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Motivation…

Vipul Mali — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 09:47:46 +0000

A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with a bag of potato chips and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey.
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him some chips. He gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.
His smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again, he smiled at him. The boy was delighted!
They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.
As twilight approached, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave; but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. He gave him his biggest smile ever…
When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?”
He replied, “I had lunch with God.” However, before his mother could respond, he added, “You know what? He has the most beautiful smile I have ever seen! Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked, “dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?”
He replied, “I ate potato chips in the park with God.” However, before his son responded, he added, “You know, he’s much younger than I expected.”
Too often, we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of kindness, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime! Embrace all equally!

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Bring Back the Organization Man

Vipul Mali — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 06:34:24 +0000

How to find good quality employees, how to hang onto them, and how to develop them into better employees — these are the questions managers across the world constantly wrestle with. I’ve heard them in Europe at Davos this year, and from multinationals across the globe. I’ve seen them ripple across the booming economies in Brazil and Asia, where my colleagues and I have studied the operation of Indian companies, which make huge investments in developing talent. We’re now in the process of studying Chinese companies, where it appears at a minimum they are beginning to do the same.
The one place the picture looks different is the United States. There certainly are complaints here as well about the difficulty finding the right candidates, but the narrative is quite different. Here the story is about getting a “just-in-time” workforce, finding the precise workers we need just at the time we need them but letting them go when our needs change and then replacing them with new ones. It’s a “plug ‘n play” approach to the workforce, and it’s not working that well. (In full disclosure, I wrote about this phenomenon in a book called Talent on Demand, describing how companies in the US have adopted this approach to talent management in order to deal with highly uncertain and volatile environments).
The weak link in that approach is that with the focus on outside hiring to get skills, few employers are providing development opportunities. Why bother developing when we can get the skills on the outside? US large companies have been filling 66 percent of their vacancies from the outside, in contrast to a generation ago where 90 percent were filled from within. Because one company’s outside hire of an experienced candidate is another company’s retention problem, employers rightly look around and wonder whether investments in their employees will pay off. These patterns reinforce each other: less development leads to a greater need to hire skills from the outside, and doing so reduces the need to develop internally; it also creates spillover problems for other employers for whom turnover reduces the ability to finance training.
All that would be ok except that employers are finding it difficult to hire the skills they need. The supply of skills in specific areas is uncertain, so the quality and price jumps around a lot. Some jobs require skills or at least sets of skills that are unusual, and finding a good fit outside is very difficult. Skills that one learns through training become scarce because few employers train.
For the employees, it’s not working well because they find themselves stuck in their current jobs. No one wants to develop them, no one wants to let them grow into a job when the alternative is to find someone who can “hit the ground running” because they have done that job elsewhere. So development and advancement are hard to come by.
Especially in slack labor markets like the one we have now, employees are also petrified that they will not appear to have the skills that are required to fit changing jobs, especially as companies restructure, losing their jobs in the process to some outside hire. So they freeze up, afraid to do anything that might look like a mistake.
Is it time to bring back the Organization Man?
In that model, which drove the US economy for most of the last century, employers made longer-term commitments to employees, where they invested in development to fill jobs, and where employees responded with commitments of their own in terms of performance. Jobs were filled internally with people prepared to do them, skill shortages were unknown, and employees were engaged with the needs of their employer.
A critic would say that if employers did that, employees would simply take those investments and leave. The only reason they leave, though, is because they can get a better job elsewhere than their current employer will give them. To keep good people, employers need to take a bit of a risk on them by giving them jobs that they haven’t already done. The employer should be able to take that risk; first, because they should have inside knowledge about who is promising and, second, because if they are right, the bet pays off by filling jobs more cheaply than outside hiring. The end result is that companies would be able to retain talented employees who are more committed to the organization. And employees would win too, growing in jobs and companies that they are loyal to.
What won’t work is pursuing this model half way, giving some employees some development opportunities but then still filling more senior vacancies from the outside. Why would someone wait around if it looks as though opportunity will not come?
Clearly, the jobs issue is not going to go away unless US companies figure out how to hire, and train, the talent they need.

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Happy Holi…

Vipul Mali — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:20:24 +0000

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Best workplace resolutions for 2012

Vipul Mali — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:29:51 +0000

They say resolutions are meant to be broken. In that case, how many workplace resolutions hold good? Do industry professionals see any benefit in them? “Resolutions if implemented on time can erase a lot of issues. Every workplace has its own set of trouble. This year, as a part of my resolution, I tried to inculcate staff retention and employee engagement. Positive motivation has helped me retain people who are the biggest asset of my organisation,” says Deepak Kaistha, Director, Planman Group and Managing Partner, Planman HR.
At the same time, there are a set of people who do not believe in the concept of resolutions. “We do not have any workplace resolutions; it is not a part of our belief system. If people simply adhere to what they promise to themselves, any place will be a better place for resolutions. It’s a philosophical statement and it is up to you if you want it to be successful or otherwise,” says Rajita Singh, Head, Human Resources, Broad ridge Financial Solutions (India) Private Limited.
Do’s and Don’ts of resolutions
The trouble with resolutions is that they are difficult to abide by. Often, the cause for failure is the unrealistically high expectations from oneself, leading to resolutions impossible to achieve.
“Resolutions can be both troublesome and rewarding. Many people make them, but few make a real commitment to them. Before you make a resolution, spend some time pondering exactly what you hope to achieve in the year ahead and how you plan to do it,” says Vidyadhar Prabhudesai, Managing Trustee, LeadCap Trust. For Prabhudesai, the biggest workplace resolution would encourage employees to waste less time in office. He believes that a limited time should be spent on networking sites that balance work and leisure equally.
“Be Realistic and don’t resolve to completely stop using social media. Plan to cut it down. Think incrementally and plan in small steps. Lastly, make resolutions for only those things that are within your control and do not involves the decisions of others,” he says.
Three big resolutions for 2012
What are some of the workplace resolutions that ideally people in all industries will try to keep in 2012? Three of them are summed up below:
1) Encourage Leadership: As the corporate is transitioning from closed to open source leadership formats, the coming 2012 resolution would revolve around the same. ” ‘Don’t micromanage’, ‘Don’t be a bottleneck’, ‘Trust subordinates’, ‘Challenge team to perform better’, ‘Retrain employees to lead’ etc, can be some of them,” says Prabhudesai.
2) Monitor workplace gossip: “Like it or not, every workplace is a political environment and it can get vicious. Office gossip is often used by an individual to place them at a point where they can control the flow of information and therefore gain maximum advantage. The past year has seen major conflicts in many organisations. My approach is to always balance out both the sides,” says Kaistha.
3) Strike a connect: Know the ‘why’ and then focus on their task. As the sense of purpose is biggest, this eventually helps avoid any issues that may arise due to communication, politicking etc. The power of being able to connect is the largest, which ensures the culture of an organisation is intact, nurtured and harmonious.
While these are broad resolutions for the organisation as a whole, are the CEOs planning a personal transformation in 2012 too?
“For me as a CEO, my wish list is long. Starting from employee satisfaction, motivating employees, helping them become better and responsible individuals professionally, to keeping my organisation conflict free, my list would continue. Considering the efforts put in by all my employees, I would want each of them to carve out better opportunities, and to grow within the organisation. My objective is to ensure that the organisation grows and as far as possible, all the above resolutions are implemented for the best,” shares Kaistha.
Article courtesy of Economic Times

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How to Be Happy at Work..

Vipul Mali — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:42:05 +0000

Article By Geoffrey James | @Sales_Source | Jan 30, 2012
____________________________________________________________
If you’re unhappy at work–or anywhere else, for that matter–it’s because you’ve made yourself unhappy. There’s an easy way to change that.
Let me start off with a little story.
I once knew a saleswoman–young, divorced–who got a diagnosis of breast cancer. She had to work and raise two kids while fighting the cancer. Even so, she managed to be happy at work, noticeably happier than her co-workers. In fact, she not only won her battle with cancer but subsequently became one of the top salespeople at Bristol Myers.
She was not, as it happens, naturally cheerful. Quite the contrary. When she started full-time work, she was frequently depressed. But she turned it around, using the techniques I’m going to provide you in this column.
That saleswoman once told me: When you’re unhappy, it’s because you’ve decided to be unhappy.
Maybe it wasn’t a conscious decision; maybe it crept up on you while you weren’t looking–but it was a decision nonetheless. And that’s good news, because you can decide instead to be happy. You just need to understand how and why you make the decisions.
What Are Your Rules?
Happiness and unhappiness (in work and in life) result entirely from the rules in your head that you use to evaluate events. Those rules determine what’s worth focusing on, and how you react to what you focus on.
Many people have rules that make it very difficult for them to happy and very easy for them to be miserable.
I once worked with a sales guy who was always angry at the people he worked with. The moment anything didn’t go the way he thought it should go, he’d be screaming in somebody’s face. He was making everyone around him miserable–but just as importantly, he was making himself miserable, because just about anything set him off.
For this guy, the everyday nonsense that goes on in every workplace was not just important, but crazy-making important.
I once asked him what made him happy. His answer: “The only thing that makes this !$%$#! job worthwhile is when I win a $1 million account.” I asked him how often that happened. His response: “About once a year.”
In other words, this guy had internal rules that guaranteed he’d be miserable on a day-to-day basis, but only happy once a year.
One of the other sales guys at that firm had the exact opposite set of rules. His philosophy was “every day above ground is a good day.” When he encountered setbacks, he shrugged them off–because, according to his internal rules, they just weren’t that important. When I asked him what made him miserable, his answer was: “Not much.” When I pressed him for a real answer, he said: “When somebody I love dies.”
In other words, the second sales guy had rules that made it easy for him to be happy but difficult to be miserable.
I’d like to be able to write that Mr. Positivity regularly outsold Mr. Negativity, but in fact their sales results were similar. Even so, I think Mr. Negativity was a loser, because he lived each day in a state of misery. His colleague was always happy. He was winning at life. He was happy at work.
Make Yourself Happier: 3 Steps
The saleswoman who had breast cancer was happy, too, and this is the method she used to make herself happy:
1. Document Your Current Rules
Set aside a half-hour of alone time and, being as honest as you can, write down the answers to these two questions:
What has to happen for me to be happy?
What has to happen for me to be unhappy?
Now examine those rules. Have you made it easier to miserable than to be happy? If so, your plan is probably working.
2. Create a Better Set of Rules
Using your imagination, create and record a new set of rules that would make it easy for you to be happy and difficult to be miserable. Examples:
“I enjoy seeing the people I work with each day.”
“I really hate it when natural disasters destroy my home.”
Don’t worry whether or not these new rules seem “realistic”–that’s not the point. All internal rules are arbitrary, anyway. Just write rules that would make you happier if you really believed them.
3. Post the New Rules Where You’ll See Them
When you’ve completed your set of “new” rules, print out them out and post copies in three places: your bathroom mirror, the dashboard of your car, and the side of your computer screen. Leave them up, even after you’ve memorized them.
Having those new rules visible when you’re doing other things gradually re-programs your mind to believe the new rules. You will be happy at work. It’s really that simple.
Oh, and by the way … That saleswoman? She was my mother.

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7 Things Your Employees Will Never Tell You.

Vipul Mali — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 14:41:07 +0000

What your employees won’t say could be what you most need to hear.
Your employees have a lot of thoughts. Most of those thoughts they don’t share– especially with you.
At times their silence is a good thing, especially where your ego or their employment status might be concerned, but their silence also may keep you from understanding what your employers really think and what they really need from you.
Consider whether your employees might be thinking one or more of the following:
1. “Please don’t talk to me about your personal life.” Talking about subjects that aren’t work related helps build a personal relationship, but many people fall back on talking about themselves when they don’t know the other person well. Employees, especially new employees, have no interest in hearing about your go-to topics like your last vacation or your antique collection or your beach house.
New employees want to feel like they belong, but more importantly they want to know how they’re doing. Long-term employees want to know you care about them; talking about yourself only shows you care about yourself.
2. “Can’t you see I’m really busy?” Here’s what happens. You stop by to talk, the employee stops what they’re doing to chat with you… and when you walk away they’re behind and have to catch up. Employees want to talk to you, but they have work to do, too. Sometimes there’s an easy answer, especially if the employee’s job involves physical tasks: Help out while you talk. Not only will your employee appreciate a little help, your conversation will be less forced. In other settings, pick your spots carefully.
Never interrupt an employee who is busy simply because today you’ve decided to “check in with the troops.”
3. “I can tell you really don’t care about my personal life.” Walking up and asking an employee a generic question like, “Hey, how are your, um, kids?” or, “Are you doing anything fun after work?” or, “Hey, who do you think will win the cricket worldcup this year?” comes across as forced and insincere, at least to your employees. Either take the time to get to know your employees well enough so you can have a decent conversation or just stick to work-related subjects. (Employees definitely prefer “all business” to “pseudo-personal.”)
One way to show employees you care about them as people is to follow the 20% rule: When you’re talking to employees, never talk more than 20% of the time. The single best way to show you care is to listen.
4. “You claim you respect me… so give me something important to do.” Assigning an employee a critical task is a definite sign of respect. Do it as often as you can.
5. “You claim you trust me… so give me something important to do and let me decide how to do it.” It’s only natural to tell your employees how to do their jobs; after all, it’s your business. Still, when you assign a project without providing a lot of direction your employees instantly know you respect their abilities and trust their judgment.
Employees appreciate respect; they love trust.
6. “Actually, I would like to work here a long time.” The average person switches jobs a number of times before they’re 30-years-old. Some leave for money, but many leave because they can’t stand their boss. No matter what your industry, high employee turnover doesn’t have to be a fact of employment life. Find out why employees leave and address the causes. It’s stressful to change jobs, so most employees won’t start job searching until you give them a reason to.
Watch, listen, take smart actions… do your job right and most of your employees will stay.
7. “That gift card is nice, but a simple ‘thanks’ is really all I need.” Sure, every time you hand out paychecks you’re implicitly saying thanks, but not really. Find reasons to thank your employees as often as you can. Look for an accomplishment, however small or fleeting, and express your appreciation. “Thanks for taking care of that difficult customer.” “Thanks for jumping in and helping Ms. Sweta.” “Thanks for letting me know we have a problem in the warehouse; I hadn’t realized orders were consistently shipping late.”
Say thanks benefits both of you: The employee feels appreciated, and you get a great way to start a meaningful conversation.

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What keeps employees happy at work?

Vipul Mali — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 14:04:13 +0000

With attrition rates soaring high, the million dollar question for HR managers today is… ‘What keeps people happy at the workplace?’ According to a research, the most crucial factor for winning goodwill from employees is good communication and a healthy relationship with colleagues and seniors. This sounds easy, but recent studies have suggested that this is actually the most difficult thing to get right. A research suggested that 73% of British workers believe good relationships with colleagues to be the key reason they enjoyed their jobs, while only 48% cited financial reward.
Research experts say: “Business should not ignore the value of good relationships at work. Simple ways to boost happiness include treating staff fairly, ensuring communication is good, and fostering a positive atmosphere.”
The research highlighted that small businesses have the happiest employees. 86% of employees, who work for organisations with employees between 20 and 100 in number, feel happier as compared to 78% of employees who work in organisations with a workforce more than 1,000.
Research analysts were not surprised at these results. They explained, “In small businesses there is an informal, personal atmosphere that you don’t get in large organisations. Individual problems and office politics tend to get ironed out early, as there’s a lot to be said for face-to-face contact and working things out.”
A recent ‘sickness survey’ of absence due to ill health found that the average number of days small businesses lost due to absence per employee was 1.8 days, as compared to an average of 8.4 days for businesses of all sizes.
Ensuring happiness and contentment of individuals in a workplace may be a tougher task for larger organisations, but most importantly an HR manager can put strategies in place to raise awareness of the importance of employee satisfaction. A good pay package doesn’t necessarily guarantee happy employees. Try these to get closer to satisfying employees:
1. Involvement of the top management more than just the annual or bi-annual meet.
2. Investment in training programmes’ for employees.
3. Empowering staff with authority after they prove themselves, and defining their responsibilities clearly.
4. Having a customer service staff for guiding employees in day to day issues.
If organisations think a little more deeply about what employees really want and what will make them happier, they would reap its rewards sooner than later.

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