Hope this is not your horror story

* Names have been changed to protect confidentiality

I was working for one of the top Fortune 500 Engineering organisation as a maintenance head. My parents were very old and used to stay in our ancestral home in Chennai.

My father was not keeping well and I was stressed about it and planned to visit him during the weekend. I came to office in the morning as there was some maintenance schedule to be discussed. I got a call from my mother weeping that my father had a heart attack and she wanted me to come immediately.
Fearing the worst I rushed to my Boss and told him I had to urgently rush to my home town Chennai due to my father’s situation.

He without any emotions told me in a flat tone to give him some important documents regarding the maintenance plan before going and briefing my colleagues to handle my work in my absence.

I was literally shaking with rage . Thanks to the support of my colleagues who said they would handle the situation and made arrangements for me to drop me to the airport.
Unfortunately due to my Boss I missed the first available flight by 10 minutes and had to catch the later first available flight which was after 3 hours .

My dad expired calling my name one hour before I could reach him. I was flabbergasted and was so angry with my Boss on delaying me that I took 15 days leave and looked for another job and quit the company .
I also wrote the cause in my exit interview , later I heard that my Boss who was literally hated by his team because of his rude and selfish behaviour got a promotion and became the division head. He also bad mouthed me saying I was a good riddance.

If you have similar experience . You can do much more than just quitting now you can share the feedback about your boss anonymously inhttp://knowurboss.com and warn others

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Importance of People Management for a successful marketing strategy

A business works because of its key asset- the people. Any marketing strategy is not good enough if it hasn’t considered people management. The products of a business, no matter how good they might be, will not make the consumers happy if the people management techniques are poor. A business can have the best of products, best packaging, and best advertising; if the business doesn’t have knowledgeable, motivated, driven, trained, enthusiastic people around- the marketing strategy will fail.

Does People management only include your employees? Look at it at the macro level. People management includes management of your employees, suppliers of materials, wholesalers, distributors, clients, agents, business partners and everybody that makes your product a success in the market.

For a successful marketing strategy, people management should begin at the internal level with recruitment which involves getting the right people for the job. Well trained management trainees and well experienced employees make your marketing strategy firm. It is important to keep the employee trainings ongoing in any business. It develops people by enhancing their knowledge and skills. Evaluation of people performance, motivating employees to achieve targets, providing recognition, rewards and growth opportunities for talented people goes a long way in developing a good marketing strategy.

Marketing strategy rests largely on how a business treats its partners and people who help make the business product a success. A business should always choose and work with such people who are compatible, likeminded and have the skills and tools that will help the business grow. Next comes the budgeting, the infrastructure, the value for money invested. But most importantly people management rests on the goodwill the suppliers and the clients have in the market, the trust they have developed in supplying the products and services on time; without any damage.

A key point to note for a successful people management strategy is to engage people at all levels. While creating a marketing strategy one looks at the details of products and the target audience. But a good people manager takes into consideration the people at every level who make that marketing strategy a success for the business. When people from the lower ranks are also involved and made to feel important; the people management technique becomes a hit. Training of skills should not be limited to managers alone. Instead training should also be provided to factory workers and low level employees.

People management is an important aspect which many tend to take lightly at times. Without the people who help you make what you are; neither will your marketing strategies nor your business score in the outside world.

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