WANT TO SUCCEED AS A YOUNG MANAGER ?

Respect Your Roles And Theirs !!

The idea of being a young manager can be an absolutely amazing thing. Yet in reality being a manager is not all about telling everyone what to do and always getting our way. First off, no matter how many people we have working under us, we always have a boss too. Even when you are CEO you have a boss i.e. The Board of Directors. 

Regardless of the hassles, managing others can be a rewarding experience.  Moreover, as a young professional it can be a very valuable experience that will reap endless benefits as our career develops. According to me,  your ultimate success in business is not what you do but what you can get others to do, so managing people early in your career will put you leaps and bounds ahead of others as your climb the corporate ladder. " Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young." Henry Ford.

To succeed as a young manager, we should keep the following in our mind:

Learning is for Life: If you would attain to what you are not yet, you must always be displeased by what you are. For where you are pleased with yourself there you have remained. Keep adding, keep walking, keep advancing.

Keep it Simple: Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler. Out of intense complexities intense simplicity emerges. To arrive at the simplest truth requires years of contemplation.

Learning is Exploring: Learning is something which stretches us, to explore and seek new experiences. Life is not only about achievement, it's about learning and growth, and developing qualities like compassion, patience, perseverance, love, and joy, and so forth. And so if that is the case, then I think our goals should include something which stretches us.

Seek to Understand: Crucial to effective learning is the need to first understand. Just like for teachers to be effective, they first need to understand those they would wish to teach, same goes for young professionals who want to succeed as a young manager. Instruction begins when you put yourself in your subordinates place.

Keep Questioning: It’s the question that drives us. According to Albert Einstein, "If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes."

Don’t mention your age: It is not a good idea to go around broadcasting that you are young and inexperienced, especially when you are managing people. Once someone knows your age, it tends to create resentment.  Employees older than you will think you don’t deserve to be a manager and those the same age will think that they can be your friend, eventually taking advantage of you to get special treatment. In fact, once you have proven yourself and have a track record of doing amazing work, telling your age can be a good thing. Once you are accomplished people are impressed and admire you for getting so far at a young age.

Don’t talk about college all the time: Avoid talking about your college all the time. This is great to do when you are amongst other recent grads but it can lead co-workers older than you to look down on you or focus on your lack of experience.

Help your people, don’t command them: As a young manager the most important thing to keep in mind is that being boss does not mean your first job is to tell people what to do an expert. The basic thing is to support your people and help them do their job better. If you view your role from the point of view of a servant then you will motivate your people to listen to you and support your vision.

It can be great to be the boss, especially when you are young because it forces you to teach others how to be successful in their jobs (and the old saying says that you retain the highest % of something when you are teaching someone else how to do it), i.e. teaching makes you learn.  But remember to “teach” in the right way without committing any of the blunders above that will create a wall between you and your employees.

EMPLOYEE RECOGNITION

When People Feel Appreciated, They Are Happier, Engaged And More Productive !!

Employee Recognition is a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes people create for your business. It is more critical than ever to make your staff feel recognized for their contributions.  When you recognize people effectively, you reinforce, with your chosen means of recognition, the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat. An effective employee recognition system is simple, immediate, and powerfully reinforcing.

What is so important about informal, manager-initiated recognition?

Recognition is all about feeling special, and more times than not, it is hard to feel special from a corporate program where everyone gets the same thing, like a five-year pin. To be effective, recognition needs to come from those we hold in high esteem, such as one's manager. The recognition should occur as close to the performance of the actions as possible, so the recognition reinforces behavior the employer wants to encourage.

What is necessary for delivering effective informal recognition?

Timing is the most important factor in delivering an effective recognition. The sooner you acknowledge employees' performance, the clearer they get the message, the more likely they are to repeat the desired performance. 

Recognition is most powerful when it's contingent. Companies will bring in doughnuts on Friday and give people cards on their birthday, and all of a sudden you've got an entitlement culture. If you do stuff just to be nice, people end up expecting more. So make recognition contingent upon desired behavior and performance; they'll value the recognition more and you'll get better results. Keep it fresh, relevant, and sincere. Any incentive has less punch with repeated use.

What kinds of recognition and rewards do employees want most?

According to an internet survey, that gave people choices of 52 items. The most desired factor they valued was "Managerial Support and Involvement"-- asking employees their opinions, involving them in decisions, giving them authority to do their jobs, supporting them when they make a mistake, and so forth. Also important were flexible working hours, learning and development opportunities, manager availability, and time.

Employees also want basic praise: personal praise, written praise, public praise, and electronic praise. These are the most demanding ones for people, and none of them costs a dime!

How do you choose what type of praise to use in a given situation?

To choose the most efficient type of praise to use in a given situation, weigh the below factors:

• Availability of the medium: How often do you actually see the individual -- do you manage him from a distance or does he telecommute? Do you have occasion for public praise such as periodic staff meetings?
• Employee preference: Do you know how the employee prefers to be praised -- have you ever discussed it with her? For example, an introvert employee would likely prefer a written or electronic note versus public recognition.
• Manager comfort zone: What forms of praise are you comfortable giving? If you feel awkward giving face to- face praise, go for a written or an electronic praise. If you are uncomfortable speaking publicly, it might be better to skip public praise for something that is more personal and sincere.

Are there special considerations to delivering recognition in tough economic conditions?

The times like recession, when we need to do it the most, we tend to do it least. Say you give a team award that used to come with 15,000 Rupees but because you can't afford the 15,000 Rupees, you stop giving the team award anymore. I say still give the team award. Say something like, "We've had to drop the financial aspect to hunker down, but it doesn't diminish the value of the job that this team did, especially at this time." When we are up against it, just a word of support, a team lunch, can go a very long way.

Rewards and recognition that help both the employer and the employee get what they need from work are a win-win situation. Make this the year you plan a recognition process that will "Wow" your staff and "Wow" you with its positive outcomes. 

Source: Harvard Business Review 

INTERVIEW CALLING

Confidence Has A Lot To Do With Interviewing - That, And Timing !!

Putting skills aside, what are the top 5 reasons why candidates fail at interviews? Here is what recruiters think ! [** Source: LinkedIn ( The Recruiter Network) ]

1. Lack of confidence.  
2. Lack of proper knowledge about the business, market, job 
3. The hurry to get hired 
4. Not clear about the Job Description candidates are applying for 
5. Lack of skills to sell yourself 

What does it take to be a successful interviewee ?

• Identify Yourself: Think about who you are as a person and where do you want to be. What are your strengths, what makes you unique? This is the time period to dig deep and follow your passions. This is the time for self-discovery. Write down your goals and create a vision, and a mission statement which simply encompasses what you do and who you serve. For example: “I am a human resource professional that help young graduates with career advice and job seeking techniques.”
• Concentrate on Job Description: Pay attention to every details of the job description which you are applying for. Not matching with the job description as posted is the biggest constraint for a successful interview.
• Know about the company: The candidate should know about the company they are interviewing with. Don’t expect the person conducting the interview to tell you everything about their company. This shows that you have not done your homework.  
• Avoid Desperation: It is very important to properly and advisedly select the career; Do not be hurried to be hired. Desperation to get hired leads to either underselling or overselling your abilities. 
• Dressing for Success: Dress your best and appropriately for the interview regardless of the dress code at the organization. If you're in doubt about how to dress for an interview, it is best to err on the side of conservatism. If you're not sure, check with the person who scheduled the interview and ask. Avoid wearing jeans, spike heels or sneakers for the interview. There were applicants who weren't afraid to show pierced body parts and spiked hair. Still others chewed gum or showed up in rumpled clothes or with their pants falling down. There was an instance where a recruiter told a candidate  to "Pull your pants up." 
• Profession Passion: One should have the ability to differentiate between desperation and profession passion. A recruiter / interviewer wants to see that you are excited about the job description, and even more excited about the possibility of filling the position. However, many candidates view excitement as being unprofessional, therefore they keep their arms folded on their laps, rarely smile, look in one direction the entire time that they are being interviewed. Professional Passion takes a candidate out of their comfort zone and thus separates them from the bunch.
• Body gestures are watched for in an interview: Warm smile, firm handshake, consistent and appropriate eye contact are the important body gestures watched for in an interview. Slouch, yawn, or checking the watch shows your disinterest in the job.

From the moment you walk into an employer's office for an interview, you are being observed. Your posture, look, voice, and presence are all important, and you want to watch your every move to leave a great impression. 

If you take the above points seriously, I am sure you will be the one, the recruiters are looking for. All the best! 

CORPORATE TRAINING

Where Pebbles Are Polished And Diamonds Are Dimmed 

Progressive organisations have realised that training their employees on a continuous basis is the only real way to stay ahead of the competition. Corporate trainers typically find themselves teaching topics that people don't learn in their formal education, such as communication skills, business writing etiquette, public speaking, presentation skills and other job-specific functional and technical skills. Every organization is making sure that all its employees perform well to the best of their abilities focusing on Corporate Training Programs. 

Depending on a number of factors, such as the corporate environment, the audience, and the subject matter, a number of skills might be required to be considered for a corporate trainer, include and covers these critical success factors. If you thought that anyone armed with above average public speaking skills and a funny icebreaker could become a Corporate Trainer, think again, because there is more to it than what meets the eye.

All Corporate Trainers Are Teachers, But All Teachers Are Not Corporate Trainers !

There is a difference between conventional teaching and training. The former is simply conveying information, which can be accomplished with a Power Point presentation or a classroom lecture. Professional training, however, provides people with the tools and skills they need either to change their behaviour or develop new skill sets they never had before.

In order to teach other people new behaviours, a trainer should develop these abilities beforehand. Also, most importantly, corporate trainers have to deal with mature adult audiences who have their own experiences and perceptions. Teachers have a certain position of authority because of which students have a natural tendency to follow their instructions, trainers enjoy no such luxury and have to build strong relationships with their learners to get the message across.

Skills Required ?

• Subject Matter Expertise: A corporate trainer needs to establish credibility by having relevant subject matter expertise. Nothing is worse than a room full of students who feel their time is being wasted because their instructor doesn't know what he or she is talking about.
• Watch Yourself In Action: The presentation skill ability is critical. If you are a corporate trainer, consider taking regular public speaking or presentation skills training programs. In addition to training classes, if you are a corporate trainer you should consider having yourself videotaped periodically. You can learn a lot by watching yourself in action
• Good Facilitator: Besides imparting wisdom, trainers are called on to facilitate a session with the class. The style and skills used when facilitating are quite different than training skills, so learn facilitation techniques, too. 
• Mind Reading - (Body Language): A trainer should be able to "read" his or her students, beyond what they say. Being a student of body language can be helpful in interpretation of the moods, needs, and challenges of your students.
• Be humorous: Using humor can add punch to your training programs and really engage your students. If you’re not naturally funny, hone your skills by taking a comedy class. Just remember to keep humor non-offensive.
• Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is the ability that some people have to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of themselves and others, whether individuals or groups. It's useful for a trainer to have their own emotional intelligence levels assessed and analyzed, and then work on strengthening areas of weakness. This helps a trainer better understand the needs of his or her students.
• Legible Writing: This one sounds simple, but so many trainers write illegibly and it causes a distraction at best. At worst, it can be an impediment to learning. Then, practice until you can write more neatly.
• Audio/Visual Skills: It's very helpful for a trainer to be knowledgeable about audio-visual equipment, including how to set it up, how to use it, and how to fix problems that may emerge. It's a luxury to have a technician on hand when you need one.

Training Certifications:

Training certifications typically verify that their holder has an adequate grasp of essential fundamentals, at a certain acceptable level. A certification programme will equip you with the basic knowledge of how to make presentations effectively, design training courses, how to conduct a training needs analysis, how to set objectives for a training programme, how to deliver training effectively and evaluate the effectiveness of training. It is, however, a great 'starting point' for those relatively new to the field.

In the words of the famous author, Mark Twain, "There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones; it can lift men to angelship". Corporate training is an elusive art. There is no checklist to follow in order to excel in this profession. You not only need tremendous confidence in your level of expertise, but also in your ability to entertain and educate an audience.

WHAT MAKES EMPLOYEES DISTRUST HR ?

Let's hear the bitter truth from their experiences !

" Where is the human face of the human resource department?" says an employee who has worked in three organizations so far.  

" It's a mechanical function. I don't even know what HR department can do for me, besides the annual birthday wishes they send," says a woman executive.  

" The most common employee gripe? HR speaks a language other employees don't understand. I get traumatized by words such as competency, change management, paradigm, bell curve, KRA," says a marketing executive in a Gurgaon-based firm. 

For a business function that's supposed to make the lives of employees better, HR isn't likely to win any inter-departmental popularity contests. What makes employees distrust HR? And what can be done to make HR popular? 

Bimal Rath, former HR head of Nokia and founder of leadership and talent consulting firm Think Talent Services says HR does need to look inwards to see why it is so "criticized". Does it have real empathy or has it got caught in the processes and paperwork? " Indians grow up in a caring environment and expect somewhat similar treatment at work. HR is expected to be a torchbearer of employee issues and has perhaps neglected this aspect by becoming a bit too mechanical," Rath reasons. 

Another senior executive asserts that HR itself is not clear about its role. HR is a bridge between the management and employees. The problem starts when HR either becomes management-driven and the employees do not trust it. Or when HR becomes too employee-centric and management begins to distrust it? " he suggests. 

At MphasiS, HR head Elango R acknowledges that HR needs a little of spit and polish job. He is working at it. Some time ago, Elango realised that some employees really did not easily comprehend the "competency skill matrix" part of their hiring, training, appraisals. He then came up with an alternative that was easy for everyone to understand. "We now call it 'what does it take to get the job done chart'," 

It's all about keeping it simple and relevant. That's probably the first step for HR if it wants employees to love it a little more.

NEED A HIRING SYSTEM IN PLACE

Consistently Choose "The Perfect 10" Candidate ! 

The hiring process, is all about creating consistent and predictable results. Whether its a two-person business, or a company with three hundred employees, a hiring process will have to take the guesswork out of finding the right person for the job.

Don't you think an organization needs a hiring system? What if you had to hire 30 people at a time? What if you had to have somebody else in your organization do the hiring for you? How can you be sure that you'll end up with the best possible person for the position?

For example: Olympic judges have pre-defined scoring criteria that they all adhere to as they judge each event. You can watch an athlete perform what you think is the most amazingly perfect display of athleticism, and the judges will end up giving them a poor score because of a detail you missed. Why? 

This is because the judges have consistent criteria to judge with; they're all on the same page and they can choose the winner based on those criteria. It's the same thing for your hiring process. You need a system in place that allows you to consistently choose the candidate who scores a perfect 10!

Common Mistakes to Avoid While Hiring a Candidate:

Is a new hire always the answer?
If you're considering hiring a new employee the first thing to ask yourself is: "Can we achieve our desired results without hiring anyone?" In other words, force yourself to consider all of the options you have at your disposal (besides adding people) to produce the result you want. Only move forward with your recruiting and hiring systems when you've determined that a new employee is absolutely necessary.

Are you recruiting or hiring? Confused ??
In an E-Myth'd business, hiring and recruiting are separate things. Recruiting involves defining the position and the ideal candidate and then communicating that recruiting message so that you attract the right candidate. The hiring process is about choosing the right candidate. By keeping these two processes clearly defined, you'll maximize the impact of both and end up with the best qualified candidate for the job.

Do you believe that hiring decisions are made in the first seven seconds of an interview? Really??
There's an old saying that hiring decisions are made in the first seven seconds of an interview. Seven seconds? This means that most hiring decisions are made from an emotional perspective. The candidate just "feels right," and while trusting your instinct is good; it must be tempered with objectivity. We sometimes tell clients, "When you feel the urge to hire, don't." Your hiring decisions are some of the most consequential decisions you can make in your business — it's essential to have a hiring system in place that allows you to consider all the pertinent data.

Do you feel the need to convince a candidate to work in your company?
If you've done your recruiting process right, there's no need for you to sell the company to your candidate because they already know exactly what you are about. By the time the candidate has gotten to the interview stage with you, you should be in hiring mode, focused on choosing the right candidate instead of them choosing you. If you feel like you need to convince a candidate that your company is "so great that you really should come work for us" then you've got a problem and it's time to re-evaluate your recruiting process.

Should hiring be based purely on skill?
Don't hire based only on the candidate's skill set. You should be looking for skill and attitude. Look for the right attitude because you can always train the right candidate in the skills of the job, but you can't change anybody.


We should keep the above list of common hiring mistakes in mind as we build our hiring process. It is never too late to build systems into a business. Even if you're not hiring right now, by creating a hiring system, you'll be prepared when the time comes.

EMPLOYEE RETENTION

It's not about managing retention, it's about managing people !!

Employee Retention is a process in which the employees are encouraged to be with the organization for the maximum time or as of now, until the project gets completed. Employee retention is beneficial for both the organization and the employee. As the competition in the market heats up, the acquisition of skills, talents and knowledge becomes a difficult job for the organization. Many of the companies are facing problems in retaining employees. Where recently a survey shows that employee turnover can cost an organization almost 4- 5 times more than an annual employee salary. A study conducted by some B- schools researched that 80% of employee turnover is attributable to blunders committed during the recruitment process. Being an HR professional we need to understand employee turnover is not a disease but it is a symptom of the disease.

The areas, which affect the retention of employees:

In this era of globalization employees are blessed with good opportunities. As soon as they feel dissatisfied with the current employer or with the job they switch over. It is becoming hard on the employer to retain employees, as the organization would not be left with good employees. 

The areas, which affect the retention of employees, are different and vary according to people. For example for Person A, work-environment can be a factor to continue with the company and for Person B, compensation can be a factor for discontinuation with the company. As being HR personnel’s we need to understand our employees so that we can provide them with satisfaction. 

In order to retain employees who fall under "critical people" to the organization, HR can prepare a list of factors, which can affect their retention and can work on them. Once completed successfully on “critical people” this exercise can be implemented on rest of the employees as well.

Being HR personnel one should know how to attract and retain its employees. A company, which wants to strengthen its bond with its employees, needs to invest in their developments. This involves the creation of opportunities for role enhancement within the company as well as training & skill development that allow employees to enhance their employability in the internal/external employable market. Employees should be trained and given a chance to improve & enhance their skills. This helps them to perform better and also boosts their self- esteem and commitment towards work.

Employee retention involves five major things:

• Compensation
• Environment
• Growth
• Relationships
• Support.

If an organization is able to focus on all these areas, it can retain employees. It is not about managing retention, it is about managing people. The glue is quality work, responsibilities, recognition, respect, growth, opportunities, compensation, support and friendly supervision. If an organization manages its people well, employee retention will be taken care of in a well manner. Organization should force on managing the work environment to make better use of their human assets.