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“Talent is a pursued interest. Anything else that you’re willing to practice you can do”

Much has been said about interviews and the art of cracking it. We speak to people and try to get solutions on how to crack interviews and if you speak to 50 different people, you will end up getting 50 different views. So, what is it that needs to be done? Well, this is the same question that the interviewers end up asking me when I conduct sessions on BEI, as to what else could we probably ask in order to get the right talent. Well, if you’re an interviewer or an interviewee, you’re at the right place, because the next few paragraphs will give both parties an idea on how to structure the interview in a way that you can get the best results

Let me start with a small story: A father on the death bed calls his son and gifts him a golden watch. The son asks “Father, why are you giving this old watch to me?” to which the father replies “Go to a nearby store and check what price we’ll get for this watch”. The son goes to many shops and comes back “Father, the range is between INR 250 to INR 350 for this watch. They aren’t willing to give more”. Father responds “Alright, can you go to the other side of the town and check, coz rich people stay there and you may get a better price for this watch”. The son does the needful and repeats what he said earlier to which the Father says “One last time, just go to the museum and check the price”. The son is confused but does what his father says. He comes back astonished and says “Father, they are willing to give INR 100,00,000” for this watch saying that this is an antique?” The Father smiles and says “Remember son, you are a talented young guy and exactly like this watch. Just because someone rejects you doesn’t mean you’re bad, probably they just don’t know your worth. Continue doing your best and someday you will find the people and places who value you”

Insightful isn’t it? This is what happens with most of us. In our journey, we feel dejected because we get rejected by organizations that we are keen on joining, or we get laid off due to some management decision that’s come up and we start doubting our own abilities, which is where the problem begins. Irrespective of how much you’ve prepared for the interview, if there is self-doubt, you will never be able to crack the interview, and if you manage to do, then you’re very lucky. So what is it that you should do to crack the interviews?

Interviewee:

Be yourself: First things first, just be yourself. Do not try to be someone else or copy someone’s words because all that will do is impress the interviewer during that period and you may even land up getting the job but frustration will creep in someday and you’ll wonder why did you do what you did. Being yourself may not help you to get the job but at least you’ll know they don’t appreciate your natural style and the day you get the job because of your natural style, you will start loving every moment you spend while doing the job. I’m asked this question by many, as to if I am rude, should I be rude in the interview. Now think about it yourself, is being rude good or bad? You know the answer and then take a call. Tweaking behavior vs Tweaking Natural Style are two completely different things. You can tweak your behavior to sound polite, but style of working, is something that you should convey right at the beginning to make people aware

Focus on the process, not the end result: You know your subject and the role you’re applying for. Do your research and strengthen your hold on the core areas that are needed for you to be successful in your role. Focus on thinking on how you will apply those learnings to real life situations and note down those stories/analogies for you to use it in one or more of the interviews to ensure you can give practical examples. Instead of thinking “How to crack the interview” Focus on “Learning as much you can about your core subject and applying those to real life situations”. Enjoy the journey of learning and application rather than the end result. This will help you to be better prepared for the interview

Study the Market: When you apply for a job, it is imperative that you study the industry/market that company operates in to help you prepare for answering in a way that can help the interviewer understand how you can add value to their organization and also prove that you’re not just theoretically strong, but also understand practical application. This can be done as a fresher as well as a Lateral Hires who are trying to join different industries in their specific domains

Be in the Present Moment: Listening carefully is an art that requires time to be mastered and the biggest mistake interviewees do is prepare a set of answers for a set of questions that could be asked. Pre-determined answers will only piss the interviewer off and show your unpreparedness. Articulate what is being said and answer accordingly and trust me if you follow the first three points well, this is easier than it sounds. Process: Listen – Articulate – Connect – Respond.

Interviewer:

Move away from traditional questions: “Tell me something about yourself, is something that everyone asks and while I understand you want to know more about the candidate, most of it can be either found on the resume or their social media profiles. The initial questioning will help you to get more insight on the participant and you will be able to spend less time interviewing and be able to make faster decisions. Your initial questions could always start with “Can you tell me a situation where you think you could make the best use of your strengths?” or “What are some strengths of yours that you think can add value to the organization and why?” Tweaking the way questions are asked will help you get more qualitative information. My module BEI – A Simulated Approach helps you create customized questions that can be articulated to give you the desired result in terms of hiring the right candidate

Focus on the intent rather than just the story: While the candidates speak, the interviewers often are either going through the resume or doing something else rather than focusing on the intent of the story being shared. If you’re focusing on the story right now, great, you’re doing good. If you’re not, then that’s why you end up spending a lot of time in interviewing a lot of candidates. Focusing on the intent will help you get the right talent in the shortest possible time. In the program, I help participants go through the PCR stages in the BEI to get an idea on how to utilize interviewing time effectively

Give priority to attitude rather than just competence: Candidates may be the best in terms of competence and knowledge on the subject matter, but the attitude that the interviewee brings to the table will determine whether he/she is fit in the culture or not. Using the CORE philosophy in BEI, I help participants understand how to understand this piece and master the art of interviewing.

"Creating a Memorable Onboarding Experience"

Imagine you’re travelling to a foreign country and visiting a place that has historic value. The guide over there speaks to you about Motivational Quotes and doesn’t help you with a story, would you like that experience? The answer is “NO”, I mean Bruhad, how could this be a great experience? The onboarding experience, for a new joinee, is similar to travelling the world and wanting to know more about the places we’ve visited. If the story is not compelling enough, our experience goes for a toss and you feel the investment was not worth it. This was a similar challenge that I faced in one of my previous organizations I worked with and we were scratching our heads on how to make it a fruitful onboarding experience for the employees.

As Design Thinking Practitioners we are used to going back to asking the right question and that’s what I did. The original onboarding process was about engaging the participants and giving them information, but it was more about the experience, so we changed the problem statement to “How might we transition from Employee Engagement to Employee Experience” and then started ideating on how to create a great experience for the employees. The solutions changed from showing Company History, Processes, Policies to storytelling and gamification of things in a way that the participants could get an immersive experience of what the organization stood for. We experimented it and well, it was a grand success. So, what made this entire project successful? Was it the unique idea of introducing stories and gamification? Or Was it about understanding what the end user needs? It was about what the new joinee’s expect when they come to the organization and that’s what led us to creating memorable experiences for the freshers

My experience with organizations is that somewhere the process gets restricted to Vision, Mission, Value Statements with Functional Heads and the HR teams talking about their specific domains. Some organizations conduct activities to influence behavior (And please stop calling them Soft Skill activities) in order to keep the engagement levels high. While that’s good, and I’m not against it, this motivation lasts for a day or probably a week, wherein the new joinee’s start feeling, “Oh, this is not what we subscribed for, but it’s ok, we’re getting our salaries right”. Now the mindset right at the start of joining the organization becomes compliance oriented and then the organization’s expect leaders to be produced with this mindset. All new joinees may not think in the same way, but somewhere there’s a perception that gets set about what will happen in onboarding, so the surprise element goes for a frenzy. With all this said, what can teams do to make this a memorable experience for the new joinees?

Think about it as an investment of time rather than just filling blocks: Every new joinee comes with a CTC (Cost to Company) which the organization has invested. Think about this experience as investing INR XYZ or $ XYZ during those 2-4 days and getting something out of it. For e.g. If a new joinee has a CTC of INR 5 Lakhs to the year, think about it as an investment of INR 6,000/- approximately for 4 days and see how soon can you get an ROI from this new joinee by making him/her productive at the earliest. There are many such calculations which I help HR teams think of when I consult organizations. You can always connect with me to understand these services

Focus on building your Organization’s brand: The biggest mistake teams do is, here’s the excel sheet, this is what we need to do, we have 30-minute slots, how do I fill them. Let’s look at what we did last year and replicate the same. And every single year you do the same, because you don’t have the time to think about the experience. But, if you invest time in giving that experience to the employees, imagine the kind of recognition that your organization as a brand will get. This will help you to attract the right kind of talent for the future as well.

Convert Data to Insights using Story-showing: We love data, isn’t it? Everyone wants to showcase the power of analytics using data and making those confusing presentations. Making simple things complex will only lead to the new joinees not wanting to listen to you because there’s no WIIFM (What’s in it for me) here. What they’re looking for is information that can help them understand what the company expects from them and how they can add value rather than numbers that show revenue/growth, etc. You must show them that to make them understand that they’re joining a great organization but the focus should be on how they can add value. This is where you convert data to insights using Story-showing. I have been conducting many sessions on Story-Showing and you can connect with me to know more about how to execute this piece

Gamify: The last piece is a rather interesting one which helped me to get a lot of recognition from the leadership teams in my previous organizations. Converting your onboarding experience to an offline board game or a live simulation helps the new joinees connect a lot more with the organization than just presentations and stories. An amalgamation of Stories + Gamification is probably the best combination that I could think of and that’s one of the sections in my Module called Game Thinking, where I help participants decode simulations and board games to create their own customized board games to help solve onboarding problems along with real life problems

The Best Leadership Style

“The Future belongs to those who believe in Transformation and not Transaction”

With technology taking up a lot of the transactional tasks, the Leaders in an organization are expected to do much more. Leadership will not become easier in 2020 and beyond, though technology and automation may make certain processes faster. Multiple generations are entering the leadership space and with Gen Z coming in Leaders are facing a tough time matching up to their expectations and aspirations. Trends in the management of “human capital” have been a topic of leadership development for decades.

But today more than ever, effective, engaged leaders have to stay on top of current trends influencing their company, industry, employees, and the world at large if they are to continue to produce results. This is where most participants ask me as to “Which is the best leadership style according to you Bruhad?” and the only response I give is “Formative Leadership”. The next immediate thing that happens is participants start googling the words and end up getting multiple responses. Perplexed, they ask me again, “Can you explain this to us in detail” and here’s where I introduce to you another flagship module of mine that’s called Formative Leadership.

Formative Leadership focuses on Accelerated Centred thinking, Visualizing the Future, Human-Centred Approach and Transformative Coaching. Here’s a small sneak peak into these Focus Areas:

Accelerated Centred Thinking: This area focuses on disruptive innovation using conversations that deal with agility and responsiveness to change. Using proven tools and techniques the leaders start with the self and slowly move through 5-Step Unearthing process that helps them evolve into a more refined newer version of themselves, without having to change or tweak anything. Using reflective techniques leaders will internalize EI and focus on accelerated growth for their organization

Visualizing the Future: Using Picturization techniques the Leaders will chart out Journey Maps to visualize their future that will create a visual image of how they want to be seen in the future. I use this technique for career coaching as well for students and they have seen amazing results in the past 5 years. Using this technique, Leaders I coach have also been benefited through this approach and they are in a much happier space now

Human-Centred Approach: Amalgamating Design Thinking with Emotional Intelligence is a combination that many of my clients have loved. They see the actual applicability of Design Thinking in their personal and professional life. Using this approach Leaders will go through a series of ideation journeys that help them transform themselves and the people around them

Transformative Coaching: Using Internationally Accredited Transformation Coaching Techniques, I help Leaders realize their true potential and help them use their reflective zone to come up with permanent solutions rather than quick fixes. This helps them to realize the potential that they have and how to utilize these strengths to make it to the next level.

Well, to summarize a Formative Leader will have three essential skills that separate them from the rest. To the millennials who are reading this post, focus on these three areas to go beyond the obvious and find the right path:

Intuitive: Formative Leaders believe in their intuition and work hard on developing it. Yes, you heard it right, developing intuition. There are proven methods to improve intuition and if you are able to gain control over this skill, then you have unlocked your true potential as a Formative Leader. They get an edge over the others because of the uniqueness they showcase thanks to them knowing themselves better.

Transformationist: Formative Leaders not only believes in transforming themselves, but also others by becoming their guiding force. Giving advice is easy, giving solutions is sometimes easy, but transforming individuals to make them understand their true potential by mastering the art of questioning, is a very unique trait of a Formative Leader. When I work with Leaders, I help them with reflections that have changed their life completely and they are now taking it forward with their people to transform their lives. So, would you want to join the bandwagon?

Assimilator: Formative Leaders believe in Assimilation by leveraging strengths and creating complimentary roles, rather than focus on improving weaknesses. An Assimilator is the one who uses the best of each individual and works with those strengths to take the teams and the organization to the next level. Millennials and Gen Z need to understand that they have unique strengths and understanding them is an art. While everyone thinks they know themselves, it’s always good to get a coach who can help you through your transformation.

“When I talk to Managers I get the feeling that they are important. When I talk to Leaders I get the feeling that I am important”

Everyone is talking about Leadership and there is tremendous pressure on every Leader to prove to the Management that they’re doing exactly what the “Leadership Trainings” teach them. Many want to go to programs from Big Brands or Management Schools that give such sessions because of the tag and suddenly get realizations that last for a few weeks or months. But, the social circle demands Leaders to be at their very best to take the organization to the next level. Is that a wrong expectation? Absolutely not… While there are some who cope up and move ahead, there are many who fall behind because of many reasons. One section of those is the First Time Managers who move to a Leadership Role.

Please do not get confused with the words, being a First Time Manager has multiple facets to the roles that people play under that umbrella. They need to Micro Manage sometimes, Empower at the other, behave like a leader at the third instant, and suddenly become a subordinate during the conversation they have with their superiors, who may or may not be as good as they think they are. Faced a similar scenario ever? Well, then you’re at the right place as the next few minutes you spend reading the insights will help you to get an idea of how common mistakes, that you make as people who have entered the Leadership role for the first time, can be avoided. When I conduct the session for clients on “Transition from Manager’s to Leader’s” participants get insights on how can they become leaders and Manage Stakeholders without really having to change their style. Here’s a sneak peek into the module:

Common Mistake #1 – Mindset of an Individual Contributor: Have you ever heard these lines, “I used to do it this way and it worked”, “Have you tried this, this has gotten me so much success that this will surely help you”, “Why did you do it this way, this is wrong, it’s supposed to be done like this” and many more? Well, the biggest change here that’s needed is that of a mindset. Many organizations promote people on basis of performance, but forget about potential. Even if they do consider potential, they forget to assimilate the First Time Managers into understanding their role, by saying, that’s what he/she is supposed to know. The transition from an Individual Contributor to a People Manager is the first big shift and that needs some reflective thinking and conscious choice making. I work with participants to make them realize their strengths and help them understand how to get this Mindset Shift done

Common Mistake #2 – Focusing on Transaction, not Transformation: “I had given you certain work to be done, have you done it? If not, give it to me, I’ll finish it. You’re the most useless person that is there in my team” Sounds familiar? Well, the area of getting things done from others is something that needs time and patience. Aligning Individual Goals to your aspirations to ultimately find sync with the Organizational Goals is something that you must work on immediately after taking this role up rather than focusing on transactions. I know what you’re going to say next, “Bruhad, this is all philosophy, we have targets to meet and deliverables that need accountability and my team “MUST SHOW” accountability”. Wow, you sound like a true consultant here. While I understand that goals and targets are important, who is going to get them for you? Your team, right? If they are not aligned with you, how will you influence them to do something for you? I answer this question as well in my session when participants get solutions to real life problems and the focus shifts to permanency rather than quick fixes.

Common Mistake #3 – Overpromising & Underdelivering: “I will ensure you get a decent raise this year provided you perform like …….. I will ensure that I speak to the Management for giving you due credit…. Do it right now, we’ll figure things out later, I promise you we’ll work on this” I am sure you’re smiling after reading this as you may have either heard it from someone, or may have said this to someone in your teams. Never, ever make the mistake of promising things that are not in your control just to get the work done. People aren’t foolish, they catch every single word and then wait for those words to take shape. Under promising and over delivering is something that you must find out. Being tactfully transparent is an art that isn’t easy to master, but in this module I train you on how to be tactfully transparent for you to ensure you maintain a balance between the management and the employees.

Common Mistake #4 – Curbing your natural style: I have seen many first time managers either trying to be over authoritative or under authoritative or trying to something that’s against their management style. While tweaking is needed, changing your natural style is not. This is something that I keep telling people, that the day you change your natural style, you’re inviting disaster. Yes, you have to wear different hats as a leader, but your most natural style is your strength, leverage it rather than curb it. Speak to your teams about your natural style and run an assimilation program with them to figure out the best way to function rather than assume or imitate someone’s style. It worked for them, doesn’t mean it’ll necessarily work for you. In this module, we focus on leveraging strengths and using them to your benefit rather than ask you to become someone else.

There’s a long list of other things that include Decision Making, Managing Meetings, Holding yourself back, pleasing others, Too much detailing, etc. but I cover all these points in the 2-day workshop that I conduct for First Time Managers. To summarize, being a leader isn’t easy and many will want to advise you on what to do, what not to do, which is the best style, etc. but who are you as an individual? Have you ever reflected on your strengths? Your Unique Value Proposition? Your Aspiration? Your Happiness? Well, working on this will not only give you peace of mind but also help you to become a successful leader.

Remember “Leadership is not a position, title or designation, it’s an attitude”. Want to become your version 2.0, connect with me to know more. Until next time, Happy Leading!!!

Much has been said about anger, an emotion that most of us experience often. We read about anger, we learn anger management tips, and we know that it is an emotion with the power to destroy, and yet when it comes to our own lives, it’s an altogether different story. What we typically try to do is control the anger and not let the emotions out, which is the worst thing to do. Controlling anger is not a solution, to which your question will be, what is it that I need to really control? The answer to that is Self-Management and not Anger Management

Click the links below to get tips on Mastering Self Management

We spend most of our wakeful hours typing and texting and hence what can be more relevant than keyboard for this episode of BLogic.

I have as always tried my spontaneity in interpretations. Here are some interesting insights.

1. Context is the basis - A keyboard can mean 2 very different things, musical or texting instrument. It depends on context.

2. Use and Abuse - Correct usage conveys messages and misuse only causes cacophony. Use life's keyboards ie. Your words very carefully so that you create harmony.

3. Options and Choices - Many options ie keys are available to you and you choose which key to press to type your desired result. In life too, multiple options are available and you choose the key to design your life

4. Decision is the big one - the Enter button is akin to decisions. Designing your life by deciding when to press the enter button will determine your journey.

5. Course Correct your life using the backspace key before you hit the decision key ie enter.

6. Mastery of alternatives- The keyboard is preferred over the mouse because it's faster. But mastering this takes time, and once done, it flows smoothly. Similarly, in life too, seek alternatives and build mastery.

"Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will"

Every leader today is a unique brand and with that brand comes unique characteristics that differentiate them from the rest. A lot of preaching happens to them around how to go about motivating their teams and every leader has a different formulae that he or she relies on. The question that came to my mind during one of the Leadership sessions I was conducting was which is the best way to motivate the team: Fear or Success. It was a very interesting debate that followed once this question was asked to the leaders and here are some insights that I'd like to share with you.

1) Belief is that a little fear has to be there for teams to not start taking the leader for granted. However, it has to be the fear of not being able to perform to the potential rather than fear of consequence

2) Respect matters more than recognition or rewards. Rewards & Recognition may motivate the team for a short period of time but in the long run what will matter is when the team knows that they have their leader's respect

3) Delegate to Empower and see the magic unfold. I've heard this many times, I can't delegate it because he or she may not do it as good as I can or what if they fjnd excuses and in the end I have to do everything. Valid point. However Delegating to Empower helps you match the right employee to the right task and once that is done, you will be able to get away from Micromanagement

4) Practice what you Preach and Preach what you practice. Observation leads to more results than just stories, that is precisely where you need to storyshow rather than just storytell. Leading by example is one way to do it and the other way is to find solutions and discuss ideas rather than only problems

5) Influence to Align: It is often seen that Vision statements are dumped on individuals and thats why the team is unable to feel that connection. Bring your team together and align their individual goals with the team's purpose that ultimately leads to the organizational vision

6) Decision making is key here as every other thing said about leadership is absolutely dependant on Decisions. Every decision you take will reflect on your team and your perception as a leader will be built basis the decisions you take. Demonstrating decisive actions will help your team trust you more than they currently do

You must be wondering that the "What" and the "Why" have been jotted down but where's the "How". My module "Formative Leadership" focuses on all these areas plus Emotional Intelligence and the SIP for success to help your Leaders build their own version 2.0