Tag: navigating worklife

Marketing through fear.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Through evolution, if there has been a singular thread that the human mind has been able to hold on to apart from being creative it has been the thread of respecting and taming fear! Join me here as we take a quick look on how this space of fear- has gone to shape us, what we do as individuals and societies and why the marketing of fear is not limited only to companies that sell products and services, but runs beyond that and is much deeper than you can think! So here we go!

Fear- the most basic of human emotions and something that has gone a long way to make who we are today. Fear certainly played it’s part to ensure that as a species we survived and thrived. Experts have written books upon books on how fear helps and how it harms, so I am not going to go ahead and more to that bit, but this is the base point that we will have our piece anchored upon- the singular fact that fear works and perhaps works too well to ensure that we survive and we thrive.This is why people who do market through the angle of fear- almost always get what they set out to achieve! Let me explain!

The pandemic sure enough has brought the entire humanity face to face with a situation that even by standards of pure science and scientific research is mind boggling and giving a tough time even to the renowned experts in the respective fields of study- but what do we observe as we look around? You have anti-viral clothing- formal wear, you suddenly have anti-viral “x”,”y”, “z” and almost everything from the ball pen that you hold in your hand to the mobile cover that you may have or the humble body wash/ hand soaps all of them have been suddenly transformed into oversight anti-viral heroes sure enough with that golden sly condition of 99.99%*** written and said all over as the choreographed visual sleight is played out! Not to forget the sudden wonder foods that have cropped up which are supposed to keep you safe by boosting your immunity even as you smoke and drink and load cholesterol in your system! I mean really? The marketing through fear angle when it comes to what we consume as humans is not limited to this pandemic alone! Let us jog down the memory lane!

If you have been observant, try and recollect how food was marketed to you- whether it was that milk- for protein and health or those humble oats, that white meat, that steak, that vegan movement, that fish with supposedly the most potent pack of Omega 3 fatty acids or those canned shrimps, to the whole narrative of micro plastics in sea food, antibiotics in meat, pesticides in plants and fruits , to chemicals in formulation…so if you actually walked through this who;e circle- by now- you would have checked out almost everything that you can think of eating or drinking simply because for every one narrative that says you should have it else you will get “abc” problems, there are competing narratives which suggest exactly the opposite which say, if you have this, you will certainly get “pqr”. So finally people do what they can, ignore as much as they can, apply science if they have the time and energy and if it is available with them try to apply age old granny’s wisdom and common sense and get moving ahead in life! The people who get sold into these narratives are the ones’ who are entrapped for ever and it is these masses that are than played over by people who want to sell to them whatever they please to, whenever they choose to and at a price that they command! If you thought this fear led communication is only limited to marketing of products and services or the world of communication, think about it- there is virtually not one sector which is untouched by this malaise! Even Governments play out the same strategy, the only difference being that their playbook gets camouflaged into visual-less,boring and printed pointers (change of rules you see) which are often ignored and missed until the IRS or the tax man in your nation comes home paying a visit to you! Let me explain this space too quickly!

Governments the world over have the big task of managing societies- societies which are at times diverse, cohesive, divisive, polarized, idealistic, plural, liberal, accommodating, welcoming, closed..so on and so forth. The matter here is not about what is right or what is not so right, you need to see in this space, how is your government (if you have one!) working on the entire social fabric that you exist in- what is the story that is has been selling to you- do you or rather did you ever or maybe – do you always get a sense that the government is always trying to reach out to you and tell you something that is not right! Think about it, when was the last time that a leader of a society/ nation took to the stage and said, you had given me “x” time and I had 10 things to provide and this is what I have accomplished! Well, hardly any right? So humans, being humans- it doesn’t matter whether you are just who you are or you lead a nation- when you have nothing to say, they spin a story and since being in politics, crime won’t help, neither will any of the other vices, fear is the only instrument of choice to distract, divert and draw people to a non-issue that either doesn’t exist and if it does, blow it so much out of proportion that, by the time everyone is consumed by it- people are left wondering and saying to themselves, ” What was all that about, anyway”!

Whether they tell you stories of the enemy within or around, whether they paint the picture of climate change (even as they themselves clear forests- unknown to you!) or whether they talk about eradicating poverty- while they sustain and increase their personal wealth- all that approach is to instill fear and sell fear- aggressively or subtly to ensure they are able to manipulate and control and get what they want the society to do and allowing only permissible flexibility to resist/divert or stay non-committal- anytime that percentage threatens to wreck the balance of the social balance- an incident will come to the limelight and very often that just goes on to reinforce the stories earlier sold by marketing fear!

Final words, well, whether it is the promise of that tooth paste in your hands about being anti- whatever or that apparel which assures you 99.99%** of whatever that makes sense or it;s that news about that bad country, or bad people or those Vs Us kind of a narrative- all and each of these nudges are to make you feel vulnerable, unsafe and anxious- because it is only when you are vulnerable, opened up and exposed with a mind filled with self-doubt and confusion- that a marketeer or a government will be able to plant the seed of fear and if you make the mistake of allowing that to happen and you go on to nourish it- well you just end up writing a blank cheque to your life- some call it loyalty, I call that ignorant slavery! So what’s the way around, is there any? If everyone seems to be hell bent on manipulating and conspiring all the time! Read on!

Individual awareness, access to multiple verified sources of information and education are the essential ingredients for empowering people to compare, contrast and discern of what is actually unfolding! Debate, discussion in a directed manner to address an issue or a challenge or a developing problem are all but the next steps followed by proactive implementation of legislative steps to safeguard and govern the society with transparency and clarity! Sure enough seems to be a fairy tale, because the moment this happens, what we have is distributed ownership of society where no one member of the society is more important than the other and everyone is as equal and as important as the other person and this is what a few will never want the many to have access to and hence the story of marketing and selling through fear will go on and on unless you are able to discern at your own level and share that insight around your sphere of influence so that at least a section of the society is able to see clearly what lies ahead and is able to save the day for the many- should the time ever arise! This is the space where new leaders are born and new orders are created!

Remember, fear must be respected to be overcome, but not surrendered to! No one overcame fear by surrendering, people have always conquered fear by embracing it!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another article, until then stay safe and stay wise!

The Work From Home pandemic!

~ Parimal Aluri ~ 5 Comments

I know you may think, I am out of my mind, but trust me, when I say the next challenges pertaining to human creativity , collaboration and trust are all going to arise from this so -called magic bullet of work-from-home! Join me here as we try to gauge what is perhaps greatly amiss and why what’s missing here will eventually end up causing the next pandemic with connotations spanning the mental health, financial health and work health of individuals and corporations world over! So here we go!

As the virus came calling, governments did what humans are great at doing- imitation- yes imitate what’s happening with the other nation; so as one nation locked down, so did others- well not to blame anyone for so much little was even known as things started to go from bad to worse and by the time people knew what had to be done and there was too much of cheese all over the place to avoid people from tripping, falling and breaking their bones- so the holy answer to all problems became the lock down and with that piece of unwarranted medical harakiri came the second unintended consequence of “work from home”!

People forgot in no time,even their ability to think and see how suddenly, just because the law of the land said so,working from home became fine! It is the same company perhaps, which would have made you move houses so that you could cut the traffic and reach on time, perhaps it is the very same firm which said, the offer letter could be given only if you stayed within a 10 mile radius and can make it ot the office on time, these are the very same offices which cut your leaves, salaries because you clocked in ten minutes late , three times over in a month just as recently as a few months back, now they all seemed to be just fine- for them- even as your privacy and peace at home has been plundered, looted and laid threadbare- whether it is that pet calling for you attention, that maid coming in at the critical moment through you presentation or the small kid who simply doesn’t understand what the parent is doing toying around with an electronic gadget- all and many such more minute scenarios are laying the foundation for your next disaster in the making and if you are not careful, the next one will even shame the virus- because the next challenge coming your way will be more personal- created by you and can only be solved by you!

To begin with, let’s try to understand what has actually happened! One fine day, your organisation was informed it’s not business as usual- like many others you too rejoiced with the thought of being able to work in your pyjamas and seem cool- to post snaps from your kitchen and show your superhuman skills of being able to work at home and for office at the same time- well this was the first checkmate- you just proved to your firm that the work given by your firm- and the price at which it was given to you doesn’t seem to make any sense- so as a consequence- your work-from-home hours suddenly started to stretch beyond your levels of comfort and sanity- so that now forget the kitchen you also find it a challenge to relieve yourself! Add to this the next layer of complication that gets added when you have more number of family members “working from home”- conversations overlap, conversations are overheard, jokes become a pain point and tonality becomes a point of debate- next any remaining confidentiality- whether its that email to your colleague., vendor or boss- doesn’t miss the attention of the other members and often your emails will be spell checked and langage refined- finally at some point your people from office will know- you have got a communication expert sitting by you helping you counter your one more incompetence which now lies more exposed than ever!

Likewise there will be countless odditties that will come to the forefront and few of them will many a times not what you had been saying all the while to the people with whom you worked at the workplace and now that they have intruded your private space- well the sad fact is there is no place to go further and create ambiguity- so what does this to the trust between people? Well as colleagues you have mental images and comfort evolved dealing with specific individuals- not everyone you know makes you equally comfortable hence- you tell what you think is the level of comfort for both of you- but with this private space intrusion there is a new level of problem- a lot of people come to know what you have perhaps not told- because it may not have been necessary- or required or because you didn’t want to- in any case what that ends up doing (which again is unwarranted) is erodes a small amount of trust and once this process starts, trust me there is no going back and it’s just a matter of time that you will see so-called team re-alignments and working dynamics change and in extreme cases people shuffled across the board and in a few other case ejected from the system! All simply because your privacy got intruded and you really had not planned for this shit coming your way!

To all this drama when you add multiple stakeholders and also add the other work-from-home members from your residence (now which resembles kind of a public arena-because of the kind of activities that seem to start at 8am and end only around midnight!) the chaos and confusion only adds up and in some cases is bad enough to drive you crazy enough to either share some unpleasant exchanges with the people in the zone or simply hang up your boots and say a hasty goodbye to what would have otherwise been a smooth career pathway- the one that you had aspired for and set out to achieve right from your college days! So what’s really happening here? Is there a way out of this and way to manage this? How long will this go on and what’s really the matter- the work or you?

Let’s start from the beginning! Do you remember few of the conversations that you had when you took up this job (which has now intruded into your privacy)? Yes, topics like- work-life-balance, respect for private time, no calls or emails on holidays and weekends, why you must move closer so that you can commute and be in the office! Why the office discourages working from home- because they respect your privacy! and now this very office is advocating the very opposite of all that was said and agreed upon- why? The Virus- not at all- you see, global businesses, whether you are selling donuts or some high end jwellery have been under stress even before the pandemic broke out and globally the capitalists led- world of corporate blue collared elites have been waiting for an opportunity to correct the systemic wrongs and the pandemic just happened to be the blessing in disguise that they were ecer waiting for! This once in a lifetime opportunity gave them the reason to dishonour their corporate lease agreements, defer payments to vendors and staff indefinitely (unless in few nations where in the governments intervened and set the rules of engagement – to salvage some sanity), get even with the governments of the day to extract deep discounting for the next few years so on and so forth, not to forget the reset of their banking terms and conditions (the corporate ones- even as at an individual levels you still get hounded by debt collection calls!) So you see, the real thing about asking you to work from home is the least interest of your safety- but in the larger interest of corporate finance and the compulsions that go around with the nexus of business and politics the world over- nothing to say good about and nothing to whine- because neither I am the business nor the government! and you ended up thinking the work-from-home- intrusion to your privacy was a sacrifice that you are doing for upholding your company! Well keep thinking that way- and wait for the next nightmare!

The other serious level problem that has happened is that as individuals begin working connected through distributed spaces- human brain the way it is- trust erodes rapidly and you add a personality angle to it, this differentiating rate of trust erosion for all the right and wrong reasons helps accelerate the fall of teams and bring in the “new order”- read creating lean teams as the new need of the day- thereby kicking in pay cuts and job losses- each and every aspect of this is linked to the innocent looking solution of “work-from-home”! The things that help this, are the ability to track meticulously- time everything to the nth second and no more- lobby meetings, board room chats and walk around the office so the sudden addition of a 60-80 minutes of additional time through the day- ironically enough ends up making you look more non-productive than ever before and you too begin to loose a grip as the normal way of planning does not help as work seems to get over sooner than you think and as the battle to prove efficiency amongst colleagues takes centre stage- each one send sup undoing the other one and eventually create enough fluidity so that when the time comes- all are swept away in one masterstroke of team realignment! The only way that individuals hope that the organization still holds interest in them is by understanding if their home-office furniture ordered is coming in or not! I mean really! So is there anything that we can do, if this is all a game cast at the upper crest of societies and nations, do we stand a chance?

Well, as history says, when the war is with the system, you need to be in the system to beat the system or develop and evolve it, never has anyone been able to alter the course of history by staying aloof, unaffected or away from it! The fact remains that even as we engage and present ourselves to work with corporates or business houses- irrespective how experienced or inexperienced you are- you need to have your own intrinsic non-negotiable terms and conditions! Like all offices have a office rule book or a manual or better still a code of work , you too need to come up with a code book for your life- I mean, after all isn’t that the most important thing that you should ever be bothered about? Something that core and intrinsic, because when all else and everyone leaves you at some point in time- which they will certainly do- what stands with you apart from your shadow will be the core values systems and the intrinsic systems that construct and make you who you are! This, my friend is the essence of being able to stand firmly and face all the storms and high waves that may ever come your way- by harnessing the strength of who you are and for that to happen you need to be connected within and know yourself as well as you know the vocation that you pursue nor the people who matter you! Once you have cracked this essential adb vital code, rest assured, there could be a hundred more vurusses coming your way, the next time an organization asks you to work-from- home,you will know what is coming your way and chances are you’ll either insist to work form office or politely ask them to get in touch with you once the offices reopen! Exposing your private life for the capitalist greed of businesses and politicians is the last thing that you should ever do- this is similar to a soldier allowing spies into the nation! Think about it! Is anything really worth it -at the cost of peace, harmony and the wellbeing of the core unit that you represent in the society- the family that you have!

The work-from-home pandemic is the greatest illusion and perhaps even more dangerous than the virus, the virus will eventually will be tamed- there be vaccines and solutions through medical interventions, but the pandemic of work-from-home if allowed to get a foothold- will end up eroding the basic functional units of the societies the world over- these units could be families- small or large, could be partners living together, could be friends, or good people working on something bigger and better together! All of it will be lost to be enslaved to the greed of the growing capitalist clut with or without collusion of the political class of the day! The only way through this and to stem this, is by knowing who you are, what your value systems are and very importantly having the courage to say No- when enough is enough and guarding your private zone with every ounce of courage that you have!

I leave you here with these thoughts, for you to reflect, what your experiences have been and possibly urging you to create a blueprint for yourself and the unit that you hold close to you- so that you guard yourself from the next attack that may come your way disguised as yet another some new way of living or working!

Ciao for now, grab that coffee and I will be back soon with another article!

The only thing that matters…

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Well, as you get ready for your weekend during these times, what better way can there be, to urge you to spend you weekend in knowing and discovering that, there are really only a very few things that will matter or that ever matter and it’s always wise and sane to know them and stay anchored along them! Join me here to know what this is all about and why these are really the only things that matter!

Our lives are always filled up completely to the the brim! Irrespective whether that filled cup makes sense to us or not, that’s what we get to handle each day of our lives, that filled cup is at times you work, at times its your family and some other times its your network/ friends/colleagues or all those areas that you tend to stay invested! Well there can be nothing right or wrong about that, each one of us is free to choose what matters and how much priority one gives to which area of ones’ life! The real trick though, is being able to understand and appreciate the depth and quality of the things that you consider to be a priority for yourself and re-check if thats really what you want the cup of your life to be filled up with completely all the time!

Well you may be working for yourself or for someone else, many a times, this space contributes the major part as far as keeping our cup filled up goes, the question here, is what are you really doing? Are you really sure that you want, your work area to dominate and take up so much of volume in the cup that you hold? Is it really worth it? Look around you what are you coming across (not necessarily now, things have been the same way for a long time, only now they are becoming more and more evident!), pay cuts, job losses, realignments, new loyalties, shut downs, all this even as you had your cup filled up and put in your efforts at an individual level and did what was right throughout- no questions asked, yet when the time arrives, you are the first one to face the shock? Why do you think this develops? If this is an area that is so important for your cup? How can it become redundant so sharply and quickly? What have you missed? Hold on your thoughts here and read on as you will be able to decipher the same we we move ahead!

Let’s explore the other aspect which goes on to complete your cup, your network, in few cases this part often takes up more space than the work part, yet few other times, there is a heady cocktail between this space and the work space- at times because of the nature of the work, some other times as an occupational hazard- which if not managed can evaporate both the elements of the work and network form your cup rapidly even before you realise! But wait, how does this network really help you, I mean if say there’s no work, does this come to your rescue- as in not helping you get back the work that has gone missing- but as in being there for you! How many of your networks can stand by you like a mountain- not helping you with the money or the next break- but by just being there? Well if you haven’t got any of these type of mountainous network elements standing by you, then sadly enough, you have just added additional baggage to your cup which occupies space- adds to your wright and actually does nothing to enhance the favour of your cup! So that’s so much about your network element within the cup and yes, you can sure enough weigh and read through other elements like friends and acquaintances through the same lens,the people who say they are there and then disappear as if they never existed! Now let’s move to the final elements of your cup!

The family area which takes up again the decent volume of your cup! Well, now depending on the originality of the contents and how they play out with regards to the flavors and intensity, either you will get a cup with an additional dose of vanilla or have a cocktail of tastes- leaving your mind tipsy and brains fried all the time! Well, since it’s about the part of the family, you too are equally responsible to what you end up getting in the context of tastes that come back to you! If you have been able to provide the right conditions, temperature and ambiance, the flavors will always resonate that and if you haven’t; well might as well prepare for what you have done- whether intentionally or unintentionally! Needless to say this element overrides all other elements in your cup and has the potential to unleash havoc or create great balance depending on its own intrinsic character! But did you notice, even as your cup is so filled up and has all elements that you ever can ask for or think about- you know what’s missing here? Its You!

You may argue, that all other elements in the cup are but an extension of who you are, certainly they are, but they are your extensions- you- perceived by the others and not the real you! This is where people struggle the most and tend to get waylaid easily as they rush through their busy lives holding to their cup of life- not realizing that what they hold and are managing is what the world exactly wants them to be- not necessarily who they really are or want to be! This fundamentally folly is what makes many of the lives around us a struggle- simply because we are living lives- not of what we should be because of who we really are but rather because of who we are perceived to be, by others whom we have ended up collecting around us either by intention or by accident! So is there any way around this or further to this, can anything be done and if yes, whats it?

The only way to go around this and the only wise way, is to ensure that “you” end up filling as much as volume you can in the cup that you hold and let this volume be filled up with “who you really are” and no matter what comes your way- ensure that you don’t loose that element- because once you have anchored yourself to who you are- You will then automatically gravitate and end up attracting other elements of family and network circles based on who you really are and not end up becoming “who others want you to be” (which is possible only when you end up adding others to your cup before you could add yourself)!

You see, once you have developed a refined sense of understanding who you are, what ticks you and what ticks you off, you will be in a better position to connect to spaces, people, things and pursuits in line with what is helping and growing you- intrinsically rather than monetarily. Monetary growth no doubt, is important, but when done and pursued in divergence of all your founding elements of your life- family, network, work and yourself often will end up draining you in the long run and over time instead of making you stronger will end up making you weak and susceptible to the ravages of time and other powerful competition that you face which possibly are growing on virtue of their own internal core alignment!

What really matters is how well you have been able to craft the idea of who you are and how well do you want to execute that idea into the world with allies who are around you as network circles and families because of who you are! Once you have achieved this zen like space, trust me nothing at all will bother you- neither the ups and downs of your business neither the layoffs or the firing of the jobs that you are engaged with, because once you have connected within and know you worth well enough- these out worldly aberrations will not be ever strong enough to slow you down or knock you over!The only thing that matters is, how well you are connected with yourself and that one singular reality is what will help and empower the right things, people and contexts gravitate towards you!

I will leave you here, urging you to grab that cup and reflect on one simple point- How well are you connected within and how much of “you” is present in the cup of life that you hold so dearly close to you at all times!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another article! Until then stay safe and stay wise!

“Guru” in the workplace!

~ Parimal Aluri ~ 1 Comment

As the title suggests, this article is about trying to understand and explore- what really does it mean when we call or refer people that we work with “Guru” and what makes or doesn’t make one a “Guru”. Well certainly enough, you can always say, who am I to take a shot and define this space, well I am not doing that and neither do I intend to do that! This is about reflecting upon the true essence of the word “Guru” and how that can be appreciated in the times that we live in! So let’s begin!

We have all walked through those so called “aces” at work in our work areas, someone good at sales, someone good at marketing, few others ace it with numbers, few dealing with people so on and so forth, but very few and rarely you will find people around you, when you come across them , seem to be institutions within themselves! These are radically different, they may not always have that coveted expensive degree, nor always will they have that infectious personality and neither will they always seem to be all that spic and span – almost ready for the next shoot of a corporate magazine cover! These are the ones’ who hold us in awe, and respect by virtue of being who they simply are and these, my friends are the real “Gurus” that we have around our workplace! I am sure you would have encountered a few, I had the privilege to be lead by a few and that’s what makes our lives all that more enriching!

This is beyond that help your senior provided you with and you repaid the same with an evening beer, this is beyond that odd shift you took up to help that unlucky junior who had a bad bout of food poisoning, it is different from saving the job of that finance rookie who had posted wrong entries on the forbidden side of the balance sheet! So, by now if you are still wondering, if it’s none of this, not the managers, not the seniors, not the work, not the help, not the guidance, then what is it about? Well, my friend to begin with, let’s start by understanding the philosophical concept of the very word that we are trying to understand here- “Guru” – One of the many golden words from the ancient Sanskrit Language from the Indian sub-continent (often referred to as the language of the Gods) , the word Guru primarily has two parts- Gu- which implies Darkness and Ru which implies Light. This word primarily has been used to anyone and everyone who has had a profound capacity and ability to guide and direct the life or people away from darkness and usher them into the area of light! As the old masters say, The Guru never tells what to see, The Guru just tells where to look!

Now, with this new information at your disposal, I am certain your mind has already started to get into an overdrive to possibly evaluate who are or have been your “Gurus” and for whom you think you have been, well hang in there, there is much more to be understood before you actually end up offering the title or receiving the same!

The genesis or the importance of the “Guru” evolved and developed through the rich ancient history of what is today India, back then historically societies, in terms of complexities were far simpler than what we are today and largely worked around the dignity of labour and definition of the work that an individual did within the contextual frame of the prevailing society, so you end ed up being a priest, a soldier or a farmer or a tradesman or a social worker based on the competence that was derived on basis of one’s lineage- well there would have been benefits and adverse impacts around this- but that is not for the current topic. So once you had these defined sets of social class, meant to perform tasks with exceeding levels of competence to rise and ensure the safety and well being of the society- read kingdom, the onus was only on one vocation- it was the Teachers- The “Gurus” were the only people who stood between a society- kingdom being assured a continual supply of aces across the work areas or incompetent people joining the work areas which would eventual result into the disintegration and falling apart of the kingdom- because once Incompetence sets in- sooner or later- collapse will be certain- whether it be an individual- a society or a kingdom!

Now that the onus of ensuring safety and well being of each and every soul firmly resting on the wise teachers, what do you think would have manifested further? Well yes, good teacher’s created good enough students who were able to hold on to the societies and kingdoms for a few generation perhaps and when extraordinary teachers created geniuses among students, their kingdoms had legacies which last centuries and in some cases have left an impeccable mark on the way we carry out our modern live as well- don’t believe me- well think about the India’s National Emblem you will possibly get a hint at what I mean here! The real “Gurus” have always been able to influence and create value for time periods lasting centuries- long after their physical presence has been lost by way of their structured teachings and eclectic followership- with only one goal- serve the larger and greater goal of the society and replenish the capabilities of an individual! So now that you have got the context, let’s come back to the “now” and what do you see now, do you still find an equivalent or a close comparison to these ancient “Gurus” within or around you? May be you do or may be you don’t, either ways, that’s fine-because that’s the irony of the times that we live in!

In the time that we live in, at the most what majority of the people involved in working around glass clad offices experience is the modern day concept of mentoring- that fabled mentor- mentee relationship- well it lasts as long as the objective of the organisation or the task at hand are met, post that no one really cares for the other! Nothing right or wrong with this aspect as this how the norm has been set whether we like it or not! Certainly there are ramifications for this, it works for that specific problem to be solved, but leaves both of them devoid of any learning which can set them up for future failures- as their focus is too focused and entrapped into one specific aspect- without considering the need of learning in depth of the mentee! The modern day office settings have invariably created pressures of work and time which simply don’t allow to foster in- depth understanding, which is needed for the real Gurus to present themselves, as the students too are almost never ready! There is an old saying, which I had read somewhere along, When the Student is Ready the Master arrives! Well in the modern day office where everyone is working from one pay check to the other, this wait of the students ends up becoming an eternal one, sometimes the Guru is there with no students and yet other times, the student is wailing for help with no Guru’s around! So what can be done about this, is there anything that can be really done?

For the Gurus to arrive and the student’s to thrive, we need to consider a radically different approach to work, an approach which thrives on debates, discussions and experimentation- with an emphasis to fail- rather than succeed (sure enough I am not suggesting the organisations to go bankrupt with this approach- whatever is within the limits of allowable failure). The ancient “Gurus” always had a great tenacity to teach through this approach and it worked because no one ever told the student what to do, they were always told what was required as a result- not how to get it done! The student who would have been the most creative and effective in providing the solution, would than be able to set a standard process for the given challenge for others to follow- this encouraged learning, competitiveness knowing well that- there is never only ONE right way and this ensured that students and Gurus alike ever remained humble! You see, Humility is the anchor stone to Learning and applicability of what is being learnt- Without humility, knowledge will just slip away like grains of sand from the fingers of your palm!

Another important way of knowing you are in company of a true Guru- “Gurus are not bonded to their designation/labels/business cards,they have a strong sense of assumed ownership and will jump straight into the challenge at hand and start providing directions for resolving the challenge- this will be needles to say, to the delight of many and the horror of a few others! Unlike the modern concept, people often misread the part tat the “Guru” has to be a senior person- your boss- or someone in the office who is about to get an heart attack or fade away or retire; well it doesn’t have to be that way! On the other extreme end, actually it could be that new intern sitting and smiling away in all glory to your dumbness! You see,- Guru- as the word implies- the ability to dispel darkness and show the light- also has an intrinsic aspect of common-sense woven into it, you don’t always need to have a deep philosophical bondage to it, just because the word and the manifestation of it have such deep rooted civilization tagged to it!

The fact remains though, for the master to appear, there has to readiness among the students!; You see businesses hire based on consideration sets of the services that have to be provided to the society, and unlike earlier times, we have warped workplaces cloaked and hidden away into far too much of incompetence- which is hidden not because of anything else but the pressure of loosing the livelihood– If businesses ensure that incompetence management is an anchor stone of their business turnaround policy- more than ever students will present themselves to be trained, retrained and skilled and for that to manifest, the masters’ the Gurus’s will appear like magic- This simple shift in the mindset of people to deal and engage with incompetence and not negate or hush it up will do a lot good not only to save livelihoods but create finer and sharper work force which in times ahead can unleash new ways of excellence pertaining to their work!

Well, if you ask me, the presence or absence of the real “guru” in a workplace speaks a lot about the place itself! All great places which have created an impact on human lives have been fortunate to have these unsung masters always around- some famous, many not so famous and it is these tiny elements that go on to make a big difference for an organisation to be considered among the best and being THE BEST! Not to forget, there is a “Guru” within each of us, perhaps you may be struggling with what you do, but something within you, can make a whole big difference in someone else’s life! It is about taking those pauses at work and reflect to see, what is that you know and what is that you know- that you don’t know- when you reach this space- you will have the Guru paying you a visit and at the same time you will end up being a Guru to someone else too!

I will leave you here, with these quasi-philosophical aspects around the concept of “Guru”, I have intentionally stopped short of getting into mundane examples of our office lives and will leave all of that for your imagination and experience to play it around for you! What is important is to have the realization that without The Guru- there is no light and without Light there is no Life! The Guru is sometimes within you and at times around you- You just need to seek THE GURU! Yes, I read this somewhere, never forget- The Guru doesn’t ever tell you what to see, but always guides you where to look! Think around this!

Ciao for now, will be back with another article and once again, Here’s Wishing Everyone A Very Blessed Guru Purnima!

Meaningful HR & Business Integration-The way ahead.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Yes, I know what are the first thoughts that are crossing your mind, even as you read the title! No this is not about fault finding with the HR aspect of business neither this is a glorification of how business and HR need to work together and contribute- enough of unwarranted positive shit has been written about that and it seldom works! This is about knowing what really helps or strops from that critical integration from happening and is there anything at all that can be done to ensure true synergy which translates into individual empowerment to the people on the floor and at the desks, irrespective of the product or service that they collectively create!

The genesis of the today’s HR came through the dark allies of the industrialized world, where the given dictum was that the owners of the businesses were out there to exploit available resources (people and material), unfortunately some businesses did live up to that dubious label and with that saw the rise of the union movement which provided the much needed collective voice and put a plug to stop and arrest unwarranted exploitation form time to time across different sectors and industries. Certainly over time, few of these unions too lost their grounding – since they too were run by humans- add to that the element of greed and you have the right recipe to completely compromise business exploits and you reach a point where you really don’t know anymore which side is more wrong! Even as these aspects were unfolding businesses were busy working on scientific finding and technological break through to modernize and make processes and services more cost effective and thereby more profitable and just as businesses learnt to manage products and processes they soon understood that they could also manage people and there is the birth of the modern day HR! Sadly though the struggle of complete end-to-end integration of business and HR has always remained a challenge- at times for the right reasons- where businesses require that sterile distinction or segregation to function and more often than not, because of sheer incompetence either with one of the entities or both of them, in today’s context it is a heady cocktail of incompetence which keep shifting from one end to the other in a cyclical manner which results into a “dynamic yet static space”- hence many a times when you go back to organisations even after few years- seldom things are different! Nothing wrong or right about that- at times that’s what is needed and at times that’s exactly what limits the organisations! So what’s happening here, where’s the catch?

It all starts, with like everything else- right in the beginning, even today, in 2020, there would be hardly a few, maybe less than 1% of entrepreneurs who would want to look at HR as a strategic investment which will provide an ROI to their firm with regards to the qualified talent that it can get in and even more importantly manage and ensure that the ” talent”stays and grows with the organisation- sometimes leading it (at senior level), at times staying in-sync ( at mid-levels) and at yet other times, developing a followership (at the junior level). This foundational mistake of discounting the true value and essence of HR right at the begging- when a business starts afresh, or a new business unit is thought of causes more damage to the entity than anything else! I don’t need to explain I am sure about what price an organisation may end up paying for the wrong people at the wrong time, at the wrong place and at a wrong price! Importantly always remember people are never good or bad, it is their “contextual settings” that either make them shine and excel or dim and fade away! You may have an average intelligent person among dumb idiots and that person may end up looking like an angel to your eyes, out the same person against the backdrop of qualified hotshots from top A schools, you may might as well want to kill yourself for hiring that kind of an idiot! It also than says something about your ability to judge and hire people- well but I will leave that for now and maybe some other write up on that- some other time!

Unless HR is at the table with the business to understand and soak in every aspect of what the grand plan of business is and what’s the whole idea and importantly be listened to- there will never be a true integration! Sure enough in today’s times, even having people stick around at their own positions within the organisations- by itself is a challenge- and that just goes on to compound the integration challenge!– Even today,the normal brief always to HR can look like this- “The organisation would want to have an overhaul or a massive change once a CEO or a A level person moves on or just because the exiting one wants to have the HR do some work!”- you may ask “Why?” well you will almost always never get a sensible answer to that and with no “real HR” to question- the organisation will simply go into an overdrive to reinvent the same old wheel! Everyone will be happy doing that because it keeps everyone in the job and busy- but the fact remains , this unwarranted overdrive often ends up being the classical case of visiting history and needless to say- the results are always the same- “Nothing!” and every few years this nonsense continues and we have people coming and leaving and everything seems to stay exactly where it is! This is the fallacy of the much hyped integration of HR and Business when not carried out in a well thought and objective manner! So you may want to ask how does it look when it works and does it really work?

Well, when done right, HR can empower individuals, teams and business like nothing else can! You may want to ask me now, what is the right way, well the right way is the way of common-sense! If your business is heavily reliant on people and people are the reason for your businesses success or failure and if you don’t start your day without wishing “Good Day” to your HR Head, trust me no matter how big or small your business is, you will falter sooner or later and the reason for that faltering will be the disconnect with your people! So if you are a CEO, running a people centric business , make it a point to throw away your ego( which anyways is good to loose) and learn to walk out of you cabin to spend time with the person responsible for getting you the right people for your team- because when discussions happen here and the more often they do, you will begin to experience magic– magic in terms of the positive rub off that will happen within the existing people across your teams and the new ones that come to join your journey! You don’t need long meetings with endless one-sided communication expressing your dreams, fantasies or frustrations, you don’t need endless boring mails with subject lines reading something like “Form CEO’s Desk” or “It’s your HR” kind of gimmick! All that you need is a simple cup of tea or coffee once a day with the person who is responsible to get the right people for you day-in and day-out!

Now, don’t rush into patting your back, thinking that all the work to hold on to this integration lies only with the CEO’s or the business leader’s the HR leader’s too have to play their part and their part starts by behaving and acting like a business leader- who is leading the business of people! This approach seemingly deceptive but if played right, can make all the difference between having a HR and having a great HR! Awesomeness of HR comes not by knowing the rules and regulations and theories of HR, they do matter, but the real fun happens when HR understands and assimilates the business challenge as if they were their own (because they are their own problems- manifestations which are created by HR!) How?, you may ask, well here’s the simple test, When people leave when you least expect and business suffers, the question “How was this person evaluated and selected even?”, When a person leaves because he gets paid twice and more at the other place- “Why are we paying so less? are we?”, when the person destroys a million dollar machinery because of incompetence- “How did this person clear the evaluation and get in!” Well the lists and situations can go on and on- the fact is a HR disconnected with business problems and business plans is equally liable to fail as the business and what’s more a HR disconnected from it’s business can do more harm than a business that’s’ disconnected with HR!

True integration between HR and Business happens only when there is mutual respect and appreciation about what each of them do and how each one of them contribute to build and develop each other to ensure that the organisation keeps progressing with the right tools, both material and human! Unless Business teams stop discounting HR- assuming they don’t understand or see the point of business and until HR doesn’t stop hiding themselves away in files, operations and social media posts pertaining to job vacancy- this problem will persist! If you always wanted to understand why the HR never called you back or gave you an update for your hour long interview of multiple rounds of hour long interviews- well I presume you would have found your answer somewhere here! A disconnected HR with no insight into business revenues and business action plans- will try and continue the old classical way of reaching out to hundreds of candidates- when it is not required and eventually get stuck when the real time comes to hire- because by then externally the genuineness of the organisation has taken a beating!

There are and there always will be reasons and explanations for every connect and disconnect; some real and some are made up, irrespective of what they are, the fact remains that as long as people are involved and businesses require people, there will always remain a compelling need to to have people specialists and business aces to work together collaboratively in a transparent and purpose driven manner! This alone, If you ask me, this the real essence of integration, driven by purpose and proactive collaboration each playing to their strength, understanding the other team’s requirement!

I will leave you here, with these thoughts, depending on which team you are on- the business or the people team- do reflect on what worked and what didn’t and how can you make what matters work for you and the other team!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another article!

Mental resilience: The master key.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

This is not an article promising hope or the grandeur of a positive mindset, especially at a time when the real world around us seems to be pretty screwed up!Trust me, the last few months and weeks have unified humanity like never before albeit for all the wrong reasons and what’s even more surprising that even in these times of turbulence and tribulations, people do manage a way to nudge others, at times, proverbially over the cliff! from where they seldom recover! This article is about knowing how “You” and you alone hold the power to decide what impacts you and to what extent, this is the domain of “mental resilience” So join me as we explore quickly how this attribute can come to our rescue and bail us out- through our times, good and bad- irrespective if you are 18 or 80!

“Live to express, not to impress”- This has to be your first maxim, as you try and build your resilience. Getting likes and rave comments on social media is one thing, but if those likes and comments are aligned to and are generated because of an illusion that you have curated and who you really are not, trust me you will land up in some mental shit pretty fast, at some or the other point! There is nothing wrong in craving for social acceptance, fame, name and all the glory that comes with is; after all as humans we are social animals; So what if we wear clothes, get educated and have a society driven and arranged way of going about our world- we still are social animals! What is important is, the fact that all of your cravings and beacons of “see me”, “hear me”, “talk to me”, have to be aligned and related to who you really are– your true self! So if you hate beaches and keep sharing the endless sunsets by the beach, just to get those likes (which you will certainly get), you will end up clouding your brain dangerously and unnecessarily start living an illusion mapped to your pressures of confirmation bias!

“In today’s settings, being a realist helps”- Perhaps a century ago, complications and challenges were still limited and hence the ability to propound “positive thinking” and “sharing the message of hope” were a key to get people back- who would have set a course to their own destruction! In today’s times, with the endless onslaught of information (much of which is unverified garbage- which sadly gets consumed and is allowed to impact our thinking) and societal compulsions rising with each passing day- Unless you develop frame of mind that is anchored on being authentic and real- you will always seem to falter and struggle even as you go about doing even the most basic of the tasks that you would normally do! Whether it is about that luck color suit you want to carry to the board meeting, or that supposedly amazing foreign vacation (which is now a question of your prestige- since you have already committed to your friends- you will be going and posting pics on social media) or that professional focus to hit your business numbers, irrespective of anything that comes in your way..the list is endless- Certainly there is nothing wrong in being ambitious or driven or as they usually call it- passionate (well do check out the dictionary meaning to the word “passion”- I am sure you will start using it less often!); the goof ups start to manifest and people start to crash and fall once they don’t have enough caliber within to deal with the manifestations that they are pursuing! Let me explain…

Consider this, you are a lovely fine, Boeing 737, calibrated to operate at a maximum altitude of say 40,000 feet and cruise at the max speed of 0.9 Mach. Now you suddenly find alongside of you a F-15 Eagle- Supersonic- speed excess of Mach 2.0 and an altitude ceiling of 55,000-60,00 feet, and you decide to race! Well, if you know the fundamentals of aviation and a dash of common-sense will you that- even this thinking is a recipe to a disaster- the two planes are made different to serve different purposes!This is what my point is, “The earlier you realise in an authentic and real way that each one of us (even twins included) different and is born to serve/ follow a unique path to achieve our calling-the better off you will be!” This understanding will save you form burning unnecessary dollars to buy that car, clothes, that house and ensure you stay focused on things and people that make a difference to your life so that collectively you can further value to the society that you roam about! Each of us, is Unique and there’s a good reason- it is the way it is! so bank on being Real- Authentic- no matter who says what- Life will offer you the highway or you will have to create your way- but since your baggage is lessened you will be able to enjoy the views and the journey too as it becomes a destination unto itself!

“You get to decide who impacts you and to what extent”- I remember, many scholars, management experts and “Gurus” of the world saying this, “You are the Author of your life”- You hold the pen and each day is a blank page wherein you alone have the power to write and create what you wish! Well this looks good, but we all know- real world doesn’t actually go that route. There will be people who will walk over you, tear down your most wonderful pages, scribble on your upcoming pages, write **** to you along the boundaries of your page, at times offer flowers and praises too, so basically your book as an author or for any of us- is never only about us as individuals- it is also about the people- the quality of people- that we are connected around with and how they express what they feel and think about us! This primarily depends on how we project ourselves into the world- What we communicate and how that communication is received/perceived- Even the best of the communication, with the most noble of interests can end up screwing you for life- simply because it was either ahead of it’s time and the receiver did not understand it or the receiver was out rightly dumb and you handed away way too much ink and page to that person to waste multiple pages of your life’s book! You think you know of any such book apart from your own life- well don’t look too far- pick up the religious texts of any religion/faith/practice across the world- irrespective of all the wholesomeness and goodness that has been mentioned in them- but what have we inherited ? A planet which is filled with hate and despise for fellow humans! A classic case of the receiver being dumb!

“No one really cares”- Well, this is the fact and a key ingredient to develop and build a formidable resilience! To begin with do you remember how healthy Galileo Galilei was, what were his hobbies, what was his favorite wine? Well, who cares, all that we care about is, his contribution to astronomy and the foundations that were created by him and others to help us understand our immediate universe! So what are his Great-great-great-great-grandchildren doing now? Any idea- well – at least I don’t know! Perhaps you can help me with that!Let’s zoom back to your own life- Remember the last time your boss walked upto you and asked you to go on a vacation because you have not taken a break in the last 6 months! Do you recall, the last time when the HR came up to you and said you are a great person to have on the team and we would like to offer you a double promotion and increase your salary to help you meet your kids college fees? Well all this seems stupid and way beyond reality isn’t it? Well, it is and why would anyone do any of these, because no one really cares! Each one of us is quite busy figuring out and charting a course to our own individual survival at the best, which is often disguised as meaningless milestones of job titles, income narratives, compulsive purchases and social media likes & comments!

If you are working, as long as you help the metrics meet, your job remains- doesn’t matter what equation and understanding you have with your manager- even if you have any- it’s a matter of time that chain of command will break once there is no value getting created within and you will be exposed- with or without the understanding that you have with your boss! Likewise if you are into business, as long as you offer the products or services at a price that is competitive (as perceived by the buyer) you will float else you will sink, irrespective how hot the model in the commercial of that product was! If you are an artist, scientist, politician or a creative force- as long as you serve the purpose which helps others in a way or other you will be rejoiced- the day your findings and approach don’t serve the majority you will be neglected and forgotten! This paragraph perhaps looks bleak right? But that is the truth- the reality- whether or not you accept it- this is what it is! and It is here to stay and outlast it will even after you are gone! The point that I am making here, is pretty simple- “It really doesn’t matter! No matter who says what, the fact is no one really cares for you (apart from your immediate family) and in the times that we live in, you should count on your blessings if you have one! They are the ones’ who will be impacted because and only because of one thing- that your action/inaction impacts their access to quality of life, that’s about it!- and you had started to think about emotions? I mean really?

“Remain grounded and indifferent to the bouquets and brickbats”– This is perhaps the most important attributes that one must have, to ensure you maintain your sanity at least through your life time! The irony of humanity is that even as we are collectively comfortable to be called as social animals, deep within we also seek solitude and aloofness and these diametrically opposite forces dominate us all through our lives- these tend to impact and shape our thinking and behavioral patterns – which further may play havoc- at times leading individuals to take reckless and harmful decisions- sometime recoverable and yet at times completely unrecoverable! The only way to get around this bit is practicing the art of being grounded and indifferent! Ancient text – especially in Hinduism and also across many other religions of the world have always urged humans to remain humble,simple and grounded irrespective whether the times are good- working for them or times or adverse- working against them! This virtue is what helps people gravitate towards each other to build stronger person-to-person contact which goes on to build a formidable mental resilience so that whenever shit happens and disasters strikes- individuals aren’t left to fend for themselves, rather the entire society/unit rallies behind! We can see this in animal kingdoms, when large predators attempt to take down young ones from the prey herd- there is always a fight, an attempt- may or may not work but that resilience is there to try and fight heavy odds and make peace with whatever the outcome may be! This is the trick that helps you manage yourself through whatever life can come offering you!

Another formidable example of mental strength can be found among the officers in uniform the world over! They operate in conditions and challenges that would make many of us outright uncomfortable- forget fighting the enemy- even standing guard would be a big tasks for many of us- but this is what the Forces of any nation are trained on- Mental agility, Resilience and Fortitude- with a single focus- stop the enemy- It is not any of us- then it has to be no one on the ground ahead! Simple, straight, objective and pragmatic thinking! You may earn your incentives this year, next year, then you may not, you may not get them this year, you may earn twice of what miss the year after that- that is what it is and will always be! Not allowing the circumstantial developments cloud your thinking and judgement is another vital element to develop and build resilience!

“Make peace with what can’t be changed”- Like I explained in my earlier paragraph, once you know whether you are a Boeing 737 or a F-15, you will be able to make peace with all that is around you and this will, believe me take away around 75% of all your unwarranted thinking which keeps on playing the “what if” game with you 24×7! This, is easier said than done, but there is really no other way around it, each one of us is unique and we are the best, the very best at what we are meant to be, problems start when we leave that and start pursing everything else but what we must! Finding out “what that is” well, is a story for another article!

I will leave you here, and urge you to build resilience and ensure you create a formidable,real understanding of who you are and develop a technique wherein you have a clearly defined lighter version of yourself for mass consumption and an authentic real version to carry on with the real work and duties of the real world- always ensuring there is safe distance between the two! Don’t forget- at the end of the day- It’s your story and you are the Author! So grab your pen, protect your pages and watch that ink! No one is really watching your show! No one cares enough! Each person is calibrating their individual survival with flashes of real and curated “I am fine” all the time! Harnessing the power of resilience is the only way to foster clarity and keep ambiguity away!

Ciao for now, will back with another article soon! Time for some coffee!

Leaders too need help!

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

At times when the world stands at crossroads battling multiple uncertainties, depending on where you are, whether it is the still looming pandemic, the economic crisis, social unrest, or in general resentment towards the kind of leadership that you are experiencing whether at your national level or its the crisis of leadership at your workplace,its is of paramount importance to note that there are times when even these very Leaders need help- because even they too are human and in times like these they need it more than ever! This article explores that space of vulnerability that plays havoc with Leaders no matter what they are trying to overcome! So let’s understand for sometime what your beloved leader possibly is facing even as they try to keep a smile, a straight face or that mercurial temperament around them!

Who are leaders? They are not super-humans in terms of any anatomical context, but they perhaps demonstrate their expertise and ability to fare better than the cohort that they are part of and that is why they seem to move ahead within the sub-set that are a group of! Look around you, you will find almost every Leader has emerged as being the best alternative in the context of time and space that the Leader has arrived. Perhaps a few years or decades earlier, this person would have been passed off as an average person, a few years down the line, we may not even have people like them in our consideration sets! Since requirements would have changed and they constantly shift and move to wards the next step of dynamic equilibrium which is so much needed for growth and progress no matter what you choose to lead- a company or a nation or even yourself! This dynamic contextual setting within which leaders operate ends up making them fragile and manifest “Leadership Fragility”! Leaders who are touched by fragility, start to become so much risk averse that at times when they are required to act and move ahead rapidly, they seem to freeze and stay frozen from taking any decisions, small or large and thereby put the whole system that they influence into chaos and confusion! This fragility can occur for multiple reasons- it could be because of the leaders arrived at the control too early- without much experience or leadership baptism, it could be that they were given a wrong picture of the operational space within which they were supposed to hold the fort, it could be they were given a wrong army to fight a battle, it could be that the weapons of change provided to them were compromised and no matter what destiny they try to write, the ink simply seems to vanish away each time and they keep starting again and again! These varying aspects of dealing with day-to-day scenarios at work end up making few Leaders fragile and hence you can find their leadership style reflecting this element- when they are intentional slow, take their time, check and double check and re-check and move ahead only when it is the only and the most necessary option and when every other option has conclusively closed!

Leadership Fragility as a concept also shows the flaws and chinks in the armor of the ecosystem within which leadership is supposed to play its role! It opens up the whole contextual appreciation of team dynamics, ability to see through and develop clear view on strategic and operational preparedness that leaders have developed or have not developed which makes them vulnerable to threats within and from outside their ecosystems!

Normally, we always come across leaders who are accommodating, non-accommodating, easy going or headstrong personalities, but what is important is,instead of jacketing them into any of the singular or plural adjective definitions, we must take an effort to understand the eternal , “Why” of their leadership style and what could have lead for them to adhere to what they seemingly are glued upon with no real end in site!

Leaders are in that odd space within the system of things- which is closer to heaven and hell in equal measure with a caveat that nothing from their experienced heaven or hell reaches the earth (where their team lives!). So when team members look up to the leader- they hardly have a clue of the kind of turmoil that the poor soul is dealing with and the only impression that these earthlings carry along with them is whether their boss was good or bad- because they increment was x or y! When the Leaders occupying such tight spots are not the real “owners”of the business, well, needless to say their lives are as miserable and lovable as you can imagine! Imagine a pendulum which swings far away in each direction- one the eternal core of heaven and the other end the core of hell at the speed of light! When Leaders “own” the businesses, they have one and only one benefit- that is ability to decide when to pull the plug off and leave the business- either shut it down or sell it off and start to toy with something else and start a new life by taking a professional rebirth all over again!

Leaders are constantly shifting between managing the pressures that they meet from above and what they must hold within and pass on what they can while ensuring that they soak up every ounce of pressure from below as well! So needless to say often you find leaders who believe in the maxim Mind over Matter, because that is the only thing that stand between them and Insanity- Their Mind applied firmly to the Matters at their hand!

The next time you start to judge the leader that you are facing- whichever reason that may be- think about it- The Leader may be operating from a point of Strength or from the point of Fragility! There could be plans and strategies which the leader may have devised or there can be mandates which the leader has to simply execute and make them operational! Unless you don’t fathom what is the context from which the Leader is acting, it will be unfair to arrive at conclusions in favour or against the Leader or the Leadership style! You may now, want to ask, so what is that you can do about it or should you really do anything about it? Aren’t Leaders paid and haven’t they signed up for the shit that comes along with the glory that bask in?

Well, the fact remains, they too are human, and like most of us, they too sometimes end up singing up for something which they would have either not understood completely, would not have been told about it completely or they would have misread it completely because of the facts and picture presented to them while handing over the reigns to them as they took charge of whatever that they are supposed to lead! There could also be that rarest of the rare case of “Incompetency” playing out – this happens when Leaders arrive too soon to lead on the scene without having a a clue of what they are supposed to be doing and where they are! More often than not, these people end up blowing up and destroying everyone and everything around them, eventually also damaging themselves!

The only thing that you can do while dealing with the Leader that you face or engage with each day of your life is, to appreciate and decipher the contextual settings and studying what is driving the Leadership that you are experiencing, whether it is the strength derived by the Leader because of who the leader is, or is It the strength derived from the position that an individual occupies, next you must observe the pattern of decisions and the impact created around that- if you see diminishing returns on decisions being taken- you know for sure something is not right and sooner or later you will have a changed leader! Likewise when Leaders act from the space of compulsion- driven by the business owners or stakeholders, often you will see that they too will eventually fizzle out as demands and expectations start to borderline around fiction over ground realities of business and facts! Leaders who also own their business, when they start to act in non-coherent manner it is a clear sign of decay and you can be rest assured that a big change is on the way- which will probably involve a change of hands at the business ownership eventually!

It is not always about the yelling boss or the cheerful happy face boss, it is about the undercurrents that keep these professionals on the edge for the right and wrong reasons that either makes them super achievers or ends up pushing them to cramped spaces wherein they experience their fragility and once that sets in you can see it manifest around the team and all that they lead and influence! Next time when you sit and listen to your boss, take a moment and try to read through the unsaid message and listen to the unmentioned whisper, perhaps your boss needs that extra cup of coffee with you more than you do!

I will leave you here, to explore, experience and think around leadership fragility and the experiences that you would have gathered through your working life; being a leader or by witnessing a leader, no matter what the context would have been, the fact will always remain that even Leaders are Fragile and they need help too!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another article! In case you or your firm is looking out for Individual or team Coaching, write in to us today and we will be glad to help you!

Dealing with your job loss.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ 2 Comments

If the title grabbed your attention, there can be two reasons- either you are or have been at the reeving end of this or you are at the end form where this will start! Irrespective of which side of the table you are, this is going to impact you and this article is about trying to see how meaningful this sordid affair can be turned into- how can we possibly create diamonds from the unwarranted pressure that loss of livelihoods brings with it! Rest assured this is no – sermon for the making everyone feel good- but more about how to introspect and make sense of the developing nonsense around you! So here we go!

Well, to begin with, let us get some clarity, the pandemic- the virus per say- is not the only reason- why you would have been discussing your job loss! Depending on your sector, which nation you belong to and the kind of business that you are working for, you would have been getting signals of something not being right for at least 4-6 months prior to Feb/ March 2020. The world economy was slowing down and it was well on its way to hit rock bottom- the only thing that happened differently – unlike earlier recessions this one got camouflaged and over-ridden by the global health emergency and headlines changed to number of infections and deaths from disease – replacing the usual financial headlines that come with an economic melt down! Now your job loss could have happened for multiple reasons- or actually in few cases- for no real reasons at all!– I mean large companies do have a qualified and experienced senior management and business risk advisors who are supposed to save the day for these companies for exactly the kind of scenarios that we are facing! So what were these enlightened ones’ doing as they were scouting for the proverbial “Iceberg event?” More surprising is the fact that their- risk mitigation strategy often starts with the reactive stance of suggesting job cuts- rather than having an ongoing preemptive and proactive stance of avoidance! – About this, I will write, some other time! Now that you kind of know, that you are not entirely to blame to what you are facing- let’s get started with the “dealing” stuff!

If you happen to be one of those unluckily-lucky fellows, who are under 30, the blue eyed resources for the corporations, armed with those enviable management and engineering certifications and as the norm is now- a-days goes- digitally certified- by everyone and anyone that can offer a certificate- well this is a the pivotal moment of your life and trust me you should embrace this as much as you can! No matter what sector you have been working- you took up the challenge- performed- if not excelled- at times surprises yourself and other s around- at times hit rock bottom- gone through the whole baptism of corporate world and just as you thought you were acing the game- well the playground is suddenly closed for you! So now you are angry, confused and in utter shock and disbelief- “Why me”, “What did I do to deserve this?”, “Why not the other person, why was I chosen over that one?”- As long as you remain stuck in these self-serving- defensive and consolatory state of mind- trust me- you will only find it more and more difficult to come to terms and focus on what you must essentially do- Stand up- Dust yourself- and Walk/Jog/Run/Sprint ahead yet again! This easier said than done – can be achieved by clinically dissecting what you have gone through and this is how you do it!

It has to start by understanding well- really well- like an external consultant would do to understand the business dynamics- what has really played out- there could be multiple scenarios based on the nature of business- supplier side issues- vendor payments- accrued debts, working capital issues- managing partner differences, ownership slug fest, failing quality of leadership, as long as these manifestations arise form the work arena- chances are there would have been signals- clear or subtle signals of the fact that- all is not well- and there will be a bump on the way- now the ability to predict the dimension of that bump- whether it will allow the organisation to pass over or will it wreck the momentum of the organisation and rip it apart- is something which comes only with experience- hence for the youngsters- this can be excused- but the plain fact remains that- part of the job loss problem- is because , as individuals we are connected to the task that we perform but often fail to scan the broader pictures around us that are constantly shifting and developing– Its like you are a pilot who is flying the plane- with all attention locked into the instrument panel- and missing the whole picture through the windscreen ahead! When people tend to pick these signals up- they leave and try to avoid getting caught up in the unnecessary corporate warfare which happens through methods! This, is essentially the first learning for your life- before you sign up for that next journey onboard another corporate vehicle- scan the environments around the ship that you wish to embark! Check for operational stability, check for essential fundamentals and check how the vehicle is driven- who has the controls and what does that mean for you as an Individual! You may have a great company with a bad team or a bad company with a great team; and the results through these two scenarios can be strikingly different and the outcome, needless to say would be miles apart! Anyone of these scenarios can make you a great hero or break you completely depending on what is your natural inclination to deal with- as in what you are great at- fixing people or fixing processes!

Once you have understood that there are contributing developments that lead to situations like a job loss- the next thing that you need to understand and figure out is, what is that you could have possibly done to effect a change- a different possibility?- did you do that?-was it possibly to impact a change through the position that you were at? If you have cleared this basic step of understanding that you did in fact give all you could have to the work at hand at the position that you were- than well I guess it is a classic case of having boarded a ship which had embarked on a journey to find icebergs and crash into one! So once you signed up- it really didn’t matter what you did or not, as with time- it was eventually going to break apart and sink- here what matters is or what could have mattered is- how close you have been to the lifeboats on the ship and how well you have understood the emergency evacuation drill! So, yes, it all boils down to having a plan for yourself- the fabled Plan B, which helps you navigate uncertainties of life- everything and anything- form the traffic jam in the morning to being able to find your livelihood back!

Finally the most important aspect,“Learning” what did the event/incident teach you, what did you learn- this is perhaps the most powerful tool and mindset to carry with us all through our lives- A learners mindset helps to develop patterns and decipher our environments more rapidly so that we are better prepared when shot hits us next time- because it will , that’s for sure- as long as humanity operates form cornerstones of greed and dominance!This learner’s mindset will help you clear the cobwebs in your mind- which try to climb and cloud your thinking with tons of self-pity and self-victimization for no real reason- unless you were the person who was in-charge and you screwed up the whole damn business! Even in that kind of extreme scenario caused by intelligence malfunction- a learners approach will do well, to ensure you stand back quick and don’t repeat the same mistake again so that you can recover and race ahead!

A job loss is a great thing to happen- because it presents to you unknown colors and hues of individuals, collective groups- called companies and the whole societal equation that goes around with it! You will see behavioral changes and attitudinal shifts among colleagues, mentors, peer groups, so-called- friends, you will know the power equations secret (the real power is always in the chair- not the person- when it is in the person- chairs don’t matter!– That’s the stuff that Corporate and Political Godfather’s are made of!). You will see how narratives about you change fast, before you and behind you! You will get support from unknown quarters and people whom you would have hardly counted upon, that odd client- whom you always discounted as petty, may come to your rescue with some great recommendations! You will see a lot of things happen around fast- it’s kind of graduating all over again in a short period of time! You understand the power of the contract that you signed up which allows/disallows you to do”xyz” for “abc” months post your severance!

Most importantly you will learn, “To value your Life” in a renewed context, perhaps more time for yourself, more time perhaps for your family an real friends! You will perhaps appreciate, there is no point running a race with no finish line! There is more to see, and experience by pausing and walking and just being around the wold that we have, because once you have exhausted a considerable time through corporate slavery– that time is gone and so are those many infinite opportunities to experience life which could have possibly created a completely different and better version of yourself! Perhaps this job loss, allows that ingenuity within you to arise,a waken and create an entrepreneur that the world has been waiting for! There can be multiple an many scenarios, what remains certain is – The job loss is not really a loss- if you see it from the space of having a learners mindset and if you convert this loss to your gain by connecting with people, things and places that really matter; Elements which will be by your side no mater what!

I leave you here, to reflect, introspect and see how even in a seemingly awkward situation (which largely is always painted with despair and grief), can one also find the seeds of the future, and by knowing the right ones’ to nurture,you can create the pathway to a future which provides better awareness and calibration through the experience digested through a learners mindset!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another interesting article! N, yes, If you are really hit hard and finding it difficult to gather your bearings back, drop me a mail, will be glad to help you- without damaging our mutual sanity and without serving unwarranted optimism and hope!

The HR pivot to the rescue.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

If you are thinking this article will be about glorifying HR (Human Resources) and play down everything else that happens to be an essential part of the business, well you may be slightly disappointed, but if you want to know how and why people were, are and will always continue to be the core of all that we do as humanity; in that case, this piece is something that might just interest you! So let’s move ahead!

No matter how much few businesses want to keep shouting from the roof tops- automation, AI (Artificial Intelligence), Virtualization, autonomous technologies, well they can continue doing that, there is nothing wrong about it, but they seem to forget the fundamental aspect that even to build the frameworks that provide automation and allied technologies what is necessary is the human mind which is ingenious, innovative and relentless! All our future technologies will only be as good or bad as the thinking minds behind their development and yes, there have been instances when the envelope has been pushed to far and lead to disasters (read Boeing 737Max and Air France Flight AF447 disasters) where rushed-through technologies rapidly implemented and executed and puzzled human minds- leading to ambiguity when it was not needed with fatal consequences!

The key point that I am trying to make here is that human mind and people are the essence of every organisation and every business activity that we embark upon and in times like these when business are preparing to rebound, if there is any one thing that they should possibly focus on doing right,- It will be hinging their come back strategies and actions around the people space within their organisations and for that, they will need to deploy their strategies through the HR pivot! So let’s see what utilization of HR as a pivot can possibly look alike!

Whether you are an organization of 25 people or have 10,000, the urgency and necessity of developing a come-back strategy with people at the core of it, only grows in importance and relevance with the size of your business and people involved. Whether that size is measured in terms of market goodwill, product/ services range/ nature of business or the quality of people, each of these and many such attributes matter! I share with you few areas where the HR pivot can be deployed to bring about that much needed acceleration and doing away with unwanted business complexities which tend to develop around every come-back strategy. These complexities are at times genuine and unavoidable, but many a times are co created to defeat certain emerging scenarios by virtue of hidden narratives and insecurities arising from the people who are likely to be impacted by the developments!

While using HR as the pivot to come-back, here are a few basic approaches that come to my mind, you may like to add/delete a few depending on the specificity of the challenges that your business and people face!

My HR pivot choices:

“Business Enabler”

“People Empowerment”

“Visible Leadership”

“Communication Strategy”

“WE”

Business Enabler: When HR is used as an active pivot to enable business, it accelerates the come-back and fuels direction and purpose like nothing else! The given caveat here though is that the HR teams must know the business and be able to provide HR solutions and point of view which contextually help and empower business decisions, consider there is a requirement to have 50 more workers in the plant to boost production of safety gear- here if the HR is aligned to the business and has in-depth understanding- it will be able to understand the complete impact of hiring 50 people- if the business seems to be diminishing away in next 12-18 months and hence can possible avoid the hiring or provide a solution which meets the requirement in a more apt manner- say temporary staffing rather than a full time association- which will eventually wipe off the profitability coming form the project once the sales begin to fall off! The more aligned HR is to to businesses in terms of knowing the products/services, appreciating the market place factors and behaviors, the more equipped will it be to provide sane and wise advise to Business teams and ensure that no unwanted expenditure occurs and the whole circus of hiring and firing people can be avoided to begin with as much as possible! But as I said, Knowing the business is vital and as simple as this statement may see, this is as complicated as it gets and one of the primary reasons of failure for HR teams worldwide- when they don’t get the correct understanding of the business of their organization right!

People Empowerment: This is one of the foremost pivots that organisations who value their “people” tend to often use, the effectiveness of this however will be much dependent of the earlier pivot and how well the HR team understands and knows the business of the organisation! People empowerment also becomes less effective when the “people on the team are different” from the “people on the paper”! Many organisations deploy hiring strategies which are archaic and old school, quite a few hiring managers seldom show expertise on the technical side of the job for which an individual is being interviewed- one may argue that- you have a technical round for that and that team is best suited for evaluating those skills- well may be- but when it comes to articulation and the ability to communicate and discuss technical aspects of ones’ business with other people (which will be an ongoing process on the shop floor or the service floor) this blend of non-technical and technical skill and quality of engagement will be crucial to determine whether an individual will be successful or not and if yes, by what measure! This blend can only be understood by HR teams as they are supposed to be trained to read the non-technical aspects and when that is complimented by a thorough understanding of business and positional nuances it just makes the job that much easier and you know watch time that you did not miss a right talent and you have not hired a right person for a wrong job! Always remember there no wrong people, but jobs for which they get hired are either too much for them to manage to too little to challenge ! Apart from this, empowering people on an ongoing basis also becomes possible- once a fine understanding of people and the work is developed, in an instant a trained HR eye can spot who within the team is being under-utilized or over-utilized and how best there can be a rejig(minimizing and doing away from the whole effort of hiring from external sources- which you can read as additional costs- costs of time and money). Effectively done “people empowerment” works wonders and propels come-back strategies of organisations like nothing else!

Visible Leadership: Crisis or not visible leadership is crucial for driving resources forward and keeping everyone glued to a business goal or objective irrespective of ongoing distractions that an organization may be facing. The HR plays or rather can play a vital role here, for helping the organization decide who that face of leadership will be at what level. This statement may surprise you, but that is a fact, Leaders who become Leaders because pf the position that they hold, may not always be a great choice to communicate en mass with people to teams during times of crisis- because not only content of the communication matters, but it also matters from whom it is coming! Consider you have a unit leader who has risen through the ranks pushing behind a few senior members on account of individual performance, now if this person was to lecture the team on “collective responsibility” and need to work together, imagine how many of the team members would really be keen to take that kind of shit from that person! Hardly any! Well, that’s the point, depending on what is the problem type and what the crisis level is, the HR can guide organizations on who will communicate at what level- it may be the second- in- command of a team or a Supervisors or a Foreman with over three decades of experience- doesn’t matter, the only thing that matters is that there has to be Leadership which is visible and more importantly listened to- not only because of the opposition but also because who they are as perceived by the majority! which may or may not be the same person as leading that specific set of people! These visible leaders are always there within an organization and a trained eye can spot them and know when exactly to leverage their latent value for helping the organization race ahead!

Communication Strategy: As skewed it may seem, but a glued in and synced HR team also counsels organizations about the communication strategy that needs to be deployed, whether it is about asking people to work more, work less, asking them to take delayed wages, wage cuts or layoffs, whatever the communication, during a crisis, if any bit of this vital space gets into hand of someone who is amateur and not so sure of what has to be done with the content provided- expect heart- burn, legal issues and unwanted headaches and damage to the business brand as an employer! Organizations are managed by people (as yet at least) and as long as people are involved- people will come and go in all shapes and sizes of mental fitment! As I said in paragraph above, positional leadership is of little consequence if the ability to influence is lacking and authority gained by authenticity is limited! Hence a good communication strategy has to be not about the content of the message, but the Who, When and How of it and these can be answered by HR teams well enough once they are deeply synced into the business developments and unfolding scenarios of it! When crisis hits; fast and , clear action seeking or providing communication is of utmost importance!Sure enough organizations have PR teams to do this bit,if they tend to be disconnected from realities and are left finding more for literature in the content of a message rather than meaning, the whole purpose will be lost and the resulting ambiguity will do more harm than not having sent out a message!

WE: Perhaps this is the most important step wherein the HR can be a true and perhaps the only pivot that can unify diverse teams, process and people as required to ensure that localized and team level distractions are minimized as much as people and the larger and grater objectives of the firms are upheld and pursued after! An active, proactive and preemptive HR can appreciate the power of the “WE” pivot. This pivot which binds people and the organization in one thread is powerful to ensure that larger business objectives can be pursue and achieved seamlessly and other challenges can be overcome simultaneously on the way! For this pivot to work businesses need to empower their HR teams! This is needed so that the HR teams can lead people in a more dynamic way and are not kept restricted to their age old archaic spaces of HR Operations and allied functions! When HR is empowered enough to partner with business in an equal measure and lead the “WE” part there in nothing that will possibly block the way of an organization hell-bent to make a recovery and make a strong come-back with a definitive statement!

I will leave you here, perhaps you may want to add a few things, remove a few things and devise new ways to ensure that your businesses teams or HR teams or functional teams that you are part of play the role of being a pivot in a way they can to ensure that your businesses start to make that one much needed U turn to be aiming back to the growth finish line! Lastly no matter what your business is, how big or small your firm is, how simple or complex your business is, if there are people involved , you will rest assured need “people specialists”, for they know much better than anyone else on how to create value from latent energies that lie stored within each working soul in an organization! The HR pivot which is sharp and at work is a blessing that can make all the difference to establish your firm back to it’s cherished spot or make the firm struggle for quarters to come with no end in sight, dousing one fire after another as the business tries to come to grip with changing dynamic businesses environments!

Ciao for now, I leave you to think and reflect, add and delete and maybe you start working on the vital pivot that serves you right! I will back with another piece soon, until than have your Coffee!

Leadership-Calibrated by Incompetence.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ 3 Comments

Whether you are in India and wondering what more worse is in store for you, or whether you are in the USA and have been through the process of social suffering and social mourning, irrespective of what your individual story is, right now, perhaps since World War II for the first time, Humanity is held at Uncertainty, which is nothing more or nothing less then the reflection of Incompetence of Leadership at the highest visible levels within the societal arrangements that we have adhered to as humans over the last 60 years, and perhaps this is the reason why the evolving changes will question and possibly topple existing rituals and arrangements in the months and years ahead- some may help and yet a few may harm! Join me as we try to make sense of the clutter and chaos and understand what the noise is all about within the moments of deafening silence that we get to hear every now and then! so here we go!

The current crisis – so called crisis (if you ask me) is a stark reflection about how something that could have been better managed was allowed to slip away and run free and unleash havoc in no less then 184 countries when the virus was at is peak! I am not going to use this article from the point of view of who did t, why and all of that political rhetoric, the focus here is, “Why did world leaders react the way they did” even as details (no matter how insignificant and ambiguous they would have been) began to emerge about the ferocity and damage potential that this virus was capable of.  A part of the answer lies in the fact that our world is an ecosystem of delicate and fine balances, like an orchestra all the different musicians and creative geniuses come together to play not one tune but their different tunes and just make it audible enough to know us who is out of syn and who is in the fold of the developments, the current episode has been so bad that it has turned a global orchestra into a big mess where every player has ended up not only playing their tune but also has ensured that the other one can’t play and hang on to their own tunes! This, I call “acoustic dissonance”! A space where no one is listening enough for anything specifically and whatever that is getting played is being accepted!

Leader’s decisions are understandably calibrated to the limitations of what they are asked to govern and manage. The problems start when they begin to govern and manage not from the mandate that has been provided to them or the positional power bestowed unto them but from a space to imitate and replicate what is being done elsewhere and when they start to find their answers in the same problems which are being resolved elsewhere; completely forgetting that the contextual setting of a same problem will have a differentiated impact based on the context of the other place and the specificity that it brings along with it! So  to begin with,why does this happen?

Unlike the golden age of emerging nation, new world and economic order that we have witnessed between 1950 until 1990s, the digital age has hastened everything and created blanket formulae for everything and everyone, whether it is a job that you need  or the vocation that you need to pursue, there are templated pathways to success and failures, and of course, when it comes to politics, there are dynasties and legacy handovers- but not all of them necessarily are mature or wise like their earlier generations! What all of this leads to, is a sum total of failing competencies across the social fabric, with citizen pressure low and misplaced with regards to their priorities, aspirational quality of governance, for life; the governing arrangements reciprocate by doing simply what is being just asked and aspired- and completely doing away with any visionary effort to preempt or proactively mitigate any foreseeable challenges- these aspects are then exposed as the next disaster strikes and then each element of this failing incompetent social fabric is rushing to help each other- something which could have been avoided in the first place!What’s worse as soon as the challenge is overcome, the social fabric falls back to the misplaced notion of comfort that all is well, until the next time bomb sets off, which in all probability is hidden in the current challenge and is already ticking off as this one is being managed! So now the question, can we do something about this?

Well the answer is a Yes and a No, the modern day social issues are unfortunately driven by individual greed and disease of wanting more and more with no end in sight, when this amplifies across society, it’s a hopeless situation which keeps repeating over an over again like a never ending spiral death dive unless there is a radical shift in the leadership model which is able to stall this dive and align the whole critical mass of the society for a greater and higher cause and purpose by leading from the front! This is where true leaders emerge and that’s why Leadership experts and Human Behavioral specialists  often say, True Leaders emerge from the Crisis even as Pseudo Leaders create the crisis in the forts place! This alone is the hope and promise which can pull failing societies and individuals from a never ending self defeating death spiral and align them to a higher purpose and direction for the larger good!

Leaving the larger governance issue here, if we see what happens within our work areas, it is no different; every organisation grows to the limits of the Incompetence that is displayed by their leaders and the limiting beliefs that come along with it! This is why you see the churn that you see when individuals decide not to work with Mr. A , B or C or for a Company X, Y , Z- this has largely to do with this simple underlying fact, which gets camouflaged and distorted in the disguise of team meetings, restructuring, formation and disbanding of SBUs so on and so forth! Another quick way to see if you are facing the Incompetence challenge at the work place, just make a note of hoe many meetings you are part of and what real world difference have those done to you as and Individual or your team or the client (who actually pays for your in-office entertainment sessions!). The moment you do this, your next decision will be either to chart a course for your growth within the firm because things are still manageable and repairable or you will get busy planning your exit strategies! Most of the organisations suffer not because the people are ineffective, it is largely because the direction and quality of leadership is severely compromised which simply doesn’t allow people to either contribute enough or has them disarrayed in all  other directions then what they should be focusing upon, thanks to the element of Self-Obsessed- Self-Driven – Megalomaniac style functioning! So how does an individual navigate around this and stay safe from being drawn into this trap of Incompetence?

The simple approach to avoid Incompetence traps comprises of really basic stuff! Firstly you may like to start by saying “No” to that undue promotion, designation, money, incentive which, heart in heart you know is not right and not worth what you are! Well yes, this seems idealistic, but that kind of introspection and being brutally honest with oneself is the foundation to ensure you don’t get entrapped into the world of Incompetence! Importantly to execute this strategy you need to have a design for your life and value system in place which provides you beacons and alarm systems to ensure you stay ion track and calibrate your growth, progress and monetary success by staying away form incompetence traps all along! Next what you can do is remain “Authentic” no matter what the compulsion and temptation, don’t disguise to what and who you are intrinsically not, if you cant tolerate dumb people, ensure you study the collective IQ of the team that you are supposed to work with or lead, rather then ending up with increased anxiety and hypertension, this first step can ensure a lot of unwanted explanation and white noise in your life is taken away in the first instance! Lastly learn to create clear protocols and keep you expectations right! If you want to travel faster then Mach 2 you need to be on a fighter plane and not on a commercial airliner, so be sure you are using the right framework and contextual settings which allow you to get what you expect as long as you continue to provide the inputs that are required to receive your expectations! This list is not exhaustive and there can be more and more nuggets of wisdom and plain speak that can be added and created to suit individual personalities and contextual settings and that is the most important aspect of life, since we are all unique individuals, could be similar in a few ways perhaps but necessarily unique, each of us requires a unique solutions to a seemingly similar problem because the contextual settings are always going to be different and that is the key to steer clear of Incompetence around us!

I will leave you here, allowing you to think and reflect on your share of experiences with incompetence and what you could or did do to either help it or stop it and whether you are zoned out or zoned in within the entrapment of Leadership that is Incompetent!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another piece, Do keep writing to us on topics that you want to learn and share and do let us know if you or your organisation needs assistance to mitigate your Leadership crisis! 

 

 

 

 

The UV(Unique Value) challenge ahead.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ 3 Comments

As work places the world over begin to come back to life and kick start the much awaited and needed meaningful life cycle for each one of us-few things would have changed already or will rapidly transform in the first 90 days, as operations begin to gather speed, this piece is about exploring on such facet and what to expect and how to manage what is likely to come your way! So let’s roll ahead…

Before we try to ponder on how things may impact us going ahead, it will make a lot good to understand , what really happened as activities were halted globally in a planned/less planned or unplanned way!Since we are dealing with only facet of the human aspect we will try to limit our observations around that one central piece and move ahead.

Humans by and large end up either ending up in the space of being employment generators or employment receivers and then we have the small segment of businesses consultants/ Individuals who are both generators and receivers unto themselves. As activities came to a halt, multiple things would have dawned at all levels! In some cases the real face of human value systems/ belief systems and Individual priorities would have far superseded the collective cause of managing a workforce or a team at a small office or vice-versa. This break in continuity, at one end would have manifested through massive layoffs/ unemployment that has been written all across the world; Ever since this unplanned halt in routine came into the picture! So what has happened here- Well one  may argue that the business viability was cut short and since there were no mechanisms to cushion the offset of losses (which seem to be astronomical) there was no other way but to close the shutters and let go off people– well ok- hold this thought for a minute and we will address that later as we move ahead.

Another scenario that too has played around the world has been the overarching concept of “We are in this Together” (Even as I hate this thought -as much as I can because it simply defies any rationale sense!). In this space, people have not been impacted that bad, governments, agencies, employers and everyone that you can think of, have come ahead and collaborated to ensure that people aren’t left to the elements and are being ensured that they have a wage and a lifestyle that they can still as yet hang out to- albeit by a slender thread and as soon as things are better, the turnaround will be rapid and directed! Well this scenario for obvious reasons seems to be the best way ahead- why not- it talks about higher societal virtues , duty of care and for ensuring everyone has indeed, had a fair chance to fight this time through and move ahead. Now that we have seen both extremes of the spectrum above, let’s amylase what people are actually doing in this time that has been available to them!

People being who they are would have used this time available for themselves either to waste it and let it rot as usually they do while being busy to slog like slave for making someone else rich or they would have put it to some good use or wise use depending upon the cognitive abilities, opportunities and the immediate flexibility of the societies in which they thrive! Broadly speaking we have two sets of people around the world right now in a lock down/isolation whatever you want to call that- The firsts set is working as diligently they normally would have – striving to balance the challenges of working from wherever they are in whatever conditions they are and making a point to see how best they can add value and keep contributing in their way to ensure the business that are working with or for remains afloat as much as possible! The second set has basically turned this whole episode into a endless meaninglessness vacation which doesn’t seem to end (Unlike the hotel property- you don’t have a pre-set check out date) so these folks who believe in the maxim- “Anyways everything is going to get tougher so while we have this time, why not binge and indulge into personal indulgences and give a damn to what tomorrow ushers in!”. Finally we  have a smaller segment of interesting people (irrespective whether they are the employers/employees or consultants/Individual businesses) who have used this time to realign their life priorities/ work definitions/aspirations/belief systems even as they have continued to work and contribute to what they have been doing! Knowing the facts about where the world is rocking around for now, now you may want to know how all of this will get played out as things begin to open up! Well let’s read on and remember the previous line for that has a big secret within it!

As the world comes out of the shadows, thanks to automation (AI) and some good serving of Common-Sense there will be rapid and quick realignment of businesses and individuals- Those who have been toiling through this phase will come up with fast decisions translating into large scale visible actions, whether it is reallocation of staff to other facilities of a large conglomerate, whether it is about training, re-training,  or whether it is about adding anew product and rolling it off within weeks, you think of a scenarios and probably you will see an example playing out- especially where the businessmen and the employees have been working through this tough phase diligently one day at a time and have had a road map for the future irrespective of testing times and uncertainties! These in some cases will also lead to decent amounts of lay-offs but what will be unique to this phase is the fact that Quality of the people getting laid-off will have a story to tell. In all probability this will have many people from the second set who were on that un-ending vacation and didn’t care for the world- well, as the law of reciprocal karma; the world will also care less for them  and that’s what will get played out in the end!

The rare collection of individuals  (whether employers/employees/consultants) who would have spent this time for thorough introspection and realignment of themselves to their cause using the Unique Value that they intrinsically hold; will be the eventual trail blazers and will play a vital role in setting up the next benchmarks of quality and process development across businesses! It will be this small segment which would have analysed and seen how each other member on the team has been functioning/ not functioning where the disconnects have been and where the strengths are and what can be corrected and what must be weeded out immediately to safeguard the business! This may look like a simple task that any manager would have anyways done- but what is different here is that for the first time perhaps in a long long time- there is no space for personal biases for being played out through those intense team meetings and “one on ones” within the confines of office meeting rooms -because whether teams and individuals have worked or not would have been captured through  a documented trail of emails, messages from collaborators and clients alike which are more telling and in-the- face to sum up quite a lot then any findings from over a 100 internal meetings  that one would have participated in! It is also in this segment that one will also see many wise people alter the course of their calling to something different, bigger and better then what they have been currently doing and this mutual separation from the routine will enable to open up new vistas and opportunities from human thinking, innovation and commerce to be built around that space!

So what is that will create that differentiation which will make or break an opportunity for an Individual? Well the answer is UV – The Unique Value that Individuals would have been able to demonstrate as they worked through challenging times and ensured that their tasks and jobs are delivered as they had been promised and the objectives were realized in the face of extraordinary challenges! It will be these UV’s when applied by businesses, teams and Individuals alike that newer avenues with far greater depth, clarity and purpose will begin to emerge from existing businesses to provide an opportunity to build new systems and businesses! 

These UV’s, will enable organisations become healthier by being leaner, directed focused and purpose driven, knowing well now that they do really have a duty of car, hence instead of boasting about an employee strength of 1000, organisations will change the narrative to a family strength of 100 which would imply an employees strength of 250! Likewise Individuals who would have found their zen by being flexible would possibly want it to stay that way so that their creative outcomes remain unique and well appreciated- this then would also work in favor of the businesses!

So, before I sign off, think well for the remaining “ME” time that you have at hand and be honest in knowing what you are doing with that- because your future will depend on the singular pivot of what you have done with this “ME’ time and what you learnt during this period!

I will leave you here for now, grab a drink and think and reflect so that you can face tomorrow all suited up, one you have realized the Unique Value that you have within and what you to offer as a giver and receiver!

Ciao for now, will be back soon with another piece!

Leadership in Crisis OR Crisis in Leadership-what are you living through?

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Over the last two weeks, virtually everyone around seems to have been coming up with the governments, health care workers could be doing better, what did go well, and what was amiss- The only issue I have with this space is irrespective of whether people are praising their authorities of slaying them on the social media for being incompetent, the essence lies in how much does one really know about whats happening behind the scene- I mean how can anyone see a news clip or a media byte for a few minutes and then decide that this is what must be happening and come to a conclusion that we are all fine or we are all but certainly doomed! Well this is exactly what happens when you are experiencing either a situation wherein it is either about “Leadership in Crises” or “Crisis in Leadership”  and that’s making its presence felt through the society that you are a part of and this short piece is just trying to make sense of this! Of course yes, I am not going to be taking names of leaders or nations here, so that I don’t end up placing prejudices in your mind- like it always has been I would want you to decide and take a view of what makes sense to you and in way that goes on to serve you by enhancing your understanding of the developments around you!

When disasters strike they often come with shock and awe, well that’s the case with major sudden natural disasters like flash floods, earthquakes and tornadoes which seem to just appear and disappear on their own terms leaving a path of destruction behind them. It is a similar situation when man-made disasters strike humanity- like mass shootings, terrorist events etc unfold. The  real story begins the moment after the unthinkable happens! It becomes apparent quickly with ample clarity what kind of script is being played out to the world- we will now begin the instance wherein “Crisis in Leadership” begins to unfold. 

Of the many manifestations that are possible, Crisis is Leadership is always earmarked by a deafening silence and inertia in the initial stages. This is the moment wherein the proverbial throat runs dry and the leaders are left to the mercy of their critics for having failed to act/ or rather react in a specific manner to an event- which normally is derived from the majoritarian societal conformity bias! This initial step if not checked in- not only unleashes a chain reaction of ever increasing complications and problems but also creates a powerful distraction in which the real challenge (the event that would have occurred) is all but made secondary and the efficacy and the style of the leadership start to become the talk of the town and thereby begins a never ending bickering game which goes on and one as long as some other powerful stories tend to come up and overshadow these events and narratives!

The next indication of Crisis in Leadership comes when people speak irrelevant, nonsense, mistime the content or begin to contradict each other from the adjacent windows of the same are of operation! You may have by now witnessed examples of politicians like Governors of State and other task force members who have been entrusted with fighting away this virus come up and say things which were completely unwarranted for and make no real contribution towards the progress of attacking the virus and saving  lives- rather, a lot of their rant would have been talking about what they have been doing, trying to do and are hopeful of what they will be able to do rather then just stating the facts like- This is what had happened, this is what we did to fix it and this is what we have planned for tomorrow because this is what we expect! Well needless to say, it is instances like there that even turn disasters into fodder for news channels and media to utilize the moment for their fame to glory for showing how dumb a particular individual was- well as a matter of fact they never wait another second to do a rethink- I mean; wait why would this person behave the way he is doing so- he isn’t that dumb really? had he been done so dumb- he wouldn’t reached where he is now – A position of power and control to dictate terms through a crisis! So whats the missing part?! Well we will get to this bit once we have seen some other examples of how things are really done and what Leadership in Crisis really looks and feel like!

Unlike the above two manifestations (certainly there could be many more- given this is a blog, trying to keep it a bit truncated), when one sees Leadership in action through a Crisis- The whole equation changes dramatically! The very first manifestation of Leadership in control through a crisis is visible by the knowing “who is the face of the leadership”. As long as the face has enough depth in terms of credibility, acceptance, appreciation and connect with the audience in concern, rest assured the masses are at once assured that things are in control and you will find that people are ready to agree, abide and go ahead with the decisions taken by this type of a leader. The second important aspect here, which must be read together with the first point is that the quality, swiftness, clarity and transparency of the decisions and the rationale also are required to go hand in hand along with the face of the leadership. You may have a very pleasing face but if the quality of the following decisions and the content falls through, you will possibly end up finding a new face before you find answers to the pressing challenges at hand!

Effective leadership through crisis is almost and always accompanied by a sustained and ongoing communication dissemination in a measured manner wherein the communication reaches where it should and provides ample clarity about what is expected form the received of that message- like does the person need to take some action, or just be ready for the next instruction or it could be about being provided with details on the progress that has been and what the outcomes seem like over the next few days or weeks!

Leadership in Crisis may be aggressive or may be passive in terms of style harnessed by the leader in question, but unless it is proved to effective through its presence and through its actions; all purpose risks being  eventually lost and can easily slip into the depths of becoming another case of study of Crisis in Leadership!

I will leave you with your thoughts now, see around you depending on where you are on the planet and observe what is that you are witnessing- at the government level, at your office level- what do you see around you- Leaders managing the Crisis or Crisis being complicated further by the Leaders who have been entrusted to steer the ship!

Ciao for now, I will be back soon with another article, until then navigate well, stay safe and if you are locked down, stay in and let your mind wander with thoughts that empower you and help you deciphering some hidden mysteries available in your plain sight! By the way – What type of a Leader are you- what do you think!

 

Dealing with (Mis)Information Warfare.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ 1 Comment

Never before has it been more important to check- cross check and re-check everything that gets played on to the television set, the channels that you subscribe to, the search results that come to serve you and not to mention the endless, forwards, messages and what have you! This piece is about trying to make some sense of the information or rather misinformation warfare in which we get drawn day in and day out at times knowingly and other times unknowingly when we tend to forward that last message on whatsapp without bothering to check if the content made any sense to begin with! So let’s try and unravel what really is going on here!

The later part of the last century, was rightly known as the Information Age- If one had the right information at the right time it gave the person/ business or the government of the day phenomenal advantage to lead and race ahead no matter what the subject would have been- whether it was about path breaking research, or best practices adopted over factory floors, or it was about business or governance strategies- You name it and you will find that the last 50 years has always been about “The Best way” of doing things, “getting things done”, “being the best”, individually or collectively by harnessing the power of Information. Till this point it was a linear fight for supremacy – Whoever had the right information at the right time would be the winner, but with technology and the dawn of the digital age- information became available  at amazing speeds simultaneously across the world and there was never a question of any lag or delay and then it started to boil down to who had the first movers advantage, who got ahead first, how fast and what tools and resources were made available for them to make that rapid progress. Well even this was fair, considering you give the whole world community the same information at the same time and then it boils down to whoever has the maximum matter and money to spend and build on an idea! The real drama unfolds now, once people saw that information based challenges are becoming accessible and rapid progress is possible and the concept of  dominance on sectors/ ideas and approaches to lives problems is beginning to get into the shredders, the real game got started – the game of information dominance through spread of misinformation! This is how we have, according to me ushered in the age of misinformation- The age of Information Warfare- A testimony to Human Dominance and never ending Greed for power (all types) and Opulence!

This age of Information warfare thrives on spreading information which makes sense, no sense and cryptic sense- this is done intentionally to divert, distract and keep competitors and people observing you loose their way and get entangled into a information mess in which they remain entangled and by the time they do come out of it- you would have probably achieved your objectives and then it really doesn’t matter whether they have access to the earlier original content or not- because that has become contextually irrelevant!

This new warfare front made possible thanks to the digital breakthroughs that we have collectively been able to make as humanity has proven far dangerous then any nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction! The misinformation business is responsible for almost everything that you see around- on the day to day basis- you would have come across commercials (with the small * of terms and conditions – which is next to invisible) claiming and suggesting things which are out rightly stupid, dangerous and rarely at time fatal- but as they say- the small little invisible * offers protection and the the petitions are always urged to use their collection and individual wisdom-which by itself is a challenge as that is a fast depleting asset! When things do get ugly as usually they do- you will generally have vested interest groups within nations/ communities and across nations who can collectively get into the role of spreading information in a calibrated,weighed manner to do a sinister loop and complete it’s objectives by unleashing public unrest/ strikes/ law and order situations and by the time this is all done the originator and the communication and the real essence behind the malafide act is all but cluttered into an ambiguity of trails, reports and reasons- which often heads no where and then the world is ready for another episode all over again! History is replete with examples when things have become really bad and this ability to spread directed misinformation has at times won wars at the right side of the battle and at times has ended up doing more damage to society at large! So when we know Mis-Information is as deadly as it gets to be- why do we thrive and allow it to propagate- why does it even get a hold?

The answers lie in the fabric of humanity itself- Human societies have long been far away from idealistic settings- there is a rampant inequality within societies, within different segments of a society or even within communities and not to forget the inequalities among nations and blocks of nations! Inequality that transcends all metrics normally considered for determining what should be the definition of Equality!  Inequality manifests in different ways, it could be the inequality between the rich and poor (monetary inequality), inequality of opportunities, inequality of liberty and so on and so fort. The most important trigger comes from the Inequality of opportunity for World Dominance through governance and business. This is by far the most dangerous and the most sinister of all the different malaise of modern societies and has caused more harm then good to each and everyone of us! You may be thinking this has to do with only the intelligence community and the governments- no – this has everything to do with each one of us- as misinformation gets fed into minds which are not that good at checking facts from fiction- the results and consequences often turn deadly and dangerous! So now we know that there is a problem- how do we deal with it! Well read on…

“Practice the Pause” a technique told by many management teachers, the next time you get a piece of information and decide to do anything- absolutely anything with it- think what it is- check from where it is coning- think what is is asking you to do and think about the impact that you may individual end up creating by virtue of who you are- and whether that is needed or not! There will be times when the best thing to do would be nothing! There will be yet another times when you may have to ignore/delete the message and then there will be some other times still when you need to flag the message and the content off to relevant people in time so that disasters are avoided well in time! The challenge though remains to perform any of these actions, first and foremost you must have a thinking mind – irrespective of how intelligent you are or not- doesn’t matter-what does matter is whether you have the ability to sieve through the content and weigh it against common-sense, science and facts of the world! One more golden rule is what doesn’t serve the best and larger good of humanity doesn’t need to be there- If any message that you are to pass on – irrespective of what the source and whatever it is- If it doesn’t help anyone and ends up having more anxiety and anguish to even person then that message is not worth it- might as well bury it as soon as it reaches you!

We live in an age where access to information is a sure ticket to success and hence the converse also hold true- access to misinformation can spell untold misery and chaos at times damaging individuals and at times communities and nations as a whole! The certain way to move around this in-your-face- covert enemy of mis-information is to develop filters through wisdom and knowledge and apply ample common sense to all that you receive- without the screen of prejudice and develop a way to weight the content of information in its totality and then take a call whether it serves or deserves its existence! This kind of mindful approach to content when repeated over and over again will ensure the damages caused by misinformation campaigns world over is as minimal as possible!

I will leave you here with these thought, grab your cup, check your whatsapp messages and think well before you forward the next message! Think- Is it really worth It- Does it add value to the receiver or to you as a sender of the message! If it does go ahead, if it doesn’t delete that crap!

Ciao for now, will catch up soon with another article!

 

Fogging out the re-calibration dilemma.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

As communities come together in their won way to assess the extent of damage and start to pick up the pieces and look forward to re-build, a very important question which will be playing on almost everyone’s’ mind- right from the governments to the business tycoons to the ordinary person on the street who awaits the opening of a retail store so that the next pay check can be collected is “How do we now know something different about all that we always thought we knew!” and what do we do about it and how do we move things ahead from here! Well this short piece is about skimming through these dimensions and possibly decipher how things may play out as humanity emerges out of the shadows of a global melt down! So here we go!

Hopefully governments across the world by now have learned a valuable lesson that as the old saying in India goes- “Health is the only real Wealth” and unless nations and societies do not  makes a serious effort to invest adequately and proportionally to ensure wellness and health of its citizens, no matter how many nuclear bombs and missiles they have in their arsenal or how many billions of dollars or gold they have to throw to the world- all of this will become meaningless in a wink as it happened now! This time is a great opportunity for nations to reset their priorities towards investment in healthcare and developing societies and communities which are more healthy! The choice is clear; either governments incentivize building healthy living and working habits so that investment in hospitals is reduced or continue with the age old unhealthy habits and then spend billions and billions to build hospitals and pharma reteach and this then goes on endlessly like a never ending game of cat and mouse waiting for the next mistake to happen and then that allows all hell to break loose all over again!

Business and the big bad world of corporate rat race– well, I doubt if this aspect of human society will ever learn anything from what is unfolding- we may end up seeing more dumb start ups that will go on to sell and live at the expense of why continuing social distancing is the way ahead and why remote working is The way of Working and so on and so forth! If this nonsense s is not checked and put in place- The world will end up having more mentally sick people then the number of threatening viruses you can think of coming from the Corona family! It will do the world a lot good, if for one time businesses become a little more humanistic and develop and build ways of working which resonate with general wellness and create more space and value wherein roles and responsibility are tailored and made to benefit not only the business objectives but also live on to enrich the lives of the people involved in creating those activities! The pandemic has taught one major lesson- A global melt down scenario- in whatever form it comes- doesn’t and will never care if you are rich or poor- these events are great levelers- they will reset everything to a point and from there is a great opportunity for all societies and businesses either to build a more inclusive and human society which is more sensible and purpose driven or loop back to old capitalist and greedy way of driving the things- again furthering the proverbial “rat race” and “neck throat competition” philosophies which will end up looking so falsified and hollow even to begin thinking about in today’s; altered world scenario!

Individuals, depending on how the time of lock down was used or abused will emerge as their better or worse version when they hit the deck to work! Likewise their offices would have assessed and gauged their absence and work through the physical absence in terms of effectiveness and critical contribution; needless to say- there will calls taken and adjustments done! So if you have been one of those people who have been binge eating endlessly dipping into the tub of popcorn or chicken fingers and blessed with an endless supply of booze, well you know what- your long party may just come to an abrupt unpleasant end! On the other extreme end of the spectrum, if you have been one of those silent warriors who has been pushing through all the odds and have helped your client, got that payment and ensured you have stayed on top of your game irrespective of the odds of bad signals, bad support and challenges galore- you may have just helped yourself by staying relevant and by ensuring you have indeed been an asset when it mattered the  most! If you are anywhere between these extreme ends of the spectrum- one end of callousness and other end of being prompt and proactive- well depending on what kind of sector you work in and what is the extent of human value and dependence your sector has you will ether sail through or end up drowning!

Businesses that display a more humanistic approach and be more inclusive, giving and caring will have a greater advantage in times ahead, needless to say those who showed their ugly side and used this as garb to seek undue advantage wither by sacking people or reducing their payout will get their karma back in time – sooner then later and they will to realize that! More importantly however the centre of focus will be the Individual- What the lock down and work through isolation has done to people and how they have coped with either to emerge as strong as before or have metamorphosed themselves into something else for good or worse will also play a big role in either ensuring that their role in the larger game of an organisation survives to get more star attention or they simply vanish off the corporate radar for good- owing to their own inability to cope with the altered work environment! 

Individuals who have been wise to use their time to invest in themselves, will no doubt be rewarded more then anyone else, for it is through their detailed introspection and realizing the depths of their own self they will be able to contribute further and add innovatvely to the new changed world order either by being part of the government, business  or simply by being who they are it is these wonderful people who will set the tone for the next decade and beyond– For a change this will have nothing to do with opulence but everything to do with humanity- The ability of being able to sense and respond to the changed realities of the world in a more human way! 

These, I feel are the ways that the reset will play out across the world at time subtly and at other times in a more direct manner- but rest assured the re-calibration will happen and will be clear and vivid based on priorities set by individuals, businesses and governments who decide to move societies and nations in a direction aligned to their national priorities- the only silver lining being for a change people and humanity will be at the core of these strategies – beginning with global access to health and wellness and going further and beyond! 

I will leave you here, at peace with your isolation and hope you emerge stronger, wiser and more ready then ever so that as the dawn ushers in you know exactly what you are going to do next! Ciao for now, will be back soon with another article!

 

Re-connecting post isolation.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Irrespective of what is being played out now, it is important at the same time to be focused on whats lurking over the horizon, surely enough we must survive for being able to reach the horizon and touch the skies once again! Having said that, it will also be equally important to assess the state in which we reach the horizon-which holds the promise of tomorrow! Whether we reach there bruised and hurt physically or mentally or both will go a long way in deciphering what we end up doing once we are out of this storm! 

On the macro level as governments and organisations/ businesses that drive global narratives will stand to benefit the most from the current scenarios- Unlike ever before citizens have given unquestionable control and authority to their respective governments to mitigate and overcome the health crisis- nothing wrong with this- the real challenge will be once the crisis is over- how many of these governments will be happy to contract back to their earlier self and be okay with unleashing lesser power? Power as everyone knows is undoubtedly a great intoxicator- once you are used to getting high on power/authority and enhanced span of control- the ease and acceptability to go back to your lesser self- is almost improbable- in few nations across the world this will put considerable stress and political dynamics will begin to get altered even before people realise it! (People will be too busy to try to reboot their lives and survive the newer existential challenges and in the meantime these political deliberations will leave them more short changed then ever before- No sooner people figure out and make good with their new normal- whatever that may be- and they bonce back, they will again compelled to rise up and express their displeasure on the changed or altered political arrangements and this will be seen and played out as unrest’s/ protests/ strikes and legal movements the world over- some at national level and yet many on state and local governance levels!

Business firms will play their part to build strong narratives to push ahead new categories ( read old wine, re-packaged for the nth time in a new bottle) across their products and services which will promise to help individuals to have good health at all times and enable them to fight well and get some advantage (with regards to the use of their product/service) to overcome the next pandemic onslaught! This trend will be used by core sectors in the space of food, travel, wellness, healthcare,FMCG, and every other business that has a direct connect with an individual customer and has the ability to develop a powerful narrative to bring about altered behaviors to accelerate the acceptance of their product/service offerings (read global MNCs here). Even as the world of politics and business try to navigate and seek their comfort zone; Individuals – that is you and I will also be waging another war- literally day in and day out and this will be a war with ourselves to understand and set new levels (high or low- will again depend) to interact and communicate with people around us!

Whether it is the office space or a general walk into a grocery store- staying isolated would have done considerable damage to ones’ ability to communicate (no I am not suggesting we would have forgotten to speak or write), there will be in general a dissonance when it comes to choice of words being used while communicating and also the levels of interpretation (which will be at an all time low- especially if you have not connected with the individual during the isolation period!). These aspects even though may seem trivial are essentially the backbone of a connected workplace no matter where you work or whether you have your own business! Workplaces will require to have a planned unlocking of their offices- The interventions to make people begin to talk to each other to seek a level of re-engagement comfort will be critical to assess the business success of organisations especially in cases where teams are involved to deliver services and products! Businesses that practice formal team re-engagement and communication strategies and interventions will eventually have an extra edge and individuals from such teams will seem to be more in control of their daily activities over others, who do not get a chance to re-orient themselves or re-align themselves! Sectors which traditionally have been using large teams to rely on their success – like hospitality, aviation will do exceedingly well in the times ahead- since individuals in these teams have an innate and trained approach to deal with chaos, ambiguity and a formidable ability to bounce back in the shortest possible time! It will be these ordinary individuals who are so good at creating extraordinary magic through their work, who will be at the centre stage of ensuring their companies race ahead and turn around much rapidly then the others!

When it comes to the confines of Individual spaces- this extended isolation in few cases would have helped people realise their own value and perhaps that would have done a big reset to their individual priorities – in simple terms, it will all be about- how they want to spend their time, how much they want to speak going ahead, how much are they going to be listening in times ahead- again small tweaks for an individual but these will create an impact, as these developments resonate with their altered behaviors which in turn will engage with colleagues and others who too would have undergone a similar level of metamorphosis! This is where, new norms will be established, this is that space where new rituals will get created- if the good old handshake before and after that crucial sales meeting has been checked off- it will surely be replaced by something and it will be these new norms, and the ability to adapt to the new ways of working that will define how successful individuals end up becoming in the new altered reality of work-life!

The best part is, there is nothing right and wrong about all the changes and adjustments that the world will see unfold at micro and macro levels- the crux of the matter here is- as these changes impact us as individuals – what we do about those new realities and how we react and adopt them will go a long way in determining if this turbulence in our journey of life has helped us or harmed us! As human beings we have survived and who knows- the largest part of human evolution is undocumented and unknown- It’s quite possible that we have faced and overcome far greater threats then the current one and there’s no doubt that the current threat will be eventually a new normal and it’s just a matter of time!

All in all, I must say, I am pretty excited to see the drama unfold as humanity comes back together and connects even as few Individuals tend to remain in perpetual isolation deep within or refuse to move away from the Lockdown because they have possibly got locked-in to themselves!

I will leave you here, and hope you use this time that you have got to tweak your individual strategies and get ready to face another chapter that life throws at us, post this isolation! 

Ciao for now and will be back soon with another piece! At Simplifylives we are helping Individuals and organisations plan their re-connect strategies, if you think you need help, feel free to reach us at parimal.aluri@simplifylives.com and rest assured we can partner and ensure your journey post isolation is fun and helps you re-gain control faster!

 

 

Teaming up post isolation.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Well, yes this is going to be perhaps the next biggest challenge for the corporate world (apart from assessing business loss and deciphering business strategy) for the year ahead! If there is anything else that’s going to override the corporate agenda for the next 6 months- it is going to be how well an organisation has been able to re-boot their people and get them back at similar levels of performance (if not better) in the shortest possible way and this is the arena that we explore in this short article…so let’s go ahead!

As the world comes out of the enforced hibernation, the isolation would have already done what it can do with the psyche of people irrespective of how high they would have been in an organisational set up or how more or less important their position would have been- If there is anything that one should take away as a critical learning from this worldwide shut down, it will be one singular thing that this has been an event which can be termed as “The Great Leveler” An event which has the insane capacity to bring everything to a common ground and then present those involved a choice- to re-build everything exactly same as before or re-build in a more resilient way so that instances are better dealt with in the future! As people walk out of their homes and residences and lead their way to the offices- there will be a million thoughts running through their minds- these will be stories of unfinished work, exposed incompetencies, failure of teams, missing of deadlines, missing out on opportunities and in very few cases it will be about realignment of personal priorities- all of these and many more such thoughts would be playing out loudly in the realms of the mind and this is what will be witnessed in the opening few weeks- teams which seem to be together but look to be lost! It is from here where an organisation can make the vital change either to re-build and re- boot or carry on and falter and resign to earlier complacency as if nothing ever happened! This happens to be  precisely the space  and time ,that trained specialists who understand and decipher human behaviour will be needed and deployed to help organisations navigate these initial few critical months!

So depending on what the size of an organisation is, what it’s services/products are and what are the intrinsic value systems that have been (whether they worked in these times or whether they too need a change), all of these will be part and parcel of the effort to bring back the buzz within the corporate corridors. Given the fact that this is a blog, we will touch more aptly to the broader generic aspects that each organisation will need to and should address and leave out specialist domains pertaining to the likes of Executive Coaching and Mentoring out for now! 

Once the people are back, regardless of the size, the organisation will have to take a stock and find how they “seem to be” , look out for changes and any random behavioral deviations that are being displayed- these can be done by cratering smaller groups and having those much fabled High-Tea sessions or for smaller employee base it could be one-on-one’s with the trained HR specialist to gauge what an individual has gone through during this period of isolation. Any of these methods deployed are good as long as it helps the organisations to come up with a team efficacy score and identify if any damage has been done which will need additional support or attention- this again could range from re-alignment of few people from one team to another and at times could be as important as relieving  a team lead of the team’s responsibility! Surely enough no one needs to do this by doing a big bad corporate wide announcement but this has to be done subtly using a human touch with a genuine purpose of knowing and validating the mental health of an individual- consider this you are an aviation firm and now put what I said above in context- get the seriousness of the situation? Good!– Likewise it is important that organisations do this first step because anything and everything that corporate will go ahead and do for team building, team rejuvenation and those kind of efforts will only bear fruit, once an in-depth assessment has been done to figure out what kind of exact interventions are needed and then come up with a plan which is effective and has a timeline for the organisation to be able to measure the effectiveness of the intervention as well!

Once the validations are done, the next step could be using the most apt technique to get teams back to performance levels which they were at when the momentum was broker- people normally don’t agree but the fact is all target and achievement driven tasks normally have a rhythm- these rhythms can be either extrapolated to the rise and fall of revenue, attrition , breakthroughs or acquisitions – all this will vary and will largely depend upon how simple of complex an organisation is and what its business goals and revenue expectations are! So the next step becomes important – in this context- as the performance is trimmed to acceptable level before they got distorted and immediately followed up by pacing up or dialing down the rhythm which will put it on course to build on the found momentum and race ahead as needed by he organisation concerned!

Although this looks deceptively simple and easy, this will be perhaps the most difficult of all the steps and will call for serious efforts from an organisational level, as the primary challenge will be of getting trained HR specialists and interventionist who have this innate understanding of the human mind, which will be critical to create a mental heath map for the organisation. This mental health map can go a long way to know the risks and strengths and thereby ensure that the organisations are not further jolted on their path to recovery because of human performance issues related to the impact of the isolation period!

These first steps will be very critical to ensure that organisations end up spending and investing their available resources on the right teams and people. Any effort that organisations make to circumvent this process of slow assimilation of individuals back into team environments will eventually back fire sooner or later- but it certainly will!

Of course I am not suggesting, everyone will be psyched out or delusional or hallucinating as they come to their workplaces, but it is worth remembering a fact that 21 days is a long period in anyone’s life- given the fact that we don’t live forever ;If there have been islands of calm and silence encountered by individuals in these solitary times- they would have either nourished or damaged depending on the path that an individual would have decided to undertake during the time of this unforeseen and forced clamp down! As these individuals with personalities altered come back to work- they will need another 21 days – minimum- to apply their altered personalities to an environment which these changed personalities will find a little out of place- The alteration here will be the key- if the alteration reinforces their beliefs and values- the homecoming will be easy and quick; if the alteration has been a complete change of beliefs and value systems- you will more often then not see them struggle or leave the workplace in the coming few months! The initial steps that I discussed above will be critical again to know which one of these steps an individual is likely to take!

So people, I leave you here for now, with these thoughts for you to reflect upon and plan ahead, whether you lead a team or are part of the team, or the specialist who will be given a lot of work in weeks ahead- well have your coffee for now and start gearing up for the times ahead- as they say- the bend in the road is almost over and we are going to hit the straight patch and we better be ready and geared up with all the tools and the mind that we have to ensure we make the most of it, as we emerge out of these ambiguous times!

I will be back soon with another piece and should you or your organisation need that intervention that I talked about here, you do know how to reach me!

So ciao for now and keep writing in with your thoughts and suggestions!

 

Post pandemic-Talent acquisition.

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

As unlikely as it may seem, but this worldwide lock down/ slow down necessitating a  reassessment of priorities at global, national and organisational levels will eventually impact the way we go about our lives in a more permanent way- in many ways, then one can imagine for now! This short piece is trying to see what will possibly change when it comes to organisations as they seek talent to meet the new challenges that seem to gather over the horizon ahead!

Depending on where you are on the world map now, either you have emerged out of a local lock down, or are in one in or will be entering into one! Likewise businesses have either started to count their damages, are trying to mange the situations day-to-day basis and doing the best they can for each instance or they are coming up with a business continuity plan to brace for the lock down coming their way! In all these factors, if there is any common thread that runs through (irrespective of the nature of business), it is – The Talent that the business has – the Intrinsic talent pool that an organisation has or that it is planning to build as soon as the situation becomes normal! This will be critical and vital not only for reclaiming business positions and accelerate growth but also to endure a stronger and much formidable resilience for organisations in times ahead when something like this hits next! So what can we expect- well read on…

Automation will get cautious- As strange as it may seem, but this will be a fact, organisations will be forced to look again at the human element and strike a balance between automation and availability of skilled and talented people to ensure that the show goes on even during tough times! Vocations like medical research, pharma research, doctors, paramedics and all businesses that are centered around people and have people at the core of their strategy would have by now understood one thing clearly- no matter what your balance sheet says- If you don’t have the right people during a crisis the balance sheet will continue with a same story which can eventually ending up writing off the business completely off the business horizon!Businesses and Organisations that have anything and everything to do with people- will have to switch their age hold talent acquisition strategies and ensure they have the right balance of experienced- amateur- bright stars and eccentric people at the right time and at the right places within the organisation! This may be an additional burden on the balance sheet of the organisation- but this is the only thing that will stand between the existence and wipe out of the firm!

Methodology of Talent Acquisition- This factor will also see a change, globally where we have a blend of hiring strategies which range from in-house talent acquisition teams to outsourced agencies which can use online -preset forms and test banks to filter and assess talents- well  you will be and should be surprised as these things will change a big deal and no matter who says what- the good old personal interview will be back to the forefront with the only aim of cross-checking and being sure completely that the hiring is right and this is what is needed-especially with regards to personality attributes! The essence of Human connect will be at the forefront, certainly this will also depend on how technically or even in general the interviewer is skilled to be able to make the best use of this opportunity- but well that’s a different story in itself! This person- to person connect will be to check more on the soft skills and other personality attributes more then the technical ones’ because technical things can always be trained and made good but if you have someone who wilts under pressure- well the the kind of investment needed to make that change- is simply beyond the investment capacity of an average organisation in times like these! Moreover as said earlier,the whole space around talent scouring will be wrapped around hiring personalities and attributes who can display specific behaviors whenever crisis hits next for the organisation so that the business runs as smoothly as possible with minimal or no disruption! Need a proof- well even in these times – just see around and think about two to three professions which are holding the fort for humanity- Law enforcement, healthcare workers  and aviation warriors- now what is common to all of them being selected into the profession that they have chosen- yes you got your answer- tough selection measures and training , training and training for instances like the ones’ that are unfolding right now! Trust me, if you run a big business and are always talking about the next 100 million dollars, it is professional attributes shown by these warriors that you want your team members to have! The whole selection process will move ahead to analyse and seek attributes that show steady resilience, patience, calmness and an ability to perform under pressure, certainly technical skills as demanded by a task will be of importance as well- and one more important thing- workplaces will become quieter- essentially you will be seeking people who are soft spoken, speak less and when they do speak- they wrap it up! Days ahead will be difficult for social butterflies in the office environments! 

The Turbulent talent pool- Two things discussed above become possible when we have the necessary  pool available from the immediate society. This fact brings to the forefront the quality of education and the state of educational facilities in a given society. Societies and nations where the quality of education and infrastructure is ready to rapidly develop and embrace new topics and add that to the skill set of the future professionals will see a better fit into the industry demands and this will provide the much needed edge over other competing markets ad players to emerge as a leader ion a given sector! This will also bring about a much needed change on how campus hiring are done and this will impact on how institutions are selecting aspirants for specialized courses- all in all, it will be certainly a step in the right directions- however, as the onus will  squarely shift to quality over quantity- everything in the value chain from education to campus hiring to final placements – the total cost of talent acquisition will see a rise and yes- this will again translate into a new way that organisations would like to operate in the future..which takes u to the next point!

Lean, Mean and Agile- A certain outcome that we all will witness is that businesses will become leaner- they will use a balance (of course will depend on the business as well). Irrespective whether they are process centric or people centric- they will work towards striking a balance between process automation and number of people (the whole idea will be to ensure every business has just enough and just the right people at the right levels and places)- This will over ride factors like age, gender and will solely rely on talent, skills, competence and experience that is needed and what one gets to the position! Organisations will want to move towards an ongoing arrangement with majority of workers – read variable term contracts and will only have critical and fixed assets as part of full time contracts- this will create a pattern wherein people will have to earn their way into a secured access to income- which will be completely driven upon individual competence and skill requirements of the employer! Finally many businesses will build in business resilience through managing and developing robust BCPs (business continuity plans) which will not only be multi-location but also will be across continents and will depend on the nature of business and importance of its operations!

The dilemma  of the talent!- Even as we discussed the various aspects about what scenarios may emerge- one important aspect and perhaps the most important one- The Talent! The talent- who is part of the societal fabric and during this pandemic- is up to something- either neutral and calm, anxious and nervous- or angry and frustrated- reactions can occur in many hues and colors! What exactly an individual has dealt with will go a long way to reinforce some belief systems that they have, while other may get broken apart and yet in few cases new belief systems may emerge-now which of them are right and wrong- is a very complicated call- and solely depends on the individual in that place- one person’s nectar can always end up being anothers’ poison! As businesses engage and start to interact with the talent available around- more and more interviews will end up leavening the interviewer drained and choked (unless they are skilled and wise enough) to know how to engage and deal with people as they emerge from a 21 day hibernation! The talent walking into the Interview room will be wearing layers and layers of psychological protective gear and unless the interviewer does not use the skills of interviewing which are able to build a connect with the talent across the table (possibly over a cup of coffee)- there will be instances of good talent being lost and incorrect talent getting hired! This would have been happening in the past too- but with the changed dynamics of businesses world over- these mistakes now- will end up doing far more damage then ever before! 

Well, knowing the limitations of a blog, I will leave you here, so that you may be able to reflect upon your own work arena and irrespective whether you hire talent or you are the talent- this is the time where, you must be aligning your future with clarity more then ever before- hopefully the isolation that you have already come out of , or are into or will be getting into one, will help you to do a comprehensive navigation check for your professional and personal life and by the time you are ready to rock again- you should be clear about the music you want to dance to and the discotheque that you want to be at!

Ciao for now, I will leave you here and will be back soon with another interesting piece with a more generic topic! Keep guessing! Like always should you want to suggest a topic, reach out to me and drop me a message! 

What to expect as people emerge from the lock-down!

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

As we emerge out of the demonic shadows of the pandemic, you will find that the world has changed a big time, for good or bad- well this will largely depend on how your lock-down period was and what were the contents of  your isolation! Irrespective of whatever it was- you will be a changed person for a lifetime and may that be for the good and greater well being of yourself and everyone around you! This piece is a quick one trying to share what are the emerging shades and colors of human behaviour you will get to see around as the world begins to gets ready for business as usual in a few weeks from now!

You will probably encounter what I call is the “Butterfly syndrome” well not everyone, but the usual “social and ultra extroverted types” will be the ones’ who will display this. These will be the ones’ who will go from desk to desk and check if all is well and so on and so forth! Well, folks, I am not going to tell you if this is a wise thing to do or not, I leave that to your own figment of imagination! (as a Coach I am largely indifferent to how people behave- much of my focus is to see if their behaviors are aligned to the outcomes that they aim for!). But in a way these people with the “Butterfly syndrome” are the ones’ who have walked into the event and walked out of it with relatively the same levels of IQ and for them coming back to the routine is akin to waking up to reality (they forget all the torture, stress and challenges that the lock-down would have presented). This is good in a way but the problem is that they also forget the vital learnings that are needed to have a meaningful life ahead as they go on to embrace the world- full speed ahead with their selective amnesia!

The next broad display will be from people whom I like to call the “Reversed Polarity syndrome” As the name suggests these people will display completely opposite behaviors then what they were before the break off from the routine– you will come across cases wherein a person who has been a known introvert- suddenly is getting colorful and is too much into everyone’s face at times and borders on actually ending up irritating others (this irritation would normally have more to with lack of content for the right contexts as the person tries to overdo the extrovert’s role- not knowing when to shut up and when enough is actually enough!). On the other extreme other end of the band you would have an otherwise vibrant and chirpy individual suddenly transformed and metamorphosed into a deadly silence, displaying a matured behaviour which would generally be not congruent to their age! Now whether this will be good or bad- depends on multiplicity of factors like who they are what they do and the kind of job that they do etc. etc.; The best part of all this, is the fact that people who will display these traits- with time, will elastically come back to their natural zone; even before they realise it, they will be once again their authentic self! Even they will find it hard to believe that they did behave the way they did in the initial days after coming back (which will fun for some and embarrassment for few others)!

Then you would have that pristine balanced lot- right there in the middle- as if nothing happened- will go on as usual as if they are just back from a vacation and their conversations will all loop to things- like- during the work-from-home I had sent you that mail on Saturday at 5 pm and that other mail earlier on Friday at 3:30 pm) and people are left dumbfounded- “Wow, this person is God in disguise-even as the earth and society seems to be falling apart- you have this smart person- rattling off the data, numbers and also sending out plan of action for days ahead! Cool!

Apart from these superficial aspects- there will be however, a lot of serious stuff playing around the minds of the people all the time for a good long time- this could be as long as few weeks for a few of them it can be a lifelong challenge depending on how an individual would have soaked the episode in! These things and episodes will be played out in the deep confines of peoples’ mind all across the world- these will be what I call as “Automated Response mechanisms” which will evaluate every act and every action in light of how vital or trivial it seems to be in the larger scheme of things- read ones’ life and what one wants from it! Of course not everyone and all people will be able to have this space of their mind ticking around this- But this will be reflected and shown by people who actually have used this space of isolation to seek and find their real urge and have got their priorities of life right during this time in isolation, for some it will mean reinforcing their beliefs and values in what they have been doing so far and for few others it would be throwing away and walking away form all that they were doing and head to pursue something totally new with a refreshed approach and work towards what their new priorities are now! Whichever you look at it, it certainly assures a positive outlook for the individual, but that may not always work for a similar experience for the  organisation that an individual works for unless the supporting ecosystem within the organisation echoes the same!

These and many such evolving patterns of acquired behaviors will play out across offices and work places at all levels and these interplay will lead to new synergies trust behaviors and in few odd cases will lead to fall outs and complete rejigs of value systems and individual alignments vis-a-vis- the work place mandates! Importantly after spending an excessive time through the work-from-home scenarios- there also will be realignments and re-calibration of inputs and efforts that are provided by individuals at their homes with an aim to calibrate these inputs against outputs that are being perceived and experienced! You will see instances of where people want to spend more time at home, you will come across instances where people start to work late more often, you will see people wanting to travel more often or less often- all this will be in a nutshell reflective of how the excess time at the home front went by. There will be multiple reasons and again a hue of colors and shades of different personalities working with or against each other as well- and honestly that is befitting for  another article altogether!

Whatever it is, folks, trust me the period coming up, certainly promises to be rich, colorful and entertaining, which will offer a window into the human mind and behavior like never before! I am also quite sure none of us want another global crisis just for studying changing behavioral patterns- certainly not me! But then, this is perhaps among the  few positive fallout of a crisis, next only to that of saving lives from the clutches of certain death!

I leave you here for now and will be back soon with another refreshing article. Do keep writing in and do let me know what is that you want me to write next about and yes; stay calm, wise and safe always! If dumbness and stupidity gets you dusted- well nothing can be paradoxically as painful as that would be! Ciao for now and will catch up soon!

 

When Capitalism turns fatal!

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

To begin with, I am not an anti-capitalist, certainly not until it is used in a good and wise measure; something like salt is used for seasoning our food! Of course yes, you know what happens when we have excess of salt in our food, don’t you! For that matter excesses of anything aren’t really good most of the times! This piece is to help us take a pause and ponder if we have actually breached that tipping point and gone past a point of no return wherein- societal compulsions are driving societies towards the edge of a cliff form where no one gets back!

Let’s step back into the last three centuries; the beginning of the 1700s is where we start; As rapid advancements and breakthroughs occurred in science and technology around the new world (Europe and US), coupled with ample resources at disposal- it was a few good people who took an initiative to lead and channelize this massive energy of human ingenuity through setting up large factories and these bygone temples of modernization – on whose foundation the world of today stands! It is the story of these geniuses and their tenacity to create a better world in terms of amenities/ products/ innovations and ease of living for everyone around with a focus to make things affordable as much as possible in the earlier flourish that brought about a promise of good times for the subsequent decades. Certainly there were spikes here and there; accidents, mishaps, health emergencies, natural calamities- all of that was there;however society prevailed and overcame each time with more resilience and grit to ensure that past mistakes aren’t repeated and the the focus on the future is not lost!

As long as these doyens of yesteryear’s, kept the focus on churning out gadgets, products that served society and at the same time uplifted the standard of living of all stake holders in a manner that was equatable to the contribution made- everything seemed fine and the new world was on a roll. Even incidents like World War I and II did only dampen the momentum for a decade or so around the war times- but soon systems bounced back and kicked in with greater vigor to wash away the additional negative burden that the wars caused with bring in more creativity and innovation to make lives even more better! So what changed at the beginning of the 21st century, where did we go wrong?

Things started to slide when ingenuity, larger interest to serve the communities lessened and was replaced by a personal greed race coupled with the insatiable ability to manipulate political power and policy. This I believe is the foundation on which all modern day corporate malice is based upon! I don’t want to sound judgmental here and leave it to readers wisdom and discretion to decide when an act of greed was OK and when it was Not OK- but the point here is quite simple- every time when you have a blend of business power tagging along and manipulating the political power through impacting policy in the interests of the business owner rather then in the interest of the community or society- the ancient equilibrium is broken and this imbalance starts to manifest all around us in one way or the other and things then head for time bound decay!

Let me simplify this for you, remember that old steel plant in your neighborhood that came up, how it provided everything from a school, to a medics to an entertainment centre- shopping arena and life was good in general. Then one day you start learning- about new machines which can perform more then what the workers could and over the next few years you learn how- there is a new steel manufacturer somewhere else who has been able to offer better quality and price to the government and how this plant can no longer compete and has to either be sold off to this competitor or has to go bust! Well when you read in between the lines- it is something that is happening right in front of you- within your blind spot – that you have missed picking up! If the business did make money- how much did they invest back into the society- how often and in what proportion to the gains made! Well, certainly I am not suggesting a structure where all profits must be given back into the society- but the keyword here is equatable sharing of the profit- in line with the effort table- when this goes amiss- something is wrong and that thing- can be anything- ranging from tough political alignments of the owner to just a sudden collapse of being able to manage a business that had started off as a family owned set up which just outgrew and simply couldn’t be managed anymore!

In the modern day context, we have ample examples- just take a pause and look around- you will find these mushrooming companies that get launched day in and day out- seldom most of them make it beyond the third year andif they do by the time they enter the fifth year- they are bought out- either by choice or by tact- so what’s happening- who is controlling- well get a little closer- earlier when jobs were created- the jobs had meaning – well a welder was a welder and a Shop floor Supervisor was a “Shop floor Supervisor”- now in a era where everyone is a MBA and everyone is a Manager- guess what there is hardly anyone or anything to manage- most of the jobs are typically clerical and routine cloaked in the garb of business designations and labels that do nothing more then giving a steroidal boost to your ever hungry ego- so when the going gets tough for the business (read discord between big players/ politicians/ bankers/ investors- gain read here global market manipulators) your business card doesn’t stand a chance- for the simple reason- that actually you were not doing anything! A simple test that I often ask my clients when I coach them (especially when they are all fired up about their visiting card- “Is what you do unique to who you ate- or can that be done by anyone having an equal qualification and or experience?” if you have answered “Yes” well it’s time you get priorities of your life realigned for the next set of lottery tickets which help people move out may well have your name on it!

So what’s the point here- Well the point is simple and there for you to observe and experience- Once capitalism and businesses begin to sub-serve their stakeholders in context of the efforts put in by stakeholders; this is the first signal that greed has overtaken and based on where this hoarded profit is been pushed (whether to placate the political systems or to hoard family wealth) the systemic collapse will start to take effect eventually from thereon! So what can you and I do about it? – Well nothing- not unless we have the power and authority tom ensure rules and regulations are made to manage this loophole– until then the only sensible thing we can do is Be Honest- with yourself- Know your real worth- in terms of the money that you make- the designation that you have and the unity of command and span of control that your enjoy! It is never too late to say NO to an offer which provides you a designation which does not make sense and offers you money that doesn’t justify your effort! It starts from this point and when empowered and awakened individuals rise with they can propagate these values which can also help repair systems from within!

I leave you here, grab your drink and take a pause- know where you stand on this horizon where businesses and the world meet and impact your next sunrise!

Entrapped to confirm!

~ Parimal Aluri ~ Leave a comment

Well, my last two pieces were slightly covering a different area, part rational, part philosophical; I thought let’s get back to our good old corporate world riddled with slavery, nepotism and showcasing and touch upon yet another interesting nerve that runs deep within organisations, teams and individuals and it really doesn’t matter whether you are working for an organisation which has 5 people or has 5000 people- at some or the other time you would have too experienced this space of being “entrapped to confirm” at times this being pleasant and sometime being the only reason for you too move out and ahead of the system!

Often we walk into or find ourselves part of situations where we are supposed to act- behave- orient ourselves in a particular manner- well nothing wrong with it- considering that If you are at a Red signal and driving- you would be expected to stop and you should and you indeed do (most of the times). However the challenges start when this behaviour is extrapolated and expected in the most unusual situations and circumstances where you would actually end up behaving in a very different manner (than what your intrinsic common-sense beacon would be asking you to do!)

Let me jog your memory a bit- remember the last time when you were part of that Tuesday/ Friday team meeting discussing sales targets (remaining to be achieved) and your reason for the delays in getting that revenue seemed all too same- and your boss said, “give me some other reason- if you cannot work- at least be creative at that!) and of course yes, you would have done that- shared another reason ; all this because your boss wanted to share that different reason possibly with his boss (because that is what he would have said at some or the other time!) When you sit back and think around this- irrespective of what reason was sold – there is no change in reality for when the sales revenue will come in- whether you had continued with the same reason or given this new made-up version- the money was always going to come in when it was supposed to come- heart in heart- you and your Boss always know that! This is what I call the Sales Brotherhood- and at some or the other time all of us have to be baptized through this! It teaches a few things for sure- like becoming creative with reasons – as long as you don’t begin to use this non-productive creative part to procrastinate your work- all this seems cute, innocent and fun part of a mundane stressful existence!

Let’s quickly pan across to another scenario- Remember your last flight? well the most recent one- before airlines tarted to pull the plug off because of the dreaded little Corona virus! If you have been able to steal a few minutes off your mobile device and pay attention to the screaming and yelling of the crew at the gate requesting all passengers from Zone 1 to come to the gate and you suddenly notice almost the entire waiting area has got up and like all 200 passengers are going to sit across those first 30 seats- well yes- this is something that every flight that you undertake– you will find this type of irrational behavior response over and over and over again! Given the passengers- who they are and why they are the way they are- well the airline crew at the gate also doesn’t seem to get few creative ideas to break this stalemate and they too keep on going on and on wit the same set of instructions which eventually result in same type of passenger behaviour! This is a completely non-productive, rather counter productive result when rules and guidelines are followed irrespective e of them being of no great value or use! Sure enough the airlines have a reason for having the boarding done Zone wise- the point here is “Entrapped confirmation” to follow the same process which yields poor result doesn’t allow them to think creatively beyond to overcome the problem of over-enthusiastic passengers- who at all times feel they are going to be left behind at the terminal!

Our brains are wired to naturally seek safety or at times thrill/ regressive enjoyment by following confirmations (whether good or bad) at times even if they put you in harms way- you may go ahead with (like jumping off a moving train or bus!). When it comes to the confines of the corporate world which is now (more whenever) dogged with and riddled with corporate minefields across levels and processes) it’s but natural to follow the rules without applying greater thought- the thought process is simple here” well this act or way of working never got anyone killed/ harmed- no one is complaining- there is nothing that makes it difficult for me- so why bother!” and of course, even If I were to suggest and implement something to help and make things better- Why should I?- what’s the benefit or Incentive in me for that?! More then anything else- It is this very thought process- which gets entrapped to an established “confirmation process and approach” that causes more harm and increases costs for organisations to provide services and goods to customers in the long run which goes on to do impact customers and businesses in a cycle that just seems to have a mind of its own!

So now, you may start to ask- what can be done around this- well, given the limitation of a blog- I certainly can’t elaborate strategies and intervention mechanisms that can be deployed. However what can be done is take a simple step towards “Individual Empowerment”. Organisations need to understand that, whether they touch the customer through service or goods- it is the connect and the last person standing representing them in-front of the customer who matters more then the CEO! It is this person who is going to make that all important sale click or have that deal signed off and for that person to able able to do that with a flair of confidence and charm that is available at individual disposal; the individual must be free from”entrapment to confirm”. The rules have to be simple to follow and difficult to be broken- the fewer the better! Case in point- if the airline crew at the gate announce the boarding citing seat numbers 1- 30 rather then Zone 1 the impact will be dramatic- because for a passenger who travels less often- Zone 1 is alien, but seat number is kind of printed on the mind!

I leave you here, and hope you have a blessed meeting today or this Friday and are able to wriggle yourself out of the entrapment minefields laid out for you- inn a way that helps you and the services that your represent- by empowering yourself and bringing your individuality to the forefront!

Do keep writing in and do let me know what next you would like to read about! Reach me on parimal.aluri@simplifylives.com and learn more about our consulting and training solutions that are aimed to bring about empowerment in the true sense of the word! Ciao for now!