As a HR professional one of the challenges that I face on a daily basis is how do I maintain the engagement levels of my constituents. Engagement also signifies the organization health.
With Christmas & New Year round the corner I thought of an initiative that would bring a smile to my customers. It was to do with Thanks giving / expressing Gratitude. There are 2 little magic words that can open any heart with ease …One little word is THANKS and the other little word is PLEASE Appreciation / Thankfulness is a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.
In todays world when its harder to find time , I thought we will use this opportunity to Thank / Appreciate people at our workplace who have made a difference to our lives in their own special ways. We had designed Thank You cards which were sent to the Managers for their team members to fill in their comments and send it back to us so that we could dispatch the same to their team members. I was talking to one of the managers as to when is he going to give the Thank You cards for his team members , his response was ‘ is it mandatory ? ‘ It took me some time to react to his response.
Almost all the books that I read have mentioned about expression of Gratitude / Thanks , even the best of best politicians / military leaders have dispalyed this behaviour that can make a tremendous difference in peoples lives but this managers response was an unexpected one....
Do you use the 2 magic words " Thank You " & " Please " in your daily life at home / work ?
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Differentiation
Ever since I have entered the Corporate world , this word its own meanings and interpretations for people across.
As part of the annual meeting I was attending , the topic of discussion was differentiation. I could see different views amongst people and they all agreed that it is necessary to ' differentiate ' people basis performance but when it comes taking a call within their teams the word had a negative conotation.
Just the previous night we had a band comprising of all three former Indian Idols who had come to entertain us . The first artist came and tried to woo us with his ' singing style ' but the crowd was hardly interested and he was smart enough to recognise the early warning signals and bid farewell to us. Later we had a female & male artist who captivated the crowd till late midnight and the crowd wanted more.
I am a HR professional and was trying to relate the concept of ' differentiation ' with the band . I thought if we were asked to rate all the three people in the band , it would have been very easy for all of us to derate the first performer but when it would come to the next 2 artists who were equally good it would pose a question mark . People who have their own preferences ( including myself ) .
Each one of us has a filter of ' conformance / wanting to look good ' hence when it comes to differentiating the best , we all find it difficult. Jack Welch ( former CEO of GE ) introduced Forced Ranking.
When I googled for this on wikepedia I found something interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve
Every change takes time and I am sure next when a group is asked to differentiate performance we will be able to choose the best.
As part of the annual meeting I was attending , the topic of discussion was differentiation. I could see different views amongst people and they all agreed that it is necessary to ' differentiate ' people basis performance but when it comes taking a call within their teams the word had a negative conotation.
Just the previous night we had a band comprising of all three former Indian Idols who had come to entertain us . The first artist came and tried to woo us with his ' singing style ' but the crowd was hardly interested and he was smart enough to recognise the early warning signals and bid farewell to us. Later we had a female & male artist who captivated the crowd till late midnight and the crowd wanted more.
I am a HR professional and was trying to relate the concept of ' differentiation ' with the band . I thought if we were asked to rate all the three people in the band , it would have been very easy for all of us to derate the first performer but when it would come to the next 2 artists who were equally good it would pose a question mark . People who have their own preferences ( including myself ) .
Each one of us has a filter of ' conformance / wanting to look good ' hence when it comes to differentiating the best , we all find it difficult. Jack Welch ( former CEO of GE ) introduced Forced Ranking.
When I googled for this on wikepedia I found something interesting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitality_curve
Every change takes time and I am sure next when a group is asked to differentiate performance we will be able to choose the best.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Leadership
I am reading a book ' Where have all the leaders gone ? ' by Lee Iacocca and he speaks about the 9 Cs of Leadership which is quite a food for thought for all aspiring leaders and politicians.
1. Curiosity
2. Creative
3. Communicate
4. Character
5. Courage
6. Conviction
7. Charisma
8. Competent
9. Common Sense
How many Cs do you have to be a leader ?
1. Curiosity
2. Creative
3. Communicate
4. Character
5. Courage
6. Conviction
7. Charisma
8. Competent
9. Common Sense
How many Cs do you have to be a leader ?
Effective Decision Making
This statement quite intrigued me and made me wonder on the decision making at workplace
Jeffrey R Immelt , chairman of the board & the chief execuutive officer of General Electirc was once assked how many decisions does he make ad he said he personally takes 7 - 8 decisions a year. He said if he took only three decisions , the orgnaisation would decay and if it was 18-20 , the best people would leave.
This conveys how much empowerment and authoritarianism can you allow in the organisation
Jeffrey R Immelt , chairman of the board & the chief execuutive officer of General Electirc was once assked how many decisions does he make ad he said he personally takes 7 - 8 decisions a year. He said if he took only three decisions , the orgnaisation would decay and if it was 18-20 , the best people would leave.
This conveys how much empowerment and authoritarianism can you allow in the organisation
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Opportunities
I happened to read an article on Opportunities by Erich Joachimsthaler in Times Of India.He is a founder of Vivaldi Partners , strategy & marketing innovation firm headquartered in New York City.
He says ' The more successful companies often don't seem to see the biggest opportunities in plain sight ' . He sights a very interesting example on Sony ,which was once the world leader in music players.
Sony had all the things needed to follow the MP3 opportunity but it still frittered away the opportunity. And there was Apple , a computer company that had nothing to do with music and revolutionised the MP3 space with iPod.
Erich has the following pointers for being opportunist
1. The correct starting point - Don't concentrate your energies at one single point instead try to look at ways around it. Sony was focused on the success of Walkman whereas Apple on other hand had a different strategy ' How do we create a music player better than that ? ' .
2. Missing the big picture - Don't get confined to your little worlds , step out and explore opportunities beyond your immediate responsibilities. Sony stumbled because the company was strictly organised in silos. Another example Gillete which had three divisions Duracell for batteries , Oral B for toothbrushes and Braun for high end devices but still failed to see the biggest opportunity in oral care market. It was P&G which entered the local care category with the wildest imagination called Crest ( spin brush ) . P&G didn't even have the technology to do the spinbrush.
3. Junk the notion of Competitive Advantage - Most companies want to create a product that is faster , better than the competitors product. The so called ' Competitive advantage ' is a suicidal game. Companies need to identify innovations & products that fit into customer's lives. Its all about creating a different consumer experience.
4. It's not just about needs , silly ! - Most companies operate from a need fulfilment paradigm : find a need and fulfill it. Most companies do surveys to find a need & create a product with an assumption that the consumers will buy the product but in the end it does not happen.
Erich talks about ' ecosystem of demand ' a more comprehensive understanding of demand and how it arises. Its not about demand itself but also how context shapes it. Think about it
You may drink a different beer when you are out with your friends in the evening , than when you are alone with your wife at home. Many times you don't buy something just because there is a need , but just out of a passion or desire.
I work in the Human resources department which deals with employee relations for more than 25000 people. With scale comes the complexity of your need vs demand.
Quite often we get caught in what the employee needs rather than the context. A simple example can be the employee benefits . Survey results indicate that 40 % of the payroll departments time is spent in benefits administration. Generally companies roll out employee benefits just because your competitor has introduced some.
So next time when your launching a new product / new scheme think about the context and not about the need !
He says ' The more successful companies often don't seem to see the biggest opportunities in plain sight ' . He sights a very interesting example on Sony ,which was once the world leader in music players.
Sony had all the things needed to follow the MP3 opportunity but it still frittered away the opportunity. And there was Apple , a computer company that had nothing to do with music and revolutionised the MP3 space with iPod.
Erich has the following pointers for being opportunist
1. The correct starting point - Don't concentrate your energies at one single point instead try to look at ways around it. Sony was focused on the success of Walkman whereas Apple on other hand had a different strategy ' How do we create a music player better than that ? ' .
2. Missing the big picture - Don't get confined to your little worlds , step out and explore opportunities beyond your immediate responsibilities. Sony stumbled because the company was strictly organised in silos. Another example Gillete which had three divisions Duracell for batteries , Oral B for toothbrushes and Braun for high end devices but still failed to see the biggest opportunity in oral care market. It was P&G which entered the local care category with the wildest imagination called Crest ( spin brush ) . P&G didn't even have the technology to do the spinbrush.
3. Junk the notion of Competitive Advantage - Most companies want to create a product that is faster , better than the competitors product. The so called ' Competitive advantage ' is a suicidal game. Companies need to identify innovations & products that fit into customer's lives. Its all about creating a different consumer experience.
4. It's not just about needs , silly ! - Most companies operate from a need fulfilment paradigm : find a need and fulfill it. Most companies do surveys to find a need & create a product with an assumption that the consumers will buy the product but in the end it does not happen.
Erich talks about ' ecosystem of demand ' a more comprehensive understanding of demand and how it arises. Its not about demand itself but also how context shapes it. Think about it
You may drink a different beer when you are out with your friends in the evening , than when you are alone with your wife at home. Many times you don't buy something just because there is a need , but just out of a passion or desire.
I work in the Human resources department which deals with employee relations for more than 25000 people. With scale comes the complexity of your need vs demand.
Quite often we get caught in what the employee needs rather than the context. A simple example can be the employee benefits . Survey results indicate that 40 % of the payroll departments time is spent in benefits administration. Generally companies roll out employee benefits just because your competitor has introduced some.
So next time when your launching a new product / new scheme think about the context and not about the need !
Quality
Off late I have been reading & receiving quite a number of views on ' Quality ' be it at your work , with family , your relationships & Life.
My personal take on this that everything boils down to ' Self Discipline ' . The 2 magic & difficult words can create waves in all the spheres of life.
Magic because they bring in a new dimension in your work , relationships & life , difficult because it is not easy to practice self - discipline. Some people also call it Will Power. Reminds me of Nike ( Do it ) .
I was recently attending my companys annual offsite and we had admist us the presence of Gen. VP Mallick ( Operation Vijay ) talking to us about Leadership and its dimensions. He said Self discipline is one of the important attributes for a succesful leader. .I m not sure how many of us agree to this but we canset & create our own examples .
Are you ready to create one ?
My personal take on this that everything boils down to ' Self Discipline ' . The 2 magic & difficult words can create waves in all the spheres of life.
Magic because they bring in a new dimension in your work , relationships & life , difficult because it is not easy to practice self - discipline. Some people also call it Will Power. Reminds me of Nike ( Do it ) .
I was recently attending my companys annual offsite and we had admist us the presence of Gen. VP Mallick ( Operation Vijay ) talking to us about Leadership and its dimensions. He said Self discipline is one of the important attributes for a succesful leader. .I m not sure how many of us agree to this but we canset & create our own examples .
Are you ready to create one ?
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