Tag Archives: Leader

Much Much!

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“Too much!”

is what you get to hear more often than not, from the employees or your colleagues,

when you ask them how much work they have in the day.

Most have a tendency of making sounds, “uff, fooh” and so on every now and then,

As if they are having the most torment times of their lives 😉

Either coming from the lack of work ethics that they have been conditioned to,

or

Simply because of the time pass mentality, that one has got into a habit of doing something for no other reason but to spend sometime somewhere,

Takes a no brainer to understand, that there is something not right,

May be as a company culture we are not hitting the right chords,

The next obvious is to ask,

what that might be,

from where are such tendencies evolving,

and

how can it be resolved?

much-vs-many

First thing first, you go back to the drawing board from where it all started.

You soon realize that the very process of hiring has to have those in-built ingredients.

At a practical level, no matter how good the HR or psychological counselor you hire,

There would be certain aspects which will only evolve with time,

No matter how much a candidate convinces you that he/she is motivated enough,

It will soon get reflected in the work ethics on demo in due course of time,

Always a good thing to keep oneself open and flexible as a leader to accepting, realizing and acting upon new aspects of this dynamics,

The biggest and key challenge for a leader is to make sure that each one in his/her team is constantly excited about the vision,

Creating enough tasks to keep reinforcing the thought regarding the fruition of the vision,

Giving clear cut responsibilities to each and everyone,

Making sure that the most irresponsible in the team is given responsibility for them to mature and get mentored in the scheme of things,

It’s easy to let go and very tough to make something work,

Which requires constant endeavor, immense amount of patience and a grit and determination that goes beyond every other thing that matters to a leader,

To handle that much much that ensues in this beautiful journey of achieving one’s vision in life 🙂

Source for the Image: https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-much-and-many.html

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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

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

The Focus!

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How many times do we end up focusing on things which are not so relevant and significant in life? Things, which one uses as an excuse to run away from something about which one doesn’t seem to find appropriate matter of substance.

Things, which one can use to blind those who might have wanted results from the effective implementation of that one significant thing. Things, which always will haunt us in the times to come.

And one such concept which is so talked about in the national and international parlance is the concept of GDP, which since its initiation was aimed to provide cues to the government enabling them to see in which sector they might have to frame their policies in the right manner for the want of some progress, which had been halted in the same due to certain bottlenecks.focus

But little did Keynes knew that his concept, which was meant to reveal the market value of all goods and services produced within a country, would be used to hide the malace that might be going on in the entire World.

What amazes me the most is that things like Human Development Index (HDI) which is nothing but a reflection of the state of health and education in the countries worldwide, seems to take a backseat with GDP taking the lead in all the discussions being conducted on the economy.

The common man or the aam aadmi, who is too ignorant to understand the significance of the concepts, ends up believing that their country is being run in the best possible manner. With no political will aimed at educating the very same aam aadmi, they have no option but to tow in line with the logic that the governments around the world tend to give to their citizens.

And with no better alternatives at their disposal, they end up having no choice when it comes to voting a party into power. But are only the political parties that are to be blamed for the menace that our political system seems to be caught into? or Are we as people of a nation to be blamed for furthering our own ends at any cost what so ever?

To find the answers to the above, I decided to venture out and had the fortune and the privilege of talking to one such aam aadmi:

“Bhaiya, why do you vote for a political party?”—Me

“It is because they will take care of our needs and will ensure that all our problems are taken care of.”—Aam Aadmi

“By problems, do you mean drinking, sanitation, health, education in and around your village?”—Me

“No, I am talking about the disputes that I keep having in the village. They make sure that I get the upper hand in the duo that ensues.”—-Aam Aadmi

“But for the fight that you are having, there is our administration and the police you should go to. Why do you need to go to any person belonging to a particular political party?”—Me

“It is because the police and the administration never seems to report on time. They are either unavailable or unapproachable. In that case, we are left with no choice but to look for people with power and money, who end up becoming our mai-baap. Now, you tell me if you don’t vote for such men then who will take care of us.”—Aam Aadmi

I had no answer for what the aam aadmi had asked me. In lieu of our administrative and bureaucratic system not functioning to the fullest of its capacity, the aam aadmi is left with no other option to seek for bahu-balis in and around their respective area, who end up getting elected from the same region.

And the story after that is known to nearly everyone in our country. Who’s fault is it then to elect such leaders? Is it the aam aadmi who has got tired being exploited again and again by those in power or the bahu-balis who tend to get elected based on their muscular and money power that they possess?changes

And by the way, are we too caught up in blaming others for our own grievances? A great philosopher once said that there are two primary causes behind making a human being unhappy and these are desires and expectations. Whatever bad is happening around us is because of these two evils which tend to take control of our mind and body and in turn makes us incapable of differentiating between the right and the wrong.

The soution to all what I have just said above lies in this one question that I am about to ask us all:

“Are we prepared and ready to forgo the two evils when it comes to deciding upon what is right and what is wrong?”

It is up to you to find your own answer. And if the answer to the above is YES, then you can rest assure that the system in which we are all living in and which we tend to criticize on every other opportunity that we get, is heading in the right direction and we will soon be able to witness the much sought for change.

Source for Image: http://www.zachandjody.com/blog/tuesday-photography-tips-tricks-back-button-focusing/15588/, http://www.peacharno.com/specialisms/change-management/