A Motivational story about Positive Thinking

Read this, and let it really sink in... Then, choose how you start your day tomorrow...

Jerry is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.

The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?" Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.

I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes, it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gun point by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. “The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry continued, "...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man.'

I knew I needed to take action." " What did you do?" I asked. "Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.'"

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

By: Unknown

The story of 70 mm - Online Movie Rental Company

From small town Dharwad in Karnataka to Silicon Valley, California, Raghav Kher's journey has been an exciting one.Kher is now back in India with his latest venture, Seventymm, an online movie rental company that promises to deliver the movie you want to watch at your doorstep, from more than 10,000 titles from Hollywood, Bollywood and seven regional language films.

Kher, founder and chief executive officer, Seventymm, says: "Consumer is the king here and people have money in their pockets. Besides, DVD prices have crashed to below Rs 3,000. So I thought about a product, which people could use throughout the year. India has supply of 900 movies a year. There is a lot of content here. I also looked at how people watch movies and I found the market completely fragmented -- each store carries only 200-500 titles."Kher talks about his experience as a professional in Microsoft and his transition to an entrepreneur and how he plans to make his latest venture a grand success in an interview with Manu A B, at the TiE-ISB Connect 2006 in Hyderabad recently.

Tell us all about you latest venture, Seventymm.Seventymm is India's first online DVD rental service operating in Delhi and Bangalore. We intend to make watching movies a hassle-free experience. All you need to do is log in to the site, register and specify your office or home address, where you want the DVDs to be delivered and it will be done in 24 hours.* TiE-ISB Connect 2006: Complete CoverageHow did you get the idea to start this venture?I came to India in March 2005 on a vacation.

After a month I got bored and I wanted to do something new in India. The booming entertainment industry was an eye opener. I was amazed to see that PVR Cinemas charged Rs 500 for a gold class ticket. I grew up in a small town called Dharwad where we had to pay just Rs 2.50 to see a movie!Here families are ready to spend even Rs 1,000 for a film! It's a completely different India from the one that I grew up in.

Consumer is the king here and people have money in their pockets. Besides, DVD prices have crashed to below Rs 3000. So I thought about a product, which people could use throughout the year.India has supply of 900 movies a year. There is a lot of content here. I also looked at how people watch movies and I found the market completely fragmented -- each store carries only 200-500 titles.When was the company formed and how easy was it to get funding?The company was founded in August 2005 and we launched the service in March this year in Bangalore.

We received $2 million from DFJ in November last year. We received another round of funding of $7 million with Matrix Partners recently. Today, we have raised a total $10 million.What are the rental schemes on offer?We have two plans Rs 199 for four movies (DVD/VCD) per month or Rs 549 for unlimited movies per month. The registration fee for both the schemes is Rs 499. You have to pay a refundable deposit of Rs 999 for both the schemes. You can pay by cash, cheque or credit card.Select the movies you want to watch, make a list and the first two films will be delivered within 24 hours. There is no late fee, so you can keep them as long as you want, when you finish watching, log in to the site and schedule a pick up or just send an SMS and the next two movies in your list will be delivered to you.

The films will be from Bollywood and Hollywood, regional languages like Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati and Marathi.How do you plan to offset competition from other players?If you want to rent a movie on Friday you have to drive to the nearest outlet. Suppose you want Spiderman, it is not available and the local shop gives you Batman. You may get it cheap but when you take it home you find it is not clear and realise it is a pirated copy.So consumer expectations are not satisfied. Home delivery in India has taken off unlike food delivery business which has become big business in India.

Convenience is what people looking at along with the choice of content and variety of languages. You can also check how others have rated the film on the site and refer it to friends.This is a disorganised sector and consolidation is happening in various sectors of retail, we being an organised player would like to make the best use of the opportunity.How many start-ups have you launched so far and how was the experience?I started three companies in six years. I started a company called Rendition Networks before this. It was a software technology firm with an elite clientele. Last year, Opsware acquired it for $40 million.

Prior to that, I founded iMandi, an Internet marketplace to serve households in the United States.Suppose if you want to get your house cleaned, or want a lawn moving service, you could get it done with our service. It's like the next version of yellow pages. We had over 300 categories in house cleaning and tied up with 200,000 merchants in the US and had about 1 million users. It was a great experience.

How was the experience working at Microsoft? Did you get to interact with Bill Gates?It is very exciting. Microsoft was a great experience. When I joined Microsoft there were only 6,000 people. I spend 8 years in Microsoft, when I left MS it had 30,000 people and it had become bureaucratic.I loved working at Microsoft, it's an awesome company but as more people joined, it was a totally different feeling. I left Microsoft in 1998. MS was one of the hottest companies to work with. The last two years I was in the finance group.I was part of the Hotmail acquisition; I used to interact with him (Microsoft boss Bill Gates) on a project basis. He is a shrewd businessman and you have to prepare really well before you go for a meeting with him. You have to back up what you are saying.The best thing about MS is they have hired very smart people. They have done an exemplary job in hiring the right talent. People are very passionate about their ideas, and even get confrontational! But the best way is to win and do well.

How important is education for an entrepreneur?Education is important for an entrepreneur. In my case, the masters in mechanical engineering did not help. A bachelor's degree in engineering helps as it gives a good base, but if I can redo my education, I will not opt for MTech. A degree in computer science has been very helpful, I can understand technology very well.The business school taught me a structured way of thinking and analyse market opportunities. My family also had a business in Karnataka but my father can't think of big deals and diversifying business. He cannot think about evaluating risks. . . they only think about what coming in and what is going out than about the large picture of business and how you can grow further.

A B-school teaches you to understand opportunities and risks. It also teaches you to grow big, create customer value and think about the competition.What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs in India?*Go after your passion, if you have a passion for anything you will be very successful, I tell my kids also if you want a be a rock star, pursue it!*There are huge opportunities in India. All you need to do is prioritise your ideas and work hard.*Don't be afraid to make any mistakes because you are bound to make mistakes.*If one start-up fails, it doesn't mean that you will also lose, it is a great learning experience.What are the reasons for your success?The drive to succeed is very important. Clarity of thought and ability to focus on the right things have helped me. I have been able to focus on making changes and have the ability to solve unstructured problems.I also believe prioritising and execution. I believe that strategy is 20 per cent and execution is 80 per cent.

What are the challenges you face in India?The biggest challenge in India is hiring. I spend 90 per cent of my time on hiring people. Attrition rate and salaries are very high. And when people come for interviews, they are not keen on finding out how challenging and interesting their job would be, they straightway ask, "What's my package?"Indians historically are very conservative and don't want to work with a start-up. It's because we did not grow up in a society with many start-ups. In Bangalore, people want to work only for IT companies or BPOs (business process outsourcing units).We have solid team in place. We have a staff of 70 in our Bangalore office and will hire about 50 in Delhi.Why do Indians lag behind in product innovation?Ten years ago, Indians who were in Silicon Valley were engineers. After 1995, many company CEOs were Indians. Now, 50 per cent of Silicon Valley companies are run by Indians.We have climbed the ladder to leadership positions. We have shown the world we can run companies. We started with business process outsourcing, started with small projects and are now getting bigger deals. We have done value addition to the existing projects.Next step will be in product innovation. Small companies and start-ups are already making products. It is true that Indians who have gone to US have become good product developers but in India they are not as creative. I still can't figure out the reason.

What are your future plans?We plan to launch operations in Mumbai by the end of this year. We will also be launching in Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata by the first quarter of next year. We plan to have 1 million users in 5 years generating revenue of $100 million. Every month about 1 million DVD players and 1 million VCD players are sold.So 24 million players will be sold every year. In 5 years, this will grow to 60-80 million. When you have 80 million players what good is it if you can't watch your favourite movies? So rental schemes will do very well!

Source: Rediff.com

Incident from Thomas Alva Edison's life - Think Positive

A nice story on how to stay positive even in times of adversities

"In 1914 Thomas Edison’s factory in West Orange, New Jersey, was virtually destroyed by fire. Although the damage exceeded $2 million, the buildings were insured for only $238,000 because they were made of concrete and were thought to be fireproof. Much of Edison’s life work went up in smoke and flames that December night.
At the height of the fire, Edison’s 24-year-old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind.

“My heart ached for him,” said Charles. “He was 67 — no longer a young man — and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, “Charles, where’s your mother?” When I told him I didn’t know, he said, ‘Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.’”

The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.”

Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph."
Even in the face of the most cruel adversity, Edison not only looked for the positives, but attempted to instill that attitude in his followers. This truly was the essence of leadership.
Seeing Things Differently

Edison saw beyond the immediate disaster to a positive, he saw things differently.

Source: http://www.the-happy-manager.com/essence-of-leadership.html

How to remove Barriers in Communication Part III

In the first two blogs on this topic we discussed the two very important measures to improve the effectiveness of communication. In this blog we will discuss the rest. The list is exhaustive and we can keep on adding from time to time. Hence, we will look into the most relevant measures related to the corporate world.

3. Understanding the audience: Have you ever had this instance....you were explaining something to your best...but the other person was wondering what was exactly happening. Or you are sitting in a training session but had a difficulty understanding the content delivered by the trainer. Why was this??????

Its very simple the communication was designed without taking the audience into consideration. The presentation was made from the sender's perspective and not the receivers perspective. That is one of the biggest mistake an individual can make to ruin his communication and at times his reputation.

While speaking, the sender needs to clearly understand if the receiver understands...has the capacity to comprehend.... whatever he is going to say. If he doesn't do this, it is equal to not being said... To quote an example in one of the meetings, in between the review, the manager said...There is nothing wrong in calling a spade a spade......Half of the people present there didn't understand what was that. It actually meant, "There is nothing wrong in telling the truth or the facts, why do we need to hide it." Now, when did the team come to know about the meaning... do you think it was during the meeting... definitely not.... It was after the meeting.. after asking someone else for the explanation.

People at times carry this misunderstanding that others will be baffled with their usage of high proficient english. Unfortunately it is the other way around. At times people may not be amused... why they (may) develop a complex.... they don't want to look foolish in front of others.. when they are not able to comprehend a statement. In the long run they may even refrain from talking to these individuals. So it is always better to speak in the laymen's terms.

One more example: During my MBA one of the visiting profs. from a renowned institution in India asked one of my classmates..... "What is the pedegogy that your teacher follows"..... my colleague was perplexed... as it sounded Greek and Latin to him... I would say he was in a shock... especially when someone from a renowned institution is asking you something. Only. ah...ah.... came from his mouth... and he said he didn't know. Now this professor looked at my colleague was an alien from Mars... and my friend felt very bad.. his self esteem was shattered. What was the end result.. whenever this prof asked any question in the class.. no one would answer.. even if they knew answer..

So understanding the receiver is very important in any communication. Does that mean you should not speak such language..Yes you can... with similar audience... who have the same wavelength. Two scientists who talk about proton and electrons do understand each other even though the lay man wouldn't.

Even in Training.. especially when taking session on technical skills..the trainer should make the subject as simple as possible for the audience's comprehension. He should be ready with "n" number of examples in case one example does't do the job.. He should also be ready to explain the concept from various dimensions and angles. Why all the five fingers are not alike.. and all your trainees are not alike.. So it may require multiple examples before each one of them understands the subject or the concept.

How to prepare for a training session, I will deal in a separate post.

How to overcome barriers in communication Part II

After "Understanding the purpose of the communication" we need to plan our communication. Again planning is not easy and we need to consider a lot of factors. We will see them all in detail in this blog.

2. Plan your communication: Planning is half battle won. You may wonder.... You may think..if planning is actually required for communication... well it all depends on various facors like...

2.a The message : The actual idea to be delivered
2.b. The importance of the message : How vital is the message.
2.c. The people who are going to receive it : The audience
2.d. Urgency of the situation : The need of the hour
2.e Medium and mode to be used for communication

Now all the above are interlinked and related to each other at various situations. At times you cannot single out any of the above before actually starting the communication.

We will see each individually. I wouldn't be spending much time on each though.

2.a The Message: First and formost... have you understood the message. Are you aware of the content. Do you recognize what is given there. Before we think about transmitting he message.. we have to first understand it correctly. You should also decide how you want the receiver to understand it. Otherwise, it may even turn against you. This is very important because it is a major factor that decides the significance of the other factors described above. You should not have any doubts on this.

2.b.Importance of the message: An important messge requires careful handling and publishing. Its importance helps us decide the mode and medium of communication. For ex: if it is an important message that requires documenting it has to be sent by mail. If it is urgent and important it has to be told orally (either verbal face to face or using phone) and emailed for latter reference.

2.c. The audience: When it comes to the people who are going to receive it, we need to take into consideration a lot of things, which I will elaborate in my further blogs. To put it short..
i) is he the right person for the message
ii) does he have the capacity to decode (understand) the message. We should also check whether our encoding of the message (the format in which we are going to send) is understandable to the receiver.
iii) does he possess the required skill sets to initiate action

2.d. Urgency of the situation: Urgency can be explained in relation to the time required to initate or complete the action for which the communication was intented to. This helps decide the mode and medium of communication (as described earlier) and the audience from whom we expect the action.

Now how does urgency relate to mode and medium of communication. To quote an example: a situation assuming you require an urgent approval from your supervisor at 8.00 am in the morning while your office start at 9.30 am and your supervisor is expected to come only at that time. What would you do....Mail the requirement requirement and wait till 9.30 am for the approval or call him immediately to get an oral approval and also send him a mail for the purpose of documentation???? Obviously the answer is in the latter part. So I bet you definitely see a good correlation between Urgency and medium of communication.

2.e Mode and Medium of communication:

Modes of communication can be classfied into
a. Oral or Verbal - Spoken either face to face or throug any other electroninc medium like phone, mobile etc.
b. Written - Email, fax etc
c. Non Verbal - Body Language and Paralanguage

Medium of communication is any instrument or equipment that facilitates the transmission of information from the sender to the receiver. It can be a phone, mobile, fax and even your computer.. when we send emails.

Now the decision of the mode and medium of communication is pure requirement based. Any communication can have "n" number of options for its medium. An information can be said orally, sent via mail, faxed to the receiver or it can even be conveyed using our body language. But out of these we need to choose the most approriate one that will best suit the requirement. For eg: To ask for a pen from our colleague who is sitting next to you, we ask them directly.. we don't send them a mail or SMS them... eventhough no one is stopping you. Similarly, a usual situation in a corporate... your friend asks you to print something from your system while he is goes and waits near the printer at the other end of the floor.... How eo you communicate... You would usually use your body language if the distance is not that far....like a Thumbs up from your end to say, I have given the print... and a return Thumbs up from your friend on the other end to convey that he has received the print. Could this have been the only way to communicate in this situation. why.... you could have called your friend on the mobile to check whether the print has come ( of course if you have 100% CUG) or... call to the nearest extension to the printer from your phone to check if the printout has come.... See we have options...but you felt for this situation this would be the most appropriate. You may choose to use the next best option only when you feel that the first medium would not work.

So ends this episode on removal of barriers... we would look into more... in the forthcoming posts

Bye

How to overcome the barriers in communication I

Removing or overcoming the various obstacles of communication is very important for the progress of the organisation. In our previous posts we saw the various hindrances in the communication process.

In this post we will see how we can eradicate them to make full use of our communication. Here we will not be discussing about all the barriers individually (that we discussed in the previous post, but will see into the measures that can be taken to make the most efficient and effective communication.

1. What is the purpose of the communication: Every communication will have a definite objective (If it doesn't have.... then it is not communication). So we need to understand what is the desired result expected out of this communication or transfer of information. What action is expected out of this communication should be clearly understood. If the end result is not clear... there are more chances for the communication to become distorted at some point or the other.

This happens many a time in corporates. To site an example....when ever there is any issue between departments... mails fly across desktops blaiming one another..... At times in cases like these the individuals forget why they started this chain of letters and it only becomes bundle of issue mails... Now in situations like this how long does it take to get the things done... definitely more time than the usual... at times the job never gets done......

I would just quote an example of a typical organisation. "Ram" from the quality department has committed a mistake... "Shyam" from the operations found this out. Ram has to be communicated about his mistake. Now there are two things that can be done... i) send a mail citing the error without hurting the feelings of Ram. ii) sending a mail citing the error in a harsh and rude manner and make it a big issue.

Again what was the purpose of the above message... Was it to make Shyam realize his mistake or was it to pin point his mistake... Now we should understand that the "making a person realize his mistake" and "pinpointing the mistake" are different. The first objective will make him understand where he had committed the error and will also give him an opportunity to become a better person, because he will / has to take it positively.. Once the realization happens, learning takes place and the person will be more careful. He be more cautious to ensure that the mistake doesn't happen again.

Now contrary to the above... if his mistake is pinpointed... and shyam feels humiliated because of the content of the stinker mail... his first and foremost objective will be to find out faults from the other end.... Or even if he is not able to do so... he will keep calm for some time waiting for the right opportunity to identiy mistake from the other person. Once he chances upon this opportunity, its dooms day for Ram.. and this cycle continues...

Now going back to our topic... what should have been the actual purpose of this communication to set right an error in the most amicable manner. But what was the result.... a bend between individuals and the departments. Does this look like a good sign........... definitely not.

A crorepati who lives in a hut! - Sarathbabu - Proprietor - Food King

Nothing is Impossible…

I got this article from one of my friends.... an Article worth to read

A crorepati who lives in a hut! His story is an inspiration for millions. A self-made entrepreneur, his mission is to help the poor through job creation. E Sarathbabu hit the headlines after he rejected several high profile job offers from various MNCs after he passed out of IIM, Ahmedabad two years ago.

He instead started a catering business of his own, inspired by his mother who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai, worked as an ayah in an Anganvadi to educate him and his siblings. As a child, he also sold idlis in the slum where he lived. "We talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hunger is and I still remember the days I was hungry," says Sarathbabu.

In August 2006, Sarathbabu's entrepreneurial dream came true with Foodking. He had no personal ambition but wanted to buy a house and a car for his mother. He has bought a car but is yet to buy a house for his mother. The "foodking" still lives in the same hut in Madipakkam in Chennai. Today, Foodking has six units and 200 employees, and the turnover of the company is Rs.32 lakh a month. But it has not been a bed of roses for Sarathbabu. After struggling and making losses in the first year, he managed a turnaround in 2007.

How has his experience as a 'Foodking' been in the last two years? Sarathbabu shares the trial and tribulations of an exciting and challenging job in an interview with Shobha Warrier.

A tough beginningAs I am a first generation entrepreneur, the first year was very challenging. I had a loan of Rs 20 lakh by the end of first year. I had no experience in handling people in business, and it was difficult to identify the right people. Though I made losses in the first year, not even once did I regret my decision of not accepting the offers from MNCs and starting an enterprise of my own. I looked at my losses as a learning experience. I was confident that I would be successful one day.

My first unit was at IIM, Ahmedabad. When we started our second unit in October 2006, I thought now I would start making money. But I made losses of around Rs 2000 a day. A first generation entrepreneur cannot afford such a loss. But I worked really hard, working till 3 a.m. in the morning. What reduced my losses were the birthday party offers.

I started the third unit again in Ahmedabad but it also made losses. All my units were cafeteria and I understood then that the small cafeterias do not work; I needed huge volumes to work. My friends who were extremely supportive in the first year when things were difficult for me. I had taken loans from my IIM-A friends. They were earning very well.

In December 2006, an IIM Ahmedabad alumni event took place in Mumbai and I decided to go there mainly to get a contract. I was hopeful of getting it. I also knew that if I got the huge contract, I would come out of all the losses I had been incurring.

I booked my train ticket from Ahmedabad to Mumbai for Rs 300 and I had Rs 200 in my hand. As the meet went on till late at night, I could reach the station only at midnight. I missed the train. I decided to sit on the platform till the morning and travel by the next train in the morning. I didn't have the money to check into a hotel. I didn't want to disturb any of my friends so late at night.

It was an unforgettable night as I was even shoved off by policemen from the platform. It was quite insulting and embarrassing. After two hours, people started moving in, I also went in.
A man who sat next to me on the platform gave me a newspaper so that I could sleep. I spread the newspaper and slept on the platform! I sleep well. I got my ticket refund in the morning and went back to Ahmedabad. And, luck did not favour me, I didn't get the contract.

In March 2007, I got an offer to start a unit at BITS, Pilani (Sarathbabu was an alumnus of BITS, Pilani). That was the first medium break for me. For the first time, I started making profits there though the other units continued to make losses. The reason for our success at BITS, Pilani was the volume; there were more students and there was a need for a unit like ours while in Ahmedabad, they have at least a hundred options.

If I made Rs 5000 a day at Ahmedabad in two shifts, here I made Rs 15,000 a day. BITS, Pilani unit gave me the confidence to move on. Unless you make money, you can't be confident in business.

When all my friends who worked for various MNCs made good money every month and I made losses with my venture. But I kept telling myself, I am moving in the right direction to reach my ambition and vision. My dream was to provide employment and I was doing just that. I continued to work till 3 a.m. but I never felt tired.

Through BITS, Pilani, I got the BITS, Goa contract and that was the biggest break for me. It was not a cafeteria like the earlier ones but the dining hall that we got. We had to feed 1300 students.

We started our operations in July 2007. At Rs 50, for 1300 students, our sales was Rs 65,000 per day. We soon started making a profit of Rs 10 to 15,000 a day. Around 60 to 70 people work there. I gave the charge of the Ahmedabad operations to one of my managers and moved to Goa.
I was still in debt by Rs 15-20 lakhs but I knew BITS, Goa would keep my dream alive. Within six months of starting our operations in Goa, I repaid all my debt.

I was called to give a speech at the SRM Deemed University. After the speech, I asked the Chancellor, can you give me an opportunity to serve in your campus? He said, "If not you, to whom will I give such an opportunity?" It's a food court but a big one, similar to the one at BITS, Pilani. There are around 17,000 students there.

Now, I have the BITS, Hyderabad contract, ready to start in July 2008. Other than the six units, I have approached a few more universities and corporate houses too. In the first year, I had made a loss of Rs 25 lakh. Right now, we have a turnover of Rs 32 lakh every month, which works out to 3.5 crore (Rs 35 million) a year.

I have hired about 200 people. Indirectly, we touch the lives of around 1000 people. By this year end, we will have 500 people working for us. Only 10% of my workers are educated, the rest are uneducated. I want to make a change in their lives. If they have any problem, I will take care of it. We support the marriages and education of poor families. We are paying more to the employees as the company is doing well. Now that the foundation is strong, I plan to have ten units and a turnover of Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) turnover by next year.

His advice: Never give up!

In the last two years, I have given more than 120 lectures in various institutions in India. When I got the first opportunity to speak, I thought God had given me an opportunity to encourage or inspire entrepreneurs. When youngsters tell me they are inspired, I feel good.
When you just dish out the theory, nobody believes you. But when you do it, they believe you.

What I tell them is based on my own experiences.

When I thought of starting a company, I felt India needed 100 people like Narayana Murthy and Ambani. If 100 such people support 2 lakh people each, imagine how many Indians get supported.

Entrepreneurship is needed to uplift the poor. It is not easy to be an entrepreneur, especially a first generation entrepreneur.

There will be lots of challenges in the beginning but you should learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Never give up even if there are hurdles. There are many who give up within a week. You need determination and a tough mind to cross the initial hurdles. If you are starting without much money, you should not have any overhead expenses.

He still lives in the same hut
As I am in the food business, I know how much the price of every food item has gone up. Many people will languish in poverty because of inflation. Had my mother been working as an Anganvadi ayah today and earning Rs 1500, she would not have been able to feed us and educate us.

On the one side, we talk about India shining and India growing, but we should ensure that people do not die of hunger. We can be a developed country but we should not leave the poor people behind. I am worried for them because I know what hunger is and I still remember the days I was hungry. That is why I feel it is our responsibility to take care of them.

I wanted to buy a car and a house for my mother. I bought a car first, not a house. I still live in the same house, the same hut. I can build a house right now but I want my business to grow a little more. I feel good in the hut; that’s where I get my energy, that's where I lived 25 years of my life. I want to remind myself that the money and fame should not take me away from what I want to achieve.

But within six months, I will build a good house for my mother. Her only advice to me is, don't waste money. Till I was in the 10th, there was no electricity in my house. I had to sit near the kerosene lamp and concentrate hard. That's how I learnt to concentrate.

The two year journey has been very enriching. It seems like a 20-year journey for me. I was living every moment of the two years, from sleeping on the Mumbai railway station platform to this level.

Barrier in communication - Example - Part V

A perfect example of a communication gap: Its one of my favourites that I cherish. I regularly use it in my training sessions to insist on the importance of communication.

A letter from the Top Level to the Junior Level Management

From: Managing Director To Production Director: "Tomorrow there will be a total eclipse of the sun at nine O"clock. This is something which we cannot see happen every day. So let the workforce line up outside, in their best clothes, to watch it. To mark the occasion of this rare occurrence, I will personally explain the phenomenon to them. If it is raining we shall not be able to see it very well and in that case the workforce should assemble in the canteen."

From: Production Director To Production Manager: "By order of the Managing Director, there will be a total eclipse of the sun at nine O'clock tomorrow morning. If it is raining we shall not be able to see it very well on site, in our best clothes. In that case, the disappearance of the sun will be followed through in the canteen. This is something that we cannot see happen every day".

From Production Manager To Departmental Manager: "By order of the Managing Director, we shall follow through in our best clothes, the disappearance of the sun in the canteen tomorrow at nine O'clock. The Managing Director will tell us whether it is going to rain. This is something which we cannot see happen every day".

From Departmental ManagerTo Foreman: "If it is raining in the canteen tomorrow morning, which is something that we cannot see happen every day, the Managing Director, in his best clothes will disappear at Nine O'clock."

From ForemanTo All Operators "Tomorrow morning at nine O'clock, the Managing Director will disappear. It is a pity that we cannot see this happen everyday". I cannot think of a better example that can happen in an organisation.

I would give 100/100 for this........

Barriers in Communication - Part IV

In our previous post we saw how the sender can become a barrier in communication. In this blog we will see various personal barriers from a corporate's perspective. In this we will see two barriers

I. Barriers related to Superiors
II. Barriers related to Subordinates

I.Barriers related to Superiors

1. Attitude of superiors: When I say attitude... it can mean a lot of things . The understanding of the same will also be different from person to person. We will take the most evident ones from the corporates and discuss on that. We will discuss both positive and negative aspects here


A superior may be from any of the below:


a. Aggressive - Dictator
b. Submissive - Passive
c. Assertive - Enthusiasitic


a. Aggressive - Dictator: If the superior carries this attitude, where he feels that there is only his school of thought in this whole world and doesn't care about others. He feels what he says and does is right They portray poor listening skills and are not open to ideas from others. In such a situation the subordinate will not go to his supervisor when he is highly unapproachable. Even if the subordinate has the best idea in the world, he wouldn't reveal that. The mentality that he develops will be .... Who cares... when my boss is not bothered... why should I.....


b. Submissive - Passive: This guy is the opposite of the above... He is easily approachable.. Takes ideas, but doesn't implement them. He is like a mail box full of mails without anyone to action them. But again, he may not be receptive all the times. He may be a passive listener at times because of his nature. Here also people approach him only for a while...till they realize that nothing is going to happen. When they realize this.. they will stop walking to him... End result.. Same as above.... My boss doesn't care... Why should I.....


This boss is highly demotivated and disinterested. He hardly communicates with his team..


c. Assertive : He is the "Mr. Nice Guy." This guy is easily approachable.... listens to his people and tries his level best to implement new ideas.... His communication is always two way ( We will look in detail about one way and two way communication later). He is an open book. He also approaches his people to get their views and ideas. He is in between the above two. He also portrays high energy levels and enthusiasm. People like to speak to him and be with him.


This is the best attitude that a superior should portray to get the best out of all communication from his people.

2. Fear of challenge to Authority: A superior who feels threatened by his subordinate will not communicate every thing that is required. Neither will he accept ideas from the other person. This only leads to friction and a huge communication gap.

3. Insistence of Proper Channel: A channel for communication should be decided based on the urgency and importance of the situation and action required. If strict protocols are to be followed then we can have a combination of communication channels for the execution of the action plan. For example.... if the system of the operation floor konks... and operation comes to a stand still.. The IT wouldn't expect a communication through mail. They would rather take the issue across the phone and do the necessary corrections. Instead if they wait for a mail in the traditional fashion, then get approval, and then take necessary steps for correction it would become too late. Here what they should do is they should take up corrective measures the moment they receive the distress call and they can ask the operations executive to send a mail later for their records. But again this is only in case of an emergency. If it is not urgent and if the company's policy requires you to send a mail for approval or anything... do it accordingly as per the protocol.

4. Shortage of Time: Heard of the word Target.... Month end.... if you have experienced this, then this point shouldn't be difficult for you to understand. When a task has to be completed on time... and there is a lack in the target...what happens??? Ccommunication becomes fast..... at times spontaneous....... understanding becomes super fast..... (Time saving exercise). If a team member is not able to cope up with this speed... communication can become a failure.

5. Lack of Attention: Usually passive superiors are more prone to this. These people pretend to be listening but are in some other world altogether. When proper attention is not given to the subject communication becomes incomplete and doesnot serve its purpose.

6. Ignoring the subordinates: Have you heard of people who are the boss's favourite. There will be another set of people whom the boss would not entertain to this extent but definitely maintains a cordial professional relationship. There is one more set of people in the team, the knowledge of whose existence is not known by the superior. These people feel out of the crowd and hardly interact with their superior.... Neither does the Superior interact with them frequently......... This creates a vacuum in the relationship which in turn affects the communication between these two sets of individuals.

II. Barriers related to subordinates

1. Poor Listening: Have you ever attended a meeting at 2 o clock in the afternoon after a heavy lunch.. How easy was it to concentrate on the speaker without losing attention and concentration of the topic.......... Very difficult..... right......same thing happens with our subordinates... There are times when their listening goes for a toss........ At these times it becomes very difficult to communicate any information to the other person who is mentally not prepared to listen... There are other reasons also for not listening... we will see them in detail when we discuss about active listening.

2. Unwillingness to communicate: This is a very common scenario if there is subordinate feels his superior will not consider his opinion or take any action for what ever he says. Initially he may give away a couple of ideas to his boss... but if the subordinate doesn't see any positive response from the other end, he will stop communicating and mind only his own business. In such cases his first question is .... "Why should I speak... What is the use"

3. Lack of Proper Motivation and Incentive: The superior failed to keep his team motivated and the team lacks the fire in the belly to improve the department or the organisation. In this scenario... they perform their job for the sake of doing things and they neither give out ideas to their superiors nor do they take instructions and suggestions from their supervisors seriously. This inturn affects interpersonal communication.

4. Attitude of the subordiate: If the subordiate is highly egoistic or egocentric... who doesn't care about anything... it becomes very difficult for the superior to get the actual job done through him. There are chances that he may not even listen to him...... This becomes a great barrier in our communication process.

5. Fear of Position : Have you ever been afraid of your superiors... If yes.... I would definitely say you had tough time communicating your reports and agenda with him... This can happen to any one.... Now for the people who were not afraid of their immediate supervisor... How was your experience when you first met your company's GM or CEO..... If you were not tensed... I would say you are great..... if you were tensed........ welcome to the club.... This anxiety will definitely become an obstacle in the subordiate's communication.

Well.. These are some of the most common and important hindrances that can stop you message from being communicated.... In case I come across more....... I will update it accordingly.

Barriers in communication Part III

In the previous post we saw how a sender can be a barrier in the communication process. In this blog we will try to understand how the receiver of the message can be an obstacle for effective communication.

Receiver: A receiver gets the message sent by the sender. He also plays a prominent role in the whole communicaion process.

1. Skills of the receiver: The recipient of the message should possess the skills to decode the message. This usually happens when a superior uses jargons in his communication while conversing with his subordinates. I will give an example: It was a monthly review in one of the comanies and the general manager was discussing about identifying the various problems leading to low performance. He showed a chart - " They call it Pareto"- and started talking about something called 80-20 principle. He went about explaining the chart. Now it was Greek and Latin to many present in the meeting because they didn't possess the skills to interpret a Pareto Chart. So it was just another meeting without any value addition.

2. Inappropriate target for the message : The sender, before sending the message, should be doubly sure to check whether the recipient is the right person to receive the message. If the message goes to the wrong person the result may be delayed or may not even happen. To cite an example: One day before in one of my friends trainng session ( He had around four hours before the start). He had to get his system ( computer) to the training room. Usually, for shifting equipments he used to get permission from the admin and sent a mail accordingly. He didn't receive any communication from their end for almost two hours. After two hours his admin manager called him to say that shifting a system was not a job of theirs but was supposed to be done by the IT department. Now he had to run from pillar to post (of course it was after sending another mail to the IT department), with a lot of tension to actually get his job done. So if he had already known who were his target audience he wouldn't have wasted time. There would't even be a confusion.

Under the same heading... we need to understand one more thing about which I have discussed in the first post on communication. I cannot teach "Theory of relativity" to grade five students. Would they understand.. Definitely yes....That I am a specimen from a meuseum. So before I actually what is their level of understanding before I actually deliver something.

3. Problem in receiver comprehension: I will give you a typical example for this. When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the smiling baby on the label.

The sales was not impressive at all. Guess why????

Because in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the labels of what's inside, since many people can't read. So nobody there wanted to by a product made out of babies......So here I (sender) intend something... but the receiver understands it the other way around.....

4. Poor Listening : Imagine you have bought a new car of your dreams and you are talking about it to your friend. But your friend of yours is thinking about his fight with his girlfriend and is in a different world altogether. Do you think justice is happening to communication. Definitely not.. Why.... One guy is not ready to listen.... while the other guy is not ready to stop talking. Hence, unless the receiver gives full attention with an intention to listen communication will be incomplete.

6. Attitudes and opinion: Have you ever had this feeling........ Why should I listen to him?? or why should I do this for him.. what's in it for me....Its not my job...... When an attitude like this develops... listening stops automatically... and the message enters only deaf ears..... So, here also the communication becomes incomplete.

When it comes to opinions... many a time when some one is arguing with us or speaking against us... we hardly listen to the other person's points... What are we waiting for...... the other person to stop talking so that you can talk...... Usually when opinions differ and both are not ready to agree with each other.... communication becomes one way ( we will discuss this elaborately later).

3. Psychological Barriers / Emotional /Perceptional Barriers

1. Emotions: How happy or sad is the receiver when the message is communicated. What does the receiver take to mean by this message. This factor has a lot of significance. Of course every factor carries its own level of importance but this is something that has a personal touch. It is very difficult to correct this factor because we are dealing with human feelings. Emotional people have a big time difficulty in facing the reality. These emotions can be caused by anything. The most common of these is the inability to balance work and life. They are not able to diffentiate between the two because of which the communication gets affected. The next cause factor for emotion can be work pressure. If an doesn't know how to handle pressure properly... proper communication will become a big time headache for him. Tension and nervousness will lead to poor communication. The next factor is Motivation. The inclination of the executive to perform his job to his utmost satisfaction. If the person is not motivated and inspired... there are high chances that he may ignore important messages and instructions or it may even fall in deaf ears. The reason is when a person is highly demotivated his inclination, most of the time, will be to just vile away the time and perform to the bare minimum to save his skin. So why should he be bothered about proper communication. I have seen executives ignoring important mailers and actioning them in the last moment.

2. Perception : Have you heard about four blind men trying to describe an elephant. One blind man who felt the elephant's trunk perceived it as a snake. There was another blind man who perceived its legs as huge pillars, One more who felt its body, thought it was a wall and the last blind man who was holding its tail perceived it as a rope. At the end of the day it is the same elephant... but the perception differs. Same is the case of communication. Based on my understanding and experience I may understand it in a manner that may be highly different from that of my senior manager.Perceiving data, information and communication depends on one's background, experience, needs, motivation etc.

I will quote an example from the corporate... Take the case of an MBR (Monthly Business Review). The data projected by Operations is the same... but there are various interpretations from various levels of management... The assistant manager has a clarfication in one aspect, while the Manager will have a different clarification on the same data. This distinction comes from their background, experience and expertise in that particular field. When the perception varies, the understanding varies and this gets projected as a barrier, as long as a proper clarification and explanation is gotten for the same.....

Under the heading of perception One very important barrier is "Assumption". Assumption is a preconceived notion about something. It is thinking that you have understood something before it is actually understood. It is also perceiving a subject through your knowledge and prior experience before actually going through the facts and figures thoroughly. Now, the important point here is... since the perception is not based on facts and figures... there are more chances that this assumption or perception is wrong... So it becomes erroneous to come to conclusion without verifying the actuals... If you had noticed the word Assume says ... "Ass"... "U"... "Me".... meaning, when you are assuming somethin, you are not only fooling yourself but also others. Below is a small story to illustrate the same.

A man goes into a drugstore and asks the pharmacist if he can give him something for the hiccups. The pharmacist promptly reaches out and slaps the man's face. "What did you do that for?" the man asks."Well, you don't have the hiccups anymore, do you?"The man says, "No, but my wife out in the car still does!"

We will see the remaining barriers of communication in the next post.............

Who is a leader

What is leadership

Leadership is idealism in action... as said by a great saint. This is the most simple and easy definition that I have got. Of course, I have read various definitions on this subject... each giving a meaning to the term above... but this covers everything...

In simple terms a leader should be a role model.. he should be someone who gives a purpose to his people, who is a man who practices what he preaches... He is, what he is by his action and not by his words.

An ideal is a person whom people are ready to follow to the end of this earth without questioning his words. They trust him with their life. They feel whatever their leader does or says will definitely be right. This is true leadership.

A leader has a perfect coordination between his thoughts, words and deeds... He speaks what he thinks and does what he speaks... meaning he doesn’t go back against his own words. If

It is not easy being a leader... A good amount of thinking from all angles is required before committing because people are watching and looking upon you. Hence, before deciding any thing a leader has to think twice and then give his proposal.
Further explanations later... we will look into a few definitions on Leadership.... as given by some managemtn gurus.
Peter Drucker : "The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers."
John C Maxwell : "leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less."
Warren Bennis : "Leadership is a function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated, building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential."
John W. Gardner :Leadership is the process of persuasion and example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to take action that is in accord with the leader’s purpose, or the shared purposes of all.”
We will see the explanation of these in the next post.

Barriers of communication Part II

3. Personal Barriers

In any communication as we had seen in the flow, we required two personalities.... One the sender and second the receiver... Any barrier arising out of these two individuals is called as a personal barrier. To start with we will discuss about the "Sender "

Sender
He is one of the most important factor in the whole communication process. If there is a problem in the start itself the whole communication goes for a toss. If he doesn't do his job properly... it goes down the drain. Some of the ways by which a sender can goof up the communication are given below.

a. Senders understandability of the message: How much the sender understands of the message they are trying to send is very important. If he doesn't know what he is sending it can be a chaos on the other side. This can usually happen when information is being transferred across various levels. Say from the Sr Manager => Manager => Assistant Manager => Team Leader => Supervisor => Junior Executives. Here at any point of time if any one in the chain doesn't understand what his superior is trying to convey... there will definitely be a miscommunication. I will give you an example of this at the end of this post.

b. Amount of knowledge - The sender should know the subject, understand the content and the purpose of it before actually delivering it to the other side. Imagine a trainer who doesn't know the subject but comes forward for training. How effective will be the transfer of information. Absolutely zero. This rule applies for any sender. This is important to decide the way it has to be communicated. Unless someone knows the importance and significance of the content they will not be able to decide what should be the mode of delivery. To know its significance knowledge of the subject is important.

c. Too much of Information- Information Overload. Any message that has to be communicated should have only the relevant information. Relevant information can be explained as the minimum data required to get the action done for which the communication has been intended. The sender should send only enough information to get the job done in the most efficient manner.

d. Presentation Order : The sequence of presentation has to be logical and categorized based on the importance and urgency. The presentation should be classified with side headings wherever required. Also, keeping one information per paragraph will be very effective in delivering multiple messages to the receiver

e. Lack of familiarity with the audience: This is a very important barrier. Most of the times peope send messages from their perspective without thinking whether the person on the other side will understand it or not. Unless the common understanding is not attained communication becomes a failure. You cannot teach rocket science to a kindergarden kid.. who has just started to learn ABCD.

f. Lack of experience: Is Experience required in communication. Many a time its yes. One very important aspect of communication which many people miss out is the appropriateness of the communication. Appropriateness can also be understood as reachability of the communication. The way it was taken in by the other person. For eg: A team member of your has commited a mistake. You can either scold or reprimand him for making him realize that mistake. Else, you can sit with him and politely explain him the severity of the situation so that he understands it very well. Now in both the ways the team member has got the information... meaning... the communication has happened...there was a common understanding...... but what about the after math of the exercise.... Which do you think will be more effective.. Obviously the second one.. (Of course.. the type of feedback is dependent on the severity of the situation). This decision making ability will come only through experience.....

Barriers in communication Part I

While communicating ... Have you ever had this feeling...... I said something...... but your friend is replying something else..... Or you asked a friend to come at 4 o clock, but he comes at 5 o clock and says.. that's what he had heard... or.....you ordered for a veg pizza... but receive cheese pizza instead.............Fine... everybody would have had this problem at some point of time or the other in their life...... Why what had happened.... why did this happen... why did the receiver not get the message the same way you wanted it to be transmitted.

This could have happened anywhere in the communication. It is just like your electric wire. If the wire becomes faulty even at one place... you will not get the power... similarly if the communication process broke down at any place... the whole communication would fail.

Thus arises, a difference in perception between the sender and the receiver. The sender meant something.... while the receiver perceived it as something else. This difference is called communication gap. Communication gap is the difference in the common understanding arising between the sender and the receiver.

The factors that lead to communication gap are called Barriers in communication.

There are various barriers in communication. We will go through them through a series of posts.
The barrier can arise anywhere in the communication in the communication process. It can start from the Sender.... encoding...... Medium......Decoding...... Receiver...... Feedback.....Sender.

We will see them one by one.

The barriers have been differentiated in five categories:

1. Semantic Barriers or Language Barriers
2. Organisational Barriers
3. Personal Barriers
4. Psychological Barriers / Emotional /Perceptional Barriers
5. Physical Barriers

1.. Semantic Barriers or Language Barriers
Semantic is the study of words and their meanings. Within Semantic barriers we have many classifications.

1a. Wrongly expressed message: Words by nature if not correctly used can convey different meanings. For example the word "Set" has more than 4o meanings. If, a person uses the wrong word at the wrong place it will definitely convey a wrong meaning, leading to a wrong understanding.

For example: One of the advertisements in a used car showroom:
"Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated? Come here first!"......... Now what do we interpret from this........ Come here to be cheated or come here to get the best deal.... It all depends on how you read it.

One more.....Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children..... Is the dog affectionate towards children or likes children for food. Similarly, in corporate also, unless the language is used in the right context.. the message may be misleading.

1.b Faulty Translation: When a message has to be translated across levels, if the person in the second level doesn't understand the message from his superiors, it will become difficult for him to transfer the same to next level below him.... This may not be the only scenario. If people don't understand the receiver and send message based on their own knowledge and understanding.. there are chances that the message may have a wrong translation. I will illustrate an example from the advertisement industry..

Illustration:

1. 'The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth."

2. Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

1.c Technical Language and Jargons: An expert only understands an expert's language. This always has to be in the back of your mind before sending any message where technical terms have to be used.

For the sender it may be an easy message... but the receiver it may be difficult. For eg: you go to a doctor for a head ache.. and he says... go get a tablet of "Crocus Sativus Linnaeus,''..........what's your reaction..... You look at him as if he is a specimen from a museum...... When you visit the pharmacy...... he says that "Crocus Sativus Linnaeus" is nothing but the scientific name of "Crocin." Tell me where will you BP be at this point. But the doctor doesn't do that... but says," Go get a crocin." Why because this is what patients tend to understand.

2. Organisational Barriers: Organisational structure and policies do have an influence on the communication process. Some of the major hindrances in communication pertaining to organisation are

2.a Organisational Rules and Policies: If the policy or rules of the company state that they have to follow a procedure for acquiring some data or initiating an action.. It has to be strictly adhered to. This rule will apply for any action or communication without preference to the urgency and importance of the situation. Imagine a situation of urgency and importance where you require an equipment at the earliest from the IT Department. Now you have to get an approval from your manager...so you send a mail... Your manager will forward this approval mail to the IT Head and he in turn will send the mail to his team to take care of the requirement. Now check the length of the cycle... This will definitely take some time before the actual problem is solved.

2.b Status Relationship & Complexity in Organisational Structure: Assuming a junior level executive in Operations has a problem with his system.. It can be rectified only by another junior level executive from IT department.. Now can the OPS executive directly ask the IT executive to come and correct the problem.. Orally, yes it can be done... Unfortunately when it comes to corporates, it is a lengthy process. You have to send a mail to the IT head asking him to permit his executive to have a look into this problem.. Post this the IT exec will come and rectify the fault.. Sorry I forgot.... in between you should also keep your boss in loop... This again delays the whole communication process.

2.c Organisation Facilities: Availability of proper infrastructure for communication is also important for successful communication process. When an email is required to be sent... but the department doesn't have an Internet facility we cannot expect timely communication and resolution. Technical capabilities of the organisation also can lead to a barrier. If the organisation is not equipped with the required technology.. there are least chances that appropriate communication will take place. Reason... When technology is not on par between the sender and the receiver there will be a definite problem in message transmission reception.

We will discuss the other barriers of communication in our next and forthcoming posts.

Components of Communication Part II

In the previous post, we saw the importance of various components of communication in Face to Face communication. In this post we will see how they influence other means of communication like email, Phone etc.

In the previous post we had discussed that for a face to face communication Body Language carried 55% weightage, while "The way you say it" and "Content" carried 38% and 7% respectively.

Now in a Telephonic conversation and Email Communication it takes a slight deviation. In this the Body Language takes a back seat (38%) and "The way you say it" takes the first position (55%), while "Content" still retains its 7%.

Now one may wonder why does Body Language still take a huge chunk of weightage, eventhough we don't meet the receiver face to face... However, what everyone fails to understand is that your Body Language has a definite impact on " The way you say it." Imagine yourself sitting on a recliing chair, half a sleep, speaking to the customer...... On the contrary think about you sitting in a chair with your spine straight and speaking to the customer. Tell me, where would your communication be more appropriate or in other words in which situation would you have done better justice to the communication.... The answer is obvious.. it will be in the second one.

This proves that Body Language has a definite impact on 'The way you say it"

I will give you one more example...Your boss has reprimanded you... it was very harsh and your mood is spoilt.... at this juncture your colleague comes to you and talks about an important assignment that has to be completed ASAP.. or you receive a call from an irate customer who wants to speak to you immediately........ Howz that......How do you feel......Will you be able to give full attention to the task or will you be able to give your 100% to the customer.... Yes, if you think you can you can.. but its very difficult..You would require high level of maturity to distinguish yourself from one situation to another. Usually it is the otherway around. You will not be able to speak to the customer with your usual spirit and manner. Why because your emotions become a barrier in your communication. These emotions are a part of your body language.

A customer can feel your smile on the other side of the phone. Anytime in the past, while speaking to your friend... have you ever felt.. he was not listening.. or he was disinterested in the conversation.. why.... how.... because he wasn't smiling.... his body language was not appropriate. Thats the key...

One more example.... its 5.00 am in the morning and you are in deep sleep and you get a call from your friend.... how will your response be... Highly enthusiastic?? definitely not.... It will be in the most sleepish form...... Why.. because your body language is such at this juncure... your emotions are different at that time... I hope you got the point...

Components of Communication Part I

Components of Communication:

When I say components... I mean the ingredients without which any communication is incomplete. These will be a part of in any communication. In other words, any communication will definitely have an influnence of these factors whether you like it or not or whether you are aware of it or not.

There are three components in communication

The message
The way you say it
Body Language (Non Verbal Communication)

Now there is a weightage in which the above three contribute any communication.

I have a question to our readers. Can you rank the above based on their importance in the communication process. Take some time............... before you actually scroll down for the answer.
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In many of my sessions whenever people were asked to rank the above three based on their importance in the communication process, they ranked "Content - the message" first, second with "The way we say it" and third with "Body language."
However, it is the other way around.... when it comes to one on one (face to face) communication

Body Language : 55%
The way you say it : 38%
Content : 7%

It is the body language that comes first..... experts say it contributes to 55% of the whole communication process..... I will give you an example........ How does a new born kid identify its mother...... How does the mother realize that the child is hungry........ or how does the child differentiate a happy face and an angry face........ You smile at the kid and it laughs and giggles at you. You show a frown face and it starts crying.... The reason is Body language is something that comes with birth as an instinct and the basics don't require a school to be taught. Its very easy.........One more example..... when you are talking with your friends..... How do you know one of them is not interested in the topic......He feels it is boring..it is only because of the body language that he portrays..... He either is looking somewhere else while you are talking...... He may be yawning.... He may be fiddling with something in his hands...... or he changes posture from time to time..... to show his restlessness.... Now in this sequence......... mind you he has never ever even in a single instance opened his mouth. But, the message has been received that he is disinterested in this topic......
Face is the index of the mind......How do you know when your boss is in a good mood or a bad mood. In majority we guess it with the looks of his face...correct!!!!!. Fine...... This was just an example......... in our office...... So Body Language takes the first place and it constitutes 55% of the total communication.

Now the lastimportant component of communication is "Content" the "message" that requires to be delivered. This contributes to 7% of the whole communication process. Now, People may wonder......... how it is only 7%. I will tell you. Understand that, The message is going to be the same whatevery may come... We are not going to change it. We have something that we want to convey it to others.. I will give you an example to give a better clarification on this point...... When a boy wants to propose to a girl.... what does he say???. He says " I love you." Now no matter what happens, the words are the same...400 years back also the words were the same..

Now also the words are the same....... But How you say has definitely changed. And this is the next important component after Body Language. It constitutes to 38% of the comnunication process. Again why so much of importance to this piece.. I will again go by my simple explnation of proposing to a girl.. The three words are the same, but how you deliver it to your prospect is more important. If the girl loves roses... you should propose with a rose for it to succeed.. If you propose with a greeting card.... it is more likely to fail.... Similarly if a girl likes gifts.... you should propose with a gift that she likes and not with a rose...... else you have more chances of failing......

Similarly, when it comes to communication, you should understand which will be the best way of passing on the information..... If you think a mail is enough... send a mail... if you feel it is very urgent and you would require to speak to someone directly... then do it that way to ensure that your objective of the communication gets fullfilled.

We should also understand that unless the objective of th communication shows a positive result, the communication becomes a failure.........So we need to ensure that we have the correct blend of the above three ensure that your communication shows 100% efficiency.

In our next blog we will check the influence of these three components in Non - Face to Face Communication.