All that you need is a smile

By Ganesh - R

It was an early morning flight from Delhi to Bhopal at 6.25 am. It required me to wake up at 4 am to freshen up and drive from Gurgoan to the IGIA. Having hit the bed at 1 am the previous night, after a delayed Shatabdi ride from Morena, I was groggy, very irritable and generally in a foul mood. It would be an understatement if I say I was looking for an opportunity to scream and howl at the first opportunity! The check in process however was quick and gave me no such joy. As I walked in for the security check the first CISF guard I encountered looked at the boarding card and beamed a huge smile “Aap Bhopal jaa rahe ho Sir?”, she said. “Bahut hi sundar sheher haiji aur aap ko bahut acha lagaga … have a good trip Sirji…”. The name tag said Khushwah and she never ceased to smile as she greeted passenger after another. There were all sorts of people in the queue from old men to young kids, busy looking professionals to a relaxed tourist. And, there was also a worried elderly couple perhaps on their first trip on the plane.. all of them were greeted by Khushwah with the same cheerful smile.

As I stood there watching her performance in total awe and admiration, I realized, I was no more in the foul mood. My temper had cooled and the world around me suddenly seemed to have been transformed! It was a world full of joy, happiness and cheer and, as if driven by a magic, I had stopped noticing anything negative! That young 20 year something of a girl engaged in the most mundane and routine duty of checking the boarding cards seemed to have transformed everything around me!

It was a smile that made all the difference! Jai ho Khushwah.. (The event occurred on the 2oth Sep 2010 in case the CISF bosses desire to note)

I made it a point to walk over to her commandant and conveyed my compliments. He was pleasantly surprised having received only complaints so far. 

I had experienced a similar performance just a week ago at the Jaipur airport. It was young man of around 20 who greeted every traveler with a cheerful smile and the treatment was not reserved only for the foreigners. I had missed reading his name but made it a point to compliment his superior.

This experience encourages several conclusions:

- CISF is providing good training to its cadre.

- CISF is recruiting a good, amiable youngsters.

Whatever it may be, it augurs well.

I reproduce some quotes I found in the web which capture my experience.

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. -Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.”

“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight. -Phyllis Diller”

“Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it. -Author Unknown”

“Smiling is infectious, You can catch it like the flu. Someone smiled at me today, 

And I started smiling too. -Author Unknown”

Courtesy: Scratchmysoul.com

Leaders need a visionary purpose and courage to execute dreams

N S Rajan

Transformation journeys need a spark to ignite minds, a decisive action that can galvanise the masses. Leaders in all walks of life find ways to pick that special moment to make a simple, though larger than life, statement that flags off the vision, setting in motion the road to immense possibilities. 

In the late fifteenth century, when the entire world still believed that the earth was flat, Christopher Columbus fearlessly set sail in 1492 towards the west from the coast of Spain across the uncharted Atlantic Ocean. Navigators till then would always travel east, hugging the coastline for safety. 

Columbus, a courageous visionary, believed the earth was round and setting out to find India did the unthinkable: he set sail perpendicular to the shore. In that single gesture, his team on board knew that literally there was no looking back. 

Stunning actions that challenge the status quo have the power to transcend rational doubting minds and can touch the collective consciousness of the team. Thomas Kuhn, author of ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolutions’ and who is known to have popularised the phrase ‘paradigm shift’, observed: “You don’t see something until you have the right metaphor to perceive it.” 

When Roger Bannister broke the daunting four-minute-mile barrier clocking 3:59.4 in 1954, a feat never accomplished before, it was not just the greatest athletic achievement. 

It was an epochal moment that signalled the overcoming of both a physical and psychological obstacle. Within the next three years, 17 athletes followed suit. What made it impossible for human athleticism to have failed in this quest before Bannister, and what unleashed the realm of belief thereafter? 

A powerful thought, a visionary speech, a single action at the right time and place can catalyse teams, rally them together, fuelling a journey of self belief and enabling deep commitment to a deep value or purpose. 

While launching the Nano, Ratan Tata recalled: “Today’s story started some years ago when I observed families riding on two wheelers, the father driving a scooter, his young kid standing in front of him, his wife sitting behind him holding a baby and I asked myself whether one could conceive of a safe, affordable, all-weather form of transport for such a family.” His clarion call to the team at Tata Motors, that blended social concern with an entrepreneurial challenge, achieved the unimaginable. 

In 1934, at the culmination of the famous Dandi march, Mahatma Gandhi held up a fistful of salt, in defiance of the mighty British, heralding a peaceful revolution that fired up souls across the country, committing them to the compelling cause of free India. 

Leaders need a visionary purpose, personal optimism, boundless energy, and the innate ability and courage to execute dreams. “Leaders,” as Napoleon observed, “are dealers in hope”. You can achieve a stirring start if you seize that transforming moment, a beau geste, to define the journey ahead. In that singular action, you can capture the imagination and spearhead the change. 

The author is partner, national head and EMEIA leader, people & organisation, Ernst & Young

Courtesy: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Leadership

The integration of multiple geographies, cultures, nationalities, ages and styles in enterprises around the world is having an enormous impact on business relationships. Leaders today need a new, specialized set of skills if they are to be successful.

Fueled by social networks and technology, universal collaboration is becoming a daily business reality. Global data and knowledge are now accessed on devices that people can hold in the palms of their hands. Jim Kouzes, renowned leadership expert, recently described this shift by stating that "while the content of leadership has remained the same over the past 20 years, the context has not."

Leaders striving for success today must be able to master three new levels of competence:

1. Global business acumen:

The new financial, industry, functional and technical skills needed to navigate a market characterized by rapid evolution of business models, markets, products, and mergers and acquisitions.

2. Global mindset:

The capacity to engage in a boundaryless and synthesizing cognitive process that identifies opportunity and innovation in complexity.

3. Global citizenship:

A potent combination of geographic, political, economic, governmental, legal, cultural, technological and environmental savvy that informs business strategy formulation and execution.

Global Mindset vs. Global Citizenship

A global mindset includes the ability to see beyond the boundaries of the organization, national culture, functional responsibilities and corporate gain to envision and communicate the ultimate contribution and value of the work to society and sustainability. In his book Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner delineates five sets of cognitive capabilities leaders must master: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind and the ethical mind. The global mindset demonstrates the application of the ethical mind, which conceptualizes how work can serve purposes beyond self-interest and can contribute to the greater good.

This global mindset enables people to embrace complexity and paradox. It means they are capable of holding the tension and ambiguity of opposing points of view, perspectives, data and values in their minds and then harmonizing these differences for greater leadership effectiveness.

Global citizenship is acquired by pursuing an open-minded interest in the world, global business, cultures and people. Again drawing from Gardner's five minds model, this capability to gather, retain and master vast reservoirs of knowledge, data and information about the world reflects the respectful mind. The respectful mind recognizes and embraces differences between human individuals and groups, tries to understand them and seeks to work effectively with them. The crux of a global citizen is honoring one's origins while suspending judgment and remaining open to others. This is emotional and social intelligence applied to cultural competence. These leaders adopt a flexible, adaptable and curious way of looking at things and see difference in others not only as acceptable, but as preferable.

Every aspect of leadership today must be described and measured through the lens of the global mindset. The core of global leadership is reflected in the "being" competencies - having a compelling vision founded on clear, shared values that appeals to a diverse constituency - as well as the "doing" capabilities - demonstrated by world-class expertise, eminence and results.

Leaders in the 21st century must then assume seven critical roles:

1. Strategist

Integrating short-term and long-term interests with global and local stakeholders and establishing a clear course of action to achieve organizational success.

2. Innovator

Generating a climate of innovation and change and personally identifying and pursuing new global possibilities, products and markets.

3. Communicator

Engaging diverse stakeholder commitment and enthusiasm by sharing clear messages through multiple networks and technology.

4. Relationship builder

Creating relationships of trust by developing keen insight and respect for difference while also connecting with others globally in a meaningful way.

5. Mentor or coach

Building the next generation of leaders by supporting a strengths-based apprenticeship culture within the group or organization.

6. Decision maker

Leveraging a global view, systems thinking and broad spectrum analysis to execute strategy in the midst of ambiguity and uncertainty.

7. Global citizen

Honoring one's own unique origins while developing appreciation of and integration into a larger global citizenship.

Global Leadership at Every Level

Global companies in the 21st century may employ international processes and operations, yet they understand that the consumer is ultimately local. These companies find innovative ways to generate competitive advantage through their local enterprise presence by, for example, establishing R&D centers in the midst of their customers; hiring local talent who represent customer perspectives, values and requirements; and working within local regulatory contexts to conform to national requirements.

This extension of the enterprise into local contexts and the integration of local operations into the perspectives, strengths and results of the global operation require that all acquire the capabilities of global leadership. The global competitive context does not permit us to leave any talent underutilized. Everyone must acquire and embed global leadership competence into everyday actions and behaviors.

Developing Global Leaders

Learning professionals must equip leaders at all levels of the organization to:

a) Manage dynamic complexity.

b) Respond with agility to crisis and opportunity.

c) Embrace the democratization of knowledge.

d) Engage the wisdom of crowds and social networks to innovate and grow the business in new markets.

e) Build global cross-cultural competence as a critical business skill.

First, CLOs must craft a competency model that authentically describes these skills, behaviors and knowledge through the global mindset lens. Then, they must create a progressive curriculum that develops individuals to become global leaders.

Each employee then can enter the curriculum at the appropriate level, based on what he or she already has learned and mastered, not by level or position.

One of the best paths to build needed global skills is an immersion into the international context. As Oliver Wendell Holmes has stated: "A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." Initiatives to develop global leadership competencies currently focus on engaging individuals and teams in global, mini-expatriate assignments in several countries, functions and roles. The next innovation would be to replicate the expat experience in a virtual world and make it available to all.

Two examples of mini-expat initiatives are:

1. VF Corp

Ron Lawrence, vice president of organization development for the global apparel company, helped launch an innovative short-term assignment program called Ex-Pat Lite. Like other large companies, VF has a growing need for global leaders but is challenged by the extremely high costs of full expat relocations as well as finding talented executives who are willing to move. The Ex-Pat Lite program allows VF to provide meaningful global learning and growth experiences to rising leaders at a fraction of the cost of a full relocation and with less disruption to the individual and his or her family. The usual duration is three to six months with a solid re-entry process back into the home country.

2. Berlitz International and the Georgetown McDonough School of Business

Language and cross-cultural training company Berlitz International joined forces with the Georgetown McDonough School of Business to launch a global leadership development program that provides a rich combination of language training, communication skills, cross-cultural competence, global strategic business acumen and global leadership development. It is delivered over six months in four one-week sessions held in four hubs. Each of these locations was chosen for the role it plays in global business: London (global finance); Shanghai (supply chain and manufacturing) ; Bangalore (outsourcing and IT); and Washington (global business and industry policy). Each week leverages on-the-ground experiences and the development of business networks and insights while building intercultural leadership capabilities.

There are many examples of companies that entered global markets without understanding local consumer behavior, regulatory constraints, and even the implications of brand names that have a completely different meaning in another language. Consider the revelation that resulted from introducing the Chevy Nova in Mexico, where "no va" means "no go."

Preparing leaders to acquire, master and maintain global leadership capability is key to every organization' s survival.

Eileen M. Rogers is vice president of global talent solutions for TMC. Daren Blonski is managing director of LeadershipSigma. 

Where good ideas come from

Talk By Steven Johnson

People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web.

Steven Berlin Johnson is the best-selling author of six books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience. His forthcoming book examines "Where Good Ideas Come From."

Of passion and compassion

OSHO

We know what passion is hence it is not very difficult to understand what compassion may be. Passion means a state of biological fever – it is hot. You are almost possessed by biological, unconscious energies. You are no longer your own master, you are just a slave. 

Compassion means you have transcended biology and physiology. You are no more a slave, you are master. Now you function consciously. You are not driven, pulled and pushed by unconscious forces; you can decide what you want to do with your energies. You are totally free. Then the same energy that becomes passion is transformed into compassion. 

Passion is lust, compassion is love. Passion is desire, compassion is desirelessness. Passion is greed, compassion is sharing. Passion wants to use the other as a means, compassion respects the other as an end unto himself or herself. Passion keeps you tethered to earth, to mud and you never become a lotus. Compassion makes you a lotus. You start rising above the muddy world of desires, greed and anger. Compassion is a transformation of your energies. 

Ordinarily you are scattered, fragmentary. Some energy is being absorbed by your anger, some by your greed, by your lust, and so on. You are left hollow, empty. 

All your energy keeps on going down the drain. When all these energies are no longer being wasted they start filling your inner lake, your inner being. You become full. A great delight arises in you. When you start overflowing you have become a Buddha and you have come upon an inexhaustible source. 

Compassion is a key word, but you will understand it only if you go deep into meditation. Meditation is the key to transform passion into compassion. You will have to become more conscious. Right now you are unconscious. 

We live like robots... The more like a robot you are, the better you function, the better the society feels with you – because it is a society of robots. To be awakened, alert, conscious is dangerous. It is a society of blind people; to have eyes is to invite danger. 

But without creating consciousness you will never be able to know the beauty, the blessing that existence has bestowed upon you. You will never know the great opportunity that has been given to you to grow, to become. You can be sunlit peaks and you are just dark holes! 

Socrates says, "If you know that you don't know, that is a great beginning. Then it is possible for you to know." To be aware that "I am ignorant" creates the possibility of seeking, searching in your own interiority for the truth – for your truth. 

Compassion is the ultimate transformation of passion. You are in passion, but you go on thinking that you are right as you are. You go on defending yourself. And anything that disturbs your comfortable, mechanical life, you go against... 

When you come to me you don't come to be awakened, you come to me so that you can dream beautiful, sweet dreams. That is your purpose in coming; that is not my purpose in being here. Once you are here you are caught. Then, slowly, slowly i start taking your dreams away. Then, slowly, slowly i go on destroying your illusions. Once your illusions are dropped, your dreams shattered, a great awakening is waiting you for you – a great awakening which makes you a Buddha. And compassionate. 

Excerpt from Walking in Zen Sitting in Zen. 

Courtesy: The Speaking Tree / TOI

' गठबंधन खुलि खुलि जाय ''

लघु कहानी

बिदा हुई बरसात , चूने सी सफेद धूप फेलने लगी सुबह से ..... वक़्त कुछ इसी तरह से चलता ही रहता है .... फांस किस तरह से रह - रहकर दिल के कोने में पडी चुभती रहती है , ये शायद 'तुम' नहीं जानते होगे , हाँ ..... उस दिन की ही तो बात है अचानक तुम्हारा फ़ोन आया तुमने मेरे घर का पता पूछा था और थोड़ी देर में ऑटो से मेरे घर को खोज लिया था , तुमने घंटी बजाई थी ...धडकते रेलमपेल मन के साथ बड़ी मुश्किल से दरवाजे की कुंडी मेरे हाथों से खुल पाई थी , मुझे अहसास है कि विगत ३२ . ३५ सालों से तुम मुझे कितना चाहते हो पर इस ढाई अक्षर की भावनाओं को तुमने कभी प्रकट नहीं होने दिया , न ही तुमने इन ३२ सालों में कभी मेरी आँखों में झांक कर देखा ... वक़्त के सफ़र में पीछे छूट जाते है अहसास , उनकी सजल स्मृति नम करती है मन और आखों को .......प्रेम एक नितांत व्यकिगत एवं आत्मिक अनुभूति है , उसे परिभाषित करने के दायरे में बंधना मुश्किल है ........दरअसल तुम भी तो जीवन भर शर्मीले बने रहे और में भी बनी रही शर्मीली ......., हाँ , मुझे याद है जब में ८वी क्लास में पड़ती थी तभी से तुम मुझे छुप छुप कर निहारते रहते थे ,............., संस्कार और संकोच में लिपटे दिन रात सरपट सरपट भागते रहे ....... में ब्याह कर इस तरफ चली आयी और .....तुम उस तरफ अकेले मुड गए .... पर मुझे पता है कि तुमने इन ३२ सालों में अपने दिल को कितना बड़ा बना लिया और मुझे यह भी पता है कि इन ३२ सालों में तुमने जितनी भी लम्बी और गहरी सांसे ली है उनमे तुमने मुझे ही पाया है ,.....शायद तुम्हे नहीं मालूम कि नारी का मन समुद्र से भी गहरा होता है , ... ब्याह भी हो जाता है , बच्छे भी हो जाते है , पर बचपन में दिल में उठी वह चाहत जीवन भर दिल के एक कोने में कुलबुलाती रहती है , तुम तो जानते हो न कि प्रेम कोई खेल नहीं एक उदात्त भावना है और यह भावना एक जलते हुए अलाव की तरह होती है जिसकी आंच इसकी मध्यिम मधिम गर्मी जीवन भर सुहावनी लगती है ,........ तुम्हारा भोलापन और 'तुम' हर साँस पर उपस्तित रहे आए..... न तुमने प्रकट किया न मेने ........ तुम्हे कैसे बताएं कि अंतरंगता को परिभाषित करना कितना कठिन होता है पर इसके साथ अटूट विश्वास जुड़ा होता है , तभी न हमेशा लगता रहता है कि जहाँ तक नजर जाती है उधर तक तुम ही तुम नजर आते हो ,......... तुम ३२ साल बाद मेरे घर आये , मेने बहुत औपचारिकता के साथ तुम्हे बिस्कुट चाय दी ,.... महिलायों की आदत के मुताबिक तुम्हारे बीबी , बल बचों की खोज परख ली और फिर इतने सालों बाद भी तुम्हे न चाहने का नाटक भी किया तुम थोडा हतास से हुए थे उस वक़्त ...........फिर भी चूँकि तुम इतने दूर से मेरे शहर में आये और तुमने मुझे खोज ही लिया तो यह भी जायज है कि तुम इस शनिवार को मेरे पति और बच्चों के साथ खाना खा सको , सो बहुत औपचारिकता के साथ मेने तुम्हे खाने को बुला लिया है ..........थोड़ी देर बाद तुम अपने होटल की तरफ चले गए थे ,...........जब शाम को पति जी थके हारेघर आये तो उन्हें इस आमन्त्रण के बारे में जब मेने बताया तो झट से वे बोले कि कोई बहाना कर देते है , तुन्हारी तबियत हमेशा ख़राब रहती है कहाँ इतना सारा खाना बना सकोगी ,................................., में चुप रही ..........थोड़ी देर को लगा धरती डोल रही है , ... ' तुम ' याद आये ....फिर याद आये ,.....हाँ बहुत याद आये और तुम्हारे साथ ज़माने भी याद आये ..............बाहर अँधेरा पसारने लगा था ,....... मन में जलते हुए अलाव एवं हाथ में गरम चाय लेकर में पति के सामने झुकी थी , पति जी थके थे पर धीरे से मुस्कराते हुए चाय का शिप लेने लगे थे ........ तभी चुपके से मेने तय किया कि जब कोई भी घर में नहीं होगा तब तुम्हे बुलाकर कुछ खिला दूंगी ,.......२५ साल से तो अभी तक पतिव्रता धर्म का पालन तो कर रही थी,......................

--जय प्रकाश पाण्डेय

उमरिया 

Unhappy with SBI? Just send an SMS

By SWATI BHARADWAJ-CHAND and PADMINI COPPARAPU,TNN

HYDERABAD: When Vijayawada-based Vijaya Prasad walked into his bank branch for a gold loan only to be rudely turned away by the clerk behind the counter, all he did was shoot off a one-word SMS to his bank ‘Unhappy’. 

Within minutes, not only did he get a call from the bank’s call centre, the branch manager personally sought him out and cleared his gold loan in just one hour flat. Over 16,000 disgruntled bank customers like Prasad have found to their delight that one SMS did for them what months of running around from one bank branch to the other could not. 

But these are no happy experiences of satisfied customers banking with swanky private banks. Hold your breath, this is a unique paperless and instant customer grievances redressal initiative being pilot-tested by the state-run State Bank of India (SBI) in Andhra Pradesh in a bid to don a customer-friendly avataar. 

What’s more interesting is that SBI, which has for long been weighed down with an image of being a slow-moving ‘sarkari outfit’, has not only designed the software for the system in-house, it has gone one step ahead and filed for a global patent for the initiative branded as the ‘Unhappy Service’. 

“We filed a patent for our ‘Unhappy service’ last month after extensive research indicated something similar had never been attempted anywhere in the world,” Diwakar Gupta, deputy managing director (national banking group), SBI,told TOI. 

In fact, so impressed was SBI chairman O P Bhatt with it that he has decided to replicate it nationwide. The service is expected to go national by the end of the year. 

Run out of an obscure looking, paperless room that sits in one corner of SBI's AP headquarters in Hyderabad, the ‘happy room’, as it is nicknamed, is the nerve-centre of SBI's happy customer drive. It is manned by a Happy Team' of just four SBI employees who resolve customer complaints filed through sms to a single number — 80082020202. 

“We have resolved over 16,000 customer complaints pertaining to 1,100 SBI branches in AP with this service. Even customers from other states, who have dealings with any branches in the state, have got redressal through this service,” said Shiva Kumar, chief general manager, AP Circle, SBI.

Courtesy: The Economic Times

Turn Employees Into Rainmakers

By Gary Pines

Employees can no longer rely solely on doing their jobs well to get ahead. In a competitive job market, employees that stand out are the ones adept at rainmaking, or turning relationships into economic value.

Effective rainmakers are built when employees gain awareness about their personal relationship- building processes, learn to be organized, disciplined and proactive when reaching out to business contacts and focus on giving before getting.

With basic training in rainmaking skills, employees can internally sell the value of their department to increase collaboration and productivity. This could mean the human resources department and IT team work together to successfully deploy a new payroll software solution, or that managers learn to cultivate more meaningful and beneficial relationships with their team members.

Effective rainmakers also have the relationship- building skills to externally sell their products and services to drive business development because bigger relationship networks produce more economic value and opportunities than small networks.

Most people have been forming relationships since before they could form full sentences, but the process may still seem daunting because people are rarely taught how to do it. Business professionals are just expected to know how. The second barrier to rainmaking is fear: failure, embarrassment and rejection.

To successfully overcome barriers and create rainmakers, talent leaders should have each employee focus on learning versus telling. Throughout their careers, employees should have learned how to talk about themselves: their projects, thoughts and successes.

However, many have not been taught the value of meaningful listening and learning when building relationships with key stakeholders. The goal in building rainmaking relationships is cooperation, which is a two-step process.

Step one:

Ask questions, listen and do not interrupt others with stories about personal ideas, solutions and experiences. The goal of these conversations is to learn about the other person, not sell a product or idea.

Here are some basic questions that can start and maintain a meaningful conversation.

a) What are the most important things you're working on right now?

b) What do you want to accomplish this year?

c) What are the biggest barriers to meeting your goals?

d) What can I do to help you achieve these goals?

Asking these questions and really listening to the answers will help build a relationship and will let the other person know that an employee is interested in giving as well as getting. The important thing is to let the other person do the talking and to listen carefully for ways to help achieve the desired goal. This may sound counterintuitive, but it is the key to step two.

Step two:

Give before you get. Doing so makes it much more likely the other person will want to collaborate. Giving may include introductions, business or personal advice, information, invitations, volunteering to help with a civic organization or charity the other party feels strongly about or free counsel about a business subject the employee is an expert on.

Following these simple rainmaking guidelines and helping employees make small changes in how they approach relationships can turn introverts into networking experts and can lead to huge financial gains and a booming business.

Gary Pines is a principal at Harding & Co., a sales coaching and business development training company.

The Giant Starts Laughing..

Laughter Yoga Introduced In State Bank Of India

Laughter Club of State Bank Learning Centre, Indore

The awakened Giant has now started laughing. Laughter Yoga has been introduced in the State Bank of India.

A Laughter Club was formally launched today at the State Bank Learning Centre, Indore. Eighteen newly promoted officers of the Bank, along with faculty of the learning centre, enjoyed themselves while performing greeting laughter, milkshake laughter, mobile laughter, lion laughter, laughter cream, rose laughter, appreciation laughter, argument laughter, gradient laughter and electric shock laughter.

 Laughter Cream

Laughter yoga is an effective cardio workout and helps in staying fit. It increases blood circulation and relaxes muscles. Laughter yoga changes your mood within minutes by releasing endorphins in your brain. One feels energized and fresh throughout the day and can work more without getting tired. Laughter clubs provide a rich social network of people who care about one another. One learns to handle difficult situations effectively without losing composure by imbibing the essence of laughter yoga.

The club has been named as the Laughter Club of State Bank Learning Centre, Indore. It is proposed that similar clubs will be formed in other offices of the Bank in the near future.

 Appreciation Laughter

Laughter Yoga Trainers Mrs Radhika Bisht and Mr Jagat Singh Bisht introduced laughter exercises to the participants. The founding members of the club are Mr Sabu P Simon, Mrs Harinaxi Sharma, Mrs Kamal Agrawal, Sarvashri Sanjay Keshwani, Rajesh Ladha, Narendra Gupta, R.C. Sisodiya, A.K. Sonara, B.R. Lambhate, Ravi Naramdeo, Anil Jain, Tejpal Khanna, Shishir Gwalherkar, Kamlesh Vishway, Sanjay Jain, Manoj Dusane, M.K. Purohit, Anil Bhatia, S.N. Dwivedi and Ajit Singh Chauhan.

 CoolBisht / Indore

Moments of Collective Fulfillment from Suregaon

An experience of collective fulfillment shared by Shri Satish Kumar Pande, Suregaon branch.

The branch was facing the problem of frequent incoming of fake currency note which after detection caused discomfort and waste of time for both the customer and staff.

A meeting was called on this particular aspect and after brain storming it was decided that it was the duty of the branch to enable the customers and public at large to know about the features of the genuine note and so avoid financial loss.

An action plan was drawn, work was allocated to different persons and we began to implement it in right earnest.  Staff members went to market at different day/time and explained at meetings of businessmen how to detect and hence avoid fake currency.  Posters explaining the features of genuine currency notes were prominently displayed at the branch. 

This activity went on for a month and the result began to crop up.  Since the customer could detect the forged notes with confidence they felt very happy and had good feeling towards the branch.

All the staff of the branch felt satisfaction on taking up a project and completing it successfully.  Gradually the incident of detection of fake note became a rarity in the branch.  

Contributed by Shri Dilip Guha / Team SBLC, Jabalpur

Moments of Collective Fulfillment from Bhilai

CITIZEN SBI : INTERVENTION – 2 : Contribution Lab

Programme at BHILAI: 03-09-2010 to 09-09-2010 

Moments of Collective Fulfillment  :

(1)        An experience of collective fulfillment shared by Shri Rajesh Kumar Sood, RBO, Bhilai.

Brief description of the project :           
Propagation of alternative channel products.

Why the need for the project arose :     
To improve customer satisfaction
To unload the staff from routine

To spend time for qualitative purpose

To empower the customers

To leverage the technology initiatives of the Bank.

How it was implemented and results :

Did it involve many people from the unit ?What kind of teaming/team efforts took place?

Ans      Yes the process of propagation involved all staff members at various branches.  Initially the benefits arising from the transactions of alternative channels were explained to the Branch Managers with suggestion to share it further with the staff at the branches during Branch ‘P’ review meetings.  This resulted in spread over of the message amongst all members of the unit.

How did it energize the people in the unit ?

Ans      All the unit members/staff of the branch was made aware of the basic benefit of the products viz. shifting of onus of the transaction from the Bank and its employees/officials to the customer.  Bank and its staff remain absolved from the responsibility of (a) probing the transaction even at a later date, (b) safe keeping of the records (c)  checking of day books etc.  Further it empowers the customers.

What kind of fulfillment did it result in for the collective involved (team members and customers)

Ans      Team members are happy with the reduction in the number of vouchers and footfall of the customer at the Branch.  In addition, the team members now find time for other productive pruposes.  Customers are happy to transact their transactions at their ease/convenience.

How did it enhance the interaction with the customer community ?

Ans      Customer further remained in close touch with the staff at various levels to understand the methodology for carrying out their transactions through the modes of alternative channels.  The customers were not only satisfied but also felt energized with the features of the products.  They find the products customers friendly and convenient.

What were the sustainable results of this Contribution Project in the Unit ?

Ans      SB to ATM ratio went up from 52% as at the beginning of June 2009 to 59% as at the end of March 2010.  Number of transactions per month through ATM channel went up from 16000 to 22000 during this period.  In addition, substantial improvement is also seen in the number of transactions through INB and MB.

Contributed by Shri Dilip Guha / Team SBLC Jabalpur

SHOULD YOU BE AMBITIOUS ?

Vinita Nangia

Ambition and a contented personal life need not be contradictory to each other. Don’t make your ambition impossible to achieve!

ARE less ambitious people better off than those who are wildly competitive? Is life a better deal for those who are average students, get a decent degree, find themselves a secure job and settle down comfortably in it? Now all they need to worry about is securing a happy home life, bringing up normal, average kids and living happily ever after! Probably here too the standards they set themselves are not too high and so, with lower expectations, their chances of disappointment are much lower too.

Rahul Sharma (name changed), a colleague, talks of a friend who years ago told him he didn’t want to ever grow beyond a GM. “I found it very strange then,” says the highly competitive self-flagellating colleague, “but now as I find myself with no time for myself and just a weekend relationship with my wife as bosses and work take over all my waking hours, I think my friend was pretty smart! Today, he has chosen a career and lifestyle that may not be cuttingedge, but which gives him enough time for the rest of his life!”

I cannot believe that Rahul seriously meant it, because if he did, what’s to stop him from throwing in the towel even now? The fact that he will not do so means that he holds his drive, his ambition and his goals dear, and is willing to make the required sacrifices for the same. As all those with overriding dreams and ambition do.

However Rahul goes on, “The pace of my life is such that I don’t know how eight months of this year have passed by. I have no time to remain in touch with friends since I work round the clock to keep up with competition. Age is catching up and I know soon I will be old with hardly any intimate friends left. I am familiar with a lot of people courtesy Facebook but on social media sites like FB, we are trading intimacy with familiarity. The digital world is crazy and addictive and perhaps we are attracted to it since we decide when we open and shut conversations with Facebook friends.”

Says another friend, “I am increasingly finding myself feeling lonely in the middle of all the work and projects and even with family around. I think it is the lack of “me” time that makes me feel so. Maybe I’m missing my own company, my own thoughts. Or, maybe I am missing being with close friends. That is when I seek out people on FB. There is no time to be intimate — physically, mentally, spiritually — either with yourself or someone close.”

And yet how would we be any different from animals if all we did was eat, sleep and exist in the small space we call ours and be happy to mark its boundaries as ours? What is life if not an aspiration, a stretch to reach out to the next goal. It is that aspiration, no matter how unattainable the goal, which lifts us above our circumstances and helps better our lives. If a carpenter were to dream of being the country’s Prime Minister, chances are that he may at least end up setting up a small business for himself and carve out a better life for his children. On the other hand, if resigned to his lot, he were to have no ambition, he would die a carpenter and so would his future generations. An impossible dream may shape a better reality for him.

The problem is not with the dreaming, but with making that dream an obsession; not with ambition, but with making that drive the be-all and end-all of your existence. Ambition and a contented personal life need not be contradictory to each other. We should be able to distinguish between ambition that is within the realms of possibility and that which may be an impossibility to achieve. Knowing that, we need to strike a balance between overriding ambition and a contented personal life. There are phases when one needs to give one’s all to work and others when one needs to step back with equal confidence and give due importance to one's personal life. Balance and time management is the key — certainly not as easy as it sounds!

For those of us who are ambitious, there are times in life when it becomes a heavy burden to bear. There are testing times when we are stretched and stressed and all the angst just doesn’t seem worth it. It is at this time that the decision has to be made whether to fight on and may be live like a king some day, or to give up and crawl through the rest of your lives.

As British philosopher John Stuart Mill said, it is possible to be “content with life” even though “dissatisfied”, so long as one has the proper balance of pleasure, quantitatively and qualitatively. In his words,

“better Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.” Who in their right mind would want to lead the life of a pig with no questions of the world, no complaints and no ambition? Socrates with his dissatisfied mind, his curiosity and mental turmoil would certainly be the choice of every rational person.

Bouts of high-adrenaline ambition interspersed with moments of a quiet content would be the ideal recipe for a life well lived!

Courtesy: TOI

Happiness

Happiness is the big ingredient everyone wants in his life. Happiness is, in many ways, a personal matter.

These are three things to remember about happiness:

1) Happiness is important

2) Happiness is desirable

3) Happiness is possible

No matter what your past circumstances have been, no matter what your present conditions are,

happiness is possible for you. You can learn to develop it and this happiness will give you a healthier and richer life

- Happiness is not achieved by devious or false methods. The first step building a state of happiness in your life is to raise the level of your own self-respect. Happiness is only within your reach if you first admit that is a defnite possibility. Once you have reached that awareness, you can reorient your thinking and life-style towards happiness.

- Happiness is knowing your true identity, for you will not be happy if you fail to see yourself in a true perspective

- There are four requirements in a program for happiness

01. Take an interest in the world around you: You are living in the wider world that includes all of humanity and your interest in the world should naturally extend to a desire to help and share in the work of the world

02. Have a willingness to work intensively: Work means an involvement with other people and extending the limits of your personal interests for doing something special with the job. The extra efforts and added interest can bring you dividends of happiness

03. Have an appreciation of leisure: Leisure means freedom from the demands and responsibilities of work or duty and it does not mean the absolute cessation of all other efforts

04. Have an understanding of solititute: You should look forward to your periods of solititude. Being alone gives you a chance to sit down with yourself and assess your situation honestly

There are seven principal characteristics of happy people:

- Happy people are thinking people

- Happy people are considerate people

- Happy people have better health

- Happy people show their age less

- Happy people like themselves

- Happy people are liked by others

- Happy people are successful in what they do

The following are some practical tips which help you in your quest for happiness:

- Add up your blessings and catalog them

- List your past accomplishments and achievements

- List your anticipations that you feel are attainable

- Learn how to sharpen and develop your powers of observation

- Learn how to take time to enjoy your life

- Learn how to replace fear in your life with happiness

“Happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, the feeling of happiness dwells in the soul” – DEMOCRITUS

---- J.P.Pandey

Umaria