Success, At What Cost?

It was 2 O'clock in the morning and I was still in the factory, leading a team of a few dozen Engineers,  Supervisors and Workers to execute an order, which, if not completed in next couple of days, would attract a huge penalty, in addition to a distinct possibility of being blacklisted by one of the biggest customers of the company.

The factory, being located in a remote place, had an adjoining  full-fledged residential colony, and the top leadership including Managers and most of the Supervisors and Workers used to stay inside the premises.

Focusing on perhaps one of the most challenging assignments of my professional life, of restoring the lost reputation and glory of the company, for which I was picked up from one of the best and largest Indian Corporates Bajaj Auto, nothing really mattered to me than to make it happen at any cost.

Working for more than 18 hours a day - and for several months - to achieve the target, I, at some point in time, lost touch with the developments in my personal life.

My elder daughter was just a year old then, and was desperate to grab my attention like any child. But, I was never available to fulfill her expectation. It was an amazing commitment - or madness - to prove to whom I don't know, that I was competent enough to achieve an almost impossible target.

"Sir, your wife is looking for you," said one of my Engineers to me when I was checking a Release Note in the computer room.

"What, my wife? Are you sure?" I couldn't believe him.

"Yes Sir. She is crying and desperately looking for you." He continued.

Confused, why was she here, at this odd hour, I rushed out to the factory gate separating the colony.

There she was, in front of the gate, lying on the ground, with our a-year-old daughter crying and trying to wake her up.

No, she wasn't sleeping, but laid squirming on the ground with pain, the intensity of which had made her almost senseless. I knew what it was, because for last couple of weeks she had been complaining about it and the local doctor had advised us to go to Mumbai for a complete check up to find the reason behind.

Mumbai being a couple of hours journey from our place, would surely have consumed a whole day, might be more, for a detailed investigation. Unfortunately, I didn't have so much time to spare, even for my wife, because, I was so addicted to proving a point -- that I failed to realize, what really matters in life.

Somehow I managed to carry her back home, and her pain gradually subsided over a period of time. Thank God, nothing serious happened until I achieved my objective of completing the order in time.

Immediately after that, I mean achieving the target, management sanctioned me a huge loan for getting  the best available treatment for her and I proceeded on a month long leave. 

Well, I was given an out-of-turn promotion immediately after joining back a month and half later. And that was perhaps the best moment of my career up until then. 

However, today, while looking back and analyzing the gains and loses, I do realize that the quest for success in career can completely jeopardize our personal life, if we fail to strike a balance between the two.

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Please Treat Others With Respect and Empathy!

He called up and desperately, requesting me to look for an immediate placement for him as he has already been serving the notice period. He is the same person whom I have been repeatedly calling up for past several months, but in vein. He never bothered to pick up my calls, neither called back. Simply put, he refused to a decade old relationship while riding the success wave.

Another professional, who would always give me an appointment, but would refuse to meet at the last moment, not once but several times, demonstrates a weird behavior that needs detailed analysis to identify the root cause of such an irrational approach. 

Ideally, when you're not interested to meet someone, the best way is to let him know it outright instead of agreeing first and then aborting it at the last moment.

Both of them belong to HR fraternity! 

Well, I don't expect this type of behavior to be HR's exclusive rights, as you would find such personalities in all other functions and in all domains of life. However, being into the business relationship management, dealing with dozens of HR Heads, I'm slightly inclined towards watching their behavior more than I do with others.

Let's look at the other side of the coin now: A HR Head, much more prominent than the above ones, both in terms of reputation and level of operation, is completely opposite in his approach. Interaction with him, either on phone or across the table, is a delightful experience. And, it's not person-specific, as many others have confirmed the same. Fortunately, I'm associated with quite a few like him.

Now, coming back to the issue, what amuses me, and confuses as well, is, why some of the most prominent HR professionals fail to understand the essence and usefulness of long term relationship in professional domain of life. 

And this lack of realization that HR is more about establishing an emotional connectivity with employees for taking them into confidence - which is essential to bring about the desired cultural change - is gradually eroding the credibility of HR as a function as such.

If HR Heads, like the ones I mentioned in the beginning, are so weak in managing long a term relationship with external agencies, how can you expect them to deliver results while dealing with internal agencies/people in terms of effective talent management?

Alan Zorfas and Daniel Leemon, explaining the importance of establishing an Emotional Connectivity with specific reference to customers, through an interesting article in Harvard Business Review, highlight:

"Our research across hundreds of brands in dozens of categories shows that the most effective way to maximize customer value is to move beyond mere customer satisfaction and connect with customers at an emotional level – tapping into their fundamental motivations and fulfilling their deep, often unspoken emotional needs  (for details, see our HBR article “The New Science of Customer Emotions”). That means appealing to any of dozens of “emotional motivators” such as a desire to feel a sense of belonging, to succeed in life, or to feel secure."

Why don't they realize that managing talent is more about mapping others' ego and synchronizing and aligning them towards achieving both micro and macro business goals of the organization than of inflating their own? 

Athanasios Drigas and Chara Papoutsi, through a publication on Research Gate, describing the models of EI and review the findings to show the positive correlations between EI, leaders and employees, points out:

"Emotional intelligence (EI) is related to emotions and emotional information. It has attracted great attention among researchers and Human Resource (HR) practitioners because of its input for leaders and employees and its key role in organizational effectiveness and excellence."

They should also understand that the ability to connect with people within their sphere of influence - a decisive criteria for effective talent management in particular - is a matter of habit, and, it should be independent of the level or identity of the person on the other side of the table.

Highlighting the four basic foundations of Social/Emotional Intellience Skils,  Amy Morin, through an article published in VeryWellMind, suggests how to increase your social intelligence skills:

"Individuals with social intelligence can sense how other people feel, know intuitively what to say in social situations, and seem self-assured, even in a larger crowd. You might think of these folk as having “people skills,” but what they truly possess is social intelligence."

So let us treat others with respect and empathy!

Photo by Moose Photos from Pexels

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An Integrated Strategy For Attracting The Right Talent!

Despite running a Talent Sourcing firm, I've been struggling to identify and hire the best available candidates for my own company. And I'm sure, it's no different elsewhere: Leadership from all industry verticals are facing an acute talent shortage.

Much have been debated over this issue and all conventional methodologies are being implemented by organizations, not really producing desirable outcome though.

Hence, the need of the hour is to design an innovative and result-oriented integrated strategy with total commitment to its effective implementation.

Some of them, in my opinion, are:

 

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Key To Success: Read The Body Language of Others

Long ago, I, along with my partner, from a company that we had launched at that time, made a presentation to the Director-HR of a large Indian Corporate for clinching a lucrative business deal against huge competitions from the global corporations. My partner, a young and renowned HR professional, who had worked with a host of MNCs before quitting the job, had always been to the other side of the table: Listening to similar business presentations.

During the meeting, when, after launching initial dialogues, I handed the game over to him, he, being a methodical and knowledgeable professional, started delivering a detailed speech to the HR director, highlighting even the minutest details. In less than a couple of minutes, I could sense that the HR Director was getting little impatient - may be bored - while listening to my partner’s detailed lecture about how we fare better than our competitors.

So, getting slightly worried, I had no option but to intervene and switched the topic over in such a way that it gave the Director to react comfortably. I could very well sense my partner’s uneasiness for an uncalled for intervention. However, that timely intervention, ultimately led to winning the business deal. Now, let me tell you, how I could sense that I must intervene.

It’s the body language of the the HR Director, indicating that he had almost lost interest in whatever my partner was telling him. It could be for various reasons, but the indications were clear, and I could read them clearly because of my previous experience. Later, I apologized to my partner, explaining the reason for cutting him short in the middle of his presentation. And he, being a highly matured person, understood it well and appreciated my efforts.

So the point is, while talking to another person, it’s extremely important to read their body language and understand if they is still interested in listening to whatever you’re delivering. If not, take a break against your wishes and allow them to take control over the course of discussion.

This is relevant, especially during a business meeting, when you are making a presentation to your prospective client. Because, success in converting a business presentation into a confirmed deal depends more on your ability to handling your prospect’s ‘Psychologically' than marketing your competence — if you meet the minimum criteria.

The same principle, obviously, applies to our personal life also. So, be alert and correctly read the other person's ‘body language,’ if you wish to remain one of the most preferred friends of theirs. Business presentation or personal discussion, the successful transactions depends more on correctly analyzing the body language of the other party involved and taking appropriate corrective action in time.

When you master the art of interpreting the body language, correctly, knowing when to stop talking and let the other person take over, you’re a step closer to win over his heart and mind. And who doesn’t know that the intensity of success is mainly governed by the right brain, not left.

Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels

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What You Must Do While Looking For A Job During The Coronavirus Pandemic

"Depending on what you want to do and where your skills lie, there is still a job out there for you—even if it may not feel that way."Writes Sara Fielding on Fortune magazine. She is right, in my opinion, as many companies from Food, Healthcare, Digital Technology and Online Business domains are hiring thousands of professionals across the globe. Most important issue for the job seekers right now is how to job hunt during the corona virus pandemic.

"During the coronavirus pandemic, moving forward in any way careerwise seems complicated at best. But while the economic and social implications of COVID-19 have caused employment numbers to take a hit (in just a week, 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment), there’s still a wide variety of companies that are hiring."

Unfortunately, lot of people have lost their jobs - and many are likely to in near future - in recent time due to the impact of coronavirus on Economy. On one hand, there are limited no of jobs available; and on the other hand, the number of job seekers have gone up exponentially, making the competition much tougher than it was before. So, those, who have lost their jobs must understand how to cope if you have lost your job amidst the corona virus pandemic.

"The stress of unemployment can take a serious toll on your well-being under any circumstance. But during the coronavirus pandemic, your stress levels may be even higher than usual.With our current situation and the state of the global economy, there is a much lower chance of landing a new job anytime soon. And it’s unclear when social distancing measures will end or what shape the economy will be in when you are able to return to work.Add in the fear of getting sick, the inability to leave home, and the need to educate your children, and you’ve got a recipe for an increased risk of mental health issues. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to cope with the stress in a healthy way if you’ve lost your job. Managing your distress and taking positive action may help you maintain your mental health during this crisis"

Since the methodology of hiring and mode of working have undergone a major shift in view of coronavirus impact, job seekers too have to modify their approach while looking for a new opportunity and should follow 7 tips for how to job search during corona virus pandemic.

"Companies are still hiring full-time employees for permanent positions; however, you’ll need to be strategic and focus on those organizations that are actively advertising new job listings. Some industries have been more adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic than others. If you’re searching for work in an industry where most companies were forced to close their doors and were unable to operate their business in an online environment, you can expect hiring to be halted for the foreseeable future. You certainly can either use this time to lay the groundwork for your job search so you can hit the ground running later in the year. Or, you can adjust your job goals and pursue opportunities that are currently available in other complementary fields."

Coronavirus has changed the dynamics of job market from Employee's to Employer's domination, making it more competitive, as I have already mentioned, leaving the job-seekers with no option but to keep innovating in terms of finding new ways to stand out in a crowded market. While doing so, they have to avoid committing mistakes that could jeopardize their efforts.

"Many professionals now find themselves having to apply for positions during one of the most challenging times in modern history. “The job market is tougher than it’s been since The Great Depression,” says Eleesha Martin, recruiting process outsourcing manager of G&A Partners, a leading national HR service provider. 'As a result of the pandemic, it’s become an Employer’s job market. Candidates will have to get more assertive and creative in finding ways to help them stand out, or they will get lost in the crowd.'"

It's an unprecedented job market condition now. No doubt, our response to it also has to be unique. Hence, I suggest to all Job-seekers to equip themselves with a new thought process for getting positive results. Let us shift from the 'Same Reality' to a 'New Reality' for achieving a 'New State of Being,' which is a New Personality that leads to a New Action Driven Personal Reality, through creation of new and better thoughts!

 Photo by Kateryna Babaieva from Pexels
 

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5 Steps For Designing A Recruiter Friendly Resume

Most of the Recruiters, who are hard pressed for time for delivering results to their internal and external clients, never look at any Resume for more than a couple of seconds to dig out the information relevant to the assignment under consideration.

So, while designing a Resume, the first and the most important thing for you is to make that information visible to the Recruiters and within those few seconds.

Being a Recruiter myself for more than 2 decades, some of the strategies coming to my mind are:

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True Story - How Emotional Connectivity Fuels Leadership Performance!

If you're not able to connect with key people in your professional circle, emotionally, I don't think you would ever make it happen as a leader.

By Emotional Connectivity I mean building a strong attachment bond with professionals in your domain of operation: Team members, Suppliers, Service Providers, and keep them sufficiently motivated to maintain and improve upon their current performance level.

Unfortunately, very few leaders take it seriously and, without realizing what's going wrong, they keep descending down the performance ladder and vanish from the Success Domain over a period of time.

Let me share with you a true story, highlighting, how emotional connectivity fuels leadership performance:

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