Law and Order!

A: Pakistan's law and order situation is very poor
B: Who said that?

A: Watch news channels!
B: Why news channels? Watch entertainment channels.

A: No but there is a lot of violence in Karachi, Tribal Areas, Baluchistan and Peshawar
B: Watch PTV!

A: Do you have any solutions to stop Bhatta, killings and kidnappings and all other crimes in the country?
B: Yes

A: What?
B: Watch Music channels!

A: Non sense! anything else?
B: Yes

A: What?
B: Use Facebook!

A: Rubbish! anything else?
B:Yes

A: What?
B: Block Mobile Networks, Ban driving bikes, Create a lot of road blocks!

A: Will it work?
B: Why not?

A: Any proofs?
B: Yes

A:What?
B: Watch news channels and PTV!

3 Positives First

3 Positives first

We are going through some very difficult times and as happens in the times of turmoil people start complaining for issues teasing to them in general. We have a lot to rue these days and its easy to spot negative comments about corruption, government failures, Judiciary-state issues, moon sighting and failures in almost every filed we are contesting.

People who are working and have at least some job in their grasp and are earning something somehow even they are wary of the situation. Pick any social media and you will find political wars, allegations and some darkness at the end of tunnel, at the conclusion of most of the discussions.

Difference of opinions, conflicts and armed struggles are part of the history of every nation in this world. 65 years are nothing in a country's history. Change will come and things will not remain forever. There are good people available and want to do good for this country. Let's do our part and we should start cornering the people who are trying to push us in darkness of hopelessness.

People are playing in the hands of these negativity driving elements who want to prove us a failure and are even questioning our basic ideology. Most of us get involved in discussions for the sake of discussion and start giving fresh air to their negative thoughts and our words often inflict some chain thoughts in some discussions.

We need to break this and its not very hard, I was discussing the solution with one of my friends at work and we end up on a simple solution. Before sharing one negative thought or discussion we must start with three positive aspects or three lines of solution to counter that negativity. Just try it and test your negativity index after practicing it consciously. 

Do we??

Do we really earn what is paid to us???

It’s very easy to find people around you who have a number of complaints regarding their salary and benefit structure. There is no harm in feeling dissatisfied in pursue of some good career and good earnings in return of the value being added on to some business.

But for a moment analyze your routine at work, think about the energy and effort you invest in your job and decide do you really earn what is being paid to you. No need to jot down things and no need to discuss this with anyone. Just think alone and compare your efforts with anyone who is doing some lower level, support job at your organization.

One of my first managers Puneet Anand used to say "If we don't get amount equal to your monthly salary as daily revenues through your efforts, we are paying you more".

It’s easy to complain for not having certain benefits or not getting paid well but it’s really difficult to justify every penny earned.

Think for a moment and earn every payment!!

Its still a cost

Customer Care is still a Cost in this town!!

A lot has been said and written regarding customer care function all over the world. There are many who have done some considerable work in service industry and some have global prestige as service gurus and all these are quoted in Pakistani industry too when it comes to any discussion of customer care or service.

Customer is the king, Customer is the boss, customer is paying your salary, customer is your actual employer...all sounds logical and can be elaborated by 100s of examples but do we really put efforts to live up to the spirits of these lines. For some isolated instances it maybe yes however as a practice it's a question mark "?".

Customer Care divisions are entrapped by the chains of strict Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for most of the Pakistani business sector. Customer Care is not treated as investment and it remains as cost center and in all drives to control costs it gets a hit like all other costs.

In order to achieve KPI targets people forget customer, as for them their daily report matters more than customer's issues. People tend to justify the KPIs for customer care personnel however the theoretical facts remain the same that for customer services there should be only one target i.e. "Satisfied Customer"

The investment in customer care will not return unless it is really treated as investment. What is the use of such KPIs where customers leave you for not listening or mishandling? Customer Care function is a failure if it fails to turn customers into advocates. Every effort, every system and every process should ease customer in such a way that customer start telling people about his/her service provider.

Customers are getting aware of their rights through media and education and the future of all markets will be shaped by their service standards and not by the quality of their products alone. Every good and bad experience is tweeted, facebooked, or blogged in some minutes after happening and this is free publicity. Give people good things to share else bad is on its way..

The Integrity Fanda

The Integrity Fanda!

Standing at some point of influence the most critical responsobility when can have is the display of integrity to that role. When people follow you, looks upto you for solutions one small mistake can ruin your whole image as a person of authority.

Its a common phonomena in our society that people tend to slip for very small personality weaknesses and ruin all earning of their life in a flash.

Compromising on small integrity issues creates dissatisfaction and agitation among different portions of the organizations like spending unncessarily, undue and unwanted priviliges for certain teams or individuals, violation of policies or procedures by those who are responsible for making those and many more.

The integrity compromise attitude is encouraged by the silence of "C type" mangement. If on paper there is some zero tolerance policy for compromising integrity of any core value of the orgnaization it should be applied to all.

People generally tend to forget quickly how much they paid to get to the place of authority and many people dream to be at their place. Achieveing some place is not a difficult task as compared to earning respect for integrity at that certain place.

Never compromise on integrity!!!

Complimenting your Reputation

Use of Social Media has reached to such heights that were never thought of before. Billions of users of different social media platforms are spending a lot of time on these for various reasons. People try to have a look at the social media presence of the employers and even employers now look at the profiles and social media activities of people attached to them.

I don't want to debate on the benefits or adverse effects of social medias as its just a matter of choice to me. On the basis of my more than 6 years experience of using different social media I can say it very confidently that people who follow you on social media will certainly try to sync your online personality with real you. One can never enjoy different reputation at Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter or Blogger as compared to real life. For professionals its really critical specially people at the positions of authority.

Many people just try to post things or comment so unethically, which does not suit to their position, age or personality. Mind you, by deciding to use any social media platform as professional is same as sitting in a glass room at the corner of a market. People will come and notice your every move. So set your priorities and make your own theme to and identity at social media.

In an IBM research they quoted social media presence as digital identity and according to them, it take years to build digital identity and just a moment to ruin it.

Don't ruin your reputation compliment it online!!

Reference: http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/zz/en/securesocialsmart/index.html?content=3

The New Service Standards

Thanks God!.... 

Shukar Hay!!

Service Excellence redefined!!  

On theory, in the booklets or in advertisements Customer Service remains the focal point of all businesses specially service industry. Managers, coaches, trainers and consultants share various remarkable experiences of customer services where individuals representing different companies sets exemplary standards of customer services. The phrases "Thinking out of the box", "Going the Extra Mile", "Customer is the king", "everything for the customer" are used, practiced and encouraged almost everywhere. 

When it comes to service industry of Pakistan, There are certain similarities among all those service providers which are somewhat enjoying monopoly in their areas of operations. They have created another class of service excellence. In this class customer experience is different than all bookish and theoretical experiences. I termed it as "Thanks God!" or in Urdu  "Shukar Hay!".

They have done some unmatched work in their service areas to achieve this. Let me quote some customer experiences that will elaborate the spirit of the title of this write up:

"Thanks God! Today it was only 5 hour Load shading, thanks WAPDA"

"Shukar hay!  My flight is only 1 hour late, thanks to the lady at counter of PIA"

"Thanks God!!! Got the CNG right before it went offline"

"Shukar hay!!! I was not travelling on rail"

It needs some serious courage to get these satisfying statements from highly satisfied customers in any service industry of the world. The tragedy is that less suffering has become another definition of good service to the mass user base of all these services. This is why Monopoly is discouraged all over the world in any industry. PIA has competitors in most of the destinations now but still enjoys monopoly in various domestic destinations and unless the market is opened to other investors. International and local investors should be encouraged to invest and state intervention is eliminated from corporate structure. Otherwise it will remain same and we will keep on thanking for providing less bad services.

Why Not

Why not Part Time Jobs for Students?

Pakistan is a very different country in many dimensions. Some of these dimensions are really great and some are quite questionable. No matter how different we are, we are learning things quickly and adapt things way too quickly than many other countries. 

Pakistani HR professionals, working in leading corporate firms are doing a great job for the talented lot in Pakistan by introducing various opportunities for talented youth in Pakistan. But one area that still need attention from people responsible for creating jobs that almost all of giants in the industry do not offer part time jobs to students in the universities and colleges. 

There is some good deal of work available, for those responsible for job profiling to find simple job units and break them in part-time units. Students can also be offered full time work in summer breaks or other vacations.

There can be various reasons for not doing this at this stage however this is the way forward to strengthen the economy in the long run and encourage students to earn and spend and stop dependency on parents. 

This exposure will enable students to taste the challenges of practical life and also may encourage to start their own firms. The responsibility also lies equally on universities and colleges that they should make it mandatory for students to find Part Time jobs. There must be a  placement office in every education institution.

By making this change only the society as a whole will stop classifying work as good or bad and will start moving in right direction.

Don`t Give Up!

You can only win a game by staying in the game!!

Its a common practice now a days by our career starters that they get impatient with their career growth. I agree that one should try to grow as much and as quick, no question about it, the problem is that they end up frustrating themselves and switch career without any need and make themselves more frustrated in most of the cases. Access to social media has enabled them to see a lot more success stories and thriving people than ever before. I have seen a lot of people to change jobs on getting demotivated for growth chances at the very start of their career without realizing that couple of years are just a milestone or maybe base for the rest of their career. I would like to request all of those who wanted to get growth quickly that the only way to win a game is to stay in the game, if you keep on changing games you will end up as jack of all. Pick the game you enjoy and then don't leave until you prove yourself. US open or Wimbledon can only be won by one individual every year rest all keep on trying and are still regarded as wonderful players. 

Don't get demotivated too quickly!!!