Making it to the top

Found this very interesting story on LinkedIn:

How Loyal are You?

Very early in my career a mentor drilled into my head, a few  non-negotiable virtues to follow in my professional life. One amongst them was to be loyal to oneself (and not to any organisation or a manager or a technology etc.,). It took me a while to understand and I've always strived building my career that way. I recently ran into a beautiful articulation of the concept of loyalty.

Loyalty is "about showing up, being on time, being reliable, doing what you say you’re going to do, being trustworthy, putting in a fair day’s work, respecting the work, respecting the customer, respecting the organization, respecting co-workers, not wasting time, not making work hard for other people, not creating unnecessary work for other people, not being a bottleneck, not faking work." Jason Fried, CEO of Basecamp

So this morning's question is simply this "How loyal are you?"

Have a great week!

Facilitating PDS and MDS at NID

Last week I had a great opportunity to facilitate a PDS2 and MDS2 class for our colleagues at NID. This was very different from the other classes I've facilitated. First, I knew almost all of them; Second, them being very senior professionals, there already was a lot of experience and wisdom in the room and Third, it was a four day non-stop (2-day each) which I had never done. 

It was very hectic and tiring. When facilitating, my day usually begins at 5AM, with 1.5hrs of final preparation followed by 15mins of visualising the flow. We'd meet with our co-facilitator over breakfast to exchange final notes of the day b/w 7:15-7:45AM and then leave to office/venue and plan to be there atleast 15mins before the class starts (usually 8:30AM). The classes go on till 5:15/5:30PM. We'd come back to hotel, do some emails and get ready for dinner and would be back to hotel by 9:30PM or so, then another 30mins of prep for next day, by when I'd not have any energy left.

I was little apprehensive given the reasons mentioned above, but I'm happy to note that it went very well, indeed one of my best classes (both based on my own observation and also on the formal feedback I got). Some people have asked me why I do this. There are several reasons - since I start preparing about a month before the classes, it refreshes things we ought to be doing as managers and therefore help me become a better manager (which is a long journey). Further, I learn from the lively interactions and since each time I meet different learners, my network across the company expands. Facilitators do not get special recognition, nor their work would be reduced and do it for their own reasons. It also helps that my boss take active interest and is very supportive. He always asks how things went, whom did I meet and what did I learn and would offer some suggestions/tips for the next program. The icing on the cake this time was that I facilitated with Jason White one of the most experienced facilitators, a natural presenter and comes with a lot of experience. I'm glad I took the opportunity.

Here are some pics.

PDS2 (for Individual Contributors)

MDS2 (for managers)