Today, the day primarily comprised of cricket (watching), Managerial Communication Skills Self Evaluation (as part of my Nyenrode MBA) and The Apprentice (US Season 10)
In cricket, India and England managed to reach a tie in their first face-off match in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. What a match it was today! At different times, we thought that the winning team will be, India then England then India then again England, but ultimately at the end a TIE! It was the first time in Nyenrode, Netherlands that I shared a true cricket watching experience, with I joined by Harsha (we were watching his room), Sanjoy, Munshi and Samant. We screamed and rejoiced for every wicket of England that fell. I only joined them together for the last part of the match where most of the excitement was and missed Sachin's yet another century. At a certain point in time, disappointed by our poor performance, when England was comfortably cruising at 240+ score at around 35th over for the loss of just 2 wickets, Rajul (one of our IMBA Alumnus, and a regular/religious weekend cricket player) emailed us saying "India is not playing good let’s play and make a difference." and later again "Guys nothing left in the match !!!". So I too thought of playing a game by ourselves. However the game changed within a matter of 10 minutes when Mr. Zaheer Khan started the fall of England by taking 2 important wickets. Later to this, it was a involving roller coaster ride where the odds of win switched between two teams for every over. So finally, it was Tie!
With that, “It is important to realize that the game is never over, we need to keep trying hard till the last ball, till the last moment. You never know, there could be silver a lining. You do not lose anything for trying but definitely for not trying!"
Later, I worked on my Self Evaluation report for the Managerial Communication Skills course. The objective of the exercise was to reflect on the performance during the course spanning over my three performances and the course in general. My three performances were,
- Impromptu: To sell the advantages of a Zoo in 3 minutes (to talk "for" it).
- Prepared Performance: To perform a sales pitch for a any product/service chosen. I had chosen to sell a winter Jacket.
- Board Room Simulation: to play the role of an MD and nominate a person of my choice for a role, against wishes of my other colleagues, in a competitive manner.
Talking of my impromptu speech, I realized very soon after my performance that I was too very focused on ensuring all my points being delivered. Though, I displayed fluency in language the delivery should have been better by tactically involving the audience. In terms of confidence though it was evident that I knew what I was speaking, the speed of my speech negated the effect.
Later to impromptu, learning from previous performance which was not persuasive and purely data driven. I worked on my second performance to make it persuasive. The speech opened up by pressing the focus on needs and getting the audience going for it. During the speech I brought in to attention many facts like cold weather, its harshness, other jackets in market which aren’t good, the multiple advantages of my jacket, which helped to persuade the audience in buying the jacket. I believe the use of participating questions, pauses, eye contacts, body movements and getting the audience to think was well executed. So, I believe I performed considerably well in this performance! Of course, what is the use if you don't work on your feedbacks.
However the success of previous performance did not impressively continue in my next performance. I knew beforehand that I would not be great if I had to be competitive in a discussion, and I should say it reflected in my performance. It was my weak spot. My role was to act as an MD of a company and nominate a person of my choice for a role, against wishes of my other colleagues. I was clearly instructed to use a competitive approach! At the end, in this specific instance, I did not meet my own expectations. Later to the session, I had a casual conversation with the instructor on this and took some more tips on overcoming this. I am on it now!
Later as I was reflecting on the performance over the evening, it made me remember of a similar situation I was in 2 years back when I had 5 managers at the table all senior to me by 5-10 years by experience. It was my objective/role to mediate and get an initiative started along with charting out the ownership. At the end, it did not turn out all that well.
I felt, as most Asians do, it was difficult for me to take a competitive stance and knock down others opinion. However, event by event it was imperative that one possibly can't convince/satisfy everyone and keep everyone in good books when arriving at most decisions. It is not an excuse I am giving to myself, but it is just possibly a reflection of myself and where it possible roots from. Life is journey, and I am working on it!
I, with my humble and dear friend Harsha, have also started watching "The Apprentice" over the last two days. Introduced to me by Mr. Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez (who took our Advance Project Management Course) I am now greatly attracted to it, it is a learning activity, especially for project managers. It is so fast, spontaneous, critical and dramatic. I love the show and it has now become our dinner time show!
That's all for the day. It’s 2 AM in the morning (or night) and I am on to do some research on European Union now!
