Regaining Lost Credibility

To err is human said the English writer Alexander Pope (1668 – 1744). Let’s assume you have erred at your workplace thereby losing your credibility and trustworthiness in front of your subordinates, peers and supervisors. Is there any way to regain the lost credibility ?

While forgiving could be divine (as said by the same English writer), we need to get back on track and regain the trust. Here are a few thoughts on the same:

Have an open mind: The important thing is to have an open mind which accepts feedback and criticism. Accepting feedback about themselves is the toughest thing for most people. However, this is one aspect of your personality that will help you go a long way be it in your personal or professional life. Things happen. It’s perfectly ok and the right thing, to realize your mistake first, accept it from your end and be ready to deal with some flak initially.

Own up: Do not give excuses, justify or rationalize your mistakes regardless of circumstances. You must own up your mistakes even if the mistake has only been 1%. Owning up your errors is the first step towards regaining lost credibility. It means, you are ready to accept responsibility for your actions. Apologize and let others know how you feel about your actions.

Corrective Action: Have a corrective action plan in hand and make that double quick. Do not wait for others to get back to you on what you should be doing. Present your plan to them and let them know what concrete steps you are willing to take to correct or rectify the situation. Get them to feel that you are genuinely interested in ensuring that no such occurrences are repeated from your end.

Time Frame: A constructive plan needs have a reasonable time frame. Any plan which does not mention time frames/dates is worth less than the paper it is printed on. A plan with detailed dates, gives a sense of urgency and purpose towards your efforts. It shows that you are serious about completing the task and are willing to set deadlines for the same.

It’s important not to feel antagonistic about events which have led to you, loosing credibility at your workplace. Neither should you blame others for what has happened and nurse any unnecessary grudges. Focus 100% of your efforts and energy towards your action plan. Let your actions speak for you.

Leadership and Credibility

One of the most important attributes of a leader would be credibility.  This is what every aspiring employee who wishes to lead needs to remember. Credibility automatically comes about from being genuine and committed towards your work, colleagues, company and most of all yourselves. You will come across as being credible if your actions are in tune with your words.

Often times, we come across people who toe a standard line and expect others to toe that same line without having any buy-in from the team. To top that, they seldom do what they have been espousing. When this happens, people around who are observing you, be it co-workers/ supervisors, would loose all credibility and trust in you.  It’s not necessary that you have to do something nefarious to loose credibility. Here is a small example: Imagine a team leader or a supervisor admonishing subordinates for coming late to work or to a meeting. Now, if the team leader/supervisor himself is a habitual late comer, then what is the message being conveyed to subordinates. He has already lost his credibility in the eyes of his subordinates. The negative impact that one faces on lost credibility, far outweigh any laurels received from outstanding achievements at work.

What happens when you loose credibility at work place?  Your co-workers/peers will stop asking you for any help. Nobody would want to seek help from a source which is not trustworthy. Your boss will stop depending on you for critical assignments. He may give them to a slightly lesser performing chap but who is more dependable. The work needs to be done after all. You will thus end up loosing those challenging opportunities and also easily be overlooked for a promotion or a hike.  Worst of all, when you loose credibility, you loose a bit of respect as well.

How can you regain lost credibility? Read on about that in my next post !

Of French Cuisine and Current Day Presenters

I have had the oppurtunity to write for an upcoming business management blog run by Abhirup Bhattacharya who is a graduate in fashion technology from the prestigious NIFT. Please read on for an interesting taken on content Vs presentation at Ideas Make Market.com
http://www.ideasmakemarket.com/2011/02/of-french-cuisine-and-current-day.html

Super star ! - So what ?

I recently read a blog on whether celebrity endorsements work, which made me ponder about it in context of Kerala as a market. Keralites have cared two hoots for celebrity endorsements ever since I could remember.  I don’t think I’ve heard anybody buying something just because a celebrity has been endorsing it.

Off hand I could recollect Mohanlal in Mohanlal’s Taste buds, Manappuram Finance ; Malabar Gold ( Hey, wait a minute, all the products start with an ‘M’ ). South Indian Bank starring Mammootty riding a bullet or a Harvey or whatever it is. Now, whoever wanted to buy curry powder or bank with South Indian bank  just because they are endorsed by Mohanlal & Mammootty ?

Do celebrity endorsements blindly help in top of the mind recall ? Hmm..do I think of Melam or Mohanlal’s Taste buds when I think of curry powder ? Nope, I guess Melam  or Eastern wins hands down any day. Go pick a celebrity chef( Yes, we do have some in Kerala as well ) for endorsing a curry powder. Who cares if the company belongs to Mohanlal himself . Is it mandatory that he should be there on the cover?  What about Mohanlal in the Pankajakasturi ad ? ( Something without an ‘M’ at last). Mohanlal’s  love for Ayurveda is well known, hence the endorsement for Pankajakasturi  gels in perfectly well. Does Mammootty walk in to south Indian Bank for cash deposits/withdrawals/customer service ? why on earth should I feel that I would be treated like him if I decide to bank with South Indian Bank ?

Now turn to the JoyAlukkas ad featuring Madhavan , the quintessential romantic heartthrob of the screen. You could easily connect with the ad and him in wanting to be The Man, all waiting to shower his lady love with that pendant regardless of your depleted bank balance.

Celebrity endorsements work perfectly fine as long as the image and expertise of the celebrity complement the product or brand.  It’s an advertisement for the product/brand after all and not of the celebrity.
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The Bystander Effect in Kerala

Barely a week before, Kerala witnessed the horrific death of Soumya ( 23) . She died as a result of injuries sustained when she jumped off or was pushed off the running train  by  her alleged tormentor ,a hardened criminal.

It is now amply clear from eyewitness accounts, that many people travelling in the next compartment had indeed heard Soumya’s pleas for help. But no one dared volunteer to raise an alarm or pull the chain to stop the train. A move , which could perhaps have saved Soumya’s life.The question, which has been going the rounds since then has been the insensitiveness of our society as a whole towards such incidents. Has  Kerala society become morally bankrupt ? While there can never be any excuse for people not intervening at the right time   in such cases, we need to understand the basic phenomenon or psyche that goes behind such inertia among people at crime scenes.

The bystander effect or Genovese Syndrome refers to the inability of individuals to offer any kind of help to the concerned victim. They become, as the name goes, mere bystanders.  In fact, the more the number of people available at the crime scene, the lesser the probability of help. Sickening, if you think of it.   This primarily occurs due to a ‘Diffusion of Responsibility’  among the people present. Each of them think that the other person could as well react.The fact that they are part of a group, makes them think that individual responsibility is diffused/shared. For example, in a firing squad, the members of the squad could be randomly issued a weapon having  a blank cartridge, thus allowing each of the members to believe that it must not have been them that fired the fatal shot.

When you are part of a larger group, the guilt is shared. The same individuals, had they been alone, or part of a very smaller group could have reacted in an entirely different and responsible manner.Awareness brings about the impetus needed for change in the attitude and behavior of individuals. Let us realize what is happening within ourselves. Let us not be a bystander and look the other way, the next time we come across something even remotely similar to what happened to Soumya.

Handover at Home

What’s the first thing you do before your wife or your folks leave home for a couple of days?   
There ….there…I can clearly see that glint in your eyes. The sheer joy which envelops any man about to get his freedom albeit for a few days.  You would rush to checkout the newspaper for those HBO special blockbusters which you could barely see thanks to the regional soaps and reality shows. No more informing (actually seeking permission) at home about being late for the day because of that surprise party thrown by one of your bachelor colleagues. The list could go on and on.

But I suggest you first prepare a Handover checklist instead. Duh? Handover at home?
Precisely. It helps maintain status quo after they return and to keep things on an even keel.

• Itemized asset list of food inside the fridge.
• What’s to be had when based on expiry dates known only to them. Some of the food could turn unrecognizable in a really short time span than you could ever imagine.
• Geographic location of salt and pepper in the kitchen. YES, scrambled eggs. Dare to attempt attempt anything more on a grandiose scale ? 
• Instructions to be given to the maid along with work quality benchmarks. Never should a question be raised about your supervisory skills. I mean, you already have a boss at office, don’t you? Having benchmarks make life easier. What get’s measured gets done.
• Any pending bills solely managed by them.
• Keys to locked Almirah’s if any.
• Standard script for incoming land line calls asking where they have gone, when they would come etc.  (Better  maintain a notepad on all such calls for debriefing sessions when they are back)

 And don’t   leave this checklist lying around the house for your ceiling fan to blow it away under your carpet. Guard it with all you’re worth !

Killing Me Softly

I always thought that Kerala was a decently big consumer market with higher per capita income compared to most states in India. And what of  literacy rates?   91% ,  Far higher than those of a few states in the US  and much higher than India’s average of 65% !

Why then must you and I put up with such horse manure- (civilized synonym for ‘shit’)?   

My apologies for not coming to the point straightaway. I’m referring to the appallingly dubbed tracks of national TV commercials in Malayalam which are forced upon us through most Malayalam channels. I was taught that  advertising was meant to entice you into buying something with their persuasive powers. Not prompt you to change channels with a feeling of disgust. Check out these commercials and ask yourself how you feel about it.

The vanish ad has everybody talking perfect Malayalam except for sreedevi. Now are we, mallus being the skeptic folks we are, supposed to believe this ?-  Sreedevi does not know Malayalam , hence the accent. Give us a break and spare us the agony. We would rather prefer having a Hindi version or asking some mallu babe to dub for Sreedevi.

The second ad is that of Karbonn mobiles which is a value player in the mobile phone segment in India. No arguments on the way the concept of dual sim has been highlighted in the funny ad. But when the same track is directly translated into Malayalam, it sucks big time.

Its high time that the ad world spares a thought for the poor Malayali who has to listen to this crap and feel excited enough to make a buying decision.