Self Confidence: "The key of all Locks" - Training & Development

In this age of competition a student has to be very intelligent right from his childhood. In addition to be good in his academics, he requires special skills to establish his identity in this vast unfamiliar land where he has to traverse along.

To endure this prolonged journey of life, one has to develop self-confidence from his infancy. There is a vast difference between confidence and self-confidence. The first lead to the victory on not always being right but also not getting fear to be wrong, and the second is the competence over the complex and dangerous deeds by winning self. Self- confidence is related to your self worth and your value. Confidence is a mental process that arises from considering the capacity, if a person or thing is capable of something. Self-confidence is having confidence in oneself considering a responsibility of commitment and result.

We can never predict what kind of life we are going to have or what circumstances can make us crippled. In order to overcome the unwanted hurdles of our life we need to develop strong self- confidence and clear vision. We should always rise with an appetite to know our inadequacies and zeal for problem solving. We are never born with confidence from our birth as it is well said, "Rome was not built in one day", and so is the confidence.

The very first step towards success is to stop obsessing about what others think of you. Avoid self-pity, or the pity and sympathy of others. Never allow others to make you feel inferior--they can only do so if you let them room for criticism. Who so ever had tried to do something different must have chased the hard road to toil and thus you can look more confident in long run. This will only be possible when we establish true self-confidence and must concentrate on small steps towards success and forget about the failures and the negatives in our life. So just chill yourself and sincerely target yourself towards destination and hold your head high and stand tall.

To build self confidence, we first need to be regular in our deeds and we should divide our tasks into small steps as in the story "the hare and the tortoise" we all have seen how impossible mission was made possible by the tortoise; the steps were small but the theme was consistency.

The strongest single factor in prosperity of consciousness is self-evaluation: believing you can do it, believing you deserve it, believing you will get it. Self-confidence is the most important factor in our life. It can be multiplied by feeling good, taking responsibility and being accountable to failures. Today we all have made a veil around us and never try to look beyond it and unnecessarily pretend our self with false and negative images. We do generally show that we are over burdened with work and the rest are enjoying the gala days. We need to learn the acceptance of our duty and responsibility and rather than transferring it on the shoulder of others we start accepting to say, "I am Responsible ".

The lamp of faith within us should always get the oil of consistency and there should be no dark clouds of disappointment. The major problem of our failure is that, we keep thinking what we have done is right and we don't critically express ourselves, where we went wrong. If we really want to conquer diffidence, then we need to defeat greed, hatred and jealousy, as these evils never let us pursue right path in our life.

Everyone is born with strength and weaknesses. We can develop and excel our-self according to our environment and situation by sticking to our principles and we have to be generous enough to accept our failures positively and try to be adventurous enough to define our aim. Trust yourself, know yourself better than you think, stop thinking what is not with you and try chasing what is great in you that others don't have. The day you start thinking so you're moving towards creation of self-confidence.

If we look at some great men who achieved success in their life, it is their self-confidence, determination and consistency in their thoughts and achievements. A great man is great in himself and what is in him to be great is his self-confidence. Self –confidence teaches us to dream and leads to attain the goal disregarding; the hurdles come across in our life.

Personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill etc has great mission and it is their self-confidence helped to overcome the problems and attain what they wanted. However you are rich, intelligent and strong, without self-confident you will not cross the tunnel and perhaps you may stand where you stood.

   Steps to Master Self-Confidence.

• Tracking Inadequacies & Re-framing Failures: It is failure that pushes people into depression and insecurities. Find out your failures and start working on it. Have patience and faith within you and take the life the way it comes and be positive.

• Self Determination : Know your strengths, it alone will do miracles that you even never think off. Learn to evaluate yourself independently. Stronger sense of self will give you a platform and will prevent you from giving your personal power away to others.

• Lessons from Past Victories : Learn from your past mistakes, they are lessons for you and focus on your successes encouraging yourself to greater achievements in the future. "Treasure every moment! Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present"!

• Self Trust: Believe in the best, "Win yourself before winning others". It needs right acumen, true and sincere approach towards life and consistent commitment towards goal.

• Persistence: Persistence is the fifth and final pillar of self-discipline. Persistence allows us to keep taking action even when we don't feel motivated. So we should always have a zeal for persistence in order to remain in action.

 Kavita Thapliyal

Business Communication & Soft Skills Trainer

www.visionsahead.com

MEDIA MONITORING / MEDIA TRACKING & ITS ADVANTAGES - EDUCATION

Media Monitoring

Media monitoring is the technique of continuously keeping the track of media activities by watching, reading and listening to the leading editorial substances of media sources on a regular basis, and later recognize and analyze substance that contains particular keywords or terms that the viewer looks forward to be associated with.   In today’s competitive business markets, Media Monitoring plays a significant role in placing and promoting a product. The question that generally triggers in mind is to know- What Media Monitoring is and what is their impact in Media Communication?

Media monitoring is a regular practice through which the monitoring agencies/bodies regularly keep a tack of media resources and keep updating them through reading, listening and observing the specific keywords or contents that are communicated through media. There may be variety of reasons for which media monitoring can be done- some may be social, political, economic, scientific, and commercial or many more. Media monitoring is been used as a tool to analyze the accomplishments of a particular organization, company, sector; government or private, profit or non-profit bodies and agencies. The basis purpose of monitoring is to identify the impact of various promotion activities done by varied domains of communication, its success rate, its impact on their clients and competitors. It also helps individual and organizations to do SWOT, improve its business strategies and develop innovations to capture better footfall in brand building and restructuring an organizational/individual’s image. There are two prominent ways through Media Monitoring is done; first through NEWS Media and second by SOCIAL Media. 

NEWS Media Monitoring: When the monitoring is conducted to review the Editorial substances through various commodities such as Television, Radio, Print, (Newspapers, Magazines, Journals-Academic/Trade) etc. to review the rate of pace of success or failure it is called NEWS Media Monitoring. With the help of the News Monitoring many TV channels have understood the competitive edge over the other and now all channels show the advertisement all most at the same time to remain at the same wave length.

Monitoring editorial content of news sources including newspapers, magazines, trade journals, TV, radio stations and the Internet is by far the most common type of media monitoring. This form of media monitoring is called “news monitoring”. In addition to monitoring news, many organizations now also monitor social media on the Internet, tracking word of mouth mentions about their organization in social media such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs, message boards and forums. This is commonly known as social media monitoring, word-of-mouth monitoring, or buzz monitoring.   

  

  

Outline of Media Monitoring, Relevant Key Terms & Media Monitoring Support 

To search the outline or profile Media Monitoring looks for the Key Words or Key Terms that are exclusive and specific. It may also include the service requisites. It monitors various type of information, article time, duration, views and its ratings. The key words add much range/coverage and help the article to connect better coverage of press clippings. To have wide popularity this is further transmitted via written communication through Emails or by the help of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) feed. 

Today Media Monitoring is processed through two major agencies- In-house and Outsource. Many marketing companies are strongly supported by their In-house support system which builds the image of a brand or organization using the advantage of Google free online support to create social spaces in the Social Media and popularizing the spread of information range. Some organizations also outsource Media Monitoring agencies to enhance their market credentials and up rate their status and provide better Rich Site Summary(RSS).

Online Media Monitoring is one of the most popular forms of monitoring tool used these days. It is basically done through specific designed software named Robots, spiders and bots. The key functioning of these software is to swiftly assemble all the informative communication that is in the text format and identify the key elements or key terms/keywords that need be indexed for online communication and they automatically examines potential clients and robotically transmits it in social media reallocating each client. 

The advantage of online media monitoring helps news media in gathering information from nooks and corners of the world in any geographical conditions, languages, religion, culture, markets and people. Apart from news, blogs, websites, groups, facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Forums, Youtube, MySpace, Google etc. are all helping individual and organizations in promoting their goodwill in the social context and create brand value and recognition in very low investment.
  

Co-Authored Kavita Thapliyal & Manjul Thapliyal

Business Communication & Soft Skills Trainer

& Principal Consultant Visions Ahead

Web: www.visionsahead.com 

ELECTRONIC MEDIA AND ITS SOCIAL IMPACT (MEDIA RELATIONS SERIES-2) - EDUCATION

Electronic Media

The predominant use of electromechanical energy or electronics to reach a wider audience is termed as Electronic Media. Though the Print Media also known as the Static Media is also created electronically nowadays, but absolves the user to be accessed through electronic means as it’s in a printed form.

Electronic Media Evolution

The constant revolutions in Telecom in the last century have greatly influenced ways of communicating by producing innovative media tools for distance and remote communications. Digital Media and Analogue Signals were used as a medium for common communication in 1906, leading to first Transatlantic two way radio broadcast. Analog Telecommunications means Radio systems, Historical T.V broadcasts and Historical Telephony systems, whereas Digital Telecommunication signifies Telegraphy, computer Networks and Computer mediated communications. Modern communication tools are forms of Many to Many Communication Paradigms and allow intense long distance networking between larger number of people via Internet, Email and Teleportation, whereas most of traditional mass media and broadcast media are forms favoring one to many communication tools like Cinema, Radio, T.V, Newspapers, Magazines and even the Social Networking Sites.

Social Impact of Electronic Media

Electronic media is enjoying a broader reach and usage today primarily due to the sudden influx of electronic devices. With the passage of time the meaning of electronic media has transformed and changed and achieved broader platforms as compared to a decade ago. Initially there was Multimedia, where with a application software we could play Audio and Video, then came the Compact Disk (CD), the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) and the Third Generation (3G) camera applications. Today media forms include in almost all the software used in PC’s, Mobile Phones and Lap Tops and enhance the performances. Even Hard Discs which is a form of electronic media and increases installation capacity of data’s are becoming smaller as compared to yesterday with the inclusion of Magnetic Media or Magnetic Stripe which stores data on a magnetic medium .Such applications are in demand and used fast growing modern day IT technology field, These forms of IT Media tools are preferably used in the Income Tax and Banking departments for providing fast and easy services to the clients. Debit card, Credit card, ATM card and Travel Cards can all be categorized as Media Tools where the magnetic strip links all the account information of a particular consumer through storage. This form of media is prepared on a blank form unrecorded and at a later stage stored as per the needs of the clients.

The use of media technology has impacted the social community hugely with the passing of time through easier means of communication among the masses. Schools are encouraging children to use media tools in house, whether at home or during school and so the awareness among today’s children towards technology is far superior to what it was priorly. New online communities and closer networking have been created through usage of media tools like Skype, Facebook,  Linkedin. Complications like identity frauds have also arisen by hindrance in lack of face to face communication. Media Tools like television and newspapers of the electronic & print media have become important advertisement distribution mediums in the masses driven consumer society. Today in more advanced technological societies online selling provides access to goods and services at your doorstep with various modes of buying and paying modes. So through communications psychology, business acumen and media integration diverse societies and far flung geographies have connected and evolved as economies. Intended human behavior is couched in psychology after it being initiated through diverse means of communication, so it’s vital to understand the communications psychology and media amalgamation affecting the individual ,societal changes and established disciplines in newer ways. Technology may not have a straight correlation with timing change based on efficiency and innovation. Modern advancements form the base of the information revolution. Important events in the 19^th century like School Modernization boost in the accessibility of newspapers and rapid advancement of the postal systems supplemented the advancement of the information boom which in turn was correlated to society being more educated and literate. Based on the course of its socio cultural impact there has been changes and dispersions in the methodology of communication in various directions.  

The impact & growth of the media is reflected from the Television Rating Points (TRP’S), the number of people who buy and read the media and sale of advertisement space. The editor is the boss of the print media, although the journalists are the people who coordinate the stories along with the printing team. In visual media the Producers, directors, Hosts, correspondents, anchors and technicians run the show as a Cohesive Group. So its utmost important and also crucial that media generate public based content that can be consumed and directed to send the message across, it has to be the right mix and not an overdose of entertainment.

Co-Authored 

Kavita Thapliyal & Manjul Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer 

 & 

Principal Consultant

Visions Ahead

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

.

MEDIA AND ITS GROUPS (MEDIA RELATIONS SERIES -1) - EDUCATION

Media

Media can be referred to as a means of sharing data and informative communication among masses, and can also be termed as accumulation and transmission of viable information through diversified tools of expressions. The medium of mass communication listed under the media includes Community News Letters, News Papers, Magazines, Radio Stations, T.V, Online Newspapers, Internet and e-zines etc. To effectively plan and implement successful communication campaigns, one has to understand the importance & significance of the various media tools. The primary aim of media is to educate, entertain, stimulate, motivate and create interest & awareness among its readers, listeners and viewers. The media is an organized industry and huge business but its main aim is to educate masses by giving a true insight of the state of affairs in and around the country and the world.

Media History

The word Medium served as the means of origination for Media, which is a reference from Latin word medius meaning middle. Prehistoric paintings in caves, Old maps, Writings on leaves, Signs, Sea Indications are all designed channels of primitive initialization of communications by humans. Significant role was played in the evolution of communication by the Persian Empire (Today’s Iran).  Persian Emperor Cyrus the Great (600 BC-530 BC) who ruled the Median Empire devised the first Postal system or means of the first real Mail. His empire and successors initiated the use of Royal roads that permitted arms, soldiers, messages and mails to be sent across the empire quickly. Also the Emperor of Medes Ahasuerus communicated his decisions through the use of couriers. The Latin word Communicare derives the word communication, through the Roman Empire which had devised the mail and postal system to centralize control over the kingdom from Rome. This method helped the kingdom to attain fast information about important events happening in widespread provinces and exchanges of personal and official letters. With the passage of time, during the Middle Ages more advanced means of communication originated in the Islamic and Mongol empires. Media in its modern application, referred in relation to means of communication channels was first mentioned in 1954 by Marshall Mcluhan – the Canadian communication philosopher in his book Counterblast. The  American Journalist Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) used the word Mass Media in contrast in the year 1923.  America and the United Kingdom were engulfed by the word media, which spread like wild fire by the 1960’s.

Media Groups

Media can be broadly divided into Six Groups.

1. Radio (News, FM, talk shows, programmes and Public service announcements)

2.Television (Movies, news, talk shows, public service announcements and programmes)  

3. Print (News Papers, magazines, newsletters and trade & internal publications).

4. News Wire Services (Thomson Reuters, PR genie, united press, associated press)

5.Online Publications (Digital magazines, online newspapers, EPUBs, , digital libraries and e-zines) 

6. Social Media (Internet, websites, SEO, web blogs, micro blogs, social networks, cloud computing)

Co-Authored 

Kavita Thapliyal & Manjul Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer 

 & 

Principal Consultant

Visions Ahead

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

.

ENHANCING CORPORATE IMAGE THROUGH CORPORATE & PUBLIC RELATIONS - EDUCATION

 CORPORATE

The official professional identity formed by joint physical body of individuals is known as Corporate. The derivation of corporation comes from the Latin word Corpus meaning for body or a body of people. Its traces can be found way back to the Byzantine Empire in 527-565 and in the Roman Laws and Mauryan Empire in India. In the 16^th century early corporations were formed to lead colonial ventures by Hudson’s Bay, Dutch and British East India Company. Corporation in today’s modern globalized world can be termed as a structured union governed and incorporated within a legal framework of constitution for Administration & Business.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 

The policies, decisions and actions permissible within law for controlling and directing corporations is termed as corporate governance. This formation derives the rights and responsibilities among the diversified participants along with specifying rules and procedures for initiating decisions in the day to day corporate affairs. Executives, Managers, Auditors, Creditors, Regulators, Shareholders, Stakeholders and Board of Directors form the corporate framework. The governance sets and pursues objectives reflecting the framework in context to the social regulations and market environment. Ethical Behavior, Integrity and Transparency formulates the model of Corporate Governance.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

Corporate Governance is primarily more about protecting a business; on the other hand Corporate Management signifies growth multiplication or growth of business. Governance is insuring that the business is run by abiding the law, whereas Management is using the right techniques used by executives to operate and flourish the business. Governance for example is signatures of two officials of a company on the cheques to prevent frauds and allocating different budgets to different departments as per their projections is an example of Finance Management.

CORPORATE IMAGE

The visions reflected in our mind when a corporate is mentioned or discussed defines corporate image.  It is the composite psychological impression that springs across and continuously changes as per company’s performance, services, visibility and pronouncements. At times it is based on Public Perception, Reputation and Goodwill of the concerned Organization rather than on its actual position or state of affairs. Corporate image, unlike corporate identity is fluid and can fluctuate and change overnight from neutral to positive, negative and vice-versa. The right mix of Corporate & Public relations is needed to formulate & enhance a positive corporate Image.

CORPORATE RELATIONS

Corporate Relations are a formal approach to acknowledge, understand, classify and support inter & intra business activities on a wider spectrum via networks and services. It can be termed as a medium for conduction of smooth business relationships by nurturing and taking it to the next level of comfort. The term corporate relationship management is thus of special importance and organizations lay proper emphasis on its implementation and adherence. Corporate relationship management is distinct yet related to Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Enterprise relationship management is a value creation business strategy and does not focus on cost containment but strengthens the network enabled processes and transforms relationships between the organizations and often works beyond customer relationship management. In Customer relationship management, a company follows a set of guidelines based on principles and policies while holding meaningful interactions with its customers.

 PUBLIC RELATIONS

The practices used to build and sustain the goodwill image of the corporation at various community domains is known as Public Relations. This form of publicity generation can be initiated by paid and non paid forms of communication. Foremost it’s important to understand the nature of organizations goals, perspectives and interests to address them suitably among the public. In today’s corporate world, public relations are the public face of the client who mingles and cultivates professional relationships with the corporate world and associated patrons through business initiatives, CSR events, shows and media forums. Public relation activities include building targeted audiences, selecting appropriate media, addressing the media through Seminars, Conferences, Brochures, Newsletters and Advertisements.

HOW TO ENHANCE CORPORATE IMAGE

The right mix of Corporate & Public relations is needed to formulate & enhance a positive corporate Image by Organizations. Here Corporate Public Relations comes into the forefront by amalgamating both the concerns. These Publics include employees, channel partners, clients, consumers, media, education bodies, government, agencies and general public.  So to establish a corporate entity in the society, it has to nourish and maintain the relationships with its various members by constantly innovating, servicing and effectively communicating about its predominant role among them.  By directing correct flow of services & information to its targeted audience, organizations tend to enhance their Image. For schools the targeted audience is students and their parents and for Retailers their targeted audience is their consumers, it is their networking, servicing, word of mouth and promotions which will help them and their goodwill grow. You have to follow a two way process through continuous reviews and feedback from your targeted audience among whom you are displaying your products and services promoted by self and media services. Effective Corporate Image can be maintained through acts of Awareness, Acceptance and Appropriate Actions.

Co-Authored 

Kavita Thapliyal & Manjul Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer 

 & 

Principal Consultant

Visions Ahead

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

.

Interview: A Success Journey to a Successful Professional Career ( Series-4) Training & Development

Interview - Grooming & Appropriate Dressing

"You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming and encouraging your greatest asset."

“The suit is the anchor of a professional man’s & women's wardrobe”

Dressing plays a vital role in the interview success. Clothes reveal half of the story about the success chance of the candidate. It is well said, “Dress Before You Address”. Today most of the youngsters are running far away from the true discipline of formal dressing and hence when they try these outfits at the time of interaction they are totally uncomfortable. Sometimes it is noticed that during campus interviews student borrow the formals from their peer group and thus are confused not only at the part of dressing but also at the conceptual delivery. This is the main reason to give uniformity at all working levels not only schools but corporate and business schools are also tying up with the concept of formal dressing, that sense to bring more corporate looks at both personal and professional sense. As such there is no hard and fast rule for interview dressing but yes one should always dress formal with smart appearance and the most crucial point is we need to dress according to our professional demand. Interview dressing should match as per job profile of the company and suiting country norms.

Why Grooming & Dressing?

Grooming is the processes of making yourself look neat and attractive. The things which you do to make yourself and your appearance tidy and pleasant.

Need for Professional Grooming

• To improve Communication Skills

• Good Articulation

• Improving Conceptual & Presentation Skills

• To Improve Industrial Knowledge

• Problem Solving Skills

• Team Work

• Confidence Building & Developing Overall Personality. 

Positive Traits in a Vibrant Groomed Professional:

If you look and behave like a highly trained and well-groomed professional, you will win the respect and honor of most valued clients.

• A groomed professional radiates competence and confidence.

• A professional is always positive, focused, and energetic.

• A professional avoids engaging in or repeating gossip.

• A professional always maintains the highest levels of honesty and integrity.

• A groomed professional is a role-model.

Grooming is an overall development of personality. It is the journey that covers all three major aspects of life.

Three basic things you need to consider when figuring out what’s appropriate for your working wardrobe:

1. Your Line of Work
2. Your Corporate Culture
3. Your Audience

Grooming is the persona of one’s mature life, that leads a man to be human, who understands values, respect, responsibilities and motivates him enough to perform better even at the time of adversity.

Men and Women common Dressing:

• Conservative two-piece business suit (solid dark blue or grey is best)
• Conservative long-sleeved shirt/blouse (white is best, pastel is next best)
• Clean, trimmed fingernails
• Minimal cologne or perfume/deodorant
• Empty pockets—only mobile (silent mode) and handkerchief
• Dark shoes (black lace-ups are best)
• Dark socks (black is best)
• Clean shaven face
• No gum, candy, or cigarettes
• Light briefcase or portfolio case
• No visible body piercing (nose rings, chains, bracelets &  eyebrow rings, etc.) or tattoos/ mehandies
• Wear a suit with a jacket and skirt or slacks.
• Shoes with conservative heels
• Clean, polished conservative shoes
• Minimum use of ornaments
• Avoid large purses but can carry laptop briefcase.
• Enamels need to be conservative in color
• Well-groomed hairstyle -Keep your hair shot and if long avoid open.
• Keep your makeup simple and natural

Conclusion

“Dress badly and they remember the clothes; dress well and they remember the person”

We can win the interview with our selling skills that we can master from our academic and professional career as well as with our maturity to understand current affairs like economic, social behavioral, science and political issues. We need to be confident but overconfidence can ruin our possibilities for interview success. The most important aspect to remember is that we should start preparing for our interview since the moment we choose our career. Never enter an interview hall without prior homework as it also increases the failure and disappointment chances of a candidate. Study the company profile and the vision as well as the mission of the responding company because most of the interview questions revolve around the above concepts. Speak clearly and enthusiastically about your experiences and skills. Try to be honest but optimistic and speak as you are sharing your ideas and thoughts. Don't forget that greeting is the magical mantra and smile is the tantra for your success chance during interview. Prepare a solid self introduction as it is the most demanded question to enter the chakraview of interview. My purpose of sharing this article with you is to make you that Abhimanyu which not only knows how to enter the Chakraview but after negotiating all rounds successfully knows how to smoothly sail out victoriously with flying colors.

Kavita Thapliyal

Business Communication and Soft Skills Trainer & Consultant

Web:  www.visionsahead.com

These Series of Articles can also be viewed at http://www.articlesbase.com/interviews-articles/interviewa-success-journey-to-a-successful-professional-career-706363.html