Tips on advocacy from a social worker

Though I don’t have any degree in Social Work, but I prefer calling myself social worker because it is easy to explain what I do as a Social Worker than to explain what I do as a District Program Officer. 

When you work for a Not-for-profit organisation, you have two major customers- Government and Community. Though, customer could be anyone whom you serve, for instance, Boss, colleagues, investors, etc., but in this blog, I would use the word client to describe both government, and community.

These tips are largely inspired from my Managerial Experience, but I believe anyone from any industry can use these tips for effective advocacy.

Advocacy simply means to take support from someone, for some cause. Remember, if you want people to get into action, you’ll have to give them some motive. 

If you really want to succeed in your business, you will have to take support from your client. I am simply here to share what I have learned from my experience in social work, and advocating something to my clients.

1.      Your biggest competition is ignorance of your client. When your client does not know about you, your company, and your work then you’ll have to devote lots of quality time in making a rapport with your client. Meet your clients, share your work, tell them how you can help, and the more your client is aware about you, the more you can advocate easily about some cause.

2.      Make yourself special in some way. If you are like any other person, then people would treat you jus’ like any other person. Dress up properly, communicate effectively, and make your personality your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

3.      Meet your client in the office, in morning, and at home, in evening. (Though, I don’t do this, but I have found many social workers doing this to get the rapport.)

4.      Your competitor can be your mentor. You’ll find people in your district or town who are already serving your clients effectively. Learn from them. See what they are doing, and you are not. Remember, success always leaves the tracks, if you do the same things what successful people do then you’ll also get the same results.

5.      The best time to meet your client is when you have made a strong appearance at some platform. Success increases your confidence, and best time to meet your client is when your confidence and influence is high.

6.      Prepare yourself before every advocacy, prepare your conversation. Meeting even a  one single client is a ‘meeting’. Give your best. The more you prepare yourself, the more would be the impact of your advocacy.

7.     It is easy to advocate anything to your client, when he thinks that you are harmless. If your client is afraid of you or does not trust you then it would decrease the impact of your advocacy. If you don’t care about your client then why should they care for you? Remove fear from your client. Tell him that you want his good. Create an environment where your client can talk with you freely.

8.    Suggest your client the benefit of a decision- tell them how they can get profit or how can they avoid loss?

9.   When your client does what you want them to do then appreciate your client. The action which is appreciated gets repeated. 

10.  Position yourself as a consultant or advisor, who can be approached anytime for the problem solving.

11.  Advocacy does not mean that you should do all the talking. Ask questions, and listen. Person who asks questions has control on the conversation. Quiet and introvert people are the most effective people in advocacy. 

12.  Make a list of your primary and secondary clients. Put your maximum energy with your primary client than on your secondary client.

13.  Don’t compromise with your self-respect in order to get any favour from your client.

People, who have high self-respect, have positive emotions, and that gives them power to persuade anyone with their conversation.

14.  You may do all this, but then also your client may reject your points of advocacy. Don’t worry; reach up to a level where you do not feel rejection or failures. Move forward towards your next goal. 

The above points are followed by all the top executives I have met in life. Follow them, and soon your productivity would rise. All the best for your future.

5 most common lies of the world

Generally, fresh graduates have certain pre-conceived thoughts in their mind about the work, workers, and organisations. They learn these 'lies' from their teachers, parents, etc. My blog is dedicated on the most common lies of the world. (Which I believe all the fresh graduates would like)

1.To lead, you must learn to obey- It is one of the popular proverbs in Leadership. But, whoever advocates this type of proverb, they should ask themselves that a person who has obeyed everyone for 15 years gets a position where he or she will have to give orders to others. Will he be able to do that? I want to share a small example from my school days- One of my teachers got promoted as principal. She started treating ‘teachers’ the same way she used to treat ‘students’. Soon, her leadership doomed, and she was replaced. To lead, you must learn to lead, and not just to obey.

2. Try, and try until you succeed- I always appreciate persisting attitude, but I don’t appreciate foolish persistence. Since childhood my elders have taught me that-do your work, and one day you’ll get success. But, it is my suggestion that invest your time both in ‘work’ and ‘relationships’. Suppose, you do great work, but your superiors don’t like you then no matter how hard you try your success would be delayed.

3. Only most experienced people should get into the top management- Experience is an important asset, but sometimes it is your biggest baggage. Generally, old people give huge importance to experience. Probably, experience is the only thing by which they can control others. I want to share a small story here- Once two generals were fighting on the depth of the river, which soldiers had to cross. They argued for two days. A soldier got fed up. He took his horse and rode across the river. After crossing the river, he screamed- its fine, we can cross it! This General and soldier type of situation would occur many times in an organisation. If we really want to keep top management active then we should definitely hire some young minds into higher positions, else we will get into the paralysis-by-analysis.

4. It’s easy to manage from the top- Many people believe that it is easy to manage from the top. You can take your own decisions, you’ll have to deal less with difficult people, everybody listens to you etc. It requires efforts to reach at the top, and it requires almost double effort to remain on the top. Saying it is easy to manage from the top is just like saying that grass is greener on the other side of the fence. The more successful you’ll become the less honest feedback you’ll get. Your staff would crystallize the information, and then it would be presented to you. Many employees believe that showing the clear picture would cost their job. This small fear always holds people in presenting the real situation to their supervisor. 

5. We hire only the best- As a fresher this was really motivating when people used to say that certain organisation hire only the best. But, slowly I realized it is a half-baked truth because I find so many incompetent people in the industry handling the most important posts. Remember, organisations want ‘best’ consultants who can work on ‘average’ salaries. Generally, these organisations give you respect, recognition, etc. so that you don’t ask for money. In short, organisations want their employees to be moralistic who can happily help in achieving organisation’s pragmatic goals.

6 things I wish I knew at the age of 16

I asked an interesting question today about myself that if I get a chance to start everything again then what skills would I like to have. I came up with 5 skills which I believe are most essential in career success. Good news is that these all skills are learnable. No one is better or worse than the other.

1. Public Speaking- I give huge importance to this skill. Ability to face the crowd and say your thoughts boldly is something which I always appreciate. Since beginning of our childhood our parents teach us to be obedient. No one teaches us to be rebellious. We subconsciously start presuming that whatever our elder say is true, and should be followed diligently. You need to be assertive to be a good public speaker. You would have to gather lots of courage to stand, and say what you want to say. That is why, I always put Public Speaking skill on the top.

2. Good Memory- Every type of information is available today within the range of one click. We have everything outside, but nothing inside.  We read a lot, but remember nothing. We sometimes appear like empty vessels. Good memory helps in storing the information in our head and then using it whenever we want to use it. Which type of person would you praise, a person who has vague opinions or the one who can support his thoughts from the evident historical data. Knowledge is the best tool to influence anybody in this world. 

3. Documentation- We all work, but how many of us keep a record of the work which we do. Answer is- very few, and only those few people put the mark on this world. Keeping a record of your work helps in self-motivation, and gives you self-confidence about your own performance. Even a small testimonial, from your senior officials, praising your work can bring a turning point in your career. Nobody knows that how a small report prepared by you can bring how much impact in your life. 

4. Accept your mistake quickly- When you do some mistake accept it quickly. Don’t delay it. Accepting your mistake proves that you have learned from your mistake and you would not repeat the same mistake in the future. This helps tremendously in developing trust between you, and your team mates. They believe more in you because of your honesty. 

5. Flinch- Flinch means to make a reaction of pain or fear from your body movements. Flinch is an important tool in ‘emotional blackmailing’. If you find that the other person has annoyed you or he’s not buying in then, flinch. Show from your body or facial expressions that you are not liking what the other person is saying or doing. 8 out of 10 times flinch technique helps in converting your competitor into your client. Almost all the good negotiators use this technique effectively. 

6. Systematic Innovation- In simple words, innovation means to create something new. It does not mean to make an old thing better, but it means to make something new, something which did not exist before. As per my experience, most of the innovations fail in the market due to different known and unknown reasons. It is my advice that before launching any innovation we should make a systematic plan of action with thorough research else we are destined to fail. If you succeed make a list of factors which helped you in succeeding, and if you fail then also make a list of factors which caused failure. Every success and every failure can help in future planning.

My Four Predictions for 2030

After closely analysing the demographic trends of India, I have come up with 4 things which would take place during 2030. Before writing this blog, I have made two assumptions-

       (a) Major population of India would be between the age group of 21-35 years

       (b) High-tech industry would have a sustainable growth

If the above two things would remain constant then these 4 things would definitely take place-

1. Governmentization- As far as I know, no such word exists in dictionary, and I solely take responsibility of coining this term. Governmentization means transfer of ownership from private sector to the government. Government would become owner of the privately managed companies, and would actively engage in the development work. Governmentization would take place out-of-frustration of the public. Public would demand for the better country and the better future directly from the government. People would not listen to any excuses from the public sector. People would expect from the government to deliver them the required products and services at the affordable price. This would revolutionize the public sector of India forever.

2. Right to Eat- People would realize one basic truth, which they are ignoring from centuries, i.e. loving god is not a matter of being vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Eating beef or pork would not make any one sinner or saint. Just like, right to religion, right to education, right to information, people would demand for- ‘Right to Eat’. This would end all the theories of religion which revolve around ‘food or beverages’.

3. Managerial Society- Many people argue with me that growing technology would end many jobs because machine would take over the place of people. But, believe me this would never happen. With the growth of technology, employment increases. Financial management, Human resource management, distribution & supply, sales, marketing, and interpretation of research are such departments of an organization which require people, and no machine can take their place. To manage all these departments we need ‘managers’. Soon, India which is known as ‘religious society’ would also be known as ‘managerial society’- where we would see the best management practices at all levels. 

4. Children above 14 years would start working- Employment Opportunities would increase tremendously in the country. We would see that there are more jobs than skilled workers. The generation of 2030 would be more independent and free-thinking. They would have passion for proving themselves from very young age. To support their family and majorly to support their own development we would see that kids of above 14 years would take minor jobs in different sectors. This would give them the sense of security and recognition. Kids in the time period of 2030 would be very different from us. They would be highly intelligent, and passionate about their dreams. They would have all the sources of information on their tip. They would be more health conscious, goal-oriented, and money-savers. Teen-age dominance would help in seeing things from different angles.This small change would be the steeping-stone of many other changes.

How the Metro in Lucknow would affect its culture and sociology?

Social Diffusion- Metro is connecting different nearby cities of Lucknow due to this people of different cities will come to in Lucknow for education, tourism, healthcare facility or business, etc. People will bring their own set of cultural beliefs, and values with them. Soon Lucknow will see a Social Diffusion, in which we see mixed cultural and social practices. People of different culture will hang around comfortably and this would help in overcoming the caste, and religious barriers.

Real estate, Banking sector, Healthcare, and Education would boom- Rich people of nearby cities would show interest in buying some property in Lucknow. As rich class has high income capacity, it will increase the cost of real estate as per its desire.
It would become difficult for ‘middle class’ people to afford a property in the town. ‘Middle-class’ would take Home Loans to purchase their house, and this would help banks in generating income from loan’s interest.
Doctors, pharmacists, lab technicians, etc. of nearby cities would come in the city to practice healthcare. This would increase the quality and quantity of healthcare providers. Similarly, teachers of nearby small cities would come to Lucknow to distribute their educational teachings. 
These factors will directly affect the standard of living of the people.

Flat System and Renting of Property would increase- Due to the increase in Real Estate price, people would not be able to afford independent Bungalows in the city. People would prefer low-cost Flats instead of Bungalows, and many people who couldn’t afford small flats would live on rented properties to save money. 

High Competition- People of Lucknow would face competition from the small town boys and girls. Soon these small town boys and girls will start occupying jobs and educational seats in the city, and it would become difficult for the local Lucknowites to get their place in this competitive chaos. 

Increase in Pollution, Traffic Accidents, and Crime rate- Many people would come to live in Lucknow. They would increase the purchase of vehicles for transport. Increase in personal vehicles would increase the emission of carbon, and it would increase the pollution in the city. Traffic Accidents would also increase.

Like everybody-thieves, pick-pockets, hooligans, etc. of small cities would come in the town for better opportunities, and this would increase the crime rate in the city.

Increase in the Cost of Domestic Labour- Job opportunities in Lucknow would increase. Many companies would establish their office in the town. Many semi-skilled or skilled labours would get office jobs. The cost of available labour, for domestic purposes like- washing utensils, cleaning floor, etc., would increase. People would have to withdraw lots of money to get domestic labours.

Both Working Parents- To meet the family expenses men and women both would work. Most of the time we would see kids who live alone in house, this would do two things- either kids would become independent individuals or it would put them into a forever depressed mood. Crime against kids would increase because most of the time kids would be alone in the house, this would make them susceptible to anti-social elements.

                                                                                ‘Manners’ and ‘Sweetness of language’ are the two basic values of people of Lucknow. If people would stick with their values they would survive this change else it would perish the originality of Lucknow.