The example which I usually give to define consulting is from the travel industry. Suppose, I am planning for a holiday in Goa. I go to Travel Agent ‘A’ clearly stating my requirements. This Travel agent does his homework and gives me a schedule for Goa. I seek the advice of another Travel Agent ‘B’ who in turn gives me some options like Goa, Alleppey, Pondicherry with their pros and cons. The Travel agent ‘A’ acts as a Service Provider while Travel agent ‘B’ acts as a consultant.

To put it together, Consulting (which happens to be one of the most coveted streams for B-school grads) involves understanding of the complete picture, exploring options and helping the customer make a decision. It is a high risk -high gain game where each step needs to be planned carefully as credibility and trust are at stake.

Coming to the traits needed for a consultant, the first and foremost is leadership. A consultant is a role model for the customer and any mistake here can prove costly. Right from dressing to articulation to handholding, the customer looks upon the consultant for guidance. So it becomes imperative that consultants demonstrate leadership in course of their assignments.

Secondly, a consultant is exposed to multiple sectors, some known while some unknown. Ideally customers always want to have people who understand their business but it so happens that we always do not get the exact match. There is the additional advantage of a person from a different sector shedding off his baggage and bringing a fresh perspective. (Remember Steve Jobs and his ability to connect the dots. The title of this article is also inspired by him). So a consultant needs to have the mind set of foraying into unknown territories yet come out with flying colors.

Last but the not the least is the entrepreneurship spirit. You will be lucky if you have a big team supporting you. In most of the cases it is a one man army where a consultant has to run the show right from conceptualization to execution. Gone are the days when consultants used to study, submit a report and leave. Today they have the additional responsibility of implementation. This calls for an appetite for entrepreneurship and risk-taking.

To sum it, a consultant survives on credibility and trust. For this it is necessary that he hones the above mentioned skills in order to make the cut. After all, a consultant is not someone who looks at your watch and tells you the time (pun intended).

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Leaving aside the debate on vegetarians vs. non-vegetarians, a sumptuous meal usually has chicken as one of the ingredients. But we seldom pay attention to the mechanics behind producing that chicken (broiler chicken as it is popularly called).

The broiler production flow starts from the receipt of imported Grand Parent (GP) chicks at Grand Parent Farms. The life cycle of Grand Parent Chick is:

0 – 4 Weeks – Brooding Stage

5 – 23 Weeks – Growing Stage

24 – 64 Weeks – Egg Laying Stage

Note: – The laying may continue after 64 Weeks till culling

The feed for the Grand Parents is dispatched by Feed Mills based on the indent from Grand Parent Units. The Premix and Health Care items are received from Premix & Health Care Units. The other medicines and vaccines are purchased either locally or through centralized purchase and are issued to the farms on need basis. The eggs collected from Grand Parent Breeder Farms are sent to Grand Parent Breeder Cool Rooms. After grading of eggs in the Grand Parent Breeder Cool Room the eggs are sent to Grand Parent Hatchery Cool Room. The graded eggs are sent from Hatchery Cool Room to Setter for egg setting. After 18 days the eggs are moved from Setter to Hatcher. The Parent Stock (PS) chicks come out on 21st day and are sent to PS Farms. After laying period the GP Cull Birds are sold in the outside Market.

The PS chicks received from GP Hatchery are placed in PS Farms. PS Chick life cycle is similar to that of a GP chick:

0 – 4 Weeks – Brooding Stage

5 – 23 Weeks – Growing Stage

24 – 64 Weeks – Egg Laying Stage

Note: – The laying may continue after 64 Weeks till culling.

The feed for PS Chick is dispatched by Feed Mills based on the indent from PS Units. The Premix and Health Care items are received from Premix & Health Care Units. The other medicines and vaccines are purchased either locally or through centralized purchase and are issued to the farms on need basis. The eggs collected from PS Breeder Farms are sent to PS Breeder Cool Rooms. After grading of eggs in the Breeder Cool Room the eggs are sent to Ps Hatchery Cool Room. The graded eggs are sent from Hatchery Cool Room to Setter for egg setting. After 18 days the eggs are moved from Setter to Hatcher. The Broiler chicks come out on 21st day and are either transferred to Broiler Farms or sold to external Traders. After the laying period the PS Cull Birds are sold to the external Traders.

The Day Old Broiler Chicks (BR DOC) received from PS Hatchery are placed in Broiler Farms. Based on feed indent from broiler branches the feed is dispatched from the Feed Unit either to the respective Broiler Farms or to the common delivery point directed by the broiler branch. The Premix and Health Care items are received from the respective units based on the indent. The other medicines and vaccines are purchased either locally or through centralized purchase and are issued to the farms on need basis. One Broiler Branch may have 60-75 farms and these farms are grouped under “Lines” and one Line Supervisor is responsible for the line. The Line Supervisor visits the farms daily and records the mortality, feed in-take, feed stock, etc and gives necessary instruction to the farmer. The 6 weeks old broiler birds are either sold to the external traders or transferred to the consumer products division.

And these integrated world class companies actually have ERP systems in place to manage the complexities. So next time while having chicken burger at KFC, give a thought to the origin of the chicken.

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According to Smith, the value in exchange is the power of a commodity to purchase other goods and whose objective measure is expressed in the market. A virtual adaptation of this want-based value in exchange now exists, also called – “Bitcoins” (Currency: B). Ever heard of it before? Perhaps you have not been labeled as one of those into-the-digital world technology geeks whose life revolves around the digital space and virtual worlds. Not that I am one either, but hey, then we all know that curiosity killed the cat. I came to know of Bitcoin’s existence while with a media and entertainment start-up, previously in my career, with which I was engaged with, devising and supporting partnership strategy for payment gateways. That’s how I foremost got introduced to Bitcoins; that’s how the inquisitiveness built-up.

So what is a Bitcoin? – It is world’s first digital currency that was devised in 2009 by a programmer called, or atleast he/ she is believed to be called, Satoshi Nakomoto. Bitcoins are digital currencies (coins) that are earned by solving real-time networking security problems. These coins then can be traded for real currencies on exchanges (where Bitcoin’s are traded), or for goods from certain businesses that accept them. Now read this: Bitcoin is a concept run by internet users and not by any business or bank. The concept of exchanging Bitcoins needs only a computer, an internet network, and a flash drive, which also acts as your locker. Since the concept has been devised on open source, anyone can view the code and hence you must have basic computer security knowledge to ensure that there is no digital theft or hacks. Still confused on how it works? Ok so try this analogy – ever heard of peer-to-peer music sharing – hello Napster: the bane to the media and entertainment industry, and a boon to the pirates. If you haven’t heard about Napster, then it is about time to you get your basics right. Coming back to the point, the Bitcoins work like peer-to-peer music sharing networks, except that they are a decentralized internet society. The demand for the same grows as long as the internet users use Bitcoins and circulate it.

Bitcoin has no banks to report to, nor it is associated with one (remember I mentioned, the concept is driven by users and users alone), so you just end up saving extra $$$ that you always wanted to in order to avoid paying those extra commissions and fees to set-up and maintain an account. In other words, it has no central monetary authority to monitor the transactions online, which only means that is unlikely to expand beyond a few niche segments such as the online gamblers, hackers and other ill repute behind the screen underground characters. Some good things about the use of this digital currency are that transactions across the globe become easier – and moreover it is free. Also your account is never frozen or kept inactive – so you can now plan on an epic timeless expedition across the globe without stressing about what happened to your account. It also forms a great way of conducting easy transactions for petite and freelance businesses. Wouldn’t you want to have such a thing when you aren’t investing that much? And yes, you need not worry about the inflation, since the supply of the digital coins is done at a predetermined rate. At the time the concept began the value of one Bitcoin was approximately about 60 US cents, and at the time of this blog post, it is already trading at approximately US $15. You may want to check the website ‘Mt.Gox’, that allows trading of US Dollars (USD) for Bitcoins or Bitcoins for USD, 24/7 – now wouldn’t you want such a hassle-free, round-the-clock control on your money?

Upshot: Stock markets interest me in general, and I found the concept of Bitcoin quite fascinating and interesting especially looking at the two year currency valuation. As per Reuters, approximately $130 million worth of Bitcoins are now in existence, but the number is not expected to explode enormously. But like any other currency, a Bitcoin’s worth also fluctuates with demand. Since Bitcoin is a system run by users, the understanding is that it will either see an extensive recognition or it will not. It will by no means go away until people decide to bring it to an end. It will keep running as long as the users have the will and ability to keep it going. Bitcoins, a very good concept, is probably attracting large number of eyeballs in the digital space, but because of the lack of a central monetary authority they are probably disaster-prone. It is all but a giant digital ponzi scheme ready to burst soon.

p.s: the views disseminated by the author remains his own or based on his understanding over the content widely discussed in the digital world. The author has also taken into account some information which are publicly available. Image source: from varied sources on the internet.

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The number one barrier which is holding most people back from achieving their company’s or even their own full potential is their inability to make decisions. Decision making is not only a science but also an art which must be practiced and improvised continuously. Here are the seven commandments that would help in nurturing good decision making ability…

Good decision making comes from complete clarity and rightful confidence. For this one has to step back from his or her current portfolio of work and take a look at bigger picture on a regular basis. The number one barrier which is holding most people back from achieving their companies (or even their own) full potential is their inability to make decisions. Here are the seven commandments that would help in nurturing good decision making ability…

1. Take it !

The first and foremost important commandment in good decision making is – to take decision ! Lack of decision or procrastination lead you to failure. On the contrary, taking a prompt decision and then navigating through it while fine tuning can be better option. And therefore the first important commandment is – take the decision rather than hanging in.

2. Consensus is not always good

Yes – you heard me correctly. There are tough times when consensus is useless. If everyone in the organization is on the same page then usually there is no need for having separate consensus. However, when there are different views about making the final decision; someone has to take the lead – and this someone is always the leader.

3. Be strong and tenacious

Solutions are always simple; just that they might difficult to execute and follow-through. But again, rewards are better too. All one has to do is – be strong, remain so and persuage the decision until its end to see fruitful results. Tenacity pays off !

4. Use primary and quality information

Information is critical input for every decision making process and therefore it is imperative that information is of the best quality. Whenever you face any burning issue, make sure that you get all the information – first hand. If it involves more number people to provide so; have them all together – present at once. Secondhand information may come with some vital omission or some vital yet divergent insertion. In either case it is too dangerous to use it diretly; esp. when decision is critical one.

5. Decide for vision

There are a very few exceptions when some decisions are made by keeping titles, emotions or egos aside. Keeping vision and greater goal in mind helps. This not only makes decision making easy but also keeps focus steady which can lead to better and faster decisions.

6. Prefer quality over quantity

There is always a laundry list of issues to be tackled. Handling them all may not be a good option. Prioritize all and take them one by one. Early you do the prioritization, better it goes. If the issues are not mutually exclusive; you will often see that solving bigger one removes many smaller ones.

7. Eliminate it, change it or bear with it !

I always follow this fundamental principle in my daily life – business as well as personal. Whenever faced with some problem, there are just three options. First and the most preferred option is to eliminate the problem, forever from the root. Second acceptable choice is to conquer and change the situation to your favour. And if both fail, then accept it as-is and bear with it forever. This may not be sweet enough, but there is no option left anyway.

Keep these points in mind always and see amazing results. Decision making is not only a science but also an art which must be practiced and improvised continuously. Above commandments are just the beginning to it.

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Following is a guest post by Satej Salvi

The much expected Uniform Code for Pharma Marketing Practices (UCPMP) was finally released by the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) on June 2^nd, 2011. It curbs any kind of gifts to doctors, restricts hospitality and meetings, prescribes guidelines around promotional material including drug samples and expects detailed accounting of expenditures on all marketing related activities. Currently the implementation would be monitored through empowered committees at each association. Being rolled out as a code of conduct for the first six months, what is much needed is eventual evolvement into a law which will not just regulate marketing practices but will also lay down parameters for a healthy relationship between the Pharma companies and the physician community.

Resistance is expected for any such regulation clamping down on the way the Pharma companies attract business, considering that the challenges faced by the industry are many fold. Firstly, the industry is fragmented with around 30000 drug manufacturers and atleast 200 mainstream marketing companies – both big and small and with different marketing strategies. The marketing budgets would differ and also their perspective when it comes to building relationship with doctors. Secondly, the Drug Price Control order (DPCO) covers roughly 20% of all drugs sold in the country. This leaves the consumers vulnerable to expensive brands pushed through doctors as a result of aggressive marketing by few companies.  Thirdly, with Indian economy and companies going global, it is required that the ethics and practices of the industry match up to international standards. For example in the US, the Department of Health and Human Service serves as a watchdog for any unfair or illegitimate practices. Moreover, there is non-tolerance to any reported corrupt practice by the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC). Companies found guilty are forced to cough up hefty fines and their stocks take a beating on the Wall Street. It is interesting to note that until this day, there is no regulation on marketing practices of the Pharma companies in India, a market that is globally the third largest in terms of volume of production. What existed were guidelines issued by MCI (Medical Council of India) which were binding on the physicians and threatened them with stiff consequences (like cancellation of registration if found guilty of non-compliance). It has also been observed that some physicians have started declining any gifts/benefits from the companies. Irony is in the fact that the beneficiary is liable for action, while the benefactor isn’t.

The companies, in their race to get a larger pie of ‘Rx’ were indulging in practices almost bordering the unethical, because of which the DoP took a firm stand and initiated a process to evolve a mechanism to prevent companies from ‘bribing’ doctors. Industry sources cite that many firms spend on expensive gifts, in certain cases even distribute cheques and cash, not just to the doctors but also their kin. Those with a financial muscle have splurged on foreign trips to exotic locales (along with families) under the pretext of CME events (Continuous Medical Education). Spends on doctors are huge, considering that creating awareness about your brand among the doctors is the one and only way to market them for a non-OTC industry of this nature.

Going forward, the DoP would definitely be under pressure to legalize the regime. The industry will need to proactively embrace the provisions and work more innovatively towards designing their marketing strategies. At the same time they will need to strengthen internal controls for their promotional activities. MNC’s generally have well drafted internal policies which are compliant to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Act and operate in a relatively sound ethical environment. General feeling is that most companies tend to bow down to the high-handedness of their sales teams, naturally so, considering that the cash inflow is dependent on them. They would now need to focus on building a robust internal control system revolving around various compliances to the DoP’s guidelines which sooner or later will take shape of a law. Companies would need to relook at their policies which would need significant alignment with the regulations subsequently introduced. They would need to define limits on the spends and lay down responsibilities of process owners involved in execution of promotional activities, procurement of materials and services required for them and also monitor compliance for all these activities. It will involve checks and balances to track how much, how well and how frequently the company spends on each physician and each marketing activity undertaken by multiple departments/specialties within the same organization and across different geographical locations. A sustainable framework needs to be structured and well designed reporting and monitoring mechanism to be developed to provide the management (and regulatory authorities if the need be) with reasonable assurance regarding the promotional practices of their company. Also a no-nonsense feedback and redressal mechanism with independent members would need to be setup to collect and handle any grievances or complaints that may prop up. An environment like this would also need good amount of support from the data systems which will need alignment to the risk control mechanisms as designed by the management. Most importantly, the sales teams would need training and sensitization to the risks of non-compliance.

All this would require a lot of intervention from the top management and the outcome surely will benefit the industry as a whole. Hopefully the multi-crore budgets for foreign holidays would be re-allocated to more fruitful but neglected endeavors like product innovation, drug discovery and patient safety.

About the author: The author is currently associated with the Risk Advisory practice with a leading consulting firm and specializes in consulting solutions for the pharmaceutical industry.

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are solely personal opinions of the author not intended to reflect the opinion or position of any person (other than the author) or any firm or organization.

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We, here at Consulting Network, often get emails asking us whether it is advisable to pursue course XX or attend program YY to break into consulting. Though response to that question is dependent on various other data points such as brand value of school, focus of the program, networking opportunities, career opportunities etc, what’s surprising is that we rarely get any queries on how to improve “Soft Skills”.

Most of us are too busy chasing “Hard Skills” – Skills that can get you an interview that we don’t focus on rather important aspect of recruitment – “Soft Skills” – Skills that help you get and then keep the job.  Soft skills are so important that if you become a sound practitioner, they can significantly enhance your career growth.

Recently, I came across an article that mentioned “60 soft skills” as defined by “The Workforce Profile”. According to the study, these skills were defined as “personal traits and skills that employers state are the most important when selecting employees for jobs of any type.”

Personally, I don’t quite agree with the entire list. In fact as Lei Han, a popular career coach and a Wharton MBA, pointed out, some of the items on the list were quite baffling.  However, the list serves as a useful starting point for further analysis. I’ve listed these skills below and I’ve tried to offer some insight on each of these skills.

1. Math. – Ok, is Math really a soft skill? Not in my opinion at least. I think I’d classify math as a “Hard Skill” and definitely an important skill. Essentially all businesses boil down to math, consulting is no different. While being a math whiz is in no way a pre-requisite to a consulting job, a consulting job does require a thinking individual who is comfortable with numbers and can analyze simple data points and reach a conclusion.

2. Safety – Safety? I have no idea what the employers who participated in the survey meant when they put “Safety” as #2 on the list of essential soft skills.

3. Courtesy- “Courtesy” is an essential soft skill. Simple things such as readjusting to accommodate another person on the lift, or say, helping out a coworker in resolving issues with his or her laptop count a great deal. While the above examples relate to interactions with people you meet at workplace. Courtesy towards your clients is also an essential skill in Consulting. Sending a thank you text/email to a client for sending “Data” on time or following up with a client long after a project is over are some of the other examples of Courtesy.

4. Honesty. – I’d rate “Honesty”  very high on my list. I enjoy working with honest individuals. The rule is simple, Be Honest and If you mess up, own up.  Credibility is the byproduct of being honest. A credible person gets approximately 20-30 percent more opportunities than an equally capable individual with a questionable credibility.

5. Grammar – Can be/cannot be classified as a soft skill. When it comes to crafting consulting reports, I’d classify grammar as a hard skill. I don’t want a client to point out a silly grammatical error in a report. At the same time, I’d classify grammar as a soft skill in routine email interactions. Occasional typos are acceptable but when bad grammar in emails becomes a common practice, it can have adverse effect on your career growth.

6. Reliability – Again, I’d rate “Reliability” very high on my list. If you can become an employee that your manager can rely completely on, so much so that when he or she allots you work, he or she can be sure that the work will get done in the most efficient and effective manner – you become a highly valuable asset. Reliable employees are a rare commodity. If you find one, keep them.

7. Flexibility – Definitely an essential soft skill. A lot of people get comfortable with what they know. It is essential to try new things, be flexible enough to try different projects out of your area of expertise.

8. Team skills – #1 on my list. I do not enjoy working with people who are not good team players. The job almost always gets completed in half the time when people work well in a team. It is no wonder that most consulting companies such as Mckinsey, Bain and BCG rate teaming skills very high on their list of requirements in potential hires.

9. Eye contact. – Has it ever happened to you that someone shakes your hand while they are talking to someone else? Annoying isn’t it? – Eye contact is all about paying full attention to the individual you are interacting with. However, i would not recommend sustained eye contact with a good looking co-worker.

10. Cooperation – Similar to Team skills (#8).

11. Adaptability – Similar to Flexibility (#7)

12. Follow rules –is following rules a soft skill? Not exactly.

13. Self-directed – “Self Motivated” perhaps would have been a better option here. It is essential to carve your own path and set your own goals. It’s important to reflect on your aspirations.

14 Good attitude. – Byproduct of skills at #3, #6, #7 and #8

15. Writing skills - Same as #5

16. Driver’s license. – Really? Not a hard skill or a soft skill. I have no idea what “Driver’s license” is doing on this list.

17. Dependability. – Same as #6

18. Advanced math. – “Hard skill”

19. Self-supervising – Definitely an essential skill to have. You don’t want your manager to keep checking in on you every few hours to track progress. A manager appreciates an employee who can take on a job and finish it end to end without any real supervision.

20. Good reference -. Not really sure what “Good Reference” is doing here.

21. Being drug free – Not really a soft skill but yes it’s a desired quality. You can’t advise clients if you are buzzed out half the day.

22. Good attendance – Not exactly a soft skill.

23. Personal energy. - Everyone enjoys working with happy vibrant individuals. Definitely a desirable quality.

24. Work experience – Not a soft skill.

25. Ability to measure – Not a soft skill.

26. Personal integrity – I’d rate “Personal Integrity” very high on my list. People who are honest and having strong moral principles almost always are very likeable in an organization.

27. Good work history. – Not a soft skill.

28. Positive work ethic. – Same as #26

29. Interpersonal skills. – Culmination of #23, #3, #6, #7 and #8

30. Motivational skills. – Definitely a top contender. Its not just enough to motivate oneself but also other members of the team.

31. Valuing education. – Not a soft skill

32. Personal chemistry. – Not a soft skill. Perhaps it  is same as “Team Skills”

33. Willingness to learn. – Absolutely vital skill. One must be willing to go beyond what one has mastered and must be willing to try new things.

34. Common sense. – Absolutely vital. Enough has been said about having common sense. So I wont probe further.

35. Critical thinking skills. – I’d rate it high on my list. As a consultant, you are constantly pushed to connect random information and reach a conclusion.

36. Knowledge of fractions. – Same as math skills. Not exactly a soft skill.

37. Reporting to work on time. – A desirable quality.

38. Use of rulers and calculators. – No comments

39. Good personal appearance. – As a consultant, you need to dress well. It’s a prerequisite.

40. Wanting to do a good job. –Covered above somewhere.

41. Basic spelling and grammar. – Same as #5

42. Reading and comprehension. – Same as #5

43. Ability to follow regulations. – Same as #12

44. Willingness to be accountable.- Same as #26

45. Ability to fill out a job application. – Not relevant.

46. Ability to make production quotas. – Not relevant

47. Basic manufacturing skills training. – Not relevant

48. Awareness of how business works. - Relevant to consultants, but not exactly a soft skill.

49. Staying on the job until it is finished. – It boils down to accountability. You need to accountable for the entire job and not only your allocated portion of work.

50. Ability to read and follow instructions. – Not relevant.

51. Willingness to work second and third shifts. – Why not just get a sleeping bag to work? Not relevant.

52. Caring about seeing the company succeed. – A vital quality.

53. Understanding what the world is all about. – Not relevant.

54. Ability to listen and document what you have heard. – Not a soft skill.

55. Commitment to continued training and learning. – Absolutely vital for growth.

56. Willingness to take instruction and responsibility. – Same as #49

57. Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment. – Same as teaming skills.

58. Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months. – Not relevant.

59. Willingness to be a good worker and go beyond the traditional eight-hour day. – I’d rather prefer my juniors to finish the work in allotted 8 hours and enjoy their life.

60. Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and customers. – Absolutely vital. Yet it has turned up at #60.

As you can see, many of these “soft skills” are not actually relevant. So I searched for a list that is perhaps slightly more relevant and Lei Han had the perfect list

She has brilliantly classified soft skills in two broad categories – Self Management and People Skills. Her list is so comprehensive, that I don’t think there is any need to add any more items.. I am pasting that list here (without any modifications). You can read the complete post on her blog here.

Soft Skills – Self Management Skills

1. Self awareness – knowing what drives, angers, motivates, embarrasses, frustrates, inspires you
2. Emotion management – being able to control unexpected emotions like anger and frustration so you can think clearly and at your optimum.
3. Self-confidence – those who believe in themselves have access to “unlimited power” (wisdom from KungFu Panda)
4. Stress management – Being able to stay calm and balanced in stressful, overwhelming situations
5. Resilience – Ability to bounce back from a misstep in your job or career
6. Skills to forgive and forget – Ability to move on without baggage from a past mistake or something in your career that wronged you
7. Persistence and Perseverance – Ability to overcome challenging situations and obstacles and maintain the same energy
8. Patience – ability to step back in an emergency to think clearly or the ability to pause and wait when you are in a rush or want to rush others.

Soft Skills – People Skills

1. Communication skills – general skills to listen and articulate your ideas in writing and verbally to any audience
2. Presentation skills – ability to maintain attention and achieve your desired outcome from presenting to an audience
3. Facilitating skills – ability to coordinate and solicit well represented opinions and feedback from a group with diverse perspectives to reach a common, best solution.
4. Interviewing skills – ability to sell your skills as an interviewee or accurately assess other’s ability or extract the needed information as an interviewer
5. Selling skills – this is not just for people in sales.  This is the ability to build buy-in to an idea, a decision, an action, a product, or a service
6. Meeting management skills – at least 50% of meetings today in corporate america are a waste of time.  This is the skill to efficiently and effectively reach productive results from leading a meeting
7. Influence / persuasion skills – ability to influence perspective or decision making but still have the people you influence think they made up their own mind.
8. Team work skills – ability to work effectively with anyone with different skill sets, personalities, work styles,  or motivation level
9. Management skills – ability to motivate and create a high performing team with people of varied skills, personalities, motivations, and work styles.
10. Leadership skills – ability to create and communicate vision and ideas that inspires others to follow with commitment and dedication.
11. Skills in dealing with difficult personalities – Ability to work well or manage someone whom you find difficult
12. Skills in dealing with difficult situations – Ability to stay calm and still be effective when faced with an unexpected difficult situation.
13. Ability to think / communicate on your feet (under pressure) – ability to articulate thoughts in an organized manner even when you are not prepared for the question or situation you are in
14. Networking skills – ability to be interesting and interested in business conversations that motivates people to want to be in your network.
15. Interpersonal relationship skills – ability to build trust, find common ground, have empathy, and ultimately build good relationships with people you like or in positions of power/influence.
16. Negotiation skills – ability to understand the other side and reach a win-win resolution that you find favorably, satisfies both sides, and maintains relationships for future dealings
17. Mentoring / coaching skills – ability to provide constructive wisdom, guidance, and/or feedback that can help others further their career development
18. Organizing skills – ability to organize business gatherings to facilitate learning, networking, or business transactions
19. Self-promotion skills – ability to subtly promote your skills and work results to people of power or influence in your organization.  This will build your reputation and influence.
20. Savvy in handling office politics – office politics is a fact of life.  This is the ability to understand and deal with office politics so you can protect yourself from unfairness as well as further your career.

So how many of these 28 soft skills do you possess? Let us know through the comments tab below.

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Employees are supposedly the most precious and valuable assets of an organization. Growth of any organization is directly proportionate to the ways employees contribute to it. An organization can achieve its desired goal by Recruitment quality employees with right skills, knowledge and more importantly the one who will fit in the culture of the organization and remain loyal.

Therefore, recruitment plays a vital role and becomes a tough task as it would impact work performance and the cost incurred in recruitment. A good recruitment would select a candidate with right knowledge, skill and the one who will be the right fit for the job and that too of course at the minimum cost.

However, recruitment should not just involve matching of right skills and knowledge with the job requirement; but it should also look at the psychological factors of the candidate. While a candidate with right set of skills may join the organization his behavioral pattern could be totally different as compared to the organization’s culture as well as to the job involved – and this could pose a critical issue. A very common case of manipulation happens when candidates do some research on the interviewing company and then respond to every question asked in manipulated manner in order to increase chances of selection and sometimes these people get selected too. All they need is to fake or manipulate for 30-40 minutes. These types of misfits usually give a lot of problems like attrition, job title mismatch, lack of interest in the work etc.

Can this be eliminated completely? Perhaps not – can this be avoided at least? – Absolutely yes! Answer is DISC profiling. DISC is acronym for four personal traits viz. Dominance, Influence, Steady and Compliance. It is a personality assessment tool that helps to judge the behavioral pattern of a candidate which then can be matched with the job requirements and the best match can be selected. DISC profiling could help tremendously during recruitment when used appropriately and in correct manner.

DISC profiling is a tool which facilitates understanding of human behavior and personality of an individual. It basically indicates how a certain person reacts and would possibly react to certain conditions. It provides information about individual’s behavioral style, strengths, skills, direction of opinions, perceptions, expectations and sources or causes of motivation.

DISC was created on the idea that all the individuals exhibit one of the four types of behaviors but to a different magnitude and mix.

D stands for Dominance: Individuals who are D type are dominant, direct, and decisive and result driven. While talking they usually cut the crap and directly come to the point. They like to be independent and have strong will power, take quick actions and demand results. They like making decision for themselves and the bottom line too. Whenever a person on the job is required to be decision maker and ownership taker – usually in senior management position, this trait is the one to look for.

I of Influence: People who are persuasive, energetic, friendly, outgoing and enthusiastic. They prefer socialising and sharing of thoughts. When talking these individuals may usually talk lot more about other things apart from main discussion point. Most of it could be categorised as a part of small-talk.

S of Steadiness: These are the individuals who are consistent, helping, good listeners, typically less talkative and believers of facts and figures. People who exhibit this trait do not believe on just talks and speculations but depend on hard facts and figures and are rule followers.

C of Compliance: Usually cautious and concerned. The main motivational factor for their work drive is fear of failure or anything else; such that one would do something only because to avoid negative effect of it.
It may not be appropriate to say which of these traits cause people work best as it totally depends upon the nature of work and environment they are part of.

DISC can be used for many applications in an industry but the most important and effective use can be in recruitments. As it can help in identifying blueprint of the behavior pattern of the person along with his/her approach towards life and work as output. With the help of this profiling we can also identify the fake behavior of the candidate in an interview – this is the power of all the psychological tests anyway. And therefore we can match the temperament of the individual with that of job profile for correct match.

A set of psychometric questions are used during DISC profiling test as part of recruitment process. Responses are then analysed in specific manner to get the results which indicate the most prominent factor and the least prominent factor. It usually provides prioritised sequence of all four characteristics such that – if a person is less dominant but highly methodical results would show SICD. Or someone who is more of social in nature and can dominate in certain situations but never works from risk avoidance perspective would show IDSC.

This is how DISC profiling can help organizations to put right person for the right jobs and thus avoiding round pegs in square holes which is one of the typical industry issues in employee engagement space.

DISC profiling is the tool that helps to hire the correct employee for an organization according to their culture and need. It does not measure skills, qualification or intelligence. Rather it checks the more important aspect which is personality and behavior of an individual. This not only can save costs, efforts and time of recruitment but also can increase effectiveness of every employee and so the organization.

For more details visit…http://www.knewron.co.in/xwriteups.asp?id=14

Read more such articles at http://www.knewron.co.in/xwriteups.asp

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TABC i.e. Time and Activity Based Costing is normally seen as one of the costing method in many areas. Additionally this method also shows us many avenues of cost savings besides traditional methods. TABC puts solid measurements for time and resource usage in various areas of business. TABC also helps in deciding billing rates and base-costs of product more finely.

The basic idea behind TABC is converting cost of resources into time domain and then converting them back to time and material domain as and when needed.

Lean Manufacturing concept defines 7 types of wastes viz. Over-production, Waiting, Motion, Inventory, Movement, Over-processing and Defects (in short also remembered by PWM-I-MOD). Out of these seven wastes, four of them (Over-production, Inventory, Over-processing and Defects) have materialistic wastage and hence easily identifiable and can be calculated. However, for motion, movement and waiting type of wastes one often doesn’t go beyond recognition of the agony that they generate.

Yet, whenever there is time is involved which is wasted it is not taken into account gets easily subsidized. Having TABC in place in your business, the paradigm towards seeing wastes in the work could change drastically. This means, while a few minutes of waiting was acceptable earlier; post implementation of TABC, it would also come under savings’ radar. For the obvious reason that now you are in better position to calculate cost of each minute or second. And as the time passes by, your money-meter will start ticking, showing you the money you are wasting.

Thus, when your business starts seeing time as important resource and more importantly when it can recognize cost associated with each minute, waste reduction can gain more importance than ever. Simply because now the total wastage cost would go up and saving time would mean saving costs at each step. TABC can be used not only for mainstream activities but also for ancillary functions and activities.

It must be understood that TABC by itself doesn’t reduce costs; however, it establishes a strong platform in identifying those cost saving opportunities and manifests them appropriately. Finally, action needs to be taken by you.

Read more on : How to Calculate Cost of Time?

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1. Not taking ownership of your work

I see young consultants failing the ownership test all the time; I remember that not too long ago, we had a team meeting at the end of a financial year that was chaired by our Director (Partner). We had done reasonably well as a team that year and all the graphs had a positive slope.  However, just before our Director concluded the meeting he said – I want you all to take ownership of your work; I think there is still a scope of improvement on that front.

I thought about what he said and why he said it, after all, our unit was doing reasonably well.

Me, being me, I probed further. I went up to him and asked him what he meant by his comment on ownership. He told me that in an entire engagement cycle (from client proposal to final report and follow ups), it is not enough to merely complete the specific task allocated to you. You need to proactively get involved in all aspects of the engagement.

What I realized was that a lot of new consultants mistake an engagement cycle to be modeled on assembly line manufacturing, wherein everyone has predefined task and if everyone were to complete their tasks effectively. The final product would be perfect. There may be some merit to this line of thought; however, ownership is about not only doing your task well, but also making sure that everyone works cohesively. Ownership is also about proactively assisting other members of the team.

So how does this “ownership model” really work? – If you are new in the system. First step is to make sure you do the task assigned to you in the most perfect manner possible. If someone asks you to make two slides in a presentation, make sure that those two slides do not need any rework by the person who has allocated the task to you. Take ownership of those two slides. The idea is to become a stakeholder in a consulting project.  Once you master the task allocated to you. Ask for more work. Go up to the seniors and ask them for work. Keep turning up for more work till they have no more work to give you. Once your team starts to trust you, they will give you more responsibility and before you know it, you will be a critical member of the team.

People who do not take ownership of the tasks allocated to them can quickly have fallout with their team. If over a period of time, you realize that you are not getting more responsibility in projects then perhaps you are committing the cardinal sin of not taking ownership of your work. i’d advise that you take a close look at your attitude towards work and overall commitment towards a consulting career.

2. Not getting along with people you work with

Your Boss or your senior may be horrid to get along with but that does not preclude you from not giving your best on each and every task allocated to you. One of the biggest things I’ve learned over the course of my consulting career is how to build relationships. There have been times when I’ve not got along well with certain people, but I’ve learned to co-exist and in time, how to thrive in such environments.

If you are the junior, then the responsibility to co-exist with the person you are in conflict with falls squarely on your  shoulders.  Conflicts at workplace are appraisal killers. As a junior, you want people to stand up for you and not stand against you.

Ideally, as a junior, you are not allowed to have any conflicts what so ever. Consulting or any business for that matter is all about perception and if you want to thrive, you need to learn how to manage what people perceive about you.

Also, as a junior you must take every opportunity to bond with your team. If there is a team gathering – Be there or better help organize it. If there is a birthday celebration – Take the lead.

3. Saying no before saying yes.

I’ve been guilty of saying no before saying yes during my early days as a consultant; however, over a period of time, I’ve learned how to manage the expectations of my seniors. Whenever, I am allocated work, my first step is to estimate the amount of time It would take me to finish the allocated task, add approximately half hour to that estimate to account for any miscalculation in estimation in amount of work required and then commit a deadline to the person who has allocated the work to me.  Usually, the person allocating the work to me and myself agree on the deadline and I get on with my work.  [if we do not agree, then we get into a discussion where we break the task down into micro tasks and come up with an agreed upon deadline]

However, as a junior you may not have this liberty and you have to somehow get the work done on or before the deadline allocated to you. Seniors who are good at what they do always account for the additional time that a newbie would take to complete a task so usually deadlines assigned by them tend to be fair.

Instead of giving deadlines, I prefer having a discussion with my juniors about when they can finish the work. The idea is to help juniors in estimating the work before they actually get down to doing the work. Life is all about estimation isn’t it?  There have been occasions when I’ve allocated work that should not take more than X hours to juniors and then asked them how much time it would take them to finish the job. There are three responses I usually get

-          “X –X+1 hours” – I like junior who respond in such a manner. An actual number or a deadline within the acceptable range tells me that the junior has thought through the task allocated to him or her, estimated the work required and hence, in his or her mind he or she has already started working on the task.

-          “I don’t know – X+ (4-7) hours maybe” – Red flag alert.  Such a response immediately indicates that the junior is not keen on taking ownership of the work allocated to him or her. What usually follows is a discussion on why X+ (4-7) hours.   Not exactly the situation a junior would want himself to be in.

-          “I can only give the work to you X+ (7+10) hours” – WHAT? WHY? – Clearly, the junior has not broken the task down into micro tasks or correctly estimated the time required; In fact, such a response tells me that he or she has correctly estimated the time required but has also included leisure time (Long coffee breaks, chatting with friends, social networking etc) in committing the deadline.

If your team is stretched for time or working on a weekend, then offer to lend a helping hand. Tight deadlines are opportunities win your team’s trust. If you help your team finish the project on time, you will be a superstar.

These were three things that top my list of “Things that can put a full stop (.) to a Consulting Career”. If you have something to add to the list then please do so by commenting on this post.

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Time and Activity Based Costing, also known as TABC is one of the better ways to identify cost of your employee’s every minute in the office including yourself. There is simple math that can be applied to calculate this cost for any individual.

Let us assume that the monthly salary of an employee is ‘M’ and there are 25 working days in a month. Apart from salary to the employee, there is additional cost of infrastructure, fringe benefits to employees and others; these add approximately 30% additional overheads per employee thus making his monthly cost = 1.3 x M. It is also a fair assumption as per industry standards that there are 540 minutes = 9 Hrs (i.e. 09:00AM to 06:00PM) available for work every day including breaks; which means 450 minutes (at the rate of 80% efficiency) of productive minutes per day.

This means per day cost of an employee is = 1.3 x M / 25 and that of per minute is = 1.3 x M / (25 * 450). This tells you how much one minute costs to you. Take-up any activity or process and figure out how much time it takes to perform for everyone involved. With the use of abovementioned formula, total cost for the process or activity can be calculated. This will not only help to understand costs involved but also put solid measurements for time and resource wastage.

It also can help in deciding billing rates more finely. By knowing how much every minute costs, consciousness about wastage of time is expected to increase. Just have everyone’s per minute cost calculated and put it in front of the desk. So that whenever one sees that the time is being wasted money-meter should start ticking in the mind to alarm level of money being wasted. Another interesting way of reducing wastage and improving productivity, isn’t it?

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