My Eclat Coach

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 10/10

2009-11-03T06:00:00.001+05:30

by NaturalBlu

Do you take the final responsibility for all your team actions?

The buck stops with you.

Pointing fingers at your sibling went with the wind as soon as you embarked on your corporate journey.

There is no two about it.

If you are not 100% behind your team, they wont be either!

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Self-Deception

2009-10-28T19:48:00.000+05:30

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Most psychological experiments make me question the very need of the study.

Do people lie to themselves? YES!

Do we know we do this? YES!

Is it beneficial? the jury is still out on that one.

here is a study that proves people lie to themselves.

what this study suggests is that for many people self-deception is as easy as pie. Not only will many people happily lie to themselves if given a reason, but they will only look for evidence that confirms their comforting self-deception, and then totally believe in the lies they are telling themselves.

If you read the whole thing, I would bet you would agree that its not that bad as made out to be.sometimes telling yourself you can do more than you can actually do maybe good. maybe a little of that positive thinking is also lying. the reality does not exist yet and you are trying to create it and talk about it as if it already is.

my final thing on this. go ahead and lie to yourself if it succeeds in pushing you further, just don't fool yourself into thinking you never did lie!

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Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 9/10

2009-10-27T06:00:00.002+05:30

I wrote about the 10 questions/dimensions you can measure yourself on if you want to be a 5-star leader.

In this series, I will detail my thoughts/suggestions on each of those 10 dimensions

by jessicaflavin

Do you delegate?

most brilliant people can do everything brilliantly if only they had the time.

but you dont.

so, brilliant as you are, you will be left with a lot to do, that you will never be able to do, just coz you dont have another 24 hours, everyday.

delegate.

find out the tasks that you do not enjoy, think someone else could do just as well, or just a little less and start delegating.

that is a start.

but if I could persuade you to, I would suggest you take a different approach.

find out, hunt for people better than you at things you do everyday and then delegate.

it is so much better!

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Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 8/10

2009-10-20T06:00:00.002+05:30

I wrote about the 10 questions/dimensions you can measure yourself on if you want to be a 5-star leader.

In this series, I will detail my thoughts/suggestions on each of those 10 dimensions

by MikeSchinkel

Do you encourage & accept feedback?

You might think the listening sessions are enough, but I beg to differ.

feedback could be structured or unstructured

feedback could be individual or group

feedback could be about you, your job, your decisions, the company or anything in between

feedback could be verbal, written

feedback could be internal or external

feedback could be managed by self or out-sourced

feedback could be face-to-face or anonymous

the feedback should have two attributes at the minimum:

- it should ask about what is important to the people

- it should ask about things you can do something about

feedback for the sake of feedback is useless

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Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 7/10

2009-10-13T06:00:00.001+05:30

I wrote about the 10 questions/dimensions you can measure yourself on if you want to be a 5-star leader.

In this series, I will detail my thoughts/suggestions on each of those 10 dimensions

by vagawi

DO you have formal/informal listening sessions?

The formal ones

- structure time

- space

- make sure there are no interruptions

- make sure there has been enough time to prepare for both parties

- ensure the time between two sessions is mapped

- ensure everyone is covered

- take notes

- give feedback

- if you can, do something. if you can't, let them know.

The informal ones

the informal listening sessions are probably the ones where you will pick up more non-verbal cues than the formal ones.

in the hall, at lunch, at a staff party, the gym. it could be anywhere.

Just two inputs here:

1. be willing to listen

2. be willing to stop when it turns gossipy!

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What is the nicest thing you have done for someone?

2009-10-10T06:00:00.001+05:30

Image by Aldor via Flickr

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You will probably begin by searching for the big ones.
did you in your past somewhere do something so extra ordinary that it became a life-long memory for someone else?

I was doing the same thinking and I can assure you, at one point it became an exercise in massaging my ego.

come to think of it, I have rushed someone hit by a car to the hospital, I have helped out complete strangers, I have fed, clothed (not bathed) people, and generally I have been nice.

Its when I reverse the thinking, that the question comes alive in all its splendor.

Think about what nice things people did for you and suddenly the big ones dont jump that much.
its the small ones that make the cut and make me smile.

here are some of those:
- I was told by my high school teacher, I could do whatever I want. And to prove he meant it, he let me sit in Biology classes when I wasn't even taking Bio for my boards.

- I was riding around Goa with a friend and the bike ran out of fuel. a stranger stopped. gave us a litre from his tank, refused to accept any money and parted with the words 'Enjoy Goa'.

- I was loaned money by my friend regularly. But sometimes, I would even loan his bike, his shirt and his phone. All on the same day! nice guy.

- I was so angry at shoddy treatment and this employee stood there with his hands folded, apologizing from his heart and doing everything to make things right.

- my friend's mom making hot paranthas (indian pizza!) in the middle of the night. No restaurants and me, very hungry.

- A student's parent bringing me fresh milk from his farm.

- An ex, writing a long letter letting me know what is it that makes me lovable and what makes people want to strangle me. incase you wondering, yes I still have it even after 12 yrs I refer to it regularly.
You will be amazed how some people know you so well.

Here's my two cents.

- make a list of all the nice things people have done for you

- make a list of all the nice things you have done for people.

Strike a balance!

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 8/12| openculture.com

2009-10-09T11:01:00.000+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 5 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site is openculture.com

Start here

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 7/12| livemocha.com

2009-10-08T00:28:00.002+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 6 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site is livemocha

Start here

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 6/12| lingro.com

2009-10-07T11:01:00.000+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 7 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site is lingro.com

This one you can even listen!

Start here

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 5/12| lang-8.com

2009-10-06T11:01:00.000+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 8 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site is lang-8.com

Start here

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Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 6/10

2009-10-06T06:00:00.000+05:30

I wrote about the 10 questions/dimensions you can measure yourself on if you want to be a 5-star leader.

In this series, I will detail my thoughts/suggestions on each of those 10 dimensions

by Eneas

Do you work alongside with your team members?

the best ones get their hands dirty. they fold their shirt sleeves and heave when the entire crew is just that close to the goal and needs just a little bit more.

working alongside, packaging, marketing, making sales calls, handling difficult customers, cleaning the office , anything is a big boost!

people do remember the kind words, the little gestures, but legendary stories of managers come from incidents when they were one-of-us!

a 5-star leader wouldn't think twice about it.

work alongside your team.

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 4/12| freelang.net

2009-10-05T11:01:00.000+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 9 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site is freelang.net

How can Freelang help you?

Freelang provides free dictionaries, free human translation, and many other useful resources if you are learning a language or need a translation.

Start here

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 3/12| foreignword.com

2009-10-04T11:01:00.001+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 10 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site is foreignword.com

Use this global dictionary to search in 275 dictionaries on the Internet. Translate from 69 source languages into 73 target languages - 400 language combinations.

Just follow these three simple steps:

1) Choose the source language you want to translate from
2) Choose the target language (select "monolingual" for word meanings).
3) Select a dictionary, enter term & click on "Go"!

Look up your term in one dictionary after another by clicking on the "Next" button.

Start here

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 2/12| babbel.com

2009-10-03T23:24:00.001+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 12 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site babbel.com

Easy and Playful

Babbel's fun. Here you can learn languages in an entertaining way, without fuss. Straightforward, no pressure.

Put it into Practice

Learn on your own or practice with other people from all over the world. You decide how, when and what you learn.

Effective learning

Pictures, sound, video and interactive elements make for a good variety and
quick success.

Start here

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SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 1/12| popling.com

2009-10-02T21:00:00.003+05:30

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I read the phrase 'Accelerate your ability to learn' and fell in love with it.
I wrote about what you can do Self Development| Accelerate Your Ability to Learn

For the next 12 Days, you will get one site everyday that will help you enhance your language learning.

Today the site is popling.net

Start here>

What Can You Learn With Popling?
There are over 10,100 flash cards in more than 150 poplings in topics like:
Learn Spanish
Learn French
Learn German
Learn Japanese
Learn Italian
Learn Portuguese
Learn Indonesian
Chemistry
Geography
And more

For more Success Tools, Click here>

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Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 5/10

2009-09-29T06:00:00.000+05:30

I wrote about the 10 questions/dimensions you can measure yourself on if you want to be a 5-star leader.

In this series, I will detail my thoughts/suggestions on each of those 10 dimensions

by vintagedept

Do you ensure each team member shares the reward?

Ah. I think the question goes beyond the obvious financial one, but that is important.

Do you?

What is the mechanism to share the reward?

are the parameters known before the task begins or are created based on the reward quantum?

is the method objective, fair?

can the collective team disburse the reward for a higher good?

do you have built-in measures for exceptional performance or 'beyond-the-call-of-duty' rewards?

What about the non-monetary rewards?

The acknowledgements, the praise, the standing ovation, the glory?

Do you take it all?

Do you create platforms for the best in your team to come and share the glory?

Do your bosses know your key players?

Can't Wait for the entire series?

Click here to read the complete thing>

That Comment/Photo/Video Might Cost You Your Job

2009-09-27T00:03:00.001+05:30

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Headhunters/ Bosses are watching...

A recent survey of companies by CareerBuilder.com found that 45 percent of respondents said they screen potential job candidates by perusing their profiles on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter in search of warning signs that a candidate might not be a good fit.

That Comment/Photo/Video might cost you your job.

Broadly speaking, I dont think its such a big deal in India, but our managers do like to be western in their thoughts and HR approach, you might wanna (notice the 'wanna' instead of 'want to') relook at that facebook account of yours.

- your comments - keep them personal & funny.

Keep off topics like your boss, your company and definately religion, minorties & sex. Actually sex as a topic is ok, but I guess what they really want to know is whether you can be a potential sexual harrasment lawsuit.

- your photos - keep them clean.

- your videos - even cleaner.

broadly speaking do not share any intimate company secrets, office gossip or worse insider knowledge.

on the other hand keeping your profile private would come to your mind, but the easy fix for this is to get dope on you through someone in your network. its east, trust me. I do this for a living.

the golden rule here 'when in doubt, refrain'

Happy Networking!

Prabhjot Bedi

As always, you are welcome to leave links to your profile in the comments. I will review the profiles and let you know what could spell trouble. Cheers!

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Should You Respond To Everything?

2009-09-24T22:34:00.001+05:30

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by Paolo Camera

This is a difficult one for me.
I dont have any empirical data to base my theory on, but I guess you can call it coming of age.
If you asked me this question 10 years back or even 5 I would have said an empathic 'YES'
Today, with all the so called experiences behind me, I am not so sure.

Some people might argue that to not engage life is akin to refusing to live.

The fact that this is a 3-D interactive set up is what makes all this so real. I know, this is almost on the verge of some spiritual discourse, but if you can spare another minute those guys aren't so off the mark.

You have heard of 'pick you battles' or 'doing nothing is also doing something' or the one I have seen as a poster in many an educational institutes, 'Give me the courage to change the things I can, the serenity to accept the ones I cant and the wisdom to know the difference'. All of these and more are arguing your right to disengage once-in-a-while.

There will be things you have no control over (for the ones who are firm believers in destiny to the smallest detail, you have control over nothing) but I am talking about things you seemingly have control over, could do something about and taking that thought further can choose to do nothing.

will you belittle yourself by doing nothing? will you belittle the task or the individual you are ignoring?

will you feel sometime later in life that if only I had not let that simple digression go unpunished, the larger damage could have been averted?

what do you feel?

Do you ignore many a things on a daily basis?

If you do, then how do you decide?

On what parameters do you choose?

leave examples in the comments

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Are you being paid right?

2009-09-23T20:55:00.000+05:30

Naukri PayCheck is based on information from over 10 million anonymous profiles across multiple sectors. It takes your Functional Area, Experience, Industry, City, and Education into consideration to provide you with salary information that is highly personalized and relevant.

It is a neat little app.

I checked out some results for common designations and they seem to be ok. I am guessing these are based on the amounts people enter into their naukri.com profiles. Over the years that I have been a recruiter I have seen a fair share of mistakes (per month fed as per year, lakhs are wrong, thousands missing etc) but I would assume the senior profiles have lesser chances of such mistakes.

Try it out.

Leave your comments about how right or wrong naukri is for your profile or query.

goto| http://my.naukri.com/PayCheck/salary

Presentations | Body Language

2009-09-22T21:28:00.000+05:30

Body Language1

View more presentations from Prabhjot Bedi.

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 4/10

2009-09-22T06:00:00.001+05:30

I wrote about the 10 questions/dimensions you can measure yourself on if you want to be a 5-star leader.

In this series, I will detail my thoughts/suggestions on each of those 10 dimensions

by laverrue

Do you ensure each team member feels valued?

So many things to do here.

- talk to each

- say 'good morning'

- ask how they doing

- call the family to let them know they are working late

- call the family to let them know they are doing great

- believe them when they call in sick

- offer to share the work load

- applaud success

- find them doing something right

- reprimand in private

- have lunch sometimes with them

- put up their name for rewards

- ensure they get the credit

- stand up for them

Can't Wait for the entire series?

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How Long to Form a Habit? And What You Can Do Towards It...

2009-09-21T22:46:00.000+05:30

from How Long to Form a Habit?

I am a huge fan of psyblog

study reveals is that when we want to develop a relatively simple habit like eating a piece of fruit each day or taking a 10 minute walk, it could take us over two months of daily repetitions before the behaviour becomes a habit.

I have personally found forming a habit extremely difficult. maybe its got to do with the time it takes (now that I know there is research to back it up, I believe it more!) or maybe its just me, but forming good habits is almost as difficult as giving up the bad ones.

Here are some ideas to make this process effective & fruitful:

1. Keep a Diary/ Log Book
This is so powerful. I find that the fact that I can measure it, go back and see my progress gives me such a big boost.

2. Have a specific goal
Make it as specific as possible. In terms of time, in terms of something that can be measured by anyone.

3. Tell as many people as possible
Everyone will help in their own special way.
This maybe be silly, but I try and post a simple success tip everyday at eclatme.blogspot.com
if you see my score over the last months it is abysmal. Yet whenever a reader gives me a shout to remind me of my stated habit (posting a tip everyday) it makes it easier to follow.

4. Find a Partner
Maybe it is difficult to find someone who wants to inculcate the same habits such as you, but if you can, it will be so much easier.

5. Reward Yourself
Every step of the way, on every small & big victory, celebrate it and reward yourself.

Happy Habiting!

p.s. leave a habit you want to form in the comments and you never know another reader or maybe me may be a willing partner or helper!

VIDEO | Awesome, Incredible, Super, Great, Brilliant!!!

2009-09-18T22:44:00.003+05:30

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What makes Apple so brilliant?
Their belief and constant reinforcement.
Try it, its powerful!

7 rules of complaint management

2009-09-15T20:01:00.001+05:30

1. Isolate
2. Sit Them down
3. Take notes
4. Offer to do something only if you can
5. Set a deadline
6. Revert according to the deadline
7. Seek feedback

See the detailed version>
7 rules of complaint management

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 3/10

2009-09-15T06:00:00.000+05:30

I wrote about the 10 questions/dimensions you can measure yourself on if you want to be a 5-star leader.

In this series, I will detail my thoughts/suggestions on each of those 10 dimensions

Detail by jared

Do you spend time with every team member in detailing her role/contribution to the overall goal?

Each one of the questions/dimensions are important, but this one seems to stand out as something that is so obvious, common sensical and yet missing from many a manager's to-do list.

I think it should be made a mandatory part of the 'induction process'

Everyone should know what is it that they do, how is it that it adds value and what is it that they are contributing to. the bigger goal, the larger vision so to speak.

- Create a JD for every position

- with every JD create a section that details how that position adds on to the larger objective the department, the division & the company is fulfilling.

- List the importance and maybe go a step further and create a scenario about what would happen if that individual did not perform.

Most importantly, create a time, space and ensure you go over each part of the Job Description with your team member

Can't Wait for the entire series?

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My Eclat Coach

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 10/10

Do you take the final responsibility for all your team actions?

Self-Deception

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 9/10

Do you delegate?

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 8/10

Do you encourage & accept feedback?

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 7/10

DO you have formal/informal listening sessions?

What is the nicest thing you have done for someone?

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 8/12| openculture.com

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 7/12| livemocha.com

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 6/12| lingro.com

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 5/12| lang-8.com

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 6/10

Do you work alongside with your team members?

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 4/12| freelang.net

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 3/12| foreignword.com

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 2/12| babbel.com

Easy and Playful

Put it into Practice

Effective learning

SUCCESS TOOLS| Language website| 1/12| popling.com

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 5/10

Do you ensure each team member shares the reward?

That Comment/Photo/Video Might Cost You Your Job

Should You Respond To Everything?

Are you being paid right?

Presentations | Body Language

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 4/10

Do you ensure each team member feels valued?

How Long to Form a Habit? And What You Can Do Towards It...

VIDEO | Awesome, Incredible, Super, Great, Brilliant!!!

7 rules of complaint management

More on Complaint Management...

Are you a 5-star Leader? Part 3/10

Do you spend time with every team member in detailing her role/contribution to the overall goal?