Anuj Thakur_BLP024_Consulting_03Jan2012

Day started with lot of excitement since Placement Season had started and Big companies in HR Consulting i.e. Mercer is on Campus to recruit that very special and lucky talent from the 116 students for a very lucrative offer.

In consulting skills class we discussed Chapter 9 and 10 from Flawless Consulting by Peter Block.

Chapter 9 explained how to keep resistance and associated feelings at bay while talking to clients and knowing their concerns and issues. Consultants should ask as many relevant questions to the client and listen to their answers with full concentration so that there are no issues left unnoticed. Peter Block stated a three step process to deal with resistance

1.       Pick up signals for resistance from manager

2.       Name the resistance and use neutral language

3.       Be quite and seek response by being an effective listener

  

In Chapter10 Peter Block talks about discovery phase and consultant should make sure that he is very clear and understand the client’s business and the other issues related to it. Various analyses should be done to figure out the issues and its solutions so that Manager can be told about the same and a plan can be made how those can be implemented and feedback and recommendations can be noted down.

Second half of the day was dedicated to analyze the financial plan made by SOIL to raise funds and loan from AXIS Bank to set up a residential campus. Gaurav Sir came to the class and explained all the details of the financial plan and every team was asked to come up with valuable recommendations.

Anuj Thakur_BLP024_Self Leadership_10Jan2012

Today we answered three questions about our own self

1.       What are my Strengths and Weaknesses?

2.       How to overcome my weaknesses?

3.       Where I visualize myself in 10 years from now?

Strengths                                                            What they are used for

1.       Never say die Attitude                                  Achieve various results when required

2.       Idea Orientation                                              Innovation

3.       Accommodating nature                                                Team building

4.       Self-Structure                                                   Process Orientation and Self discipline

5.       Resilience                                                           To achieve goals in long run

Weakness                                                           What I am doing to overcome them

1.       Empathy                                                              Joined CanSupport and working on it with Mentor

2.       Procrastination                                                 Making small sub projects out of the big project              

3.       Bad in Time Management                            Reading HBS books and working the recommendations

I see myself after 10years as a leader which have good name in the industry for the amount of work I have been doing and not only having good professional but also having personal relations with my clients to reach that point I will be repeatedly updating my knowledge by going through various courses, books, certifications and various programs throughout my life.       

AjaySingh_BLP018_About Me_Oct’11

We started the day with reviewing our learning so far. One conversation led to another and soon we were on a conference call with Prasad Kaipa, one of Steve jobs close associates. It was wonderful to know about the other side of Steve jobs from a person who had worked with him so closely. Mr. Kaipa shared a number of stories about who Steve jobs was, how focused was he on innovation and how determined was he to get what he dreamt of.

Later on the day we were asked to answer some questions about one self and make a presentation. Below are my responses for the given questions:

Who am I?

I am a self motivated individual who love to learn new things and who is always open to ideas from people around.

What am I here for?

I want to be happy in whatever I do throughout my life and also want to spread this happiness among people around me.

Where am I going?

I have justified mine and my parents expectations till now and would want to work further towards my cause in near future.

Why is it important?

For me being happy is the most important part of everyone’s life. Whatever everyone aims in his life finally ends up in getting happy. The ultimate solution for everyone’s need ends up in happiness.

How will I leverage my abilities to reach this goal?

I am very friendly to people and try to help them in whatever ways I can. Other people also feel some sense of happiness and some kind of connect develops between us 

Anupam Tomar_BLP031_Self_Leadership_10_Jan'12

Strengths of a person gives him the confidence to deal with situations in which he struggles to express himself/herself. The sheer power of inner belief to see through a tough phase makes a person mentally strong & often is a differentiator between achievers & those who yearn to achieve something meaningful.

Over the years two of my strength determination to achieve my goals has helped me to see through some tough phases and has contributed in improving my weakness of not being resilient and giving up soon.This has improved me as a person & will also play a key role in developing my core competencies.

As a result of the improvements made, i have been able to connect with people in an improved way thus developing stronger friendships/ work relations & it has improved my thought procedure also. After leveraging my strengths, i would like to have a strong and a wide network of peers / friends for generating employment opportunities especially for those who suffer with disabilities but are capable enough to develop employable skills thus contributing in the development of the society. To do this, i have started networking with people who are knowledgeable in their respective fields & are compassionate for developing the society. I have identified few people from my workplace, some from my college and i look forward to meet more people who will add value to me, contribute in increasing my knowledge, develop my thought process and over a longer period of time, aid in the cause i would like to pursue.

In order to improve myself and absorb the good points, i need to control things because of which tme goes by and the same can be utilised more effectively for self development. I think i need to spend less time in analysing things as at times it leads to overanalysis of a situation because of which more time is wasted in repeated analysis of a situation or an upcoming event. To improve this, i will start looking at and doing things in a step by step manner. This approach will not divert my attention by looking at the bigger picture every time. Thus i will use my time more constructively and also this will take care of my worrying too much about any future event

Prashant Agarwal_BLP056_Consulting_03Jan2012

In the consulting class today, we learnt about the initial stages of Proposal Development. We discussed two important aspects of a consulting assignment i.e. (i) Dealing with resistance and (ii) Stage of discovery.

Consultants generally face resistance from the client in opening up and coming out with the actual problem and it is really difficult to handle this resistance because resistance is an emotional process. The best way to deal with resistance is to get the client talk more about their concern. The best way to handle this is to ask open ended questions and encourage the client to think deeply and talk about the real concerns and issues. A consultant should not push back at resistance, but face it and talk through it in an authentic and in a sincere manner. There are 3 steps to handling resistance:

1.) Pick up cues for resistance – A consultant must keenly observe what is happening and pay attention to non-verbal signals from the client. Any sign of resistance like uneasiness or odd body language in client, repetition of same points being explained again and again or feeling of disengagement from the conversation with the client is a clear signal of resistance.

2.) Name the resistance – use simple language to describe the form the resistance is taking. This would help client openly share what he is feeling.

3.) Let the client respond – A consultant should make the statement about resistance and then remain silent. The idea is to encourage the client to take responsibility and come forward and discuss the issue at hand.

Consultant should not take this resistance from client personally. The main reason of resistance is sign of dealing with something important and valuable and which is coming out in a difficult form. The majority of questions which a consultant gets are expression of discomfort and defensiveness of client. A consultant should answer a question asked by the client twice and clarify things but if the same question is asked thrice then it indicates that the client is feeling some resistance to commit to the problem or the process. Then this is the time to face the client and challenge his underlying assumptions.

Once client and consultant are ready to deal with resistance they switch to discovery phase. The goal of discovery is to be more effective at solving the client’s problem. In this phase, consultant tries to understand what he knows and what he doesn’t know. A consultant must clearly understand the client’s issue and the client’s industry in order to help him. He should get to the root of the problem – which may be different than what appears or what the client is stating. At the same time it is important at this stage that the consultant gives a clear picture on how the problem is being managed. He should not be suggesting recommendations at this juncture but should be clearly stating the facts.

The day indeed provided us with valuable learning’s and we got to know consulting one step deeper and the challenges that a consultant face in his day to day work and assignments while dealing with clients and complex organizational issues.

Manjesh Kumar Bharati_BLP046_Consulting_Entrepreneurship

I was born and brought up in a business family in a small town of West Bengal. Having seen my father run a business from close quarters, there was always a desire in me to set up something of my own. The decision making involved, the risks associated, the trials & tribulations and the victories all attracted me and therefore I had always looked up to my father as a role model and always aspired to be an entrepreneur myself. The most fascinating aspect that attracted me to own a business is the cause that was associated with the business. We were running the business for our own well being however there was a huge community that was getting served by our operation. They were earning their daily bread and butter by working with us. The business that we owned it was impacting our lives in a better way but at the same time there was huge impact on the other people lives who were associated with us. I was closely associated with those people and I used to interact with them very often. They used to share their happiness, joy and sorrow with me whenever I am around. I witnessed how a smallest thing can impact other lives in a big way and raise their standard of lives. They were able to send their children to school and built there house with concrete instead of leaving in a muddy house. Moreover I saw my father helping needy people with money with an intention to raise them in their lives and providing support to open new businesses. These other aspect of the business touched me very early in my life and  I decided that one day I will create a business model or environment that  will not only serve the purpose of well being of people who are associated with me but that will have a positive impact on other people lives. It should enable other to grow and enable them to increase their standard of lives as well create new opportunities for others.

As I visualize myself as an entrepreneur I see a man with huge amount of responsibilities. A man with sense of ownership and decision making ability. A man who is thinking about stakeholders well being as well as how to grow the business and serve the customers in a better way. A person who has the control over his time and has the ability and authority to distribute his time accordingly with the task need to be accomplished. A typical day with lots of meeting, decision making as well as the ability and flexibility to respond to the issues immediately. A person who is living the value that he has learnt from his father and practicing it. He owns a business which touches people lives and works towards to empower the society as well.

Team Members strengths:

Amber Agarwal:  He has great potential to make plans into actions.

Manu Malhotra: Great Listener.  

Manjesh Kumar Bharati_BLP046_Consulting _03Jan’12

I will summarise this day as a day where I really practised one of the pillars of SOIL and that is Mindfulness. The day was full of excitement. I had interview scheduled for Mercer, there was consulting class going as well as I had to go for Mckinsey interview. The day started with Mercer interview meanwhile I attended consulting class and again went for another round of interview. With so many activities going on simultaneously I was able to pay my full attention to the activities that I was going through, be it the interviews or the classes. I realised that I am able to focus on everything that was coming across my path. In past it has been difficult for me to handle multiple tasks at a time and be fully present in each of the task. I realised this is because of my learning and practise of being mindful in the activities whatever you do at SOIL. I was seamlessly able to manage the interviews and classes.

Second half of the day started with the Mckinsey interview process where the shortlisted candidates had to evaluate the bank proposal of SOIL for further funding. We had to analyse the proposal as executives from the bank and help the bank in taking decision whether the bank should provide funding to SOIL or not. We discussed the bank proposal for around two and half hours after that we went through a personal round of conversation with Anil Sir.

Overall I will say it was a rollers coaster ride at SOIL. One of the memorable days to remember as never forgettable memories of SOIL.