Beware personal items can reflect your work attitude!

Published on August 11, 2010

We have always been told this….it's all over the internet…..every stress management trainer hollers the same….. Yes, personalising your work space with some personal knickknacks can really cheer up the otherwise drab cubicles and depressing workstations.

These personal touches not only make a pleasant and inviting place to work, but also paint you in a friendly and balanced light. What's more, at times all you need is a glance at your cute, smiling daughter (even if only in a picture) to lift your spirits and refocus your energy in the face of the looming deadline!

But, its time for a rethink, as recent studies indicate to the contrary. Employers and managers actually feel that your scattered plants and photos reflect poorly on your professional image!

The arguments: Employees may reason till they are blue in the face that their personal bric-a-brac does not in anyway interfere with their work (if at all it actually improves their efficiency), but fact is that many organisations no longer appreciate seeing personal stuff in the cubes.

Managers consider that the personal decorations spell incompetence as employees are prone to lose focus and become preoccupied with things other than work.

They argue that workspaces should ideally look like professional offices and not an extension of the ‘home sweet home'. They expect employees to put aside personal matters and concentrate exclusively while at work. Moreover, the personal clutter can distract others as well as co-workers are bound to stop and comment/chat over the pictures.

In fact, the move is to standardise personal decor so as to maintain a more professional atmosphere. The rules pronounce what and how much can be displayed ranging from 3-5 personal items to complete ‘sterility'!

Go easy: Well, as your personal items can pull you down, it clearly is time to redecorate your workspace. While you don't really have to totally clear your desk (unless it is express company policy), prudence dictates toning down the personal stuff even if the management has not dictated it as yet!

This in turn begs the question how much is too much? Fortune magazine's senior writer, Annie Fischer throws some light with, “Too much is about 22 per cent: If more than one in five objects in your cubicle are non-work-related, others may regard you as less than serious about your job.”

Well, it's true that some people really do go overboard and cram every inch of their already tiny cubicles with everything from personal photographs, funny posters, cartoons, paintings, certificates, paperweights and plants to their children's artwork, souvenirs, hobby collections, cookie boxes, stuffed animals and even sports equipment. Not only does this look tacky and unprofessional, but there really is no ‘room' left to work.

Instead, redo your work area in a more tasteful manner with just small touches here and there. Moderation is the key; so you display few family photographs (preferably in frames) and take the rest home.

Also, ensure that what you do put up is not objectionable or political in nature. Nor should it be an eyesore!

Keep in mind that your desk is really your workspace and it should look like one. Messy and cluttered desks are taboo as an organised and neat cubicle/office alone can present a professional environment to clients and project the right image of the company.

What matters: Bosses also need to rethink as performance is what actually counts in the end - as long as an employee is turning in quality and timely work it really should not matter how his cubicle looks. After all, the cubicle decor reflects only on his personality and is no way related to competence!

Moreover, totally banning personal artefacts and making offices sterile will only create unmanageable tension and disconnect leading to burnout and increased turnover. On the other hand, it is true that some personal touches adorning the walls is quite motivational, especially on a bad day!

Payal Chanania

Propel your group to think like a genius

Published on September 15, 2010

A problem crops up in an organisation and groups start gathering in innumerable meetings, brainstorming sessions and sometimes even workshops to generate brilliant ideas and produce novel suggestions. But the end result is more often than not, the same – run-of-the-mill ideas leading to mediocre solutions!

So the question arises – what should the team leader/facilitator do to stimulate creation of better ideas as well as accelerate the process of arriving at resourceful solutions even for the most complex challenges?

Well, fact is that every group can generate inventive thinking; all that they need is an occasional push in the right direction to get them going.

Therefore, as a leader, the onus is on you to tap the group potential by releasing the creative genius and thus creating solutions that can even transform the organisation!

Following are a few tips on getting the ideas flowing:

The prep: Most people step into a meeting/brainstorming session literally ‘ unarmed'. Equipping them with information about the problem in advance will generate pre-think that makes them better prepared to confront the challenge. It is also necessary to establish a relaxed environment during the meeting; else the group genius will get stifled.

It pays to set goals like ‘at least 20 ideas' so that the group will strive to achieve them.

A hint: set the goal a little higher than you think is possible but not so high that it becomes unattainable and thus discouraging. Also, try to overcome hidden agendas, power plays and turf fights that can inhibit the group from attaining its goals.

Perspective: It often happens that a group gets stuck on a single solution and concentrates solely on discussing the single perspective, its results and offshoots to no end. This inevitably locks down the group and slows down the idea flow completely.

Leonardo Da Vinci propounded restructuring the problem in different ways, your role is to subtly ‘unlock' the group by forcing them to reconceptualise the situation from different perspectives. Simply moving on through such a review can often generate an astounding quantity of ideas and thus novel solutions.

If the group is still stuck, you can force progress by linking the problem to disparate items through words, objects or even pictures.

You can even draw on Aristotle's metaphorical thinking to create analogies and comparisons. Let the imagination run wild as you generate connections and then think in terms of, “How could this item solve our problem?” or “What attributes of this object could help us?” This route is worth a try as it is bound to initiate a lively and engaging discussion and thus creating erstwhile unimaginable ideas!

Go visual – Einstein did not propagate visualisation tactics for no reason. You can give life to the otherwise dull and dreary ideas written on the white board. Encourage group members to actually draw their ideas and solutions.

Yes, actually DRAW! This is a powerful medium as the ‘ silly' doodling will open the mind and stimulate ingenious thought, at times leading to that perfect idea!

Instead of directly focussing on the issue, you can take the discussion to a new level by actually examining the opposite situation. Asking opposite questions like “How can we get people to NOT buy our product” or “How can we drive our customers away” may seem outside the boundaries of logic, but it is bound to generate unexpected and even breakthrough ideas. Such a contrary reflection will also cross into new domains by illuminating on how to avoid the same issues!

Combinations: By now, there will be numerous ideas on your flip chart and the group is almost ready to pick the best and discard the rest. Yet, instead of considering them individually, you can encourage the group to combine a few to come up with more novel solutions.

Thus, these techniques will enable you, the team leader to generate more and more (though not all exceptional) ideas – some may be childish, some stupid and some downright weird. But the huge volume itself will provide you a wider choice when narrowing down to select good ones and there may even be a few pleasant surprises in store. And these are what will take the otherwise regular meetings to the next level of GENIUS!

But, do not stop at just taking the best decision. Do encourage the group to take steps to implement the solution and later review the results so that further improvements can be found.

To sum up, there are a variety of approaches that you can use to improve both the quantity and quality of ideas in a group.

What's more, you can apply some or all of the above tactics to generate ideas when working in a group or even trying to solve a problem on your own!

Payal Chanania

Avoid combative stance in confrontations

Published on September 15, 2010

Confrontation – its not something you enjoy, maybe even try to avoid at all costs! Yet, the odd confrontation is inevitable as you may have to speak to a colleague about lack of teamwork, pull up a subordinate for unacceptable performance or even challenge a person of authority.

A few hard truths need to be told making for one tough conversation. In fact, its more like a ticking bomb as one small trigger and the whole situation can escalate into a huge argument that literally explodes in your face.

Well, confronting is a difficult job indeed what with people ever ready to jump to the defensive and things getting out of hand so easily. This makes many a people dread confronting and thus they cannot even share their personal views, ideas or insight for fear of rocking the boat.

But there are ways in which you can confront someone without getting into a heated argument or leaving everyone fuming with anger. Here's how:

Plan it: Never enter a confrontation unarmed. Think over how you will approach the situation and what you will say. Being mentally prepared will enable you to better conduct the confrontation.

Also, pick a safe environment like a neutral turf where both parties can speak in privacy. You may be feeling annoyed, angry, frustrated or even hurt with the situation. But these emotions can obscure your view making you both judgmental and combative.

And things will only go downhill from there what with raised voices and abuse. Therefore, it is advisable to take time and overcome your emotions so that you can remain calm and in control.

Seek first to understand what went wrong as you may be unwittingly operating on false assumptions. Stop and clarify what is actually going on. Skip any belittling sarcasm, insults or ugly comments as it is bound to rub the receiver the wrong way and further antagonise the situation.

Instead, speak with respect and consideration without pointing any fingers at who is right and who wrong. Your tone of voice can be a dead giveaway.

Be aware of the undercurrents as the other person may feel attacked which triggers him into a defensive and combative stance.

Adopt a neutral tone that is free of any aggression or rudeness. Be tactful; yet firm so that the receiver takes you seriously.

No exaggerations: Do not indulge in absolutes or overstatements like ‘You always do this', ‘You never do it right' or ‘This happens every time'. Speak in clear specifics and also concentrate only on the wrong behaviour and not the person. Most of us do not like to be told what to do as it reeks of manipulative behaviour. Instead, ask encouraging questions like – ‘Would you be willing to do this differently?' ‘Are you aware that you do that?' ‘Have you ever considered trying A instead of B?' This will not only let the other person feel in control but can also uncover some enlightening responses.

Good points: Always start by affirming what you appreciate about the person. After highlighting the good points slowly move on to identifying the issues that concern you. For example, ‘I know you usually perform your very best, and what I saw today was not the way you normally perform

Take the time to elaborate how the situation affects you. Speaking in I-statements like ‘I felt angry', ‘I was confused' or ‘It hurt me' will clearly demonstrate why you wish to correct the other person as well as make him more amenable to the ‘suggestions'.

Once you have shared your concerns, be open to listening how the other person feels. His perspective can shed new light on the situation.

Predetermining the outcome will only set you up for disappointment. So, think only in terms of speaking your mind and do not expect to change the other person's behaviour.

By not expecting to accomplish anything, you will be better able to accept whatever happens.

Last but not the least; do not confront people on any and every issue. Minor slip ups are quite justified. Reserve the confrontation for serious issues only!

Payal Chanania

Do not depend solely on the recruiter to find dream job

Published on September 1, 2010

Recruiting is purely a numbers game. Recruiters and headhunters are hard-pressed to find ‘perfectly' qualified candidates and fill the open positions like yesterday. There is incredible pressure to ‘ meet the goals', else the recruiter will very well find himself looking for a job!

Buckling under the demands, recruiters resort to various tactics that includes lying to the applicants. This ranges from beating around the bush or withholding information to misleading statements and even outright false assertions.

This is not to say that all recruitment agencies are out to dupe you. While there still are honest and trustworthy recruiters, it cannot be denied that the dubious, dishonest ones do abound.

Traps

Recruiting falsehoods are mind-boggling in both their range and reasons. It can begin right from the point of first contact like – ‘Just submit your resume and sit back while I find the perfect job for you' or ‘I will keep in regular contact with you throughout your job search.' Well, recruiters are employed by the client companies; they work for the employers that sign their paycheques and not for you – the candidate. So you cannot really afford to ‘sit back' or expect the recruiter to keep you updated of every job opportunity (unless it serves his purpose!) What's more, the employment agency may actually be canvassing so as to fill its database for future client requirements.

Again, some recruiters are not even beyond misrepresenting what they are ‘selling', over-highlighting the attractive job features or even failing to disclose some negative ones if they want you for that job.

And, once you have interviewed with the company, the recruiters can come up with different convenient follow-up stories to lead you on. For instance, ‘the company has not finished the interview process yet', ‘I just checked the system and your status is still pending approval. Sometimes they take about a week to approve a candidate', ‘The hiring manager needs to conference with the HR Director first' or even an outright, ‘Don't worry. You are absolutely guaranteed to get the job!'

The real reasons can be that the hiring company is dragging its feet on making a decision/offer and meanwhile the recruiter is playing for time. Or the candidate was rejected and the recruiter is just trying to appease him till other openings pop up. It is even possible that the employer has already filled the position internally or has withdrawn the job opening and the recruiter is just trying to save face.

Other stalling tactics include, ‘I am anticipating better openings in the next week' or ‘The manager is on vacation' while the recruiter tries to keep suitable candidates on a leash for the next job assignment.

Yet again, some recruiters fare not even beyond manipulating a candidate to accept a ‘lucrative' job with a good dose of deliberate arm-twisting only to disappear into thin air once you sign on the offer letter.

Alas, fact is that some recruiters lie. But what makes them do so? Recruiters defend that it is part of the game and they have to tell some white lies to the candidates to get their job done. At times, lying even becomes a ‘necessity' as they are compelled to fill ‘urgent needs' with nothing-less-than-perfect candidates.

Moreover, recruiters often have no choice but to pass on the half-truths or prevarications that the hiring managers feed them. The recruiters are well and truly caught in the middle even when they are aware of what is really going on!

Smarten up

No offence intended, but it is extremely naïve to believe everything that the recruiter tells you. While its true that recruiter lies are not justified, there really is no use in crying foul or pressing charges!

Instead, what you can and should do is smarten up and not let the headhunters take you for a ride anymore. Try to read between the lines and pay attention to the recruiter's tone of voice to ascertain his authenticity. Also, do not gullibly expect the recruiter to tell you about all the nitty-gritty details of a job. It's for you to do your homework and find out what's on offer – both the good and not so good parts. Then again, if a recruiter is keeping you hanging during the follow-up process, accept that either you do not fit with the job qualifications or the hiring company has filled the position already.

Do not make the mistake of depending completely on your recruiter to find you that dream job. Conduct a simultaneous job search of your own by searching the classifieds, looking up the Internet and networking with your contacts.

So, when you are the victim of a recruiter lie the next time round, do not waste your precious time with a job recruiter who's only in it for personal gain. Just dump him and find another one. After all, it is your job, your career, your life on the line and the only person who can protect your interests is YOU!

Payal Chanania

Agility factor will determine your career growth

Published on September 8, 2010

Ask any recruiter, hiring manager or employer what kind of employee they are looking for and the first things that comes to mind these days across organisations, job functions and levels is undoubtedly – nimbleness, resilience, adaptability, flexibility – in other words AGILITY!

Yes, this is the age of the agile employee necessitated primarily by today's rapidly changing world. Proactive employees who can constantly respond to the dynamic work environment are the ones that companies not only want to hire, but also retain and develop for the future.

But the fact remains that most people still cannot handle change. The very thought of change raises unpleasant feelings and stresses them out. Unfortunately, they are accustomed to doing things in a certain way and rigidly fight the smallest change.

On the other hand, agile employees are those who not only confront change head on and quickly adapt to the changing circumstances, but also actually welcome the challenge of uncertainties. Backed by the flexible attributes, they can effectively perform their job duties in the face of any change and also thrive despite the heady competition. Undoubtedly, this agility is the only way to be successful in the future!

As business expert Dr. Patricia Buhler writes in her column ‘Managing in the New Millennium', “To continue to do things the way that they were always done (without any changes) dooms you to failure. It has become a critical skill today to be flexible, agile and responsive to the changing world. An agile employee is ready to meet the challenges of today's world - and to succeed.”

Again, agile employees are those who have widened their portfolios of job roles, skills and experiences so that they can become more multi-faceted with varied and versatile abilities which can be applied and recombined in numerous ways to fuel innovative business value.

To quote Dr. Patricia Buhler again, “It is no longer sufficient to know just one job and be able to perform that job in one way…..”

Learn the ways: The big question now is - How do you make yourself agile?

Well, agility is more of a mindset and an attitude. This requires a paradigm shift as you learn to push the boundaries and develop the capacity to adapt yourself accordingly.

But don't worry if you don't think you are agile. It just requires a concerted effort as you consciously work at moving from a simply reactive state to a more responsive one.

Here are a few pointers:

Do not make the mistake of constraining yourself to the set ways of doing things. Approach your job from a new perspective to develop new ways of doing things.

Be willing to tailor yourself on the go as you courageously match yourself to whatever is changing – be it job requirements, customer demands or supplier needs.

Make yourself capable of handling diverse problems, thinking on your feet in the times of crisis and also taking decisions in the face of ambiguity. Vigilantly rising to the occasion time and again will definitely open you to new opportunities for something better.

Strive to innovate constantly and take intelligent risks while proposing ideas and considering new ways of doing things. Attempt to work on your own instincts and develop completely new propensities Also, be open to trying new approaches and learning new techniques.

Training, coaching and also cross-training will broaden your learning curve by acquiring new skills. You should also be open to doing different jobs and thereby grow with each one.

Working on cross-functional or virtual teams will further expand your capabilities and make you feel empowered. This constant advancement will enable you to both take on different job roles as you expand beyond your expected career path as well as switch career paths when needed.

On a slightly different note, you have to be a team player by seeking to work with others.

Last but not the least; self-discipline is a must for the agile employee so that you can stay on the path!

And voila! Now you are ready for anything and can no longer be taken by surprise. In fact, you can comfortably roll with the punches that life and work throws your way. What's more, even if you stumble and fall, you are more than capable of picking yourself up, dusting and continue walking!

Bravo to the agile employee!

Payal Chanania