The Manager Who Instills Confidence

I am enrolled in a dance class where 30-60 people practice, learn and perform together. We have 3 instructors – one key person and two are his assistants. So in this mix of 40 people (on an average) few of them consider taking the art form as a career, they practice all the moves everyday and are exceptional performers. Their bodies and muscles too have tuned to the kind of flexibility required in the style of dancing. There are few who wanted to learn the art form ever since they’ve gained consciousness; some find the two hours session a stress buster and a method of keeping themselves engaged on weekends. A very miniscule percentage form the crowd who once upon a time wanted to be a dancer, but got caught up in the rigmarole of life, family, kids and now when they have time to be with themselves; they are reclaiming their childhood ambitions. So precisely, this means that the forty odd crowd is a varied mix and match of preferences, motivation, agenda and learning style.

We make a mistake and no the instructor doesn’t howl, nor does he banish us. He instead mimes our action along with the correct style in a playful manner. He uses storytelling to teach the techniques and exhibits high level of intelligence while portraying a connection between art and science. He feels the pulse of every pupil and their individual momentum that they require to pick up a new skill. He very frequently claps and lauds for the class in between the session, despite we appearing in the worst of our forms. In turn we are taught to clap for ourselves, loud and in celebration after completion of a routine. He suggests we should practice between the weeks before turning for a new class and yet during the session he finds out, that a large chunk have forgotten the routine. He’s never seen scowling, not even for a moment; teaching the entire thing to the lost souls meticulously; all the while his assistants growing impatient. There are other instructors who take his place on some days, and the crowd plunges at its energy level.  Once he’s back the class is swarming with an ever growing number of learners.

So what is it that he does, which makes people return to the academy, long after they’ve learnt the dance form, asking for more? What is it that mounts his popularity? There are people who haven’t picked up much during the sessions and are finding the dance form hard to cope, yet find themselves ready for his session every following week?

His experience of perhaps a decade helps in forming the foundation for his expertise and delivery of skills, but there are other instructors too from the academy of similar expertise or perhaps better. Yet the strategy he uses to make every disciple of his appreciate their uniqueness and style is more of an attitude than just pure skills. He helps people look beyond their shoddy bodies and enjoy the energy and freedom the art form gives. Encouragement from him at every step assists an individual to explore deeper into their potential and cross the peripheral boundary created by them – even the not so good pupils of his. The instructor too is a manager, a team lead for that matter!

It’s how you treat your stubborn, ill mannered, lazy, inefficient, low enthusiasm portraying individual or trouble maker, unsatisfied, disinterested employee; when your skills as a manager display. It’s as easy as a bite of chocolate to handle the star performer and the disciplined, timeline following employee. They are more or less any day more motivated than an average employee. Perhaps more motivated than the manager too! We all stretch to be apples of the company’s eye, but those who aren't, don't really strive to be a thorn. Circumstances, priorities in life, needs, expectation from self/company, goals in life all have a very critical role to play in every decision an employee makes. Plus if he's time and again regarded as being a low performer, he for sure is just serving the bench strength or prefers to be a sack of potatoes. Now we of course cannot turn the potatoes to French fries that kids love! Nor can he be allowed to be the prince of neverland! Is the manager avoiding the individual? Is the employee being punished for some action of his which went much against the policies of the company? Does the boss have a personal disliking for the individual?

The best of ‘The Manager’ skills are not always displayed in a corporate environment or MNC’s. Sometimes everyday people and groups have a better way of dealing with things.

The 'No Learning' Employee

An employee everywhere is mostly categorized as either satisfied or unsatisfied and there goes the entire talent development team busy trying to build the environment that engages the employee and converts him to a satisfied breed.

Then there is another classification that labels employees as somebody either landing up on a job or making a well intentioned move towards professional growth. The former ones couldn’t fathom anything better, or just weren’t interested in previous occupations. Overtime exposure allows them to master the attitude and skills required for the profile. The latter ones have been living each moment of their wake hours wondering how to grab the opportunity and reach the zenith of success.

So far so good, there’s the ‘Yin and Yang’ of the taxonomy of the mental frame of an employee. The unbalance occurs when the consequences of a confused mental frame brings about a third category. Those of them, who have been engaged on a particular job for good number of years, have struggled in their lives to reach to that point and upon reflection of how the journey with the job has been – give a blunt answer - “haven’t learnt anything on the job”.

In fact I have personally come across people who try their best at acquiring worldly knowledge about all skills that can be remotely associated with their profile. For example if John was a wood cutter; he can always say he’s good at wooden sculpture and carpentry too. In technology terms a VB DotNet professional, within no time can portray his exposure on ASP DotNet and C# DotNet technologies; nevermind he was stuck for good with VB. There’s always that quest to show how much one knows about things happening around. Yet they always feel they’ve not learnt even an ounce from their current profile.

Such employees are hard to address, as they live in a make-belief world where the external attracts them and grasses always look greener the other side. However, the way they look at their current profiles is an inside-out reflection of how they perceive about themselves. The graduation friends’ profile is always more lucrative. The peers task is always more interesting. The colleague in another project has the best learning curve. The manager elsewhere gives the best opportunity. Best lies everywhere, but where you lay your hands! If this is the case, do whatever, you’d always be the one not learning!

The best such employees can do is find a job where they truly believe they can learn something or if they think that’s what they want in life, they need to learn the art of appreciating how the smallest of the experiences can be the biggest of the lessons. Further, never disregard the period they’ve been associated with the profile or the company. One may deserve a better profile and may have conceptualized a better opportunity for oneself; however, before this, one never knew how it would be like being here!

Being Open To Change

When we gain experiences at various levels in different organizations, apart from being employed at the place; what majority of us remember is the good boss who not only handled you well – but also helped you grow professionally. One would very fondly remember this person as a mentor who helped you groom your ways and attitude for things, presenting innumerable situations to learn things with a 360 degree directional view. He is the individual who doesn’t spoon-feed you, leaves critical things on your head with minimal supervision, has an eagle’s eye to every step that you take to fulfil your responsibilities, and doesn’t mince with words when you aren’t prepared or have been ignorant for long.

Quite many times it’s the first boss of your professional life who makes all the difference on how you take things and those who are fortunate enough find the right combination in the beginning. However, the give and take is so perfectly tuned that when due to unfortunate/fortunate multiple reasons either the boss puts up his papers or is asked to leave; the subordinate is the very first person who feels the pinch of it. There have been situations when the subordinate contemplates of putting up his papers too, despite counselling from family/friends asking to stay put. When the conditions are unknown, speculations rise and the subordinate is confused and unable to comprehend a change in the power play of the position. Several times for the initial period they find themselves in defiant position withholding information that can aid the new boss smoothly continue the operations or are unwilling to co-operate and respond appropriately. unknowingly making things difficult for themselves as people are still watching.

Being open to change is the best deal among all pulls and pushes, rebellious attitude and withdrawal symptoms. Strange it seems but people do face withdrawal. A new boss may suddenly feel incompetent to the role given to him. There may be times when the new person may ridicule the strategies of the predecessor spelling out a chance for loyalty test. Whatsoever be the reason, a successor to a post always finds the predecessor has been less effective on the role and somebody not exhibiting high levels of capability. As for the reasons unknown which paved the way for the ex-boss’s exit, the management is definitely not coming upto you and specifying the points (a), (b) and (c). In case you enjoyed privileges from the old equation and may now no longer enjoy them, time to pull up your socks and prove why you’ve been hired for the position. The working styles shall never be the same and every new person brings in lot many good things with him, from his previous employer(s), best practices from his experience and a new line of thought for the same old problem. Apart from your growth which now seems to be halted temporarily and your desire for the same conducive environment to prevail; remember the old boss too moved out for better opportunities. Most importantly nobody joins companies to befriend people and be buddies forever. Each one is a competitor to the other, trying to edge better and perform better than the other; though in the process they end up continuing a long term professional and personal association. Rewards, better compensation, more challenges in the profile are what motivate people to move forward!

So if your boss just left and a new one stepped in, instead of holding tight on your skill and still swaying under the effect of the predecessor – time to be open to change, time to be the hungry child ready to learn everything the new boss can offer and much more than that. One never knows what may be in stock for you, but if you limit yourself to the earlier learnings; you’re being instrumental in limiting your own growth. It’s in the perception and the thought, change it and you would look forward to being in office; else you would be serving a notice period – hoping to perform better and start afresh in a new organization.

Professionalism And Friendship

I know Bill Gates and so does he! We are the best of pals and spend each Christmas vacation together. So whenever I walk upto his cabin, he’d open his books of accounts, he’s been working upon and show me how much he’s pumping in to Microsoft. Where do the finances go and how he builds his empire!

I bet 90% of you are already scoffing at the lines written above. They sound so ridiculous and irrational by all means. Half of you at this moment are telling yourself – what a sham! Or perhaps what a jerk! Some of you may question, so what if you know him – the world knows somebody or the other; but sharing statements of profit and loss is like ‘making a mountain of a mole hill’.

Nevertheless, despite knowing the boundaries between professionalism and personal ties; how many of us do actually cross the lines? How many of us actually look out for a favour from somebody, coz we have excellent personal terms? How many of us take it for granted that coz so-and-so is a cab buddy of ours we can pry into his/her work space and hang around much to his/her discomfort? Yet behave as if it’s a Constitutional right to be cheesy!

At what cost – being labelled unprofessional by all means. Some people do not understand the seriousness of a document being marked ‘Confidential’ and take easy offense when a colleague/friend/superior/subordinate tries to elude. Imagine being briefed by your VP that this is just for your eyes and ears, and a week later the VP finds out; it has now become a muse for the entire organization. He definitely isn’t going to sound pleased about the situation. What may emerge next is fire fighting, all thanks to a friendship that led one thing to the other. A perfect grapevine doing the rounds.

Now it sounds pretty much something of common sense and one may suggest, of course one’s aware of such limitations. But again the human factor and psychology comes into play. We as humans love dodging the set norms and rules. Unless and until there’s no bent of protocols one may find it tough to survive the quick bites, facts and figures. After all, close proximity can always be flaunted among informed individuals.

If you talk of ethics, and standing at the line of fire with the CEO looking over; or the Project Manager as a matter of fact too, would you oblige or shrug away and politely ask the colleague/friend to mind their business. If you choose the former you make way to being the super star of the Organization passing vital information nobody else knows. If you chose the latter, you end up being declared a smug!

So with the ball in your court, next when someone decides to shrug away; wait for a moment and tell yourself – cricket matches and shopping spree together would sound such a brilliant idea off the office hours!

Remembering Employees - Small Gestures

A call to one of the employees over joys him beyond the callers’ imagination. The intention was to wish the employee on his birthday, after a new policy got introduced in the Organization which required the HR to make personal calls every morning. At times it would get awkward as the receiver found it hard to believe his Organization wishing him on his day or perhaps was never wished before this day by anybody. This particular receiver perhaps was so happy that as an extension to his happiness he wished the HR back on prosperity in life and growth in career. On another such occasion, the employee felt so thankful to be remembered by the Organization; to express gratitude he got a box of sweets for the HR & Admin Dept.

It is a very normal procedure in IT Companies, wherein somebody from the Admin team sends across birthday/anniversary wishes to the intended employee and the Organization provides some benefit or gift along with wishes. Plus the team/project the employee belongs to organize small parties. However in a manufacturing there are 2 kinds of employees: the workers and the managerial staff. The needs for both the kinds are entirely different. When one of the managers like cited above could get all so over board by a personal call, the worker may expect something more than just a call. An email will make no difference to him either! Budgets can vary among Organizations for extended benefits like gifting a pair of clothes/utensils/tiffin box as well. Monetary benefits is something workers are always looking for, but that isn’t a feasible answer. Also at times the budgets planned for the entire year may fall insufficient or be scrapped off altogether due to newer policies.

So among all this circumstances when newly introduced policies talking about the wellness and benefit of employees bring in lot of hope and enthusiasm one end and receive flak the other, reaching out to an employee is what he primarily appreciates. Of course that doesn’t mean accepting all that they say. However simplest of gestures like personally being wished from the HR team (that is the extended arm of the Management and BOD) feels comforting and reassures employees about being recognized and be noted.

Just Joined! Itchy Hands Looking To Change?

When Mr. X joined the mid size Company, within 2 weeks he felt everything needed a change and makeover. The first thing that required major modification was the Company Policies and immediately he got to work of designing new ones. At the end of 4 weeks from his joining date he had a new set of policies ready and looked forward to furnishing them before the Management, get an approval and be the proud creator of them.

A proud creator yes, but the policies never got approved! Several reasons could be possibly attributed to it like: how could it be that not one policy was perceived as a fit to the Organization Culture; what was the urgent need of modifying them, that too in such a short time of being on board; copied from internet resources. Plus rapport building became a huge task which couldn't be overcome with time!

A conversation with a friend led to the question: How long can an employee recruited for a crucial decision making position take, before he/she can start rolling out the decisions and the Organization would listen to him/her? The friend said ideally not more than 3 weeks and by then he/she should be well acquainted with the operations/systems flow and all that his responsibilities demand. However when it comes to introducing changes the 3 weeks is too short a time. That’s the easiest way that can lead to his being crucified before public eye. Neither would he be able to please the Management nor gain the confidence of his subordinates/colleagues or the employees.

Company policies are something that is based on the common vision and goals of the builders of the Organizations which are duly passed on down the level of hierarchy. Playing with them is a sure shot way of receiving heavy criticism and resistance. But this holds good only for Organizations that fall in the bucket of being Tier-1 and/or Tier-2. There are still quite many of those who form the bulk of mid size Organizations – for some of them their respective policies are nothing but copied material from Internet (CiteHR in fact is an excellent resource for anything that has to deal with HR) and they have always been mavericks in the way they operate and implement activities. Introducing a change out here would mean disturbing the fine balance between Management, employees and the new person hired from a corporate HR background. The others are those who are bound tight by their policies and find changes nothing less than unnecessary fingering just to prove the newly hired individual is a capable addition to the team. Both ways it’s too premature to believe that nothing is going right in the first place. No doubt the new addition may have been hired to well implement the necessary visions of the Management, however for being effective the right time would begin only after months of careful scrutiny of the culture and the way employees respond to it.

Can HR Act Beyond Company Policies?

An employee approaching the HR Dept. for clarifications on a query always leads to certain phenomenal answers that have become much of a part of rote every employee remembers – “It’s written in the Co. Policies that’s the reason why it needs to be done this way!”

Infact quite many times the employees seem to know the answer well in advance before they decide to give another shot in the HR Dept. But can the HR folks really go beyond what the HR policies say? Can there be exceptions? Can there be genuine reasons when the HR needs to leap beyond the Co. boundaries and oblige employees? What’s the guarantee the employee may not get deceitful next time to avail those privileges?

The strongest of policy implementations always take place w.r.t. leaves and mediclaim issues. I remember coming across this one instance, when while the employees’ were on way to the office, one of the employee met with an accident on a deserted road. He was found injured by another employee belonging to the same organization nearly 20 minutes later. As an impulse the injured employee was rushed to the nearest medical aid centre for treatment. This resulted to non-reporting to the office of those 2 men. Now the blue collar workers are not among those privileged lot who can avail CL (Casual Leave) at their disposal nor can their work be taken care by some replacement, coz in a manufacturing more or less everybody has fixed roles. Late coming to office would in turn mean loss of pay for loss of hours in productivity.

So out here basically while the employee is heading for work and chances upon somebody who’s met with an accident, should he pass the person and reach office at stated time as given in the policy? Or should he bring the injured employee first to the office, mark their attendance and first avail medical aid present in company premises, before going elsewhere? Or alike the above stated example, straightaway take the injured for treatment, resulting to late coming and loss of pay?

What can HR ensure in such situations for the benefit of the employees’ as well as not making ways for future deceits? For this case stated above, HR for once did grant leniency on attendance and late coming and provided relief to the injured employee too, but how long is the question? People take no time in analyzing how best they can get more out of the situation, how can things be manipulated to get more of the benefits, how to get everything fixed coz of some friend/colleague happening to be at critical positions of the hierarchy?

HR Touching Lives - Tale of Concern

Talking of anything that has to deal with Management, jargons for sure make way for all modes of communication and description. So be the case for Human Resources too, in fact I too have a quote at the top pf my page that reads: “Our progress as a Nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”

If we were to minus these fancy ways of using the language to talk about a profession perhaps there are other tell tale signs that speak in volumes about the effect and impression it creates over other people – primarily the customers/clients of the Company. For HR the best tell tale sign of its progress is how an individual’s life is touched or how the HR Dept. as a whole, all the while representing the Organization touch many lives and motivate people to put in their very best, irrespective of their designation.

This post onwards I would be sharing and talking about those innumerable HR people I’ve come across who at some point of their career have created values for their employees and help instill trust and faith in the system of the Organization. I would also be citing memorable occasions wherein the HR’s action and thoughts lead to a feeling of bonhomie among employees.

During my interns’ period in one of the CMM level 5 companies, I came across this HR who was effervescent in her ways. The day I happened to join in there was incidentally the very next day post New Year. All employees seemed to be preoccupied in their work and headed to their workstations the moment they stepped into the office premises. However, the HR who came smiling and greeting people went right upto the front desk executive (or receptionist as recognized by people) and greeted her with genuine concern and smile. Besides the HR, I never saw anybody else walk right upto that lady nor even glance towards that corner of the office building. The front desk lady was of course overjoyed when a Senior Executive HR cared enough to reach out to her. More of the days that I was there, I found her unique in many ways and the extraordinariness in her being a Human Resources person kept reflecting by her concern and spontaneous efficiency at work.

For many it may sound like ‘so what’ and ‘big deal’ however, small acts of appreciation of this kind only help the employee in believing that his/her future and career lie in the right hands that would help them grow individually and professionally. It doesn’t matter at the end of the day in such organizations, whether one’s a clerk, a class IV employee or a top management official. The culture is so strong that it reflects in the people who manage the systems and processes and without much deliberation the employee feels like giving back as much as they can.

Ownership Ensures A Good Night's Sleep

Ownership today has become the fad among young generation of employees. Before joining an Organization the first thing they would want to know is how much space is available for ownership to blossom. Gone are the days when employees would keep requiring running to their bosses and seniors for approval of every step they need to take, or every procedure they need to begin with. Gone are the days when there would be one man calling all the shots. For if somebody did that today, the employee would consume hardly any reaction time and next thing that would land up is a resignation and a brighter future elsewhere.

So why has ownership replaced all measures of motivating an employee to give in their best. Why it is today that money and incentives do not derive equal pleasure and ensure a good night’s sleep as much as ownership does?

Today every person is eyeing to be an entrepreneur by their own means in some way or the other. Every induction in an Organization when somebody from the top management ask, “How many of you see yourself as future CEO’s of an Organization” instantly 70% of the crowds have their hands shot out! Even if 20% of them do not really know what it may take to be there, 25% may halt their dreams out of securing job and realizing it’s not their cup of tea, 15% may begin with something but never finish it due to early setbacks and out of the rest 10%, hardly 3% end up as CEO’s! So why is there this horde of people wanting to be the man who has the power and influence to turn tables for an Organization?

It’s all about the ability to be given enough freedom to do what they love doing. It’s about getting that space of their own where they can invent, innovate, experience, jump in joy and lie low in setbacks. It’s about feeling these moments of life on a personal account basis. Why should they let somebody else rule their chances of growth and learning?

In times like this Organizations have evolved to be smarter species and many people have edged themselves one level up compared to the EQ status of their employees. Ownership yes is provided but a controlled one. Employees get their share of responsibilities and much beyond than the actual deal of Job Description for the profile. Of course enrichment of profile is something that makes an employee gloat in content, however a controlled ownership would mean: one being free to gather all resources on their own, work out measures and strategies of approaching the issue, study the repercussion of the procedure that would soon be implemented; but just before the employee can go ahead with the grand plans – he ought to tell his superior about it. Here is where all the clipping happens, strategies are realigned to the business goals and the grand plans are modified to the superiors’ line of thought. Plus a good enough reason/feedback is rarely or never given to the employee. Resultant – the very happy an employee some time back, is not so amused now. However convincing the clippings may sound, however at the end of the day one needs to keep getting back to the management / superior for approval on matters. We have an unhappy employee now, who feels his freedom of action is curbed and encroached upon. It won’t be long when he would be at loggerheads with his superior and the Organization as a whole. It won’t be long before he would begin detaching himself with the excitement about working on something. A slow deterioration in his efficiency and performance would be strong indicators of a likely hop.

So for all managers and superiors who have at certain times practiced controlled ownership, time to think whether they can trust the instincts of enthusiastic employees and believe in their capabilities? Of course clearly mentioning the goals of the Organization before hand and how they plan to achieve it, before all work is done and then people sit and decide whether the new model suits them. Or continue with the age old hierarchy system of reporting, process flow model and operations.

Motivation Beyond Compensation

Compensation as always is a very touchy subject and people would prefer not to enter into a discussion on the same. Recent times of recession have brought out the worst fears among employees alive – packages dropping, being offered less on a hop, getting pink slipped. Though the last one is the extreme of the triggers that lead to depression, however money matters is something people are advised not to talk about, as one is said to be never satisfied.

Caught between the crossfire of a bad market, ever increasing costs and prices of everyday needs, the environment where to Company is located and the kind of culture that exists is a hapless employee who’s been serving for decades together putting in hard-work and sweat. At this time it would sound like a very unfair deal for the employee to be paid peanuts and he would always find lot many empathisers rooting for his cause. At manufacturing things get more vocal with a heavy presence of unions and local leaders.

But to understand from the organizations point of view the foundations that lay the structure of the compensation being offered is really important. Not all organizations can always tend towards operating to meet the demands of the market. Nor can they introduce a competitive compensation matrix that ends up becoming every one else’s envy. Climatic factors play a very important role in determining how many bands/levels can exist in the organization, can they go about partnering with consultancies to tap outside potential (resource), how best can they keep their employees happy yet never cross the line of being declared bankrupt, build the confidence among their employees despite a very poor pay.

And mind it building the confidence among employees is a really difficult task. Imagine extending your services for 3 decades at a stretch and today in the 21st century still drawing the same amount you did when you began. Back then the amount was a part of luxury, today it is pittance.

So then what is it that still keeps the employee motivated to be a part of the organization. Several factors can be seen to be held responsible for such behaviour – primarily being the tendency to stay close to family and home. Infact this is applicable not just to people who lead 3 decades of their lives associated with one company. Ask anybody and they would be trying to work out alternatives of getting the closest they can to home and taking care of aging parents/family. This may involve lots of tumultuous initial years of picking the right Organization, meanwhile justifying with qualifications, getting satisfied with salary benefits and also staying ahead or atleast in par with ever competing batchmates.

What I can comprehend as being another reason to such a behavioural aspect is – staying put at one place for ages may eventually kill the desire to learn new roles, experience new environment and yearning for more. So people, who have set into the system of monotonous defined task mode, continue going about it without further thought of improvement.

These employees now have a matured family, with kids grown up and most of them already begin to earn their own livelihood. This is the third factor I can see ingratiated in employees. Now that the nest (home) is more or less empty it hardly matters to them what is filling in their pockets.

Besides the inability of the Organization to better its pay structure over the years, despite highs and lows in their operations, workforce; makes employees believe that nothing better can happen in the times to come. So after coming to terms and accepting the organization as it is, there is still an interesting fact that works behind the scenes. Each individual knows the other all too well. Most of them live as neighbours in common societies and for any pain they have as a burden or for any joy to share there are 800 other individuals waiting to be a part of it. And in most cases after a certain stage of life, all that man wants from work, colleagues and employers is recognition, understanding and togetherness.

Can't Quit Dropping Names?

Last time I spoke of over quoting one’s previous employer and the amount of irritation it would generate among colleagues and superiors. However there can still be more ways of saturating one’s peers, one among them being inability to quit dropping names of references that pushed your case all the way through your orientation in the Company.

These days Companies look forward to recruiting a large chunk of prospective employees through employee referral scheme. What better way can they get to attract friends, relatives and acquaintances of existing loyal employees; to become a family of strong values. This means every second person joining the organization has been referred by somebody and times like this there are people who love to flaunt their references.

What people forget is that references can help as much as pushing one’s CV across the recruiting team, getting an interview fixed and to some extent bypass the background verification process (if the reference is strong and higher up the hierarchy). The rest of the story of a happy ending or screw up depends largely upon the individuals’ capabilities.

People who tend to drop names also forget the fact that those very individuals who are being quoted would very much be placed in the highest discomfort level finding their names being tossed around conversations and across board meetings. The discomfort level exists equally among other employees who find it disbelieving to be subjected to such influence levels.

It isn’t just the colleagues and people associated in one’s project that start keeping a distance; but the HR dept. also keeps a note of such boasting chaps. At the end of the day it’s the person who’s performing and no matter through which channel he/she lands in the organization; he/she can be shown the gates!

So if one thinks it’s fancy to show your connections and get privileges out of situations, think again – Are you performing or are you making enough background to be despised and cornered!

Can't Let Go Talking Of The Previous Employer?

Ever wondered why does the new fellow who joined 2 weeks back keeps quoting his previous employer for every decision he has to make, or every policy he has to discuss to the point of everybody else’s irritation?

Quite natural we look around for benchmarks every time we are assigned tasks, and just in case nothing should go wrong, we like to consult with previously accomplished procedures on the same topic. Be it a friend who’s done it before, a process done by a different team, a website that portrays all the angles of technicalities involved, in-numerous blogs or plain simple – the previous employer!

However such affinities to the previous employer start irking the current ones. If all was so sunny with them, what prompted an individual to change gears; is the general reaction they invite. It’s okay to consult and do things, but getting overboard with frequent quotes and trying to implement anything and everything can be quite risky. For cultures of the two organizations may not really be similar. Problems deepen when two entirely different industrial sectors are compared, for example some methodology that brought excellent results in an IT sector may not yield desired results in a Manufacturing for the same set of problems. It may not even land close due to various demographical reasons, or may draw flak from the team and the management. Plus if one so frequently feels the need to depend on previous employers, a big question arises – that for his credibility and competency for the post and profile he holds.

So next time beware when a task is assigned, refer and research from every place one can, but stop swearing by the Bible of previous employers, for now you would be known for the path breaking work you do and ideas you come out with; instead of following the rules made by somebody else. Were it to be followed anyway, it would have borne clones of processes and operations, spelling disaster under respective cultures.

Referrals - At Whose Costs?

Recruitments round the year always end up being a pain for those that belong to that specialization. Screening and selecting among hordes of unwanted resumes is indeed a tumultuous task. To ease out the process somebody introduced the Referrals policy and it started bringing out good results. Suddenly employees all so satisfied with the Organization started recommending near and dear family and friends. Then there were some Companies who started acknowledging the brilliance at ease and rewarding employees, some didn’t believe in rewarding but found the referral policy the biggest source or databank available, and there were still some who didn’t believe in the policy.

The 2 extreme positions are the best that could be carved out of this policy; however the middle position is the one that creates major issues, especially in Companies that believe in having local candidates on their payrolls. Hardly a speck in the crowd would belong to far flung places settled at workplace location. Here the referral policy is so much into the system that it has actually entangled the recruitment process.

Suddenly everybody is on a referring spree, and if one tries finding out the history behind their acquaintances, one would be surprised to know that among all things the only common factor was a common surname. Thus it made enough ground to approach the right person in the Company and be rest assured that one would certainly be on the rolls within a couple of days. If this kind of a business can sprout annoyance from just a two or three, then to imagining every single referral belonging to the same genre, it can prove to be quite troublesome for the HR as well as the Organization. As merit of an individual cannot be stated by common surnames, or can one perform any psychometric tests to separate out the desired from the undesired. Whether one looks to the left or to the right, numbers keep percolating with individuals of common surnames. What in turn goes waste is the Company’s resources in paying them salaries for the work they do not do (though this isn’t a generalized sweeping statement, nor do all referrals end up being on the same side of the sinking boat). The resources utilized to train them for the job, paying of the salaries, and once when they quit (that too prematurely) no suitable replacement comes around, hence training the new guy all over again. Besides the references being not so credible, yet following suit since the person whose referring is a top shot in the Company. Little realizing that in this great movement of doing something worthwhile and good for their communities, people are actually gathering dust around! The whole game of reserving seats in political stunts across States being so similar to the Corporate story of referrals. Has anybody benefited by these mindless games at the State levels? So be the case at Corporate level. The policy may seem all so rosy from the distance, but is proving to be a brain chewer from close by.

Maybe we need an alteration in the Referral Policy and we need to limit how many people a year can current employees refer (at those companies that have an open agenda throughout the year). Maybe we can even put some constraints upon who can be referred and put more emphasis on the idea that the referrer’s PLI would somehow contain some value of the referrer’s performance. Otherwise were these trends to continue, one fine day we would have the Company plagued by similar community or surnamed people taking over charges

Birds of The Same Feather Flock Together

They say, “Birds of the same feather flock together” and that is just precisely the tool we use to judge a friends circle or an association of people coming together as entrepreneurs. And since the validity of this concept is so strong, it’s more or less implemented in analyzing teams in organizations too.

However there is always a flip side to each conjecture that can be drawn out of a situation. This specifically applies to all those employees who report to multiple bosses. Either the bosses may be at vertical designation to each other or at horizontal. Vertical ones do not pose a grave situation if a hierarchy is part of the organization structure. A flat organization has no fuss at all. But where the structure is hierarchical and the multiple reporting bosses are placed on the horizontal lane, there’s more to it than mere sharing a subordinate. Needless to say competition stays put at each level and each one is trying to either out do the other or proving his concept and strategies feasible and profitable than the other. It wouldn’t affect the managers much as they always have their ways with their work. But then there is that shared subordinate who has no clue as to whom should he follow, in those moments when he is looking for a mentor. Perplex moments are shared in each of the cabins trying to maintain confidentiality and at the same time being transparent and obedient. Hours spent in one cabin can always send a negative message across the rooms about affinity and affiliations. And either end it’s always the same, with the other wanting to know the MoM.

Caught between the thundering of bosses, what should the shared subordinate do? Resist compromise or be succumbed to becoming the eye candy by divulging serious information and high priority details? Managers are there on those seats because they have that capability to persuade and manage human resources in the right way. So they are very capable of extracting information that may not be meant to be floated at that moment. Apart from being a subject to cross fire from both ends, the subordinate always has the dilemma of whom to follow. Both make sense at many a times and both have experiences of their own, quotable and non-quotable. The subordinate like every other employee wants to learn lot many things, do substantial work and wants to derive a meaning out of whatever he has been allotted as job responsibility. However his progress or promotion in the organization is largely affected by the ‘Halo Effect’ that is generated by the number of hours spent in a certain cabin. Though there is every chance that the subordinate may not necessarily endorse the views of his boss, but has no option to beg himself pardon from his presence. Between the wars of the lords there is always a chance that he is just a spectator trying to move the papers and empty his incoming mail box. And when the war gets worse and the bosses cannot look eye to eye, there’s always a question posed before the subordinate – so which one of them would you like to align with? ‘Which party do you belong’ is the only sentence that is volleyed back at him!

But if it were to choosing a party, one might as well be running for the Parliament. Since one isn’t there, it’s obviously other way round – an organization needs people to work in teams! And all that the subordinate can do is being honest to the organization’s interests at every moment. When faced with trouble of deciding which work is priority, regardless to the worry of being reprimanded; the best say would be in the interest of the organization and the urgency of the task. And the one important thing that sandwiched subordinates should always bear in mind is that be ethical and do not loose your reputation as a sincere employee just for small gains and favours, as bosses keep changing and so do their notions and fancies. What remains is the reputation you build!

The Meets And The Misses Of The Eye

Almost every HR blog that I have read talks about the qualities an HR person should have in order to be the one in true senses. Be professionally qualified or not, there are some aspects anybody can guess, which an HR person ought to have. One of them is a prominent eye contact with whomsoever one is talking with. Infact it's something so quintessential and absolutely important not just to prove you’re an HR person; but also to show respect to the fact that we are handling humans who deal with emotions and feelings every moment of their lives. An eye contact simply means we are listening to you and we care enough.

Yet there are some of us who don't bother letting eyes meet nor do they glance at people's faces. That is out rightly called to be so rude and undignified. Many reason it out to be shyness or being busy to hearing the grievance and leave it at that. Some have very low self-esteem and dipping confidence levels that interaction is a part of their job; however the body language cries out loud about their personalities. Some also believe that making an eye contact may actually increase the intensity of the issue being talked about, as once the humane connects, apart from present woes, past one's also start pouring into the mind which requires just a series of being vocal and some hearing the other end.

However there are some people who have the cheekiness and audacity to come out with funny and weird reasons for many situations that lead to an unexpected behaviour, which no doubt can be labelled under the ridiculous clause. And they are so unabashed at their acts that they confidently smirk when they cite it to others. I recently came across one of the weirdest excuses of not making an eye contact. The person claimed that he had hypnotising powers within himself, so majority of his conversation went such that he would look deep down into the ground and the eye movement would oscillate towards the left and then the right. But he never looked once in the eye, as he knew that if he did, within next 5 minutes the other would get hypnotised. And he confirms his theory with an unashamed laughter which is followed by a very confident smirk.

Indeed this is called Confidence!

The High Performing Employee & The Halo Effect

It would have been so wonderful if man had learnt how to keep his personal and professional life poles apart. And what if there ever was a switch to turn oneself off out of workplace into a different mode? Living a split personality life, would feel all so fresh and rejuvenated for a new day. Sadly the complexities of leading multiple lives is straightened out by a simple fact that however hard we try we end up intertwining our personal and professional lives, be it even by 2%. We tend up being so professional and efficient at one place that we end up messing the other largely coz of the halo effect of the supremely larger part of us. I once read a statement that goes something like ‘People who are professionally very rich, are on a personal front very poor!’

To better understand how this halo effect affects the lives of people, I borrow this piece from Gautam Ghosh’s recent post on ‘Tiger Woods and the Halo Effect’. True to Gautam’s observations many of us are enveloped by the greatness of a person’s effectiveness at something he’s meant to do, such that this high performing one may personally not be even close to being effective. Something which Gautam has defined as - a psychological shortcut that causes human beings to infer good things about a person based on a single area of achievement. How does this matter to us as organization? Nope it doesn’t to a large extent as long as we stop thinking an organization as a family setup. But the moment the mere thought of a one big happy family emerges, we tend to go beyond project deadlines, deliverables, client handling and inch closer every minute to exploring the human interactions with one another.

There may be this very generous manager who can at the drop of the hat shell out resources and capital wherever he sees a need felt. But the very next moment this unhappy and disillusioned manager may leave the organization in pretty much a mess and creating troubles for the others. Would we say we never saw this coming our way? Or maybe we never thought he could stoop so low? Or was it a simple fact that he always protected the other side with a screen of generosity and empathy for others?

These screens are so thin and transparent however we are trained to not look beyond perfection! For what may seem like a mirage may have an ugly face behind the illusion.

Coming to the point how the halo effect can create problems for us and how to deal with it. Many a times when professionally rich employees decide to job hop due to unhappy decisions, chances are certain one may expect a rebuke in hand. Whereas dealing with the issue is not an easy task, as we never know what the mind behind the smiling face is thinking. But we can walk on the lines which says ‘When everything is going all so very right, stop yourself, think, and think over again. Everything may not be that right to pursue!’

So the next time if we see a highly efficient executive working with perfection and tending to be reliable on all accounts, and one has no reason to be alarmed by her. Maybe one should check her drawers and desk to see if there lies an underneath behaviour that she is hiding. Or one can explore her speediness on the job, or the way she interacts with people who aren’t her peers.

Being a Techno Geek

The routine of a mid twenty / thirty year old at workplace is sit for those blissful 8 hours of work in front of a desktop. Not even for a minute flinch away from that insane stare and the lunch hour seems like we are missing a lot of things. 7 pm back home and after another hour we have our home desktops switched on, either for work from home purposes or merely for the fact that some of us are computoddicted!

We can imagine no task complete without a few clicks here and there and rap tap goes the keyboard. We form the brigades of employees who are completely paralysed when power failures occur.

But to imagine a whole large chunk of those employees, who have taken onto manual working all their lives. So much so even today with the advent of this revolutionary technology they still find themselves among piles of papers, innumerable files and cupboards full of 3 decades old stock of data maintenance that nobody ever would give a glance to! Layers of dust gathering on those historical data that form the base of the Organization’s inception and the well laid out building plans.

A manufacturing sector somehow tends to a clear demarcation of two genres of employees. One being the old horses that grow along with the aging organization and the other being the newbies. It’s said that it’s hard to get in-depth technical competence from the newbies when compared to the golden period of engineers of the 1970’s, 80’s and early 90’s era. Similarly it’s like taking the horse to the river but unable to force it to drink water, when the old horses suddenly find a rectangular inanimate object on their tables with a mouse. From right away dismissing the idea to initial hiccups and slow motion clicks around in vain; many ultimately end up resorting to following their old ways. Along with an explanation that 5 years more and retirement knocking their doors, these rectangular objects best lay assured at newbie desks. The hindrance seems to be pushing limits when critical data needs to be retrieved and the concerned person wishes how lucky would he be if they were a click away, rather than flipping pages amidst a land full of dust. Compiling information also feels like a Herculean task, as years need to be matched and the corresponding data needs to be fed and worked upon. Lot many things have no information, as back then nobody thought it could lead to a link in the new strategy background work or maybe the CEO wanted to see the attrition levels of the last 10 years.

What’s a predominant feature of not being techno geek for some is that their great ideas face premature death, because of the inability to present them in the sweetest and shortest way. How would a VP of the organization devote some 30 minutes to listen to a new thought if the same idea can be caught within a span of 2 minutes via a presentation? Afterall things seen visually are recalled stronger than pages of thesis work on the matter which ultimately land up in some corner of the office. Similarly being techno geek can save a lot of time in hand to do more work that could help clear out backlogs if any and give in more space to think of the innovative and untried. By and large the whole of 8 hours is consumed in doing the routine task and when does one have the time to think something new and fresh? What may form to be 6 points of a job description when examined closely may turn out to be just 2 points when computerization of the same collective is implemented! What management may think is eating up their financial resources and adding onto the weight of employees may be eventually sorted out such that the manpower count is reduced, kind courtesy disinterest in learning the technology!

So if the fear of getting redundant by introduction of technology is of prime concern, then how about the fear of getting redundant by not knowing the ways of the techno world? Why when one doesn’t shy from acquiring new machines for increase in production, is there a hesitating human in front of a rectangular inanimate object?

How Not To Be A Strategic HR

An HR’s job has always been under a magnifying glass of a microscope. People have always wondered why there is a need of such a department in any organization. The work that is done in routine can always be done by somebody as a part time apart from handling other meaningful tasks. And what has remained in position ever since is the HR sample on the slide and the microscope. All that have come and left are the looking through set of eyes of scrutinizers. Nothing conducive has said to evolve in the species of HR until now that is over the past decade. A new stream of science has intertwined and has been showing a prosperous seat by the business class window of the management aircraft. Suddenly there’s a buzz called Strategic HR and everybody wants to be in the hot seat. Or they don’t?

Aspirations are many yet inputs and the processing levels are varied. For how many HR’s would go beyond the routine administrative work? Understanding business is not an easy task and certainly not a day’s job. There are always people with super smart rationale on all matters and though HR folks are said to be the ones who start the ball rolling for a change, yet the 8 hours job of rolling appointment letters, transfer orders seem to be the most lucrative task in hand. There still exist 70% of individuals for whom an HR’s job is said to be something that has nothing to do with what others do! Some of the best reasons why these certain 70% classify under the category ‘How Not to Be a Strategic HR’ is:

1. They say it’s not my job to keep a tab on other departments proceedings. For all that they may do throughout is be given a vacancy count from respective departments and an incessant search for the most suitable profile. This recruitment life cycle never ceases and as demands raise so do the supply without the blink of an eye.
2. For these certain people recruitments are the only domain that they associate with their inclination towards HR, so it’s all about playing this game of collecting the data bank, screening, short listing, and handing them over for final interviews. And it stops there to begin with the data bank stage all over again. It’s immaterial whether there was a final fit between the employers and the employee. Which many times lead to immediate exiting due to unstructured policies.
3. Unconcern to understand the nature of the industry they work with. Many a time’s saturation in one industry makes an individual drift towards the opposite. Say from an IT industry to a Manufacturing, where the cultures are juxtaposed. So policies that worked out previously in an excellent way in the IT industry may not move pillars in the Manufacturing. Or the inability to fit oneself in the climate of the organization posing severe threats to the future of the organization, if one occupies a decision making position.
4. The same genre of people who know the in and out of Human Resource yet fail to interlink the Marketing decision to theirs and their resourcefulness to the Finance folks.
5. They land up in sticky situations by not knowing the main product or service of their organization but relentlessly ramble underneath the PMS cloud and 360 degree appraisals. So much so they start viewing training and development needs and the budget for the organization as different articles. As long as HR is able to carry out it’s functions it’s immaterial to them whether recruiting costs are tipping the iceberg or unnecessary expenditure on whitewashing department are overbearing to the projects in hand.
6. When these folks are unable to comprehend the operation flow and cycle of product so much so they cannot make out the differences between two stages of completely different processes and do not leave a moment to smirk and flaunt their ignorance. With the added attitude that says “I’m an HR, why should I bother whether department X comes in process before department Y or not. It is for them to see the quality management. My work ends in satisfying their manpower needs.”
7. When policies aren’t structured to the organizations needs and are air lifted from elsewhere. Or best when the organization is said to be under the Zoo culture, where everybody is monkeying around and there is too much interference from everywhere such that the HR department loses its essence and authority over things.
8. When aptitude is marked by the ignorance of the obvious and one believes on running on the single track to achievement, where targets mean monthly realization of supply and demand and fear of the unknown makes them explore less on the shady sides of the organizations fumbles.
9. When routine work seems to be the best task that involves growing people within the organization by implying on the fact that HR folks are contributing in making work easier and serving the employees at their best in their smallest of the needs.

The list can get endless but the crux of the theme is, do we consider HR as a never changing sample, or a slowly evolving one which may take another decade to grow out of its skin or a new species very much modified and innovated in a new package of intellectuals who not just own the reins of the industry but know how to dig the underground lines at the right depths.

Defining Right Consciousness

To be right conscious is an easy task, for no boundaries or lines are defined that would differentiate what could be a right conscious decision, action, thought or what could form the basis of being unethical at the workplace. To pick up one and place him under the white cloud of appreciation is difficult as much as it is to place one under the black cloud of reprimand. These issues arise because an individual seems to show streaks of all personalities and behaviour, so much so that they can be physically viewed simultaneously in minutes of separation.

One such conflicting behaviour is exhibited by many individuals who realise the problems of the organization from an eagle’s point of view. Not only are they sharp eyed, they can also critically examine all the dimensions leading to the growth and failure of the organization’s strategies and policies. If given a chance they have scores of opinions and suggestions to sound to a willing ear. They even have self made strategies in place which if given a direction may result to better outcomes. They are those individuals who are high performers in the jobs bestowed upon them and have earned quite a reputation for being blatant. And the top management likes them too.

However they sport a bad body language when it comes to interacting with new people, specially the one’s appointed in powerful positions. The new head honchos bring new policies that are framed within a matter of time, where a feedback is necessary to begin with. Here is the place where these high performers start behaving unexpectedly in a split second. They may give go ahead nods to the directives or plans, and tow in to the idea but frequently disregarding the hierarchy of the opponent and challenging the effects of the implementation do not go unnoticed. They even indulge in ganging up for soft mockery of ideas and brushing off new methodologies from the ones long established by numerous trial and error techniques. For once that can be counted as defensive mechanism to the already existing policies; however in the long run they show high levels of instability and insecurity. They may be once ruling the roost but a change brings about a reshuffle in the structure and the processes. So despite being a high performer the constant fear of being redundant aligns them towards a behaviour that is counted negative. Upon being questioned as to why they have ideas that do not reach day light, they believe in blaming the system for the inefficiency all over. And the dullness and lackadaisical environment that doesn’t provide opportunities for initiatives. Any new thought is welcomed by a ‘not possible’ or ‘cannot be done’ or ‘you’ll have to do it all by yourself’ attitude. These people on the other hand do not stop being ethical at their work, however end up being the cribbing geese of the coop, who believe in preaching every moment; yet shift no bones to develop a dying idea or improve a situation that has no direct dealing with them.

Are organizations to be blamed for such people being bred within themselves? Is the top management brass to be blamed for not being able to reach out to those at the lowest or middle level branches of the tree? Is change the root cause of all insecurity developing of getting redundant? Or is it human nature not to welcome great ideas from relatively new people who’ve just taken baby steps and not grown along with the organization? Or is it just about being vocally right conscious?