EduMIND - B.Ravichandran

Get to Point - Keeping work stress at bay

2011-11-24T19:57:00.000-08:00

As most parents have careers, jobs have become one of the main sources of stress. Stressed parents are easily irritable, irrational and unduly worried.

Such negativity will quickly be affect the children and soon, the home atmosphere becomes hostile. When that happens, the home will no longer be the sanctuary it is supposed to be.

The negative energy will multiply, infecting everyone.

How nice it would be if we all truly love our jobs. There would be no stress or drama. We would be waking up every morning smiling and eager to go to work. However, in reality, even the best jobs come with their downsides.

There will be mornings when we wish we don’t have to get up, or days when we fell like giving up and trying new things. But soon, common sense prevails and we drag our feet to the office.

The good news is that we can make our jobs interesting and exciting. Let me share how we can all make this a reality.

· Take break – when the going gets tough, the tough takes a break before going at it again. Even as machines and robots need downtime, so do human beings. Taking a break is not a sign of weakness or laziness.

In fact, it is a smart strategy to ensure that we are always in the effective zone.

There are many ways one can take a break. Top of the list is going on a vacation at some faraway place.

However, not many people actually make proper holiday plans. Some claim that planning takes the fun and spontaneity out of a holiday. Tell that to someone desperately trying to book a hotel at the very last minute and see what he says.

Actually, half the fun of a vacation is in the anticipation of a good time.

Those who have already booked their flights and hotel rooms are likely to be happy and looking forward for the break. Any minor irritation or distraction will hardly bother them. It helps a family relationship when everyone is able to tolerate minor antics and misbehaviour.

Not only that but work, minor irritation, frustrations and problems can be “overlooked” when we are looking forward to the coming vacation.

· Get a new perspective – Another way to keep smiling at work is to look at our jobs in a new perspective. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said: “Whatever your life work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better.”

It puts the power back into our hands. It encourages us to give our best because people are depending on us to do well.

Just imagine the consequences if an air traffic controller suddenly decides to skip some steps because he’s bored with his job?

We may not be an air traffic controller but our jobs will still affect others in more ways than we can imagine. Remind ourselves of this fact whenever we fell like skipping the routine parts and we will look at our job in a whole new perspective.

· Be proactively happy – My former boss use to say “People can and will pressure you, but only you can stress yourself up.”

When we allow pushy people, bad weather, poor traffic conditions and ungrateful customers to bother us, our stress levels will go up very quickly.

The next time these things happen, just acknowledge the situation but don’t let ourselves be affected. Do what we can, than just smile and walk away.

Take actions to remain happy. Maintain that good feeling by exercising regularly. Find others who are in need and help them.

Deliver our promises so that we can go home without worries. Whatever it is, happiness is in our hands. Keeping work stress at bay also means we can go home in a positive mood and not affect our family with negative vibes.

In turn, we will be able to draw on the positive energy at home to face the world the next day.

A positive worker is a valuable asset. The next time you fell stressed at work, turn to your colleague and say: “I don’t need this job but this job needs me, because only I can do it better than anybody else.”

Organize your Speech - Communication

2011-10-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

A husband and wife were at a party chatting with some friends when the subject of marriage counselling came up.

"Oh, we will never need that. My husband and I have a great relationship," the wife explained. "He was a communications major in college and I majored in theatre arts. He communicates real well and I just act like I'm listening."

Good evening to Toastmaster of the Evening, President & dear fellow toastmasters.

Improving our communication skill has been talking about many years. In my memory, almost every meeting, such as staff meeting, I have been told, communication skill still is the most important area we should improve. Maybe, you will think communication is not as hard as we have emphasized.

Communication is the lifeblood of any organization. Employees and managers spend a large part of their workday in some form of communication. It is the crucial task of the manager to communicate the goals to the workers to attain success. This can only be achieved through effective leadership, which is only possible with effective communication.

First, what is communication? A simple definition, communication is the way of information exchange between different people. So, there are at least two parties involved in a conversation and it includes three basic phases: Coding, transferring and decoding.

What is the most important section for a successful communication? It is decoding...., the receiver understands, the audience will have a reverse process as the speaker did. Information is lost during this reverse process. The receiver translates the words or symbols into a concept or information that he or she can understand.

Now, you can see communication is a complex coding and decoding process which could cause much misunderstanding and incorrect understanding. The analysis above just came from technical level. However, communication does not only include technical skill, but also art knowledge, social knowledge and cultural knowledge.

Different culture could have different communication methods. I used to read a story about an American woman who married to Japanese. At very beginning, she can only speak a little bit Japanese. She tries to involve group conversation once she can understand a little bit. One strange phenomenon she began to notice that often, the talking will be halt after a while she participated. Finally, after listening carefully to many Japanese conversations, she discovered what the problem is…..

She said, as western-style conversation between two people is like a game of tennis. If I introduce a topic, a conversational ball, I expect you to hit it back. I don't expect you just agree nod and do nothing. I expect you can add something, a reason for your agreeing. I expect you question me, challenge me and even disagree with me..... Just like how my evaluator response will return the ball to me later!!...... There is no waiting in line. If there are more than two people in the conversation, then it like doubles in tennis or volleyball.

A Japanese-style conversation, however, is not tennis or volleyball, it is bowling. You wait for your turn. When your moment comes, you step up to the start line with your own ball. Everyone else stands back, make sounds of polite encouragement. Everyone waits until your ball has reached the end of the lane, and watches to see if it knocks down all the pins. Then there is a pause, while everyone registers your score. Then, after everyone is sure you are done, the next person in line with different ball. Different culture create different game rule. Sometime, that leads into a huge gap between sender and receiver than we might image.

But, even we have the same language and the same cultural background, communication is still not easy. It also depends on the method how you present your idea. Depends on the audience knowledge, depends on their attitude towards you, and depends on the trust and the relationship.

Dear Toastmaster,

In summary - I have talked about communication from technical and non-technical perspectives. Neither of them are piece of cake. Good communication needs - us spend much time to practise, because communication is really harder than we expect. That why we are here today in Johor Bahru Toastmaster Club...........

If you want change, you have to make it. If we want progress we have to drive it.

Susan Rice, Stanford University

With that.... back to you ….

+++++++++++++++

Jokes.....Effective Communication........

Jack and Max are walking from religious service. Jack wonders whether it would be all right to smoke while praying.

Max replies, "Why don't you ask the Priest?"

So Jack goes up to the Priest and asks, "Priest, may I smoke while I pray?"

But the Priest says, "No, my son, you may not. That's utter disrespect to our religion."

Jack goes back to his friend and tells him what the good Priest told him.

Max says, "I'm not surprised. You asked the wrong question. Let me try."

And so Max goes up to the Priest and asks, "Priest, may I pray while I smoke?"

To which the Priest eagerly replies, "By all means, my son. By all means."

Moral: The reply you get depends on the question you ask.

Toastmaster Speech #1 - Ice breaking

2011-09-18T19:30:00.000-07:00

"Thank you Mr/Mrs. Toastmaster"

“Fellow toastmasters and future toastmasters........

I have been thinking long of what to tell all of you, today.
When I started preparing the speech, I was under the impression that talking about oneself was the easiest thing to do in the world. However, only when I started penning my thoughts, I realized that it is not that simple....and also that I have come a long way in my life.
Let me now gives, you a glimpse of my life in a fast-forward mode.

Dear toastmasters....
I was born and bred in the Sungai Petani - Kedah and have fond memories of that place...
My dad was an army officer and mother is a home maker. I did my schooling all over many places in Malaysia as every 2 to 3 years, my dad being a government servant will be posted.
I was actually a very mischievous boy back then. I recall an incident that happens when I was 11 years. When I was studying in the standard 5 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, I was deeply involved in the chalk piece fighting competition. Once a mishap happened which left an indelible mark in my life. I tried throwing a piece of chalk on school-mate sitting in the first bench. It missed the target and hit the teacher who had his back turned towards us. Unable to determine the source of the chalk piece the angry teacher made the entire class stand on the bench. That day, I realized that if one miss-hit of humble piece of chalk can make thirty six people stand on a bench for half an hour, then how powerful words coming from brain could alter the course of history of mankind!!!
However, thanks GOD for my parents’ good upbringing, I turned out to be responsible person.
After completing my A-Level, I started my working – in the Quality Assurance in Hitachi Electronic Devices S/B for 12 years before moving to MMI Industries (5 yrs), VS Industry Berhad (4 yrs) and currently with JCY HDD Technology. During these 22 years in the industrial manufacturing field, specializing in Quality Assurance – I got the opportunity to travel to many countries around the world such as Hungary, Mexico, UK, United State, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan....
With the passing of time, I realized that enhancing one’s academic qualification is very crucial in the current challenging world - to keep my head above water while I learn to swim to safety in the murky economic tides. After 10 years of working, I decided to further study. I did my 1st Diploma In Business Study, Advance Diploma Quality Management, other professional courses CQE, CSSBB before pursuing my post graduate diploma (Business Management & Management) from the International Institute of Management United Kingdom and continued my MBA (Preston, USA). At present I am working with a JCY Technology as Corporate Senior Quality Manager. For the last couple of years I have been enjoying my stint in this sector.

Apart from my profession, I spend a great deal of time with my family – I have a loving & beautiful wife and three beautiful princesses. My eldest daughter is 16 years old and I also have a pair of twins who are 12 years old. So my home is filled with beautiful ladies whom I love very much.

So, this is the brief introduction of me and I hope it would be a pleasurable journey ahead in Toastmaster club.

Now that I have broken the ice, I’d like to welcome you aboard as I embark upon my Toastmastering journey. I look forward to your friendship, encouragement and feedback, and I promise you, a generous helping of the same in return.
I would like to leave all of you with one thought "Smooth roads never make a good driver and Problem free life never makes a strong person”.
With that I end my speech and hope to make a much better presentation in my upcoming projects.

Why Fair Bosses Fall Behind

2011-07-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

In management, fairness is a virtue. Numerous academic studies have shown that the most effective leaders are generally those who give employees a voice, treat them with dignity and consistency, and base decisions on accurate and complete information.

But there’s a hidden cost to this behavior. We’ve found that although fair managers earn respect, they’re seen as less powerful than other managers—less in control of resources, less able to reward and punish—and that may hurt their odds of attaining certain key, contentious leadership roles.

When Can Fair Bosses Get Ahead?
Our research, which included lab studies and responses from hundreds of corporate decision makers and employees, began with the age-old question “Should leaders be loved or feared?” We went a step further, asking, “Can you have respect and power?” We found that it’s hard to gain both.
Consider Hank McKinnell and Karen Katen, two rising stars at Pfizer during the 1990s. McKinnell, who’d served as CFO and run the company’s overseas businesses, was known for his assertive negotiating style and no-nonsense, occasionally abrasive manner. Katen’s performance had also won her numerous promotions, and she headed Pfizer’s primary operating unit. She treated subordinates and colleagues with respect and was respected in turn.

In 2001, when it came time for a new CEO, the two were among the top candidates. McKinnell was chosen. One analyst told Bloomberg, “[Hank] is the right guy for the job...he’s got a toughness about him.”

We heard this attitude expressed in a range of industries. Decisions about high-level promotions most often center on perceptions of power, not of fairness.
The same bias was exhibited by students in a laboratory setting. Each witnessed a “manager” telling an employee about a compensation decision. Manager A communicated the decision rudely, Manager B with respect. The students were then assigned to work in a group led by the manager they’d observed; afterward they rated their leader’s power. Rude Manager A consistently scored higher than respectful Manager B—even though there was no difference in how they’d treated the participants themselves. Simply having witnessed the rude and respectful behavior was enough to create the bias.

We’ve long wondered why managers don’t always behave fairly, because doing so would clearly benefit their organizations: Studies show that the success of change initiatives depends largely on fair implementation. Our research suggests an answer. Managers see respect and power as two mutually exclusive avenues to influence, and many choose the latter.