ARE YOU A RACE HORSE OR A WORK HORSE?

Have you seen  some of your staff or even yourself trying to keep busy all the day @ work? . This typically is the behavior of a work horse who would give meaning to the Parkinson's law which states that  "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". But  is this a productive behavior?. It certainly creates a perception of hard working employee and in industrial era was appreciated and rewarded. This might have got you or even now would bring you a job stability ( unless you don't end up doing something really miserable) , but this is not what would be needed to for you to grow to being a leader or taking on higher responsibilities.

For that what you need is a race horse , someone who goes beyond the norms of a normal work, breaks the barriers and doesn't count the time he/ she or their team spends in the office. For this kind of a person it's all about performance and not about being afraid of having too much time in hand( which anyways won't get wasted). This person may make you feel that work is so simple and that things in office can be multitasked. The problem is that these people are normally considered still as outcasts or  hackers of work as described by Bill and Josh in their book" Hacking Work". Companies who don't allow internet access for their employees, having strict uniform guidelines etc are the ones who are afraid of these race horses.

Race horse at work are rare and as a company you need to have exceptional skills to locate and nurture them or else they would either become a workhorse or get poached by someone who values these race horses. As you have more of the new gen making up your workforce, there is a higher need for understanding the needs of these "faster" generation and giving them the right opportunity to grow. The choice is also for you as an individual to be a race horse and get taken care and rewarded( of course in the right organisation) or be a workhorse and be treated just like anyone else.

What Is Your Brand?

  

As we go to a super market or a grocery store, most of us probably have a brand in our mind that we all would like to lay our hand on.   Brand is the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's product distinct from those of other sellers.  

So do people have a brand?. Of course yes, all of us have a brand though it may be a bit difficult to define what your brand id unless you have done a deep study of yourself or had a branding coach who has helped you position yourself. The interesting co- relation is how some company or product brands are synonymous with personal brands(  for example think Tag Heuer , Nike etc) . This is where the 4 P's of marketing ( product , place, price, promotion combine with the 5th P which is people.

So do you really need a brand?. The answer is that you already have . If you are not sure you would like to ask people who know you well what they think of you and i am sure they can easily describe your character in a few words . That exactly is your brand. If you are like most people , you may have not thought how it would impact your career , but one of the key characters of a good leader is to ask for feedback which helps her/him to check and recheck how others perceive her/ him as a brand and how one can do corrections if need be.

There are business leaders who have created a brand for themselves and that personal branding is tied to the company and the culture they have created in the organisation. Your brand can be part of that larger brand or it can be a independent one , but how your brand yourself can make or break your career. So if you have not thought much of it, it might be worthwhile to pay some attention to it.

There are some tests which would help you analyse your brand . One such one that i recently took was the one created by Sally Hogshead and in case you are interested you can check out their website.

The World's Most Talent Competitive Countries- Latest data from INSEAD

Though some of the names in the to 20 list may surprise you , like any survey a lot of it depends upon the methodology and the assumptions used . 

 As per  the  website, "INSEAD, in partnership with Singapore’s Human Capital Leadership Institute and Adecco, has created the first ranking of 103 countries on their ability to attract and incubate talent. The index shows the top ten slots mostly populated by European and rich countries, plus Singapore and the United States and a wide gap between prosperous and low-income countries".

Singapore, Australia  and New Zealand are the  countries in APAC to be listed among the top 20 list.

To read more on this , you may visit INSEAD webpage

SEEING IS NOT BELIEVING

Very often we are carried away by what we see , as eyes are one of our most trusted and used sensory organs. In management , this coupled with our ability to hear plays a vital role in day to day operations of the organisation.

 Let us look at a few scenarios, 

 •Your manager wants to " see" you every day at office. 

 •Your employees wants to see your physical presence to motivate ( or sometimes demotivate) them.

 •Visuals around management principles and company leaders are hung around the company walls.

How often have you felt that not being in the same office as your boss has got you less "visibility". However is everything what we see in day to day office real?. You talk to a deception specialist or a magician and very often they will tell you how easy it is to fool your eyes. Precisely the same way your bosses may be lead to believe a certain way by those people who are highly visible to him. One of the ancient eastern teachings say that " the world around you is constructed by you", which basically means that whatever you see is what you really wanted to see. It is so true scientifically when we know that each of our eyes take 2 D images and it is the brain which combines these to form a 3 D image for it to make sense. When this is not available the brain would create an imaginary image and would justify its existence so that you really would believe what you are saying. 

 Now let us look a few scenarios where this could be happening at work and you don't even realize it!!,

 •You are looking at an employee who is continuously working, day and night and you judge that she/ he is a star. Infact what you are seeing is your own perception of what a crazy work schedule is , however the employee may be completely unproductive and is wasting a lot of time. This can happen specifically when there is a generational gap difference and you start judging work of an employee from how you and your generation behaved. 

 •Great visual presentations are an eye catcher, but very often we are so captivated by what we see that we miss out if the presentation was just purely impressive visually or did it have the real content that you had wished for . I have seen many presentations where people are so carried away by the visuals , that they forget to ask probing questions and feel completely disconnected after the " aura" is over. 

 •You see someone who comes for interviews dressed up immaculately with a suite and a matching tie etc. Generally , most untrained interviewers would form an opinion about the candidate in the first few seconds of meeting them and do the rest of the interviews trying to justify their impressions. 

So you see how this might impact the selection of a right candidate. I am very visually oriented , but in management i would advice caution using this to drive your decisions. A good leader has to combine his senses ( especially if she/he has visual as the primary sensory driver. Remember that what your eyes see is what your brain wants to see and believe.

MANAGING ASIAN WORKFORCE - A NOTE TO EXPAT MANAGERS

I have had the good fortunes of working with some of the best international managers and also a good set of great employees across the world. As a manager i have been asked various questions ranging from how i have managed 80 k employees without speaking a single word in that particular country's language to how i managed government relationship. When i say people it may also mean social interactions beyond work.

To read more of this article, please visit Evan Carmichael website where i am an author on HR topics.

Cheers
Jay

Crack the rule

I have always been totally “ anti rules”. Whether it was in school where they want us to wear uniforms or to study those dates in history which never would make sense nor relevance to me.

I have done well in life whenever there was no rules, and as far as I know most of the people I met have had the same experience. Then why do we have rules?

I am sure there are enough and more reasons to it,

• A lot of societies/nations were build on the foundations of religion with most of the religions focus on “books” that teach the do’s and don’ts of life . so we are programmed from early life that someone has to tell us what is good for us.
• Rules build fear, and fear holds you to be kept in captivity. This was what was practiced in almost all civilisations ruled earlier by monarchies or even in current so called democracies. This help consolidate power and so you have laws, rules…..

I have seen more and more instances of this in the corporate world that anywhere else and rule are strictly enforced more in brick and mortar companies than click and mortar companies. I have seen instances where I had to literally scream at people who follow rules to the bone and tell them not to cut the head for the cap. But yeah at the end its just that the cap remains, and the heads just vanish. There are 100’s of books written on why you should “ break rules”, why you should be flexible blah blah blah….. But I don’t advocate breaking rules , basically because I don’t think we have a all “matured” individuals who can live in a “norule” world. So I suggest that we crack the rules, but keep it short of breaking it. It is like a pressure cooker. Keep building that pressure that helps you cook the rice , but never blows up the vessel. Now how do we do it….?. here are a few thoughts,
• Live your life like it is your last day in life. Phew I am not talking about those will huddle with their religious texts praying for salvation. I am talking about “normal “ human beings.
• Question every bit of thing, if not publicly, then to yourself. You will find an answer that will tell you that you have started to crack the rules.
• Just don’t think that whatever someone has told you from your childoood is right. Mental programming at early ages are the biggest culprits of helping us to stick to rules
• Don’t fantasise, just act. If you like an ice cream go ahead and grab one, don’t mentally taste and starve your tongue.

Survival tips for employees during an economic crisis

Pink slips are the talk of the town and employers have no choice than to trim down their workforce during a period of economic slow down like this. Though there is no hard and fast rule that will help you retain your job, here are a few quick tips that may help you hold on irrespective of which level you are in the organization.

• Show the value of your role: The roles that are first to go are the roles which are non value adding especially to the short term cash impact to the company. So do anything and everything that is possible on earth (with no compromise on your values) to show that you are worth every penny they spend on you. How you do it depends on the nature of your job.
• Communicate with your managers: This is the time when not just one way communication helps, but reinforce the value of communicating what you do to your managers. Don’t assume that your manager always knows what you do. Ensure that he get your reports on time, sees value in it and knows what you are on.
• Be Flexible: This is the rule of the game in an environment like this. Be flexible to move to different role, different location, change in your salary structure, reduced benefits etc. People who are rigid and inflexible are the first to go, unless you are some “invaluable asset” for the company.
• Be a value Champion: They say that tough times brings the best people out. This is the time to prove that you are beyond any doubt the best value for the company and lives by its values and traits. Lead the way, especially if you are a leader, but it equally applies to all levels of people.
• Think beyond your job: During these times companies would love to embrace people who are muilti taskers, who can combine jobs, come out with creative ideas and solutions. Be the one and you will stay.