Energised or enervated by work?

R. Shekar

Bill devoted the fourth session on HR philosophy to the marvel of the human capital to appreciate with use! “Have you ever wondered why children demonstrate more energy during vacation time than when school is on?”
Contrary to popular belief that expects work has to necessarily drain us of energy, some individuals who perform some aspects of work actually end up more positively energised after a gruelling engagement! Can HR come up with a philosophy that could capitalise on this freak occurrence?

More

Personal growth with a difference?

R. Shekar

Third in his series on HR philosophy, Bill equated the predispositions the employees held towards their work with the ‘Employee value proposition’ held out by the employers.
“Do we see people in terms of their future potential or past performance? When we say ‘we aim to get the best out of their hidden potential’ do we comprehend that much more lies within the employee than that we are willing to acknowl edge? Do we recognise then that people do possess much more capability than what they may put forth currently or are willing and confident of ventilating in the future?

More

Pre-disposition at work

R. Shekar

Continuing with his observations on people philosophies, Bill questioned the senior management on what it is that they intended to do about a recent report in the industry stating that less that 20 per cent of the workforce is actively engaged at work; in fact over 50 per cent could be actively disengaged!
Just as the senior management had some perceptions about the level of risk or opportunity associated with a decision and the forum and treatment appropriate to them, the workforce also carried some prejudices and predispositions about the meaning of work and its impact on the organisation.

More

Personal paradigms at work

R. Shekar

Bill devoted the entire morning session to repeatedly bring out the power of the self-fulfilling prophesy that influences our perceptions and dictates our life’s choices. He got the team to list the various situations awaiting decision from the senior management; next, purely based upon their intuitive perception, he got them to classify them on two dimensions; was the situation requiring routine treatment or inviting a new thinking (X-axis) and whether the decision was aimed at containing risk or tapping into an opportunity (Y-axis).
Categorising the types of decisions according to their orientation to the situation (X-axis) and perception of the situation (Y-axis), he brought out the cultural practices that defined the people philosophies.

More

Who is a valuable employee?

R. Shekar

Returning from a short break, Bill went on to explore the people philosophy at play. An abundant philosophy creates a culture of optimism, tolerance and the pursuit of universal good. A scarcity minded philosophy on the contrary might reward circumstantial short-term wins denying room for chance and intuition.
Putting the HR manager on the spot, he motioned towards four options created by interplay of gainful deployment of personnel (X-axis) and the returns they posted on the potential resident in them (Y axis).

More

Corporate values at play

R. Shekar

The following day, William (Bill) Oliver, the international Sales Coach, addressed the top management team at the invitation of Rajat.
“What is your business philosophy?” asked Bill, startling the senior team. Perplexed at the prospect of mixing business and philosophy, they came up with several ‘smart’ responses on the fly that he listened to with great patie nce. Bill went on to present four possible scenarios he wanted the top team to vote independently and fearlessly in favour of the one closest to describing the company’s collective current philosophy.

More

Psychology of selling

R. Shekar

“This may give you some ideas on the sales summit you are convening?” Rajat opined as he extended an invitation to PVR Rao, Head of Sales. ‘Psychology of selling’ was the subject of talk at the Rotary that evening. Rao consented, somewhat meekly though, at the prospect of an authority such as he, sermonised by another.

More