Career Exploration

If you are interested in continuing in your current job while you investigate possibilities within the organization, you can:
- Study the organization chart to learn more about how the organization is structured. Identify an area you would like to learn more about and connect with someone who could provide more information about that area.
- Brainstorm with your manager and identify assignments that would give you a realistic view of another part of the organization. Select one assignment and make an action plan for it.
- Identify a job within the organization that you would like to know more about and connect with someone who is currently doing that job to know more about the responsibilities involved.
- Talk with your manager about the possibility of a short-term assignment in another part of the organization.
- Select a department that you are interested in knowing more about.
- Scan the organization's intranet to learn more about other departments.
- Conduct an informational interview with a leader within your department to learn more about the strategic direction and the critical skills and knowledge required in the next few years. Selct one of the identified skills to work on and add to you development plan.

Happy New Year! I have not been blogging for ages now but hope to be more prolific in 2012:) In this New Year I'm sure most of us are definitely looking forward to career growth. After all the end of a year makes us introspect on the year gone by and where we are in our career. Preparation is critical in career planning and it is important to identify the career transitions one wants to make. Some people may be looking at enrichment, that is, they are interested in growing and developing in their current job. To prepare for enrichment, one could look at:

• Identify 1-2 assignments or tasks that could be added to your current role for greater satisfaction or to expand your role. You can set up a meeting with your manager to discuss this in greater detail.


• Identify a task or project that you can handle with minimum supervision to add greater independence to your job. Come up with the action plan and discuss it with your manager.


• Identify a process improvement or a challenging problem that would give you a new learning opportunity. Volunteer to lead the effort.


• Find ways to nurture creativity in your job. Select a project or assignment that will enable you to contribute your best ideas.


• Enhance your customer service skills. Find 1-2 ways to interact more or in a different way with internal and external customers.


• Meet with your colleagues after completing projects or assignments for "give and take" feedback to pinpoint strengths and development needs. Incorporate the feedback in your development activities.


• Write down 2-3 things that you love in your current role and determine specific ways to do more of it. Include the ideas in your development plan.

Hope the above ideas prove to be useful. Do feel free to share your feedback with me. I plan to write about career exploration in my next post...

The Meltdown and other crises...

Hi!

Its been ages since I blogged!. Well I've been very busy with a number of things, but neverthe less I'm back. The recent meltdown has affected most sectors and everyone has major concerns about the current scenario. For instance, a friend was asking me what recruitment agencies could do to survive. It got my brain ticking but I was wondering if all you readers could come up with some ideas.

The way employees have been ruthlessly sacked in many firms has led to a low morale. All of a sudden, there is no respect as such, for people who were 'valued employees' a short while ago.

In addition, we had the crisis in Mumbai which, in its aftermath, has left people with scared and bruised spirits.

I think the answer to all this lies in more long-term solutions rather than knee jerk reactions. I'm yet to come up with any concrete ideas but hey like everyone else I'm thinking too.

Let's hope 2009 brings happy tidings for one and all!

“Before I state the problem are there any solutions?”

When I think of the word 'problem' other words come to mind such as quandary, complication, trouble, mess, plight... All of us face problems on a regular basis and solving them is a huge challenge at times.
What does the word problem actually mean? A problem is basically a dilemma with no apparent way out; an undesirable situation without a solution; or a question that you can't currently answer. It's not just that things are different from the way you'd ideally like them to be – it's that you can't fix them no matter what you do.
Some of the characteristics of problems are as follows:
Incomplete communication - Conversations have broken down or haven't even been started so that full understanding is lacking
Unknowns - Information is missing
Inaccurate information – Some of the known information is wrong
Confusion – People involved find themselves in a mental fog, stressed or overwhelmed by stimuli or choices
Hidden emotions – Emerging feelings tend to come out as you examine the situation
Different viewpoints – You and others have conflicting ideas
Changing impressions – As you investigate the situation, ideas, feelings and explanations change, sometimes radically
Balanced Dilemma – A tug of war exists where no one person or idea is able to win
Persistence – The situation won't disappear
One has to check which of the characteristics actually apply to the given problem. The ideal method of resolving problems and making difficult decisions involves two steps. This magic formula is guaranteed to work. In fact it never fails when applied correctly. The steps are
1. Define the problem
2. Decide how to solve it
You already knew that, right? Although it seems obvious, most problem solvers and decisions makers don't do a very good job of the first step, Problem Recognition. Instead they rush off to step 2, Solution Decision. Unless you define the problem thoroughly and accurately, your solution may not address what's really wrong underneath. The difficult is knowing what to analyze and resolve. Well, tomorrow I'm gonna talk about these two steps in detail.

Hi folks! I wasn't able to blog for a few days due to some problems.
I came across a rather interesting survy in the US called Harris's Poll. Their recent survey indicated which industries are rising in public esteem and ones going down. Not surprisingly tobacco and oil companies consistently score far lower than any other industries. Managed care and health insurance, cable companies, pharmaceuticals and airlines also got low scores.
The industries which have fallen the most in public esteem are oil companies, airlines and pharmaceutical companies.
What is surprising is that people have the highest esteem for supermarkets. The retail industry is bound to rejoice at that!
Search engines, hardware and software makers and, perhaps also surprisingly, hospitals also receives good marks.
Do you think in a poll conducted in India would have similar results??

Drivers of Employee Engagement

“I think employee engagement is important because it gives you the productivity. If you are looking at it from a purely financial point-of-view, it is about low-costs, high-output and much more creatively.” Frank Du, HR Director of Uniliever Food Solutions Asia makes this insightful observation about the importance of employee engagement.

Employee engagement is not something that can be increased simply by sending out a survey or instituting a program. It requires a culture change. Engagement is not accidental. There are actually three key elements that contribute to a highly engaged workforce, including having the right employees in the right jobs; leaders who are attuned to their direct reports; and systems and strategies for gaining and maintaining engagement in every organization.

Organizations must hire employees who fit the job requirements, develop leaders with the right skills and provide support through strong systems and strategies. Together, these three drivers lead to the formation of an engaging work environment. Once created, the engaging work environment has a positive impact on employee behaviors and attitudes. In particular, an engaging environment builds loyalty in employees by meeting their personal and practical needs, thus encouraging them to stay with the organization. In addition, an engaging work environment taps into employees' motivation to try harder and put forth the extra effort that differentiates organizations from their competitors.

Finally, when organizations have engaged employees, the long-term benefits translate to the bottom line. Organizations have more satisfied and loyal customers, increased profits, better-quality products or services and greater growth potential.

Employee Engagement

I found the recent Watson Wyatt report on Employee Engagement very interesting. Indian employees were found to have the highest employee engagement score (78%) the survey in Asia Pacific. The three main drivers of employee engagement were customer focus, compensation and benefits and communication, that too across companies.
In the current scenario, attracting critically skilled talent and retaining it is a constant challenge for most companies. This gives organizations the much needed competitive advantage in the market.
It has been found that factors which attract employees to an organization are
the nature of work, stress levels, career development opportunities, pay and job security
Career development is an area in which most appear to companies struggle.
Designing reward programs has become a focus for many companies which are making
increased investment in annual merit increases, learning and training, increased investment in incentive earning opportunity for employees, recognition programs and providing accelerated career opportunities. However, there is negligible increase in benefits. Unfortunately most companies fail to make employees aware of this investment.