Tag Archives: HR

HRs!

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Well, let me put a disclaimer right away, it’s not a take on human resources departments around the world, 

For those who don’t believe me, wouldn’t take that chance ever, for my dear wife is herself an HR, dangerous territory to tread upon.

Jokes apart, 

Simply put its the Horse Sense that am referring to, going by the famous folklore that seems to have inspired generations. 

Paraphrasing what it is: 

Few centuries back, there was this horse who had this sense, 

Come on, it cannot be as lame as this! 

So, the master wanted to take the horse to the field, 

Though the horse which loved to graze, wasn’t up for the same, even after being pulled from all sides.

A maid in the household who happened to be watching this, came up to the horse, put her maternal finger in its mouth and slowly took it to the place where the master wanted it to be, 

As always, moral of the story: if you want someone to do something you got to make that someone want to do that something! 

Coming back to the human resource departments around the world, they say the biggest challenge is to keep the employees engaged and bring out the best in them.

Why, what and how, guess you are smart enough to figure out how to arouse that eager want and motivation to accomplish that very something!

Source for the Image: https://thehorse.com/112472/too-much-pasture-can-lead-to-laminitis/, https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/what-does-hr-do

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Work Ethics

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Possibly the most discussed aspect in any sector or office,

A concept which has given sleepless nights to the senior leadership team and in turn HR.

Let us delve into a certain perspective which the term has to offer to the world.

Going by the definitions:

Work, simply put, is the effort one takes to accomplish a task,

Ethics, on the other hand, is the principles that may guide an individual’s actions.

Two combined, it has a powerful connotation where one is evaluated on the basis of the:

core values that one has

and

the commitment that one is ready to put to achieve a certain goal, which is

Created by an entity, which in an ideal situation, one should have bought in before joining a certain company.

More often than not, people have their own compulsions or reasons for taking up a certain role,

Be it at a personal level, where one feels compelled to do certain things for their and their family’s survival,

Be it the act of exploration where one is not sure what one needs to do or is capable of doing,

Be it the time pass they would want to do, simply because they prefer not to sit at home,

or

Be it the interest and motivation to work in a certain field, one has;

work-ethics-300x189

Whatever that all important reason be for an individual for accepting the offer letter,

Bottom line: Once one commits, one should meet that commitment. 

In today’s world, words have become just a loose way of expressing things,

Yesterday, one could say something and today one may come up with a totally opposite version of the same,

Such loose conversations and commitments has somewhat become a way of life for:

millennials  in general

and

GenZ s in particular,

Reflective of the kind of value system and lack of trust that persists in our society,

Be it the reinforcement from parents,

or

Be it the reinforcement from teachers, peers and the schools,

The end product, in the form of grown-ups seem to be a cohort which is:

Insecure, about their own competence, finding excuses,

Imbalanced, when it comes to handling personal and professional situations,

and

Reactive, at times because of being born with a golden spoon,

Having said the above, all is not lost. The challenge for us as a society being:

How we channel the enthusiasm and energy in a direction which ultimately leads to satisfaction at a personal and professional front!

Which requires a systemic change.

The only question is:

Are we all willing to do so as a society for everyone’s well being?

Source for the Image: https://www.proschoolonline.com/blog/work-ethics-avoid-conflicts-at-workplace

“I Listen”!

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In a colloquial conversation, in a public gathering, a teacher was once asked, “what do you do for a living?” 

He answered, “I listen!”

Funny to the core as it might sound, it had a very deep trans formative meaning to the same.

Most of the teachers by any set of imagination, would go on talking on how well they teach, how well they are able to bring out the curiosity in the kid, how well they are able to communicate their learning, and so on.

But here, this gentleman was standing amidst the who’s who of education sector, answering the very fundamental of what you need to do in order to make sure that every kid on this planet gets an opportunity to learn, as per his/her needs, convenience and adaptability.

For if one doesn’t listen to what the kid has to say, how would one know, what he/she wants, what are the kind of challenges the kid might be going through in his/her life be it getting bullied by a set of rogues or failing to understand that one concept in science on which he was made to believe that his entire future would depend on.

This fantastic habit, which we all refer to as listening, goes well beyond what I have spoken above and is a mool mantra of sorts when it comes to our day-to-day life.

Be it professional, or personal, though everything is personal (another thought for another time ;)), yet for clarity and for discussion purposes, lets keep it separate.

Professionally, an organization is one big family, where in the father/mother or the so called CEO tries to make sure that each kid performs to the best of his/her ability, reaping proportionate awards for the same, at the same time, making this family a prosperous unit.

kids-listening-clipart-listen02

Personally, father and mother, try to do everything possible for their kids, trying to make sure that every need is met with a suitable material/emotional support for the child to grow and become a productive and healthy individual.

But if the above forget to listen to what their kid has to offer in terms of advice, in terms of feedback, in terms of sharing his/her concern, in terms of discussing his/her problems, then no matter how good the HR policy is

or

The home conduct rules and values are, the kid will end up suffering, because of the chaotic environment around him/her which doesn’t seem to offer that much needed ear, leading to multitude of problems, both physical and psychological, that our society needs to be caught in big time, at this very moment in our lives.

So, if you want to become a good father, a good mother, a good CEO, a good leader or whatever category of good, you need to imbibe this art of listening.

I wonder, how many are indeed listening ;)!

Source for the Image: http://www.clipartpanda.com/categories/free-clip-art-children-listening

Kundali Recruiter!

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If what the 50 lakh pundits and astrologers in our country say was true, just a thought, why not have a Chief Astrologist on board in your company.

Every time a person comes with his/her resume, we would actually send him back to bring his kundali (horoscope) and then forward the same to our chief astrologist, who would then, based on his judgement/reading would decide whether the person would be a great fit for the role that we are hiring for.

new-kundali

And going forward, if the person doesn’t perform according to what was predicted, it was because our chief astrologist would have made mistake while making some calculation and instead of penalizing the guy, we would actually penalize the astrologer by, let’s say, not giving him incentives.

How easy and focused the performance appraisal would become!

Even better, if we wanted someone who wouldn’t commit the human errors, we would actually build a machine which would think like an astrologer and predict the entire scheme of things.

Don’t know how feasible this is, but what if?

Source for the Image: http://www.ganeshaspeaks.com/article/horoscope.action

The Budding Leaders!

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Guys who belong to the decade that has just gone by and whose careers were shaped during the same, especially folks belonging to the same batch as mine, some of whom have indeed been able to carve a wonderful professional life for themselves and their family, and are now looking forward to entering the very important leadership/mentor role cannot help but think, “how I can become an effective/successful leader?”

From implementing things to now getting things implemented is a totally different ball-game. From being the listener to being the speaker, there is a transition that needs to be accomplished purposefully. From being the follower to developing new followers, not because of authority or merit, but because of the persona is an art and skill that needs to be honed.

Many a times, guys who have just entered the arena of senior management, tend to find themselves  perplexed by the complexity of the situation at hand. The time perspective that one needs to think about changes from say, 2-5 years to 10 years down the line. One, often doesn’t have the bandwidth to be able to instill such a long perspective.

Consequently, the job at hand starts looking very dicey and a feeling of disappointment tends to creep in, not being able to find a solution to the problem that the situation and expectations from the job tend to pose.

As a result, the potential leader tends to quit his/her job to find another leadership role in another company, which tend to offer the same set of challenges and the person starts doubting his/her own potential.

Why is it so that the transition that was supposed to be smooth and natural doesn’t turn out to be the same? Why is it that the person is not able to develop a long perspective over a period of time when he was an implementer? Does it have to do with something that is very much a core part of most of the organizations? Does it have to do with a lack of mentor ship program in the organization?

Probably all of the above would be able to explain why such a thing happens on a regular basis and only a few are able to evolve successfully, some credit for which goes to the mental strength of the individual and the ability to cope up in a complex environment.

Thus, for any organization, it is a must to have a leader/mentor program in place, where the selected few should be prepared in a manner to whom the bait can be passed and a smooth transition can be made.

And the onus for this lies on the HR department in any organization. Many a times, I have heard from the operations team that HR does nothing. Considering the importance of Human Resources to an organization and considering that the present and future of any organization lies on the shoulders of this very HR department, I guess it’s time people start thinking about the department in a much higher regard.download

Another aspect that lies at the heart of success for any organization is the constant change with respect to which any organization needs to adjust and evolve. When we say adjust, it’s more of a reactionary nature, so I would prefer to use the term evolve, as it involves being able to think about what’s going to be the situation in let’s say 5 years down the line.

Being able to vision the same, some say, comes with loads of experience, though there has to be minimal amount of mental acumen that a person needs to possess. This leads to the controversial concept of “Requisite Organization” proposed by Elliot Jacques where he goes on to say that the right person for the job is one who possess the right ability to be able to think about different time perspectives associated with different roles in an organization.

If one were to go by what this theory has to offer, one would have to believe that man is limited in his thinking and abilities and there is a fixed path on which he/she will tread. If the same person is forced to occupy positions which are not meant to justify the kind of ability, attitude and temperament one has, then it would not only result in failure of the person as a professional but would also lead to organizational failure.

Thus, the identification of the right potential for the right job is a must, if an organization and hence an individual has to succeed in what he/she does, the onus for identification for which again comes on to none other than our HR folks.

So, all leaders out there, if you want your organization to grow and evolve in coming times, start building a platoon of budding leaders who will be ready by the time, you guys are happily preparing to find solace on a beautiful island some place in Thailand.

Source for Image: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2013/jan/31/university-leader-career-progression-training