What is the challenge for Organization and Individuals today? | Stakeholder Management

image courtesy; http://www.daca.uk.com/Websites/darwenacademy/images/Students/TheChallenge/ChallengeLogo-angled-full-JPEG.jpg

What is the challenge today? To keep stakeholders interested and engaged. Stakeholders are wrongly read as customers. Employees too are stakeholders, same goes for every participant in the business eco-system.

Why is it so difficult to engage? That’s not much as an issue, rather keeping them engaged. It’s the attention span. For instance, observe the consumer behavior – a person visiting your website. More than 5 seconds, nothing on screen, the person fidgets, and 10 seconds later seeing nothing, the person move on to something else. So, whatever drew the person to your place was whittled in that 10 seconds to feel withdrawn, and shutdown. You just blew away a prospect – blame the bandwidth, or the brainstorming that sat on the site design, nothing can be done to salvage the damage.

If you want to dismiss it as ‘website issue’, then remind yourself of the personal branding being pulverized. The site is your reflection. If you weren’t able to sustain the interest, how do you probably expect people to engage? Like writing, the stroke  starts with a single dot, which often is either ignored or overlooked, we miss out on the basics and begrudgingly admit after the deck is done.  Most companies do the product first and then look for customers. Apple did and succeeded. So, is that the template for achievement or tried model for accomplishment? Then its own iterations were based on the consumer behavior and customer response. You just can’t get everything right in your first attempt. Alright. But neither can you create something and then create a demand. It’s not reverse engineering.

An anecdote

It’s a two-way street. What’s in it? Is asked by both the actors – employer and employee. For me to retain my position, what is required of me? The employer may seek an alternative if you are unable to meet the KRAs, or you might start shopping for openings if you feel dissatisfied at work. And that brings an anecdote in support of the statement.  One of the fellow students, a prodigy, known for sheer brilliance, and silence, an extremely soft-spoken engineer. He was not just smart but super-smart. This is the incident that happened during a campus drive with a fortune-500 company. Posed with a typical challenging and complicated integration problem to solve, he rose up from his chair within minutes. When the interviewer approached “any doubt’, he just handed the paper gesturing ‘done’. The person stood transfixed and there were no further rounds or grinds. They offered him the ‘letter’ then and there, and expressed their keen intent in absorbing in the work force. Once on board, the company would periodically check with him for any ‘wants’ which they ready to fulfill. ‘you name it and you got it.’ Instead, it was met and returned with his trademark smile that said ‘thank you’. The attitude of ‘no airs and feet firm on the ground’ endeared him as the MVP – most valuable person. A telling testimony of talent.

The ground reality

The humor doing the rounds quoting an imaginative discussion between a CEO and CFO of “what happens if we invest in developing our people and they leave us?” and the CEO responding “what happens if we don’t and they stay” might bring a smile, but then that’s the reality as well. Isn’t it? The challenge today is all about expectations and engagement. Attrition or exodus of talent is the direct impact of engagement management.

Why should I stay in this company? What must I do to find a fitment? Read it again and you will observe the difference in terms of perspective.

The company questions your existence and you question the company’s prudence. Win-win alone can survive and sustain this eco-system.  So long one needs to survive and thrive, then it’s by challenging oneself. Keep raising the bar.

It takes two to tango. So validation in isolation wouldn’t be fair. How come an individual with an accomplished track record failed to deliver in the present organization? One cannot shine selectively, and that too when he nature of job demands excellences, yet we are witnessing burn-outs and drop-outs. So, an organization is as much accountable, just like the individual to meeting deadlines and delivery.

Sounds like a lead pulled out of stakeholder management? 

e-Learning for Employee Retention

image courtesy: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ddqt7rkBVfauxQC6z8FcU1hjQLVYuLjeuC8_fcRIdJCrRAwRVDU5qZQoI2Tw3A8jgG60emmjxngEN8aInXOrvwArpsf4bpGWuUJAMA206I8Kl0zneX34a51B994aVsbpHfC-YRWILLY/s1600/e-learning_image.jpg

Two decades before, aspirations ran really high in securing a seat in one of the prestigious colleges – which often was an analogy for ‘springboard to successes’ or the ‘launch pad’. A good and sound education ensured you can eke out a living that hopefully will enrich the future. You can’t be done with education, and you just can’t have enough. Knowledge never erodes.  Back then, education was the primary means to meet your ends. To graduate, find a high-paying job and learn on the ropes and settle in life was the well beaten path, which has been stamped by worn out feet. That was then.

Today is telling. The mindset of a millennial is interesting and intriguing.

Hiring manager are witnessing a tectonic shift in the attitude and approach of youngsters, especially, ‘freshers’ out of colleges whose outlook has been completely influenced by today's’ trends and tomorrow’ expectation.

 There is a paradigm shift – as compared to ‘how much can I earn?’ they are questioning ‘what will I learn?” while the assurance then  was “learn while you earn’, the audacity today is to challenge 'learn “what” while I earn.'

The pride in joining a prestigious organization or fortune 500 company can be just about the same as working in the latest technology. It’s to the inquisitive mind that can ignite thoughts to touch zenith, and not only youngsters but those that are ambitious in giving  whatever it takes uttering “if required sleep under the desk”.

The conundrum

Downsizing, the companies are trying to eliminate ‘deadwood’; and at the same time sharpening its competitive edge to stay relevant and superior.  So the question is often on the lines of  “are you comfortable learning, or challenge learning?”

That makes learning all the more exciting – and enterprising. “Why do wizards leave?”  - should be the question when your top talent is treading towards the exit door. They leave because there is not much of competition or nothing to change status quo.  So with the lack of incentives, the motivation to grind the same flour in a different flavor makes the occupation dull and engagement uneventful. Where went the education? And the extended use?

Admittedly, the pace at which technology has accelerated is just incomprehensible. Generations in its times witnessed changes and resisted as well. But the way this generation has embraced and endeavored simply exceeds expectations. Star wars kind of things, were conceptualized and soon   Self-driving cars becoming a possibility is no more a novelty. Well, that’s the reality. Soon flying cars and mission to mars. Impossible is nothing.

What excites this generation is the gauntlet to take the future by its holds, emboldened with the education and endeavor to push the boundaries of resistance.

“The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.” as stated by Naipaul.  Call it savage or systematic or severe, that’s the world for you to survive. It’s ‘perform or perish’ ultimatum.

Fresh start and startups

We are familiar with startups mushrooming during the peak of the dotcom bubble, but the present valuation of the startups in the Asian-sub continent can be dumbfounding. And for varied reasons, we find more youngsters opting to kick-start their career in startups and one of the powerful pull cited is ‘fresh lease of life’ in the form of learning and working on new technologies.

‘Data scientist’ is a newly coined designation which didn’t exist a decade before. Big data, Hadoop, Robotics,  Data analytics, AI, Space Programs, the internet of things – becoming the cynosure in the life of the curious geeks.  Algorithm was more confined to Coding. But today technology is driving scientific progress, and algorithms are used in airline pricing, stock trading, ecommerce, transportation and what not.

eLearning will help in retention

Companies take pride in what they are offering other than that specified in a job description. For a fresher, it doesn’t matter – or does it? The perks in present terms are more knowledge acquisition. E-Learning is a powerful tool to harness the potential in the talent acquired. Remember the shelf life of the talent is less than a banana. Some who reported in the morning failed to show up after lunch. Attrition can be so menacing that reining in manpower is almost magical.  There are always aces up in the sleeves – the carrot dangling is the promise of pathway to learning. Try eLearning.

In empowering your workforce through training, make effective use of eLearning. Just as you would light-up a runway for take-off during night, try stacking those novel and niche expertise in career pathway which must be hard-to-miss. Its not enticement; call it engagement. No matter how you wish to label, will it be strong enough to seize their attention to make them stay on?  Its about managing their expectations. Surpassing will ensure their stay. To impress your workforce, it’s recommended to invest on them. 

Technology is an enabler; eLearning a tool. How you wish to leverage in retaining your talent – is left to you.

Conflict Management – How to Resolve Conflict at Work Place | Project Management

image courtesy: https://www.your24hcoach.com/cms/assets/4-conflict-resolution-coaching-online-coaching-your24hcoach-2.jpg

Conflict amongst co-workers is a common occurrence in the work place. If there isn’t none, call that a monastery, even where doubt persists about domestic disturbance. We aren’t programmed metallic boxes but people with a myriad of emotions that at times, distracts from some difficult and disturbing disagreements which stem mostly from difference of opinions, when taken personally proves toxic and dismembers from the team. Too often distancing away, avoiding eye-contact, building blocks of hate, digging wells of anger and raising wall of resentment are too many symptoms of this malaise.

This further deteriorates to forming allies who would have endured something similar and hence a common thread that connects the complaint. So a tussle between two extrapolates in numbers, and before the situation could be brought into control, its blown away out of proportion as finding a way to settle personal scores can’t find a better timing than the present confrontation. 

So one versus another turns out to be they vs. them - factions of dissent. And of course, those defectors within the dissenters and add to the woes, the fence sitters. So two embittered employees embroiled in an encounter escalate to the point of livelihood endangerment? Better to sack than put up with the strife?  Ridiculous. The best is to resolve. 

Interpersonal conflicts is a given in our daily walk of life from haggling with a vendor – and hence the disgruntled customer, to the ticket collector in the bus short of change fuming at you for the lack of, and so will it be in an organization. Conflicts can be due any reasons from skirmishes or stress or pressure or plainly put, ego.  An argument is usually an assault of words, and accusations hurled  out of which  conflicts arise in your work and outside work as well.

why should you resolve conflict?

Strained relationships do more harm to the organization and employee engagement calls for a dedicated role. Negotiation is the primary means of arbitration in ironing out the differences in bring out agreement and harmony. Usually the differences are tabled and handled professionally without preference or prejudice thus reaching for a fair settlement. Some are straightened out in the first attempt but some case might have deep roots and hence calls for more time to bring the person/group in the same page. Some really take time to work out a peaceful solution.

when should you resolve conflict?

There is a no stress barometer and neither is an ideal situation. The moment the ugly head of conflict raises, neutralize. Conflict is like gangrene which left unattended can start spreading making other parts dysfunctional. So resolve at the earliest the possible.

how should you resolve conflict?

There are no hard and fast rules. Some seek the formal route and others informal channel. Diplomacy pays. Chemistry works. It all boils down to the skills of the handler in dealing with the opposition through dialogue and diplomacy. The arbiter can earn the confidence of the affected parties through trust and transparency in effectively resolving the crisis.

There are other methods as well.

Have you come across such a situation and successfully resolved the conflict?  Please share your experience. 

e-Learning – the altruistic way of promoting learning.

image courtesy: https://evolution-institute.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/altruism-1272x442.png

A learned person passed on wisdom and insight about eLearning – which itself was altruistic.

The selfless act to dispel the darkness of ignorance by lighting the torch of education is perhaps the brightest of illumination. It’s a beacon of hope to the uninformed and underprivileged. The brilliant and beautiful quote of Durant ‘Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance’ characterizes our pursuit of knowledge and excellence as the more we learn, the more we confound our understanding.

So when a deemed expensive education at one of the prestigious academic institution is beyond the possible reach of those who can ill-afford, e-Learning proved to be the panacea in making it possible. The educated are morally obliged to educate the uneducated. Hence, altruism is still a long way.

Is it a catharsis for the curse or cleansing the system?

Those dealt with a distinct disadvantage, are deprived of their due, that they see the door of admission ajar and yet accept the very odds that distances their prospects.  Think of a person who lives in less than ‘advanced country’ standards, for whom aspiring to pursue a course would be to ‘shoot at the stars’, can only keep  yearning . Illustrious institutions like  “MIT’s open courseware ‘ offers its course without any charges. You may not be able to appreciate as much as that person vying for a spot.  Isn’t altruistic? eLearning can be a powerful tool in philanthropy and business pursuits. It enables you and me to have a fair shot at success.

Are companies truly altruistic?

Corporates are known to commercialize. Well, how do you expect it to survive otherwise? But with that cost comes some compassion or benevolence.  Are companies truly altruistic? So, it’s just about self-gains? We tend to get washed away by public sentiment that a company that’s capitalist at the core can’t just find its footprint in philanthropy.

Who foots the bill of your training? Who sponsors your certification? Who provides the platform for learning? When you are roped in as part of the workforce, the drill begins and never ends. For the rest of your life, you are on the bench – learning. When you stop learning, you cease to grow. Standing still, means, walking backwards. So step up with the crowd or as they say gain ‘appreciable head start’. All these glorious adjectives aren’t bequeathed at birth. You might be right in protesting “I have earned it.” Of course, all the stripes and stars. But do pause for a moment. Someone offered you an opportunity – now this applies for entrepreneurs too. Its not without reason ‘the customer is king’. If there is no audience, what good is the stage?

Isn’t there an Investment on YOU?

Every project – short term or long term you engage, is an education in itself.  In fact, failures teach you far more than success. Bill Gates quote is telling “success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”

So, isn’t it like ‘you can’t have the cake and eat it as well’. Well, you do. Don’t you? If the company is good, then the compensation should range from good to great, plus the perks and other goodies that go with the job. Sometimes, its swelling to feel seated on a trash of cash. You live the life. Again, ‘you earned it. Hence, entitled.’ Then in the race to glory, there are pit stops.  Those are gentle reminders that you live on ‘borrowed time’ and ‘endowment’. The world is neither flat nor fair. Just as uneven, so in the inequality that exists. In this rat-race, instead of being privileged, find it a ‘privilege’ to be employed for many are called but few picked. And to ice the cake, the company gets to sponsor. Whoa! That’s the cherry on the top my friend, because you are the cream of the crop.

So short-sightedness may not spell the motives to be truly altruistic, but in the longer run you will appreciate every dime and nickel that picked up your bill and paid in full. 

Where are the Returns?

Times have changed. There were the one your father decided to offer his services and retired from the very place joined years before. He would have aged along with the company – weathered the good and bad and seen it all. That was ‘loyalty’. Its always wise to invest because they are true, tested and trusted assets. 

Today, training an employee, at a cost comes with associated risks.  Retention is the worst risk – the carrot on top theory  is not for the prime donnas, better try elsewhere. Today talent is not just tapped; its poached. At a price – at times unreasonable and obscene.  So where went all that training and certification the company  invested in you? Not exactly down the drain as you would have contributed your share fairly, so your conscience is clear. What about the company’ bottom line? The ROI is not met with you serving a stint. It has to be many more stints before the company can break-even, but by then, you have cut off ties and fastened your belts to take-off. The asset just flew out, leaving the company in the red. Literally. So when there is nothing binding upon you to serve, why should the company bother to spend? Yet, it does. Isn’t that altruistic? Think about it. 

Isn’t incumbent on us individually and personally to repay the debt? Yes, that’s why to your teacher, you are indebted.  The legends, living and departed have attributed their success to teachers. Bill Gates attributed, Steve Jobs acknowledged Reeds College for calligraphy. 

Commerce and compassion might sound contradicting, but buried beneath the business is the sense of benevolence. 

e-Learning! Keep them motivated

image source: https://elearningindustry.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Enhance-Motivation-eLearning.jpg

First, it’s an efficient educational system, and inexpensive as well.

It’s self-driven and hence the sense of admission and accountability is all-time high.

It’s not bound by anything – be it place or time. So you can do-it-yourself anytime, anywhere.

Being Boundless, eLearning clears bottleneck and opens up any opposition you might have harbored against the system.

The freedom is unrestrained and unhinged. You are absolutely free in apportioning your time according to your convenience.  The same is applicable for both the employers and employees.

Many are well-acquainted with e-Learning, and the positive highlights.  The rapid rise in technology removing any hassles with regard to the reach, access is not the issue. It’s the approach. Left to themselves, are they really accountable? This is a valid poser as learners (read as employees) fail to take training seriously misusing the very advantage e-Learning offers – the freedom to choose time and place. Just because it can be accessed anytime, there is a tendency to procrastinate. Since there is no one to monitor, complacency creeps in making one lethargic and even lazy and listless. We expect self-discipline, and regretfully, the instances of utter disregard to discipline are just incredible.

There can be umpteen benefits, but like a full blown balloon all it takes is just a pinprick. And that’s the reason why e-Learning had failed to establish as one of the standard more of learning like classroom or virtual online class training. So as many positives are nullified or neutralized by the ill-effects.  Wait a minute! Hear the other side of the story. “Oh! Its so boring and the monotony can wear you out.” Many opt out or just fake it because there is a mandate to complete the course. The completion might be the basis for some points, perks or even promotion, and one just can’t afford  to ‘skip’ the classes and hence just ‘sit through’ the hours leaving the learning cycle in a limbo.

So, how  does eLearning evens it out?

Transform your training

Think Technology, think mobile. We witness the mobile surge and surpass any other electronic usage or for that matter any invention. The medium is mobile and the mode is mobile. Empowering your employees I enriching their education in the way forward would be, naturally, mobile. You can choose your training modules and create it in an interesting and engaging manner to make the learner more involved and absorbed. It increases the attention span and greatly improves retention.  The present and the future belong to mobile.  A holistic approach is to look for a win-win situation.

Reliable information picked up from the public domain reveals that ‘among the highly advanced companies, as much as 18% of all training is now delivered through mobile devices’.

Close the gap

It is often the case of ‘learn what we want you study’ without much emphasis on the content and packaging.  It was understood from a Towards Maturity report that learners prefer a more personalized content that’s relevant and fast paced. Instead they are made to study subjects that best befits classroom setup. So there clearly exists a gap – that needs to be closed. E-Learning will help you in customizing to the crowd, and also identify and individual needs. That’s the flexibility made possible – kind of custom made or made to order. Its basically “to get them on your side”. And for that ‘you need to see their side.’

Promote a strong learning culture

For a company to report growth, it is imperative to nurture talent and promote a platform for knowledge acquisition and upgrade. Companies need to look beyond the conventional classroom and look for means that can effectively leverage technology in advancing the workforce skills.  E-Learning, instead of interpreting as ‘competing mode’ to conventional education should be viewed as complementing knowledge and development.

Technology is the trump card, and you play it smart to emerge triumphant.

 “The most important principle for designing lively eLearning is to see eLearning design not as information design but as designing an experience.” - Cathy Moore

Maslow’s theory of needs rewritten? Needs and wants intertwine. But wants outshine. | Professional Certification

image courtesy: http://c.asstatic.com/images/1292759_634609393918906250-1.jpg

Expectations are always high. One of Abraham Lincoln’s letters goes like this :

“Let Him Have The Courage To Be Impatient, Let Him Have The Patience To Be Brave.”

In changing times, especially in the IT realm surrounded by gadgets and flooded with apps [to the point that alert about rogue apps are being circulated], the millennial and iGen just can’t be restrained by patience. They are already  pampered with the luxury of living that one hears the lament of ‘I want it and I want it now.” Cost isn’t the criterion; it’s the catch – what’s new and exciting. Inventive and innovative. It’s the desire to stand alone by owning either that’s something new to the market or that has something better than existing. The glint of pride lies in the possession. Try with a kid and it could be anything from a tablet or the latest game to greet the market. One wonders the psyche of long queue to get hold the new gadget. People lining up for apple’s products are legendary.   Their needs long met, kids are screaming about wants. 

The adults fare no better.

Oversupply and undervalue

The market is skewed when it comes to skilled professionals. We have an oversupply and hence undervalue, which is inevitable. The Asian sub-continent is known to roll out hundreds of thousands of engineers and yet recruiters are finding it a hard time in zeroing on the ‘right’ candidate. Why? Those who line up for openings somehow fails to measure up to the expectation.  In the milieu that’s driving professional mad with its demands and infinite possibilities NEEDS no longer suffice. It’s the WANTS.

For instance, how many certified PMP®s are available to be engaged in typical waterfall methodology? It may not be surplus, but let’s say, sufficient enough or barely adequate.  Alright, assuming the same professional is expected to work in an agile environment, and the norm is to possess a PMI-ACP® certification, now check your human capital that holds these two certifications? What’s the count? Professionals holding a dual certification of PMP® and PMI-ACP® are much less in numbers that recruiters would have to really look into the talent bucket to scrounge and scrape. What’s now a ‘good to have’ in your resume will become a mandate as ‘must have’. So brace yourself, as times ahead aren’t going to be any easier.

Get certifications, get higher salaries

Globally renowned and internationally acclaimed certification, especially in niche technologies like social, mobile, analytics, cloud including big data and internet of things, is a clear recognition of acquired skill, and when they address the mission critical initiatives , then their ‘ worthiness’  will soar for sure, commanding attractive compensation.  It’s becoming passé to excel in a particular field or  specific area of interest. Professionals these days are expected to be more fluid, without bracketing into a particular bucket, but to meet ever changing and evolving needs. They need to be flexible enough to accommodate as many tasks as possible - is the minimum expectation. In how many possible ways can I use the same resource to increase the ROI - yes, multitasking and that translates as 'monetising'. You are an asset and there is substantial investment. And as an investor, it’s only fair to expect an enhanced return on investment. Here again, the need is replaced with want.

Let’s accept that not everyone becomes an entrepreneur. Segment the society and sift the populace and find out how many families run on salary as bread-winning source. Most remain salaried. So your job matters. Disruption in technology is understandable but automation is not only perceived as a mere threat of disturbance but uprooting your livelihood .

Why is that threat real? Because the same skills don’t serve all time always. Like system upgrade, human capital too should reboot and reinvent.

When one need is met, another arises. Redefining Maslow in the present, would it be off the target to postulate when one want is met, one more emerges.

Needs and wants intertwine. But wants outshine.