Professor M.S.Rao Born for the Students

© 2012 MSR Leadership Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. This is an educational blog for free sharing of knowledge, not for commercial use. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsrao.blogspot.com This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission. This blog is dedicated to the passionate students and teachers

Monday, 30 July 2012

“Blend both EQ and IQ” - Professor M.S.Rao

"In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life, including family relationships." - John Gottman in Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child

Previously people emphasized more on Intelligence Quotient (IQ) but presently people emphasize more on Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EQ). There are a number of reasons for this. People with EQ are more successful at the professional front due to their emotional intelligence. At times the people with IQ often blame the people with EQ for reaching higher positions through manipulations or communication skills. In fact, it is not correct because people with EQ know how to get along with others as per the situation to get the tasks executed successfully thus staying ahead of others in the race.

Emotional Quotient is associated with emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is defined as the five fold process of discovering one’s own emotions, managing their emotions, discovering the emotions of others, motivating others’ emotions and managing their emotions. Salovey & Mayer defined emotional intelligence in Emotional Intelligence as follows: “We define emotional intelligence as the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.”

Emotional intelligence is one of the key components of leadership skill as 80 percent of leadership success depends alone on this factor. Freedman et al. substantiated it in Handle With Care: Emotional Intelligence Activity Book as follows: "Emotional Intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding, and choosing how we think, feel, and act. It shapes our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn; it allows us to set priorities; it determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80% of the "success" in our lives." That is the reason why some excel as leaders and others remain as followers despite knowing these facts. The people who practice emotional intelligence succeed as leaders, and the ones who don’t practice fail as leaders.

Some people have high egos as they have been gifted with high IQ from their parents resulting in failures in their lives. In contrast, some people may not possess high IQ levels but succeed as they have high EQ. In fact, a right combination of IQ and EQ pave the way for quick success.

IQ is mostly inborn acquired through heredity but EQ can be cultivated by various ways including reading, observation, training, practice and experience to name a few. Precisely, IQ is a talent and EQ is a skill. EQ is a behavioral aspect that can be changed through awareness, training and practice. Hence, people must understand and learn about EQ to develop flexibility to get along with others and soar like leaders.

"People high in emotional intelligence are expected to progress more quickly through the abilities designated and to master more of them." - Mayer & Salovey in “What is Emotional Intelligence” in Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence: Educational Implications

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr12@gmail.com

Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com

Born for the Students

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

This is an educational blog for free sharing of knowledge, not for commercial use. Please don't cut articles from my blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog http://professormsrao.blogspot.com This material may not be sold, or published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third party without permission.

Sunday, 29 July 2012

“Students must Emphasize on Extra Curricular Activities” - Professor M.S.Rao

“Today is life - the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.” - Dale Carnegie

Students must focus on both curricular and extracurricular activities equally as both can be compared with two eyes of an individual. Often students focus too much on academic activities and ignore extra curricular activities. It is a retrograde step leading to lopsided personality. For Indian students, there is a lot of pressure academically, and as a result, they ignore extracurricular activities. Here are the advantages of emphasizing on extracurricular activities:

Playing games and sports enhances team spirit and leadership qualities. Students will be able to build more energy levels thus getting relaxed and focusing on academics effectively. As it is rightly said, “All the work no play makes the Jack dull”. Hence, involving in physical activities has innumerable advantages for them.

Extracurricular activities help manage time effectively apart from building various skills that are needed for overall personality development. They remove negative thoughts from mind as people are engaged with various other constructive activities.

During employment interview the HR people often ask questions about extracurricular activities to assess the suitability of the candidates. It shows the importance attached to extracurricular activities.

If curricular activities develop hard skills, the extracurricular activities develop soft skills. Hard skills are about technical subject and competence, and soft skills are about interpersonal skills, personality, attitude and behavior. Right chemistry between the hard and soft skills is an imperative not only at the campus but also at the corporate world. There are a number of employees who are fired due to lack of soft skills despite being good in hard skills. In fact, people rise in organizations due to hard skills and fall due to dearth of soft skills.

There is no meaning to life when people focus too much on regular activities neglecting others activities that promote spiritual, mental, emotional and physical faculties. Hence, students must blend both curricular and extracurricular activities to eat the cake and have it too.

“We need a sense of the value of time - that is, of the best way to divide one's time into one's various activities.” - Arnold Bennett

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr12@gmail.com

Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com

Born for the Students

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

Friday, 27 July 2012

“Students must Acquire Office Etiquette” - Professor M.S.Rao

“Your manners are always under examination, and by committees little suspected, awarding or denying you very high prizes when you least think of it.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Office etiquette is an utmost important impression management tool that either makes or breaks your professional survival. If you observe certain precautions and adopt the essential etiquette your survival and success rate enhances in the workplace. We will discuss office etiquette in this article.

Before discussing office etiquette it is essential to understand the meaning of etiquette. Etiquette is all about your manners and how you behave with others with polite and consideration. It is how your present yourself in social surroundings. Will Cuppy defines, “Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential.”

In the workplace, you must know how to behave with your colleagues, superiors and subordinates. Also you must know how to handle your visitors. It requires office etiquette to deal various stakeholders professionally. You must know what is right and wrong, and what is accepted and appreciated practices and behavior to impress others, and to get the tasks executed successfully.

Although office etiquette varies across organizations, cultures and countries there are certain commonly accepted and adopted practices every employee must observe in the workplace. Here are a few things to observe in the workplace to promote fraternity, better understanding and ultimately enhancing performance and productivity.

• Don’t enter into other’s cubicle or cabin without permission.

• Don’t use other person’s computer system without seeking permission.

• Don’t sit on other person’s chair meant for him or her.

• Don’t speak loudly as it irritates others.

• Don’t go to office late. Be punctual.

• Don’t meddle into others’ personal affairs. Stick to office work and discuss about work activities, not into somebody’s personal issues.

• Don’t provide unsolicited advices to others.

• Avoid gossip and spreading rumors. Such people are not respected in the corporate world.

• Avoid office romance.

• Don’t indulge in organizational politics.

• Don’t carry forward the information.

• Don’t use office stationery for your personal work.

• Don’t use slang. Use polished and professional language.

• Maintain proper dress code.

• Knock the door, and seek the permission to enter others’ room.

• Make sure that your personal visitors meet you after your working hours.

• Use ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ as and when needed.

• Keep your workplace neat and clean the way you maintain in your home.

• Draw a fine line between your professional and personal relations.

• Control your emotions and especially anger. Workplace is not meant for venting out your anger.

• Value the time of your colleagues.

• Treat women with dignity.

• Respect all communities and appreciate the differences.

However big performer you may be, you must observe etiquette to create good impression among others and promote good relations. Remember that minor things make a major difference. Treat others the way you want to be treated.

Students must learn office etiquette skills while in educational institution itself so that they will be able to create good impression in the workplace and grow professionally. Etiquette is an integral part of professionalism, and it is treated as a subset of soft skills. Hence, students must learn the basic etiquette including office etiquette to quicken their career advancement.

Students must understand that good manners will help them stand firmly on the feet. Most of the students focus more on hard skills rather than soft skills. They must realize that minor things like soft skills matter a lot more in the workplace than the major things like hard skills. Clarence Thomas rightly said, “Good manners will open the best doors that education cannot.” To conclude students must observe, acquire, and practice right manners while they are in the educational institutions so that they find it comfortable in the corporate world

“Don't reserve your best behavior for special occasions. You can't have two sets of manners, two social codes - one for those you admire and want to impress, another for those whom you consider unimportant. You must be the same to all people.” - Lillian Eichler Watson

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr12@gmail.com

Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com

Born for the Students

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.

Thursday, 26 July 2012

“Improve Your Communication Skills” - Professor M.S.Rao

“Communication does not depend on syntax, or eloquence, or rhetoric, or articulation but on the emotional context in which the message is being heard. People can only hear you when they are moving toward you, and they are not likely to when your words are pursing them.” – Edwin H.Friedman

Indian students are strong in mathematics and information technology and they left an indelible mark for themselves globally. Unfortunately, they are unable to grab employment opportunities at home due to various reasons despite having plenty of employment opportunities presently. One of the major reasons is dearth of communication skills. Most of the students don’t know how to communicate well. In addition, most of the Indian students treat communication skills synonymous with English speaking skills. In fact, both are different as communication skills are required irrespective of the language you speak and English language skills are confined to English language alone which emphasizes on improving English language including accent. Hence, I will discuss about communication skills in this post.

There is an inner noise that prevents people from listening attentively. It is effective throughout the waking hours. If it is used properly it becomes inner dialogue to achieve whatever you want. If you don’t channel it properly it prevents you from listening during conversation. Hence, learn to check your inner noise so that you will listen well and ensure effective communication.

There are seven elements of communication such as sender, encoder, channel, understanding, decoder, receiver, and feedback. Whenever any communication takes place all these elements are involved. Unfortunately, the sender often doesn’t take feedback from the receiver resulting in poor communication. Hence, it is vital to confirm while speaking whether the receiver got the message properly or not. There is an eighth element – noise which is the culprit of communication. If there are any disturbances during communication the message doesn’t get across to the receiver properly. Hence, ensure that there is no noise during communication.

Most of the people assume communication and don’t receive the message properly. George Bernard Shaw once said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” In fact, it is the biggest challenge in communication. To ensure smooth communication, suspend your judgment and don’t assume communication and listen to the speaker properly.

Don’t assume that all receivers are intelligent. Hence, speak in a plain and simple language so that the receiver gets the message properly. William Butler Yeats rightly said, “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”

Be clear in your mind before you communicate. Remember that both the sender and the receiver must take responsibility to ensure successful communication as you need two hands to clap.

As communication is a skill it can be acquired from various sources including, reading, and practice. Above all, you must practice a lot to master the art of communication. Acquiring the art of communication is an imperative for all human beings to ensure peace and harmony and excel as a successful person.

“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.” - Jim Rohn

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Email: profmsr12@gmail.com

Blog: http://professormsrao.blogspot.com

Born for the Students

Dear readers,

I would appreciate your comments about this article.