Wednesday 18 September 2013

The First Indicator of a Performer with Really High TRP is the extremely short period of time he/she takes to deliver Quality Work. Work manifests in two forms - 1. the written document and 2. the voluble speech. Such a Quality Performer would be able to seamlessly transmit idea with appropriate technical strength, good choice of words, appropriate construct of the sentence, quick transfer to the document on the screen or in a series of spoken dialogues that reaches the audience unequivocally. It takes sustained practice of customized "Riyaaz" for each aspirant to be that Professional with a High TRP.

Saturday 27 July 2013

Have often asked myself and others "What constitutes an Outstanding Personality?"

Interestingly, the answers vary for almost all of them. But, a striking similarity emerges - the connotation of "Personality" has relevance to how long you know the guy.

When you know him for the fleeting moments of just a few minutes - it is the body language, the attire, the swagger with which he carries himself which constitutes personality. When you known him for about a month, it is more of the civility, the conduct with superiors and the presenting style that constitutes personality. And when you have known him for years, it is the value systems of integrity, fair play that he brings to the table along with his demeanor and sophistication that constitutes "Personality". What is your take on this?


I am delighted to welcome you to this inceptive writing on my latest blog titled "What Is Your Professional TRP?" Would request you to traverse the lines below and offer your feedback.

What it takes to be an Outstanding Manager/Performer?

Over the last two decades I have been researching on the skills/techniques which are a pre-requisite for a Manager to perform at really high thresholds of efficiency, making him a “Winning Performer”. In my nomenclature I call them “Professional TRP Skills.” TRP stands for “Translation From Resource To Performance” and denotes those vital skills which will catalyze the translation of one’s faculties, knowledge, qualification etc into tangible performance. Over the years when I have interacted with clients, students, participants and particularly interviewees, I had this uncanny feeling emanate that if the person had regularly, systematically pursued and honed up these TRP skills – he/she would have been far more effective as a Performer, as a Manager.
Professionally, I am a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary with active involvement also in teaching, training, consulting and HR.

The skills which I have identified and developed in to a curriculum so far are:-
·        
SELECT TECHNICAL AND DECISION MAKING SKILLS

o   Meeting Jockey – The Champion who drives meetings –who is the most important catalyst, making Meetings, Brainstorming and Management Review Sessions 2-3 times more productive and objective.
o   The Big Picture - A vital decision making tool that enables one to consider all key dynamics in the frame of reference so that a holistic evaluation is made. Makes decision making objective, holistic and effective.
o   Business Plan - You would understand the Business Plan, but how do you compile one? The compilation part wherein you put together a set of prospective financial statements – the Balance Sheet, the Income Statement and the Cash Flow needs to be practically mastered.
o   Cash Management Tool An indispensable Cash Forecasting Tool that enables you to be in control of the operating solvency of your business - so that any diversion of your working capital triggers a preventive response.
o   HHL- The Hard Honest Look At Your Business - A simple format which should be used in recasting the figures in a Balance Sheet and Income Statement to understand where the entity really stands or does not stand. A must for every Business Participant who needs to get a true snapshot of the financial standing of his business.
o   Advanced Excel Skills - Use of functions/features such as IRR, Index-Match, Lookups, Pivots, Goal Seek, Sumproduct, If(and), Conditional Formatting, Cell Protection, Recording a Macro etc. etc. can radically enhance your proficiency at numbers orientation – so crucial a business skill.
o    MIS-You need to be able to design an MIS which will enable you to look at the entity in a holistic perspective.
o    Keyboard Proficiency - If you are slow at the keyboard you may be 2-3 times slower than someone for whom the keyboard is an extension of himself. Ajoy Basu has himself  devised a Keyboard Familiarity Guide which trains you to master the keyboard as a traditional typist would.
o    Legal Orientation – A comprehensive Legal Checklist which will help you to effectively read legal documents and help evaluate them for relevance, completeness and adequacy.
o    Internal Control – The Control Environment and Control Activities are critical for the efficiency of your business, its financial reporting and preventing leakages.

·         COMMUNICATION, RETENTION AND RECALL SKILLS – THE POWER OF EXPRESSION

o    Rapid Reading
o    Mnemonics
o    Riyaaz – the unique daily routine that can transform your career, your personality in a continual process of self-empowerment.
o    Word Power-Sentence Power
o    Pronunciation
o    Listening Skills
o    Public Speaking

·         OTHER SKILLS WHICH ARE BEING ADDED TO THE CURRICULUM

o    Process Mapping
o    Business Etiquette

Specifically, I seek your inputs on the following:-

1.     Which other SKILL/TECHNIQUE you would add to the suite of skills/techniques listed above? (We need to keep in mind a general scenario without getting into the individual background of the Manager as to whether he comes from Operations, Marketing, HR, IT or Finance).

2.     While I believe that all these skills are highly important, would you scale them in an order of priority for a Manager?
I would be grateful if you could share your experience on the above – will go a long way in expanding my horizons and improving the curriculum which I have built so far.


My website is www.ajoybasu.com – the “Skills” page will be more relevant for this interaction. Inter alia, my website captures this interesting journey of identifying TRP Skills and imparting them in different formats for easy assimilation. In time, I would be publishing these experiences - your inputs on the lines above would be invaluable to me.