Time@Work Counts - Study

We all know the eternal conflict of quality vs quantity @work ! It is  obvious more working hours do not usually translate to improved output. But we conveniently ignore the truth. 

This trend is rampant in India. I hear so many managers who prefer to work late and 'end up in office just because the system/boss believes'! 
Of course, we tend to flow with it and not pause to think the impact it has on everything - time/energy/family/wellness. It impacts not only on our work-life balance, critical to our productivity at work, but also on environment (energy, water, etc.)

Coffee/smoking breaks, apart from 'social-media breaks' take bulk of our precious time at work. 

Everything finally boils down to our personal choice! Let us not blame the system. We have a choice for everything. Whether we believe in Doctrine of Karma or Newton's 3rd Law.

If at all we needed statistical evidence of the malaise, check out this report in ET :
Article Window

Five Secrets To Life From The People Who Have Lived The Longest - Business Insider

No surprises here, at all. But useful reminder for us !
Also, backed by some good research : a piece in Harvard Gazette/ Karl Pillemer of Cornell University learned/ studying nearly 1500 people age 70 to 100+

Key Lessons highlighted in the article:

1. Life is Short: We would have heard this so many times... but we live as though we are immortal !
2. Career: Do something you enjoy... Had heard & shared recently, 'the biggest Maya'!
3. Healthy Living: Often we treat our physical body like our slaves.  I liked the new perspective... 'Treat the body as though we will live for 100 years, to avoid 20/30/40 years of chronic illness'. This is surely very powerful.
4. Avoid 'Pointless Worrying'! Most often worrying is sheer waste... 90% of it being misplaced! 
5. Happiness - Don't make it dependent externally... true happiness is within ! That is essence of Spirituality, is n't ?

Five Secrets To Life From The People Who Have Lived The Longest - Business Insider

And... I Danced With My Client

The coaching journey, over the last few months, has been a beautiful experience!

• First it was blissful ignorance of the art of coaching :)
• Then it was the thinking 'I knew it, having done it all along', during my corporate journey. (If all of us genuinely practiced coaching at work, corporate world would have been very different!)
• Later, the awareness of the level of knowledge, or lack of it! The only silver-lining was 'it was after all the beginning of wisdom' :)
• Intense learning at the next phase: Face-to-Face (F2F or classroom) sessions, tele-classes, assignments, reflections and a lot of extra-reading. 
• Along the way started trying out the process, with a lot of humility and self-awareness. The beauty of the process was all we need to do was to stick to it, as we always knew, with any process! Mentor-Coach would emphasise. But he kept adding new 'twists' to the process, as we learnt. The learning was intense and very powerful. 
• Active listening, Powerful Questions, Coaching tools/models, etc became integral part of the armour. 
• The learning was tested at every phase through actual coaching, monitored, and otherwise, as few friends signed up for coaching (big thanks to all of them). 
• Somewhere the expressions, 'Be with the client', 'jugalbandhi', 'Dance with the Client' became the   aspirational coaching-goals. 
• The final round of coaching practices also were not reaching the levels of Enchantment for Client. I was experimenting, thus not on target! (Chk out earlier post: Push Boundaries)
• Then the final round, with external evaluator and the increased pressure, not to miss the target in the final 'test'. Self-imposed pressure for high performance :)
• I had tried to focus on the 'impending' evaluation, from the previous evening! 
• Then it happened. The session......
• I stayed with the client... tried a couple of relevant tools. Tested my model. Stuck to the process and the learning. 

Outcome: It turned out to be one great coaching experience for the client, and hence, for yours truly. And... I danced with the client!

Blissfully :)

Push Boundaries, legally, ethically

We are bound by rules/regulations, norms (explicit or otherwise) and other external boundaries in all activities we undertake. In sensitive areas like defense, government, banking, security, etc., it is very important to stick to the same, in letter & spirit. 

Very often we try to restrict ourselves to the comfort zone, citing the rules. We rarely pause to think or question or challenge, the right way. We don't realize we are conveniently operating within the 'constraints', thus depriving ourselves to test barriers/ourselves and experience 'aha' or 'freedom'. Often these are self-imposed!!

As such, wherever it is allowed/possible/not violating/low risk, we should break barrier and test ourselves outside the boundary ('lakshman rekha'). 

Others may not understand. That is no excuse for pushing ourselves.

The other side of the boundary could be big opportunity and freedom from fear. It is thus an opportunity and responsibility... to realize the fuller potential within ourselves...

Ten ways coaching can help your organization

Glad to share this article on 'How Coaching can help your organization'.  
Goal Alignment - In a typical top-down business approach, lack of goal clarity can hamper the achievement. Often, the numbers are achieved, but not the ideal way ( 'The path or the process is as important as reaching the goal'). If we are able to create the passion, 'enchantment' guaranteed for the employees and thus, customers and all stakeholders.

The moment the team, at all levels, is passionate about the goal and the process, creativity and innovation is a natural phenomenon. And, innovation need not be a big one, but an incremental improvement may be as valuable for achieving the goal, with 'enchantment'.

Today many of us blame our organisations for lack of work-life balance. But coaching gives a holistic perspective to life and the employees will see the need for balance in a new light & more importantly, start taking responsibility for same.

A natural boost to productivity and effectiveness: Acc to ICF  Study "70% of clients reported a positive improvement in work performance".

Regal Unlimited :  'The RoI of Enchantment"

Courtesy:
ICF - Ten Ways Coaching Can Help Your Organization

What makes a good bank? | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional

This interesting write up starts off... "After all that has happened over the past few years......". I would say, 'still very much happening', sadly.  

While symptoms appear in different 'formats', at the core of it all, the problems remain. The latest blatant violation on AML-front is one such symptoms.  

Too much focus on something less important, such as bonus cap, is a good example how a typical 'scratching' on the surface is the natural reaction.

• It is wrong to say working extra-long hours is linked to bonus.  Working smartly can still enable a banker to reach levels they call 'exceeding expectations' on his/her score card, which is anyways ridiculed as totally 'un'balanced and subjective. 
• Working late: The health cost and the intangible impact on community is beyond our wildest dreams. It is sad though banks have strict working hours for their customers, they are not so strict when it comes to their own 'working hours' !
• The author goes on to remind us (esp bankers/ex-bankers and others related to 'manage' banks, such as regulatory/govt/admin/audit,etc), it is 'one of most loathed & least trusted professions'. One of the pillars on which a banking institution stood, used to be TRUST!  

A 'boring bank' may not be a good bank, as we observed recently, in the AML controversy. One of the banks, known for its consistent  quarter-on-quarter performance over  decade, has been termed as 'boringly predictably'. But their name came up in AML too.

• Sustainable banks exist, says author. Do we really have ? 

'Can bankers be sustainability leaders of the future?' asks the author...

• At the macro level, all talk about financial inclusion. But at the ground level the focus is on something else, quarterly performance to risk management, with financial inclusion looked at as more of a compliance requirement.

Banks and regulators need to look at ways and means to instil sustainability as one of the core-values at all levels. Not impossible, but not easy...  

That would be holistic banking or karma yoga in Banking. 

What makes a good bank? | Guardian Sustainable Business | Guardian Professional

Confessions of a Bank Customer

I am 'fortunate' to be client of two of the leading pvt banks in India.
"Why not just one", you may ask- good question !
"Neither of these two big brands are able to give me minimum service expected"

I am their cross-sell customer too - Xsell Victim, would be more appropriate!
Over the last few months I have shifted my home and status. But these folks find it difficult to handle a gypsy!!

I just wrote a mail to one of their group 'securities' company (all pretensions of their ALM securities have failed, as per the recent reports! They failed, as it was just pretension !)

I got this reply from them.
-----------------
Dear Investor,
Thank you very much for writing to us .
This is an auto-response by the Client Services Team just to let you know
that we are in receipt of your e-mail on the captioned subject. It will be
our best endeavour to revert to you in the earliest possible time. For
standard queries / requirements like statement of account etc, we would
respond within 2 business days, or certainly earlier, where possible.
Should you need to contact any of our Investor Service Centres (ISCs), you
may get in touch with us between 9.30 a.m. and  5.30 p.m., Monday through
Friday on all business days, and we shall be glad to assist. Our contact
numbers are: #### (Toll-free) or  ### (Do not prefix STD code)
Assuring you of our best services.
Sincerely,
--------------
In the first place, why an automatic reply at all. At best it can be a one-liner acknowledging receipt. Or, just fix it and write back. Something a more customer-friendly company such as Amazon does. ( numbers changed to ####)

Miles to go.... for customer enchantment