Show me your JALWA!

Jalwa is an Hindi/Urdu word which means radiance, charm or charisma. The origin of the word is from Arabic.

Every person has an unique trait that we would like to project to the world. When we are setting our career or life goals - we think about our strengths and weakness and what we would like to achieve. We go from where we are to where we want to be - aligned with our perspective, our view. This is our reality.

On the other hand we may be projecting something different to the world. What the world sees is their perception. The world may see us differently from what we would like them to see. This happen in every facet - Communication "I didn't mean to say that"; Relationships "She should be a sponsor";  Priorities "I should have done that first"; etc. etc. Jalwa is what the world sees.

In fact you would like your reality to be your Jalwa! I radiate, my charm, my charisma what I seek to be.

 

Challenges

A majority of challenges that we face daily is to bridge this gap. An example from my own career, about 20 years ago, illustrates this well. I did not see myself as a process person - however my colleagues saw me as one. I was more a 'start something' person and would excel in building and defining processes, but not as someone who would be good as the owner and executor of that process. Since I would be good at defining, it was assumed that I would be good at executing it and I did a poor execution job. At some point, I realized that I needed to surround myself with people who were good at it. My reality was not my Jalwa!

As an executive coach, I continue to hear various challenges that that people face and struggle with it. An example of  a client who just got their Performance appraisal illustrates this very well. The manager saw them very differently than how they saw themselves. That not only creates a "My manager doesn't know me or the work that I put in", but a lot of emotional stress and anxiety. There is a very big gap between level of importance that one gives to a particular facet and the level of demonstration of that facet. If I have believe that speed is important, however if I don't demonstrate speed, others do not see it.

Very early in my career a mentor had told me that one needs to work from an area of strength and not from an area of weakness. If my Jalwa was clear and visible, my area of strength would scream to the world.

Our self performance needs to be aligned with our strengths. If process management is not my key strength, but speed of execution is - lets use that to manage processes. If my Jalwa is speed, people should come to me because I get things done fast, however disorganized I may be. 

Getting the best performance from a team is to understand the strengths of each individual. If a person is good at technology and that is her Jalwa - lets leverage it. Sitting in a team meetings looking at my phone and not making eye contact, shows my Jalwa as 'not engaged'. Is that what I would like my team to know about me?

Zones

We all live in our zone of comfort. The zone of comfort gives us control and is un-ambiguous in our workplace. Most people seek growth, for which we normally need to step out of our comfort zone, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. A great example is of a recent client who was one of the best individual contributors in a company. As a result of his performance, the organization promoted him to a manager. "I love technology, but not working with people", he said. As a first time manager he was constantly in the zone of fear - while presenting to his team, couldn't establish trust with his team, lost his temper at times with regrets later, and so on. He had to grow out of his habits, behaviors and limiting perceptions into the zone of knowledge before he could truly grow. Where was he? What should he do? What should he stop doing? .. all this needed a learner's mindset. He was able to cross that zone to finally go to the zone of growth. Your Jalwa should show that you are comfortable to grow.

Balance

Most leaders struggle between keeping relationships and getting results. They are balancing on a see saw and their own ego is the one trying to create the balance. If their ego dominates, they will not get the result that they are looking for and also lose or not create the relationships that are crucial to getting results. If they are too result oriented, then they may lose crucial relationships. A nice guy is great with relationships and may not get the results that are needed. 

So what is the balance needed?

Personal dashboard

Finally your Jalwa cannot be something haphazard. It needs to be carefully planned and executed, with your goals in mind and what needs to be done to achieve them, what needs to be communicated and what the world sees. Just like a car dashboard you need to always have your dashboard viewable and it changes weekly (sometimes daily) based on wher you want to go. This is a living dashboard. Just like a car's dashboard or a business dashboard, it needs to tell you how fast you must go, how much fuel is left, what are the parameters that need to be measured and reported, etc. etc. 

Showing your Jalwa is not a sprint, but a marathon race. However the world is saying

"Show me your Jalwa"