Training Session capture 16 Dec 2016 Fri

training session capture 14 dec 2016 wed

09 Dec 2016 Fri training captures starters & leadership good bad

07 Dec 2016 Wed , Batch 7 Leadership Captures

 (1) Leadership Definitions

 (2) Leadership Good Bad

(3) Starters Percentages

Batch 6 , Day 1 , Good & Bad qualities of a leader

02 Dec 2016 Fri . 
Good and bad qualities of a leaders . Team work out put . 

Training capture - 30 Nov 2016 Wed

Batch No 5 Leadership Training . Good and bad qualities of leaders . Plenty of traits have come to the fore .

New Strategy in Blended , Asynchronous Learning - The Flipped Class Room !

New Strategy in Blended , Asynchronous Learning - Flipped Class Room ! 

What exactly are flipped classrooms, and how can a flipped classroom training strategy increase training effectiveness within your organization? 

Nine years ago, two educators, Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams, decided to take an innovative approach to learning that was more individualized to their students. 

As a first step, Bergmann and Sams decided to record their lectures and host them online for their students to watch and subsequently spent their classroom time helping students with the concepts they had difficulty with and with hands-on activities. Their students demonstrated a deeper understanding of their course materials than ever before!

The Corporate Training Environment

In corporate training, the "flipped classroom model"  is a form of blended learning that combines interactive, instructor-led training with asynchronous, online learning activities.

Typically, with a flipped classroom strategy, your learners watch training videos or participate in other forms of online learning before participating in a classroom-type setting. The beauty of the flipped classroom as a training strategy is that it allows for instructors to actively engage with learners so that they can learn more effectively. The flipped classroom does not rely on live lectures but instead on , recorded lectures, discussions, group work, collaboration, simulations, or any other type of true interactive training scenario, as a pre-training preparation for ILT. 

The Benefits of a Flipped Classroom Strategy

The following examples provide some insight as to how an organization may benefit from incorporating a flipped classroom strategy.

Improving learner outcomes. Imagine that you’ve posted an instructional video or online course that includes a quiz or test questions for your learners to complete before attending your classroom session. In advance of your classroom session, you’re able to review your group’s test scores to identify where your learners had challenges with the course materials. Knowing this information in advance, you can then target your classroom discussions on the identified skills gap.

Your learners receive targeted and personalized attention and are far more engaged while you effectively address any knowledge deficits. Furthermore, over time, you may have the opportunity to identify trends whereby your online instructional materials could be revised or updated to better meet the needs of your learners.

Increased experiential learning opportunities.

 For example, perhaps your organization is onboarding several new sales representatives. Your new hires can take their online instruction to learn about your products and how to sell them in advance of their training class. During their live training session, your new hires can practice one-on-one role-playing with your sales manager ! 

This approach offers your new hires an engaging and effective hands-on experience while being coached by a subject matter expert. This personalized guidance greatly increases your new hires’ chances of selling success.

Evolving with Technology

As businesses and learning technologies continue to evolve, we must look to advance the ways in which we train our corporate learners. With increasing numbers of Millennials and Generation Z in the workforce, corporate trainers need to deliver training materials and instruct in ways that these modern day learners are receptive to. A flipped classroom strategy is just one of many great approaches to corporate training that your organization can consider.

Courtesy : HR Training Daily Advisor 

2 tipsfor leadership ripple effect

Leadership Ripple Effect 
By Anita Bowness

Leadership roles are tough, and the actions of a leader have a ripple effect that can be felt throughout the organization. Here with tips for ensuring this ripple effect is positive for your company is an article by Halogen Software’s Anita Bowness, who is the global practice leader for Business Consulting.


Like a stone thrown into the water, what leaders do has a ripple effect that extends well beyond those immediately around them. Besides impacting performance, leaders serve as role models, impacting the attitudes, behavior, and organizational culture with almost every interaction they have with their peers and direct reports.

Here are the first two of five tips to help ensure the ripples cast by leaders at all levels impact your organization in a positive way.

1. Pick Potential Over Performance

All too often, managers are hired based on previous success, experience, and technical skills over harder-to-quantify leadership potential. 

According to Gallup research, great leaders have a rare combination of five competencies: (1) They motivate others, (2) assert themselves to overcome obstacles, (3) build strong, trusting relationships, (4) hold themselves and others accountable for high performance, and (5) make informed, unbiased decisions for the benefit of their team and their organization.

However, Gallup reports that only about 10% of employees naturally possess leadership skills, and another 20% of employees can develop as leaders if their organization invested in the appropriate coaching and development plans for them.

This is an area where HR professionals can have great influence by providing assessment tools to uncover those with leadership potential and the resources and tools for leaders to develop key competencies.

HR professionals can incorporate leadership skill assessment throughout the talent management process, including (a) hiring, (b) performance management, (c) employee development, and  (d) succession planning to bring data-driven rigor to talent management and succession planning decisions.

2. Provide Early Manager Development
Joint research by DDI and Brandon Hall indicates that 43% of organizations reported little or no effective leadership development for first time leaders and supervisors.

Like other habits, the behavior of leaders is hard to change once they become habitual, so it makes sense to ensure that new managers are provided with the tools, training, and resources needed to acquire and assimilate good leadership skills that an organization values early in their careers.

In tomorrow’s Advisor, Bowness presents three more tips for developing great leaders.

3 Tips on Ripple effect leadership

3 Tips for positive leadership (t)ripple effect 

1. Teach Leaders to Be Self-Aware

The more leaders understand and recognize their own strengths, weaknesses, passions, and doubts, the better they can empathize and support others. The ability of a leader to understand and manage themselves, emotionally and in their actions, can greatly impact the individuals they lead.
Organizations can provide tools such as personality assessments, 360o reviews, mentors, and coaches for employees to better understand themselves and incorporate personal development into their work routine. Journaling and taking the time to debrief projects, events, and critical interactions are less formal but no less effective tools for personal development.

2. Develop Coaching Skills
Perhaps the most critical skill for leaders to develop is the ability to provide effective feedback and performance coaching to employees. Helping employees identify performance goals and providing feedback and coaching on an ongoing basis to monitor progress to ensure success are critical leadership skills.

In high-performing organizations, a culture of ongoing performance management enables leaders to build an open and transparent environment to regularly discuss what is and what isn’t working, identify learning opportunities, and establish and follow a career development path.

3. Build On Individual Strengths with Cultural Sensitivity
In an increasingly diverse, global workforce, it is important for leaders to get to know their employees as individuals, understanding their personal values and passions as well as their strengths, development needs, preferred working environment, and career aspirations. This personal approach to performance management enables leaders to build working teams where each member contributes from his or her strengths, adding up to an impact beyond the sum of the team members.

Organizational savvy should also include an awareness of cultural differences, such as methods of communicating, making decisions, timeliness, handling conflict, and other aspects of working together, in order to head off misunderstandings and create a climate of sharing, learning, and understanding (Erin Meyer’s book, The Culture Map, does an excellent job describing the differences in how individuals from different cultures communicate and share ideas).

The Leadership Ripple Effect
Great leaders create positive ripples by inspiring and leading others, by building a performance culture, and by leaving a legacy of future leaders. HR professionals can help ensure this legacy by implementing effective talent management processes in which high-potential leaders receive early and effective development, including interpersonal, cultural, and coaching skills.
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Leadership checklist, comprehensive

Superb , comprehensive leadership checklist . You can make them into slides, team activities, discussion, frame game, psychometric self assessment test.  Rich content that provides you the trainer, with ample range of opportunities . oka aaTa aaDukovacchu .

http://sourcesofinsight.com/leadership-checklist/

Super Slideshare module on Leadership ; clip them

I am grateful to the guy who posted this great module on leadership . 139 slides.

It is here . 

http://www.slideshare.net/gihanaboueleish/leadership-motivation-workshop?qid=04e42578-9512-485e-a032-04006231405d&v=&b=&from_search=1

Training Activity for customer service

ENERGIZER Coutresy Trainer Bubble

Bad Customer Service - Energiser

Duration: 15 minutes

  Objective:

This energiser focuses on communication with customers and knowing not only, what TO say, but also what NOT to say. The aim is to ensure participants know how to alter and adapt their language to suit customer situations and provide an exceptional customer experience.

Instructions:

1. Place participants in a semi-circle, with you, the trainer, in the middle.

2. Explain that you are going to work in a circle going from person to person.

3. The first participant is going to come up with a phrase that they could say to a customer that would NOT be right and should never be said to a customer.

4. The next participant in the circle then has to re-phrase the statement from the previous person, this time stating it in a positive way. (Give them only a short time to re-phrase the question and if they fail, ask someone else to).

5. The same person should then come up with a negative statement and the person next to them should re-phrase it and so on until you have moved around the complete circle.

6. Once complete, review the energiser using the questions below.

Review Questions:

• Have you used any of the phrases when working in customer services? What about the good ones?!

• What do you think the effect of these negative statements are on customers? 

• Did you struggle to come up with a re-phrased positive statement in the short amount of time you had? What about the negative one? 

• Which phrase was easier to come up with under pressure? How do you think this affects how we perform customer service?

• What key piece of learning will you take away from this activity?

• How will you apply it in the workplace?

Uses:

This energiser is great for ensuring effective communication and helping participants understand how they should be communicating with customers.

#Tr

4 types of Game Players in a Training session - 4 different objectives

Different types of game players. According to Richard Bartle, four types of players want different things from games.Achievers want to earn high scores and win. Explorers want to find out as much as possible about the game environment.Socializers want to establish relationships with other players. Killers want to defeat the others. It is possible for the same game to meet different needs.

How to make compliance training - more interesting ! How to you INSPIRE ?

How to make compliance trainings - interesting ? 

When it comes to compliance training, says Rients, could anything be more boring? Too often, the training is a matter of “Do this, don’t do that.”
So, the most important thing when it comes to compliance training, says Rients, is to give trainees the “Why.” Refresher training is there because we forget (and also, it’s required). Complacency happens. If instructors aren’t fun and don’t address the purpose of training, they will be dead in the water.
Rients asked the audience, have you ever been in a horrible training session? Well, what made it so bad? Some of their responses included:
“Reading PowerPoint® slides.”
“Too much information.”
“This is irrelevant to me.”
Rients agreed. “You need to focus on one or two key things, otherwise you’re going to lose them,” he says, and “if they can’t figure out what’s in it for me, it’s going to fail.”

Compliance Doesn’t Make Money ! 

Rients admits that compliance doesn’t “make money”—but you can lose money if you ignore it. “Good enough” isn’t good enough, attention to detail is paramount, and every employee plays a role. If you don’t take care of the little things, will the customer (or inspector) wonder what else is going on?
With so much at stake, it’s important to replace bad habits in compliance training with good ones. Rients says the following actions must be taken by trainers:
Engage. Greet trainees with music or videos right off the bat to get their attention.
Inform. This doesn’t have to be dry and boring. Games can inform more than reading off of slides.
Interact. Build a simulator for compliance-related situations, let trainees practice, and show them the worst case scenario for noncompliance.
Inspire. Show trainees an alternate outcome to the worst case scenario, and ask them to do something great.a
That last point is important—you need to call people to action, says Rients.

Experience: The Hard Teacher

Yes, Compliance is boring stuff…Until it isn’t ! 

Whether it is a competitor or other bad actor trying to breach your security or a compliance watchdog ready to pounce, Rients warns that entities exist whose goal it is for us to fail!

Complacency is more common and more dangerous than maliciousness, says Rients, and compliance training isn’t just following the rules or “do this, do that.” It’s of vital importance, and “vital” means life.

Bite sized learning ; need of the day

Problem : Learners' Attention span is shorter. It's between 7 mins to 18 mins . How should trainers & facilitators reduce information over load ? 

Fixing the Problem
So, how can trainers take this information and use it to help boost the impact of their sessions or classes? Muller and Murdoch present some suggestions:

(1) Reduce cognitive load. 
George Miller introduced the “magic number 7” in his Information Process Theory, which led to Cognitive Load Theory. How to you keep from overloading someone’s brain? The goal is efficiency in learning—not overloading, but still teaching.

(2)Focus attention—don’t split it. 
For example, putting a figure or model on the back of a page that describes it splits attention as the learner is constantly referencing back and forth. Visuals, like words, need to be focused.

(3)Weed your training. 
While storytelling can help presentations, don’t add a story that doesn’t relate. Get trainees a concept, solution, or point ASAP.

(4)Provide external memory support. 
Cheat sheets or toolkits can help trainees remember things later that they couldn’t keep in working memory during the session.

Thiagi on Simulation design in training

Bases of Simulations

Misconception: Simulations reflect reality.

Reality: Simulations reflect someone's model of reality. There is an important difference between reality and a model of reality. This difference has critical implications for the design and use of training simulations.

Let's assume that you want to simulate the quality-improvement process in a service organization. Exactly what features and processes you select for the simulation will depend on your professional discipline and personal preferences. For example, if you are a behaviorist, you may interpret the process in terms of stimuli from customers, responses from employees, and reinforcers from managers. If you are a humanist, you may look at the customer-service process in terms of customer expectation, employee empowerment, and manager motivation. If you are a sociologist, you may focus on organizational norms and individual roles. If you are a lawyer, you may emphasize contractual obligations, legal violations, and policy issues. If you are an accountant, you may compare the costs of providing different levels of service with the short- and long-term payoffs of satisfying a customer.

In addition to these professional filters, your model of reality depends on your personal preferences and personality characteristics. If you are an optimist, you may directly correlate better services with profitable bottom lines. If you are a pessimist, you may introduce such random variables as policy changes, governmental regulations, customer vacillations, and environmentalist agitations.

These concepts of multiple realities and of selective emphasis have important implications in the design of a simulation. You have to explicitly document what variables and relationships are included in your model and why you choose to include them (and to exclude others).

deny a story if defines u

Thiagi debrief techniques

Flow

1. Pair-up participants. Ask each pair to stand back-to-back. If there is an extra person, they can form a group of three.
2. Ask a debriefing question. Some debriefing questions you may want to consider are:
   • What do you think was the most important point in today's session?
   • What do you think will be the most challenging idea to implement when you go back to the workplace?
   • What do you think will be the easiest idea to implement when you go back to the workplace?
   • Which idea do you think will receive the most resistance?
   • Which idea will you implement first?
   • What questions do you still have about this topic?
3. Reflect on the question. Ask each student to reflect on the question and prepare a response.
4. Blow the whistle. Ask each participant to turn around and face their partner.
5. Identify who will start the conversation. Use this selection process as an opportunity for the participants to learn a little known fact about each other. For example you might say:
   • The person whose birthday is next in the calendar year will share first.
   • The person who travels the furthest to work will share first.
   • The person who has the most, (oldest, youngest) children (pets, car) will share first.
6. Identify time limitations. Tell the participants they each have about 30 seconds to share.
7. Blow the whistle. After about one minute, blow the whistle and ask the participants to find a new partner and stand back to back.
8. Ask a new question. Continue as above. If time allows, ask three to five questions.

Having trouble engaging learners? Laura MacLeod, LMSW (licensed master social worker), offers some answers to commonly asked questions regarding learner engagement during training.

Q: What are some common mistakes trainers make in terms of engaging learners?
A: Reading a training script word for word, using “icebreakers” that make learners uncomfortable, and putting learners on the spot with role-plays are common mistakes that can hinder engagement in training, says Laura MacLeod.

When trainers do not sway from a written script, they leave “no room for flexibility and group member participation,” she explains. “People tune out immediately.”
“Be flexible and willing to ‘go off script.’ This means that if you see people are bored, confused, or frustrated, you acknowledge this and adjust,” MacLeod explains. “For example, you see that people are rolling their eyes and sighing as you describe in detail how to safely lift heavy boxes (bend from the knees, etc.). Stop and say, ‘Looks like you all know this.’ Wait to see what the group says. They may say, ‘Yeah, we know. Had this training last year’ or ‘We do this every day.’ Then, let them take the lead and show the group. ‘OK great. Joe, why don’t you show the group how you do it.’ When Joe starts, others will probably put their two cents in: ‘Better this way.’ ‘Last week I tried X. Worked well.’ Now, you have engagement and collaborative learning. Everyone’s invested.”

Icebreaker activities are aimed at connecting learners, “but they are often risky and put people on the spot. Nobody wants to look foolish or be on display,” MacLeod says. “Activities need to have a purpose, and the participants need to know why they are being asked to do something. Otherwise, activities are just time fillers, and participants resent their time being wasted.”
MacLeod also urges caution when using role-plays. “The thought here is that role plays and presentations will help demonstrate the points covered and be fun for all, but this is rarely how it goes,” she says. “Performing for your peers is nerve wracking, and, if everyone is getting up to do a role-play skit, there is the added pressure of competing with your coworkers.” If you use role-playing, she recommends doing a group activity rather than asking individuals or pairs to “perform.”
In tomorrow’s Advisor, MacLeod shares what trainers should do before and during training to drive learner engagement.

Courtesy : Training Daily Advisor

If a door closes

ACP Satyanarayan's Trainer evaluation criteria

Recently, I sat in the evaluation panel of an organization. 5 training companies came and one of their trainers gave a training demo for 45 minutes, each. Here is the evaluation criteria, for 20 marks. Break up, on the on the following parameters. It will be helpful for us as a self evaluation check list.

Today we had a training evaluation meeting at City Training Center, Afzal Gunj . ACP Satyanarayan developed an evaluation questionnaire , which will be useful to you as a freelance trainer,

Total 20 marks, on 3 parameters.
Marks for Preparation : 5
Marks for presentation / teaching skills - 10 .
Marks for conclusion / achieving the objective - 5 . Further break up below .

PREPARATION : ( 5 marks )

1. Clarity on Aims & Objectives of the topic (1)
2. Preparation of material ( post training hard copy hand out ) (1)
3. Preparation of Audio Visual Aids, PPT s, Case Studies etc. (1)
4. Preparedness in use of Teaching Methods. (1)
5. Appearance and Decorum . (1)

PRESENTATION OF TEACHING MATERIAL ( 10 marks )

1. Introduction, Stimulating interest and preparing the class for the topic. (1)
2. Communication skills (1)
3.Content of the topic and sequence of presentation (2)
4.Use of appropriate examples and illustration ( 1)
5. Participatory / Discussion Mode (2)
6. Making the trainees, to appreciate the relevance of the topic to their use. (1)
7. Utilization of teaching Aids, PPT s, Conducting of activity and role plays ( 1)
8. Time Management (1)

EVALUATION / CONCLUSION
1. Summarizing through participatory activity (2)
2. Feedback ( 1)
3. Evaluation methods to know, the aims and objectives of the topic were met or not (1)

total : 20 marks.

books on criminology, victimology and penology on Amazon dot in

When I went to Advocate Mr Mahender Reddy, he suggested me to read a book on Criminology , based on the fact that I have been training Police Dept. But Criminology by Ratan Lal is not suitable for a guy like me, as I noticed from the review / book cover on Flip  kart and Amazon. 

However, these books , which are available in less than Rs 500/- and brief and have fewer pages to read, is important. It will go into the quality of my training delivery . 

Here is the amazon page on Criminology,which threw up more relevant books ( the word appearing in Titles rather than anywhere in the book ) , than Flip kart. 

http://www.amazon.in/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Criminology

1 Criminology by Ram Ahuja is good . Rs200/- . Only 1 copy remaining. 

2. Criminology, Penology and Victimology by Paranjape got a 5 star rating and is @ Rs450/- .

3. Buy all these books. 

You should have done it in December itself. It will help you in police training . Also in your case against Radhi. 

8 ways, millinials are different in work

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/work/8-reasons-millennials-seem-lazy-work.html

Link : 15 best leadership books of all time . An unconventional bunch

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/15-best-leadership-books-every-young-leader-needs-read.html

spiritual symphony with the world

How to become an efficient freelancer ( from yahoo finance )

Working from home may not seem so difficult. However, it’s hard to stay focused while freelancing. It requires self-discipline and determination to get work done from home.

Here are a few tips to help boost your productivity as a freelancer:

Schedule: Your to-do list could help you keep track of your daily work. Always stick to a particular schedule and plan out your day well.  

Stay connected: Remember to stay in touch with your colleagues on a regular basis. Let them know what to expect from you.This will help your team accomplish goals, meet deadlines and appreciate the hard work of each other.

Online distractions: Avoid online distractions like Facebook, WhatsApp during working hours. Use your computer just for office-related work during working hours.

Research well:  Research can help you learn a lot while handling multiple work projects. Make sure you dedicate an hour for researching online. Once you have thoroughly made a research, writing the content does not have to be that difficult.

Learning is a continuous process: Always remember ‘No one is perfect’. But the eagerness to learn from mistakes and experimenting new work projects could help you explore new opportunities. Interact with people from different business fields as well. This will enable exchange of ideas and help you learn accordingly.

Power nap: Taking a power nap can boost your productivity. A short nap can improve your energy and sharpen your mind. It will surely boost your efficiency at work.

Stay healthy: Exercising and keeping yourself healthy is extremely important for productivity. Make sure you replace junk food and stock up healthy treats in your kitchen to munch in between your meals.

Take a break: Try to get some fresh air whenever you can. Make plans for lunch or at least step out of your home. This will help you feel a little relaxed.

Overcome fears by action !

quality of self talk matters

Use Mind Mapping to Spark New Ideas

Use Mind Mapping to Spark New Ideas

Like brainstorming, mind mapping helps teams come up with ideas quickly when starting from scratch. It lets people think associatively and visually to develop a constellation of interconnected ideas. 

Your team can generate more connections between ideas using mind mapping than by brainstorming or simply listing ideas.

Process 

 Start by writing a keyword or concept relevant to the situation at hand in the center of a blank page or whiteboard.

 Have your team free associate by adding words that relate to the original concept.

 Don’t evaluate or judge any ideas — even the most outlandish words or phrases can generate fresh thinking.

 Connect your ideas by drawing lines between them. 

Encourage your team to use colors to indicate action items, ideas, doubts, and other factors.

 You’ll end up with a visual mind map, which is a messy web of related concepts.

 Have the team discuss it so everyone understands each other’s viewpoints and what comes next. 

chance to work every day

Compassion in Entrepreneurship

I interviewed Dr. Liz and Naveen Lakkur to learn more about the book and how it can help ideators and entrepreneurs.

[Tanmay Vora] Thank you Liz and Naveen, for sharing your insights here. I read your new book “FOUND – Transforming Your Unlimited Ideas Into One Sustainable Business” with great interest. I was curious to know what prompted you to write this book?

Thank you, Tanmay, for your interest in FOUND, which was a labor of love for us both. We always intended that this contribution be a catalyst that increases the success rate of entrepreneurship, not just remain a book. Especially since there seemed to be such a waste of time, energy and financial resources by many entrepreneurs in pursuing ideas that could not support sustainable businesses. You may have seen the statistic quoted by Adeo Ressi, the CEO and founder of Founder Institute in the Foreword to our book, that only about four in every 1,000 startups founded each year create a global impact. That equates to a 0.4% success rate, which I think you will agree is shockingly low. We sincerely hope that by following the proven, five-part process outlined in our book, we will see a considerable improvement in this figure in the months and years to come.

only about four in every 1,000 startups founded each year create a global impact. That equates to a 0.4% success rate

[Tanmay Vora] What is the number one thing according to you that keeps people from acting on their ideas?

It’s a great feeling, isn’t it, when you have what you believe to be a winning idea? You imagine that executing on it will be fun, easy, and rewarding. It’s only when you have to take action that you are thrust back into the world of reality. So we would say “fear of failure” is the top thing that stops people from moving forward with their ideas. Because then they have to face up to the fact that their desired outcomes may or may not come about. You have to have a strong heart and a huge amount of commitment to succeed as an entrepreneur—in fact, any kind of ideator. Which is why, for many people, it’s more comfortable for them to say, “I could have gone ahead with this idea, but….” and find excuses for not taking action. Despite the fact that there is always a huge amount of learning and benefit that comes out of seeing whether that idea could have become a viable business or a new product or service within an organisation.

“fear of failure” is the top thing that stops people from moving forward with their ideas.

[Tanmay Vora] Ideas are cheap, they say, execution is everything. But executing on an idea that is not viable is even worse. Is there an approach to guide us when assessing the business viability of our ideas?

You’ve hit the nail on the head of what the FOUND process is all about, Tanmay. The five-part framework we make available to readers reduces the time, money, and effort they may have otherwise expended on an idea that couldn’t become a business.

Let us offer a story from the book to illustrate what we mean. One of mentees that worked with Naveen through the Founder Institute, Bangalore had a background in Human Resources. He had a concept he called “Experience Zones” that he believed would boost employee engagement in large organizations. This, as we know, is a major issue to be solved. So you would expect that there would be no end of companies all vying to back this HR executive’s idea, right?

Sadly, that wasn’t the case. When he had visited 25 different companies to ask them what they thought of his idea, everyone said it was great and he should move ahead with it. But the “N” within the acronym FOUND stands for Negotiation. By that we mean getting more than tacit agreement. This ideator’s assignment was to get at least three letters from companies prepared to financially back his idea. But none of the 25 people who had been so enthusiastic about the overall idea were willing to put money into it.

That’s just one of the five parts of the FOUND process and all of them are essential as a discipline to follow if an entrepreneur (or intrapreneur) wants to confirm they have a market that will pay for their solution.

[Tanmay Vora] What are the top three things that an entrepreneur should do before they start acting on their idea?

What entrepreneurs should always look for is to offer a solution that fills a current or potential market need, rather than create a solution that’s looking for a problem to solve.

We’re going to offer three things that should only come after the five things entrepreneurs need to go through when reading FOUND. And they are all to do with creating a community that truly supports the business:

1. Co-founders who can bring different skills and experience to the business, perhaps through a background in marketing or sales or different technical competencies.

2. Customers who, early on in the development of the business, are willing to pay for the solution and prove there is a ready market for it.

3. Catalysts, such as ideation specialists and intellectual property lawyers whose expertise can help guide the start up through some of the stormy waters that lie ahead.

By engaging with all three of these groups, the business can truly accelerate. What entrepreneurs should always look for is to offer a solution that fills a current or potential market need, rather than create a solution that’s looking for a problem to solve.

[Tanmay Vora] My last question stems from Naveen’s introduction in the book which says “Converting Creative Concepts into Commerce with Compassion”. People believe that in most cases, commerce and compassion don’t go well together in a world of cut-throat competition. What does compassionate commerce really mean?

Naveen Lakkur : Thanks for this question, Tanmay. I (Naveen) has always believed that these two concepts can co-exist. If you take the definition of compassion it means having a deep awareness and sensitivity for others, especially when it comes to their misfortune. In the Free-Flow chapter of our book we point to how so many successful ventures have been the result of different emotions experienced by the founders.

It is that compassion in understanding that there are major pain points that you can solve for others that makes for the most successful commercial enterprises

Take redBus in India, for example. The whole idea came from the fact that one of the co-founders, Phanindra Sama, wasn’t able to buy a ticket to travel back to his home town during a major festival. It wasn’t just his disappointment that caused him to take action and create redBus but his recognition of how much distress this kind of lack of organization causes others.

In fact, we quote his co-founder, Charan Padmaraju in the same chapter who said, “It was all about building something that would be useful to someone.” It is that compassion in understanding that there are major pain points that you can solve for others that makes for the most successful commercial enterprises, in my view.

My specialization is to play the role of a catalyst to help these creative concepts become commercial realities, with compassion built in. Otherwise all we have is cutthroat competition.

maturity defined

Leadership poster connect and then lead

Life is a journey