Future of life and work

For the last few years we have been discussing the changing world, VUCA and new way of working. There are a lot of research papers, opinions and views expressed by many wise people. I have been watching market and business trends for the last 10 years. While studying, I had predicted a few things in 2014. Changes because of these trends were inevitable, however Covid19 has pushed all to adapt to those changes. Please read different articles and my sessions available on this blog.    

And my all predictions are reality today..

• Accelerated digitalisation in all areas of life;
• Automation of jobs resulting unemployment but creation of new roles;
• Flexible working, rise of contract and freelancers;
• Increased gap: qualification vs employability;
• Your privacy is at stake, you are tracked every time, you are subject to experimentation; 
• Behaviour skills are the differentiations;
• False propaganda and narratives created by hypocrites extremists, leftist, fake liberals and secular will impact your life;
• Explosion of information and news will confuse you and hence you have to learn how to interpret the same;
• You are used and controlled by algorithms, capitalists, marketing companies, PR agencies, media and politicians;
• Societies will be fragmented and people will fight with each other;
• Majority and stable governments will be destabilised. Everything is challenged in this world; The ecosystem will work against each other. This is another business model. 
• Health and wellness is at stake, mental health is the topmost issue today.,

Everything has changed. We are modern and advanced but broken, fragmented, isolated.

Of course there are some positive signs where our millennial and Z generation is becoming more sensible about people, planet & ethical profits and increased participation of women in the workforce and economy.  

With these all realities you need to reflect, unlearn and relearn.

In such an uncertain situation you are vulnerable, challenged, subject to all types of attack and hence...

• Step back and pause,
• Think for a while,
• And then Act,
• Unlearn what you learned,
• Learn new skills,
• Recondition your mind cautiously,
• Don’t fall in a trap of status, shallow world of life, materialistic things, false propaganda etc.
• Connect and network with people.

Respect diverse views and perspectives,

Be happy with what you have and express gratitude. 

©Vinod Bidwaik

Author's book are available on Amazon, Flipkart, Pothi and BookGanga 

Vitality in Human Resource is now available in paperback edition. Please click here to buy

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Coping with the anxiety due to Covid19

Covid19 situation is very bad in India. The second wave is more dangerous but more dangerous are that news about unavailability of beds, oxygen supply, medicine, and vaccines. The invisible virus has spoiled the fun in our lives. Every family is affected by the virus. People lost their beloved ones. We still don’t have the solutions to handle the situation. People are scared and are worried about their families.

This is bringing anxiety, panic attacks. Few deaths are not because of the infection but because of the panic attacks. The negative information is flowing like a fire on social media. Because of the illogical and irrational thoughts anxieties are magnified. Most of the people are so sure that something bad will happen to them and their families. In nuclear families, this fear is prominent. The fear of losing something is creating panic and people are becoming anxious.          

We need to understand that we can’t change this situation, but we can help to improve the situation by taking enough care and following the guidelines given by the health ministry from time to time. At least this time we have the vaccine to fight with the virus and eventually it will be available for everybody as the government is scaling up the production of different vaccines. We need to fight with the covid but along with it we need to fight with our anxiety.

Our thoughts have the power to change how we feel. If you think something sad would happen, it’s likely you’ll start to feel sad about the situation. The beauty of the mind and thought is you feel what you think. Yes, when you think of something positive and calming, you feel relaxed. 

If you want to be relaxed and free from anxiety then, 

Challenge irrational thoughts: To overcome the anxiety, start challenging your thoughts, which you will realise, are irrational. You can do it by examining the evidence and challenging those thoughts, you can reduce anxiety. Stop watching negative news, reading forwards on social media and start investing your time in value added activities. When you encounter any negative thoughts about Covid, put thoughts on trial. Choose a thought that has contributed to your anxiety. Gather evidence in support of your thought (verifiable facts only), and against your thought. Compare the evidence and determine whether your thought is accurate or not. Most of the time, you will realise that the negative news, and forwards are politically motivated, faked, or with distorted facts. Sometimes those are based on the narratives created to frame you by the so called political analysts, urban naxals, corrupt journalists and agents of political parties.

When you are anxious and in a panic mode, please question the thoughts that contribute to your anxiety. Ask yourself, below questions and affirmations as explained in brackets. 

“Is my thought based on facts or feelings? Are the news I am reading are opinions of somebody or based on the factual data?

(Most of the time, the news will be based on opinions and not the facts. There are different narratives which I should not think about much.)   

“How would my best friend, beloved one see this situation? What precautions I should take”

“How likely is it that my fear will come true?” Do I have any solution to handle this? Like if Covid is infected, what support do I need?

(However, after the research you will find that the recovery rate is almost 90%-95% and those who are suffering are those who ignored early symptoms, you will also find that people died because of the secondary infection or panic attack.)

“What’s most likely to happen?” If I am following all safety protocols, why do I need to worry?

(But in case if it happens, I am sure I will recover. And now most of the cases are home quarantine, it means those are not that serious. Check around you, in your colony and you will find that almost all people are recovered from the infection.)

“If my fear comes true, will it still matter in a week? A month? A year?”   

(I am taking all precautions; I am safe and yes vaccination is already there. The situation is just a matter of time. Everything will be fine. In both cases I will gain something. If infected, antibodies and experience, however, I don’t want to be infected, hence I should take all precautions and enroll for the vaccine if it is available for all.)

Create your own narrative for you and get free from the anxiety. You will be happy.

Be safe, be happy!

Author's book are available on Amazon, Flipkart, Pothi and BookGanga 

Vitality in Human Resource is now available in paperback edition. Please click here to buy

Buy Industrial Relations Strategy Framework For Every Manager on amazon. Click IR Strategy Framework.

My three leadership lessons in 2020

HRTales asked me my top three leadership lessons during 2020 and I responded as follows. 

Year 2020 was a learning year for everybody. VUCA was the most abused and used jargon in the corporate world.  However, we all learnt the actual meaning of VUCA in 2020. In fact, it was a great leadership lesson.

My first lesson is 

In a crisis situation, leaders are in the line of fire from various key people in the ecosystem, customers, government, employees, stakeholders, society and political leaders. These all people may have unrealistic expectations from the leaders. This brings tremendous stress and possibly the leader may make mistakes. In such a situation, leaders need to be courageous and confident. When your employees and customers are watching you, you need to demonstrate the behaviour where they should feel comfortable working with you. By demonstrating courage and confidence, you drive the right behaviours in your team too. This includes taking a calculated risk, saying no at appropriate time, taking care of employees and simultaneously focusing on the business continuity.

Second Learning is

Leaders too have their weaknesses and blind spots. The maturity is when we recognise those weaknesses and blind spots and be vulnerable. During the pandemic we all were struggling to find the solutions to different aspects like, converting the office into home offices, motivating employees, handling infections and health issues of family and teams, customers not honouring the contracts, loss of revenue and poor cash flows. The situation was so unique that there was not one fit all solutions. In this process, i learnt that as a leader, we also have vulnerability and it is okay to admit our blind spots and lack of knowledge in certain areas.

My third leadership lesson is

Purpose, values and creating the trust capital is crucial. We understood the value of relations, human interactions, social life and also understood that we have very little needs, if we manage it properly as we did during the pandemic. Such feeling takes you to the purpose in life. As a leader, one of the imperative is to give the larger “purpose” to the team, work on the values essential for survival in business or in personal life and create the trust capital in the organization. Build the trust during good times, so that you are not alone during a crisis situation. As a leader continuously invest in building meaningful relations with employees, customers and other stakeholders in the ecosystem. You can use this trust capital to set the directions, get the alignment and commitment from employees and other stakeholders. 

Author's book are available on Amazon, Flipkart, Pothi and BookGanga 

Vitality in Human Resource is now available in paperback edition. Please click here to buy

Buy Industrial Relations Strategy Framework For Every Manager on amazon. Click IR Strategy Framework.

Feel the heat.

The million-dollar question is why people change? People don’t change easily. They are driven by the habit they follow. Habits can be hard to break and hard to create new. However, we continue to acquire & create new habits unknowingly all the time. Accordingly, we demonstrate the behaviour. The behaviour is seen by many people but very few give the feedback to correct the wrong behaviour. This needs courage, courage to challenge self, challenge the status quo and challenge the overall assumption we follow every day.

It starts with the tasks and jobs we do, questions we get and answers we give. In our life all the events, all the tasks, jobs, question etc can be classified in three categories as under:

• Doable
• Stretched
• Broad possibilities

Doable: You do it easily. You have required skills, competence, and experience to handle such events or questions. 60% employees, 60% people in this world are happy doing things that they know. They are happy to handle regular jobs, in fact, maintain what they get in the legacy. You have the knowledge, skills, and experience. If you are a production engineer, you don’t go beyond that and the same applies to others. This doesn’t mean that you are not doing your job good. You are perfect; however, you are not eager to stretch yourself.  

Stretched: You have the right skills, competence, and experience but you have to take extra efforts to perform. You have to do some research, benchmark with peers, learn from others, network and influence others who are not related to you. You have to find the solution based on your skills, competence, and experience. But your current knowledge, skills, experience may not be enough to get those answers. For example, you are comfortable working with the customer to whom you are working for the last few years and all of sudden your boss assigns the new customer who is very notorious and difficult to manage. 20% employees, people come in this category.

Broad possibilities: Sky is the limit. You don’t know anything. This is a new territory, new company, new function, new geography, new people, new customers. Your existing skills, experience, competence may work or may not work. You have to reinvent yourself. Growth mindset is the requirement of such events. You have to stretch beyond your limitations and beyond your imaginations. For example, working on a greenfield project in another country, or taking a different role, which is not your functional domain, or handling the strong union, strong situation and leading the team during crisis events like pandemic. 

There are no ready-made answers, but you have the mindset where you use your skills, experiences, and competence to find the new solutions. In this process, you have pressure and stress. You feel the heat, but you learn a lot. The heat you feel may burn you, but you become comfortable afterwards. If the heat is not comfortable, you are doing too much and take a pause to think and ask the question, what are you looking for and what is the purpose? Great leaders and successful people go through this process. If you are managing such events, questions, situations, you are among 10% of employees. 

If you want to do something extraordinary find out your possibilities.

The question is where the remaining 10% have gone? Do you know them?

Author's book are available on Amazon, Flipkart, Pothi and BookGanga 

Vitality in Human Resource is now available in paperback edition. Please click here to buy

Buy Industrial Relations Strategy Framework For Every Manager on amazon. Click IR Strategy Framework