MMM Training Solutions

Shifting Mindsets

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” – Mary Engelbreit The story goes that many years ago two young boys went to spend their summers at their grandparents’ farm...

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Recently I was running a leadership development program for a group of branch managers of a public sector bank. Repeated requests to turn off or put their cell phones on silent fell on deaf ears...

Empathy – A necessary trait

I heard a story yesterday that I wanted to share with the world. A group of salesmen were returning home after finalizing a multi-million dollar deal. The negotiations took longer than expected and they reached the airport without much time to spare...

Thought Leadership

Gautama Buddha, SriSri Ravishankar, BabaRamdev, JKrishnamurti, Paramahansa Yogananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Osho Rajneesh, Sathya Sai Baba, Srila Prabhupada of ISCKON fame – What common thread binds all of these...

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

In the movie ‘Pursuit of Happyness’ one of the characters wrote the word ‘Happiness’ on the wall but spelt it as ‘Happyness’. When questioned about using Y instead of I, he said that there should be no ‘I’ in Happyness there only should a ‘Y’...

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Recently I was running a leadership development program for a group of branch managers of a public sector bank. Repeated requests to turn off or put their cell phones on silent fell on deaf ears...

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Recently I was running a leadership development program for a group of branch managers of a public sector bank. Repeated requests to turn off or put their cell phones on silent fell on deaf ears...

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Recently I was running a leadership development program for a group of branch managers of a public sector bank. Repeated requests to turn off or put their cell phones on silent fell on deaf ears...

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Recently I was running a leadership development program for a group of branch managers of a public sector bank. Repeated requests to turn off or put their cell phones on silent fell on deaf ears...

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Is Communication Skills a part of Soft Skills Training?

May 16th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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“Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are — chaff and grain together — certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.”
― Dinah Maria Mulock Craik, A Life for a Life

Often we are asked how soft skills training impact a person’s life. This quote gives me an incredible way to describe it – communication skills helps to ‘pour it all out’ but soft skills training helps you to decipher what is worth keeping and what needs to be blown away. It is the deeper ability to sense what is not being said and to understand the wisdom in what is being said even if it does not agree with your senses. It is the ability to understand that there is a reality that is different from one’s own and that is still real to the other person.

“It’s okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn’t give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don’t like what they are saying. Learn to recognize good writing when you read it, even if it means overcoming your pride and opening your mind beyond what is comfortable.” ― Ashly Lorenzana

Soft skills training helps you to understand that communication is not only about what is being said but it is also about that which is not being expressed. This comes through observing the body language and listening for feelings in the message. This enables you to comprehend both the tangible and the intangible. This is truly what creates effective two-way communication – the only way to develop good communication skills.

Etiquette is a Major Focus of Corporate Training

May 16th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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With the marketplace becoming global, business cannot be done effectively and seamlessly without an awareness of the cultures of your customers. Also, since a lot of transactions are conducted on the phone, telephone etiquette training is often requested in corporate training.

India has achieved its stardom through the out sourcing of customer service centers which provided technical support for its customers from all over the globe. Telephone and email were the contact channels to the customers. Hence Telephone Etiquette was very critical in providing excellent customer service. So telephone etiquette training became an important part of the corporate training programs.

Emotions ran high on these calls as expensive equipment is giving trouble. Also, the comprehension between the two parties was greatly impeded by the challenges in communication. The customer service representative often had to deal with anger and sarcasm but the core learning that we hope to imbibe is, “Rudeness is the weak man’s imitation of strength.” – Eric Hoffer (1902 – 1983)

Our training taught the representatives numerous techniques to stay calm and ask the right questions – Open-ended questions that help to gather the information needed to troubleshoot and close-ended questions that allow you to get key information from the client. Active listening is advocated when the client is engaged and giving information without resistance and reflective listening when a client is angry, irate, uncooperative and condescending. Our mantra is, “One of the greatest victories you can gain over someone is to beat him at politeness.” – Josh Billings (1818 – 1885). We believe that the ability of the representative to maintain his/her composure is the ticket to an effective call. All the tools, techniques and methodologies that help us to attain this end is focused on in the training.

“Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.” – Mark Twain

Mark Twain could not have put the benefits of corporate training more aptly. It is life changing and rejuvenating for both the business and the employees when the learning from the training is implemented in everyday life.

Thoughts and Destiny – Is there a connection?

May 16th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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MMM Training Solutions specializes in soft skills training and personality development courses. We strongly advocate that your thoughts drive your destiny. Most people are skeptical when we hear our stance but this quote from Gandhi gives more clarity than we can explain:

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behavior. Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Hence the focus of our personality development courses encourages you to first create self-awareness and identify areas of development. Often as leaders we expect others to change while we do not indulge in any self-enhancement. We advocate that the best leaders are the ones that can role model the behavior that they want to see in others.

Henry Kissinger put it very aptly when he said, “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” This crusade requires the leaders to be willing to explore uncharted territories and be confident to handle the challenges that erupt on the way. It requires the leaders to have the skills that are required to influence and gently persuade the team to choose these paths of growth and development. Hence our leadership programs often have a combination of soft skills training and personality development courses.

This is a story of a mother who took her son to a well-known sadhu because he was addicted to sweets. When the sadhu heard the problem he asked the mother to bring her son a week later for a healing session. The perplexed mother did as she was asked. A week later, before her son went in for the session, she asked the sadhu the reason for the week’s delay. The sadhu said that he loved sweets himself and sometimes tended to overindulge. He knew that he could not authentically advice the boy when his weakness loomed large. So during this week he gave up sweets and went through the whole experience of giving up something he loved. “Now I feel competent to advice your son,” concluded the sadhu. The astonished mother was left speechless by the authenticity displayed by the sadhu.

Leadership is about not only helping others to reach a higher destiny but one striving always to do the same. When one comes from a space of humility, we realize that we all are in a process of continuous change. This will help us to be more tolerant to the weaknesses of others. This revelation is what our training programs strive to inculcate.

Presentation skills-A Vital Tool for Succeeding in Professional Life

May 9th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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Presentation training has become an integral part of personality development courses, these days. Delivering presentations form a vital part of a business process and can never be deleted from the same. All kinds of professions require sharing knowledge and also keeping different teams well informed about the status of various kinds of projects that have been undertaken by the company or business house. The better a person is at giving presentations, the chances of their career enhancement increases dramatically. But, many people perform poorly while delivering a presentation because of the lack of skills and confidence that it requires. Mastering the art of delivering effective business presentation requires significant knowledge, guidance and practice. Presentation skills training helps to face and conquer all fears related to speaking in public and make you emerge as a confident speaker, who conveys ideas effectively and captivate the audience. Training programs that also provide individual coaching are the most effective as ongoing guidance is a critical component contributing to the success. So, if you want to swap from being an anxious speaker to a captivating speaker, then enrolling for a presentation training program will be imperative.

Soft Skills Training is a Must for Enhancing Performance at Work

May 9th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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Communication skills have become a vital component of every business, which is why corporations are laying a lot of emphasis on providing effective training all staff – from frontline to the highest level. Good communication skill in all aspects of business is a must. This fact has created a strong demand for soft skills training all over the globe. When a person is adept with soft skills, he/she develops a sense of ease and confidence resulting in strong interpersonal skills. Earlier hard skills were emphasized but today technical skills alone are not enough to stay competitive these days.

A soft skills training program that lays emphasis on topics such as business etiquette, leadership skills, interpersonal skills, listening skills, negotiation skills, telephone etiquette and group presentations, to name a few, has been shown to have a dramatic effect on productivity. The important part of any training program is to ensure that people apply the concepts that have been taught. Often times the managers have not been trained and when their team members use new information it is not encouraged or promoted. There have been numerous reports of people being asked to go back to their old ways. Hence it is important that such trainings are delivered from top down so that the managers can start to implement the new ways before their team members. Organizations that have used this methodology agree on the efficacy.

MMM Training Solutions specializes in soft skills training and leadership training. Our client list is a testament to our work. To know more http://www.mmmts.com/our_customers.htm

Telephone Etiquette in Problem Solving

April 29th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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” You can not solve a problem with the same mind that created it ” by Albert Einstein.

Two issues that affect the problem solving capabilities of people are that they focus less on problem identification and more on problem solving and they do not think explore the problem from different angles.

There is a famous incident quoted by General Motors where a person who bought a GM car encountered a strange problem – every night he would go to buy ice cream from a nearby store and on the night he bought vanilla ice cream the car would stall. This seemed ludicrous but the company took him seriously and send an engineer who after days of observation identified a critical problem. Why only the vanilla flavor created this problem? – This was because the vanilla flavor sat in the front of the store and the time frame was the critical contributing factor. But the willingness of the engineer to listen and explore without a pre-determined mindset was what resolved the issue. These are important elements in problem solving.

MMM often conducts training for BPOs on telephone etiquette as part of the problem solving program because the agents solve customer issues through phone conversations. This can be frustrating for the agents, as they do not get to watch the reactions and body language of the customers. So good telephone etiquette with the capability of reading the tone of voice is important for customer satisfaction.

Managing Versus Leading

April 29th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” – Peter F. Drucker

The Executive Training and Managerial Training conducted by MMM focuses on transforming managers into leaders. Often the words managers and leaders are used synonymously but there is a world of difference between the two. Henry Kissinger put it very aptly when he said, “The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.” This seamless movement requires the leaders to be willing to explore unexplored territories and be comfortable with the uncertainties encountered on the way. It requires for the leaders to be able to ask questions and enable their team members to discover the answers that surprise them with the results as people are more amenable to being led rather than being driven.

“The only real training for leadership is leadership.” – A. Jay

The focus of our Executive Training and Managerial Training programs is on helping the managers to understand that in order for them to earn the role of a leader that others desire to emulate, they need to be a role model. In other words, they need to be the leader that does the things that he/she wants other to do. They need to live a life in which they follow the same principles in both their professional as well as personal lives. This all-encompassing passion is what impacts and changes lives.

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” – Dwight Eisenhower

Communication – A Leadership Competency

April 29th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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In today’s marketplace, one’s upward mobility is dependent on one’s ability to present one’s thoughts with clarity, alacrity and impact. In short, one’s presentation skills are a key factor in career growth.

The communication training conducted by MMM Training Solutions lays great emphasis on enhancing one’s presentation skills. The ability to understand the needs of the audience is as important as the ability to present with power. What complicates this scenario is that presenting in front of an audience is a skill that does not come naturally to most people.

“The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops, until you stand up to speak in public.” – George Jessel

In our communication training, participants’ presentations are videotaped and live feedback is given to each person. For 3 months after the training program the trainer coaches each participant individually – either by reviewing videotaped presentations or being present at a time when the individual is delivering a presentation and giving real-time feedback. The results of this training have been phenomenal and we have done this program for top leaders all over the world.

The potent impact, in my opinion, is because the group training is followed up with individual coaching. Coaching works to enhance one’s confidence and overcome the fear of looking ridiculous in front of people. But as good as you are one thing is sure, presenting in front of an audience is a difficult art.

“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” – Jerry Seinfield

Team Building Training for Optimal Corporate Growth

March 26th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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Recently we conducted a corporate training program for a large multi-national company. The topic was team building training for the new joinees. The objective of the program was to get the new comers ready for the disciplined life of a working professional.

There were about 200 trainees around the average age of 25. Within the first few minutes of the training we understood that a lot of them did not feel that they needed the training. Even though their supervisors were part of the training they were offensive in their directness and lack of commitment. They clearly lacked the hunger for growth and development. The learning was lack luster.

I asked myself, “What have we done to our next generation? Did the parents not have time to trigger the hunger pangs? Did they not romanticize achievement and hard work? Where did the education system go wrong?”

But I did not have the time to explore the root cause as the team building training was not going the way I envisioned. Something needed to be done and this needed to be bold and shocking. So in the midst of an activity I stopped the activity and asked everybody to think of an experience that was life changing. We then asked 4 volunteers to share. Suddenly the fighting energy was transformed to a pensive energy and the teams started to function more seamlessly.

When conducting corporate training it is important not to be rigid about covering the content but to sense the need of the group and provide accordingly.

Business Management Training And Its Role In Goal Attainment

February 20th, 2013

Pramila Mathew

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Managing a team is a very tough job and a big responsibility which needs to be executed without any wrong approach. Therefore, every professional has to be trained at the grassroots’ level in order to perform in the best possible way or as expected by the company owner. I would say that this purpose can be served by conducting training meant for the corporate sector depending on the requirement of the company. To be precise, business management training is a mentorship program that will guide beginners effectively. As a part of the mentoring, executive coaching covers basics of business management and related aspects. In my opinion, if you are running a business which has been targeting profits continuously, then, your prime investment is to train the employees in the initial level.

With the help of the various sessions of training, you can stay confident about the best performance of your officials. In fact, when you organize management development training programs, your chief requisite will be to appoint a trainer. In order to attain this goal, I would suggest that you request for the trainer through available service providers according to your business needs. Business management skills are not rapidly learnt because it is a phenomenal process. Thus, you have to allow your staff members to take sufficient time in learning how to cope up with complicated situations. Last of all, if you are setting pre-planned schedules for tutoring your employees, then, faster results can be achieved in a timely manner.

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

Shifting Mindsets

Leadership Development – Should it be about others or about you?

Empathy – A necessary trait

Thought Leadership

The ‘Y’ in HAPPYNESS

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