Make your own Luck…

Luck is the choice and you can actually design your luck.

Do you believe on luck? Almost all believe on these two words. There is positive and negative connotation to the words. But do you think that you can always be lucky? Luck means occurring by chance, which implies that luck just happens by chance and it can’t be planned or obtained by intention.

Off course you can’t influence the decision of raffle or lottery or roll of dice. So here you can’t win by wishing or hoping, yet you can be lucky, how? Just observe following,

Know what you want: I decided to take a new car and it was clear in my mind that I would like to purchase Honda City. When I decided, I seemed to see the Honda city everywhere on the road. While driving, car next to me or car besides to me was Honda City. Off course it hadn’t just appeared, it had always on the road. But it was only after I had learned the Honda city that I noticed it.

If you don’t know what you want, how will you know when you find it?        

After few days, I was the owner of new Honda City.

In a similar way, when we become aware of opportunities, we notice them everywhere. Like my new Honda City. When we feel lucky, we see opportunities everywhere. When we do not feel lucky, we miss them completely. Off course, the opportunities are always there, but we are not aware of the, unless we feel lucky. Opportunities of all kind around us, but we recognize them only when we feel lucky.

Let people know what you want: if you let others know what you want, they pass on to useful information and tips. If your friends are not aware that you want to change the job, they can’t help you. But if you communicate, they would definitely

communicate opportunities.

Try, try and try again, but if it still doesn’t work, then try something else. If something is not working well inspite of all efforts, give up and try something else, when you have done your best. But give it your best first.

Believe on your intuition: Respect your feelings. This does not mean you gamble on, it means that you listen to your feelings and intuition. Consider them carefully and check them well. you don’t know, you may discover something all of sudden from your insights. Some may be hidden and you may have to take it out from you.

Do you know that chain of carbon molecule was invented in dream…here is the story.

August Kekule, a Germen scientist, is regarded as one of the principal founders of modern organic chemistry, the chemistry of carbon-based compounds. In 1858 he showed that carbon can link with itself to form long chains. In 1865 he reported his discovery of the benzene ring as the basis for another major group of carbon molecules. Kekule told that he had a dream after falling into a reverie aboard a horse-drawn London bus. “The atoms were gamboling before my eyes!'' he saw how the larger ones formed a chain, dragging the smaller ones after them but only at the ends of the chain. Kekule literally invented how the carbon chains are formed while in dream. This is a power of intuition.   

Believe you will succeed: Many great achievements did not overnight. Often they were precede by many false start and difficulties. You need to maintain your faith that you will soon succeed in small things and in times in great ones. Never give up on your dreams.

You can be lucky, not by magic or dreaming, but by following some of the time tested tips mentioned above. However they do not substitute to smart work and efforts.

Good Luck.            

What is the source of your energy?

Lots of people ask me the common question, “how do you get the time to write blog, column in newspaper & magazines, going to colleges for interaction. How you do all this stuff?”. My simple answer is “I received the tremendous energy by doing so. This energy is necessary to do my job effectively at office. So by doing this, if I am gaining something, I have to take out some time. Perhaps, I manage my time effectively to accommodate such activities.”

People need energy to live the life fulfilling. Energy doesn't mean only physical energy, it is also related to mental energy. The status of mind created to do the tasks effectively. How many times, we think on our energy source?     

Sources of energy are different for different people. These energy sources may be as under:

1. Goal achievement: Some people are very happy when they achieve their targets /goals in their life or at job. For them this sense of achievement itself is a source of energy. 
2. Hobbies: Some people focus on their hobbies. I know few friends who are pursuing their hobbies further like music, dancing, acting, gardening, tracking, mountaineering  etc. One of my colleagues, teaches Persian Language in Universities. People get the energy by doing this and they are happy to do so. When they come at the office, they equally focus on their tasks.
3. Interacting with people: Some people are very extrovert. They like meeting new people, networking, associating with people. Meeting and interacting people is the solid source of network for them. 
4. Touring, vacations: Some people like to go on vacations regularly. This may be one or two time activity for them, but this lasts for next 6 months for them. 
5. Social Work: One of my friends is associated with NGO. He spends his time with social activities. He usually tells that he gets satisfaction by doing so and whole week he is energized. 

There are people whose energy sources is partying, gossiping etc. This helps them to be energetic during the whole week or month. 

Sometimes, we are not much aware about our energy sources, in that case, it is the time to just relax  and think… “What are that few things… by doing that, I get the sense of satisfaction, rewarding feel and by doing so I get energized?” I am sure you will definitely get some source of your energy… then?…Just do it… 

Organizational Context: In organizations, you will find different people whose energy sources are also different. If they get some energy from something and if it is aligned with your organizational values, you can also design the talent management plan & employee engagement plan as per the energy sources of people. As a line manager, identify energy sources of your team and encourage them to follow the sources… you will definitely get more productivity from your employees.  

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…