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Flexpod, NetApp's version of unified data centre architecture

NetApp Flexpod, a pre-sized, validated and standardized data centre architecture, developed in collaboration with network vendor Cisco and virtualisation player Vmware, can be seen as an effort to counter EMC's vBlock

Storage player NetApp today rolled out its storage, network and virtualization bundle, Flexpod, in India, which is seen as its answer to unified data centre architecture.

While launching Flexpod, Syed Masroor, pre-sales manager, NetApp India, said: “Enterprises are today moving away from siloed infrastructure to a shared, unified storage architecture owing to constrained IT budgets, which is by far not meeting the growing needs of data storage.”

NetApp Flexpod, a pre-sized, validated and standardized data centre architecture, developed in collaboration with network vendor Cisco and virtualisation player Vmware, can be seen as an effort to counter EMC's vBlock.

vBlock also shares Cisco and VMware as technology partners, similar to that of NetApp's Flexpod. Both the storage systems share a few other features as well, such as VMware's vSphere and vCenter server virtualisation applications, and Cisco's Unified Computing System servers and Nexus switches.

When asked if Flexpod can be a competitor to EMC's vBlock, Rajesh Janey, president, NetApp India, SAARC said: “Parallely, yes. However, FlexPod is different."

He also added that FlexPod provides a more precise solution to specific workload needs and can be configured with existing infrastructure in the customer’s environment. With FlexPod, customers can protect their investment in existing technology and expand on their capabilities with better efficiencies in their data centre, flexible architecture to scale with future needs and lower deployment risks with prevalidated components.

NetApp's FlexPod system will be bundled with FAS3200 and FAS6020 arrays.

Along with the new unified data centre architecture, Flexpod, NetApp also launched three new high-end storage systems of its FAS/V6200 series and two of its mid-range FAS/V3200 series arrays.

These launches are part of the company's a much larger portfolio of launches announced in India today, also marking the tenth anniversary of this, 17 year old, company in the country. Terming it as the 'largest ever launch' by NetApp, which spans over 75 per cent of its product line, this was first announced in the US earlier this month.

HP targets Cisco with new FlexNetwork architecture

HP says that single-vendor, proprietary approaches, such as Cisco’s, lock in customers while driving up cost and complexity

Technology company Hewlett Packard announced new  Flex Network architecture for campus and branch.

The company says that it is the industry’s only unified architecture for the data center, which supports virtualization, mobility and cloud computing and enables clients to deploy solutions based on modular building blocks and open industry standards.

HP also announced several new solutions based on the HP Flex Network architecture. The new architecture, a component of the HP Converged Infrastructure, converges network silos by ensuring protocols are implemented consistently across all networked devices throughout an enterprise, says the company.

HP also adds that single-vendor, proprietary approaches, such as Cisco’s, lock-in customers while driving up cost and complexity with different architectures required at each point in the network, including data centre, campus and branch. This lack of convergence and increased complexity make it difficult to roll out new applications and services.

“To ensure success and a competitive advantage, enterprises need to shift resources from maintenance of complex legacy networks to innovation,” said Subhodeep Bhattacharya, director- India, HP Networking. “With the HP FlexNetwork architecture, we deliver standards-based solutions that allow clients to bring existing network investments forward, reducing total cost of ownership today while preparing organizations to embrace the future.”

The HP FlexNetwork architecture has three modular building blocks, FlexFabric, FlexCampus, FlexBranch, that share a common management layer, FlexManagement.

HP Technology Services offerings can help clients migrate from proprietary legacy networks to the HP FlexNetwork architecture and for moving off proprietary network protocols such as Cisco’s EIGRP, to standard routing protocols OSPF v2 and v3.

HP will also offer a complete set of lifecycle services for each modular building block to support the planning, design, implementation and operation of enterprise networks.

BWA to trigger telecom's next growth wave

HP announced Virtual Application Networks, a new cloud functionality across its Flex Network architecture.

Virtual Application Networks provide a virtualized view of a network – abstracted from the physical equipment – that transforms a rigid physical enterprise network into a programmable, multitenant and application-aware virtual network, says the company in a release.

Virtual Application Networks actively leverage elements of Software Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, including Open Flow, which is available on multiple HP Networking switch families that were pioneered by HP with key industry partners.

“In the cloud era, clients need to be able to deploy applications on the fly to any device and any user accessing the network from anywhere with guaranteed quality of service levels,” said Sanjay Jotshi, director, HP Networking, HP India. “Today, only HP is positioned to provide clients with a completely virtualized network from the data center to the end user, managed by a single platform that is capable of deploying new applications within minutes.”

Virtual Application Networks tap into the intelligence found directly in server, storage and network hardware to automate provisioning and configuration tasks, while optimizing performance.

HP has introduced new functionality for HP Intelligent Management Center (IMC). HP IMC is a single-pane-of-glass management and virtualization platform that spans the HP Flex Network architecture.

HP IMC Virtual Application Networks Manager Module is planned to be available this spring with a list price of $9,995. The VMware plug-in is available with the module at no additional cost.

HP IMC Extended APIs are planned to be available this spring with a list price of $9,995.

Microsoft’s Mittal Joins Avaya As MD

Avaya has appointed Rajeev Mittal, the former General Manager, Small & Mid Market Solutions and Partners (SMSP), Microsoft as its Managing Director, India & Saarc.

“India is an exciting growth opportunity for Avaya and Rajeev’s addition will enable us to accelerate our business momentum in the country. Rajeev brings tremendous experience and strong managerial skills to Avaya and his understanding of the technology and telecom sectors will be instrumental in driving our business forward,” said François Lançon, President, Asia Pacific, Avaya.

Mittal added, “Avaya has a strong solutions innovation and services history and there are tremendous opportunities ahead for the company in India. With Avaya’s growing sales presence, strong network of channel partners, and substantial R&D focus in India, I look forward to delivering to existing and new customers the latest in communication and collaboration solutions to drive their business success.”

Rajiv Srivastava to head HP Printing and Personal Systems Group

Rajiv Srivastava, Vice President and General Manager, Personal Systems Group (PSG), HP India, is tipped to take over as the head of the combined Printing and Personal Systems Group (PPSG).

According to a reliable source at HP India, the decision is in line with the global leadership alignment.

Globally, the PSG Executive Vice President, Todd Bradley has been chosen to head PPSG. This decision was also aided by the fact that Vyomesh Joshi, Executive Vice President, Imaging and Printing Group (IPG), announced his retirement after a 31-year career with HP.

Formally, HP India is not commenting, however some leading HP partners said they have received a verbal communication from their respective HP managers about this development.

A leading HP partner who did not want to be named, said, “Srivastava has spent many years with HP and hence he was the most probable candidate for the post. Apart from heading PSG he is also the COO.‪Neeraj Sharma, President, HP IPG also brings strong leadership experience and  has led HP IPG well in the past one year.”

Rajiv Srivastava joined HP from Compaq and was the Director of PSG business from 2002 to 2006. He joined Microsoft from 2006-2010 as Head of Enterprise and Partner Group.

New Cisco CCNA Certification Targets Service Provider Installs

Cisco has confirmed the availability of a Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) Service Provider certification, aimed at engineers and Cisco partners that sell and install carrier-grade networking equipment for service provider and enterprise customers.

The CCNA certification follows a partner specialization Cisco rolled out in mid-February called the Advanced IP Next-Generation Network (IPNGN) Architecture Specialization, all part of a stepped-up effort by Cisco to recognize a class of partners and engineers focused on carrier network upgrades.

Cisco executives told CRN in February that sales to tier-two, tier-three and tier-four service providers represent a $20 billion worldwide total addressable market opportunity. About 200 Cisco partners focus on the space and sell primarily to regional service providers, although many also sell to enterprises that use some of Cisco's lower-end carrier-grade networking gear.

CCNA Service Provider joins Cisco's various existing CCNA certifications, which cover areas such as security, voice, wireless, and routing and switching. CCNA is considered an Associate-level certification by Cisco, higher than an entry-level Cisco networking certification and below the professional-level and expert-level certifications, of which Cisco's Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) is probably the best known.

CCNA Service Provider includes the basics of deploying and verifying IP next-generation service provider core networks using Cisco carrier routing system (CRS) products and services, aggregated services routers (ASRs), various catalyst and ME switches, and Cisco's XR12K platform. It includes configuration of routing protocols such as BGP, IS-IS and OSPF, and transport technologies such as SONET, Metro Ethernet and 10/40/100 Gigabit Ethernet.

The certification has no prerequisites. There are two courses, SPNGN1 and SPNGN2, and two affiliated exams and, like other CCNAs, a three-year recertification schedule, according to Tejas Vashi, Director, Product Development, Cisco.

The training courses for CCNA Service Provider are available through Cisco Authorized Learning Partners, and exams are available through Pearson Vue, the test company Cisco uses for its coursework.

Cisco Expands Technology Portfolio For SMBs

 Cisco has expanded its small business product portfolio with new wireless access points, routers, switches, unified communications and partner-managed service offerings. The new portfolio of SMB products is all purpose-built for SMBs and designed to satisfy the new demands of an increasingly on-the-go work environment enabled by mobile devices and cloud services.

In addition to this, Cisco will be running its bi-annual Advantage Now! road show in May with the focus on up-skilling its partner base to help SMBs maximize mobility and cloud technologies. Spread over a month, the event will cover eight cities and reach out to approximately 500 partners across India and SAARC. The centerpiece of the road show is a new suite of products that include new wireless access points, routers, switches, and unified communications offerings.

The Cisco road show is available to both Cisco-certified as well as non Cisco-certified partners in both tier-1 and tier-2 cities throughout the region. Each road show comprises presentations and training sessions about the latest initiatives, products, programs, insights and promotions.

“SMBs represent a very important part of our business and partners are Cisco’s primary route to market. The Advantage Now! Road show that we conduct twice a year is an important vehicle for us to keep our partners up-to-date with our technologies. We also help our partners on the business side and have helped many to increase profitability,” said Arun Dharmalingam, Vice President, Partner Led Velocity and Distribution Sales, Cisco India and Saarc.

The new products include WAP121 and WAP321 wireless access points available at list price of $173 and $310,; RV180 and RV180W wireless-N VPN routers at $182 and $246; 500 Series stackable managed switches at $590 to $5,556; UC320 Unified Communications system at $995 (phones not included); SPA512G and SPA514G phones at $194 and $219; SPA112 and SPA122 telephone adapters at $69 and $84, respectively; and WBPN Wireless-N bridge at $62 respectively.

Cisco Announces New Services Partner Program

 Cisco will launch a new partner program specific to its highly regarded services business -- a collapsing of nearly 50 different global programs into one, re-designed umbrella program, and a way for Cisco partners to capitalize on what executives call a roughly $200 billion market opportunity with the potential to expand individual deals by as much as 12 times their value. Called the Cisco Services Partner Program, the company will offer performance-based incentives according to the breadth and competence of the services partners provide customers, said Nick Earle, Senior Vice President, Cisco Worldwide Services Sales and Channel.

According to its annual survey of partners, Cisco solution providers on the whole now make 50 percent of their revenue with services, Earle said, and about 70 percent of their profit with services. It was only five years ago that the revenue number, on average, was roughly 20 percent. Services represent nearly $9 billion of Cisco's overall revenue.

Cisco spent much of the past year fine-tuning its services programs, including offerings such as its Integrated Architectures Specialization (IAS) for large Cisco partners that can be strategic with Cisco at country-based or multi-national levels, and Collaborative Professional Services (CPS), a series of SKU'ed professional services offerings that partners can deliver to customers.

In another widely-hailed move, Cisco late last year also published a services Rules of Engagement document covering everything from partner services compensation to the formal escalation process for resolving conflicts with Cisco representatives in the field.

But the new program is intended as the biggest statement yet of how Cisco wants to help partners profit from services and also differentiate itself from the channel services strategies of tier-one vendor rivals such as HP, IBM and Dell that cordon off major accounts -- a so called "hard deck" strategy -- from partner-delivered services opportunities.

Services are the way Cisco partners best stand to grow in the coming years, Earle said.

"Services are massively important and these numbers have grown," Earle said. "So what we are announcing is a new global channel program designed to increase both the top line and the bottom line of their services business. This is the biggest announcement we have made in 15 years."

The program will be globally available within the next 18 months, Earle said. Cisco began piloting the program last year with about 2,500 partners, Earle explained, and is now up to about 4,000 partners participating in the U.S., Canada, Israel and Asia Pacific. About $1 billion in revenue has already gone through the program. he added.

In essence, the program opens Cisco's Smart Services portfolio up to its entire partner base. The basic level, Cisco Branded Services, lets partners essentially resell services in Cisco's portfolio, such Smart Net Total Care and Network Optimization Services, as they would any other Cisco product.

Thanks to Cisco's intellectual capital and the information it offers through its underlying software, partners can develop services for customers that offer things such as competitive benchmarking -- how a customer's network stacks up, for example, to other customers in its market segment and of its size.

At a more strategic level, qualified Cisco partners can leverage a new offering, Partner Support Service, in which they can not only provide installed base and contract management services to customers but also use Cisco APIs to create their own apps and workflow integration software.

Partners using that program can realize incremental rebates as high as 25 percent depending on how in-depth they go with the programs and how sophisticated their services offerings.

"We are already automating 88 percent of all service activity that we have with our customers," Earle said. "The software recognizes patterns on the network -- common configuration patterns by device. There is just no way a human being can do that."

The backbone of the services program is Cisco's underlying services software -- a powerful platform developed both in-house with several hundred dedicated engineers, and using technology Cisco gained through acquisitions of companies such as Pari Networks and NewScale.

Cisco can only offer in-depth benchmarking on its own products and infrastructure, but the software itself can see all the devices on a network.

"We can discover everything," Earle said. "We can discover Avaya devices, for example. If that partner is supporting multiple vendors in the end customer environment, they can build their own multivendor smart service with the APIs t take to the market."

Cisco partners enter the Services Partner Program based on their current status with Cisco, receiving the same base discounts within the program that they do in Cisco's broader channel program for their Gold, Silver or Premier status. Partners using existing Cisco services programs will be phased into the new program over the next year, with all of their existing statuses and designations preserved automatically.

"We wanted to move away from an upfront discount to more of an investment-based discount and performance-based rebates," said Raja Sundaram, Vice President, Services, Worldwide Partner Organization (WWPO), Cisco. "We are able to differentiate the partner for the investments they have already made."

As of December, Cisco had about 13,000 services employees, including in maintenance services, and of that about 2,000 in-house CCIEs, 3,800 technical services employees and 5,600 advanced services employees.

Cisco Introduces Partner Plus For Mid-Sized Customers

Cisco has announced Partner Plus, a new global channel program targeting mid-sized customers.   Partners who participate in the program will receive increased preference, investment and support in the form of business accelerators such as incremental incentives, engineering support, marketing and demand generation, sales enablement, and customer intelligence.  

“Partner Plus is a key pillar of Cisco's Partner Led strategy, which is designed to empower and reward partners to lead the sale with small and mid-sized customers.  It combines the power of the partner sales force and Cisco's sales force in an innovative way to go after these market segments.  This is part of the $75 million investment that Cisco announced in 2011 for enablement, systems, and support capabilities,” said Andrew Sage, Vice President, Worldwide Partner Led, Cisco.

Partner Plus offers five partner benefits including incentives/rebates, virtual access to Cisco engineers, customer intelligence, sales enablement and marketing.

The incentives/rebates program is aimed at funding business-building activities such as marketing, sales training, and cash to hit stretch growth targets. Partners will have access to Cisco's technical resources and capabilities, via Partner Help Plus, to increase their pre-sales capacity, and ability to up sell and cross sell, and  overall deal size. Customer intelligence will enable partners to reduce their total cost of sale, selling efforts, and increase win rate. In premium sales enablement and marketing, partners will have access to Partner Sales Excellence Training to accelerate their advanced sales and management skills. Cisco will offer co-marketing support, including partner business planning, marketing curriculum, and partner marketing funding.

D-Link Outlines Strategy For Enterprise Business

D-Link India is enhancing focus on enterprise business and is re-aligning its engagement strategy with system integrators (SIs) across India. The company will reach out to its partners and customers and focus on key business verticals and product line during FY2012-13.

The company’s enterprise product offering comprises switching, storage, surveillance, structured cabling and business wireless.

“Our focus this year is to capture maximum market share in the large enterprise domain. Enterprise networking market in India is rapidly evolving, and it is stated to reach $3 billion by 2015 in India alone. There is tremendous scope for vendors in enterprise segment, since the demand for IT infrastructure product is also on a rise. D-Link has the right product mix to cater to this segment, along with a strong SI base and service support,” said Sanjay Sehgal, AVP, Enterprise and Project Business, D-Link India.

“D-Link is the only player in enterprise segment to offer both active and passive products, gives us an added advantage. Our main agenda this year would be to energize and re-engage with our existing SIs, and at the same time also identify and recruit new partners. We also plan to categorize SIs based on business vertical and product line,” he added.

The company currently has a dedicated enterprise sales team driving business out of its corporate office in Mumbai. In addition, D-Link also has enterprise business representatives present in all its 17 branch offices across the country.

It is in the process of setting-up an online portal that will act as a knowledge center and one-stop reference point, giving complete details about new product introduction, scheme/ incentive program etc.

D-Link plans to roll-out its multi-city road shows for enterprise networking solutions by mid May 2012. In the first phase, it will cover 11 cities in A and B class.

Raspberry Pi a boon for budding programmers

LONDON, UK: Electronic parts suppliers Premier Farnell and Electrocomponents said huge demand for a British-designed credit card-sized computer, which aims to make programming easy for children, had helped them access new customers around the world.

The two rivals, which provide engineers with equipment like batteries, cables and computer consumables, said interest in the Raspberry Pi -- a single board computer as powerful as a smartphone that can be plugged into a TV, keyboard and USB devices -- had reached hundreds of thousands since its February 29 release.

Electrocomponents and Premier Farnell were chosen as sole distributors of the new product because of their access to customers in the engineering sector.

The tiny gadget was developed by the UK's Raspberry Pi Foundation, created by a group of Cambridge University teachers in 2006. It costs between $25 and $35, can run games and spreadsheets, and aims to revive flagging next-generation interest in programming and help raise the profile of computer science studies in schools.

Budding programmers will be able to write programs for the computer board, or learn how to do so with tutorials, as well as run high-definition video content, digital images and connect to the Internet.

An initial batch of 10,000 were snapped up well inside the first day, with Premier Farnell's website counting around 500,000 hits every 15 minutes. Both firms said interest, now in the hundreds of thousands, had remained strong and that while it was unlikely to be a profit driver for either, it was attracting new customers.

"It's been phenomenal. It really opens up the world of programming to a mass market," Premier Farnell's Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Cadbury told Reuters.

Glenn Jarrett, head of electronics marketing at Electrocomponents', said it had never previously experienced such levels of interest in a product with more than 200,000 registrations across its websites already.

The firm said strong interest in the UK and Europe had now spread to the United States and Asia where the group will soon take a Raspberry Pi to a prominent electronics trade fare in China.

"It has certainly captured some hearts and minds," Jarrett told Reuters. "It globally engages with the people who are most interested in technology, and that is absolutely at the heart of our customer base and the type of customer we want to chase."

Currently sold without casing, its no-frills basic design won't be worrying fancy tablet producers any time soon, but that was never the intention behind it, one of its developers told Reuters.

"It is replacing the Spectrum, the Commodore 64, this class of machine that used to exist and really doesn't anymore," said Eben Upton, who was part of the group of Cambridge University teachers that began developing the idea via the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

"It comes with the tools you need to start programming, from very introductory levels up to professional ones," he said.

Upton said the foundation was talking to government about a mandate to have computer science taught in schools with textbooks and tutorials used alongside the Raspberry Pi.

The foundation said it had also received interest from developing countries looking for cheaper alternatives to traditional PCs in hospitals, museums and schools.

The first batch of Raspberry Pis, currently being manufactured in China, are expected to reach customers in two to three weeks with subsequent orders due to be met in around six to eight weeks.

Having originally planned to make just 100 computers and hand them out to prospective Cambridge students, Upton said the six-strong foundation were "punch-drunk" at the reaction and would use it to help fund an educational software release later this year, and promotions at grassroots and government levels.

"Building this computer isn't the end, it was the enabler that we needed. The real goal is to educate a new generation of computer programmers," Upton said.

Seven Reasons Why Recruiters Instantly Reject Resumes!!!

1. Firstly, when a recruiter looks over a resume – he or she wants to find experience in the field. If acandidate is a PHP Developer with no object oriented development experience and the job is for anobject oriented Java Developer – the recruiter is not going to call. Companies are paying recruiters to find an apple to fill an apple job. Companies are not paying recruiters to help candidates transfer their skills from one field to another. If a company is going to pay a recruiter a significant retainer fee, they expect a perfect match.




2. What is candidate’s level or title? If the recruiter is searching for a team lead developer and a candidate’s title is a senior developer, that candidate should not expect an interview with the recruiter. Again, the recruiter is hired to find a team lead developer, not to squeeze a senior developer into a team lead position. On the other hand, if the client wants a senior developer and a candidate is a team lead – that candidate is over-qualified and even if he or she thinks they can do a senior developer’s job the client will not. The first team lead job that comes along might interest that candidate more, causing the recruiter and the company to suspect that you are going to pursue the better opportunity; neither party is willing to risk that.




3. The next area the recruiter is going to look at is the most recent experience. If the client wants aLinux Systems Administrator for a hosting company and a candidate has the experience, but it was over five years ago, recruiter will reject the resume. Any good recruiter can find a candidate with that current familiarity. If candidate was a good Linux Administrator five years ago and have not worked in that area since, their skills might be nowhere near contemporary due to new technologies like virtualization, vmware, etc.


4. Location, location, location. If a client is in New York and a candidate is in Miami – that candidate will most likely not get an interview. Relocating candidates is just too problematic if there is a viable candidate in the client’s location. In addition, most companies are not interested in paying for relocation in a bad economy. Moreover, there is usually the additional challenge of a spouse who must also relocate and find a job.




5. The next aspect the recruiter will look at is whether the industry experience matches the client’s. Again this is not an economy that allows for deciding whether skills will transfer from one industry to another. If candidate is in medical software development and the job is in financial development – the recruiter will not be calling. Skills might transfer and candidate might become a financial software developer, but it is not up to the recruiter to do that.




6. Education is the next big thing to consider and this one can be an automatic killer. Most recruiters are looking for a Masters in Computer Science or Engineering because they are hired to find the best candidates. No company will be paying a recruiter for a non-degreed or Bachelor of Arts candidate.


7. If candidate does not hold any position for an extensive period of time, job seeker should not expect an interview with a recruiter. a If candidate had six jobs in the last four years there better be a very good reason for it.
And last but not least says Alex Kovalenko: “List your accomplishments and what technologies you have worked with the two – three companies you have worked for. Make sure your resume is two pages long (even if you have worked for over 10 years) and is in traditional and chronological format.”

7 Ways to Make Yourself Irreplaceable in the Office

1. Never take the shortcut. Have you known many highly-successful people to be lazy? In order to be truly irreplaceable, you have to work hard. You can’t take shortcuts and still expect tremendous respect.

2. Be adaptable, not rigid. It’s been said that being rigid is the fastest way to losing your job. In an age where technology, workplace environment and strategy techniques are constantly changing, the most pernicious thing you can do for your career is to cling on to something from the past and refuse to change.

“The good news about rigidity is that it gives you a sense of control — it is predictable. You understand it, know it, can explain it, and can even teach it to others,” he says. “The bad news is that the sense of control is often a false one or temporary at best.”

“You can always tell when someone isn’t adaptable to change. They demonstrate their paralysis through resistance, advocating for the old way, talking about the “good old days,” or undermining current change efforts through their lack of cooperation and cynicism.”

3. Being a perfectionist will be your downfall. Most people think that being a perfectionist is what they need for success, but, in actuality, it prevents it.

“Perfectionism fosters inaction — waiting until we can guarantee success before we take action. And this negates accountability and prevents success. We wait for the perfect plan, the perfect decision, and the perfect action that won’t fail.”

4. Be of service to others without expecting anything in return. Most of us only do things for other people if we get something in return, but a truly irreplaceable employee is someone who makes decisions and solves problems for the good of their team and other departments in the organization.

The more you become “we-centered” rather than “me-centered” the more indispensable you become.

“Trust grows when our motives are straightforward and based on mutual benefits — in other words, when we genuinely care not only for ourselves, but also for the people we interact with, lead, or serve.”

5. Be purpose-driven, not goal-driven. At work, you will have goals to achieve, but these goals are often “established without a clear sense of purpose.” And since most people are often too busy to go above and beyond their daily tasks, they’re not making an effort to produce actual changes.

“Substantial evidence demonstrates that in addition to motivating constructive effort, goal setting can induce some unethical behavior.”

So don’t stresses out about finishing every single step you’ve written down on your checklist or it’ll become a never-ending cycle.

6. Be assertive. Life is a game, so play big or go home. Take charge, stand apart and don’t be afraid to speak up during meetings for fear of sounding unintelligent or being wrong.

7. Forgive others quickly. “The measure of accountability is based more on how you handle mistakes, mishaps, and breakdowns than on getting everything right all the time,” Samuel says. “It’s about how fast you can pick yourself up when you fall; how quickly you correct a mistake that you made; that little or no harm comes to your customer, family member, or friend.”

Five ways to crack the whip when it is needed…

Be the change

Many managers call their team for a meeting and turn up late, washing away the relevance of the issue that was to be discussed, says R Elango, HR head of MphasiS. The team tends to mimic the ways of the manager, and this shows in their attitude in meetings and the work coming out of it.

Leave out ambiguity

“When setting targets and key result areas, the boss will have to be very clear on what he expects from each one of them so there is no place for ambiguity, which results in indiscipline,” says Ronesh Puri, managing director of Delhi-based executive search firm, Executive Access.

Reward and Punish

A team head should know follow the reward and punish principle, says Elango. So if employees exceed the performance criteria but are indisciplined in their approach towards work and others during team tasks, then they should not be rewarded. Similarly, to ensure a balanced approach, an employee who may be disciplined but is not a performer should not be rewarded.

Say it Loud and Clear

An employee may not know he or she is not following the rules, and will continue if not checked. The first step, says Puri, is to talk to them and explain clearly that such behavior will not be tolerated.

The manager should find a reason behind such behavior and if it continues, send a warning letter stating the consequences could impact their appraisal. If the employee still takes it lightly, the boss should go ahead with giving him or her poor rating during review and mention why.

Set the Team Tasks

The manager should get employees to work in as many team tasks as possible. This brings in a sense of responsibility, and they will know their performance will impact others’ grading as well.

An indisciplined employee may not follow instructions to the team initially but will realize how his or her waywardness is leading to low scores, for which colleagues will hold them accountable. This often is a factor that pushes people to change their ways and work better.