This is common in many organizations. But, it’s unethical and has a very slim chance of working. Do not lose hope, keep performing and adding value, and always remember to showcase your achievements. Do not stop enhancing and upgrading your knowledge and skills. It will come in handy during the next discussion. Remember; do not hound your boss with constant reminders. It would be good idea to track your performance thorough objective performance management. Setting goals and tracking achievements will give you the benefit. It is not said without reason, tough times never last, tough people do!

Your colleague who is not as hardworking as you, recently lands a juicy promotion, while you have been constantly overlooked. You feel cheated and demoralized. What’s the way out?
Favoritism in the workplace is certainly very common and an inevitable fact of working life. Sometimes the boss may not be aware of the preferential treatment meted out to someone. It could be due to the fact that the ‘perceived’ value the person adds is considered higher than what your value addition is. the best way to tackle such a situation is,
- Compare the performance of the ‘favorite employee’ to that of your performance and check if you stand out in terms of performance.
- Peak to colleagues, check if they too feel the same way.
- If there is adequate/substantial proof that the promotion is not due to work and performance related factors, involve the HR. Get valid, relevant performance data and collectively present the case. Post appraisals, there is a window period during which you can highlight your grievance to HR, use the forum to highlight your concerns.

You can find people in leadership roles almost everywhere you look. However, simply shouldering responsibilities of a leader doesn’t necessarily makea a person an effective leader. Leadership itself is a privilege and a skill. There are many leadership skils and competencies that when combined and applied, go towards making you an effective leader.

So what is empathy? Empathy is the ability to have an intuitive understanding of other people and their needs. Within a business setting, it is critical for empathy to be as widespread as possible, permeating all departments from sales to accounting to manufacturing. In today’s world, as evidenced by the terrible financial crisis of last year, there is a possibility that we could get too caught up in data. When we do that, we often fail to see truths that are right in front of us. Employees at ll levels of an organization need to understand the people beyond the office walls – their customers, their clients etc. This enables everyone to make better real-world decisions. Over time, even the smallest decisions influenced by empathy add together to produce a more informed and nimble organization.

Empathy is a necessary attribute of a great leader but i is not sufficient. A lot more is required. In fact, some highly aggressive corporate environments see empathy as a sign of weakness. A good example of such cold-bloodedness was the hot-shot chief executive Albert John Dunlap, who appeared to relish the title of ‘Chainsaw A1′, bestowed upon him for the way he could and would fire any number of employees without hesitation. Well, he was considered to be golder CEO for a while, but he ended up being denounced for an accounting fraud! And that’s the core of the matter – people who are not empathetic often end up being selfish and short sighted instead.

Effective leaders, make tough decisions when situations warrant, but hey also communicate with employees and understand what they are going through. Empathy distinguishes a good leader from the great ones, in a crises situations.

It has been understood that empathy is one quality that a leader must possess in order to be successful and it also plays a role in making an organization achieve its vision. So,, what are the behaviors that go into making any person empathetic towards others and how can this quality be developed?

Empathy can be built from three major behavior
- Recognizing your own shortcomings – past and present.
- Listening to others and learning more about their lives and their private challenges
- Explicitly aspiring to a noble deal of leadership.

If you want your business to adopt widespread empathy, there are really three steps to follow.
1 – Leave the office and get outside. Go to places where people are most likely to act like themselves.
2 – Be genuinely interested in other people. Forget about what is that you do and start caring about the needs of others. Find the real needs first and your solutions will dramatically improve too.
3 – Bring evidence of the real world back to your offices.

Empathetic leaders position people first. True empathy stems from the leader’s ability to display genuine concern towards the needs of others. High level of empathy is denoted by:
1 – Listening to people:
Pay attention to their tone of voice, to the hidden emotions behind what they are saying to you and to the context. Don’t interrupt people. Don’t dismiss their concerns offhand.

2 – Focusing on the non-verbal communication:
the body language of people often communicates what they think or feel, even when their verbal communication says something quite different.

3 – Being fully present:
when you are conversing with people, don’t check your email, look at your watch or take phone calls. Allow people to have their comment.

4 – A Smile:
it makes people comfortable and you more.

Hence, it can rightly be said that, even if you have all the qualities of becoming a successful leader, but if you miss the basic quality of feeling empathy towards your teammates, your journey towards success will be very short lived. Put yourself in their shoes and see how success touches your feet.

But the sad truth is that fury and intolerance bear away a man’s good reason. It is true that intolerance is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one. In fact, intolerance is the fret, fury and frenzy of the soul. Intolerance is hard to combat because it is willing to buy revenge with a whole life. But controlling the intolerance of one angry moment may mean avoiding a lifetime’s remorse. Shakespeare was entirely accurate when he wrote in Coriolanus; “Anger’s my meat; I sup upon myself!” To be angry is to take revenge upon ourselves for the faults of others.

Anger can surface without warning in the most loving and long-standing relationships. When a childhood friend suddenly flares up over something totally innocuous, it is better to ignore the angry present and focus instead on the harmonious past. Anger makes people insensible, be it a good friend or sibling.

Anger is an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage. Anger is accompanied by physiological and biological changes. when we get angry, our heart rate goes up and the blood pressure rises, as do energy hormone levels, pumping adrenaline and noradrenaline into the system.

Is anger becoming a 21st century affliction? Some say these changing times make people workaholic and egoistic. Modern life may see many more expressions of anger than before, but could it be that we simply know about them now because the world’s information flow has multiplied to enormous levels? Or could there have been lots of unexpressed anger in earlier times?

Medically speaking, people who remain intolerant and angry most of the time are most susceptible to hypertension and related heart/brain diseases. Re-living unsuccessful or humiliating situations over and over can prove bad for one’s health. Simply remembering an incident that once made you angry can be stressful for the heart.

Often, terrible hurt owing to intolerance takes just minutes to inflict but forgiving the perpetrator requires time. Initially, we experience negative feelings such as anger, sadness and shame. then we try to make sense of what happened. Ultimately we learn to see the person who hurt us through new eyes.

So what is to be done to face angry people? the best way to feel better is the very opposite of revenge. It is saying the words, “I forgive you.” That could be the most powerful things we will ever do. Forgiving doesn’t mean giving in. It means letting go.

Once we forgive, we are no longer emotionally handcuffed to the person who hurt us. when we forgive, we reclaim our power to choose. One can express once’s anger, disappointment or intolerance with a trusted friend or counselor, giving us the strengthening experience of being heard. That is a way to let go of one’s feeling without the danger of saying or doing any thing we will later regret. It is equivalent of punching a pillow. Keeping a journal could help.

If at all you are feeling furious, you can try these things,

- Breathe deeply, from your diaphragm; breathing from your chest won’t relax you.

- Picture your breath coming up from your gut. Slowly repeat a calm word or phrase such as “relax”, “take it easy”. Repeat while breathing deeply.

- Use imagery; visualize a relaxing experience, from memory or imagination.

- Gentle and slow exercises can relax your muscles and make you feel much calmer.

- You could also try the stress buster machines at your nearest gym or spa.

It is recommended writing down everything you were thinking about, not just task related thoughts.

This should take a while – even hours if you have a lot on your mind. Once it is done you should feel a lot better as you no longer need to use your brain to keep track of all these things. You can let the paper have the responsibility. This part is very relieving and well worth the effort.

With the content from your brain “dumped” on to paper, the next job is to organize your data. Focus on finding the 10 things you need to get done immediately and to focus on results. Place a tick next to the things out of your control so you could just forget about them and let them go.

You should categorize and prioritize tasks. You can write everything down in one big dump session. You can then go through and group tasks into categories like “Business” and “Home” and “Socializing”. From there you can also rank them in importance from the most important to the least. Then, when it’s time to get to work you just go through the tasks one by one and best of all, you get to write a big line through each task as you complete them (another very satisfying activity).

Anyone who is a control freak trying to manage everything inside their brain will appreciate this.

I suggest you take some time out of your day to try the brain dump technique and see what impact it has on you. Remember it’s important to let go of things once they are dumped and then rely on the paper, not your brain for tracking things.

Make sure you write down every little thing that comes to mind, from “buy milk” to “write blog post on topic X”.

In any life, the only constant is change. Everyone faces different phases of life. Our ability to deal with those changes dexterously is called creativity. It requires that one be willing to step away from easy answers and quick solutions. It needs one to look beyond the familiar and into uncharted territory. Ultimately, creativity is about risk and courage.

As a toddler; we find life gloriously free from responsibility. As we grow older, social norms require us to adapt our behavior to the external world. Gradually, we get programmed to behave in a certain way.

It is almost a metaphor for life, which forces us to adapt to real time change. For example, life changes once we get married and have children, The carefree life changes into a life of responsibility. It is possible to feel stifled by the link between one’s behavior and the way others fee.

Every aspect of life requires us to be creative. As circumstances change, we should be able to dance in the moment. Many people find themselves unable to accept changed circumstances, making for great frustration. For instance, a strategy shift in an organization inf the form of either a merger or an acquisition will affect many employees. Some get more responsibility and some may lose jobs. Just months ago, recession forced change on reputable organizations, some of which filed for bankruptcy. Many faced management changes, retrenchment and relocation of employees. Many found employees resentful and confused.

These reactions indicate a collective and destructive emotion even though every individual should instead, take ownership of his/her reaction. The downturn was an irreversible process. But how does one handle such a devastating situation? We need to understand that once an event has occurred, it is entirely up to us to choose the way we accept and move forward. When we resist change, we stagnate.

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. Conditions for creativity are to be puzzled; to concentrate; to accept conflict and tension; to be born everyday; to feel a sense of self.

Creativity in our interaction with people is one of the most crucial skills a human being can have. It is also the one that people focus on least, choosing instead to concentrate on developing our academic skills or general knowledge.

So, what is it that prevents us from accepting change? Our fear of failure because we underestimate our capacity to learn new things. It appears unthinkable because the mind says, “I am best at what I do”. But how will you ever know if you are good or bad at something else unless you try it. There are also the social pressures of being at a particular level in our job and egotistic anger about being passed over, say, for promotion. The right question for those who wait for the perfect job, perfect boss, perfect organization and perfect colleagues, is; “How perfect am I?”

Change by definition is temporary. The pace at which a person accepts the change and moves on truly shows his creativity. Re-creating one’s own life the highest form of creativity because “the future doesn’t just happen, it’s shaped by decisions.”

It is important to understand what is happening on a physiological level when you are feeling stressed.When you are feeling stressed your brain perceives a threat and the fight or flight response is triggered. In a potentially threatening situation this response is invaluable and may save your life or the life of another. However, living in this state of heightened arousal (which short or long-term stressful events can generate) is not good for you and your body may begin to signal this to you in a variety of ways.

Physical

Physical symptoms experienced include:
✦ a pounding heart
✦ elevated blood pressure
✦ sweaty palms
✦ tightness of chest
✦ aching neck, jaw and back muscles
✦ headache
✦ chest pains
✦ abdominal cramps
✦ nausea
✦ trembling
✦ sleep disturbance
✦ tiredness
✦ susceptibility to minor illness
✦ itching
✦ easily startled
✦ forgetfulness.

Thoughts

You may experience:
✦ your mind racing or going blank
✦ not being able to ‘switch off ’
✦ a lack of attention to detail
✦ your self esteem and confidence plummeting
✦ disorganised thoughts
✦ a diminished sense of meaning in life
✦ a lack of control or the need for too much control
✦ negative self statements and negative evaluation
✦ difficulty in making decisions
✦ a loss of perspective.
You may be:
✦ making ‘mountains out of molehills’
✦ driving yourself too hard with ‘I must do this, ought to do that, should do the other’ or demanding too much of others as well as yourself.

Behaviors

You may:
✦ become withdrawn and not want to socialise
✦ increase your alcohol, nicotine or drugs intake
✦ under eat or over eat
✦ become accident prone and careless
✦ become impatient, aggressive or compulsive – pacing, fidgeting, swearing, blaming, throwing and hitting!
✦ work longer hours – not take breaks, take work home, procrastinate with important projects, take the ‘headless chicken’ approach when under pressure, and manage time poorly
✦ no longer have time for leisure activities.

Feelings

You may feel:
✦ irritable
✦ angry
✦ depressed
✦ jealous
✦ restless
✦ anxious
✦ unreal or hyper alert
✦ unnecessarily guilty.
You may experience:
✦ panic
✦ mood swings, crying easily.

Thank goodness you won’t experience all of these symptoms all of the time! Individual responses to stress vary, so you may experience some of these some of the time.This will be your body’s way of saying that you are overdoing things and it is time to reflect and take action in order to reduce and manage the stress response.

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The Seven S approach is a framework that focuses on guiding managers to improving, not just our processes, but our entire strategic approach to the business.The Seven S approach is a framework that focuses on guiding managers to improving, not just our processes, but our entire strategic approach to the business.

So what are the Seven S’s, and how do they fit together to help consultants and managers improve business performance? Here’s a brief walk through of the attributes of the Seven Ss.

#1. Strategy: The overriding goal or objective that the enterprise wishes to achieve, and the course of action it intends to take to reach that goal. From the viewpoint of IT, the key question here is often about alignment. Are the activities of the IT staff focused on achieving the strategic goals of the organization? Is there a forward-looking IT plan or road-map that illustrates how the IT function will drive towards to long-term strategic objectives of the firm? Is the CIO involved in strategy formulation or just an implementer? Every IT professional has experienced situations in which a manager or executive becomes enamored of some technical solution, often sold to her by a sales representative as the “end-all fix,” and IT finds itself devoting all its energies to implementing a product that is disconnected from the firm’s strategic goals.

#2. Structure: The manner in which the enterprise is organized, and the relationships between the entities, such as departments, field offices, etc. Is the organization authoritarian, like the military, or decentralized or federated? How do internal processes and human resources work together to achieve the goals? In my consulting experience, I’ve seen many firms that want to migrate to an e-commerce approach to sales, and yet see e-commerce enablement as a project, rather than as a structural problem that needs to be solved. No matter how great the e-commerce engine an organization builds, if it’s internal organization and structure is not modified to adapt to this new channel, it has very little chance of success.

#3. Systems: Not just information systems and infrastructure, but also the processes and the functions that enable the organization to work, such as recruiting, accounting, and procurement. From e-commerce to data warehousing and knowledge management, and all across the array of processes and systems that companies employ to deliver their products and services, the ability to make the right technology decisions, to optimize processes, and to enhance productivity are make-or-break elements of success.

#4. Staff: The human resources that actually accomplish the work, and the recruiting, incentives, and compensation practices that encourage them to achieve. An organization’s ability to attract and retain the best talents and to keep them motivated and productive is key to execution of the enterprises goals. All the strategic innovation in the world cannot compensate for an unmotivated staff or low productivity.

#5. Style: The elusive “corporate culture” is captured here; is the enterprise customer focused and quality driven or focused on maximizing profitability at any cost? Does the enterprise strive to build a cohesive team of its staff, or does the organization view its workforce as a series of interchangeable hands-for-hire?

#6. Skills: The unique competencies that drive competitive advantage. From the “hard” technical skills of designing products and managing projects to the “soft” skills of communication and teamwork, staff capabilities are essential elements of strategic success. This element also addresses organizational skills: As we’ve recently learned in the case of General Motors, the ability of an organization to develop products or services that the marketplace values is the differentiating factor in the market battlefield.

#7. Shared Values: The core beliefs and attitudes that drive the enterprise. Values are not the mission of the company — that should be captured in the firm’s strategy. Values are about behaviors, taking the form of statements like “we’ll never sacrifice customer satisfaction for short term profit” or “we always thank the customer for choosing us.”

Seven S is just a conceptual framework; therefore, it doesn’t tell us how to fix those areas that require development. By applying your experience, reviewing the ideas found in the literature (such as Good to Great and other business classics), enlisting the insights and suggestions of members of the organization, and applying disciplines like Six Sigma where appropriate, you can help firms apply a consistent approach to strategy development and execution and improve their results and competitive position.

The Manager tag should not be your goal. It is not something by which to measure your personal worth. It’s a responsibility, and it’s a lot of work. It’s also very unfair to team members to take on their management if you don’t really know how to do it.

If you think you deserve to be in management, ask yourself these questions:

* Could you lay off an employee that you like very much because upper management needs to make cuts?
* Could you confidently promote one of your employees above others?
* Would you be able to tell an employee he or she needs to attend to his or her hygiene better?
* Can you lead a team to results without micromanaging?
* Could you say “no” to upper management when they make unreasonable demands of your staff?
* Could you take responsibility for failures of your team even if only one staffer screwed up?

1. The strategies most likely to win are the ones that are the easiest to understand. If the situation is complex, figure out a way to make it understandable. Otherwise, you’ll end up being another one of those really smart people who has no followers, no success stories, and no promotional future.

2. Emotion wins over logic 9 times out of 10. When we get emotional we generate energy and enthusiasm within others. An emotional team can get a lot done, they’ll work longer hours, and help make converts. It can beat a larger or better-equipped team without emotional buy-in. You’ll accomplish what you intend.

3. The best deals come together fast. You’ve probably experienced this before like when you were buying a car, or being hired for a new job. Things just fell into place and everyone walked away feeling good about the deal. It’s the same for new programs, or changes in business direction: If you find that the same things need to be addressed repeatedly, it’s a warning sign. It may be time to cut bait.

In many companies, and in life generally, some great projects are shelved while other poor ones get the green light. We see it with choices for technology and vendors all the time. Usually such decisions have more to do with how each side made their case, and less to do with logical comparisons of features and prices. It’s often the same, by the way, for decisions affecting who gets promoted and who doesn’t.