As you progress in your career, the challenges you face often become more complex, requiring a deeper level of resilience and adaptability. Mid-career professionals, in particular, find themselves at a crossroads where they must navigate the balance between experience and the evolving demands of their industries. Amidst this ever-evolving landscape of professional life, one trait stands out as a beacon for success: a positive outlook.

The Science Behind Positivity at Work

Imagine approaching each workday with a sense of enthusiasm and possibility. It’s not just a feel-good fantasy; it’s a scientifically-backed strategy for success.

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson’s groundbreaking “Broaden-and-Build” theory reveals that positive emotions do more than just make us feel good—they expand our awareness and encourage innovative thinking. This expansion of our mental horizons leads to enhanced problem-solving skills, boosts creativity and increases resilience in the face of challenges.

Real-World Impact: A study by Achor (2012) found that salespeople with a positive outlook sold 37% more than their less optimistic counterparts. This isn’t just coincidence—it’s the power of positivity in action.

Think about a recent challenge at work! Would we have a more favourable outcome if we approached it with a more positive mindset?

Optimism: Your Career’s Secret Weapon

Optimism—the belief that good things will happen and that you have the power to effect positive change—is closely linked to long-term career success. Here’s why it matters:

1. Goal Setting: Optimistic professionals set ambitious yet achievable goals.
2. Persistence: They’re more likely to persevere in the face of setbacks.
3. Seizing Opportunities: Optimists are quick to recognise and act on opportunities others might miss.

Practical Steps to Cultivate a Positive Mindset

1. Practice Gratitude: If we can start each day by recognising a few things we are grateful for in your professional life, we train our minds to see the bright side of life.
2. Reframe Negative Thoughts: Obstacles and debacles aren’t rare. We face challenges every day; can you ask yourself, “What can I learn from this?” or “How can I turn this into an opportunity?” This is easier said than done. Practising this over time can become a habit that can keep you in good stead.
3. Surround Yourself with Positivity: Our world is not full of optimistic people. Just in case, you are in the close vicinity of people who often see the dark side of a situation and are in a state of denial and doubt, you have to consciously seek out mentors and colleagues who embody a positive, solution-oriented mindset.
4. Set Realistic Goals: Break down larger objectives into manageable steps. Celebrate small wins along the way.
5. Focus on What You Can Control: Identify aspects of your work you can directly influence and channel your energy there.
6. Invest in Self-Care: Prioritize your physical and mental well-being. A healthy body and mind are more resilient to stress.

The Ripple Effect of Your Attitude

Your positivity isn’t just a personal asset—it’s a force that influences your entire work environment. When you lead with optimism, you inspire colleagues, creating a more collaborative atmosphere. Also, you see your entire team joining hands in solving a problem rather than making efforts to find a scapegoat and ruing over it. Your resilience in the face of setbacks sets a powerful example for your team and your team starts generating outstanding results.

Sounds familiar?

Raj, a software developer with 15 years of experience, faced redundancy due to company restructuring. Instead of viewing it as a career setback, he saw it as an opportunity to explore his passion for AI. His positive outlook led him to retrain, and he’s now working in an AI startup.

Dr. Roy, a mid-career physician, encountered resistance when proposing a new patient care protocol. Rather than becoming discouraged, she remained optimistic and persistent. Her positive approach eventually won over sceptics, and the protocol is now improving patient outcomes across the hospital.

The Long-Term Benefits of a Positive Outlook

Research by Lyubomirsky, King, and Diener (2005) highlights that happier people tend to be more successful across various life domains, including their careers. By cultivating positivity, you’re not just improving your present—you’re investing in your future success.

As you navigate the complexities of your career, remember that your mindset is one of your most powerful tools. A positive outlook will be your anchor in times of change, helping you stay focused, resilient, and ready to seize new opportunities.

Remember, in the journey of your career, positivity and optimism are not just companions—they’re your superpowers. Harness them, and watch as they transform not just your work, but your entire professional trajectory.

The post Step by Step Harnessing the Power of Positivity appeared first on CIEL HR.

Acknowledgement

Many of us stay frozen when the setback event takes place and continue to deny the setback. We attribute several external factors to the setback and miss the opportunity for deep introspection. In the process, we are on the losing side anyway which impairs our chances of a fast recovery.

There could indeed be environmental factors like accidents, floods, earthquakes, pandemics, government regulations, wars or events in the family that could impact one’s performance and chances. These environmental factors are not in anyone’s control. We have to accept reality and give ourselves a chance to return to our normal day-to-day life and our pursuit of excellence.

A setback hurts us emotionally; it leaves us angry, frustrated, disappointed, anxious, embarrassed or whatever else we feel after the setback. We must not conceal those feelings and acknowledge whatever experience we are going through. Unless we are honest with ourselves, the feelings do not find their expression and could hurt us in the long run. We have to talk to ourselves or some people we are comfortable discussing these experiences. We have to allow some time for this process of acknowledgement to happen properly.

Introspection

Once we have accepted the reality, we have to think about the event, reflect upon it and draw some lessons from it. Even if the setback was due to uncontrollable factors such as government regulations, natural calamities or macroeconomic developments, there are many impressions an event leaves on our minds and one can always reflect upon the way we react or respond to a situation. Product launches do not work as per the plan, investments do not yield desired outcomes, demand patterns of our products change and many such setbacks come upon us; these are due to some decisions the leaders take or do not take.

Every setback offers us opportunities to garner perspectives, grow our maturity and go closer to our goals. We should be grateful that such an event has crossed our path and offered us the opportunity to learn. It is up to us to avail this opportunity!

Progress

Once we have acknowledged the setback, reflected upon it and drawn the lessons, we have to move forward. Edison failed a huge number of times before he invented the light bulb, Col Sanders was turned away by several restaurateurs when he approached them with his novel recipe of fried chicken, Amitabh Bachhan was rejected multiple times to be a radio presenter, Walt Disney was told that he lacked creativity and many such events stand out as setbacks.

Every day, millions of people are facing setbacks. Each of them needs to believe that can recover and make progress; they need to understand that failure is not permanent; they must keep attempting until they succeed again.

The post Setback is an Opportunity to Come Back Stronger appeared first on CIEL HR.

What has changed?

All of us are leading extremely busy schedules every single day. Most of us have no time to attend to important things which are not urgent. Learning and development is naturally a casualty! This is important, but never urgent leaving aside a few rare instances. Organisations have training calendars and the HR departments have their performance goals aligned with training hours. Hence, in practice, it’s more for compliance and less for actual development.

We need a system that works to develop the capabilities of the employees and at the same time, appeals to the employees as well as finds the space in one’s schedule. How do we achieve this?

Need clear goals

Everyone has to understand that development is critical and can happen in ways other than attending training sessions. Senior leaders, in particular, must have complete alignment on these two aspects. They need to drive this thinking down the line in the organisation. Employees will start appreciating the fact that learning is a continuous process and need not happen in training programmes alone. They will also understand that the organisation will facilitate learning while the actual development process has to be undertaken by the employee herself or himself.

Secondly, the HR team has to work out the competencies and behaviours needed for every role in the organisation. One of the common problems we encounter is that the list of competencies and behaviours are not reviewed and revised periodically. Once the list is ready, it must be published openly in the organisation and integrated with the talent management process. People must know where they stand; the feedback from the manager must be clear and the development goals must be clear to the individual concerned.

Most organisations do not have a system of identifying clear development goals for each member in the team and hence, there is no drive from within to create space and time for learning and development. We have to cross this bridge first.

Execution is the key

There is enough content available in the world-wide-web to improve knowledge and build perspectives. Many companies have invested time and effort to build training content, especially for their own employees. There are enough public programmes, webinars and seminars – some of them free of cost and some against a fee; companies often send their employees to such programmes. There are specialised journals and newsletters one can subscribe to; there are opportunities of being a member of the industry associations and other third-party forums to gain knowledge and perspectives.

Some people view these as interventions that call for taking time off the usual work and attending these with dedication and focus. They say, employees are busy navigating the volatile and uncertain work environment; do not have the time for such programmes; moreover, they argue that the returns of investment on these are hazy. Hence, these methods are not finding favours with the managers.

The ideal way is to facilitate gaining knowledge, building perspectives and drawing insights amidst the flow of work. Dealing with a demanding client, negotiating a large contract, resolving conflicts, disciplining an errant high-performer, being tough on your top client to collect your legitimate dues and many such challenges are opportunities for people to learn and grow. Can our learning system be intelligent enough to suggest relevant case studies, recommend names of people within the organisation who have dealt with these and are available for a quick chat? Can our system reach out to people to capture their learning on tough projects? Can we gamify the process so that the participants find it simple and enriching like Google or YouTube?

We have to make our learning systems intelligent and adaptive!

The post #BuildingTomorrow: Learning in the flow of work appeared first on CIEL HR.

New tacks for the new age

VUCA as an acronym came into business parlance in the early 90s. Since then we are seeing more and more of these elements in our life. In COVID19 times, all the 4 elements were felt by almost every human being in this world. This event has taught the business leaders and everyone in the workforce to stay agile and flexible so that one is better prepared to deal with the uncertainties which could surprise us.

As a result, in the years ahead, we are going to see careers become shorter and increasingly discontinuous; employers will make a huge number of roles flexible in terms of the scope, duration and the rewards connected with the role. Every successful enterprise and ambitious individual alike, will have a vision and focus on reaching short-term goals. The path of growth in a journey will have multiple lanes and by-lanes co-exist with the superfast highways and several milestones along the way. The quest for talent is going to be more intense in the years ahead and thus, we need new tacks for the new age.

Employers need to provide the tailwind

Organisations typically have a vision and know the path they would take to reach their destination. They have an established set of core values and beliefs; hence, they know how they will deal with the challenges along the way. Accordingly, they select the right people for their business and nurture them to take on bigger roles and deliver a larger impact.

Not every company goes about these tasks in a rigorous manner. As a result, they follow a haphazard path in picking the talent, defining a path for them to walk on, training them to excel in the journey and providing them with rewards and recognition when they show the right behaviours and most importantly, the desired results. They need to understand that everyone needs the right environment and constant support to grow.

Leaders have to spend time and efforts in giving shape to this common knowledge and make this a reality. After all, an organisation well-known for providing an enabling environment to learn and grow becomes a talent magnet and at the same time, a fertile ground for the talent to perform and deliver superior results. In the new age, this is more important than ever before.

Following the passion is not enough

We have heard advice from many great people that we must follow our passion to stay happy and grow into a complete human being. We have been told, it is easier to succeed and leave one’s mark behind when one is pursuing a career that has a special place in one’s heart. All these advice are golden words, however, we must think if excellence a field can be achieved just because one is passionate about it.

Passion can surely draw one to an area of work, may it be a kind of sport, music, art, literature or any other profession. However, to excel in it, there are many other dimensions such as setting lofty goals, knowing the fine nuances of the act, rigorous execution, continual efforts to improve and inspiring many others to follow the path. The ascent in one’s career is a long process like a marathon and unlike a sprint. It is about building an institution which takes shape over the decades and has a life of its own.

One’s career similarly can be a living organism which can grow over time. We need passion in the chosen field of work so that one is naturally drawn towards it and inclined to do well there. However, the passion is not enough; we need perseverance, ambition, drive and competitiveness.

The post #BuildingTomorrow: Ascending the Career Ladder appeared first on CIEL HR.

There have been debates around glass ceiling for women, inadequate participation of women in the Board rooms, inequality in pay, discrimination against women while recruiting and inadequate social infrastructure to support women at workplaces. These debates have been taking place across the world over the last few decades.

The debate continues…

We can already experience a huge change in India when we compare a workplace in the early 90’s and now. Number of women employees at work vis-a-vis men has risen rapidly; number of women students in the higher education courses such as Engineering and Management has increased manifold; many Boardrooms have women. Some of these changes have happened due to changes in legal provisions and some due to the peer pressure in the society. These days, firms provide paid maternity leaves for six months; some offer sabbaticals and friendly policies around pregnancy and early stages of motherhood. Governments make special arrangements to ease the woes of women in commuting to work, attending to strenuous tasks, working at odd hours and so on. There are additional safeguards such as Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act to dispel fears of women to come to work. All these are aimed at increasing participation of women in the economy and its GDP. In spite of so many changes in our society, the debate hasn’t been put to rest.

Let us not be fanatic about gender equality!

We have seen families in their overzealous drive to scale greater peaks of achievement in the realms of financial and professional status, compromise on building social capital for their future. The next generation that gets ready to join the workforce bears a set of values which are very different from their parents. Social scientists are studying this phenomenon. The jury is still out on that. However, one thing is for sure : fanatic rush to achieve a set of goals is not the same as focus and determination to achieve them.

We have seen senior executives of large multinationals chasing gender diversity targets and going on a recruiting spree to achieve that score. Does this overdrive get the organization the desired assets and human capital? Not always! The cost of such overdrive outweighs the results that we land up with.

Should each workplace reflect the gender ratio of the society?

As per 2011 Census we are 940 females per 1000 males. In 2001, it was 933 per 1000. This is nearly 49-51; should all organizations ideally have their workforce in the same ratio? If we are fanatic about gender equality, we will force every organization to reflect this.

Are we ready for this? While this could be a highly desirable situation and a socio-political masterstroke to pursue, it is not feasible at this point of time. We do not have so many women available for work. Reasons behind poor supply of women talent for work are plenty. Right from social dogma, economic need, availability of social infrastructure to opportunities, there are many factors.

Moreover, nature has created the bodies of men and women differently; it has created unique capabilities for each of them. We must not ignore them. We should leverage on this diversity rather than trying to fix everything with the same brush.

And at the same time, we must not typecast some roles with a certain gender as was the practice decades ago. Women need not be compulsorily raising children, growing families and providing care to the others. The point here is to argue against the mindless drive to achieve equal participation of men and women in each and every walk of life.

How can organizations deal with this?

We have many challenges at hand; we have to evolve pragmatic solutions.

When we see the rural vs urban India, we find more women in rural India participating in the labour force (27%) than in urban areas (16%). This could be due to the limitations in our social systems and economic realities. Women in the urban India are educated and capable as much as their men counterparts. Factors such as lack of support systems to take care of the young and the old in their families are a big obstacle. Organizations can leverage on this unemployed and under-employed diaspora by redesigning their work. Some parts of work can be done with no supervision, at hours the employee finds convenient; the organization has to build systems in such a way that one can find solutions when he or she faces a challenge. Needless to say that IT and the intent of the leadership are big enablers here.

We have seen several small organizations fearing the prospect of maternity leaves and the costs. While the intentions are noble and genuine, many of them find it too much of a disruption and too expensive. Secondly, we know how young mothers struggle to balance the demands at work with those at home. This is one of the big reasons why so many women drop out of the active workforce for many years in their prime and more often than not, find it difficult to return to the productive work life. Organizations have to influence the Government of the day to improve the social security measures, bear the costs and provide utilities such as creche, play schools and so on which people at large can avail. Currently, they are too few and far between.

In summary, we see this as a journey that has to be undertaken by the government, the society and the organizations at the same time towards leveraging the talent and capabilities that men and women possess. Social systems have to keep evolving so that the girls in the families do not fall behind when their parents prioritize the possibilities. The drive towards having equal participation across genders is mindless. Let this be based on the talent and capabilities only. If that makes 80 women and 20 men, so be it!

Get Well Qualified People For Your Job

The post Can we create a gender neutral environment at workplaces In India? appeared first on CIEL HR.

We respect people who speak their mind, especially when they do this tactfully. One is able to influence others when one’s ideas are understood and received well. Great leaders are crafty communicators. They do not hesitate to assert their views even if some of these are not the popular choice. How do they do this? They learn assertiveness and practice the skill over a long period of time.

Why don’t we?

Given the personality traits that we inherently possess, the values and beliefs with which we grow up and the environment around us, we develop our habits. On one hand, some of us want to stay away from confrontation, argument, and debate; conform to majority views; keep others happy; have a strong desire to agree with the others; bend over backward to be amenable. On the other hand, there are some of us who are aggressive, want their own ways to be followed, throw tantrums if someone doesn’t follow it, do not hesitate to make personal comments on others. This is a wide range of meekness and passivity to aggressiveness and authoritarianism. Neither end of the spectrum is desirable.

We have also seen that the same person behaves passively in some situations while being aggressive in another set of situations. So, speaking one’s mind and being assertive cannot be generalized as low self-esteem. One’s tendency to speak up is dependent upon the context.

 What is it?

Assertiveness is a situation where one is able to fearlessly express one’s ideas in a manner that the listeners receive them actively. There are situations when one is asked to take on a lot more responsibility than what is fair, one is not awarded a promotion that one considers well-deserved, asked to do something that doesn’t seem right and so on. A passive soul carries it out, broods over it, whines about it to others. An aggressive mind protests, walks off, argues, resents and throws tantrums. What does an assertive mind do? It expresses the feelings, states facts, sets expectations, leverages emotions in the communication and builds a vision for the future.

Know who I am!

It is important that I have to be self-aware of what I believe in and why I behave the way I do. This is the first step on my journey towards emerging as an assertive person. If I nurse the ambition to be a great leader, there is no alternative to communicate assertively. I have to learn and master the skill.

One has to discover the obstacles on the way and work towards overcoming them. The obstacles could be the fear of losing affiliations and good will, the habit of tearing someone down, low self-confidence due to lack of knowledge in a subject or social skills, fear of being judged incapable, the habit of being pushy, lack of empathy, wrong conception that disagreeing with someone is tantamount to disrespect and so on.

Develop new habits

Most often our audience behaves rationally. They care for me. If I want a change in the external world that cares for me, I must convey how I feel about their behaviours towards me. When they know how I feel, they make adjustments in their approach. Secondly, I must be able to explain how the changes are going to help them and me. In the process, I win and they win.

When I want a new program to be implemented, I drive the program by explaining what changes are desired in the behaviours and how these are going to benefit all of us. If I boss over my team, resistance kicks in. If I fear rocking the boat in spite of knowing that a change is desired, I fail being a leader.

Along the way of implementing the program, I come across challenges. As the leader navigates through the challenges, one’s assertiveness comes to test again. Does the leader slip back into the old habits of being passive or aggressive? Does he or she ignore the lack of involvement of the team, let the plan drift and take the path of least resistance? Some leaders act crazy, publicly admonish the folks not pulling their weight and sermonize them. Neither of the two styles help one emerge as a great leader. One has to learn the right habits and practise them again and again.

Along the way of developing a new behaviour, it is helpful to have an ecosystem around the person supporting his or her growth and development. All human beings need a feedback on how they are doing, especially when they are on a new course. Peers, subordinates, managers, partners, people in the family are in an advantageous position to provide this valuable feedback.

The Guru arrives when the disciple is ready. Is the disciple in you ready?

Get Well Qualified People For Your Job

The post Speak your mind appeared first on CIEL HR.

Our world has seen vigorous development in technology in the last couple of decades. New methods of doing work have evolved; Gen Y and Z have been ahead of the senior managers in any organization in terms of their understanding and application of these new practices. At home, the youth have taken charge of putting in place new devices and on-boarding the seniors onto the new devices such as computers, laptops, Smart TV, emails, facebook, WhatsApp, video files, Snapchat, Instagram, alarms, camera, smartphones, gaming, reminders, calendars, and so on. Families have started e-shopping, booking hotels, taxis and tickets, paying bills online, e-gaming, sharing updates via the phone and so on. Why do organizations face challenges in getting the youth to similar things there? Why don’t senior folks learn from the freshers or the younger colleagues?

Progressive organizations came up with an idea called Reverse Mentoring to promote learning among seniors from the junior colleagues. One wonders why the organization has to create a specific program to make this happen when it’s commonplace at home.

Build the right environment

People enter the workplace each day with a mindset very different from what they normally wear at home. If at all the top leaders can build a home-like environment at work, ego of seniors won’t come on the way of seeking knowledge, inputs, guidance and help from the juniors; and similarly, ego of the junior folks won’t spring up on the way of staying humble and grounded while coaching and helping the seniors. The first key to success of such program is to build the right environment within an organisation.

Organisations at times struggle to make this work because the seniors do not see the reason for learning from the juniors. They fear, their authority will be compromised and their directions on issues of organisation effectiveness will be treated casually by their direct reports. Similarly, the juniors might suddenly start misinterpreting the situation of coaching seniors to be that of incapable managers. Such misgivings can be eliminated only when the basic premises of learning are clear in the organisation.

It’s not a one-way street

Reverse Mentoring is a two-way process. The coach and the coachee both have to learn in this unique process. The juniors coaching the seniors need to learn about the business, the external environment, perspectives about the business, best practices and historical events. They could rethink about these to imagine possible alternatives of dealing with the challenges and opportunities if they were to reappear.

And similarly, the seniors need to not only learn new technologies but also imagine how these learnings can be applied to solve business challenges. They could join hands with these young Turks to run special projects to innovate new solutions or products.

This two-way street needs to be built and again it’s a cultural element to be built by the Top Leadership.

Choose the right combination

Choosing the right pair or triad is critical keeping in mind the objective of the program, learning opportunities that can be created by forming the combination and compatibility of the personalities. Since adult Learning is a matter of individual’s interest and commitment, it can’t be effective by forcing the individuals to a Mentoring program. Hence it’s important that the participants make their own decisions while the HR department could restrict its role to that of a facilitator and an observer.

Periodic reports from the HR team could help the managers track how well the program is getting executed. As a program gets executed, there are needs of course-corrections such as rebranding, communication, choice of the partners in the coaching process, redefining the objectives, clarifying the expectations of the participants and recognition of the efforts by the participants.

Reverse Mentoring is hyped. This is like any other learning process which calls for setting the right environment, setting the right expectations and forming the right teams.

Get Well Qualified People For Your Job

The post Reverse Mentoring is hyped appeared first on CIEL HR.

We all know, bosses have their favorites. They are human beings and so do the people who work with them. It is natural that the boss likes and trusts someone more than the others. You become first among equals, the go-to-person for prestigious project, a critical decision or a crisis. You enjoy his proximity and often become a part of the inner circle that has the knowledge of classified information. You feel privileged and start enjoying a special status in the team. Is life a bed of roses for you?

Are you able to drive Change programs effectively?

Since you are the go-to-person for your boss, your plate remains full all the time. You are undoubtedly important for your team and the organization. You get to work on challenging assignments and can potentially learn a lot from these assignments. However, there is a catch here!

Problems in the organization are solved not by just one person but by a team and often by a cross-functional team, especially if you are in a role that has a significant strategic bent to it. The boss’s favorite is a spotlight in the organization and is looked upon with a range of emotions such as jealousy and awe. When you are in the situation of getting things done by collaborating with people from other teams, you experience bottlenecks. They do not open up to you; some of them start sabotaging your intent in a stealth mode. You start feeling frustrated and shooting from the shoulder of your boss. It often backfires especially when you are talking to people from other teams who do not report to your boss.

You are unable to get the things done as per the plan. Often, you do not get the complete picture of the ground reality because people are not forthcoming with you. You are unable to identify the root cause of the problem you are supposed to solve or give those critical inputs to your boss. You fail to deliver the business impact. So, do not oversell your clout! Stay modest and do not take advantage of your special status.

Are you developing your career?

You are protected well by your boss, enjoy a big elbow room in many things related to work and get to solve the meaty challenges. Does that mean that you are developing your capabilities and increasing your worth? Your boss could have a rough patch in your organization and might fall out of the mainstream. Your boss might become cold and distant suddenly. The peers of your boss could come to the limelight and might have opportunities which are better for you. But, your deep loyalty to your boss could come on the way of you being trusted by the front-running leaders in the organization. What happens to you in that situation?

Secondly, as you work through the maze of your organization, you being the boss’s favorite tends to be the spokesperson for your boss and his ideas. This happens unconsciously; over a period of time, this leads to you being branded as someone who toes the boss’s line, lacks the depth and confidence to form opinions and speak one’s mind. This kind of an image harms your future prospects and potentially compromises the kind of recommendations that you are likely to get from the others in future.

Each passing year, you must analyze if you are increasing your experience by a year or strengthening your abilities and deepening your expertise. Staying as a sidekick will not necessarily enrich your abilities unless you are delivering on assignments which have an increasingly greater impact on your organization. Your title might change and rewards might increase; you might deepen your roots in the organization. However, the most critical factor to analyze is to check if you are producing greater impact each year. If not, you must look out for career options within or outside your current employer!

Are you hungry for approval?

Many times, we have noticed the school kid in us want to be in the good books of the teacher. We look for the pat on the back, the stars on our books and so on! We want to be the apple of the teacher’s eye. We behave well by following all her instructions and do our best to shine in the tests that she takes. Are we carrying the same to our workplace?

It is important that we introspect and understand who we are. In case, we look for the praise or the abrogation all the time, we fail to stand on our own feet. As a professional aspiring to break into the higher echelons of an organization, it is important that we learn to think independently and present those thoughts firmly. At the same time, we have to learn to stay modest and sensitive so that the bosses do not feel hurt to hear another perspective rather welcome them.

Being the favorite of the boss puts us on a pedestal. However, we must make sure that we are growing well by increasing the business impact that we deliver and build the social equity in the organization at the same time.

Get Well Qualified People For Your Job

The post Watch out if you are the boss’s Favorite! appeared first on CIEL HR.

Often the leaders do not communicate openly about the state of affairs and the developments taking place in the company. The grapevine works overtime to weave stories about various possibilities such as job losses, new roles and the future plans. On the whole, there is a huge loss of productivity in the organization. The confusion gets accentuated and the firm’s reputation takes a beating.

Some organizations keep their folks informed at the right time. Senior leaders hold open house communication and percolate it down the rank and file. In spite of their intention of being transparent, they have no idea of the plans for the future, changes in strategy, the new organization structure and most importantly, who will be in what role and who the manager will be. This situation creates high levels of anxieties, impacts productivity and brings instability.

We are seeing news about companies getting acquired and acquisition bids being made. There are uncertainties around strategy, structure and roles. What can employees do?

Leverage on your track record!

Performers are valued in meritocratic organizations. In spite of a change in ownership, performers have always sought after. If one has the track record and the reputation among the colleagues, customers and partners, it is unlikely that one faces a threat of being pushed into oblivion. There are exceptional situations, of course! The new organization structure might not have an equivalent role and hence, one might become redundant.

In either case, it is advisable that one does the homework and explores opportunities within and outside the organization. Often the manager who puts up a brave face has no idea about his or her own career in the organization. Hence, taking advice from the senior colleagues within the organization may not be enough to plan the next steps. It is important to speak to a wide spectrum of people and make the next move.

While there is no need for a strong performer to panic, it is good to act as soon as the news is in the air. Rather than waiting for the clarity to emerge and the changes to be announced in due course of time, one must develop options. Starting early boosts one’s confidence at the time of searching for a carer option. Further, one is calm and confident to face any kind of news which might come on one’s way.

Just in case, one gets a bigger and better role internally, one can reject the new options. At times, the new organization takes time to roll out the changes. In that case, it is good to make the first move and evaluate internal possibilities vis-a-vis the external job offers. So, performers must see the this as an opportunity to explore various options internally as well as externally showcasing their track record.

Accept the change

Many a times, employees get very distracted at the outbreak of the news of their company being taken over by another group or the change in management team. They feel nostalgic all through the change process and do not align well with the new priorities. They resist adapting to the new ways of life at the workplace. They become pessimistic about the future. Any change is hard, but one must not accept defeat in the war without going to the battlefield.

Only when one accepts the change wholeheartedly, it is possible to think rationally and decide the course of action. Possibilities are many! One must prepare for various scenarios. In the worst case, one might lose the job or end up in a situation where one has to quit. Then, one has to plan for a few months of staying between jobs. One needs to prepare for financial resources, social support systems and emotional reinforcements to live each day meaningfully. Moreover, one has to do all the preparation to develop other alternates including starting on one’s own.

Build Relationships!

One could get a new boss who has limited knowledge of the market and your role. However, in the new organization, she or he is the boss and you have to align. It works well to be proactive and take the first steps rather than waiting for the new boss to make the first moves and a new script to start playing. You have to build bridges with the boss and the other stakeholders in the organization in the new configuration. At times, one gets captivated  and imprisoned by the past. This does not help in going forward and embracing the change.

In spite of the best efforts, sometimes the relationships do not blossom and the desired levels of trust do not get built. That could be the time when you can take the step of going in a different direction without the regret of not having tried enough to make it work.

Undoubtedly, change in management brings forth uncertainties on employees and their careers. One must accept the change, build relationships, develop options and take a rational decision to choose the best rather than resisting the change and feeling nostalgic about the good old days!

Hire the best aptness for your organization

The post What can you do when your Employer Company is getting acquired? appeared first on CIEL HR.

Employees in most workplaces in the world look for a combination of factors from their employers. Some of these expectations are fulfilled to a large extent while some others are ignored by the employers. Training, career development and growth opportunities are some of the areas where employees expect a huge gap between their expectations and what they actually receive.

Expectations galore!

Interestingly, many employees tend to outsource a lot of their responsibilities to their employer. For example, all of us know that we need to exercise and remain physically active to enjoy good health. In spite of this knowledge, employees expect that their employer will take care of all their health woes. Many employers set up gymnasiums, appoint trainers in the gym, organize health camps, arrange sessions for employees to advise them on well-being, run campaigns to participate in physical fitness programs, reimburse or offer discounted rates for memberships in health clubs, provide insurance and so on. In spite of all these, employee health is an issue and organizations lose productivity due to sick days reported by employees.

I think, the root cause behind the mismatch between employee expectations and experiences lies in setting expectations around growth, career development and training. Employees need to take responsibility of their own growth and development to a large extent rather than outsourcing the responsibility to their employers. This might sound radical but is a bitter truth that the employee has to commit efforts and interest for his or her personal growth. Only then, efforts and investment of the employer organization will bear fruit.

So, the 1^st step is to take ownership of one’s career development. Then, comes the other steps of finding one’s own strengths, matching them with areas of interest and arriving at a personal development plan. Then the execution and course-corrections.

Are you clear about career goals?

First of all, one needs to discover the goals which are exciting. Many a times, people flow along the stream and expect to reach the goal. However, given the speed of business and the volatility that the business cycles have been witnessing, the streams are often constricted or redirected to accommodate the changing needs upstream or downstream. So, flowing along the stream with the hope of reaching a higher level is no more plausible. Hence, one has to discover one’s calling and work towards it. Reading books, journals and other such business publications – online as well as offline, provide a good idea of various possibilities; discussions with seniors in the industry, networking with colleagues and peers helps one gain clarity about various possibilities. In the process, one is able to broadly decide what goals should be pursued.

It is a process you have to follow.

One should learn to write a career development plan. Ideally, the plan starts with an over-arching statement of purpose or a primary area of interest. Then it starts going deeper such as writing down the long-term plans which are time-bound and more specific. Then the next stage is to write a short-term plan which can be 1-3 years depending upon the context. At this stage, one draws up the threats or challenges that one might encounter and hence, a plan to mitigate the risks, the weaknesses which are to be bridged, the strengths to be leveraged and the opportunities in the environment which can be exploited.

Having taken all these 3 steps, one draws up the action plans which are specific, measurable, realistic and time-bound. One identifies the support and investments required from other sources to fulfill the action steps and the milestones.

The next stage is to review the progress on a periodic basis and make changes to the plan.

Work with someone you trust!

A mentor or a coach plays  a significant role all along this process. Right from the time of drafting the development plan, the person supports till the plans are executed. The support ranges from helping you discover your strengths and weaknesses to working as a sounding board all along the journey, putting in place a rigorous mechanism to review the progress, helping you gather feedback from the stakeholders, interpret them and work on them.

Along the process of development, there will naturally be challenges. A coach, mentor, friend or co-traveller, whatever you may say, helps you overcome these challenges. One big challenge on the path of development is rigorous follow-through. Many people fail to sustain the momentum of the program. If you have someone helping you follow the regimen, it is easy for you to follow through the tasks in a disciplined manner. The second big challenge is to help you listen to the feedback from the stakeholders and interpreting them objectively. A big reason behind the failure of a career development plan is the self-defence mechanism and the ego. People tend to trivialise, rationalize and at times, sanitize the feedback they receive. A coach can help you see the inputs objectively and stay the course.

The way to develop one’s career is simple if one follows the process rigorously either with a high degree of self-confidence and self-awareness or take the help from someone who is skilled at leading one in the process. One cannot expect the employer organization to take the responsibility of learning and development. At best, one can expect facilitation and encouragement from the employer!

Get Well Qualified People For Your Job

The post Develop your career! appeared first on CIEL HR.