Wining Asia Pacific HR Leadership Award 2014....

Asia Pacific HRM Congress 2014....

I was at Asia Pacific HRM Congress 2014 on 11^th Sept 2014. It was a great pleasure to be there and interact with CEOs and top HR leaders across industries, Indian and MNCs. I was one of the recipient of  “Asia Pacific HRM Leadership Award”. I had received the mail from Congress somewhere in April that I was short-listed for this award by the research team of Congress. I was delighted and proud to be short-listed for such award and that at Asia Pacific level. I am always committed to the profession but before that I am passionate for what I do. I like to work on innovations in HR and build the team so that they excel in their career. I express my sincere thanks for selecting me for this award. This is really a great honour and I dedicate this to my family, team and my known, unknown mentors in my life.

 I also spoke in the congress in the session on “Creating Global Leaders.”  This session was chaired by Rajiv Noronha, (Head –OE, BPS-TCS). Rajeev has written well on his blog about the session. He writes, “First presentation by Vinod Bidwaik, HR Director at  DSM India Pvt Ltd,  brought out how leadership is key to securing the future for company which is driven by innovation.   The company had evolved  over a period of 110 years from a mining company to a high tech speciality plastics products company and also getting into some amazing innovations that will drive the growth.  To enable this you needed to shape the right behaviours right from entry  screening to retention and motivation and the right leadership was needed to provide that direction.   After all Leadership is a verb and not a noun.  It is all about driving momentum and bringing change and not about remaining good where you are.  The six stage model that was presented made an interesting learning from the companies five year journey.”

Please refer Rajiv blog, http://rnor.blogspot.nl/2014/09/discussions-on-creative-leadership-at.html for details and perspective of other speakers, Wing Commander Naresh Taneja Head HR for IRB Infrastructure Services and also Rajiv.

Be A Proactive Employee

Why Proactive employees are successful?

Proactive employee are self-directed.
They believe at all times that they have a choice.

Why few employees get very good or excellent rating during performance appraisals? Why few employees get promoted? Why few employees don’t get opportunities in spite of their so called hard work? And why only few employees lead teams?

If you ask me, I will say that those who get good career opportunities have potential and are more pro-active than others. Few employees just follow what managers tell. They neither try to change the system nor give any suggestions & ideas to improve.

Most leaders and managers want employees who can manage themselves, make decisions without careful direction, and take responsibility. Whether it is front-line customer service employees taking it upon themselves to ensure that the customer gets the best experience possible, or a team leader engaging in creative problem-solving of their own, rather than bringing every issue to the boss. Proactive employees constantly find new and better ways of doing their work.

What exactly does it mean to be a proactive employee?

We can identify this in two ways, first, we examine who and what a proactive employee is. Then we look at what a proactive employee is not.

You will find that proactive employee is “self-directed” and non-proactive is “other-directed.” The self-directed employee takes responsibility for his own decisions and actions. The other-directed employee adopts an “I have to” mentality, and responds only to direction.

Difference between proactive & Non-Proactive employees:

Other-directed people believe they have no control over their own lives and instead are controlled by people in authority. For an other-directed person, the locus of control is external to himself.

On the other hand, the self-directed person sees the locus of control as internal: I have control of my life. The basic underlying belief of the other-directed person is “I have to…” meaning there is no element of choice in following what the authority has requested. For the self-directed person, the belief is “I choose to.”

Let see the personality details of both employees trough following visual:

Personality of Other –directed employee (Non-proactive employee)

When employees comply and do something they do not want to do, their natural feeling is to resent the authority for forcing them to do it. Even though the other-directed employee will eventually complete the task, he will do it grudgingly, and only well enough to avoid trouble.

underlying belief of the other-directed person is “I have to…” meaning there is no element of choice in following what the authority has requested. For the self-directed person, the belief is “I choose to.”

Whether other-directed people comply or rebel, their attitude is: I am not responsible. 

They either behave like victims, feeling sorry for themselves and complaining to friends and co-workers about the boss, or they plot revenge. Sometimes they will do both. In either instance, their intention is to undermine, a leader, want to accomplish.

Personality of Self-directed employee (Proactive employee)

The central difference between other-directed and self-directed team members is that self-directed people believe at all times that they have a choice. When you ask self-directed employees to do a new task, their thinking is to either agree or disagree with doing it.

If they agree to do the task, then they will do it to the best of their ability, because it is their choice. If they disagree, they will explain to their manager the reasons why they disagree. Either way, the feeling that self-directed people have is one of acceptance of whatever the outcomes are of their decisions.

They accept the consequences of their actions because they feel ownership of them. If self-directed team members agree to do a job and do not do it to expected standards, then they will accept the consequences for not having given their best. If they disagree with the task, and there are negative consequences for doing so, they will accept these consequences, too. That’s what self-directed people do. Prior to making decisions they consider the consequences of the decision, then act based on their understanding of those consequences. Since self-directed people are responsible, they are only likely to disagree when they believe that what they are being asked to do is unreasonable, or is the wrong thing to do.

If you are en employee, check in which category you are and if you are a manager, make the strategy to deal with both type. As a manager, you don’t have much issues with Proactive employees, focus on Non-Proactive employees… 

Power of Rituals…

This is a festive season. Lord Ganesh has arrived at devotees’ home. The whole atmosphere is positive and energetic. Lord is worshiped by devotees with full of passion and devotion.

After Ganesha, there will be Deshera and then Festival of Lights, Diwali. In between there will be lot of festivals. Everybody, from rich to poor, seniors to juniors, will perform and rituals whole heartedly.

What do these seemingly unconnected individuals have in common? All are practicing magic and rituals. Magic and rituals have long been connected.

There is magic in any ceremony that we do, whether it of a routine nature, such as making a wish on our birthday, or whether it is a sophisticated ritual involving all kinds of movements, lights and music or worship of God.

In both cases we are using the power of the ritual in order to create magic in our life.

By doing rituals, we connect to the nature and universe. This brings the energy & positivity in life. Every time that we consciously connect to the universal energy in order to direct it to a specific result that we wish to manifest in our life, we are utilizing magic. The purpose of rituals is to demonstrate this connection between nature and its laws. Rituals are a reminder to us that we are an intricate part of this vast universe.

Ritual contributes to your wholeness by allowing enough safety and freedom for all the parts of yourself to be expressed.

Rituals are important in our daily life, because they allow us:

•          To bring positivity in the life;
•          To build the confidence in what we are doing;  
•          To be as creative as we wish;
•          To enjoy ourselves and have fun;
•          To experience beauty and pleasure in our life;
•          Positive thinking brings positive things in the life.

Hence whatsoever you believe, follow the rituals. They have powers and magic… 

What? You have not listened what I said?

Identify your communication style

All problems in organizations are due to lack of communication or improper communication. People have different styles of communication. You have to choose the right style in particular situation. However people do not tune their style as per the situation. To ensure we communicate effectively each time we speak, we must understand our own communication style and preferences.     

There are four styles of communication normally people chose while communicating. Dr. Carl Jung, a famous & noted psychologist has described a unique model on this as per the figure 1.

Spirited (Expresser): Spirited communicators get excited easily and tend to ask “Who?” They dislike boring explanations and react by “selling” ideas or becoming argumentative. They like to be applauded and recognized and prefer to save on effort and rely heavily on hunches and intuition. For best results, they should be inspired to aim for bigger and better accomplishments.

Considerate (Relater): Considerate communicators like positive attention, to be helpful and to be regarded warmly. Tend to ask “Why?” They dislike rejection, uncaring and unfeeling attitudes and reacts by becoming silent, withdrawn and introspective. They love to be with friends and nurture close relationships. For best results, they must be allowed to care and provide detail; be provided specific plans and activities to be accomplished.

Systematic (Analytical): Systematic communicators seek a lot of data and ask many questions. They tend to ask “How?” They dislike making an error and being unprepared and react by seeking more information. They love to be measured by activity and busyness. In this regard, they aim to save face; they hate to make an error or be wrong. For best results, they should be given a structured framework and be provided time to make decisions at their own pace.

Direct (Driver): Direct communicators like to have their own way; they are usually decisive and have their own viewpoints. They tend to ask “What?” They dislike someone wasting their time by trying to decide for them and react by attempting to take more control of the situation. They love to be measured by results and are goal-oriented, save time, and be efficient. For best results, they should be allowed freedom to do things their own way.

Each style has its strengths and weakness.

Please refer figure 2 for strengths and figure 3 for weaknesses

You can identify your dominant style based on above descriptions. However you can’t use your style in all situations. You have to be flexible to be effective communicator.  

How to deal with these different style of people?

Recognizing another’s style allows us to make adjustments in our own behavior to accommodate that person’s style. This, in turn, makes that person feel more at ease and helps us to achieve our goals more readily. It takes some willingness and effort to expand beyond one’s own style to interact with others. It is generally appreciated, however, and may make the difference between success and failure in an interaction.

Please refer figure 4 for this.