We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gaurav Shekhar a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Gaurav, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.
Communication is a medium to help others understand what you are trying to say. Often we focus on our end of what communication looks like. An effective communicator pivots to see how their message is being received. This is not something you develop overnight. An empathic approach, laced with a desire to hear the other side leads to communicate effectively. One must provide the comfort to let communication happen. If others are not comfortable, they wont speak. I try to make people comfortable so that they are able to express themselves. Toning your responses in a way that they match the sensitivity in the room is a good start. Patience also plays a great role here.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I come from a family of educators. Educating the world is closest to us. Even though I was a Technology Consultant in the past, I made it to Academia as soon as I could. My goal right now is to shape the future of our society with education. Impart the skills people in the community need. The world is evolving at a fast pace and it is our duty as an education institution to make sure that our society is ready for tomorrow. Education has the longest life and we believe setting up the right platform for people will yield the best outcomes for us for tomorrow and ever after.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Realizing that you cant do it alone is important. People are skilled differently and realizing that early on is important. Make a team that not only complements well, but also own the outcome. We often make people responsible for things, but we don’t make them accountable for it. Making people accountable is very liberating. Hence putting the right people together was something I learned early on.
Be brave. A lot of things that we don’t may not have happened in the same way in the past. But this is a great opportunity to do something new. What you do today may become a template for someone else tomorrow. Have that confidence of trying new things.
I am a Technologist at heart. But there is a people element to things. Great products are worthless if no one uses them. Keep people at the center of what you do. When you make people successful, every other thing falls in place.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
It is very easy to feel overwhelmed. As someone whose plate is full most of the time ( and I am grateful for it), it is easy to feel overwhelmed. I think hitting the pause button is important at times. This helps you reflect back on things are understand your priorities at that moment. When you are running on fumes, check what resources you have at hand. Sometimes off loading tasks temporarily to focus on the more important things is a good strategy. Ask for HELP! There is no shame in asking for it. It takes a village and you need to realize that as soon as possible.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gauravshekhar.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gaurav_shekhar2003/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gauravshekhar/
