DREAM FACTORY

Dream Factory. I happened to see an article on Sabriye and Paul the other day in ‘The Hindu’. I had just casually gone thro’ the blurb and appreciated the charitable work done by two goodhearted person. Today, when I received a call from my friend Ramesh in the morning seeking a help, I certainly not expected that the visitor would be a exceptional person. . The visitor was none other than Mr.Paul, whose photo along with Sabriye I have seen the other day in news paper. He is running a blind school near my office. His wife is also blind. They are running an institute for training the trainers of blind people across the world. Both are from Germany, and were at Tibet before selecting God’s own country as their service field. He is very cheerful and I experienced positive energy on his closeness. Born to a middle class family in Germany, he traveled all over the world. There are places where the blind children are put to solitude confinement, deprived of the right to live as others as a punishment to the sin committed by them during their previous life, so goes the belief. During the short discussion, I asked him why he chose God’s own country as their zone of activities, how to mobilize grand etc…... He has a vision……The vision to help the dejected…. Depressed……. During the discussion, Paul described the customary superstition s at various part of the world. Paul gave up his job in Netherlands and now occupied as the full time director of the school along with Sabriye.This is a dream school, to be specific, a dream factory. Soon he left my office, expressing sincere thanks for the advice I had given for a hitch they face.The energy he transferred was with me for days together. The International Institute of Social Entrepreneurs (IISE)is a venue for training the trainers. The participants are taught with project planning, raising funds, and negotiation with Government etc. All are blind Dream first…dream about reaching the stars… then uncover the reality. ……………………….. When nature wants to do something, she creates genius to do it Yes, Paul and Sabiye are the creation of God and that’s why they chose ‘God’s own country’ as their area of activity.

Ten Commandments of staff meeting

1. Be on time and in your place at the meeting time. 2. Know who is leading the meeting and show them due respect. 3. Be a good listener. Focus on the speaker and what they are saying. 4. Be supportive, encouraging and enthusiastic when others are giving reports and presenting new ideas. 5. Don’t dominate conversations or interrupt and be sensitive when others want to talk. 6. Don’t be in a mode of attacking, arguing or defending. Take responsibility for your words and actions. 7. Take notes during the meeting. 8. When given an assignment avoid reverse-delegation. 9. When giving assignments confirm that person understands completely. 10. If you need to bring up a problem for discussion that is in your department or project have one or more possible solutions ready to present. (Courtesy internet) The other side 1. When specific remarks are made, it may annoy others, who cannot adjust the meeting. Hence be as vague as possible. 2. Don’t say anything until the meeting is half over. This may stamp you as being wise. When in doubt, suggest that a committee will look into the matter and submit a repot 3. When discuss about punctuality, Try to deviate the subject as quickly as possible. If discussion is continued, make others feel that u are taking a lot of pain to keep punctuality. 4. Bring a piece of paper with some computer print. Every time the speaker make a point, pretend to check it in one of the print out. 6. Pretend to find substanding evidence in the paper. 7. Nod vigorously till your head is loose. 8. Takedown all what others say. When ask for ideas to be discussed don’t say anything and tell convener that all points are covered. 9. When the convener says something, compliment it as a wonderful idea. 10. Demand for more staff, so that others may feel that u are doing a lot with minimum resources.

People pleaser

“I’ ve no trouble in saying others ‘No’. Can you do a favour to me? When you are very busy, would you refuse a call from a friend asking you a favour? Many people are ready and willing to help others in need. Sometimes, people do away too much for other people at the expense of their own quality of life. While it is a wonderful thing to help others, we all need to keep a delicate balance of giving and keeping for ourselves. When a person just can’t say ‘No’ to someone who asks a favour, they are People Pleaser. Those who worry that saying ‘No’ is always a bad thing, need a bit more balance. A pretty balanced style is more acceptable when compared to ‘self pleaser’ and ‘people pleaser’. It is nice to help others, but sometimes we have to please ourselves first. You don’t have to please every one but you should also do what makes you happy’”. The above are not the brainchild of tamperfinder, but came to his mind when one of his colleagues earnestly putting all her time to help a person, clearly knowing that the effort will definitely boomerang her. She certainly needs a balance between the two categories above. Tamperfinder is no different person. He can say ‘no’ vehemently to all except to those financial consultants cum marketing executives who sells products like Insurance, SIP, ELSS, Mediclaim etc etc.He may sometimes borrow money and join the scheme if the vendors are trying for a job which would be decided by their marketing ability. Needless to say, many schemes are running at heavy loss. In 2-3 cases, tamper finder doesn’t know even the name of the fund he joined!!!! And not courage enough to peruse the NAV of the scheme in the present bear market condition in which the prices of securities are falling. Aswathy is one among the vendors used to call tamperfinder frequently, whether in busy schedule or not,she don't care.Tamperfinder has been listening to her sweet voice for the last two years. She is working with Blue chip company of financial consultants. Initially tamperfinder avoided her by not saying NO, but by ‘call me later’. She explained the advantage of the products and admitted that she lives out of the commission received.According to her,all the products she deals are the best in the financial market. Her pestering continued for months together and tamperfinder understood that the delay tactics would't be successful anymore and finally told her to come and explain about the product. (And of course, to see the owner of the sweet voice in person!) Instead of Aswathi coming,……….. two dark tall men with lap top and handouts of various schemes came and arranged a presenatation about the scheme meticulously to which tamperfinder finally succumbed. Now two months have passed since tamperfinder heard her voice coz of a shift of place and change of phone number. Definitely, one day she’ll find it out. Aswathy is not alone……….. There is Ganesh, Anoop, Sajan, Pradeep, Nishanth… Still tamperfinder has not learned a lesson!! Because he’s a vendor pleaser.