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In order to Change Something The range of what we see and do Is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice That we fail to notice, There is little we can do To change Until we notice How failing to notice Shapes our thoughts and deeds. --R.D.Laing In a Foreword by Stephen Covey for Alex Pattakos, Prisoners of Our Thoughts, Viktor Frankl’s Principals at Work. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2004.

Contributed by Dr. Charles M Savage

Greetings friends, I am delighted to place before you the first edition of the monthly Ymag. Consider this as a beta version. Many changes may take place during the next few issues based on the advise, comments and guidance that I may receive from you. It is your eMag. Feel free to help in building the shape you desire to see. Many of you would be wondering the reason for my discontinuing ABCeMag which reached you 70 times on time with precision every fortnight. Well, I just wanted to expand the scope from Academia, Business and Consulting to include professionals in every domain. I am in the midst of completing formalities to establish YPROSINDIA, a social enterprise, focusing on professionals with a zest of saying Yes and whY-not to every positive action. You will read all the details in the next issue. After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the paper edition. Bowing to the competition online, the encyclopaedia's publisher said the 2010 edition, a 32-volume set that weighs in at 129 pounds, would be the last. Time to say whY-not more vigorously to the electronic medium, save and serve the environment. Time of change, time for change and time to change is here. Time to increase the intensity of saying Yes to all things possible and actionable… Cheers, Rajiv Khurana Editor PS – Please don’t forget to send your feedback at

rajivkhurana@vsnl.com. You may even call me at 9810211256.

The dharma of the professional – Dr. M B Athreya

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Managing work-culture TURNAROUND – Rajiv Khurana

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LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA

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15 Business Buzzwords we love to hate

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Professionals in different fields form an important part of the human capital of a country. They have a pioneering role in the rapid growth of a poor country, aspiring for a better life for all it’s people. Their role is even more crucial in India, with a huge population, and many internal and external challenges. They have an important dharma, a set of duties, to discharge. In this article, we deal with the major components of that professional dharma. The article is in seven parts. First, the definition of a Profession and its practitioners. Second, the concept of dharma. Third, the dharma of a professional towards his/her own profession. Fourth, dharma to the organization where he works. Fifth, to the Nation. Sixth, to the society. Finally, his personal dharma. Who is a Professional? A professional can be better defined by distinguishing him from an amateur. He has been formally trained for his profession. The training normally includes three important elements. • A formal, growing body of knowledge relevant for the profession. • Certain competencies needed for success in the profession. • A set of core values for the right use of such knowledge and

competences. What is Dharma? That which upholds is dharma. It will uphold the society, organization or individual, who practice it. When dharma is protected, it protects its protectors. Dharma includes the ideas of one’s duty; a sense of justice, equity, and fairness. At a personal level, each individual has to practice dharma in his various roles – family; work; social and any other roles he takes up for the duration of that role. In an organizational context, there are specific level related dharmas. Broadly, one can speak of the Leadership dharma of the senior, at every level. Similarly, there is the Membership dharma of the junior at each such level. In the social arena, there is the dharma of those in government, and the dharma of the citizens. In this article, we are focusing on the dharma of the Professional.

THE DHARMA OF THE PROFESSIONAL Dr. M B Athreya

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Dharma to one’s Profession There is a tendency among many professionals to be interested in the parent Institute only till acquiring the qualification. Thereafter, they tend to forget it. They do not maintain much links with it. They get absorbed in their organization or private practice. There is of course, some responsibility of the Institute to stay in touch with its alumni, organize events for them; and continue to add value. Some institutes do try. But, many professional do not take much interest. It may be said that professionals get the institute that they deserve. Ultimately any institute is what the professionals make of it. The dharma of a professional to his profession includes the following --- • Be a highly competent practitioner and bring

credit to your profession. • Follow the values of your profession, and

bring credibility and wide acceptance of the profession.

• Participate in the educational and coaching programs of your institute for new students, younger colleagues and other target audiences.

• Attend the Continuing Education Programs and update yourself.

• Join the conventions and conferences and contribute through papers and discussions.

• Take up some responsible roles at local, regional and national levels of the profession.

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Dharma to one’s Organization The dharma of a professional to his organization has the following aspects - • Deploy your specialist professional expertise to meet the needs of the

organization in your field. • Continue to develop and refine your expertise, to help your organization

enhance its corporate image. • Be an active member of the top management team, contributing your

professional expertise, while also appreciating the different expertises of other discipline professionals in the team.

• Educate the other departments in a broad appreciation of the expertise of yourself and your team, and its full utilization, for the benefit of the organization.

• Impress on your management to follow all the laws, rules and regulations relating to your professional area.

• Recruit, mentor and develop your team of professionals in your field, for posting to the various divisions and subsidiaries of your Group. In addition to knowledge and skills, make sure that they also have the right professional values and attitudes.

• In case of any serious risks of violations of law or the organization’s code of conduct, take the risk of being a whistle blower, and protect your organization.

• Support the total process of the professionalization of the management of your organization, including the elements of Mission, Vision, Strategy, Organization, HRD, Systems, Culture, CSR etc.

Dharma to the Society A professional can discharge his dharma to Society in the following ways. -- • Bring in social awareness and inclusion in the activities of your institute. • Initiate, join and lead social contribution projects in your location, along

with fellow – professionals in your field. • Spread the idea of volunteering for social work in your profession, across

the country. • Catalyse the formulation of a CSR Policy and Budget in your organization. • Set an example and encourage your subordinates, across the organization

to volunteer to work part-time for the causes of literacy, health, education, etc.

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Dharma to the Nation With respect to the nation, the dharma of the professional includes the following - • Be a world class, cutting edge

professional in your field, raising the bar in India.

• Help your organization to be competitive in India, against imports.

• Help your organization to be globally competitive in export markets.

• Help raise the standing of your institute and profession in international rankings.

• Work with Colleges and Universities in your field to help raise their standards.

• Take part in central, state and local government projects and committees and contribute your expertise and experience.

Dr. M B Athreya

Management Guru. Former Professor - IIM

Kolkata, London and Scottish Business

Schools. Chair and Member of Government

Policy Committees. Advisor to industry,

government and NGOs.

Personal Dharma Lastly, the professional should follow dharma in his personal life as well. • Be a responsible leader of the

family, caring for parents, spouse and children.

• Be a good neighbor and local community member.

• Follow all laws and regulations on taxes, other dues, traffic, hygiene, health etc.

• Be in good physical, mental and spiritual health.

• Be a positive and constructive force for good all round.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. - Harold Whitman

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Whatever people do with each other or they don’t do with each other at work place is culture. We help, we crib, we backbite, we go out of our way…contributes to building of a work culture, by default. What can we do by design? Make an effort to bring a TURNAROUND. Here are few ideas to get started: Take charge of the situation Invariably we spend more time talking about the workplace problems even after the work time. We don’t even get paid for such a time investment ;). Why waste our energy. Invest time to douse the fire when it erupts or better still work towards fire prevention. When we don’t take charge of the situation, they take charge of us. Be clear why you wish to ‘turnaround’. Use help Einstein said, “You cannot solve a problem from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Seek a consulting intervention. Why suffer the pain by not going to the doctor. Here the pain hits the results too. Am I making a case for consultants? You bet. If all solutions were available in-house, why would there be problems?

Managing work-culture TURNAROUND

Take charge of the situation

Use help

Review and measure vigorously

Neutralize negativity and build confidence

Ameliorate core strengths

Rear people carefully

Optimize talent

Usher a sense of urgency

Normalize nuts & bolts of daily action

Deliver results, banish excuses

The acronym TURNAROUND is the intellectual property of the author.

Rajiv Khurana

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Review and measure vigorously Metrics are important. Adopt them or evolve them diligently and vigorously. Keep passion in mind and don’t get oversold by the process. Involve people. Build simplicity. Don’t lose soul of the place. Neutralize negativity and build confidence Negativity leaks in from past experiences from within or outside the organization. Different people nurture negativity differently. A mixed blend creates irritants and may lead to havoc. Bring people together to share pain points and dream the pleasure points. Everyone wants to be seen as a winner. Develop the winning culture blue print through them. Ameliorate core strengths The discovery of core strengths take time. The evolvement of core values take much longer. Avoid imposing. Let them emerge through focused discovery. Once you have them, treat them like the ten commandments. Don’t just display them. Implement them. Develop ‘ownership of practice’ from top to bottom.

Rear people carefully When you sow a sapling, you need to nurture it. People can’t be left on their own after the initial induction is over. A sensitive handle, channelizing of energy, feeling of participation and engagement are just few pre-requisites. Facilitating them to develop their future with you is a serious action point and not lip service. Optimize talent Who you hire is more important than who you fire. Ensure that people trust you. There is no one way street. Understand their expectations. It’s not money or perks alone. Delve deeper. They wish to do a better job for themselves and the company. Understand their ‘turnaround’ points. Work on them. Work with them. Consistently. Usher a sense of urgency Few meetings and some retreat are not sufficient. Minimize feel good factors. Even with big time sense of urgency ‘turnarounds’ are slow. Imagine your snail pace if what you do is just 2-3 events in a year.

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Normalize nuts & bolts of daily action Big ideas, big dreams, lofty goals look good in PowerPoint presentations. Translate them into everyday action. Make people responsible for such actions. Deliver results, banish excuses More powerful than the powerful idea is the powerful execution. Deliver results. Medal winners touch the ribbon first. Who gives rewards for the also ran? Conduct a competition of listing maximum workplace excuses. Display the long list. Banish the list. Your ‘turnaround’ has just begun.

Experimental Hiring Put about 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an open window. Send 2 or 3 candidates in the room and close the door. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours to analyze the situation: if they are counting the bricks. put them in the accounts department. if they are recounting... put them in auditing..... if they are manipulating the figures, make them CAs. if they are throwing bricks at each other. put them in legal branch. if they are sleeping. put them in security. if they have broken the bricks into pieces. put them into IT DEPT. if they are sitting idle. put them in human resource dept. if they say they have tried different combinations, yet not a brick has been moved. put them in sales. if they have already left for the day. put them in marketing... if they are only staring out of the window. put them on strategic planning.. and last but not the least. if they are talking to each other and not a single brick has been moved. Congratulate them and put them in Top management of the company.

Rajiv is a transformationist through co-creative energy of people for individual and organizational impact. An International Management Consultant, Trainer and Executive Coach by description, he is a well published writer, author and digital expressionist.

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LEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA Ten ideas to become a Expert

Always be client focused

Linkedin is for making connections – and for the majority of professionals that means clients and business partners, not recruiters. You need to design your profile to have the impact you want on those connections. Treat it like your introduction at a networking meeting. Despite the ease of just uploading your CV details, most potential clients and business partners won’t get value from seeing the details of your previous roles. Job titles, main achievements and company names can help give you credibility (and make it easier for others to find you) – but don’t include all the details you would on a job application.

Begin connecting

Linkedin works on connections. The most powerful use of Linkedin is to find new clients and business partners through the search function or directly via your contacts connections. The more direct connections you have, the more opportunities you have to connect.

Carefully choose your connection strategy

There are two very different strategies to connecting on Linkedin: “Open Networking” and “Trusted Partner Networking”. Open Networkers focus on growing the size of their network by initiating and accepting connection requests from as many people as possible. Open Networkers typically have many thousands of connections. The downside of this strategy is that with thousands of connections you don’t know each one very well, if at all. The other strategy is to have fewer but deeper connections – a “Trusted Partner” strategy. Here you only connect to people you already know and trust. The downside to the “Trusted Partner” strategy is that it’s a bit like going to a face to face networking event and only speaking to the people you already know. You deepen your relationship with them – but you don’t build any new relationships. Try a “middle way”.

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Discover potential clients and business partners

Many people get going on Linkedin but fail to use it to help their business. One of the most effective ways to gain business value from Linkedin is to find potential clients and business partners. Linkedin allows the ultimate in specificity. You can search for exactly who you want to be referred to – by company, by geography, by name, by job title, etc. And you can search across your entire network at once. Or you can look at the contact list of an individual to see if there’s anyone you’d like to be connected to. Once you’ve identified people you’d like to be introduced or referred to, rather than try to connect them directly, give your mutual connection a call and ask them if they can connect you. That’s much more polite than going directly, and it’s much more likely to be successful.

Exchange testimonials

Testimonials are very helpful to have on your profile. They’re a clear indication of the quality of your work and the relationships you form. But begging for a testimonial isn’t a great strategy. If you want to get testimonials, use Linkedin to give them to people you’ve worked with and who have done a great job for you. Linkedin will show them the testimonial to approve, and then ask them if they want to reciprocate. They probably will.

Frame a helpful headline

When people find you in searches on Linkedin, or when you contribute to Group discussions or in the Linkedin Answers Q&A section; the initial thing they see is a little box with your name, photo, and your “headline”. What most people have in their headline is their job title. “Owner at XYZ Company” or “Principal consultant at ABC Ltd”. By default, unless you change it manually, Linkedin takes the headline from your last job title. Unfortunately, this doesn’t give people a clue as to whether you might be able to help them, or might be interesting to connect to. You should treat your headline like your introduction when networking. Focus on what you can do to help people.

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Get connected through Linkedin groups

Linkedin groups are essentially discussion forums for specific interest groups. They allow you to find out the latest news, and to join in debates on topics of interest. You should be joining groups both of interest to you professionally, and the groups where your potential clients “hang out”. The same is also true of the Linkedin Q&A section. Post sensible answers or pose sensible questions and over time you’ll develop a reputation for knowing what you’re talking about.

Handle status updates subtly

Linkedin status updates are a nice way of helping to stay top of mind with contacts. If you were to call or email all your contacts any time you did something small but interesting, it would quickly become seen as pushy or spammy. But updating your status is a non-intrusive way of getting a gentle reminder out. Depending on their settings, your contacts will get a regular email with a summary of the status updates of their contacts. And they will see the updates on their Linkedin homepage. Mostly it will just be “so and so updated their profile” type messages. So if your status update has something interesting in it, it will remind them of the sort of thing you do and may even trigger them into action.

Initiative communication when others’ update their status

Keep an eye on status updates from others – it can be a good opportunity to get back in touch – especially if they’ve changed jobs or have set out on a new venture. Even small status changes can help give you something to start a conversation – the sort of small talk needed to keep dialogues and relationships going in between more meaty topics.

Join others proactively who you think may benefit

Don’t wait for others to initiate a request to be linked up to your other contacts. Review your contact list regularly looking for ways to add value to them. One good way is to offer to link them up with potential clients or partners for them. Inspired by and adopted from articles on the net

Rajiv Khurana

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Actionable: A high-energy noun gone passive and flabby. Authenticity: Has become its own antonym through overuse. Best of breed: Try not thinking of springer spaniels. Brain dump: Why treat creativity like construction waste? Co-opetition: Business doesn't need a version of frenemy. Disintermediate: Has the same number of syllables as "cut out the middleman" with none of the clarity. Incentivize: First, it's not a word. Second, what's wrong with motivate? Mindshare: Our psyches are not Florida condos. Offline: Annoying in meetings ("Let's take this offline"). We're already offline! We're surrounded by human beings! Outside the box: A cliché about not thinking in clichés. Proactive: Ugly corporate-ese, but without a decent synonym. Anyone? Repurpose: You are recycling. Just say so. Solution: A shame, what has happened to this word. Synergy: This bastard child of synthesis and energy is godfather to every enigmatically named tech company. Value-add:Devalues the concept of value. Talk shouldn't be quite this cheap.

www.inc.com

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Business Buzzwords we love to hate

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Ymag is an initiative of YPROSINDIA, a social enterprise founded by Rajiv Khurana