Leading Corporate Training Companies in India

Last night we had a very interesting discussion. It was on, you guessed it, why are we one of the top 10 corporate training companies in India.

It all started with a session that was being conducted by us for one of our clients. It was on my all time favourite topic, Emotional Intelligence. This session was being held in a different format as it was a senior audience we were catering to and felt that we wanted to give them something that goes down a lot deeper. We didn’t want to make it a session typically run by corporate training companies in Mumbai or as a matter of fact corporate training companies in India. We wanted to do something different, something that would rattle the very core of every participant and make him or her think whether they were really doing justice to the emotions that keep bubbling up inside them.

I find it astonishing that pretty much all of us are at such a loss when it comes to dealing with our emotions. It doesn’t matter what position you are at in your organisation, what qualification you have or how much money you have in your bank account. When it comes to emotions, even the most intelligent of us (needless to say that the more intelligent you are the greater your loss in this department) fail miserably!

I too have been part of this clan all my life. In fact it’s only of late that I got some respite from being such an integral part of it. I was always the emotional fool who just had too much of sentiment and emotion. The worst part was that it would always come out at the wrong times and I really didn’t know how to control it.

As I kid I had realized that the only way to keep it under check was to keep it suppressed. Sounds familiar? That’s the strategy that we have all been using, isn’t it? It was only when I got introduced to Mindfulness that I realised that I was doing the exact opposite of what I should be doing!

Like the rest of my emotional brothers and sisters, I too ran to some top training institutes in India as well as some corporate trainers in Mumbai to find my answer. However I always came back with a void, with a question still answered. It always felt like there was something more which everybody was missing out. I had tried out so many of the things they had recommended but all of them had a very short term impact. None of them had the permanency that I was looking for.

This desperate desire and relentless effort finally led me to the answer that I had been searching for all my life. In fact this long drawn search is the very reason that sets us apart from many other training and consulting companies in India.

The difference comes from the experiences you go through life and how you deal with the pain that comes along with them. It made us search until we found something that really worked for us and in the bargain go through a range of techniques that are currently in the training market. It eventually landed us with something that had the power to transform our entire being and connect us to the superpower that we were. That something, that had the power to give us back the power that we have given off to our minds and allowed it to rule over us and make us miserable. That something, that took us deep and allowed us to connect with and understand all those around us. So what made the difference? Having lived through the grilling experiences of life, learning from them and then standing up strong to be able to help not only ourselves but also all those around us.

So now you know our secret of being one of the top 10 corporate training companies in India. We are truly the horses and what you hear from us is coming directly from the horse’s mouth!

In case you want to explore some of our ‘straight from our heart’ sessions, you are most welcome to. The Yellow Spot is one of the top corporate training institutes in Mumbai and has successfully trained more that 50,000 participants on various soft and behavioural skills. For more information about The Yellow Spot, you can visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/

Change Management Training and Tomorrowland?

Guess which movie I saw yesterday? Tomorrowland. Seen it? It’s one of those movies which has a deep meaning to it but the meaning can get lost in the Sci-fi action that is shown. Now you must be wondering what this movie has to do with change management training right? Well let me explain.

Movies are a great way of learning. They give you a visual experience and some of them have enough juice in them to allow you to mull over them for hours and sometimes even days together! I still remember when I first saw the Matrix. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for so many days!

Well this movie, Tomorrowland seems to have had a similar effect on me! I saw it last night and am somehow still under its influence! So what was so special about this movie? The foundation of it. For most of the movie, it was rockets flying around and people roaming around in flying machines in a visually appealing location filled with high risers and flyovers. In fact I spent a major portion of time actually wondering what the movie was trying to show and whether it was really going to go anywhere or not!

The Tomorrowland Movie

It was the end of the movie which had its soul, a dialogue given by the 'so-called' villain which explained exactly why he was doing what he was doing. This in turn was followed by some other good dialogues on human behaviour. The whole message was very beautiful and it really struck me as it was so true.

What the movie talked about was as I said human behaviour. It spoke about the feedback loop and how we tend to get stuck in it. So in the movie they had this large monitor which was sending out signals of doom to the people on earth. The villain had intended that these signals would actually scare people and they would wake up and do something about the doom that the earth was heading towards. However, instead of taking action on it, people latched on to the negative thought. Instead of fighting against the negative, they now fed into the negative, creating a negative feedback loop which created more negativity. In this manner the negativity just continued and nobody made the effort of breaking out of it! This was until there were some people who were aware of the negativity and still had hope rose up. They realized that feeding negativity would lead to more negativity as what you feed grows. They stood up and fought to save the world with all their positivity and hope. This in turn inspired others and earth was saved.

The Wolf Story from Tomorrowland

This story is actually the story of our minds. What we focus on grows. If we focus on the negative, the negative grows. Of we focus on the positive, positive grows. Its up to us what we want to focus on. The world is going to keep throwing negative on us as it is what is currently there in the collective consciousness. However if we can stay focused on our path and bring ourselves back to the positive even when we stray, then we will turn out to be the winners.

Another interesting aspect that I found here was the negative monitor which throws negativity. The monitor is definitely out there in the world. The politics, famine, murders, hate and resentment being proof of it. However there is a monitor in our minds too. It’s the tape that keep running in our minds and telling us how pathetic we are. Even if we do something good, this tape tells us that it’s not good enough and makes us feel like losers. It somehow always tells us that we are not good enough no matter what we do!

 It is actually this tape that is responsible for stopping our progress. If we can learn to question the tape and only listen to those things that are true, we can actually make the changes that we want to make in life.

Seeing the link now, the link between this movie and change management training?

So this brings me back to my most favourite model, the model of change.

The Change Model

This model has the following three steps:

1. Awareness
2. Acceptance
3. Action

So what do we have to do to  change? Go step by step. If you directly jump to the third step action then you could be setting yourself up for failure. Why? Haven’t you seen when you try to exercise to lose weight what happens. Most of us are motivated for about a fortnight and then it slowly wanes off! So why does this happen? It is because of the little tape in our minds. It says things to us which make us lode the motivation that we need to go on. It actually resists the forward movement, a sort of anti gravity I would say! So the more you try to move forward the more your mind will pull you back. This makes your chances of being successful at your endeavor very bleak.

So what should you do? Go step by step. First get aware of what your tape is saying. If it’s telling you that you are a lazy person and you will never be able to lose weight then be aware of it. After you have heard it out now accept that it is saying that. What happens with most of us is that we start an internal conflict as soon as we get aware of things. We start fighting with our minds and all our energy gets wasted in fighting rather than moving to the next step. So what we have to do here is to accept what our mind is saying. Tell it that yes we have been lazy in the past but let’s see what happens this time. This will create a certain kind of peace inside which will give you enough energy, clarity and direction to move to the next step of action. Then you can finally take the third step and create the change that you want in your life.

Getting aware of and accepting our minds can be quite a task and takes a lot of practice and motivation. If you want to create a change in your life and need some help with it, we’re always there to assist you. Join us in our change management training where we help in mastering our change management model. Do also visit our website http://www.theyellowspot.com/ to have a look at the areas where you would want to create a change in your life.

One of the Best Corporate Training Companies in Mumbai

Being one of the best Corporate Training Companies in Mumbai, the most common question our business development team is asked is, “What does your training company specialize in?” I couldn't agree less with all our Clients! There are dozen's of Corporate Training Companies in India which provide the entire gamut of soft skills training and choosing one from so many can be a really tough task. Understanding which domain each company specialises in, what the consultant’s core strength is and whether that core strength is something that the client organisation requires is absolutely essential. Training companies really need to answer the question that pops up in every client's mind, ‘Does this company specialize in what I am looking for?.'

In today’s article, I shall answer this very question by telling you a bit about what ‘The Yellow Spot’ offers and what we specialize in. So let's get going..

‘The Yellow Spot’ offerings are categorically divided into four clusters as seen in the figure below:

The Four Clusters of our Offerings

Now, each of these clusters is an umbrella under which we have a host of related workshops.

So let's have a look at each of the four clusters in a little morer detail.

Cluster 1: Personal Effectiveness

Improving Personal Effectiveness

• Personal development is the first and the most important step to success and in fact determines an individual's success in all other domains
• Hence for personal development we have an entirely different cluster, our Personal Effectiveness Cluster
• This cluster consists of workshops that are helpful for an individual’s personal efficacy and helps the individual become strong on all fronts so that he can be more effective while working in teams and as a part of the organisation on the whole
• Some of the workshops that come under this particular cluster are Personality Development, Communication Skills, Stress Management, Time Management, etc.

Cluster 2: Team Effectiveness

An Effective Team

• When people have to work together, it is important for them to come together as a team and work effectively
• Once one has developed himself or herself on the personal effectiveness front, the next step is to be a team player and contribute effectively to the team
• The Team Effectiveness cluster consists of workshops that help in building effective and efficient teams
• Some of the workshops that come under this umbrella are Interpersonal Communication Skills, Team Building and Team Bonding, Conflict Management, etc.

Cluster 3: Competency Based Effectiveness

Developing Competencies

• For an individual to grow and climb up the career ladder, it is very important to be competent and proficient
• Our Competency Based Effectiveness cluster consists of workshops that help in developing various  competencies
• Some of the workshops that come under this cluster are  Lateral Thinking, Creativity and Innovation, Problem Solving and Decision Making, Sales Effectiveness, Interviewing Skills, etc.

Cluster 4: Organisational Effectiveness

A Growing Organisation

• Organisational Effectiveness is about how effectively the organisation is achieving its goals
• For achieving these goals the organisation needs to keep developing itself and adapting to the rapidly changing  environment
• Hence our Organisation Effectiveness cluster helps organisations bring in the required development and change through various Organisational Development interventions, Assessment Centres/Development Centres, Coaching, etc.

As you can see, these four clusters cover just about anything that an individual, team or organisation requires or can require! If you would like to know more about the workshops that come under each of these clusters you can visit the various pages under our ‘service offerings tab’ on our website. Here's a link to get you started http://www.theyellowspot.com/

So when it comes to corporate training companies in Mumbai, we are pretty much a ‘One-Stop-Shop’. You name it and we have it! So whether you are looking at personal development for individuals, team development or something to help your organisation move forward, we have it all.

Now coming to what 'The Yellow Spot' specialises in amongst these four clusters, its currently the first two clusters i.e. Personal effectiveness and the Team effectiveness. We have a buffet of offerings in personal and team effectiveness which are really effective and can help individuals and their teams develop and to go to the next level.

Now does that mean we lack experience in the competency based effectiveness and organisational effectiveness clusters? No, it doesn't! Its just that we get more opportunities in the first two clusters as there is a larger audience for them. Competency Based and Organisational effectiveness workshops are typically more in demand for people who are higher up in the corporate rungs. So do we have the ability to deliver good workshops and interventions in the Competency and Organisational Effectiveness clusters? Yes, we most definitely do and we have some very experienced consultants with us who can successfully do them.

So if you are searching for Corporate Training Companies in Mumbai or in fact anywhere else in India also (I forgot to mention another one of our specialities, our PAN India Presence!), you can visit  our website at http://www.theyellowspot.info/index.php to help us understand how we can help you.

Is your Organisation a Learning Organisation?

Honestly speaking, a Learning Organisation as a concept is very complex. However, if I were to put it simply, a learning organisation is one which continuously transforms itself through learning. So it is one where people in the organisation look forward to increasing their capability to gain better outcomes in order to achieve what they truly desire. It is therefore the process of overall development of the people, culture, processes and technology of an organisation and also it's ability to deal with the external environment.

For an organisation to be a learning organisation, it has to work as a team on a whole. It has to be one solid unit. Why as a team, because when you truly work as a team, you learn a lot from each other and develop at a much faster rate.

We all know the three pillars of a team right? Openness, inclusiveness and control. Since a learning organisation is made up of one big team, these pillars are also essential to a learning organisation.

A learning organization has to have an open environment where people are open with and to each other, open to suggestions, open to discussions and most importantly open to learning. It has to look at inclusiveness, which is about people feeling included, the feeling of belongingness. Lastly, it also needs to consider the control factor, which talks about trusting people to do what they have to without too much control, yet keeping enough to maintain the required order. It therefore believes in letting people work on their own by giving them the power to make decisions as and when required.

Typically which kind of organisations is this seen in more? Flat organisations where each person is responsible, teams are very well connected and everyone knows what’s happening, not just internally but also externally i.e. technologically, politically, socially, with competitors, etc. That is when an organisation truly learns and eventually develops itself.

Transforming from a Traditional to a Learning Organisation

Well, if you ask me, the best example of a learning organisation for me is ‘The Yellow Spot’ itself. At The Yellow Spot, we truly believe in practising what we preach. So when we go around telling our clients to build a learning organisation, we ensure ours is one too! So we have a flat structure with an open culture where employees are more like partners. We don't believe in hierarchies and work as a team; deal with & solve problems, discuss, suggest and learn together. All these are of prime importance to us and are the main reason for making us reach where we have. So every new programme we deliver, we learn something new from it and ensure we use the learning to take future programmes to the next level. Apart from this, we also spend time in reading, reflecting, experimenting, attending other sessions, etc. to ensure that we are updated and well versed to deal with the current needs of  our client organisations and their people. That is how we are a learning organisation ourselves.

Now coming back, why do learning organisations play such an important role? Primarily because they focus on both individual and organisational development, which are highly interrelated and cannot be treated separately. They focus on the total quality of the organisation by developing the individuals, teams, leaders and the company on the whole; to be able to sustain themselves in the ever changing environment and move ahead to create a difference.

They foster an environment of team learning which helps in thinking together to manage the complexities to take the business to the next level. They offer an open culture and emphasize on a readiness to unlearn things in order to learn new things and develop oneself. The people oriented approach they follow always pays off, as the human resource is the only resource that actually appreciates with time!

Learning in an organisation is a continuous process and when implemented appropriately, it positively reflects across levels and helps in managing change, creating a competitive advantage and developing and engaging all the stakeholders taking into consideration their collective aspirations. It thus brings in the feeling of togetherness in the organisation and builds a cohesive team which helps take it through to the next level.

Having realised the importance of a learning organisation, organisations today are investing heavily on their developmental activities. They are empowering their employees and giving them opportunities to develop and go to the next level. This in turn is increasing employee motivation, engagement and the feeling of ownership and loyalty that they have towards their company.

As one of the top corporate training companies in India, we help organisations step into such a learning environment and help them grow. Our developmental programs help organisations adapt to change and deal with challenges in the rapidly changing environment. We help them become self sufficient and capable of sustaining growth. Learning is an on-going process for transformation and learning encourages innovation, which further encourages sustainability in this highly competitive world. Hence learning and developing with time is important and essential.

So when are you planning to become a learning organisation? If you need help in your learning journey, you can always let us know. Visit our website http://www.theyellowspot.com/ and let us know how we can assist you.

Sales Training - To Sell or not to Sell

Sales Training is extremely important as the number one focus of any company post coming up with a unique product or service is to sell it.

If you can't sell your product you will perish.  The market either has a need for your product or else you have to create it.

When Steve jobs was about to introduce the touch pad phone in the market, he said something very interesting to his friend who said that this was not going to work in a market that was used to key pad phones.

Steve Jobs explaining...

Steve Jobs' answer was that the buyer does not know what he wants and he was going to put in every effort to make the buyer learn to adapt to it. We all know now what happened post that in the cell phone industry with Apple being a pioneer in the touch pad technology and being followed by so many others!

The same funda applies to sales.

You either fulfil an existing need or you create something so radical that your buyers have no option but to get hooked to it and get so used to using it that that it actually turns from being a want to a need!

So what are some of the rules of successful selling? The number one rule of successful sales is that the point of focus is the customer. The number two rule is, well, that you focus on the number one rule!

Most of the companies inadvertently focus on their product and services and then try to match it with the customer needs. However this is where they fail or they struggle.

Successful companies always focus on the customer and their needs and then check out if the product or the service matches this need. An interesting question that arises then, is if their product is not fulfilling the need of the customer, can they come back without selling it to them? After all, leaving the sale for the good of the customer itself is an indirect sale. The same prospect will go and tell ten different people around him about how genuine your intentions were and it will automatically lead other customers towards you. This word of mouth will really give your sales a shot in the arm.

An effective sales training will always teach you this. Selling skills training is not about hooking the customer and getting him to buy your product. It is about how to be genuine, how to focus on customer needs, how to create an impact by fulfilling the promises given, how to establish a rapport and how to learn to let go and how to stay in touch with the customer even post your role being over.

If your sales team learns this and imbibes this in their daily behaviour, then success is bound to happen. However it must be remembered that this attitude cannot be imbibed into the sales team until the top management is also aligned to this philosophy as it is only possible as a top down approach. The management has to eat, drink, sleep and talk this at all points of time and any one not aligned to it has to be questioned.

Are you willing to take this stand !!!!

If you would like to know more about the Sales Training we conduct, please visit our website at http://www.theyellowspot.com/

Happy Selling:)

Making Corporate Training Successful

The Corporate Training Business has started booming in the country since 1991 and has reached new heights in the past decade. Not only have new international companies entered the market, the local ones have also strengthened their hold and offerings and new ones are cropping up regularly.

Apart from needing prior experience, there are no barriers faced as such when entering into this business.

While many players have entered the business, sustenance and growth only happen of those who add value to the client and fulfil their needs.

Corporate training companies in India have not restricted themselves to offering only training programs.

At The Yellow Spot, we also started as a corporate training company in Mumbai offering Soft and Behavioural skills training programs across the country and have gradually spread our wings across the country using a blended approach of offerings.

Corporate Training using the Experiential Learning Approach

We recruited trainers at strategic locations and also empanelled them at other locations. This helped create a robust team across 50 locations across the country.Later we decided to move into the Organization Development, E-learning, Content Design and Development, Leadership Development, Coaching and the Mentoring space.

This opened up various avenues for us as well as helped expand the services we could offer our clients.

Many training companies have also created and specialised in their own products, creating a niche market for themselves. They have also started marketing some products and services offered by international players who were looking at strategic partnerships in the country.

For the client however the single question prevails as to how these offerings will suffice their needs and benefit their employees.

The answer is simple. Whether a soft skills training company, a hard skills training company, an e-learning company or a leadership development company, one has to do thorough diagnostic of the client environment. One has to dig deep into the people and place to know what is prevailing. Unless you know the current environment you cannot build a bridge for the better. Another important point to consider is that the current environment in the organization has to be understood neutrally keeping the Consultants biases aside.

The second step is to co-create a learning road map along with the client.  Unless the client is fully involved, a fruitful intervention cannot be designed. That’s where most of the training companies in India or corporate training companies in Mumbai, corporate training companies in Pune, training companies in Delhi, corporate training companies in Chennai, corporate training companies in Bangalore, corporate training companies in Kolkata, etc.  miss out.

The temptation of suggesting the pill before finding the root cause of the problem can be very strong and it can actually lead the intervention to go astray. The trap is at times also created by the client assuming the consultant to be the expert and the consultant offering himself as the expert.

The fact is that most of the programs that are not co created usually don’t meet their expectations.

Another very important aspect is sustenance of the learning. This again is a co supported requirement. The post intervention aspect is very strongly required and the most neglected at times. Most learning interventions don’t yield results because they are looked at as one time interventions and not much effort is made to sustain the learning. Regular learning circles, follow ups, refreshers, action plans, transfer climate, projects and length of interventions actually help in sustaining the learning environment and eventually making the intervention a success.

If a corporate training company focuses on these elements then success is bound to be theirs. This also then raises the question that can they learn to refuse when they feel the requirements of conducting a successful  learning intervention are not being met by the client?

To learn more about how to make your learning interventions more successful, visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/

Management Development Programs for Change

Management Development Programs primarily focus on skills development training. However Most of the Management Development programs fail to bring out desired results as the concerned stakeholders have not been involved in the change process and thorough diagnosis is usually missing.

Every program needs a thorough understanding about the current situation in the organization which is called as the organizational climate. Detailed analysis of the current culture can happen through sensing, systemic understanding of the organizations functioning, interviews, surveys, group discussions, detailed analysis and observation of the business and various departments. This preparatory work helps in determining if the gaps can be plugged by training alone or other interventions have to be looked upon.

Diagnosing the Organisational Climate Together

Usually training as standalone solution is never effective however many a times training programs and interventions are used as scape goats with a thought that training is the final ultimate solution and that becomes the biggest reason why training interventions fail miserably.

What also typically happens with internal and external consultants is that they decide the pill before doing the diagnostic as they feel that the tools they know and have learnt are the best approaches for the given problem. This usually leads to disaster.

What may be required is a thorough fact finding and brainstorming post the diagnosis about more long term sustainable changes using the right leverage points along with training interventions.

Once it gets established that training is the solution via detailed diagnostics, the next required step is to look at a strong supportive environment also called as transfer climate which will help the participants practice the learning’s.

This has to be provided by the HR, top management and the bosses without which the training program can become ineffective.  In fact most successful interventions carried out so far have a strong buy in and involvement of the HR and the business.

Another aspect required is action planning with regular follow up and refreshers courses apart from individual and group coaching.

Follow up on the action planning by the HR and the Business Heads/Managers is important to ensure that there is seriousness in applying the learning once the training program is complete. It also helps participants in keeping and remembering to keep the learning ready with them so that they may action it as and when required.

Learning also looses its essence if not repeated as participants forget in some time what they learnt and the role of refreshers becomes important here. This is the reason why one-off managerial skills development programs never bring desired results.  It is only a measured systemic development which helps in bringing the desired change over a period of time and when an organization focuses on quick fixes and overnight change, the results are usually poor and fruitless.

At The Yellow Spot, we strongly feel that it is not only the participants but their seniors, customers, peers and support functions who should also be considered as a part of interventions as they are the ones who also facilitate change by providing a transfer climate.

Hence the focus of any management development program or managerial skills training should not be limited to only participants and respective stakeholders should also be included.

To get the most out of your Management Development Programs, come visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/

Daily Dose of Leadership Training

Leadership Training or for that matter leadership, is a very broad term and is applicable to everyone, whether it is the watchman of the office, the CEO of a big company, a father or a husband at home. However it is often misunderstood as a term that most people link to leadership positions they hold in the society or in organizations.

So let's understand leadership a little more in depth to be able to know what it actually means.

I would like to share a real life scenario where i experienced leadership capabilities in a fried fish seller recently.

There is a fried fish seller who operates from the road near our office and I eat fried fish every other day from him. His fried fish are fresh and very tasty.

 This particular time that i visited him, he had just come back from a long holiday of over 3 months and I was wondering where he had been. When i asked him, he said that he had taken a break as the fish market is closed for 3 months of the monsoon season. I asked what he was doing for those 3 months and he said he drove an auto riksha for around 8 hours a day during these months.

 The next question I asked him was how he managed his house expenses with this business of fish selling being a part time business, to which he answered that it was difficult and he was just about able to manage. He also said that he was quite happy as he did not want to slog and do additional work like other people in his locality.

The Happy Fisherman

 I wondered what could be the reason behind him not being interested in working harder and making more money for his family and finally landed up asking him. 

His answer was that he had 3 sons and spent a large part of the day in teaching them and ensuring that they get the best of education, love and nurturing. He said that as a part of his efforts his 2 sons were doing very well at school and he wanted them to grow and not be a fish seller like him. If he would have not spent time with his children then they would also have no future like him and would end up on the road. His wife was also at home and ensured she was available for the children and the husband all the time. The family was thus fully focused together in their goal of bringing up their children and giving them the best environment.

 I felt it was great to see the foresight of a father who was illiterate and had no formal education and I felt truly inspired. 

Now this was an example of pure leadership for me, where the father of the house had a larger vision for his family and children. He understood how not to get sucked into the daily routine of life and to keep his vision strong and worked on it day by day. He was also self aware and felt that earning loads of money was not as important as his children’s future.

If you look deeper into this story you can learn some valuable lessons like

• Managing self & time,
• Self sacrifice for others,
• Simplicity of life
• Decision making,
• Long term growth,
• Alignment of vision with actions,
• Team work.

Such examples are all around us at all points of time and there is a lot to learn from them and then experiment and imbibe into our routine life.  In fact it's easier to learn from the little things in life rather than trying to digest big theories!

We, at The Yellow Spot, feel that it all begins with starting to know the Self and learning how to manage the self. Managing the self requires insights into ones thoughts and feelings which leads to greater awareness  and what you get aware of can be more easily changed and most of the time even changes automatically!

It is said by the great mystics that "all change is only possible outside when you get in touch with your inside" and how true it is.

At The Yellow Spot, our leadership training programs focus on helping you to start observing yourself and the way you behave. We firmly believe that no leadership program can be successful unless it is able to bring change inside the individual and hence all our leadership skills training emphasize on the same.

Self Awareness is however also a process. It is not something that happens overnight and requires lots of patience and continuity. We deploy tools like the Gestalt Therapy, NLP, Transactional Analysis, Vipassana and Mindfulness as well as Human Process Labs to catalyse the process.

Our focus is on the whole individual rather than over one aspect of him. Once self awareness is developed, all other skills get easily imbibed. In fact we have to actually make individuals unlearn a lot to be able to start learning and practicing once again!

If you would like to be a part of our Leadership Training workshops, you can get in touch with us and visit our website page at http://www.theyellowspot.com/ for more details about our Leadership Training and other Soft Skills and Behavioural Training.

Appreciating diversity through Team Building Workshops

I read two very interesting theories yesterday which I could connect to our Team Building Workshops. The first one was on the learning cycle and the learning styles that we all have. As per the theory, commonly known as the Kolb’s Learning Cycle and Kolb’s Learning Styles respectively, we all have a typical learning cycle that we tend to follow and should follow for maximum learning. We go through a particular experience, we then like to observe what happened in the experience, reflect on it, draw our conclusions from it and then go ahead and test our conclusions.

So if I was to try to learn a skill at work, say how to handle irate customers how I would do it is:

1. Experience: I first interact with an irate customer to know what happens in such a case

2. Observation and Reflection: I recollect what happened in the interaction and try to reflect on various aspects like how the conversation went, what were the words and feelings exchanged, how I reacted or responded to what the customer said, etc.

3. Conceptualisation: I now start drawing my conclusions as to what I need to do to handle the irate customer well or better like take a deep breath and allow the customer to vent while he is angry instead of defending myself

4. Testing: I now go and try my conclusions on another irate customer to see if they are correct

The testing phase then gives rise to a new set of experiences and the cycle continues.

David Kolb goes on to say that although we all follow the same learning cycle, yet we all have different learning styles. So while somebody might prefer the observation and reflection part, others might learn more by testing and actually doing things.

The other theory I read was on how all of us use different areas of our brains for performing different functions. So although we all have similar faculties in the brain which can perform similar functions, the use of some come naturally to us whereas others just don’t. So while some of us may use our analytical areas more, others may use their intuitive faculties more. Now those using the analytical areas can also use the intuitive areas with practice, but it may be a strain as it’s not something that come naturally to them.

Another interesting thing that I found in this theory is that we like being around people who use similar brain parts to ourselves and normally become friends with such people. On the other hand, we are naturally attracted to those who use complementary brain parts to ours and choose such people as a mate as they tend to complete us as cover up our so called weaknesses.

So if you look at both theories, they give us great insights into teams. They both tell us that teams being made up of humans always have a common factor in them. They have similar ways of learning as well as similar brain functions. In that sense every team has a common thread running through it.

However, if you go a little deeper you will realise that teams also have diversity. They are made up of different people who differ in the way they like to learn and differ in the way that they make use of their brain functionalities.

Diversity in Teams

So then is the commonality good or is the diversity good for a team? Am sure you all have the answer to this one and you will tell me that it’s really a no brainer! Both are good, the common pieces keep us bonded together as a single unit and the diversity helps us in performing a variety of functions which each team member excels in. Right?

My question to you is that although we all know this and say it, is it really something that we believe and practice? Is it something that really comes from our core? Do we really appreciate diversity?

The fact is that most of us are unfortunately unable to appreciate it although we may try very hard too! Why, because of an innate need to be accepted. Have you ever thought of why we like people who are similar to us? It’s because when someone is similar, it somewhere confirms to us that we are also alright which in turn makes us feel more accepted.

If you look at it the other way also, you will realise that we don’t like things which are different from us. Most of the conflicts in the world occur because of this. So we don’t like people who are of a different religion or from a different country or city. The conflicts that we have in office are also mostly because of different opinions and different personalities.

So is there some way to appreciate these differences then? Join our team building workshops and we will happily show you the way to have a bonded yet diversity appreciating team.

Visit our website http://www.theyellowspot.com/ to learn what skills your team members have and how you can leverage them.

Time Management Training or Mind Training?

Is Time Management Training really a thing? Or should I say is time really a thing that can be managed and that’s something that we can train you on?

Time is a very peculiar commodity. It is constant yet it changes! We all have 24 hours in a day, so in that sense it is constant. Yet at the same time it is variable too. It varies from people to people and even amongst the same person! Weird isn’t it? The number of hours in a day for the Prime Minister would probably seem like less than 24 whereas those for a retired man would seem like a lot more. You can see it in an individual too. Time seems to be flying by when we are watching a good movie and 2 hours really feel like an hour whereas when we are studying a subject we are not exceptionally fond off, even 30 minutes can feel like 2 hours!

How does this happen? It’s actually all to do with our minds. Frankly there is no change in the actual time available or spent; the only difference is in the way we perceive it. Why the difference in perception? It’s due to our mind.

Now let me tell you a secret. There is actually no time. It’s just something that has been created by us to give ourselves a platform to measure events against; something relative, created to keep everyone on the same page. This can be understood by when we connect to the present moment or should I say the direct neural network in our nervous systems.

There are 3 aspects that an event can be broken down into. The past, present and future. The past is what has happened previously and is over. The present is what is happening at this very instant. The future is what will happen after this present moment has passed. So each moment is a future moment, then becomes a present moment and then becomes the past, all in 3 superfast moments! Confused? It’s a bit of a funny concept as we have not really spent much time dwelling on it although it is continuously happening.

In fact I can see it clearly while I am writing this article. I frankly have no clue as to what I am writing (I know I wasn’t supposed to tell you that!), it’s just flowing through me. I have not really thought about what I am writing or what I am going to write, it’s just that something is coming to me and I am writing it down. So I really don’t have a clue of the future moments as I have no idea of what I am going to write, I am writing what is coming to me in the present moment and as soon as I write it it becomes the past! Since I am so ‘in the present moment’, I have no sense of time and do not even have the urge to measure it! All I know is that I am thoroughly enjoying writing this article and am feeling very fulfilled in doing the same.

This is the direct neural network I was talking about. When you connect to this network, time loses its meaning. Am sure you will ask me how then can I manage time while being connected to this network as I have lost complete sense of time?

It’s quite unbelievable until you actually do it. What happens in the present moment is that you don’t waste time thinking as such. Yes your working mind is working, or the conscious mind as you may call it. That is the minimal amount of mind needed to perform a task, like me typing in this case. I need my mind to instruct my fingers which keys to press for typing. The rest of my mind is not really on. I know that sounds absurd but it’s true. I am currently not making use of my subconscious mind which is actually the one that takes up a lot of our time. When we are just connected to the conscious mind, it feels like things are happening through you and you cease to get tired even though frankly you are working at a superfast speed without feeling the strain of it. When you work through the subconscious mind, there is a lot of processing that goes into it which wastes a lot of energy and time which we conserve if we just stick to the conscious mind.

The next question will be then how do we do this, right? How do we switch from our normal tendency of staying in the past and the future, (which is staying in the subconscious mind or as we call it operating from the default network) to operating from the conscious mind or the direct network. It’s done by simply staying in the present moment. Well it’s not that simply frankly because we have lost all practice of it. We knew how to do it as kids but have slowly forgotten the art. Whenever you realise you are going into the past or future, you gently bring your mind back to the present and then starts the magic. You will never have to ever manage your time once you get the hang of it.

To relearn this beautiful technique, you can definitely attend one of our Time Management Training sessions and we would be happy to assist you get back what was once yours!

So that’s me signing off and as I look at the time I have really written this article in superb time:)

Visit us at http://www.theyellowspot.com/ to learn more about our Soft and Behavioural Skills offerings.