Tag: #bloggingfundamentals

Talk or Listen !

It is performance review time in some organisations.  Some employees have asked me the difference between a pre-appraisal dialogue between the employee and the manager and a post appraisal feedback session.


If I have to put it simply, in the pre-dialogue, the employee should talk and the manager listen.  In the feedback session, the manager should talk and the employee listen.  One of our biggest challenges as human beings is our ability to listen.  We have always been poor listeners and have enough feedback from family, friends and colleagues that we could improve on our listening skills.  But, as manager or employee, we continue to be poor listeners.

Let me try to simplify the role of the manger and the employee in a pre-dialogue session first :

– The employee talks and the manager listens ( most of the time and not the other way around)

– The employee should highlight his performance with facts and figures against the goals set for him for the previous year and his contributions/ impact.

– The Manager could ask for clarifications, if any

– The employee shares development needs and career aspirations

– The employee explains his strengths and improvement areas with behavioural examples

– The employee also seeks job rotation or other developmental opportunities.

Now, let’s understand what is the role of the manager and employee in the post appraisal feedback session :

– The manager talks and the employee listens ( most of the time and not the other way around)

– The manager explains her assessment both in terms of ‘what'(tasks) and ‘how'( behaviour) with examples observed

– The employee could ask for clarifications

– The manager should explain the strengths and improvement areas of the employee with examples

– The manager should explain the performance rating and the basis for the same with examples

– The manager should enable the employee to look forward to the next year and agree on targets and development plans

In real life situations, the roles generally tend to reverse.  Many managers tend to give feedback during the pre-dialogue process itself.  Further, they talk more than they listen.  They do not encourage employees to give their point of view.  They  find it difficult to create an environment, where the employee opens up and shares accomplishments, development needs and career aspirations.

Similarly, in the feedback process, it become more a monologue.  While, at this stage the manger is expected to talk and the employee listen, it becomes a one way communication.  Managers do talk but again do not encourage employees to listen and own the feedback.  At the end of the feedback session, the employee should feel motivated to look forward to the next year both in terms of challenges on the job and their own development and growth.

We have to make this dialogue ( not monologue) more inspirational than perspirational.  Many employees are nervous to get into a pre dialogue or a feedback session.  It is almost like the board exams at the secondary school level. How can we make it like a game to play together ?   Employees should look forward to it and play the game.  If they are inspired, they will build their skills and give their best. Managers should be like the coach encouraging her team members to play to win.

Let employees aspire and mangers inspire.

What do you think ?

S Ramesh Shankar

 

My concept of freedom


All of us are born free.  We have our own concept of freedom.  This concept evolves as we grow in life.  I am lucky to be born in the world’s largest democracy – India.  I am proud to be an Indian and have enjoyed this freedom throughout my lifetime. My concept of freedom is the ability to choose and do anything of my choice without any restrictions.  The Constitution of India bestows fundamental rights, which are absolute.  We do have reasonable restrictions, which possibly are required to ensure that we do not do anything against the interest of the state.

Let me try to illustrate what freedom means to me and how my beloved country has enabled it to flourish.  I have the freedom to be myself.  I can choose my education, my religion, my place of stay and my way of living.  I can move across the country without any restrictions and express my opinion on any subject without any fear.

In my view, we need to go much beyond this and practise freedom in our daily lives.  Let us start with our family.  Do we give equal opportunities for our children – daughter or son.  They should be able to choose what they want to study and what they want to do in life.  We should not preach freedom of expression around the world and restrict freedom within our own family precincts.

Let us move to the work place.  Do we empower our teams ?  Do my team members practise what their passion is ?  Can they independently give their views on any subject without fear of consequences.  Are they able to listen to their heart and decide independently what is in the best interest of the organisation.

The same is true for society.  All of us have the freedom to participate and express ourselves on any subject.  We can agree or disagree with the views of the government.  We can influence the way the governments decides through our elected representatives and media(including social media). The media is independent and can play a very important role in influencing public opinion. One important thing to remember is that we should never cross the line.  We have a duty along with the freedom, which we enjoy.  Sometimes as individuals and even as media we tend to misuse this freedom.  In my view as citizens we have a duty to ensure that neither individuals nor institutions misuse this freedom.  Just as we have the choice to elect or reject a elected representative to the state or the centre, we have the duty to ignore and castigate individuals or organisations, which work against the interest of the state.

Today I am proud to be an Indian.  I am grateful to this great nation for giving me this “Joy of freedom”.  India may not be the most developed nation in term of physical wealth but it is one of the most developed in terms of emotional and spiritual well being.  We need to respect it, preserve it and nurture it so that our future generations are gifted with a happier nation than we have inherited.

One of my German colleagues shared a quote, which said – “In everything in life, we need to start with enthuisiasm and end with discipline”.  There cannot be a better way to celebrate India’s freedom.  Let us create more enthuisiasm in everything we do but let us not forget the discipline, which has to go with enthuisiasm to make India the greatest and happiest nation in the world.

Jai Hind.

S Ramesh Shankar

“Pole Star”

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A young aspiring professional recently approached me to seek some guidance at work.  He was a bit agitated because he had more questions than answers to what he saw and felt on happenings around him at his workplace.  I think this is quite a common phenomenon amongst the youth today.

When a young professional starts his career after completing his education from a good university, he or she gives their best to grow faster than others in the organisation they join. They are willing to work hard and also contribute beyond what is expected from them. Their attitude to work is ” work hard and party harder”. I envy them for this attitude since I believe this lays the foundation for them in their career. It also helps them to strike a good balance between work and personal life.

This young man told me that he was happy to work hard and extend his contributions much beyond what is expected of him. However, what irritates him is when he sees other colleagues at work, who in his perception or qualified less but get paid almost equal if not more than him. What irks him more is that these colleagues do not work hard nor do they contribute as much as he does. I think this is a fair issue to be concerned with.

After listening to the frustrations and anger of this young guy, I shared some axioms of organisations and how performance is measured in them. The first premise is that your pedigree is only useful at the time of joining an organisation. After you enter the precincts of an organisation, it does not matter where you have studied from. What matters is what you bring to the table. If a person brings more value to the table than you, then that person would be assessed as a better contributor irrespective of which university he or she has come from.

The second axiom in organisations is that you need to prove your worth without comparing yourself to others. Many a time individuals tend to compare themselves with other co workers and make a judgement for themselves. Instead, individuals should be encouraged to talk to their managers about their goals, their aspirations, their development,  their achievements and their rewards. The moment we are able to de link ourselves from the rest of the colleagues, the feeling of disproportionate contributions of others and their rewards will not affect us and our motivation.  It is our duty to focus on our performance and trust the judgement and fairness of our manager whose job it is to compare and contrast our performance with our peers.

The third and the most important axiom for a young aspiring professionals to follow is to excel in whatever they do. If you are the best in what you do, you can never be ignored by anyone in the organisation, least your boss. Sometimes, you may feel let down but patience and perseverance is the key to excel. It may even be a good idea to strive to better yourself with every passing day in your career. It is good to be competitive with yourself rather than others and be clear on what you want to achieve in your career. This focus and quest for excellence will enable you to have inspiring conversations with your boss and thereby will lead to self confidence and success.

We need to strive to be like the “Pole star” in the sky, which shines in darkness irrespective of millions of others stars which are present.  The mantra could be “How do I outshine myself every day and shine like a pole star amongst my peers?”

S Ramesh Shankar