Uma Ramadorai

 Although people are trying to make a science out of admistration, by offering PhDs in administration, i think it still is and always will remain an ART!

A lot of other fields like metallurgy, which was considered the art of a blacksmith once has developed to become a science. However mastering the mind of human beings still remains an art. You might say, well there are courses offered in psycology and that helps understand how humans act and react….but dont fail to notice the fact that, Psycology is still offered in ‘School of Arts’ and not in any ‘School of Science’. All that the schools can do is what a blacksmith did for his son to learn his art.

One of the things that made me wonder is that it is so easy to get someone to do what you want them to, yet seems so difficult and complicated. I dont think a person having authority and power over others officially, i.e. by law or by responsibility assigned, can get his subordinates to do whatever he/she wants them to. Every one has a certain level of Ego and Self respect (SR). However, the way they react when they see a threat to self respect is different. Some are proactive, who try and make sure it doesn’t come to loss of SR and some are reacitve, who shount scream, call names and make a scene. And then there are the cold blooded people, who smile when somebody is trampling their SR and then make sure they take a silent unnoticed revenge, by either purposely not doing what they are being asked to do or delay the pace of work or by generating faulty outcomes of the task. And then there are those people who get done with whats being asked of them and then screw some other thing that they are not accountable for and trouble the person who caused damage to their SR.

The reason i classify these people over damage SR is because, often administrators oversee the thin line between asking and demanding. The difference is not as simple as the difference in tone of your voice or the choice of words. What matters is if you have considered the load and time constraint that the person is capable of.

However, people might listen to you once, twice, thrice….but if they see it as a pattern, they will start showing their reactions. If you have made sure they know their mistakes and criticized them (because you were told in school feedback is important), then you have made sure they dont care about your opinion anymore.

Consider this, If you have a scribbled slate, you will continue to use it for more scribbling, as it does not need maintainance anymore. It is going to look bad no matter how much more or less scribbling you do.

I have observed that if the other person thinks that you think good of him and have a good impression on his/her capabilities, they will value it more than gold and try not to tarnish that image. ‘cos in this world, each human is limited to knowing a bunch of people of which not many like them because of various differences. That small bunch of people who like you, called family and friends are taken granted for, because they like you know matter what you do. But then when you meet a person at work per say who has a good impression of you in the menacing competitive environment, wouldnt you make sure that impression is untarnished? wouldnt you value it a lot, simply because it makes you feel good about yourself? That simple feeling can automatically give the other person some authority over you. If that person asks you to do something for him/her, you would take that as a priority, cause you want to reinforce the fact in their and your mind that you are capable and good at some things….Also because you cannot handle the fact that you offended this nice person who likes you. you are scared that your image might slip down if you did not carry out the requested task with high quality and in a short time.

 This is not a trick uncovered. This is very natural, we experience it everyday and even know that we do it (didnt you nod your head in agreement when you were reading?). The difficult part in making this happen is that we FORGET! we find it so convinient to kill the other person with blame than to kill them with kindness. Although blame has a short lived security, it has a long lived bitterness. Kindness is a bliss from the moment it is showered upon, both for the person who gives and receives. Yet it is not a natural instinct.

That doesnt mean you can get things done by letting people walk all over you. This is resolved by communication. All you need to do is ask the person to do it for you and let them know how important it is for you and that you think that person is the best choice to do the job for you…..and then when they do it, look at the result factually and do not judge the person…..trust me people always sense it when they are being judged. whether or not it is said explicitly. Give your peers benefit of doubt, when in doubt. to state my point clearly, look at the results factually, resolve issues based on facts…not feelings and intuitions….do not try to jude and pigeon nail others…..no one likes to be categorized into a ‘Type’.

Some great person put all that i said in a simple statement:

“Give respect to take respect”….

Isn’t that so true….the more i think about it, the more sense it makes. Seems like a simple sentence, but has so much meaning. Everytime i take up a new project, i try to remind myself of this statement and that is when i realize that the toughest part of any project is knowing clearly what you want to accomplish or what you are expected to do… Once you know your deliverables…and establish steps to achieve it….it is just a matter of time to finish the project.

u might think …yeah yeah…everyone knows that…..If so, then why is it that, people spend the least amount of time in planning the project? something like a 5%? is it because of the pressure on us to prove that the project is moving at a fast pace? is it because we are afraid people might interpret too much time on planning as ‘He/She is lazy’ or ‘He/She is not action oriented’?

I try to place myself in the shoes of a manager and think, would i be patient with my subordinates if they want to spend 60% of the project time in planning ( Taught in one of the project management classes that i attended) or  would i be keen on getting some things done ? If i put it that way, my obvious choice would be getting some things done i guess..

But then i can prove myself wrong only by experience. I will try out the 60% planning on a project…..hopefully a low priority one and let you know how good it was….and how much weight the statement by Einstein has, when it comes to practicality. Then may be i will be a better manager one day….

I have always wanted a neat solution for the clutter i have in my jewellery box. When i am in a hurry in the morning trying to search for the perfect matching pair of ear rings…either, one of my favourite ear ring is missing or i cant find what i want…..so i started looking for a solution and lo i came across this site, which calls itself ’Stacks and Stacks’. Looking at the picture it looks like a simple and easy solutoin to an everyday problem. Let me know if you check it out before i do….

Click the Image to follow the link.

at www.newport-news.com, there is this wonderful distressed leather bag, that is not stiff as you would expect it to be…and it has a beautiful and elegant flower that is contrast to the body color. simply amazing…check it out by clicking on the image.

Wow, we have a new writer with us from now on @ this site….please welcome Mr. Phani K V, alias Kiran . He is the one with passion for music, especially indian music and has an expertise in identifying raagas the songs are based on….if you love to listen to indian film music or indian classical…you will defenitely enjoy his blogging @ http://phanikv.umaramadorai.com

Originally kiran started blogging his ‘Song of the Day’….where he used to pen down the days that he was stuck with a song all day in his mind…..and started musing on why he thinks it hung on to him….There is a lot of that flavor in his current bloggin also. But i personally think, it is much more than that…:) …. very importantly an enjoyable read and a good place to learn about New and good songs that come out…so enjoy!

One of the very few things that i used to do consistently everyday was solving the ‘Deccan Chronicle’ crossword…..i had a two hour ride to my college and there wasnt anytihng more exciting than being able to complete the crossword…..I used to solve DC crossword because, we were subscribing to that everyday other than the weekends…when we would get THE HINDU….an amazing newspaper…have always respected it for the reporter’s and editor’s command over the english language, which is not a native language for any of them…i am yet to see that quality in everyday newspaper in the english speaking country that i am currently residing in .

I used to have a lot of respect for anyone who could solve THE HINDU crossword. because, i used to be able to solve  a maximum of 3-4. It would be interesting to meet the people who actually create the crossword….i think it is an amazing brain work…both creating and solving the crossword….

The other day, i and Kiran were working on a print out of the hindu crossword from the net after a long time…and it was so much fun…Kiran taught me how to work on the clues couple of years back….he is really really good at solving them and i adore him for his ability to do so…i didnt realize the time fly by…and kept feeling good about it all day ….so i thought it should be worth mentioning here…chao!