Second Chance

Have you heard your boss or colleague saying ”No. This is what I am. I will not tolerate such things.”

Did you hear your spouse yelling “Don’t tell me that. I Will never like such things. I am not the one like you think”

Again your friends must have said “ I am a person who will not take it like this”

Sometimes the other party might say “Don’t play the tricks with me. I am not that kind of person”

All of them are essentially saying this is what they are and they are shrink wrapped finished product and does not like anyone meddling with them. At times even they are proud of being what they are, not realizing that they are only half functioning.

Whatever they are, they would be and they cannot be any different. If they are short tempered, that is what they are and they cannot be pleasant. If they are melancholy, they think they cannot smile. If they think they are critics, they cannot be creative. When they are meek, they cannot be bold. If they are this, they cannot be that, even if they want to.  While they are in North, they assume they can never be in South. They assume that is how they are destined. They imagine everything about them is cast on the stone, pre determined and unchangeable. There is no life altering course for them.

They think they have no other options to react other than the way they respond. They think that is the best way not realizing they are conditioned their repertoire is limited.

For a given stimulus they give the standard response about which they are familiar and comfortable. They do not want to try a different response and risk an unexpected result. Rather they are happy with the standard behaviors and predictable outcome. It puts them back in the familiar dog house. They are familiar about everything about them.

It gives a false sense of security that they don’t need to strain to choose and change when they  can handle the life with their stocked skills at their back. Life has been going on for them pretty much the same way and they do not feel the need for any change. Their copy book model playing the life has been working for them for so long. In fact they detest and defy the change, because it pulls them out from comfort zone inflicting pain.

Is it really a hope less situation? Question comes whether everything is pre programmed for life when we are born? There is no way to redeem the life? Does it mean men do not try something different?

No.Humans do try to change. But after the first faltering step, humans stuck with the frustrated mediocre life and imagine there is no second Chance, and life is sealed forever. No this can change! There is another life! When in everyday life, grapes are turned to wine and wheat to bread. A sour green apple grew into a sweet red one. It was in the nature of things to change, even metals. Miners and refiners already knew that lead ore almost always contains some silver, and silver ore almost always contains some gold. That is the science of Alchemy, but only when you choose!

When they realize over a period of time that they are not fully functioning but caged, they complain that that is the end of it and they are not destined differently. They are compromising with what they think they have, and hope for the best when they have second life, if they believe one. But most do not realize that they have a Second Chance in the same life. The second chance is the choices we make, options we choose, alternatives we engage and different actions we take. Perhaps we never realize that they are within the realm of possibilities. It calls for a Change. Change in the beliefs, change in the thinking, change in our directions and change in our actions. It is Time to Think and Time to Act.

How can you stay valuable?

As an aspiring and ambitious professional, you already know that the reliable way to get ahead in your career is your effective performance. You need to beat the bulls eye of the all performance targets. In these turbulent times and live wire competitive environment, you need to hone your skills, and show wisdom and good leadership. Of course one needs to work hard,

However hard work is purely a matter of personal choice! But you can learn the rest: If you build the right skills, get the right training, and get the mentoring you need, you can deliver superior performance. These same skills help you grow as a capable, well-balanced, fully functioning self.

If you think you are already educated at the college and you are ready to launch your career you will be surprised in the corporate corridors how inadequate you are. When the rubber meets the road you need an entirely different set of skills to survive. So where do you learn these skills, and get this coaching and training? If you're relying on your company to provide this for you, particularly in the current economic climate, you will be disappointed. They have no time, or they will be interested only in short term functional training, teaching people to use IT systems, company processes, industry-specific skills and so on. This will only prepare you how to do a job.

There are no initiatives to truly focus on the essential skills that make the long term difference for a successful career: personal effectiveness, people skills, communication skills, decision-making, creative problem solving, leadership,..... and many, many more. With the meager training budgets things are only going to get worse. At least are you getting valuable coaching, guidance and mentoring support from your boss? With their plates already full the answer is invariably ‘No’.

If you're not getting this support from your Boss or company, what are you going to do to take charge of your own career? How are you going to take care of your career to the next level?

And what if you could keep looking for more answers, week after week, wherever you are in the world, and at whatever time suited you? Where will you look up?

There are mentors!

Saba.Ram

www. alkemi.in

Resource Attrition in IT World

Still we are not out of woods from the recession. But we also hear a lot of stories that retaining the staff is increasingly becoming difficult. The staff attrition is so high that IT companies are left in the lurch and search. Companies also engage in salary hike, incentives to retain the talent. This affects the project, delivery and the commitments. I wonder why people leave organization so often. At least I know some cases where people migrated from one company to another in quick succession. Is it that they are not satisfied with the package? Or with the working conditions? How are they managing to get into a new company every year and also with the salary hike?
when every company is hiring the employee with the substantial package, Why not the previous company itself offer the same and retain the talents. They can save a lot of opportunity cost. When employees keep rolling from one to another with every step increase, what is it he is achieving? Is he on the lookout for another change on the second day? Why for that matter companies encourage and engage such fly by night operators? Is it due to their project pressures? Somehow they need to deliver the product and go for fire fighting. Come what may, take what is available and give what market demands. This kind of fits and starts management is not the management at all. It is a clear case of fire fighting. Such fires will keep on catching.

Where will this cycle end? What is the real problem? How long the employess will go in this roller coaster? What value it adds to him? Does he really gain any rich experience in this constant flux. When everyone hates to entertain any change why this happens.

It is not mere money, it is something deeper than that.

All over the world, globalisation has caused in us a rash sense of searching for rush results. Therefore, we are possessed by a need to see immediate results. This is completely different from the slow movements. Managers are concerned only with the deadline and think they have no time to counsel the team mates. They are not bothered to treat them as individuals. They are so anxious to live for the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists.

I have personally seen as how they ignore their existence even, and think of them only when needed. The teams are thoroughly disappointed and disengaged. We should understand that they are knowledge workers and they don’t work on Hourly Pay. When they work in a company there is more to it and when their doing gets appreciated sometimes their being is not even recognized. They see through it that all corporate awards and hall of fame are all pseudo exercise.

The erstwhile no-rush attitude doesn't mean doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress as against "do it now" club.

Managers needs to understand that Human capital is often one of the largest and critical resources in any company. It is imperative to invest in supporting people, developing their ability and improving their confidence. This makes the team members feel valued and enables them to gain their trust and genuinely facilitate their progression.

This assumes HR risk management and calls for the following

1) There is a need to take Resource risk. They cannot assume it is granted.

2) They need to have a contingency plan to hold against this risk

3) Or more importantly managing the existing resources by end to end engagement, because there is no guarantee that even substitute will stay.

Undertaking a mentoring program with staff is one way to do this.

More often people feel things aren’t going well and that they need a mentor as they are not able to pinpoint why. In these circumstances Mentor get them to talk about what is happening in their career and life outside of work and will capture everything they say. This allows mentor to literally build a picture of what is going on in their life and from there they can identify and link common themes which helps understanding the issues that needs addressing.

It means re-establishing personal values, self worth, comradeship, free and leisure time. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living. It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive work place where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. They know they are accepted.

It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the skill and Talent. This is only possible with the Mentorship.

Saba.Ram

Lonely at the Top

It is very lonely at the top. When guys reach the corner office in the top floor, they feel they at last reached what they dreamed all these while, in the career. Bouquets flood, greetings pour, calls ring, party follows, and official announcements run across. You got the big table, glass and steel paneled big cubicle marks your greatness index. You move up in the organisation chart. there are many boxes below you in the chart. At last you got your realm, your kingdom. Ready to rule your realm.

Suddenly you find that you are left alone. Party is over. You no longer have the colleagues. all of them are your subordinates. They wait for your orders. So here after it is all your decision. Right or wrong your decision. People are intimidated even to near you. It becomes your challenge to harness, catalyse all those resources. You start realising it is not bed of roses as you thought. It is a challenge. It is a choice.It is a stretch. It is your path. Your footprint.

Saba Ram