Adjust expectations. Maybe that promotion is not going to happen this year after all. Maybe you are not going to be reporting to the same person, or managing exactly the same responsibilities. Adjust your expectations without lowering them, if possible. Focus on goals that are within your control.

Build relationships and networks. This is a fascinating and rewarding strategy for adapting to change. Assume that change is just around the corner. Who would you want to know or get to know better, if that change were to occur? Start to develop those relationships now and build a larger network of support and encouragement.

Practice patience. When it comes to change, many times we want to get it over with and move on as quickly as possible. The cycle of change in the workplace often takes longer than we expect. The change has to be communicated and integrated, and there needs to be time for adjustment of all adjacent organizational functions. Individuals, too, need time to adjust to changing work environments.

Be adventurous. Take on the change as a challenge. Throw yourself into planning and preparation, engage others in the process, and chart out new career horizons that may appear as a result of the change. Tap into your courageous side.

Practice constructive discontent. Instead of clinging to the status quo, ask yourself, “How could I change for the better? How could the organization change for the better?” Instead of expressing discontent destructively by undermining change efforts, look for ways that the integration and process of change could work even better.

Try something new each day. Once we get thrown out of our comfort zone, we have a tendency to try to build a new one as quickly as we can. What is the sense of tearing down old walls to just build new ones? Challenge yourself to try at least one new way of adjusting to change every day. Make it a positive and productive effort.

Ask for input. Others in your organization may have insight into the ways that you can better adjust to change. Ask for ideas, suggestions, and feedback on how well you are adjusting to change. Periods of change are times to build bridges, not walls. They are times to be open to input, not defensive.

1. Keep busy
   Sometimes there is so much going on in a team project that we don’t know where to start. It’s better to dive in and make something happen than it is to wait and be tentative. Other team members appreciate colleagues who get busy and move the team effort forward.
2. Cooperate with the inevitable
   Everyone has worked with a team member who overreacted to every crisis, no matter how small. Not only is it disruptive to the team, but it accomplishes nothing. Every organization has inherent, inevitable challenges like production delays, weather, sales cycles, shipping and receiving errors, staffing challenges, and so on. Deal with it.
3. Try to profit from your losses
   Every team challenge offers an opportunity to create better organizational skills, processes, or relationships. When we view setbacks as opportunities to improve and grow, our attitudes and our chances for success improve dramatically.
4. Do the very best you can
   When team efforts fail to turn out as planned, we feel stressed and worried. It’s even worse when we know that we could have tried harder and done better. When we apply this principle, we guarantee that we will always be able to feel a sense of pride in our work.
5. Clear your workspace
   A clean workspace clears our mind, just as a cluttered, disorganized workspace confuses us and slows us down. Most of us have common workspaces that we share with others. We help the entire team by keeping those spaces organized and cleaning up after ourselves.
6. Prioritize
   Being a member of a work team often means being in the center of shifting priorities. One of our most important challenges is to sort out those priorities and act on them as quickly as possible. This might mean negotiating conflicting priorities within the team. Other members of the team respect and understand shifting priorities when we explain them thoughtfully and honestly.
7. Solve problems then and there
   Procrastination undermines effective teamwork. As team members, we feel anxious and stressed when responsibilities pile up. Other team members appreciate in us an ability to get things done and move on.
8. Put enthusiasm into your work
   Everyone has worked with a team member whose lack of energy and enthusiasm brings down the rest of the team. Despite setbacks, obstacles and frustrations, it is our responsibility as team professionals to maintain our own personal level of enthusiasm and to take on our responsibilities with an upbeat attitude.
9. Expect ingratitude
   In today’s professional work environment, everyone on the team is expected to work hard and do their best. There isn’t necessarily someone telling us what a great job we are doing. In fact, many people may not fully appreciate how much work we do to further the team effort. Waiting for compliments can be an exercise in frustration. When we don’t expect gratitude, it means even more when we get it.
10. Don’t fuss about trifles
    One of the keys to being an effective team member is having the ability to keep things in perspective. There is rarely enough time for any of us to get worked up over insignificant issues. As a team professional, we sort out the important concerns from the unimportant ones and avoid wasting time.

However, you do not need to inform your audience of what you will be demonstrating with your presentation.  In fact, when making a list of goals of what you want to accomplish, you should deliberate about the audience initially.  Often this will provide you with a completely different perspective that helps you to regard their needs over yours.  After all, a presentation is about the audience.  Though a straightforward thing to remember, businessmen and businesswomen organizing and making a presentation often accidentally discard it among the numerous things to include in their thought processes.  It is a simple part of good presentation skills

Another facet of your presentation you ought to consider is if you go through all the thing you want to cover: will you have accomplished the goal/s you set for yourself in the beginning stages of your presentation while also successfully and simultaneously communicating clearly to your audience: will the audience understand you?  Further, you should also think about the atmosphere of a presentation.  It may sound a little strange to consider it this way—more akin to making a mood for a dinner party.  However, you should if you want to have a helpful and logical presentation.  It may be to create a strong bond between employees, or more informational—a presentation about presenting—but again, it is another way of making your presentation more lucid for your audience.  Insure that your presentation is totally clear by allowing a short allotment for any questions the audience has.  Though difficult to do with a 15 minute presentation, it can be done.  And the more cogent your presentation is, the more effective it is.

( He may be down and out for the moment after the defeat in the ” fall” elections of November . But US President Barack Obama, visiting India over the next few days has challenged conventional leadership models.)

This article is from a contribution made by the author to the journal of the Delhi School of Economics, published in August 2010.

I woke up one morning to the best quote, and what was perhaps the likely winner of the sound byte of the year 2009 and even 2010, which is still work- in- progress anyway. US President Barack Obama , not once, but several times confessed on national television that ” I screwed up” , with reference to his nomination of Tom Daschle , Health Secretary who unfortunately ended up being a tax violator. Shoddy due diligence, but it happens. What was truly refreshing though , like driving down a deserted Marine Drive at 3 am in the morning, was his straight- from -the- heart brutal transparency. No passing-the-buck! No justifications! No shrouded in calibrated jargon! I am sure the conservative Republicans must be crying foul at the usage of the slang term with a sexual connotation, but Obama was cool! I am surprised how the BJP has not threatened to snap diplomatic ties with the US for such disturbing cultural imperialistic import from the White House itself should they occupy Race Course Rd someday in the future ! And the Left , which must be too shell-shocked with this blatant hip-hop political speak of the 40 something President, at a time when economists are heralding the return of Marxian philosophy. But this is Obama’s second staccato-fire. His first was absolutely brilliant, when he termed the financial jack-asses ( the erstwhile over-rated over- paid investment bankers of Waterfall Street ) as “shameful” for pocketing million dollar bonuses even as long-term investors went bankrupt, families got wiped out, and the world plunged into The Great Recession . And that too from the bail-out funds from government charity and tax-payers money! What a monumental repugnant act of self-aggrandizement ! . It took a honest, bold and a true leader to condemn the preposterous thick-textured day-light robbery by these flaky fools in pin-striped suits chewing on Cuban cigars, to set the record straight. And while these self-obsessed financial racketeers are collectively protesting, Obama has gone and done the hitherto unthinkable; he has put a cap on their disproportionate salary levels, thus ensuring no subterfuge methods of compensation. Now that’s what you call a real leader; he does the right thing, fearlessly, and without blinking an eyelid. For Corporate India there some lessons to be learnt from both Obama ( I confess to having initially welcomed him with guarded circumspection and restrained enthusiasm, as I found the hype claustrophobic ) and the home-grown Ramalingam “Satyam”Raju story. Paradoxically enough, even Raju ultimately did say “I screwed up” without choosing the same colorful vocabulary but that was after he had sowed the seeds of India’s Himalayan financial catastrophe . So instead of giving you blue-blooded, business school sanctified , sacrosanct gyans ( that is the rare prerogative of esteemed Board Members of some IT companies from HBS) , let me give you simple down to earth learning from some of the most momentous experiences of recent times:

1. BE BRUTALLY HONEST

Cut the crap!The world is short on patience and verbal jingoism, and playing silly hide and seek games in the corporate boardroom and press conferences. . If you have done great work , please do shout from the roof-tops. If you haven’t, don’t sack your PR firm either ( unless you cannot afford them ) . Speak up, even if from the ground floor whose rentals are now on your piling payables. Disclose, disclose and disclose, and do so without fear.

2. SIZE DOES NOT MATTER

Companies have this mindless obsession for being the biggest and all that; it is a fruitless endeavour. Everyone wants to be on a LIST of sorts, and size seems the common denominator of CEO obsession. As the collapse of financial behemoths and others such as AIG , Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, GM, Ford , Satyam prove, ultimately their size became their undoing. Sure enough cheap funding can create big scale, but what happens to the key task of managing those multi-product, geographically spread , cross-cultural and complex structures when they are simultaneously challenged? Even Tata Motors defaulted on paying suppliers, and we are not even shocked anymore. And despite the pink papers massaging egos of their advertisers by repeatedly showcasing them , please stop taking those Forbes billionaire lists too seriously. Focus on customers and quality; size will follow almost logically.

3. WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT A ” QUARTER”?

One of the principal reasons why many companies are floundering is because of this self-created pressures of providing Dalal Street a well-spread buffet meal every three months , a staple high calorie, deep fried assortment . Companies I think are meant to exist for the long-term, and sometimes projections do go haywire, and unexpected shocks are inevitable. It’s not the end of the world if your stock price slumps because of short-term profit-bookings or cut-loss operations on account of unreasonable punter expectations. Instead, what you should look for are far-sighted investors, and your own business strategy over a sustainable period. I think CEOs over-react to stock analysts and media pressures. Instead, they should show them the door.

4. CUT OUT ” EXCESSIVE” SOCIAL NETWORKING

There is the new culture in town that tells you that you must be seen in EVERY conceivable networking dinner, corporate party . Dump it! In any case, you meet the same old usual suspects mumbling the same ancient incoherent crap. I am not saying business socializing is not important, it is . It is also the cheapest form of brand-building (especially in these slow-down times) , but if over-done, it results in diminishing returns. Why don’t you spend that saved time in mentoring your future leaders, reading the audit report, just calling on your customers, or maybe just driving home early?

5. TRUST YOUR EMPLOYEES FIRST

Good or bad news– your employees must know about it before that Mr Patel scratching his head at his Fort office or a nosey journalist from a smart TV channel. CEOs keep repeating ad nauseam-”My employees are my biggest asset”, but treat them like their disposable liabilities. If you can’t take your team into confidence, good or rough news, you should quit, you do not deserve to be there; instead start by giving the pink slip to yourself in a white envelope.

6. CREATE YOUR OWN GOLD STANDARD

We have an obsession with all things alien, western, esoteric, heavy-sounding – we are constantly looking for role models to ape, concepts to implement, buzzwords to crow, fads to follow. It is time we acknowledged that while being adaptive to global ideation is being smart, we are distinctive, and perhaps need to create our own case stories , business models, best practices, and performance standards. As a company, each one can have its own defining values, work culture and management principles. The best benchmark is not your competition, but where you want to be. These days the giving away of ” Awards” is become a real joke. Essentially it is a brand-building agenda of the host, a sponsored event, which also becomes a revenue generating model, a double-edged sword. It is a farce. Satyam got the Golden Peacock ( poor bird) for corporate governance , for god’s sake? So if you are not a great place to work or truly admired, but only got the award because you filled up the forms with politically correct information before the due date expired, don’t accept it. Instead of becoming a motivational tool, it will be a long rope with which you will end up conjuring some death-defying stunts that may unfortunately succeed. Create your own standards, and reward yourself and your team. You need no external endorsement.

7. INVEST IN ETHICS AND VALUES

In the final analysis, it is your openness, transparency, goodness, the whole set of work values and business ethos that will help you through difficult times. But this must start at the top, leaders must set the pace, practise what they preach and teach ( unlike Enron which had a voluminous book on ethics) , and set exacting standards of fair-play. And don’t get frightened if you made mistakes and “screwed up”, it’s human to do so. Your journey to your destination will not end. The basics usually matter the most, they are the bed-rock of endurance.

8. AVOID THE DEADLY “E” WORDS

Many leaders sink in a cesspool because they get “emotional” about their work-place. “Ego” worsens the situation considerably. It is a deadly toxic combo. The two drive several business barons to unknown limits to either grow, maintain or salvage their enterprise. You know, one can understand the involvement, passion, sweat and toil and tears and all that, but frankly, in the end in business you do not control the outcomes, the environment, the future. It is important to let go, take things dispassionately and not be too harsh on oneself. The world forgets. More importantly, they also forgive. Better still, we move on, with the comfort of the knowledge that one did the best one could. Also forget the neighbor’s new car, you may not be aware of his repayment capabilities. Clean and maintain your own jalopy like a black stallion.

9. BE READY FOR THE MOST UNEXPECTED

There are volumes of work and strategies on crisis management, but when it comes to the crux, we are not just caught napping, we are usually comatose. Leaders of The Great Recession era ( 2008 onwards and continuing, at least in the US partially ) need to be conservative in their projections, and realistic about its potentiality . Ceteris paribus is good just for micro-economics for higher secondary schools. Risk-assessment is not just to satisfy the audit committee, but to mitigate against unforeseen quirks of nature and some man-manufactured disasters of epic proportions. Essentially, we should not look too stunned when suddenly surprised. It is easier said than done ( which is why I am writing this piece) , but leadership is not everyone’s cup of tea or coffee, my dear friends. In calm waters, everyone is a good captain. When you see an iceberg, the end does not have to be titanic .

10. HAVE FUN: LEADERS ARE ALLOWED A LAUGH

I think leaders take themselves too seriously ; they try hard to appear to be constantly engaged, value every second of their time as if the world will stop revolving when they take a loo break, and speak with the gravity reserved for making funeral speeches. Lighten up, folks, it’s all right to crack a smile, you hurt no one in the process. And with or without you, the business will thrive, everyone will come to work, and life will move on. Who knows, the customers may even rejoice, and your employees will break into a salsa ? Frankly if you are not having fun despite the house-car-club-bonus-PR-stocks deal, clearly you have a problem. Remember, he who laughs , lasts. Start by being honest to yourself; that’s a great first step. Practise saying this before a mirror every day ” I screwed up, I screwed up, I —”. Because you will. But when you do, you will not be a chicken. You will be a leader.

Sure, every CEO worth every rupee of his precious sound byte says, “people are my most critical assets”; but beyond that famous lip service, do we really see a genuine long-term commitment to that clichéd phrase? To be brutally honest, the answer is a deafening NO. Which is why the moment that we have even a temporary down-turn, the drawers are suddenly emptied, business forecasts are re-done and the pink slips emerge in a dramatic hurry. Now why would an intelligent professional suddenly drop his supposed “most crucial asset” in such a desperate hurry? The reasons range from short-term focus, an obsession with business numbers, lack of understanding of HR role, down to sheer inability to recognise the human angle. Yet, the principal responsibility for being shafted unceremoniously by the CEO at the slighted pretext lies with the HR professionals themselves. That’s the harsh reality.

What is the bottom line mission of a solid, well-founded HR unit in today’s modern, savvy organisations’ people-driven team? How does it really add real tangible value to business results and overall effectiveness, breaking away from the traditional slot of being payroll masters , doling out salary cheques and minding attendance registers, and receiving unending flak for every trivial human failure.

If you do a basic assessment of the profession of Human Resources compared to that of Marketing or Finance (it’s usual competitors) or even General management, you can begin to see that HR has traditionally chosen the quiet corner voluntarily, retreating almost humbly into the backwaters. While Marketing (along with Sales and Distribution etc.) has always prided on being the bread-winners who create the revenue pipe-line, Finance has the perennial positioning of being the cold-hearted systemic function that does hard number-crunching and talks complex ratios. They are seen as more cerebral et al. From time immemorial, the HR guy, on the other hand, has allowed a perception to float and register that they are the ’soft guys’. Just because they end up often dealing with conflict resolution, employee motivation, counseling sessions, and morale building, the rest of HRs contemporaries treat them as the “feel-good” blokes, who occasionally break the monotony of the boardroom. And bring some mild entertainment along.

It is time for HR professionals to reposition their own stereotype image, and as they say, charity begins at home. It is time for some deep introspection, otherwise, the HR impressions are unlikely to change in any remarkable hurry. And that will be a real tragedy. Because the bottom-line is that HR has every reason to believe that they are, in a services economy and consumer-driven markets in particular, one of the key variables for success. If not, probably the most important one.

HR professionals who are able to look at the company business strategy and identify those internal processes and people-practices that need to be newly created or amended to support the business are poised to make a leapfrog. That’s the only way forward. Change management starts with the HR professionals themselves raising their performance bars. Quite simply, because the entire success story gets scripted by how HR gets the right team going. Not just by recruiting right talent, but getting them to stay . And perform. It is a tall order.

Give me one company’s high-sounding lofty vision or mission statements that does not have the people and employee element in it. Or are some companies presumptuous enough to believe that their business success can be achieved without motivated and quality employee effort? The ability to identify the communication and human interventions that need to take place to support business activity with a vibrant and engaged workforce, is today a required competency of HR practitioners. Employee engagement is no longer just a passing buzzword or a fashionable management fad.

Can we even contemplate the impact of the professional uncertainties and personal struggles world-wide amongst several thousands of employees of the Lehman Brothers-Merrill Lynch –AIG bale-outs and virtual bankruptcy? While the investment banker makes a massive mess (after pocketing million-dollar bonuses), it is the HR person who cleans the stacked-up debris. Who does the tough task of severance, settlements and not-so-golden handshakes, an inevitable fall-out.

The soft guy usually becomes the fall-guy. But it is now time for HR to rise. And shine.