Coaching classes these days provide students with the study material that is pertinent and can help them prepare for the entrance of their choice. But it’s not all that is offered, as students are provided with guidance for their board exams and also other competitive exams, they revise the content according to the changing patterns of the exam questions. The study model is ensured to be comprehensive while eliminating the risk of students having insufficient or incorrect knowledge of WHAT is to be prepared for the exams.

Classes have also become a sort of necessity to be able to crack the national entrances for getting admissions in reputed Engineering and Medical Colleges. It is so because the syllabus curated by the state or country boards do not even begin to cover what the JEE series or the NEET series expect from the students. The student to teacher ratio affects the capacity of students in the intake of applications and concepts. Coaching classes focus on the WHY behind every concept so that the students have clarity on the HOW and have the basics clear. Students can optimally utilize their extra time under guidance which also results in increased discipline and adherence to deadlines. Coaching classes also go the extra mile to provide additional support both during and after their working hours. Extra attention is given during exam season and emphasis is put on mock tests. Atleast this is what I ensure at Connaissance.

Competing within 60 people from the student’s own classroom, hardly prepares them for the reality of entrances where the competition increases multifold. The pressure built up by the frequent tests, exams, and elaborate materials is what will prepare them to go against lakhs of other students and the best minds of the country in a strenuous paper.

Our education system is not at all exceptional and quite outdated as well. The scarcity of good faculties and the enormous strength in school classrooms have made studies a burden and repetitive. Learning needs to be an interesting and interactive activity, not a tedious and boring task. Students easily lose interest and often end up looking for alternatives. With more than 50% of our country’s population below 25 years, we need to invest more in our education system. But whatever the field, getting basic fundamental knowledge till 12th grade is necessary.

We at Connaissance make use of educational tools like charts, working models and digital screens making them innovative to a real sense. Group discussions, new techniques of understanding and a study environment can do a lot to boost a student’s confidence. When the focus is put on an individual, it helps to identify both organizational and individual strengths, and determine development opportunities for both. Our students get guidance from the best brains in the field, and we make use of technology to aid in the teaching processes. Most of the classes provide training for specific entrance examinations and help to reduce the load of the student.

Well, the article was not meant to speak only about Connaissance, but my passion for my work just tilted the flow of my thoughts leading to my Academy.

To conclude, we indeed have a parallel education system in the form of coaching classes across the country and while schools focus on the basics, the parallel system takes care of concepts and applications.

Since the time social media craze began, the youth has become very self-conscious; peer pressure has increased to a significant level. Everybody wants to look good enough for validation, but maintaining social media behavior is critical. Children must be taught from a young age that outer beauty is not as crucial as social media behavior is. Their pictures and personal details can be misused to a great extent. Alas! The academic teaching does not include ‘net ethics’ or ‘dos and don’ts on the Internet.’ Teachers can coach the students on what is a responsible use of social media and beware them of what could be the consequences of them sharing too much.

India is a country with one of the highest internet penetration rates. The statistics include the population from the urban as well as rural areas. The internet is a useful and convenient medium for a lot of reasons like communicating, information gathering, world news, political and current affairs.  What people do not realize is how important education on social media behavior is. Responsible use of social media is essential in today’s time of information leaking, abuse of personal details, and an extremely transparent global exposure. For instance, you go to a place and check in on a social media platform, it quickly gives access to anybody with wrong intentions, as to where you are. Internet users have no clue of who is stalking or following them. It is terrifying to find out somebody has been following you and knows exactly where you are. This kind of things need to be considered, and internet users must be educated about the discretion of information. 

Another factor that comes to mind is that people in power must make effective use of social media. They must spread awareness of the responsible use of social media. The participation of youth in politics is an excellent way for making people aware of social media behavior. There are perks of youth being in politics, and it must be used effectively. The recent ad campaign from ‘Whatsapp’ is quite effective in educating people to avoid spreading rumors and start spreading happiness through messaging. Why do you think the social platform had to come up with such an advertisement? This in itself indicates how alarming misuse of social media can be.

In this growing age of social media,  it is crucial to stay ‘wired,’ but as they these connections come with riders, it is essential to coach children from a young age how to use this global medium responsibly. It is only then we can say that a responsible use of social media makes a responsible citizen.

Bad bosses come in various types and both genders, but they all have one thing in common – they drive their subordinates crazy enough to such an extent that the subordinate is forced to take the last step!

So, what are the commonly found types of bad bosses? Let us find out.  

Puppets

This is the most widely found variety of bosses. Just like a puppet, they don’t have their own opinion, never stand for what is right and never support the team when they need it the most. All they care about is safeguarding their position in the eyes of their bosses. They are loyal only to their boss but are least bothered about their team. Their motto is “success is mine, failure is yours”. This lack of loyalty towards the team pushes the subordinate to the brink forcing them to take that ultimate step!

Godzilla 

The moment such people become bosses, they forget from where they came. Overnight they develop this superiority complex and get a feeling that whatever they do is right and everything else is wrong! They love belittling their subordinates over non-existent or minuscule things. The first thing that they do is creating a pedestal that shouts out loud “I am the boss, respect me!”

Emperor

Such bosses believe that the entire organisation moves around them and nothing can move without their consent. Most behave as if they are the owners of the company and have a majority or rather 100% stake! They love to take decisions unilaterally, don’t care about subordinate’s views, opinions or even bother to give feedback. For them, it is always “my way or the highway.”

Ringmasters

Just like the circus ringmaster, such bosses believe in controlling their subordinates. Their words hurt just like the circus ringmaster’s hunter. But unlike the circus tiger that gets a prize for following the ringmaster, subordinates don’t get any prizes, instead, more hunter slaps await them. Most of them have a bad habit of keeping a tab on their subordinates every movement and even boast of being “Bond, James Bond” in their subordinate’s lives!  

But then, if there is evil in the world, there is good too! The world probably is still alive and working because of leaders and not bosses.

For every one bad boss, there are 10 leaders. But how do they look like?

M from Bond

James Bond’s boss in the movies is ‘M’. She is the one who always boosts the morale of her employee no. 1, James Bond, encouraging him to give his best shot. She is not only confident herself, but even knows the potential of her subordinates. She believes in James’s potential and allows him to unleash it fully.

Thakur from Sholay

Thakur is handicapped and knows that he cannot pin down Gabbar on his own. So, he relies on his subordinates, Jai & Viru, to do the actual job. Very few bosses know their self-potential, but the ones who do, are darlings of their subordinates. Bosses like Thakur are strategic thinkers and share their ideas with their subordinates regularly. They are even open to criticism and take it in the right spirit. With such bosses around, catching hold of Gabbar or any other gargantuan task is easy for the subordinates.

Kabir Khan from Chak De! India

Kabir Khan is omnipresent in the lives of his hockey team. He decides almost everything for them. But when it comes to the decisive battle the subordinates realise that their boss was preparing them for the ultimate battle. Most subordinates realise that their boss is like Kabir Khan when they are confronted with a complex situation. The time they spent listening to their ‘tough’ boss gets transformed into training in an instant and they manage to get out of the situation with flying colours. Most often, bosses like Kabir Khan don’t even take credit for what they have done!

Bhuvan from Lagaan

Bhuvan is just first amongst equals. While he is the leader of the Champaner cricket team, he acts and behaves as just one of them. Though the rest of the team members know that Bhuvan is the captain of the team, Bhuvan never shows his authority in any way whatsoever. He supports the team at all times, stands by them in difficult times and is also just one of them when it comes to celebrating victories. Bhuvan never takes credit for the success, but owns up the responsibility for failures!

It is a fact that no two people are alike. Hence even no two superiors will be alike. But the options available for bosses are clear. If you too lead a team, then the million-dollar question you should ask yourself is what would you like to be remembered as – a boss or as a leader?

But makes sure, you answer this question sincerely!  

You get to hear some great stories there. You know who is going around with whom, who has failed or succeeded to achieve their targets, how did they achieve them and most importantly how are the bosses in the company. Everything that a new joinee should know about the work culture of the place can be easily assimilated if you spend some time at this tea stall.

The most important thing for an organisation is its work culture. I believe that work culture is indeed the ‘Atma of that place. Unless there is the Atma, body organs (various departments) of the organisation are of no use. Without the Atma, the organisation is destined to fail no matter what.

An organisation is nothing but a group of people who work towards a shared common goal. Just like the organs of a human body, every individual or department may be doing a specific function, but they all work towards a single common goal, keeping the body alive. The moment there is a problem with the Atma, one or more functions of the body begin to falter making the body sick.

Hence, the million-dollar question is who creates an organisations culture and more importantly what/who destroys it? Indian mythology sheds great light on such things. It clearly states that there are three entities involved in keeping the Atma: Brahma- the generator, Vishnu- the nurturer and Shiva – the destroyer. If we look for this trinity in any organisation, then we find that it is the leadership that plays all three roles.  

As Henry Ford had once said “Coming together is beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is success”, the onus of making this happen lies greatly on the leadership of any organisation. If leaders, right from the CEO to the lowest rung Manager does not believe in this mantra, then it is impossible to create a positive and thriving culture.

No matter how good the leadership is with the outside world, if they are not good to the employees, the organisation’s most important asset, then positive culture does not take root. But what are the signs and symptoms of a toxic work culture?  

• Lack of work-life balance

Some people are workaholics. That is not bad, but if you expect everyone else to be a workaholic too, then that is bad. Some bosses call up their subordinates when it is well past the working hours and want to know their plans for the next day. Bosses, who believe that there is nothing called as life-beyond-work or doubt the concept of work-life balance are the ones who take the first shot in killing the positive work-culture in any organisation.

• Abuse is a part of the job

Verbal abuse is absolutely a no-no. However, it might even be tolerated till the time it is done in a lighter vein or as friendly banter, but when verbal abuse is resorted to while reviewing the subordinate’s performance or while seeking answers, then there is a problem. An abusive boss is never considered a leader.

• Results come first, everything else is later

Results are very important for every department but their pursuit is seen most prominently seen in the Sales function. If the subordinate has missed his/her targets, then it is the duty of the superior to find out the reasons for the failure. But not achieving a target is not an overnight phenomenon. Had the boss kept a tab on the subordinate’s performance regularly, this situation could have been avoided or atleast the gap could have been reduced. But disappearing for the whole month and appearing only upon the completion of the month is a trick that causes bad work-culture to flourish.  

• The ever Hanging sword

Since revenue generation is a critical function in any organisation, Sales is indeed a high-pressure job. But saying that “you will be fired if you don’t achieve the target” or “I will stop your salary if you don’t perform” is the worst thing a boss could say. Instead of encouraging the subordinate to pull up the socks and perform, it further demoralises an already lost subordinate. Thereafter, the only direction the subordinate puts his/her effort is to search for a new job and not to salvage the one in hand! his existing one. A resignation might be just a number down, but the economic implications of this unfortunate event are huge. There are direct and indirect implications on the revenues due to resignation.

• Favorite come first, always

The moment departments change into fiefdoms then that is the beginning of the end of any organisation’s culture. Fiefdom creates a team of favourites and no-favourites. The favourites get much better treatment, are often excused even for grave errors, while the others are berated even for minor errors or even for no fault of theirs! So the option for the not-so-favourites is to either change the group or change the company. Changing the group is extremely difficult as the entrenched ones don’t allow you to join in easily. Hence, changing the company in such a situation is far easier.

• The magician

Houdini is considered one of the greatest magicians of all time. One of his famous tricks was to seal himself inside a wooden crate with his hands tied securely and then immerse this crate in the water. After a minute, the crate would be pulled out and Houdini would not be found inside. Houdini would emerge from amongst the crowd, unharmed and jolly well. A lot many bosses do this Houdini trick on their subordinates. They disappear at the months beginning, do not share any insights, give feedback/suggestions or even review the performance for the whole month and appear only on the 1st working day to ask for achievements.

• The reply is the beginning of a new argument

For positive culture to take root, dialogue is a key component. A culture that believes in a monologue or suppresses the expression of views or ideas creates a bad culture. Bosses who ask for an explanation but are not willing to listen to it or don’t allow their subordinates to voice their point of view cause the bad culture to flourish.

• Success is mine, failure is yours

Many bosses believe that the joy of success or pain of failure, both needs to be shared with the team. But some believe that they can never fail, or worse they don’t want to be seen on the losing side. Such bosses believe that failure was caused by their subordinates, but success was only because of their effort. They even go to great lengths to portray this to their bosses. This creates a feeling of being left to defend themselves in the minds of the subordinates.

It is very easy to say that employees are the organisation’s greatest asset. But there are few who pay lip service to such ideas. Organisations may initially succeed by not focussing on developing a positive work culture, but in the medium or long term, such organisations are often wiped out.

The famous marketing guru Simon Sinek had once “customers don’t love a company until the employees love it first”. And to makes the employees love the company, the work culture needs to be good. And the leadership of the organisation has to take the lion’s share in making this happen.

In fact, out of these experiences, the most important are those which we gather during the first 16-17 years of our lives. This is when we live at home with our parents. And through our interactions with our mother, father, grandparents, aunts and uncles, we learn how to behave, what to believe, etc. These experiences truly form the bedrock of our character which comes in handy in our future life.

But things are changing, and unfortunately, not for the good! 

I meet many parents and children regularly. I observe their interactions with each other, the child’s body language, the parents’ responses and the chemistry between them. I can tell you one thing: in today’s society, the relationship between parents and their children is slowly deteriorating.

Let me share with you five ways in which I believe the parent-children relationship is going wrong.

1. Lack of time

Our first teachers during our character-forming years are our parents. But these days, most parents are working, so children get to spend very little quality time with them. Even when the father goes to work, the mother remains busy with her housework! Thanks to the nuclear family concept, nowadays even grandparents live separately, so they too spend very little time with their grandchildren. 

Lack of time is the single largest reason which denies the children their main source of learning values and behaviour. This results in the children not knowing how to behave in different situations. They get rowdy and stubborn. Quite often these are just ways to seek their parents’ attention. 

2. Lack of family interactions

When I was a child, we used to meet our relatives regularly, spending time with our cousins, aunts and uncles. Thanks to everyone’s busy schedules today, nobody has time to meet up anymore. After work, parents are usually too exhausted to visit friends and relatives. Hence, the children grow up without knowing how to behave in a social setting.

Children no longer call to wish their relative a happy birthday. Touching the feet of elders is a forgotten custom, as is visiting the temple. ‘Bhagwan toh mann mein hota hai,  mann mein puja kar liya toh ho gaya’ is the logic given.

3. Tech – the double-edged sword

Today, technology and its interconnectedness is a boon. It proved its worth especially during the pandemic, when businesses had to go online. Even schools went online and offered and helped students to continue their studies.

However, this same technology has also become a curse. Parents nowadays hand their children the smartphone, and the kids spend hours with their noses pressed against the screen. From morning till night, games, social networks and YouTube videos keep them glued to the screens. This has led to a massive drop in attention span in kids. They are getting irritated very easily, and have developed a better connect with the device rather than with their parents!

Moreover, smartphones, tablets and smart TVs are ‘dumb’ devices. They don’t have a mind of their own—they only show us what we tell them to. Because of this, the cognitive abilities of the children are getting stunted. Then it leads to the inevitable comparison: ‘Sharmaji ka beta ko 98% aaya, tumhe kitna mila?’ The kids get irritated further, and this reveals itself as complaints to friends and others like me.

It is easy to blame the education system for our children’s lack of intellectual growth. But part of the blame lies on the parents too! Because they are allowing their kids to get addicted to their phones!

4. Bad habits go unchecked

Because the kids are already irritated with their parents, a lot of the time they do the wrong things just to rebel. Often, they fall in with the wrong company which leads to picking up cigarettes and alcohol. The problem lies not in the fact that the children get influenced by the rotten apple, but the fact that it is the lack of connection with their parents which leads them to the rotten apple in the first place!

Another direct result of the parents’ lack of time is incorrect nutrition. Since there is nobody around to guide them, children these days get addicted to fast food or unhealthy junk foods. These cause abnormal hormonal changes in their behaviour resulting in them getting irritated quickly.

5. The guilt factor

I see this in parents a lot. Because of their lack of time and connect, a lot of parents feel guilty, and consequently, they indulge their children’s every whim. The exorbitantly-priced Xbox? Sure! Regularly going to expensive hangouts? Okay! A costly toy? Of course! Parents give their kids whatever they demand. As a result, today’s children no longer understand the value of ‘earing’ something.

The parent’s guilt manifests itself in other ways too. Many parents want to send their children to the best school, simply because they themselves didn’t have that growing up. Nowadays, money isn’t the issue, but prestige is. ‘It’s not about making money. It’s about making a new generation!’ That logic is sound, but the real intention is not to raise the children with the best values of our culture, but rather to acquire a social status.

The effect on the children is insidious. They get the good things in life easily, so they refuse to work hard, to push themselves. The focus turns towards their failures, rather than the perseverance to not fail again.

So what’s the solution?

The most important thing is for parents to build a strong bond with the children. Here are few ways in which this can be done.

Gadget-Free hour

Everyone should definitely do this—be free from technology for a while. I like to call it ‘gadget-free hour’. Every day, parents should spend atleast 45 minutes to an hour with their children, when everyone stays away from all kinds of gadgets—phones, tablets, laptops, TVs. Speak about what you did during the day, share some memories from your childhood, maybe tell some folk tales that impart values. The children may rebel initially, but slowly, they will come to cherish these hours.

Partner, don’t parent

Don’t parent your children, be a partner to them. Parents should treat their children as friends, and involve them in their own day-to-day life as much as possible. Children pick up cues very easily from their parents, and they learn a lot in this manner. Studies have shown that treating the child as a responsible person rather than a kid helps them become responsible, attentive and independent.

Be authoritative, not authoritarian

Most of the time, a child’s ill-behaviour or tantrums are actually pleas for attention. Instead of shouting at them or snapping at them to shut up, parents should try to understand and address the core problem. Then set holistic consequences of ill-behaviour, like restricting playtime, rather than slapping them. When the child is being stubborn about wanting something, don’t buy it for them immediately. Let them understand the importance of denial. This sort of authoritative parenting will make the child understand the right and healthy way to approach their own problems, instead of resorting to bad behaviour.

Have you faced any of these issues? Or as a parent, do you have some more miracle tricks that can help other parents? Do share them with me. Remember, you are not just raising a child; you are raising tomorrow’s citizens. The faster you realise this, the better will be for all of us!

Unfortunately, there is a high possibility that close to 50% of these students do not log in at all for a variety of reasons. This is likely to lead to a very difficult situation when things return to normal.

This raises very serious questions about the quality of education and in the country and hence about the future of our children. What is the best method of education going ahead? Is offline better or online? Is there some way we can give the best of both worlds to our children? Let us find out!

Before we understand what is better for our kids, it is important to know the major positives & negatives of both methods of knowledge dissemination. Here are the fundamental ones.

·        Safety

The biggest advantage that technology offered the education sector was that students could stay within the safety of their homes and continue to attend their daily classes. This meant that students, especially the younger ones, need not be exposed to the virus outside their homes.

·        Convenience

Initially, lockdowns forced schools to down their shutters over the fear of spreading the pandemic and to keep the student community safe. But soon, technology stepped in and allowed schools and students to meet online. Today, most schools have moved online and are conducting their regular classes there. While online does have its own drawbacks, it nevertheless allowed the classes to be held. Online education had already gained a foothold in the fields of Executive education and competitive exams, but it had not found a gap to penetrate the primary and pre-primary segments. The pandemic acted as a catalyst and hastened the transition of these classes to online.

·        Personal Touch

A typical offline session has about 50 odd kids in every class. In a regular offline class, the teacher is able to give personal attention to every student while s/he is in class. One glance and s/he is able to feel the pulse of the class instantly. The teacher lost this ability when the class was held online. The power of personalization was the biggest victim of online education.

·        Individual monitoring is not possible.

In an offline class, the teacher is able to spot the weak performers very easily and can give some extra attention to them. But unfortunately, in an online class, the teacher is handicapped. S/he is unable to spot the students who are lagging behind. While one-on-one training sessions are possible which allows for the best personal monitoring, their costs are prohibitively high making little economic sense to most parents.

·        Infrastructure is weak

A recent global survey revealed that India has one of the slowest internet speeds. In fact, compared to last year, India dropped two places and today stands at #59 in a list of 110 countries across the globe! Add to this the economic constraints of Indian families. For the year 2019-20, the Per Capital income for India was pegged at Rs. 1,35,050. Even if we consider a budget smartphone that starts at a modest Rs. 5000, it proves to be a costly proposition. Then, there was the cost of data. Though considered as one of the lowest in the world, for such low Per Capita income levels, even these lowest rates present an insurmountable obstacle. To make matters even worse, if the family has two or more school-going kids, then the situation becomes impossible to manage. The family simply cannot afford to get its kids to join online classes thus forcing them to forgo formal education it completely!

·        Attention span of students

One of the biggest drawbacks of online education is the poor attention span of students. Unlike playing games that get their eyeballs glued to the screen, formal education fails to generate the same response. While this gets managed to the same extent in a physical class, it is next to impossible for the teacher to monitor this online. So, while the student may be physically present in the online class, s/he is mentally absent.

·        Lack of socializing opportunities

Besides imparting education, a school is an excellent source of learning about life. A school is where young individuals forge friendships, have fun and develop the art of socializing that helps them in their grown-up life. But online education deprives students of this privilege completely. 

It is not that everything about online education is bad, there are good things too which offline education can never provide.

However, with the world’s biggest vaccination drive currently underway, many experts believe that India will be able to tame the pandemic very soon. This means that normalcy may return in a very short span of time thus allowing schools to reopen.

I believe that it is time for both parents and the school management to charter the right way forward. The million-dollar question is what should be the future mode of learning online, offline, or a hybrid model?

Though the pandemic may wane, social distancing norms are unlikely to be relaxed anytime soon. This will force academicians to think of innovative solutions to make sure that the students don’t suffer.

Personally, I have seen both sides of the coin, online as well as offline. Hence, I believe that going hybrid is the right way forward. Here are my thoughts.

·        Tough subjects / Easy Subjects

Certain subjects need a lot of theory and concepts to be explained for students to understand, while others are relatively easier. Schools may want to segregate such subjects and conduct physical classes for the tougher ones and online sessions for easier ones. This would limit a student’s exposure to the outside world to some extent.

·        Alternate day

A class could be divided randomly into two. One batch of students could be called today and the other one tomorrow. While this may reduce the speed of the session and even the teacher would be forced to repeat the session the next day, at least it is safer given the social distancing norms. The composition of the batch could be reshuffled periodically to make sure that students learn socializing skills as well.

·        Simultaneous online-offline session

This is the modified version of the alternate Day described above. Any session could be conducted both online as well as offline simultaneously. While this may involve some investments (hardware & data costs) on the school’s part and from the parents, the speed of the session will be much faster here.

Besides the ones mentioned above, there may be some more options which could be tried and adapted to suit the local conditions. However, one thing is for sure.

The way forward is not online or offline alone, but a mix of the two!

Just when he was about to leave, his wife would ask him three standard questions. “Have you taken some sweets with you? Do you have your BP tablet? And, what time will you call me in the day?”

Just like his wife, even Krishna had his stand set of replies. “Yes, Yes, and 4 PM approx.” 

No, Krishna is not a henpecked husband, it is just that his wife has developed this habit in the last year when Krishna was diagnosed with diabetes and BP! 

Krishna is a salesman with one of the FMCG companies who has to visit his territory every day to collect orders. He has three reporting heads (his manager, his regional manager and the national head) who asks for the same information every day but at three different times. Also, he is required to remain vigilant about competitors’ activity in his area. 

But the most important thing that Krishna has to do every day was to collect fresh orders and also the outstanding. Fortunately, the company had stopped accepting cash a while ago which meant that Krishna was relieved of the task of collecting and carrying cash on him. 

One more task that Krishna has to do every day was fire fighting! Almost every day, there would be wrong deliveries, delayed deliveries or stock-outs. He was forced to face an irate retailer and pacify him to such an extent that he places a fresh order and even pays for it! 

Years of this schedule had finally taken a toll on him and Krishna was diagnosed with diabetes and BP a year ago. Since then, his wife had become extra cautious of her husband’s heath and hence the daily ritual. 

No, Krishna is not closer to his retirement, he is just 42! 

While this may be an example of a frontline salesman, almost the entire sales fraternity goes through a similar situation every day. The situation, industry and customer profile may keep changing, but the scenarios remain the same. 

In fact, one of the surveys conducted in the US indicated a salesperson’s job as the 2nd most stressful job! It is the multiplicity of roles that the salesperson has to perform which makes the job complex and hence stressful. 

So what makes a salesperson’s job stressful?

·        Sales 

The primary function is the most important of them all. Forced to achieve a monthly target, the salesperson is the breadwinner for any company across industries. Unfortunately, sales is a continuous job that needs to be repeated day after day, month after month. While achieving the target definitely gives you a high, the process of achieving it or non-achievement also gives you stress!

·        Maintaining relations

A salesperson has to maintain a relationship with stakeholders on both sides of the stream. On the upstream side, there is the supply chain team and the accounts team, while on the downstream side there are the retailer, clients and customers. But above all, there are bosses, both the direct one as well as indirect ones, who breathe down the neck and want every information or action at the drop of a hat! 

·        Damage control

One of the most important parts of a salesperson’s job is damage control. Be it faulty product, delayed product, wrong product or even stock-out, it is the salesperson who has to bear the brunt. Not only is the salesperson required to manage the situation, but also generate fresh orders and collection post any fiasco! 

·        The health of the cash register

Even when the product or service being sold is faulty or inadequate or even inferior to the competition, it is the salesperson’s responsibility to sell it and keep the cash register ringing. 

·        24X7 availability

A salesperson is expected to be available 24X7. Everyone on both sides of the stream expects him to answer their calls on the first ring and have a satisfactory answer ready. They completely ignore the time, situation or the conditions that the salesperson may be in. While the mobile phone is a boon, it is a bane to a salesperson’s personal life. If the phone is on, no moment is personal ever! 

While it is true that every department plays its part but when you are fighting with a spear, it is the spearhead that faces the maximum pressure. The same is true with the salesperson too! 

Such tremendous pressure leads to a host of stress-related diseases which not only impact his personal life but also his health! 

So is there no way a salesperson or his organization attempt to lower the stress and make the quality of life better? Yes, there are ways of doing things right. In fact, organizations have now started realising that a salesperson who leads a balanced life can actually perform better! 

So, if you are a salesperson or manage a team of salesmen, here is what you can do to reduce the stress level and improve your personal life. 

·        Learn to say ‘NO’

In sales, “No” is considered a taboo word. Instead of showing inability, it is understood as incapability. Without thinking of the consequences or the efforts, most salespeople say “Yes” to things that eventually burn them out. It is important to learn when to say “No” or atleast “maybe” rather than an outright “Yes”.

·        Learn to take a break

Studies have shown that the top-performing salespeople spend 40% more time outside their work than ordinary ones. Spending time outside work allows for better time management, better planning, better rejuvenation and above all lower effort in actual sales. 

·        Develop & Improve the sales enablement strategy

Sales is not just feet on the street, it is a lot of mind game too. Analysing sales data, drawing insights from it, focussing on culture building, giving and accepting feedback and supporting the sales team in the right way are just some things that the senior members of the team should do. This not only improves morale but also creates the ‘can do’ attitude. 

·        Use technology

Today, technology is greatly impacting the way we lead our lives today. It is no longer necessary to be physically present to accept the order, even a video call is now an acceptable way of communicating with customers. Also, your smartphone can act as a great device for remaining in constant touch with customers and with other stakeholders even from remote locations. 

Thus remember, even you are a successful salesperson, you will only live once and only for that moment. If that moment is gone, you cannot recover it anytime later. Hence, it is important to strike a balance between work and persona life because excess of either of the elements is bad for you!