It’s often debated & witnessed that even when most of us have the same access to resources some of us keep moving up the value chain either in terms of our learning, innovation, or new ways of doing work better, while the rest tend to be stuck where they were.

Why is it that among all the species it is only Humans that have evolved so much and so quickly?

Well, I guess, the answer lies in the mindset of Doing Things Differently. So, why do some of us Stop Doing Things Differently and stick to a routine? Is it a question of capability or something else?

Well, the capability could be an issue when we are looking at large scale innovation or paradigm shifts but not when it comes to minor day to day improvements and, ideas. It is often witnessed that we can improve a lot with the experience we gather over some time as ‘evolving is in the nature of our species’.

The reasons for not having the mindset of doing something for the first time could be different for each scenario. At the Micro level (individual), it could be a simple matter of upbringing wherein the environment disabled new thinking, or it could be a simple matter of Rewards & Risk.

At the organization level, when we deep dive we discover reasons which are interesting as well as baffling, Some of the reasons reflect our transactional mindset wherein we are living only for today and don’t envisage tomorrow.

To summarize, some popular reasons are:

• We don’t Celebrate Failure.

One of the biggest challenges that emerge is that we have stopped celebrating failures. When we attempt to do something for the first time it is obvious that not all attempts would lead to success; in fact, most of them would end as failures. At that juncture, what is our reaction? We reprimand the result or celebrate the mindset of attempting in the first place.

Celebrating failures is something that will enable all of us to keep walking and keep evolving. We should also ensure celebrating failures should not be confused with tolerating mistakes, as in finance we have to draw a line between error and omissions.

• Managers live for today

Why disturb the Apple Cart? Why think of tomorrow when I am not sure if I am going to be there? Why risk my reputation which I have built over all these years?

These are some of the mindset questions which drive the Managers which in turn disable the environment wherein new attempts at addressing the existing situations/way of doing things can be challenged.

• The Rewards / Recognition are Negligible

It is no secret that Behaviors that Get Rewarded Get Repeated.

The degree of reward/recognition influences all of us to think whether we should attempt moving out of our comfort zone or stick to the routine.

The pertinent questions to be here are- In the rewards & recognition framework do we have provisions for celebrating failures? Do we have provisions to highlight innovations of various degrees from small improvements to large innovations? Do we have provisions to highlight ideas that are not business viable but at the same time are cutting edge?

It is important & critical for all of us to appreciate and encourage the attempt of doing something for the first time rather than restricting ourselves to reward only if the end results happen to bring glory.

• Cut the Red Tape

The operation was successful but the patient died. Many times the ideas get killed in the process because they are either too lengthy and time-consuming or managed by people who do not believe in experimenting. If you want to promote innovations, cut the red tape reduce the process length and draw a straight line between idea generators and approvers.

• Are we ready for disruptions?

As a group how many are ready or comfortable with disruptions around us? Because any change in and around us, is bound to impact all of us somehow as we live in this highly connected & networked world.

An environment fostering disruptions, even welcoming it would result in many more attempts at doing something for the first time.

The idea/ thought of disabling the reason why we evolved so far as a species is quite discomforting. It’s time we relook at ourselves and re-energize the mindset which will encourage each one of us to do reflect on When was the last time, we did something for the first time . . . it’s time that we keep walking.

Technology is often considered as a bane or an intruder into our lives, whether it is omnipresent in the form of our mobile phones or as emails popping up or messages on WhatsApp and so on. This is after discounting notifications from Facebook / LinkedIn etc. which I guess we are comfortable with since we have subscribed to them for our own individual needs & aspirations.

It is often observed that when the ‘going is good’, these are not perceived by us as intrusions, because we all like the limelight and good news they bring in. For example, when a mail is marked saying you have been promoted and someone decides to reply all and starts a chain of congratulations, we are very comfortable. But if we reverse the scenario, wherein we are just one of the recipients of these bulk emails, we quickly write back to the IT Admin, saying ‘why aren’t we exploring the idea of banning the reply all button’!.

It is glaringly obvious that one of the reasons for stress among most of the workforce today is their inability to draw a line between their work and living space. For some this need doesn’t arise because they believe they are Superheroes and can take on all & manage everything; whilst for others, it’s a fear/concern that they would be perceived as Non-accessible / Non-Committed, etc. and thereby hamper their chances of growth in days to come and for another large group, it’s a simple challenge of not knowing how to say ‘NO’..

The art of drawing a line between the different worlds in which we live is critical for sustaining success in the longer run. It is important to understand & appreciate when we decide to hang up our shoes, we will have to cherish Apple & Blackberries as fruits and nothing more.

So how does one ensure these Apple & Blackberries are used in a balance, as Tech Tools & Fruits?

• Respect your off time from the office.

Spending time with oneself or one’s near & dear ones is a crucial aspect of healthy living. It is no crime to be on phone or emails beyond office hours. Our stakeholders understand and will appreciate the same. All that we must do is clearly share our expectations in a manner that they don’t get offended with it. In jobs wherein we are collaborating with stakeholders beyond our time zones, we can draw a simple discipline chart for ourselves wherein we can be off our phones/emails between 8 PM to 10 PM (IST) and spend that time with the loved ones and post 10 go back to our second love i.e. work.

Shying away from phones/emails during the evenings around dinner time and spending time with loved one’s, short walks, music, catching up with friends, loving the pets give the much required breather.

• Respect your weekends

Weekends have been designed with the purpose of unwinding and not clearing the ‘unread’ mailbox which we have accumulated over the week. Neither have the weekends been designed to laze around and not pursue things beyond our limited realm of work & workspace. We can start respecting our weekends by learning to be away from technology and going back to nature – which would basically mean spending time on all those aspects which would otherwise take a back seat.

Putting phones on silent during the weekends is the first step towards cherishing Apple / Blackberries as fruits.

• Respect your hobbies

Have you ever thought- When we were kids, despite running around from pillar to post, morning to evening, why we never feel tired when pursuing our hobbies? The answer is simple- Unlike work, hobbies always unwind us. As we grew up in our careers somehow we learned to put those hobbies on the backburner and released that space in life for work and work-related aspects and thereby letting go of the precious viable opportunity of unwinding. Paint, Dance, Sing, Walk, Go Cycling- do what unwinds you.

Pursuing at least one hobby is the art of bringing balance to our lives.

• Respect your limitations, remember you can’t do it all

More than often, in our urge to please others, we commit more than we can deliver, we strive for more than what we need to achieve, we dream of doing it now & here and not having patience for tomorrow. In this need or greed to do more, we forgo our understanding of our strengths and limitations. When things start falling short we externalize the blame and often blame technology for intruding in our lives and eating into the private space. We are all in a constant race to achieve the ever-eluding balanced life..

Technology is a tool that comes with a silent / off button, choosing to use it or not is our choice and we can’t blame the external factors for not creating a conducive atmosphere for doing so.

In short, we must learn to draw a line, technology always has been and will always remain a mute spectator, and we can make it a bane for ourselves or a blessing. We can wish away saying that life was easy when Apple & Blackberries were just fruits but it’s not too late to ensure they remain so

(Changing Outlook of CSR: “Pashu jeeta hai ann ke liye, manushya arth ke liye “)

Summary: Why waste a good crisis; isn’t this a good opportunity to change the outlook of CSR from being ‘Compulsion Driven’ to ‘Contribution Driven’? Can the new age CSR move from Corporate Social Responsibility to Conscious for Self-Redemption

PART 2

(Continuation of the December 2021 article)

Did we Evolve from Apes, just to become Rats?

No, Definitely Not! We did not evolve from Apes to become Rats but to become Humans. What defines ‘Human’ and their outlook is best defined and articulated in Bhagwat Geeta aptly-

“Pashu jeeta hai ann ke liye, manushya arth ke liye”

(Animals live to Feed themselves, whereas as Human we live to Find Meaning & Purpose). So, if we are capable of such TRANSFORMATIVE journey, why are we restricting ourselves to such Transactional outlook when it comes to giving back and sharing through CSR? How can we embark on this new ‘Outside to Inside’ Journey, a few thoughts and insights:

Conscience Driven (Employees):

Moving from Company Compulsion Driven to Conscience Driven (Employees)

• Beyond the realms of Business Domain: Employee’s conscience takes precedence

CSR as an effective idea can only be sustained if it becomes a people movement (employees) and is not driven by a bunch of self-appointed guardians. To become a people movement the ideas, focus, initiatives must come from the Employees Conscious.

In a liberal, decentralised ecosystem, it is quite possible that employees may choose topics / focus areas which are not in line with business focus and organisations should be open to it. Organisations should also be open to exposing themselves to sensitive issues which may not be openly discussed in Board Rooms like Gay Rights, Glass ceilings, Environmental Impacts etc. The only filter that organisations can add is that the proposed activity cannot be against its Core beliefs or negate its business model or violate the law of land. For example – if the employees of a publication house ask to ePublish books and distribute for free or a liquor company wants to run drinking is a health hazard campaign under its CSR.

A choice that is conscience driven by employees will add the required zeal and energy to bring in soul and a purpose which is transformational as human and not just a rat race checklist

• Tap the Employees Passion as Entrepreneurs

Another way to bring about a change in outlook towards CSR is by encouraging a self-sustained entrepreneurial outlook, where in the employees are asked to make a pitch for a budget and a cause they believe in or a NGO which they want to support. In the proposal they are expected to propose IMPACT metrics they will strive to achieve by cultivating / nurturing the cause.

Post evaluations by the CSR Committee, the Employees are allocated the budgets and their projects are monitored on the IMPACT Metrics on Quarterly basis. Any feedback to streamline or any support to strengthen the efforts is promptly approved by the committee, including support in form of expert advice to run the Program as a Self-Sustained Program (SBU).

To ensure a degree of institutionalization and appreciate the need for affiliation, the success / progress of initiative can be recorded in the appraisals and career graphs based on the demonstrated leadership competencies as part of the running of the program.

Based on the progress, achievement of milestone and impact created, the next year extensions, funding, structures can be approved, just like any venture funding.

Selfless (New Age Maslow)

Moving from Selfie / Self Absorption to Selfless mindset of ‘Serving / Seva’

• Serving / Seva is a Core Ingredient in Me.

The idea of Seva stems from being Selfless, where the intent of giving / sharing is a self-belief of doing greater good for others, without expecting anything in return.

New Age Maslow is a concept which believes that all the dimensions of Maslow are constantly required to all of us, but their propositions vary, based on the stage of life an individual is in. So, if in an employee, the self-actualization need is greater than 33% than their need to ‘Serve’ / ‘Give” i.e. being selfless is high and to a great extent that feeling is genuine and self-sustained.

Employees need to go through this assessment and reflect on their individual needs and build their priorities accordingly, especially the idea of Volunteering for CSR. Organisations should also encourage looking into these scores before enrolling the employees for any long-term CSR plans.

Employees demonstrating less scores can be channelized for other complimentary activities like mobilizing funds etc. which are a short term, spread over a weekend, rather than being entrusted with major milestones which require long-term ensuring self-driven efforts.

• Credit based on Impact, not efforts/ physical energy/ physical presence

Employees should be clearly communicated that their CSR contribution will be encouraged / evaluated / appreciated for the Impact they have created and not for their mere physical presence or physical energy they bring to the program

At the time of the self-nomination / nomination of an employee to a CSR program, the employee should be handed over a Charter of Understanding which should clearly articulate what is expected from them and how at the end of the said program or term, their contribution will be measured in terms of IMPACT Metrics. For example, in a sanitation campaign the metrics could be “xxx number of bathrooms checked / cleaned in 4 hours’ or for education drive, ‘xxx books read to children in 2 hours of library period’ and so on instead of ‘spending xxx days at school for CSR’.

Employees should also be discouraged to use CSR platforms for self-propagation / publicity. Guidelines should be drawn on publishing photographs on Social Media etc. to encourage Seva, not Selfie.

• Rewired to Organisation Culture & Systems : .

Moving from Rarity in Priority to Rewiring CSR as part of Organisational Culture / Ethos and its Systems

• Leadership Priority / Agenda

Leaders and leadership actions are often the benchmark and baseline for employees to emulate. History is a witness that leaders set the tone for a revolution to succeed and are visible on the front line.

Leaders must exhibit their presence, both physically and emotionally to the causes and ‘walk the talk’ by providing their unconditional support. Leaders must believe that society is a critical and equal stake-holder in their success, just like the shareholders and employees and cannot be neglected any more. It is imperative for leaders to understand that if they do not sustain the society, then the society will neither provide future raw material and neither consume the products / services in future.

CSR has to come to the forefront of CEO’s Agenda, they not only have to institutionalize frameworks like TRIPLE BOTTOMLINE which priorities the working with ecosystem (economic, social, environmental) as popularized by ITC; but also need to ensure that it is ingrained as a Cultural Ethos across all employees and stakeholders and not restricted as just another initiative for a building a better brand.

• Superheroes come in all Shapes & Sizes (beyond Sales & Delivery) .

We need to acknowledge that superheroes come in all shapes and sizes, which in short means they need not confirm to our standard stereotype of sales and delivery teams. Often, they steal so much limelight that we unknowingly pass a message to the employees that anyone contributing only on those lines would avail these recognitions and privileges.

The big change we need to propose to break this stereotype and make Super-Heroes of those souls who believed and worked for the betterment of society / beyond self. We all know that ‘Behaviours that get rewarded, get repeated’. So, we need to probe how many behaviors we are rewarding which are promoting the idea of selflessness and acting according to one’s conscience.

This New Journey from Self-Absorption to Self-Awareness is not going to be an easy one; since it would require breaking away from our comfort zones and leading the organizations self-awareness towards bringing in a degree of spirituality at workplace.

We have often shied away from dilemmas of dharma, spirituality, consciousness believing these words are alien in our world of Board rooms. It is time to realize that they are not, rather they are imbedded deep within us and our conscience. On a parting note – Did we evolve from Apes to become rats, I guess no way .

(Changing Outlook of CSR: “Pashu jeeta hai ann ke liye, manushya arth ke liye “)

Summary:Why waste a good crisis; isn’t this a good opportunity to change the outlook of CSR from being ‘Compulsion Driven’ to ‘Contribution Driven’? Can the new age CSR move from Corporate Social Responsibility to Conscious for Self-Redemption

PART 1

(* to be continued, Part 2 of the article will come in January 2022 issue)

Why Waste a Good Crisis, is a philosophy which is based on the dual thought process that in a crisis, on one hand we get the time to pause and reflect and on other, an opportunity to explore radical makeover considering the surroundings are hypersensitive and eager to lap up any change, the mood for acceptance being generally high with least resistance.

CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) has always been on the agenda of Businesses but the degree of sincerity of intent has varied vastly, based on the Founder / Founding Family / Shareholders outlook. In the last decade, the degree of variance has reduced because of the introduction of Laws and general awareness among the stakeholders, especially shareholders that giving back to society is not an option but a hygiene factor for any business.

So, what ails CSR today? Well, there are multiple factors which stop it from operating in its purest form, intent and to its fullest potential. For the purpose of this paper, we will restrict the focus to people / culture dimension only. Based on people / culture dimension, following are the top 3 challenges that ail CSR today:

Compulsion Driven:

• Just Fulfil Legal Formality.
• In many organizations CSR is still seen as a compulsion of legislation, rather than as an opportunity to serve one of the critical stakeholders i.e., society. This compulsion attitude often translates into an outlook that manifests into a belief that someone is ‘stealing’ from me what is rightful mine and to fight that, we often resort to tactics like recycling the funds by opening dummy NGOs or sharing CSR funds only with a NGO operated by Family or Loved ones, where in the intent is malicious, as they are simply FRONTs for recycling funds.
• Decided by Business / Senior Management. .
• Another Challenge is that often it is a set of Senior Management Committees that decide what will be the areas of CSR focus. They often tend to see it from the prism of aligning CSR to the current business priorities, since in their view CSR is simply yet another business item checklist in their agenda. They often restrict the potential of CSR to Brand Building or Networking with Govt, Campuses and other stakeholders, rather than exploiting these funds to their fullest potential and integrating it to organizations core values and culture.

Selfie / Self Absorption:

• Limited to Photo Opportunity.
• Another disturbing trend which is witnessed among the employees today is the tendency to restrict their involvement in the CSR activity to a ‘Photo Op’, when the ‘Selfie’ becomes the most critical action item on the agenda. This trend is often witnessed among some employees who emotionally don’t believe in ‘Giving back’ to society or have been forced by their organizations to volunteer or who are just there just to overcome a weekend guilt trip which eventually fades away in few hours.
• No responsibility for IMPACT – ‘just brute force’.
• Current engagement strategies of the involvement of employees in CSR is purely volunteer based which is completely unaccountable and this results in an atmosphere where the employees’ attitude is at times arrogant or charitable or moody or even erratic. These employees believe that their contribution is in simply showing up for an occasion and provide the physical energy / brute force and there is no need of any psychological or spiritual connect with the cause. Often, they restrict their responsibility to that event and are not interested in any follow up or taking any accountability around IMPACT metrics which may be spread across a longer time range.

Rarity in Priority:

• Tick in the Box .
• Many still perceive CSR as a forced KRA / KPI which they would like to avoid or handover to someone else, rather than an opportunity to make a difference. In many organisations CSR is still an additional responsibility and very rarely we have qualified and dedicated professionals running the same on full time basis. This often leads to a situation where in CSR becomes the last item on their agenda and it will be discussed as and when they have time to spare or else just have a superficial scan over critical data points and reach some quick decisions.

• Not a Priority for Best of Resources / Time (Punishment Posting) .
• If CSR is not a priority which the CxO will personally review from time to time, or the CxO will proudly flaunt in the Annual Meet along with the best sales / delivery champion, than often the best and smartest of resources shy away from picking up this responsibility. At times, it is the non-performing ones or resources who have burned out and want to take it slow, are either pushed into this roles or volunteer for these roles. The same attitude also continues in terms of budget allocation. Only what is mandated by law is allocated and nothing more than that. We cannot create a perception that CRS role being a Punishment Posting, can we?

The challenges are unique for sure and many of them stem from our mindset / outlook rather than legal systems or organisation structures or shareholders priorities. So, when we summarize these challenges into a common thread / theme, we realize how myopic we are in our approach and have restricted our imagination.

The general feeling one gets is that either we are running another RAT Race to prove a point (we are committing to CSR because everyone else is doing it, without truly believing in it) or we are having a Rat Outlook which is very self-centric and myopic (I, Me, Myself). In either of the cases, we need to pause and reflect on the moot question:

s appraisals come to an end for most of the organizations, HR moves on to conducting the skill and competency gap exercises. For a change we witness many organizations giving fair importance, if not equal, to assessing the gaps of their HR team also .

When we delve into what are the competencies that the HR professionals require, we witness a wide gambit of them-ranging from fashionable ones like CHRO, Business Partner and Analytics to the simpler ones like Negotiation Skills and Conflict management. What comes across as a surprise is that most of us miss a key element core to any HR professional, namely- Compassion. .

Many of us chose HR as a profession by choice, but many others have come into this profession not on account of Passion, but that of Process. Some because of organization requirements or job rotations, while the reason for others was as simple as that during their MBA, they felt choosing this specialization was an easy route to complete the course.

In short, what we witness is that HR is the only profession that doesn’t have a standard course with an equal emphasis on practice or hands-on experience. More often we see a diversity & mix of backgrounds and knowledge levels among HR professionals. At times it is good since it builds a diverse range of experience & expertise, yet at the same time, it also results in a lack of a consistent solid layer at the very base.

So what competency is the bedrock of any HR professional?

Well, the debate is still on, but one that stands undisputed is certainly- Compassion. The HR professional must possess a mindset to help others, irrespective of what role and hierarchy we are in or how much the organization rules & policies enable the same.

How does one describe the competency of Compassion? In simple words, it is the ‘Joy of Serving’ others..

Some of the key fundamentals of Joy of Serving are as follows:

• Employees are my Clients – Simple & Period! .
• We need to quickly realize that Employees are our clients and we as a function exist to serve them as organizations exist to serve external clients. Unfortunately, it has become a trend to treat employees as a pain and a general belief that they are all eternal cribbers. For once, pause and try to remember those N-numbers of times we hated the experience of not being treated properly & kept waiting when we stepped out for a family dinner or called a bank helpline for information. Then how can we end up telling our employees not to chase us for updates or information. Instead, why can’t we tell them that we will get back to them as and when our burden of checklists lessens?
• We are a Service Function .
• In our zeal to become business partners, we have missed the point that we are still a service function. Just because of the introduction of technology or numbers we cannot change our outlook. The idea is to become an enabling function where we identify the hidden synergies and act as a catalyst to empower them and exploit them.

We need to continue to function as a service function and appreciate that technology can only be a facilitator in this process. For example, an employee would still love to receive a call on his birthday or anniversary by HR rather than a lifeless eCard. What technology can do here is that it can help remind the HR Professional as to which associate birthday or anniversary is coming up next. We need to get back the Human Touch in the HR.

• We Cannot Solve Everything & Should not Attempt the same .
• The Joy of Serving doesn’t mean we have to bend backwards for everything and everybody. It is not about ensuring that the results are positive in favour of the employees, it is about being fair and playing by the rules.

In this complex world, we will encounter deviations and exceptions and we will have to manage them. That means we cannot solve every single problem in one go and there would be stakeholders whom we will end up disappointing. This isn’t a failure for us, but when the stakeholder doesn’t understand ‘why the problem was not resolved and believes that it was our whim and whimsy which resulted in it, we sure have a problem on our hands.

• We can be polite even when being assertive .
• Being assertive is not the opposite of Joy of Serving, but there is a fine line between being rude and being firm. Some situations may demand us to be firm/assertive with our stakeholders and we shouldn’t hesitate in doing so. What is critical is to understand and appreciate that we can be firm and polite at the same. As children, we all had these experiences where our family never hesitated from pampering us, but at the same time drew the boundary line for what was allowed and what was not.

Many a time we miss the clue in here because we see ourselves as the guardian of the policies, frameworks and work ethos and see the stakeholders who are not aligned to the same as offenders. We forget that we are not the ‘Police’, but the quiet ‘Gardner’; wherein we need to nurture with care & compassion and weed out what is not good.

• If we don’t Enjoy doing this, maybe it is time to quit.
• The biggest challenge is many of us are not sure what we are doing in our job or is the right profession we have chosen, wherein we are nobody’s favourite and do a thankless job throughout the day. It certainly is not one of the perks but comes with the territory of our job descriptions. All jobs have occupational hazards and for us, as HR professionals this is the one. If we don’t like this essential element, it is always better to move on and get into another profession.

The joy of serving isn’t the one and only competence to Nirvana, but solid bedrock on which all the other competencies and skills for HR should be built on. It is futile that we may have the best of skills in our professionals in terms of technology or analytics, but a heart of compassion missing. Our dream should be to ultimately move from the ‘Joy of Serving’ to the ‘Honor in Serving’.

Often over a drink during the weekend we hear conversations about how many of us are frustrated with the state of our current affairs. Whether it is our jobs, bosses, roles, organizations, or in general with life – we make elaborate resolutions, plans, blueprints to change all this. But come Monday, and we are more than eager to go back to the old trap and get adjusted to the so-called uneven world, completely forgetting Friday’s resolutions.

Something similar is also witnessed at workplaces during Monday to Friday; the bosses and organizations want to break the old routine way of functioning; they want to do something new which others have dreaded to explore and so on. But as soon as the first few ideas come, we start ensuring that we do enough revisions which eventually leads us back to our current state with just some minor changes and all the grand plans of Next Orbit go back to files which we will never open again . . .

Is bringing about change so complex? Is letting go of our comfort zone so tough? Is the fear of the unknown so compelling? Is the path to new frontiers filled with hurdles . . . hurdles which the external environment creates or hurdles we create ourselves?

To understand this state let’s go back to basics. Why do we need to change in the first place? Is it because we are bored with the current state or Are we aspiring to do something new because we believe in it?

In the latter case (because we believe) it is the compelling & inherent need to learn & experiment that drives us towards the path of new frontiers and hence many succeed. But in the former case (bored) we often chicken out because of many fears which we will explore below:

• Fear to start again
• Fear of Failure
• Fear of the Unknown
• Inability to distinguish between current compulsions and compulsive dreams
• It is a long and lonely journey

In short, there is no guide and guarantee to be successful every time we embark on a change or journey.

What is critical to us? Is it to understand and appreciate that Fear is a default setting for any change and thereby it would be there at the beginning of the journey but start evaporating as we see the destination? Is it critical to understand and appreciate that the regret of not making the journey stays longer and most of the time is permanent than the fear which we face at the beginning of the journey?

Comparing the two, the balance surely tilts towards making the journey, as fear will always be temporary, but regret is permanent. This clause- Regret Is Permanent (RIP) also signifies the death of our quest to achieve something new which is in our DNA as a species.

As the mood for the appraisal season sets in, one can witness the surroundings suddenly getting sober and sad, it is almost as if we are about to witness few funerals around us!! It is hard to fathom why after slogging through the year, with a series of wins & several doses of appreciations, we are still not in a mood to celebrate but getting ready to mourn…

Feedback sessions have become a mechanism to share bad news, rather than a moment to pause to celebrate. Often, it is the feedback by managers which makes us believe we have not done enough, or we are somewhere in the center of the bell curve with lava boiling around us. So, the question arises why feedback conversations are not surrounded around celebrating our life (successes in the last one year) but mostly focus on mourning (what I didn’t do well, or what others have well, and I haven’t been able to do).

Gone are the days where one could motivate the team members by hurting their pride or making them believe they haven’t achieved their purpose and there is a long way to go. These tactics work only on a few, in this era of abundance or occasionally when the project deadline is near, or when we are in a war situation – mourning and hurting pride can’t be an annual ritual for ALL the employees across the organization.

So why do we fall into this trap of mourning the death and not celebrating the life which we have lived?

Well, here are some answers:

• Employees get defensive when they are told they are not good enough
• Bad news means shorter conversations
• Hurting your pride boosts my ego as a supervisor(Treat your team members as children and not competition)
• This is the way I was given feedback so I will pass on the same
• Appreciation leads to higher expectations, so mellow it down as bell curve is around the corner

It is important for HR and Line Managers to appreciate the need to have a change in our mindset. We cannot continue the legacy of mourning as a theme for feedback anymore. It is time we learn to celebrate the success, however small or insignificant it is. We need to teach and coach our employees to build on their strengths that lead to their success. We have all experienced in our lives that it takes a long time to build confidence and overcome our fears, but it takes just a few minutes to get dejected and slip back.

Some important initiatives which we can start in our organizations to change this mood are:

• Move away from the guilt that if someone is celebrating then it is at the cost of someone else. We are not in a war where someone can win provided someone loses
• Explain how the bell curve works to one and all
• Announce the bell curve before the appraisal process starts
• Coach and train managers on how to have healthy conversations and celebrations
• Build-in mechanisms where feedback and conversations are not the means to justify the ratings only

There comes a time for each generation where it is at a crossroads, this is the time for us, do we choose to continue the path of mourning, or do we choose a path of celebrations where we value each person’s contributions and thank them for being a part of our wonderful journey.

One popular discussion topic which cuts across all stereotypes and groups whether it is Gender, Religion, Hierarchy, or Industry type is the battle of “Work – Life balance”.

Most of us over a drink on Friday evening crib about it, on a Saturday evening resolve to do something about it, on Sunday evening start diluting the resolution by falling for checking the emails (so that Monday morning isn’t a big pain) and finally on Monday morning forget what was the weekend resolution or ignore the same by saying it’s for those ‘romantic fools’ who believe life is a post card from a travel trip pinned on your refrigerator.

So, the question that arises is that whether Work Life Balance is just a nice fad which we like to discuss or is it truly a challenge which we are not able to overcome and as a result are slowly dying, decaying and in some cases even giving up the fight to change.

Work Life balance is a challenge which many of us are grappling, with no clue as to how much it is making us suffer or how to draw the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ (the famous concept from Ramayana stating, ‘This is it!’)

So where does the battle begin, and can someone win this battle?

The battle begins with breaking the mindset where we believe that Life is some kind of never-ending Olympic meet with a gold medal at the finish line. Some may agree to this, and many others may not, but let us explore the root cause a bit more in detailed together.

• Life surely can be an Olympic Meet . . . but not a Never Ending one.

For the go getters, dreamers and achievers among us, Life is surely an Olympic Meet with a Gold Medal at the end. This medal could be a promotion, an increment, a bigger car, a wilder vacation and so on. There is nothing wrong with this quest, the challenge arises when it becomes a never-ending quest.

Without pausing to savour the moment when we achieve something, even without celebrating that success or relishing the pleasure of achievements, we are already onto the next quest and thus unable to break this vicious cycle.

• Life is not an Individual Sport but a Team Sport

Of late, many of us have started believing that life is an individual sport where in only ‘We (I)’ in our individual capacity are the center of universe or we are living under an illusion that we are somehow responsible for the lives of those loved ones around us.

Feeling responsible for others is a good thing, but believing that whatever we are doing, is for them is surely a myth. Many of us love to run this never-ending Olympic marathon for ourselves, but simply use them as an excuse to justify our fixation for work.

• Life is more than simply experiencing animal pleasures.

We are animals but Social Animals and we amiss that many a times. Life is not only about experiencing for oneself. Do ask yourself these questions & your own answers will show the way forward. Life is not one-dimensional, it’s all about balance.

• If life was one-dimensional, why don’t we see a single colour rainbow?
• Does Life recognize only Work as our Identity?
• Why do we believe that achievements at work are our only identity?

So, what next- how do we resolve this deadlock? Let us explore some more:

• Balance obsession for career with a passion for life. (Even Olympics are held once in four years; lets learn to pause, reflect, and then strive for next goals after each achievement)
• Practice to Switch off the Smart Phone for at least Couple of Hours during the weekend (We need to start trusting that the world is a better place without us, and no one is going to miss us)
• Check are you playing like an individual or team (We need to have more conversations with our near and dear ones on what life holds for all of us and build around that)
• Is work your only identity . . . Every time when we introduce ourselves in a social gathering do we just talk about work or do we have other subjects to discuss.

Well, there is no denial that this is easier said than done but then how boring would life become if we do not have a challenging adversary to overcome . . .

Let us begin the new journey!

Will look forward to your thoughts and observations on my blog below and will do my best to answer the same. 

Have you ever struggled with this paradox? When we were growing up, “Work Life Balance” was never a challenge; even after playing for hours together in the sun & still completing homework on time to running errands for the elders, without help of planning or gadgets! While today, when we have the access to best of technology, an environment of abundance, the power to call the shots, the support system of teams and help at home, we still struggle to find time for ourselves and with the idea of a smile while going to bed.

So, what is it that makes some of us tired, bored, worked up, and that in turn gives rise to the problem of work-life balance or stress or depression or just going through life like a zombie? Well, the answer is a compilation of multiple factors leading to a complex scenario, but one common thing that runs through is the Lack of Time to Pursue Something which you are passionate about, every day.

Many of us live in this false belief that a 10-day vacation in a year is good enough to charge our batteries for the whole year, whereas the solution lies in the idea of making way for the 25th Hour every day.

What is this idea of 25th Hour in a day? In simple words it is taking out 60 minutes in the 1440 minutes we have in the day for yourself. These 60 minutes you carve out for yourself and no one else. These 60 minutes can be in one go or a maximum of 4 parts of 15 minutes in a day (Get up 15 minutes earlier, spend 15 minutes of lunchtime with yourself, take out 15 minutes when you leave the office and 15 minutes before you finally call it a day).

The question that arises is how is this 25th Hour different from the other 24 which we live – well, some of the differentiators can be as follows:

• It is invisible to others– 24 Hours are visible and accountable to all your near and dear ones but the 25th Hour is visible to you only, so in a way you shut out your near and dear ones and other stakeholders in that hour and thus make your invisible to others and thereby create a space for yourself.
• It is Accountable to you only– Since others do not have access to this hour, you are accountable and responsible to yourself only and need not worry justifying the same. Since it is your ‘Me’  time, you can decide the agenda / no agenda and be happy and contented with it.
• It is responsible to you and not the other way– The biggest difference is that during this time you are not responsible to anyone else but your heart & soul. We need not worry about being responsible to address anybody else needs and aspirations but to that of ourselves. The idea is to pursue something or nothing in either case it should give you pleasure at the end of that time.

How does 25th Hour make a difference in our live?

• It reflects that Life is much more than what we chase– 24 hours of our day are so jam packed that we hardly get time to reflect on what is happening in our lives, many of us are living life as we are on a treadmill 24*7 and have forgotten what is happening around us. This time will help to pause and reflect on whether we are chasing the right stuff in our lives or is there a need to take a diversion.
• It helps to detox– It is not surprising that many of us professionals are introverts in nature but spend most of the time with people around with a smile. Many of us have built our careers rather by opportunities that came up than by the choices we wanted to pursue. Doing something which does not come to us naturally builds pressure and stress over a period of time, which in turn needs an outlet to release the same.
• It brings sanity– Many of us regret decisions which we take during rush hour and the reason for the same is that we are so caught up in the loops that we swing towards a particular dimension more because of emotional bent rather that rational. During this time since you are with yourself it helps build sanity in you and your thoughts, which is a strong foundation for taking decisions in rush hours.

The journey towards the 25th hour is not an easy one, we will face many hurdles ranging from being guilty that one hour we are living for ourselves only to missing the buzz of our mobile phones to feeling the terror of silence in the beginning. But it is imperative for us to understand and appreciate that we must overcome these and make way for the 25th hour so that do not have to struggle with the idea of having a smile while going to bed.

One of the biggest dilemmas that the HR Business Partners / Generalist HRs face across all the sections of industries is ‘Who to trust’ and ‘Who not to’ when employees come up with reasons for not being happy / to quit / for their lower contribution etc.

A simple dip stick check with HR professionals can unfold this folklore. They will share the dismaying lies which some employees come up with while putting down their papers; some could be as frivolous as    taking a break to get a clarity on the way forward to something horrendous like someone near & dear is on death bed and they need to be beside that person at this juncture of time. In both the cases one would not be surprised that their resume is probably floating in market or you would have already landed with a call for reference check from the new employer or worst-case scenario you would find them working in a complex besides yours from the next week itself.

When you encounter such incidents that make you question the values of the employees, the larger questions that arise in our minds is that are these set of employees an exception or do they represent a growing tribe which believes faking information is fashionable and integrity and values do not matter in a professional career in current times? A similar trend is witnessed in usage or interpretation of Policies and welfare schemes. For example, if an organization has unlimited Sick leaves, would employees put fake medical certificates and exploit it, or would they use only when genuine need arises.

There are no easy answers to this one. We can generalize this as a trend but surely it is a pain in all the wrong places.

So, the larger question is why would employees’ resort to this mechanism? Is it because their personal values are eroded or is it because the organization culture does not permit them to be truthful or is it because it is a fad to be rebel or law breaker or simply is it a reflection of an aspirational society which is on the verge being greedy?

When we compare the number of incidents with negative shades vis-a-vis positive ones, we still observe that the number of positives is greater. For example, most employees are still thankful for gestures like working from home, employees have wet eyes when they get promotions / increments, employees are ready to stretch when one of their colleagues has extra workload, employees are ready to sacrifice their leaves and lend them to their colleagues, bosses will stretch along with their teams when required, seniors would take the flak from clients when the team members goof up and so on.

And most of all, the volume of these incidents is way higher than the negative ones!

This leads to building a fair hypothesis that the negatives are far lesser than the positives and hence the broader conclusion can be that this is not an organization culture issue but limited to individuals who are not capable to filter the pressure of surviving in an aspirational society. So, what does this means to us, the HR professionals? Should we take every reason presented by the employee with a pinch of salt, should we be gracious all the time or should we be cynical that the reason being offered is bound to be some fake story?

To find answer for this we must reflect on the reason why the function of HR / Personnel came into being. Our sole purpose was to ensure that we are the Conscience Keepers for the organizations, besides safeguarding the interest of employees as and when the need arises.

Considering the above our approach must be to reprove the 5% crooks that represent the negative syndrome and ensure that in this process the other 95% do not get affected. So, what is our approach in the following dilemmas which we may face at workplace on a day-to-day basis-?

• What do we do when we have to introduce a new scheme which has a possibility of being exploited? We will go ahead and implement because we will not let the agenda be hijacked and dictated by the minority of 5%.
• What do we do when someone comes with a reason which sounds unreasonable?

We will give benefit of doubt and listen, assuming it is genuine but during conversations, hint to the employee that if it is found frivolous or a lie it would attract penalty.

• What do we do when we discover someone has pulled a fast one (negative)?

We will go ahead and make an example of the same so that a general culture or trend does not set in the organization that it is ok or fashionable to display a lack of Values or work ethos at workplace.

• What do we do when we discover someone has stood fast (positive)?

We will go ahead and make an example of the same so that we send a strong message that Good exist among us and we reward and respect the same.

• What do we do when we have a doubt on someone while hiring?

We will ensure that we set the expectations on what we stand for and what we do not. We should state our fears & anxiety based on the experience of employees.

We do not have a guide neither it is advisable to have one as we cannot accurately predict the human behavior in a dynamic situation as we are in. At the same time, we should believe and work towards our core philosophy of why as a function we came into existence.