Mentoring makes the unlearning process smooth

Published: The Hindu
On: December 14, 2011
At: Hyderabad, Chennai

To read The Hindu's online version, click here.

Amit is working for the same company for 10 years. Recently, the company was bought over by another company. Now, he has a new boss. His world has changed. The new boss has a fantastic vision about the future of the company. Amit has now embarked on the long road of unlearning with its twists and turns. He realises that the processes and business strategies previously used are not necessarily correct. He is challenged to forget what made him successful in the past. He is now living new values and thereby adapting to change.
What is unlearning? Essentially, unlearning is stripping off the old, obsolete knowledge acquired over a period of time. It involves learning something new. Additionally, there is a change in the belief system. The base belief is changed and altered to a new belief, resulting in new thinking, new action and new outcome.

Relearning involves meshing new ideas with the original concepts thus creating new ways to increase productivity. As Ankush Ved, Managing Director of Allied Agencies reflects, “There is more wisdom in unlearning than in learning. It is a must for anyone who wants to survive in this constantly changing world.”

Benefits of unlearning and relearning:

• Helps to stay one step ahead of others
• Keeps pace with the growing needs of the competitive world
• Seize opportunities

The well known futurist writer, Alvin Toffler has rightly said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn”.
So, how does one unlearn and relearn? You can attend conferences, seminars and training programs on change management that enables you to remove the barriers to change.
The exposure allows you to let go of deeply held beliefs and assumptions. Executive Coaching also helps you to identify your emotional and behavioural patterns that reflect in your work. For example, Rohit Kalkar, an executive in a payroll processing company says, “I have always felt that whatever I do is not good enough.”
Also, mentors are the most qualified people to expedite a mentee's process of unlearning and relearning. Ideally, mentors are role models with plenty of common sense and positive outlook. They probe, challenge and push to excel. They love to teach about their field of interest and about life.
Encourage and motivate
As a mentor, motivate your mentee to think in new and different ways. Instead, of a ‘fix it this way' solution, instill courage and confidence to face the challenges. Encourage the mentee to periodically visit websites relevant to his field, and read books and industry publications. It is a good idea to attend seminars on change, culture and innovation. One need not step outside the house to update one's skills. There are courses that can be taken for free. For example, MIT OpenCourseWare is a web-based publication that offers free online courses in various fields: Health, Mathematics, Engineering, Arts and Management.
Sharing experiences and insights about your failures is another way you can help your mentee to gain insight about building resilience.
Action plan
Mentors can help the mentee to list out actions required to achieve the goal. Analyse which actions are necessary for the outcome and remove the ones that are not required. Set the timelines for each action. Revisit the plan periodically and reprioritise, if necessary.
Support
As a mentor, it is important to serve as a sounding board to pitch ideas. Show understanding when the mentee expresses ideas or thoughts. It enables the mentee to figure out where he is going, his long term goal, how he will achieve them and how far he has progressed. Be genuinely interested in the mentee and give him constructive feedback. The experience you gain as a mentor enhances your professional growth. Furthermore, it gives you a fresh perspective on your performance. It may help you take a critical look at the areas that need unlearning.

Perhaps Stephen R Covey said it best, “The way we see the problem is the problem”. The key is to have an open mind and recognise the need to unlearn.

It's a woman's world, indeed!

Published: The Hindu
At: Hyderabad, Chennai
On: December 14, 2011

To read The Hindu's online version, click here.

A recent article in a newspaper announced that IBM India is set to launch custom made training programmes for its potential women leaders in technology and sales. In UK, firms have been told to up the number of women by 25% on their boards by 2015, thus ensuring talented and gifted women get top jobs.
We have travelled from an age where parents didn't believe girls needed education to an era where girls' education is the norm. Women with high education are career-oriented and focused on moving up the ladder.
A case in point is Chanda Kochhar, Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank is amongst the five Indian women who have made it in the top 50 women in world business awarded by Financial Times for the year 2011. Her father, she says, “believed in equality between daughters and sons and encouraged all of us to build a career.” Yet the progress is not without challenges.
Challenges
The mightiest challenge comes from society itself. Inadequate social support and stereotyped woman's role affects the motivation of women. Quite often, a woman's role at workplace is seen as secondary to her role as homemaker and nurturer.
As a supply chain consultant for a supermarket chain says, “Women don various hats - raising a family, meeting varied home demands besides being a competent professional. Here's where the conflict arises and majority of us agree to downsize our career or prefer to quit”.
Discrimination is another challenge that raises its face often. Juliana Doreen, a senior consultant in a relocation firm finds balancing between work and family as the most challenging to deal with. However, with constant encouragement from her spouse, she is successfully moving ahead in her professional journey. As a woman, Doreen had been subjected to gender bias in her previous company where she was told that she could not handle events as it involved travelling to the villages and interacting with the people there. She overcame these challenges, she observes, “There is certainly a positive change for women in India in the workplace.”
Need for women managers
Since women are increasingly playing a vital role as consumers and financial decision-makers, it is imperative to welcome women managers who can bring in unique perspective to decision making and problem solving. A diverse leadership with a healthy mix of competent men and women embodies different perspectives and approaches to work. Men and women's different social roles imply different experiences and values that can benefit the organisation. It can create a win-win situation.
Roy Adler of Pepperdine University, USA did an extensive 19-year study of 215 Fortune 500 firms showing a strong correlation between a strong record of promoting women into the executive suite and high profitability.
Corporate approach
To advance, women need support from the top management. Encouraging diverse management practices and opening doors to women – through positive human resource programs – is one way for the organisations to increase their talent pool. Mentor programmes are an excellent way where strategies can be identified for advancing their careers. This gives them the opportunity to grow and provides exposure and experience through various projects.
Catalyst, the US based study group focusing on women's corporate advancement identifies, “Rotate women across functions and ensure they have experience of line assignments amongst others as crucial to promote gender diversity within an organisation.”
In order to retain women, many companies are offering flexitime, telecommuting, daycare programs and maternity leave. As a project manager in a payroll processing company happily observes, “With time, the attitude towards women as managers are significantly becoming more positive.”

Integrity and Leadership: two sides of the same coin

Published: The Hindu
At: Hyderabad
On: November 30, 2011

To read The Hindu's online version, click here.

Who do you think is the manager with integrity? The manager who always smiles and says encouraging things, and then never supports you when it comes down to task or the low-key, caring and firm manager who encourages to work hard and consistently praises employees who go above and beyond. Who do you think deserves your respect and trust? Obviously, the second one!
How does integrity relate to leadership? Priti Parekh, Chief Operating Officer at AMBA Research says, “As you grow higher in your organisation, the more important it becomes for you as a leader to demonstrate integrity. Leaders with integrity are able to inspire trust and confidence in their team, which is particularly important during times of crisis. ”
As a leader, your employees look upon you for your values and where you are taking them (i.e. the goals of the organisation). Your values must be demonstrated in action. You must have their best interests at heart. You must demonstrate your reliability, honesty and trustworthiness. You must have the capacity to inspire and lead thus creating a productive work environment.
In other words, you as a leader must act with integrity. Integrity is a must-have quality in a leader. It cannot be feigned, it has to be a continuous effort. If this does not happen, people will experience deterioration in trust and respect ultimately leading to major fallout in organisation. As Buckminster Fuller quotes “Integrity is the essence of everything successful”. Maintaining integrity in a workplace where there is intense pressure to cave in takes immense courage. It is not easy when all you need is profits. Here are some tips to develop integrity:
Role model
As a leader, set an example. Show by your attitude and action how people must be treated and the way goals must be pursued.
Consistency
Unpredictability in a leader’s decisions may risk integrity being compromised. Are your decisions based on your moods? A wise and powerful leader can be relied upon when needed. Demonstrate integrity consistently every day and you will build a level of integrity that your employees will come to trust.
Communication
Have transparent communication. Let there be no communication gap between the levels in the organisation. It is imperative to provide clear direction. A leader must be clear and consistent to be understood and trusted.
Commitment
One of the most sterling qualities of a leader with integrity is to fulfill each and every promise made irrespective of the hierarchy level in the organisation. It is the yardstick by which your employees make evaluations about you. Commit to making your word as good as a contract.
Value integrity
Instead of saying, “I value integrity” all the time choose to show by your attitude and behaviour. Live your values every day. Remember, you are living continuously under a looking glass. Be authentic and show your wisdom, skills and fairness with actions.
Honesty
An honest leader with a strong foundation of integrity does the right thing no matter what the circumstances are in the organisation. The leader treats people fairly and stays away from playing favourites or political games. This ensures a productive environment fostering growth and innovation.
Feedback
It is essential to take feedback from your employees and continue making efforts to motivate employees on an ongoing basis. Know your strengths and limitations, seek to continue develop and learn.
Recruitment
Recruiting people with integrity is the key to ensure integrity remains the life and blood of the organisation. So, how does one know if the potential employee has high levels of integrity? Behavioral interviewing is an excellent way to identify whether a candidate’s characteristics and motivations match your organisation’s values. This type of interview will allow you to examine the candidate’s behaviour in the past.
As D Suresh, Executive Director at Computer Access Pvt. Ltd. notes, “Today, without integrity you cannot lead any organisation whether it is profit or not for profit organisation. Companies without integrity collapse in no time.”