Myths and facts behind profiles & stories

If you see the profiles of professionals on LinkedIn, you will realise that everybody there is a leader; not only a leader but also a thought leader. Everybody is a good storyteller & philosopher. 5 out of 10 HR professionals have received Top HR leader, HR thought Leader, HR professional of the year, young professional etc etc. awards in their career. CEOs & CXOs are doing great branding on the platform. Few are writing stories regularly; few are sharing their experience, and few are sharing what they like. Most of them are just copying and pasting though. Few of those professionals are helping others and the overall community by sharing such stories. I am sure most of the companies must have their social media experts working for them, specially for companies and top leaders. Individuals are engaging with others on the platform regularly. On the other side, there are companies who have their own pages and they are also positing positive stories about their organizations.

If you believe in both, individual and organizational profiles and stories they put on the platform, it seems that the world is a better place to live now. Every organization is a great place to work, every company has the best practices, every company has got some or other award in management. Seems, all the problems and worries, company management and employees used to have in earlier days are now vanished.

In spite of having all this, still people are changing their jobs, companies are facing some basic challenges of revenue and cost optimisation. It is obvious situation because of Covid19, but in normal situation company stories look like “हम साथ साथ हैं (we are all together)”

Long back traditional media has enjoyed the status of 4^th pillar of democracy, but now everybody is the author, journalist and storyteller. Content is the king. If you have good content and you know how to present that content, you are powerful. However, you should know how you create & present the content.

I am just referring here about the professional contents and professional social media platforms like LinkedIn. The contents can be presented more positively, but the question is how to make it relevant as a user. Based on those profiles, head-hunters, recruiters approach the candidates for opportunities. Talent gets attracted reading stories presented on company pages and the posts senior managers post on the platform. Leads are generated based on the product information presented on the company pages. However, the main question is how to understand the authenticity of such content. How to understand the person who writes thought leader in his/her profile is really a thought leader. Titles are misleading, roles can be judgemental. People are not aware of what's happening on the market. There are recruiters who think that HRBP is a very junior role and CHRO is junior than other roles in HR, because an officer is always junior than a manager in the corporate world. This is strange to know, but this is the reality. There are facts and there are myths shared daily on the platform by users. Everybody is a marketer. The million-dollar question remains what is authentic. The person who is sharing stories about leadership lessons may be the worst leader actually and he may have the blind spot. The organization which is a great place to work may have issues and employees may have other opinions about the same company.

As said by somebody it is very relevant to think, “दिखावे पे मत जाओ अपनी अकल लगाओ (don’t go by face value & use your wisdom)”. Research more & try to understand the person behind the person and company behind the company.  

Please read the print replica of my latest book written for leaders on amazon kindle; Vitality in Human Resource

Leadership Behaviours during Covid19

Excellence in Leadership

You can debate that we need different skills while handling the situation like Covid19. Such situations are extraordinary situations. Such an event happens once in a century. VUCA is one of the words which we always use in management jargon. We always thought that we were living in the VUCA world. If you believe this, then you should be able to handle the Covid19 situation also. Has anybody applied for the course to learn how to manage the situation during Covid19? Perhaps not, but there are a lot of webinars and online sessions conducted by different organizations and forums for professionals. When you listen to all this, you don’t get much new idea how to handle the situation. The wisdom shared is about the consequences, impact etc. However, the wisdom shared about behaviours is still we always speak about. This is the same which we are learning from decades.

One of the problems with such events is people's behaviour. This is called “amygdala hijack”. “Amygdala hijack” is a personal, emotional response that is immediate, overwhelming, and may be out of measure with the actual event because it has triggered a much more emotional threat. In this condition our reasoning, problem-solving and even our ability to “hear” things can be impaired. This creates uncertainty & triggers emotional threat. Further there is a lot of information shared and such information may not necessarily be authentic and true. Fake news spreads like the fire. With social media controlling such news is a bigger issue. This creates further emotional tension and people start behaving weird.    

What are those skills leaders need to have during such times? I personally feel that it is not rocket science. This is a time now to execute and implement what we have learnt over a time. This is a combination of management and leadership. During such periods we need tough leadership where people need to make some tough decisions. It doesn’t mean that you should not consider the human element. During such periods, you don’t need to learn new skills but work on those skills you learned over a period and wait to implement in those.  

Do you think the following skills are new?

• Clarity of thought,
• Courage,
• Analytical skills,
• Strong Networking and influencing skills,
• Communicating difficult messages,
• Empathy,
• Strategic and tactical skills,
• Agility and
• Strong change management skills.

The approach to implement may be different. Only difference is, now it is the time to exhibit behaviours. You have to figure out those behaviours which should be visible. 

Following is the leadership guide which speaks about what you do during normal and abnormal situations. Homework for you is to identify those behaviours and work on that. 

In view of Covid19 situation, it is also a time to reflect that we need to exhibit our leadership qualities (which everybody has) to bring back the business. Please watch the presentation below.

Please read the print replica of my latest book written for leaders on amazon kindle; Vitality in Human Resource

Excellence in leadership from Vinod Bidwaik

What is in "Vitality in Human Resource?"

Buy the kindle copy (Print replica) here

Unpredictable events around the world have impacted business and the way business is done. Automation and digitalization are changing the landscape of the workforce. Managers are expected to be the first HR managers for their team. With such challenges, we also need to redefine our approach towards the human capital in the organization. We need to focus more on “Human” factor. It is also crucial to coach managers on managing Human Resource with right intent. Everybody needs to find the human factor in automated HR processes. After all, human resource function is related to people. It is about understanding “human” into the human resource processes. This book is a compilation of such examples of finding “Human” factor in HR processes. You will get insight about Human in all HR processes, from hiring to separations. Events and stories mentioned here will help you to crystallize your thought process. This book is not only for HR professionals, but also for other Managers and management professionals who are handling teams. As a manager, you will also get some insights about your own development. Some chapters are dedicated to individual learning and as a manager, you can always help your team members to develop in assent perspective. In short, this is a booster dose for improving your Human Resource acumen.

Every article is the story behind HR processes, leadership and management.

You will relate all stories with your experience.

This book is for all managers & business leaders to improve their HR acumen and human quotient 

Kindle edition (Print Replica) of "Vitality in Human Resources" is available for reading now

Cover Page

More about the book on back page

Kindle edition (Print replica) of book “Vitality in Human Resource” is available on Kindle. Download kindle app, search this book and download...paperback edition will be published in May 2020.

Click on below link to buy the book

Vitality in Human Resource

Following are the resources on how to use Kindle App

Click below link to know more about Kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=16571048011

Kindle App on Computer 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GZSM7D8A85WKPYYD

Kindle App in google play

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.kindle&hl=en

Kindle App on Apple products 

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/amazon-kindle/id302584613

You can go in google play or app store on apple products. Download the app and start reading unlimited book. Search for "Vitality in Human Resource" and click on buy or read free if you have the kindle unlimited subscription.