|
|
Coping with Lockdown...
Author: Swati Morzaria, Director, SARVAM School
There is a directive from the Government to continue to pay salaries to employees. Let me tell you about our organization SARVAM! This is a story of similar such organizations which are always working for the benefit of the community at large and work towards cutting down profits. Our revenue has always been something that just helps us to cover our operations. We collect fees in installments over the entire year. There is no need to mention that admissions and fee collections are going to be impacted in a huge way. We have about 8 employees in our organization who are dependent only on salary from the institution. Please do the math, if it is 8 in a small-scale business like ours, what will it be throughout Karnataka and India? If we put 2 and 2 together everyone will understand that we are short of funds to keep paying salaries. KARNATAKA NEEDS TO LOOK AT HELPING THE SMALL-SCALE BUSINESS SOON. SO MANY HAVE HAD TO SHUT DOWN TO CUT HUGE LOSSES. WE WANT TO CONTINUE TO PAY THE STAFF WHO NEED THE MONEY! SARVAM IS A SMALL SPECK IN THIS OCEAN OF SMALL-SCALE BUSINESSES THAT RELY ON EACH OTHER WITHIN THE COMMUNITY. THINK OF THE OTHERS. BY JUST MAKING A SMALL CHANGE IN THE POLICY YOU CAN TRIGGER OFF POSITIVITY!
While the other countries are setting an example by making funds reachable to the poorest of the sections, the local Governments have not even started.
As a nation we are immensely proud of having beaten Corona, BUT When policies are made in a crisis which is what we have now, it is the Government's responsibility to prove their abilities in the true sense. India will truly improve only when we think of all the categories of workers in our country.
They could have:
- Set up a task force of people from the business world from different sectors to help put in a set of policies.
- The Pandemic is going to pass. This too shall pass. This is what we are all saying. For people like me that is what keeps us going. Preparing for what is to come after all this ends has become a passion at SARVAM!
- I am very proud of team SARVAM ...my team of women who in this situation are taking a positive approach and helping me look forward and strategize to look at what needs to be done 2 to 3 months from now.
- I am grateful to them for taking a salary cut so that we have enough cash to pay the employees that need this money for the next few months.
- I sincerely request the Government to look at the policies for the benefit of drivers, helpers, housekeeping staff who work in small businesses and start strategizing policies for their benefit.
There can be some funds made available to small businesses to just help them get by and meet their commitments in this crisis. So many experts have given so many suggestions. The Government can look at about 2 to 3 of them.
Meanwhile all I can say is, keep Going India and the young Entrepreneurs of India! Do not change your outlook. This too shall pass! We will make a change with our determination and hard work if nothing else!
Jai Hind!
Swati Morzaria
Director
SARVAM School
|
|
|
Children are Children! A blessing!
Author: Swati Morzaria, Director, SARVAM School
It does not matter whether it is a boy or a girl. A son or a daughter. I understand that there is a need to raise awareness about saving girl children. I totally support that. But I am also an Educationist who has both boys and girls at school. How do I bring it to my mouth that girls are better. That is directly playing with emotions. I want to remind all those mothers and women out there that by saying that daughters are better the gap is widening more! We know as mothers and research has also proved that children are very sensitive and emotional irrespective of Gender. Bombarding children by continuously saying daughters are better is not helping their emotional quotient. The aim should be to raise children understanding that humanity is above all. When one understands this it does not and will not matter if we have a girl or a boy. And we must not forget it is women who contribute more to the upbringing of a child.
|
|
|
My Dear Students of 2017 Batch
Author: Swati Morzaria, Director, SARVAM School
It is my pleasure to address you all through this letter. I would so love to meet you all in person again and share my thoughts. As usual I am juggling between being a mother and a professional. And the mother in me always wins. I am busy preparing with my son for his final exams. And just like me he is also in the habit of studying only during exams!
Let’s come to the topic I want to talk about. “How do you reach your goal of becoming a leader?” There are hundreds of reports world over that show that women as leaders are growing in numbers. More corporates are now open to hiring women leaders and promoting them to top positions. However there is a still a long way to go before we can get the same benefits as men when it comes to compensation, respect and acknowledgement that men get. Here I am not going to deal with these issues.
As you all step into the corporate world I want to remind you again of the jungle that is out there. Each of you will be stepping into different sectors. No matter which sector you choose the challenges are the same.
There is no young girl that I meet today who does not want to have it all. Most young girls visualize themselves as leaders leading their teams to success and beyond, having the perfect husbands and families. All of them step into their first jobs with a lot of enthusiasm. Somewhere down the line all the politics, bureaucracy, partiality and family dampen this enthusiasm and we stop believing in ourselves and just pretend to be happy with whatever job we have as long as we have some money in our bank accounts to call ourselves independent. We kill the leader that could have been if not for the situations and there is a lifelong regret that we did not do what we could have done.
So how do we sustain and reach the top of the ladder to a good leadership position? Here’s what might help you.
Courage & Confidence – Facing and doing what you fear is the best way to build confidence and courage. It might be small little things. You might feel like making a few points in meetings. Do not be afraid. Just say it. Do not shy away from discussions. People will discuss about anything and everything. You may feel that your upbringing does not allow you to discuss about a certain topic. Shed that thought. There is no topic in the world today that men and women cannot discuss in a group. These little things will give you the courage to make bigger points. Think before you say something. You can’t just say that you are confident and courageous by being a rebel or a loud mouth. There is a difference. Do not hesitate to go out for meetings with men in the group. Muster up the courage to do it the first time and see how you gain confidence when you have to do it the next time. Be careful and alert not fearful. If you have to get your team mates to do something do not be timid. Get it done by requesting boldly and assertively not aggressively. You will slowly gain the self-confidence to address issues in your tasks and pointing out relevant things and getting things done that will benefit the team and improve the performance and goals of your team/organization. This will not go unnoticed by your supervisor.
You gain courage, strength and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, “I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along”. You must do the thing that you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt
Perseverance & Patience - These two P’s are very important to convert your dream into a belief and that belief into reality and make your dream come true. Never give up on what you really want. Waiting is very hard. But if you do not wait you will know never weather you would have achieved what you had set out to achieve. Every time you put forward a point to your supervisor not necessary it is going to be heard. But that does not mean you have to stop. If what you want to do is relevant and you are sure that it will add value to the team and organization, tell it out and be done with it. If you did not get that promotion that you so much waited for – wait more. Work harder and communicate harder. You will see the result. There will be men and women who scorn you and criticize you. Ignore them and be patient. Your turn will come. Don’t give up and jump jobs. Where ever you go you have to start from scratch. It is better to wait it out and keep trying.
Patience and Perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. – John Quincy Adams
Ethics & Etiquettes – In the corporate world people generally think that women need to be more ethical than men and that their ethics and etiquette level is what defines them. Never get pressurized with this idiotic generalization. Both men and women are equal in this matter. Any organization that has got its mission and vision based on values that aim at benefiting humans in general will never discriminate between a man and woman. The choice is always in our hands and ethics and etiquettes go hand in hand. These two E’s will always put you in a situation where you will have to choose between family, friends and your career. As a young woman you need to understand the difference between right and wrong and that what you choose will be what you become. Don’t let yourself feel guilty if you choose career over family or family over career. It has nothing to do with ethics. At no cost should you give up on your integrity. You might have to work a little harder but in the end that is what will give you the best results compared to those who choose to give it up.
Nothing is less important than which fork you use. Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use. Etiquette is the science of living. It embraces everything. It is ethics. It is honour. –Emily Post
I hope that this will help you and guide you in the years to come. I wish all of you the best in everything that you do and may you all become great leaders of the 21st century setting an example for the next generations. God Bless!
Swati Morzaria
Director
SARVAM School