Monday, September 29, 2014

Need for a Pause during Change

You are in midst of an adrenalin pumping, emotionally involving, and intellectually stimulating change period.

How should you respond to brief sub-periods of inactivity or pause during such times? Rather, should you be actively keeping aside such ‘pause times’ during change periods?

I contend you should keep aside such ‘pause times’.

It helps you re-calibrate, re-prioritize, re-focus, and re-energize yourself.

Now let me take this a step further. Should this only be at individual level or should you be extending this to teams/groups too?

I think teams/groups also need to find a space for ‘pausing’ and re-energizing themselves. Just having a bit of fun might provide a good outlet for anxiety involved in process.

-
Sourav

Saturday, September 27, 2014

HR Business Partnership


We talk a lot about HR being a strategic partner to the business. But what are bedrocks that enable you to become a valuable partner?

Here are my experiences:
1)      Trust –business leaders and leadership team and you need to have a ‘trusting partnership’. You can start partnership with a default ‘trust’ status and then build on it through interactions and through early successes/joint work.

2)      Business understanding – if you have a understanding of business strategies, goals, challenges – and you are plugged into business rhythms – then you are perceived as ‘in boat’ with them. I am not asking you to become a ‘native’ – you are a partner and should have sufficient space to disagree or bring in your neutral perspective when required. But as old saying goes ‘To change the system, you gotta be in the system’.

3)      Networks – you should have a working relationship with important stakeholders in and outside business. This overlaps with trust angle but has its own space too. This is more to do with your ability to influence eco-system to get the work done.

-
Sourav

Monday, September 22, 2014

Who am I?

-          is a very pertinent question!

We strive to define our ‘identity’.  Our experiences, our aspirations, those around us, ecosystem we live in – all contribute to our definition of ‘our identity’.

Identity is a ‘who’ question. Downstream it impacts ‘why’ question (our values), and behavior implications (how, what, and when).

Defining our identity can be empowering, but in certain conditions limiting.  I experience and sometimes observe a tendency to delve into our past and look at our present to define ‘our identity’. While that brings about understanding, it also runs risk of bringing about rationalization and a resistance to change.

For us to create a future which we desire, we need to give up somethings of our past.

So ensure that you are factoring in enough of your aspirations into your identity.

That will make for a more complete and possibly satisfying answer to question ‘Who am I?’

-
Sourav