If you are Happy at your Present Job be there and perform

If you are happy at your present job, please be there and perform your duty religiously. Accept this fact wholeheartedly and tell your-self very loudly and clearly that you are happy at your present job, you enjoy working there and you do not intend to make any change for now. Therefore stop searching for new jobs; also make it a point to stop answering calls from the HR consultants. Have enough courage and strength to tell them honestly that you are happy, enjoying your job and you are not interested to change, also thank them for the call.

Please remember, the moment you say no to the HR-consultant, chances are that you will start getting calls from the head-hunters, because you may be the most eligible candidate and perfect-fit for the new assignment they have in hand. They will start calling you day-in and day-out till you accept there proposal to visit their prospective client for a preliminary Interview.

Once you accept there invitation of an Interview call, you are going to get-trapped in this puzzle. In the beginning, it will be fun or you will call it an experience of giving an interview in a new company and evaluating your true value in today’s job market. But things will start changing dramatically in your personal and professional life once you have been short listed by your prospective employer. Your mind will start making all types of calculations and by the time you get an offer letter in hand, you are fully sold at the same time a bit confused also; your confidence and concentration on your present job will start loosing. But in other hands, it will also start increasing your excitement, focus and confidence simultaneously on the new assignment and you will not stop day-dreaming about your new job and future career growth with an open eyes.

It’s obvious, in any new job offer, the field looks greener on the other side, and there are enough reasons; because everyone will start talking good about you, your new company and new assignment. And they will start giving examples of your career advancements by way of your career growth within next one to three years, where the sky is the limit.

In the beginning, it will look so exiting that you forget the main issue and that is: “All good things are applicable subject to your performing, crossing all expected targets and coming closer up to the expectations of the new management”.

While accepting a new assignment, the new joiner usually forgets few basic things which are: - the company is new, their business is new, so are their customers and competitors. And it will take minimum three to six months for any individual to understand the company, its culture, policies, products, clients, competitors and their future goals etc; there after he can plan his strategies, road map and plan of action to achieve the pre-set target/goals.

However, the meter of the prospective employer starts clicking from day you join them and the whole company will be looking at you with x-ray eyes and they are expecting miracles from you; that’s why they have selected you and agreed to pay you an exorbitant salary, incentives and perks, which you have negotiated with them. They strongly believed that you are an extra ordinary person with super intelligence; sharpen skills, full of confidence, positive attitude, high energy level, optimism and an excellent performer.

Please do not get dishearten, the intention is not to discourage you to join a new company, but it's a request not play with your own career and change for the sake of a change. First, do self introspection and analysis rationally and than take a call. There could be various personal reasons but you have to think rationally: -

1) You are under paid and you deserve more
2) Your designation has not change in last five years
3) You are not comfortable at your present assignment
4) You think your boss and your colleagues do not like you
5) You don’t see great future for yourself in the present job

These could be some one’s assumptions which may not be true. Everyone has problems. But running away from those problems is not a solution; rather it becomes a bigger problem at a later date. Because the moment you decide to change the job, your mind, body and soul stop working sincerely, which directly influence your performance. You start thinking negatively and by default every thing seems to go wrong and it goes against you which further add on to your decision of leaving an organization which was good to you and fed your family till yesterday.

Therefore, please be sincere towards your job; give your 100%, always do more than what you are expected to do; strongly follows company's Ethics and EH&S policies,  try to learn more soft/hard skills; obtain more professional qualification/s; don’t criticize your company, boss and colleagues; last but not the least, do your best. This will not only makes you happy and proud of your job but it will also makes your company feels proud of you, because you being their most dedicated, honest, loyal, hard working and excellent human being who is respected in the company as a most valuable human resource.

With Prayers
Gurcharan

Consistent follow-up and patience brings positive results

Six months had passed since I had joined my new company, but I did not get any break through in getting even a single order. At the time of joining this company; Sahib (Sr. Vice President and Business Head of a building material company based at north India) gave me a new car key and told me that “the whole of national capital region (NCR) is your territory, just go and get the orders” and wished me all the very best for my new assignment.

Every morning, I used to leave with a new mission to concur. Some clients would listen to me patiently but would not give any order; another set of clients would not even listen to me while a few decent customers used to welcome me, offer a cup of tea and then allow me to leave without an order.

I was running from one builder to another for a break-through order, but it seemed luck was not in my favour. I was getting impatient with myself and had started worrying about my new job, place and products. In spite of all odds, one thing was in my favour and that was my Sahib’s confidence in me, which continuously gave me the strength, power and energy to go to new clients with the same zeal, excitement and confidence.

With each passing day, it was becoming more and more difficult to earn the salary without performing and this guilt of non-performance was so strong that by default, I used to leave every day in the morning to meet with the new clients with the hope of closing the sales-call that very day. It was a very painful experience and with the dawn of each day it was becoming yet more and more difficult to survive without results. Still I was not ready to accept the defeat and did not want to prove myself and my Sahib wrong by declaring myself a “failure”.

It was a “Catch-22” situation, with one-way traffic where nobody could take a u-turn and go back. Here, either you perform or perish; there was no other option available to me.

I had decided to try again and again till real success knocked at my doors. It was not a day-dreaming but I wanted to prove it to myself that consistent follow up and patience with the prospective clients would definitely bring positive results. Moreover, I was having the blessings of my Sahib and God Almighty with me, which was more than sufficient to win over in any given situation.

After eleven months of continuous hard-work, I got my first break-through in the shape of a trial order of three units from an upcoming builder of Ghaziabad, which was executed within three days. This followed with another order worth Rs.14 crores, to fulfill all their requirements of our products, for their four upcoming residential projects.

With Prayers

Gurcharan

We meet God in many Roles, Forms and Faces

It was a Friday afternoon. I was working with my field-sales-team at Guwahati, when I got a call from a senior manager, who was working in my Rehnuma’s office, (the Managing Director of a North India based Rs.3000 crores plus conglomerate), and he instructed me to report to Delhi Office the next Monday for an Interview with the Sahib, Vice President and Business Head of one of Rehnuma’s Units, engaged in the manufacturing and marketing of building materials.

As a matter of fact, I was waiting for this call for a very long time and finally the D-day had arrived. I was very excited about the interview call and the very first thing I did was to call up my wife and told her about the interview-call. As was expected, she also became very happy.

I wished Bapuji (my late father) was alive to hear this good news as he would have been very happy, because he had fore-told me before his death that I should not lose heart and wait for the call with prayer and patience and I would definitely get a call from my Rehnuma.

After making the call, I started thinking about the proposed interview. I had never met Sahib before and I didn’t know what all he would ask me in the interview? I thought what if by any chance I failed in the proposed interview? One after the other, worries started pouring into my mind. Somehow, with great anxiety and excitement, I booked my air-ticket for New Delhi.

On the scheduled day, I reached New Delhi Airport at 08:30 AM and within an hour I was sitting at the reception of my Rehnuma’s office, where the Sahib was to take my interview. Before I was called in by the Sahib, I thought of meeting my Rehnuma to convey my sincere thanks for arranging this interview, which I did. He wished me good luck and told me to wait at the reception for my turn.

In less than five minutes, I was called in. While entering the Sahib’s chamber, I was very nervous, tense and exited, but within few moments of my arrival in his chamber, the Sahib not only made me feel cool and comfortable but also put me at ease. He was very warm, friendly and started communicating with me in a very soft tone. To begin with, he started talking about the company, products and its future plans and later asking about me, my work and my family in details.

I was through within an hour. At the end of the interview, he advised me to come to Gurgaon with family saying that if everything goes well, I would not only settle down in there but also prosper and progress, both personally and professionally without any hassle. Last but not the least; he also assured me that my daughters would get higher educations, good jobs and will also get married there without any problem.

Six years have passed, to be precise, since that very lucky day, when I met the Sahib for the first time and whatever he had predicted on that day had come true exactly the same way without any variation.

It’s true that God Almighty comes in our lives in many roles, faces and forms but in the first instance, we fail to recognize Him with our naked eyes, and by the time we realize it, He is gone forever!

But in my case, I have been lucky and blessed that my Sahib is very much here with us and I pray to the God Almighty to always keep him happy, healthy and wealthy. May all his dreams come true; and may all that he wishes in this life be given to him unconditionally, Amen!

With Prayers

Gurcharan

Unforgettable Diwali Night

It was the Diwali day and I was staying alone in Kolkata, whereas my family was  still leaving in Jamshedpur. I could have gone to Jamshedpur a day before but I wanted to attend Diwali puja in the office, therefore, I decided to attend puja in the morning and proceed for Jamshedpur in the afternoon by Gitanjali  express  train, which was leaving at 1:15 pm in the afternoon from Howrah station and reaching Jamshedpur at 5 pm. I booked my ticket in advance and as per the schedule, after attending office puja, I left at 12 noon from my office for the station. The distance was hardly 10 km which could be covered within 45 minutes by taxi.

On the way to the station, I instructed Taxi driver to take M G Road, which was passing through Kolkata's biggest whole sale market,  because it was a shortcut to the station. But due to Diwali rush, there was heavy traffic jam and  I was unable to reach station before 1 pm due to heavy  traffic at MG Road.  Finally I reached station at 1:10 pm and I straightaway rushed to platform no.12 from where Gitanjali express  train used to leave everyday, but that day, Gitanjali express train was standing at platform no. 21 at Howrah South station, I literally started running towards the train, I had to climb the foot-over-bridge and in spite of my best efforts, I could not reached at  plat no. 21 before the schedule departure time, when I entered platform no. 21, the train already started and I was running towards the train, but of no use, because nobody was listening to me and in spite of my best and sincere efforts, I could not catch the train that day.

People at the platform started shouting at me and telling me not to run towards the  running train because I could have fallen-down at the platform and/or railway track, but I was still running till the train's last boggy left the platform. I was breathing very heavily and few passengers came running towards me to stop me; after controlling my breath, I started crying like a child, because I knew, I could not be with my family that day.

The next train to Jamshedpur was at 5:30 pm, which would reach Jamshedpur at 9:50 pm and by the time I will reach home it will be 10:30 pm and within next 90 minutes  the most pious Hindu festival of Diwali will be over. Meanwhile,  someone from the standing passengers suggested me to catch local train  for Kharagpur,  (all trains going to Jamshedpur stop at Kharagpur station), which will leave Howrah station at 3 pm and I can get some train from there  for Jamshedpur. 

But before taking any further steps, I thought to speak to my wife first and when I told her about the day's incident, she also became very sad and said, " you are not coming today for Diwali, children will miss you a lot and I will miss you too, please do something and just come?."

Therefore, after due consultation with the ticket collector I boarded local train for Kharagpur and reached there at 5:30 pm and it so happened that the local train to Jamshedpur had left 5:15 pm,  and  the next train to Jamshedpur was at 7:25 pm,  it was Steel express train which leaves Howrah station at 5.30 pm in the evening and reach Jamshedpur at 9:50 pm..

I tried to get information about bus services or taxi for Jamshedpur but I could not get any conveyance from Kharagpur. That day I felt very bad and realized that I should always have a contingency plan  ready  in case of such an emergency, as an alternate plan for personal and professional life in the future. 

I sat down at the railway canteen and coolly thought about the whole day's incident and  analyzed  about my mistakes. Thereafter, I called my wife again and  requested her to perform Diwali Puja and celebrate Diwali whole heatedly so that my daughters should not miss the joy of  Diwali's lightnings,  sweets, toys and fireworks. She listened to me quietly and said yes in reply with a very low tone, I knew for sure, she will not do any thing till I reach home.

In twenty years of our marriage life, that was the first Diwali when I was not with my  family. I was carrying lots of Bengali sweets, ready made clothes for my daughters, silk sari for my wife and jaba-phool mala for Kali thakur, which I bought from the station. I was feeling so helpless, frustrated, angry and cursing myself for the  said delay I had made at Kolkata office. 

 

I could have given the responsibility to perform Puja to our  depot manager but no, I wanted to do every thing myself and this is the result for not passing on the responsibilities to the team members, this could be due to my insecurity and low confidence level on my team members.

 

I reached home at 10:30 pm that night and I saw everyone was standing at the main-gate of our house and  eagerly waiting for me. That Diwali night, I felt so helpless, demoralized,  confused  and  shaky. I was having no valid reason or explanation which I can put forward to my wife and children about the said delay.

 

I also realized that day that, in spite of  my well planned strategy, thorough road map, best and sincere efforts the plan can fail because life is not mathematics and it's not marketing game plan which can be fought  with a  professional approach alone. It's life and life has it's own set of rules and regulations  which has to be strictly followed by each and every individual religiously because it's influenced by  the  nature or we can say by the super natural power, which is also known as the God Almighty.   

Happy Diwali

With Prayers

Gurcharan