ASSIGNment mindset - a problem?

I am writing this post just after I came out of a lecture on "Corporate Organizations and Leadership", after I heard the experiences of a Finnish manager in managing an Indian team, after I heard him say "Manager presence and interruptions are surprisingly increasing productivity in India!" This is not a NEWS to me, as I personally kinda think the same. This post is my own reflections on how I was brought up, grew and how the environment around me was!

 Briefly about the experience Finnish manager shared was that,

•  My expectations of self leading team did not happen and most team members were expecting me to "Assign" tasks to them

•  My personal presence and inquiry about progress of the tasks increased productivity (or fast response from employee)

What does this mean? Employees are not voluntary in coming up with tasks and not self-motivated by themselves! When this thought trickled in my mind, the first question I asked was, "Does it apply to me?" and the answer was "Yes, till few years back".

• Yes, I was looking up for some tasks to be assigned to me and I am best in completing them on  time, successfully!
• Yes, occasionally I do rise up and propose some new tasks! (Ah, wondered how many times, despite high pressure in completing the assigned tasks.)

So once I accept my state then, I was interested to identify why I felt it that way. Perhaps it could be because,

•  At universities, we were often given lab exercises, short assignments, and jobs to accomplish! I had not done a single learning diary exercises to reflect on what I learned from the course.
• At schools, it’s even more competitive as the marks decided the path we will be taking in our future. So most of the time was spent just to attend classes, tuitions (if any) and study, study, study.. Hmm, any learning? Yes, perhaps I should not shun away all those precious learning’s of mine from my school days. But was there any learning of how to mould ourselves? How to identify our strengths, weakness? How to survive difficult situations? Unfortunately NO. Not only was there any curriculum or activity for developing such skills, but also there was no conducive environment to develop them. It was all about to get good marks and percentage! 
• At kindergarten, it was still listening to teachers who teach ABCs and sing rhymes together. When I hear from parents these days about kindergarten interviews to kids, I feel how blessed I was those days. Nevertheless I really feel pity about those kids and schools.
•  At home, we the parents "teach" kids in a traditional and boring way to repeat alphabets, numbers and prepare them for their prospective future!

So what's going wrong in all these? Isn't there lack of giving space for self-understanding, being curious, being responsible not only to gain something, but for the sake of it! From the day being a child, student, adult and in a family, we are ASKED or ASSIGNED to do something. Our actions alter when there are some personal interests behind it. I have a vivid anecdote from my experience.

My beloved granny Paruvatham patti used to assign me some tasks and I remember how I performed it on her presence and absence. She used to utter, "Parthal oru karyam, parkalena oru karyam pannakoodathu" means, "There should not be two forms of doing an activity like while watching and not watching. The work should be done the best always, for the sake of it."

As it is with all teenagers, I looked at it as a cynical advice. But now, I realize how important it is to get that attitude. Especially when they are expected from employees! Ah, yes unless you get that attitude from childhood, it’s not easy to build it.

Another interesting anecdote from my granny again is about self-lead team. When she was at work and I escape from being ASSIGNED any tasks, she used to say "Kannu parkanum, Kai seiyanum" means "Watch out and do it". She placed emphasis on how to take part in a group activity say cleaning the house, by contributing of what you can do for that without being told. As simple as that. Yet again, being a teenager I shunned away those words as boring advices.

While I reflect these thoughts from my childhood, I could clearly understand that the way we are brought could be a mix of right and wrong things. But what is important is to provide space and environment for SELF-LEARNING AND SELF-MOTIVATION. As a crux I could sum up as,

TEACHing -> easy learning, productive but lacks cultivating motivation or understanding self.
LEARN by self -> takes time, productivity could be seen later (like bamboo tree growth), inculcates self-confidence and self-understanding, natural learning of leadership qualities and management skills.

So it all starts from HOME, which mould us as how we are and our attitude. Having said that, I should not do the same things even after knowing the shortcomings. Me being a mother of a small son, how do I provide a conducive environment for my son to be more curious, more creative, learn by self and self-motivating – most importantly all of them should seen as FUN by my son.

This is the experiment I am doing these days through my Kids play activities!

Okie, enough of my talking, would love to hear from you, your thoughts about this post and your ideas as well!

 

Tamil alphabets memory and matching game

During my stay at out home in Trichy, India I searched a lot to look for some play activities based on Tamil (our mother tongue) alphabets. Alas, I could not find one. I found interesting memory and alphabet matching games for English, but not even one for Tamil. So I decided to make it myself.

I got the pictures of Tamil alphabets and some object names for the alphabets from this link
http://tamilacademy.com/lessons_stages/malalaikalvi.php#select11

Then I cut those alphabets and pictures and pasted on to one of my old Agile Scrum cards.
That's it! Tamil alphabets memory and card matching game ready..

Barathraam and all of us liked playing it.. Here is a picture of it. Its so easy, try your hand and make learning activity fun for your kids!

Please do comment if you have some suggestions or better ideas!

-- Sheer joy of sharing

Birthday surprise made at home

Barathraam turned 3 years on Jan 18th.  We wanted to make his day special by making something. We made a pop-up teddy bear birthday card. It was quite easy and I decided that I will make many more such cards and give surprises to kids.

Here is the card I made, and a small video showcasing the surprise teddy bear.

Learning week days in fun way!

Days, weeks, months and years cycle could be very natural for adults. But for young kids it is quite interesting, especially when they find Saturdays and Sundays being at home relaxing around without going to daycare or school.

To help them understand the days of the week and its cycle, we made a simple days of the week clock to indicate what day it is. To add fun to this activity, we drew some play activities that our kid could do on those days! Here is a picture of how the clock looked. Its easy to make at home using a chart, a cardboard pointer and some glue and pins. Try it out and make it everyday fun activity for kids while learning days of the week.

Rama bhaktha Hanuman

January 11, 2013 - Amavasai (No moon day) in the Tamil month of Margazhi is an auspicious day, as it marks the birthday of Hanuman - the devoted Rama Bhaktha. Hanuman is an embodiment of prowess, wisdom and humble (prakramam, gyanam and vinayam in Sanskrit). By the thought of Him, we could get inspired and do good things. Valmiki while writing Ramayana, has dedicated a Chapter by his name which is known as "Sundara Kandam". There are many stories and events with profound meaning has been told in that Kandam.
I would like to share one story which I used to remember whenever I am facing hurdles in my actions. Hanuman with His acumen in understanding things has displayed a strong message to us.

"PRELUDE:
The army of Vanaras (monkey warriors) along with the captain Angad,  old bear Jambavan, Hanuman was standing on the shore of Rameshwaram, near South TamilNadu. They were almost lost hope in finding Sita and told, "Efforts of Ram, Lakshman, Sabari, Sugriva and Jatayu are all in vain. Jatayu even gave up his life while trying to save Sita from Ravana when he abducted Her. This is very bad and sad!" On hearing this conversation, an old vulture by name Sampati who was sitting nearby asked them, if they were talking about his brother Jatayu. The vanaras told their story in search of Sita and how Jatayu lost his life. Sampati became sad on hearing this and with his sharp eyesight he told that Ravana has kept Sita in the next side of this shore in a place called Lanka.
With this hint, the Vanara sena now decided to send someone to the other part of the shore to search for Sita. Jambavan told that Hanuman has the needed calibre to reach the other part of the shore and carry out the mission of searching Sita. With utmost humility. Hanuman also agreed to this plan. He addressed everyone that He will put all his efforts in searching Sita and with Lord Rama's blessings He will be able to find Sita.

STORY:
He told thus to his fellow warriors and started to fly while paying his obeisance to Lord Rama and other Gods. As He started flying He suddenly saw a mountain growing taller and bigger and therefore obstructing his way. The mountain spoke to him saying, "Hey Hanuman, Pranams (Greetings). My name is Mainaka mountain. I was ordered by the God of this Ocean where I am residing, to offer you some good place to rest. Please relax yourself on my surface and get charged by eating the fruits on it. After a while, you could continue your mission of searching Sita. Kindly accept my offer."
Hearing this Hanuman replied, "Hey parvata (mountain), thanks for your offer. Indeed, it would be great to take rest during my long flight to other part of the shore. But certainly, it would delay my mission to reach Lanka by today night. If I take rest now, I might not have enough time to search Sita in Lanka. As I want to carry out Ram's mission in search of Sita with utmost duty, kindly forgive me to deny your request." Saying so, Hanuman continued flying across the ocean.

As he went some more distance, he saw a female daemon by name Surasa. She was big enough as Hanuman and obstructing His way she yelled as "I have got a boon that all beings passing this place should first pass through my mouth and only then move from here. So get inside my mouth before proceeding." Hanuman replied softly that He is in a mission to search Sita wife of Rama and so, he would enter her mouth once he complete the mission. But Surasa did not pay attention to it. She enlarged her body twice as Hanuman's and standed opposite to His way. Seeing this Hanuman also enlarged His body larger than Surasa, which made Surasa again to become larger than Hanuman. This happened repeatedly till Surasa has grown very large like a big mountain. Taking this as a good chance, Hanuman shrunk His body till the size of a thumb and quickly entered her mouth and came away. Then He told her, that her boon was now fulfilled, therefore He can continue his flight. Saying so, Hanuman continued flying across the ocean.

As He was flying, He suddenly experienced that He was not able to fly fast and He felt that some force is dragging Him down. When He saw on the surface of Ocean, He saw a big female daemon by name Simhika who has the power to stop beings by catching their shadows. Simhika has been pulling Hanuman's shadows and thereby stopped him from flying. Simhika opened her big mouth and yelled that she is going to swallow Hanuman. On seeing this, Hanuman brought all His strength together and gave her a punch in the face, then entered her mouth and came outside by tearing her into pieces.
Thus after killing her, He was able to continue His flight to Lanka.

After over coming these obstacles, Hanuman safely reached Lanka on time during night and started laying out plan to search inside Lanka.

On a careful observation of this story of obstacles and Hanuman's way of dealing with them, it could be seen that he used three main qualities needed to face challenges while we are in a mission.
Firstly, we may encounter few events while setting out to achieve our mission which are not really problems. But those events if satisfied will consume our time, energy and could possibly create a lag in our objectives. Therefore it is important to identify these events which unnecessarily consume our time and energy and which is not beneficial to our mission. This is what Hanuman did with Mainaka mountain and He won such obstacle by carefully avoiding them in a gentle and appropriate manner.  Hanuman's vinayam (humble) and skillful talk helped in this occasion.

Secondly, some obstacles demand us to go through the suffering, like Surasa who wanted Hanuman to fulfill her boon. In those cases, we have to use our wisdom and brains to win those obstacles. Hanuman with His astute wisdom won Surasa by enlarging His body and suddenly shrinking it.

Thirdly, some obstacles are got ridden off only by showing our physical valor and strength, like escaping from a beating. Hanuman used His prowess to win over the obstacle of Simhika.

So from Hanuman's reactions to these obstacles, we could understand, that whenever we are faced with some challenges, problems and obstacles, it is important to understand the nature of the obstacle and use appropriate skill (humble, wisdom and prowess) to win over it.

By prostrating under the feet of Ram bhaktha Hanuman, let us pray that He would bestow us with these skills and help us in facing challenges.

Namaskarams.
Source: From Smt. Visaka Hariji's SundaraKandam Hari Katha.


PS: Please share any thoughts you have got on reading this story.

Life in a startup company!

Whenever I hear success stories about big companies or small companies which have made a feat, I would get goosebumps and hooked up completely on it. Especially when I read lines saying how it all started from a garage or a room in their house and how they could hit the headlines of the newspapers later. Sometimes, out of sheer regular office boredom work, I have even imagined how it would have been, if I was part of that small team! The team which brought in the wonderful product that all of us are using now.

Time indeed had come! But for a short while though. I was given an opportunity in a small ambitious start up company which aims to reap benefits of wind power at high altitudes. I never really hoped that I would get an interview call when I applied for the developer position in this start up company. It was like a cake-walk for me during the interview, that I simply made them flat with the knowledge I had acquired all these years! However, my hunch for being selected was the airplane terms that I used which were highly relevant to the work they are doing. I learned terms like ailerons, flaps, fuselage etc when I taught my son "parts of an airplane!" and I believe that helped me to get through this interview :-) (and, of course God's wish as well).

I joined the team, knowing that I will be there only for 2 months and with God's wish and more investors pouring in money, I may continue. Isn't taking risk the first trait needed to be part of a start up team? So I accepted the offer!

After many years of experience in working for big companies like Nokia, I prepared myself mentally on how it would be to work in a start up.However, there were still some surprises! The work in fact, demanded more working time and faster response for all the assignments. So no excuses to relax. And, remember the assignments might also include ones which are  different than our previous experience like in my case from web page design to trash clean up.

Two months just went and I had learned also things which are essential for a start up company from day one! Thought it would be useful to all those including me, who are aspiring to build upon your idea and so here I share them.

• How to plan and manage the activities and tasks? You need to have some software which satisfies the purpose on hand (there are many free cloud based software like "Zoho" with limited options). The software will essentially give the power to prioritize your activities and measure your performance. Ah, needless to mention, visualizing the work you have done these weeks does add confidence in your activity and future work.
• Version control is equally important. So if you have some code based projects, having a handy version control will solve umpteen problems that would pop up in later stages. I do not have knowledge on other domains like mechanical, but for software based projects Git is a very handy version control.
• Have your eyes and ears wide open and look for possibilities to collaborate or rope in investors from diverse fields. Certainly, there is more probability that you do not get response from many of them! However, keep trying as there is some reason behind ignoring our requests. At the same time, do not spend more time with those, who are least bothered about your idea. Time is indeed as precious as money for start ups.
• Be prepared to spend time on accounts and other operational activities which grabs time from focus on developing and building the idea.
• Things change fast, that the work going on currently might seem irrelevant. Judiciously plan the work with long term focus and include ifs and buts during planning. Scenario planning will help in coping up with the surprises and changes.
• Last but not the least, cheer yourself and your co-workers often for the work done and that would keep up the spirits high! Indeed it is the spirit which is driving a human to be passionate.

Two months might be shorter time to understand much of start up dynamics and I am sure I have more to learn. Would be great to hear from you, the reader and your experience.

PS: It is indeed bad that I cannot continue my job in this start up and therefore could not see how life in a start up turns into a job in a flourishing company. BUT, it seems God has some better plans for me :-)

Learning about animals in fun way!

It is always fun for kids to look at animals around them and those in forests. Animals shape, sounds they make, food they eat and their different parts are always interesting for kids. We found an easy and fun way to make them learn about them by creating a poster scene at home wall. On one side we had pasted home and a garden using colored chart paper and the other side a small hill with trees around. We got some stickers of wild and domestic animals. Barathraam got interested in pasting those stickers of animals and understood slowly what are wild animal and domestic animals. Initially, he was head over heels on this activity that he just wanted to paste all at one go! It was indeed difficult to make him wait for next day to paste one more to his animal gallery.

Its an easy activity to do and I am sure kids would love doing it.
Needless to mention, having it as a visual backdrop will help them revise about these animals often.

Age to start this activity: Two and half years+