of country "A" was simple. Whenever their soldiers land in country "B", they destroy their boats. So there was no way back. The only way was to move forward and win the battle. This gave their warriors emotional toughness. The warriors of country "A" were aware that there is no way out of the situation. The only way possible is to attack and win. This thought gave them strength and made them win the battle.

In life also, there are lot of times, when we prefer retracking. Going back is easiest, but the winners are who move ahead, take the challenge and fight. Sometimes, its better not to have any other option. If we know that we have this particular option only, we would be able to concentrate more on that, would give our 100% to that situation and eventually be a winner.

This nice story was shared by my mentor and I am following this to be successful in life, and believe me it helps sometimes, if you dont check on any other options and just work on the task in hand.

More of jumping juhi

Hey All,

Its long since i have written here anything. Life is too hectic workwise. I would write about that later, but lets see whats jumping juhi doing now a days. To tell you all, she is still the same ignorant HR person, who tries to be know all but then where would she hide her ignorance. So here are few of the things which she has done in last few months.

1. Called for a meeting with all business heads, and then chickened out at the last moment not even informing them that she is sending Jagan (Her subordinate) as her replacement.

2. Not able to decide and freeze various basic HR processes such as, recruitment process, onboarding and exit process.

3. Putting her own foot in her mouth at all important meetings, where business has started talking openly about her approach of all words and no deed .

But dont worry, despite all the above things, jumping juhi is still flourishing in her job and would keep on entertaining all of you with her activities.

Jumping Juhi is an imaginary character. All her similarities to people around us is coincidental. Jumping Juhi is a light hearted series to portray work related scenarios in a fiction mode. The intention is not to malign anyone's image or to make fun of anybody.