CAREER ADVANCEMENT THROUGH

PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
By Prof. Pragya Gupta

AKSHAT PRAKASH

JN180010

PGDM
24th December, 2019

Introduction to the course and an overview of the course outline was

provided. Marking schemes and end-term equivalent analysis procedures
were mentioned. Discussion held over meaning of personal effectiveness
and its role in career advancement.

27th December, 2019

Gap Analysis

CURRENT DESIRED
STATE GAP STATE

Gap analysis is basically analyzing and designing an action plan to shrink

the gap between your current state and your desired state. There are three
elements required for gap analysis-

 Current State – where are we now?

 Desired State – where do we want be?
 Gap – what do we need to do and how do we do that, to get there?

Class Assignment

1. List your skills, abilities and weakness.

Skills – Coding, Mathematics, Aptitude
Abilities – Creative, Do not get stress easily, Emotional intelligence
Weakness – Do not get stress easily, Can’t say NO, Laziness
2. List your personality traits.
Honest, Introvert, Friendly, Empathetic, little bit Lazy
3. List your Dreams/Passion and Goals.
  To be a successful Financial Analyst and Data Scientist
 To open a NGO for animals
 To own a business by the age of 45-50.
 Commercial space travel (if made available in my lifetime)
4. Craft a rough draft of your personal mission statement.
Be the better version of yourself tomorrow than you are today. If
something is important enough, try it, regardless of probable
outcome.
5. What do you believe is needed to achieve success?
Get focused. Get a good hold on the subject of Finance. Enhance
knowledge and understanding of coding and statistics and try to
combine them together. Learn data science concepts and tools. Use
the knowledge gained to plan your investment and savings. Volunteer
to serve the NGOs for animals and observe their function.

3rd January, 2020

Goal Setting and Goal Alignment

If one wants to succeed, one needs to set goals. The one who has no goal
lacks focus and direction in his/her life. But there is certain things one need
to keep in mind while setting a goal. Set your goal high enough to inspire
you and low enough to encourage you. Goal setting is guided by SMART
criteria-

S – Specific; M – Measurable; A – Attainable; R – Relevant; T – Timely

Goal alignment is the process by which you keep your workforce working
towards overarching goals.

Group Activity
Form up your team of three and by analyzing the combined ability of your
team, set the level of distance from which you want to target a paper ball
into a bucket. Keep in mind the SMART criteria while choosing your target
distance.

10th January, 2020

Time Management

Time management is the process of organizing and planning how to divide

your time between specific activities. Everybody in the world gets to have
24hrs in a day. It is more of a attention management or priority settings.

The main problem with time management is that most of us spend too
much time on what’s URGENT and not enough time on what’s IMPORTANT.

Some time management tips –

 Set your priorities.

 Focus on important rather than on urgent.
 Exit the “Do it myself” attitude. Start delegating.
 Learn to say “NO” when you want to say it.
 Eliminate distractions
 Stop refreshing your E-mails.

Class Assignment

Take the provided time management survey for yourself. And look for your
shortcomings. Work on cases that you have rated 4 or 5.
14th January, 2020

Self Confidence and Assertiveness at Work

It’s human nature to want to belong and to be welcomed by the tribe and
due to this we often strive to be agreeable. But too much of this trait
doesn’t work for one’s career and can hurt them personally. It is difficult to
get what you want in life without being assertive.

Some tips for being assertive-

 Boost your self confidence

 Invest in your health
 Banish your imposter syndrome
 Be aware of how you speak and behave
 Know what you are willing to concede
 Establish where your line is
 Face your worst fears

Persistency-

1. Broken Record
 Calmly repeating. Saying what you want over and over again.
 Persistence without having to rehearse arguments or angry
feelings.
2. Workable Compromise
  Whenever you feel your self-respect is not in question, offer a
workable compromise to the other person.

Handling Criticism-

Usually people react to criticism by avoiding it, taking it to heart or reacting

aggressively to it.

 Fogging- A skill that lets you accept criticism calmly acknowledging

that there may be some truth in what is being said, yet allowing you
to remain your own judge of your action, refusing to be provoked or
be upset, thus removing its destructive power.
 Negative Assertion- A skill that teaches acceptance of your errors and
faults without having to apologize by strongly agreeing with criticism
of negative qualities.

17th January, 2020

Critical thinking is defined as the analysis of facts in hand to form a

judgment. This includes the rational, skeptical unbiased analysis or
evaluation of factual evidence. The ability to develop a well thought out
solution to a problem, within a reasonable time frame, is a skill that
employers value greatly.

Blocks to generating solutions-

1. Mental Blocks
 Stereotyping
 Limiting the problem unnecessarily
 Information overload
2. Emotional Blocks
 Fear of failure- no risk taking
 Judging rather than generating ideas
3. Cultural Blocks
  Fear of offending or angering
4. Expressive Blocks
 Unable to communicate your ideas

Ideal method for problem solving-

 Identify the problem- The real question

 Define the problem- Facts and circumstances
 Explore alternative approaches- Enumerate possible options
 Act on the best strategies- Best course of action, looking at
everything
 Look back to evaluate the effects- Did we miss something,
let’s look at it again.

24th January, 2020

Negotiation is something that everyone does, almost daily. Simply put,

Negotiation is the process of getting what you want from another person.

“Negotiation is an art of reaching an agreement by resolving differences

through creativity.” –Stephen Kozhicki

“Negotiation is a process where two parties, with differing views initially,

attempt to reach by an agreement on a common objective by the selective
use of different methods of persuasion.” –Stephen Robbins

Most people think that bargaining and negotiating means the same thing;
however, we will be distinctive about the way we use these words.

 Bargaining- describes the competitive, win-lose situation.

 Negotiation- refers to win-win situation such as those that occur
when parties try to find a mutually acceptable solution to a complex
conflict.

There are three important themes about negotiation-

 1. Negotiation and the basic characteristics of negotiation situations
 There are two or more parties
 There is a conflict of needs and desires between them
 Parties negotiate because they think they can get a better deal
than by simply accepting what the other side offers them
 Parties expect a “give-and-take” process
2. Interdependence, the relationship between the people and groups
that most often leads them to negotiate
 Interdependent goals are an important aspect of negotiation-
value claiming and value creation.
Win-lose (zero sum or distributive): One winner
Win-win (non-zero sum or integrative): Gaining opportunity for
both parties
 A mix of convergent and conflicting goals characterizes many
interdependent relationships
 Best available alternative: BATNA (acronym for Best Alternative
to a Negotiated Agreement)
3. Understanding the dynamics of conflict and conflict management
processes which serve as a backdrop for different ways that people
approach and manage negotiations

29th January, 2020

Workplace politics is a process and behavior in human interactions

involving power and authority. It is a tool to assess the operational capacity
and to balance diverse views of interested parties.

Office politics differs from office gossip. Office gossip is often used by an
individual to place them at a point where they can control the flow of
information, and therefore gain maximum advantage.

Politics, Power in Action-

  Power and /politics are two faces of a single coin.
 Organizational Politics- focused on the use of power to affect
decision making in an organization or on behaviors by members that
are self-serving and organizationally non-sanctioned.

Types of Power-

Position Power Personal

Power
Coercive Connection Reward Legitimate Referent Information Expert

Political Behavior-

1. Activities those are not required as a part of a person’s formal role in

the organization but that influence, or attempt to influence, the
distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization.
 Networking- process of developing relationships for the
purpose of socializing and career building
 Reciprocity- the creation of obligations and the development of
alliances that are used to accomplish objectives
 Coalition building- a network of alliances that help a manager
achieve an objective
2. Legitimate political behavior- refers to normal everyday politics.
3. Illegitimate political behavior- extreme political behavior that violates
the implied rules of the game.

31st January, 2020

Emotional Intelligence

Why Emotional Quotient (EQ)-

  EQ is the distinguishing factor that determines if we make lemonade
when life hands us lemons or spend our life stuck in bitterness
 EQ is the distinguishing factor that helps us to maintain a warm
relationship or a distant contact
 EQ is the distinguishing factor which draws others to us or repel them
 EQ is the distinguishing factor which enable us to work in
coordination with others or to create a disputed situation
 EQ is the distinguishing factor which enables to win the heart of
people or to win the situation by argument

Emotional Intelligence (EI)-

“It refers to the capacity to deal effectively with one’s own and other’s
emotions. When applied to the workplace, it involves the capacity to
effectively perceive, express, understand and manage emotions in a
professional manner.”

Unlike the personality or IQ, EI is regarded as a set of skills or abilities that

can be learned and developed.

Some misconceptions-

 Firstly, EI doesn’t mean merely “being nice”.

 Secondly, EI does not mean giving free rein to feelings. It means
managing feelings and expressing it appropriately and effectively. It
means enabling people to work together smoothly towards their
common goal.
 Women are not “smarter” than men when it comes to EI, neither men
superior to women.
 Lastly, levels of EI can be continuously developed through life and we
learn from our experiences unlike IQ, which changes little after teen
years.
Competencies of Stars-

 EI skills are synergistic with cognitive ones’ and top performers have
both.
 The more complex the job, the more EI matters- that’s because a
deficiency in these abilities can hinder the use of whatever technical
expertise or intellect a person may have.
 Out of control emotions make smart people stupid.
 The reason we don’t get full potential out of people is emotional
incompetence.

Emotional Quotient competencies-

1. Personal Competence
 Self-awareness- knowing one’s internal states, preferences,
resources and intuitions
 Self-motivation- emotional tendencies that guide or facilitate
reaching goals. This includes achievement drive, commitment,
initiative and optimism
 Self-regulation- managing one’s internal states, impulse and
resources
2. Social Competence
 Empathy- awareness of other’s feelings, needs and concerns;
competencies include understanding others, a service
orientation, leveraging diversity and political awareness
 Social skills- adeptness at including desirable responses to
others. This include influence, communication, conflict
management, leadership, building bonds, collaborations and
cooperation, team capabilities
What I see What I do

Personal Self Self

Competence Awareness Management
4th February, 2020

Stress Management

The textbook definition of Stress states that it is the worry and pressure that
is caused by having too much to deal with. It is the inability to tell the
difference between what is happening and what you think is happening.
Much of the stress that people feel does not come from having too much
to do. It comes from not finishing what they have started.

“A dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an

opportunity, constraint, or demand related to the outcome, perceived to be
both uncertain and important is termed as STRESS.”

Keywords in stress-

Confrontation with;

Opportunity/Constraint/Demand

The outcome of one’s desire;

Uncertain and yet important

Job Stress -

 Job stress arises due work demand and pressures that are not
matched to employee knowledge and abilities.
  The more demands and pressures of work are matched to the
knowledge and abilities of workers, the less likely they are to
experience work stress.

Job Stressors-

 Conflict among co-workers

 Unexpected/unwanted transfer of work location
 Poor communication with co-workers
 Lack of support from supervisors
 No forum to express work concerns and issues
 Lack of resources to support work expectations

Types of Stress-

1. Challenge stressors
 Stress associated with workload
 Pressure to complete tasks
 Time urgency
2. Hindrance stressors
 Stress that keep you from reaching your goals
 Such as red tape/ disruptive thoughts/role ambiguity, role
conflict
 Cause grater harm than challenge stressors

Having said that, not all work stress is bad. Some level/kind of stress can
increase productivity (challenge stressors). To little or too much stress will
reduce performance.

Potential sources of stress-

1. Environmental Factors
 Economic/Business uncertainties
 Political uncertainties
  Technological/Innovation uncertainties
2. Organizational Factors
 Task demands related to the job
 Role demands for organizational functioning
 Interpersonal demands among employees
3. Personal Factors
 Family and personal relationships
 Economic problems vs. earning capacity
 Personality problems

5th February, 2020

Work-Life Balance

Some things that people deal on daily basis-

 Getting ahead at work

 Spending quality time with your significant other
 Caring for elderly parents
 Doing chores at home
 Taking care of children
 Part of global economy
 International business
 Advanced communication technology
 Flex-time schedules
 Flexi-place work location
 Changes in family structure (dual career)

Or a seesaw?-

 Balance is elusive and difficult to maintain

  Compromises are made constantly, with the scales of balance shifting
along with the occasional long workday or work assignment, family
obligations or any one of a number of life’s little surprises.

30 second speech by Bryan Dyson (former CEO Coca Cola)-

“Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air.
They are Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit and you are keeping all of
those in the air.

You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will
bounce back. But the other four balls are made of glass. If you drop one of
these, they will be irrevocably scuffed marked nicked damaged or even
shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive
for it.”

Work efficiently during office hours and leave on time. Give the required
time to your family, friends and have proper rest. Value has a value only if
its value is valued..

14th February,2020

Cross Cultural Sensitivity

Cultural sensitivity means being aware that cultural differences and

similarities exist and have an effect on values, learning and behavior.

What is Culture-?

Merriam Webster defines culture as, “the customary beliefs, social forms,
and material traits of racial, religious, and social group; also; the
characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life)
shared by people in a place or time.”
 CULTURE

Political Education Religious Economic

Values Language
System System Beliefs Prosperity

Levels of Culture-

 Dominant Culture- pervasive and extends to the whole of a country

- Subcultures exist within the dominant culture. It subsumes
into the dominant culture to present a unified culture,
typifying “unity in diversity”.
 Organizational Culture- every prganization will have its own distinct
culture.
 Occupational Culture- each profession carries its own culture and it
cuts across dominant cultures.

18th February.2020

Transactional Analysis

Transactional Analysis (TA) was developed by Dr. Eric Berne in 1950s. It is a

theory of personality, of psychical function and interpersonal behavior, so it
is a theory of communication as well. It is a creative and powerful
instrument used to facilitate the change and development at personal and
professional level.
Transactional Analysis involves analysis of-

 Ego states
 Life transactions
 Life positions
 Strokes
 Games people play
 Life scripts

Ego State-

An Ego State is a consistent pattern of feeling and experience directly

related to a corresponding consistent pattern of behavior. It is of three
types-

1. Parent- reflection of the received education, which impress upon the

childhood and adolescence, continuing to act on the adulthood.
 Controlling Parent- positive and negative
 Nurturing Parent- positive and negative
2. Adult- here the education assimilated through own experiences is
registered, by attempt and error. It represents the use of
discrimination, reasoning, evaluation, data analysis, use of logic,
ability to observe objectively and correctly.
3. Child- appears when we have to deal with the expressing of
spontaneity of feelings, desires, intentions and hopes, emotions.
 Adaptive Child- accommodates to the rules of the group, either
by changing themselves or by rebelling against
- Rebellious Child- characterized by a series of negative
manifestations, aggressiveness, wants to seek attention by
saying ‘no’, the underestimating opposition
- Little Teacher- trust in his own capacity and always
convinced that he will find the best solution
  Spontaneous Child- expression of impulse, enthusiasm, mania,
fear, discouragement

Life Transactions-

If I am communicating with you, I can choose to address you from any one
of my three ego states. You can reply in turn in any one of your ego states.
This exchange of communication is known as transaction.

Each transaction is made up of a stimulus and a response. Two basic levels

of transactions are-

 Social level- which is observable

 Psychological level- which is sensed