Serendipity and Learning

This is the time To put in your share Of work at home, while you work from home Cooking, cleaning, clothes and floor everything is a chore Go you champions, Set an example to the minions Designations dont matter, when life's a scatter Do your part That sets you apart Let your kids see you as a worker shoulder to shoulder Be the role model as you work and yodel All Diversity and inclusivity starts from home Lets do it together in town as we stay in lockdown

First it is an awakening - you can see. Then it is a springy "get up and go". A walk. Then a canter. A jog. And then you run into your beloveds hands. Thats how I feel when I get an idea. The comparison ends there. After that it is a little bit of wrestling. A series of tight corners to escape out of. A few holds that are sometimes missed. And then, sometimes, the idea is floored and brought under control. And sometimes, the idea escapes never to come back again. I have had successes and failures. More failures than successes. But this is my process. It is a process that I am used to, aware of and a familiar feeling. Over the years, I have learnt how to tap into it. For me the essential ingredient is a deep dive into various aspects. Read as much as I can, soak up information and then think think think - and then give up. Then, maybe after a nights sleep or during a morning walk or at some time the problem has escaped the focused attention, the solution sneaks throug...

This is the longest I have worked continuously from home - I much prefer the office in general - mainly for the discipline of working. And as I discussed this with a couple of people and there were some uncommon common factors - sometimes a child walks into the call, sometimes it is a dog, sometimes it is the doorbell. Now usually this doesn't happen because in a usual work from situation because the time is planned and shorter - and families work around it. At this point, because everybody is working, it is the equivalent of the office inside the home and sometimes spaces do get blurred. All the same, work is getting done, it struck me that, it is perhaps the next step of bringing our whole self to work.  Perhaps this work from home experience will enhance our empathy towards each other, our co-workers and even our families when a kid decides to join the call and makes us all that much more human and connected.  

These are the answers to my previous post 1. No, you dont. 2. Your job is to manage the learning in the organization and the culture. For therapists, the org can go elsewhere. There are enough psychotherapists, counsellors who do this for a living. 3. No, you dont, else you would be doing something else. 4. Well, sonder... 5. Raise the game - if the fish dont bite, either they are not hungry or the bait aint good enough. Training is not the answer to everything. Or many things. 6. Where is the change? 7. Buzzwords wont do 1 8. Buzzwords wont do 2 9. Ahem. Supply, Demand etc. (Refer to my post , and this one , for a little more elucidation) 10. Refer point 9 11. Groupthink anyone? The real stuff lies beyond that :) 12. Contribute, dont lurk. Why do we have such poor quality real research? (longer post for another time) 13. Correlation, not causation. Refer point 1 14. Basic gamification is over. 5 years ago atleast. When was the last time you clicked on a time bound ...

Recently, I was a fly on the wall on a couple of discussions by a gathering of LnD associates. Yes, I admit, it was a boring event, but instead of feeling bored, I switched roles to that of someone who observes dispassionately, and here is what I gathered (this is tongue in cheek of course) 1. LnD people run the business. They do more than the business teams, founders, top level leaders and everybody else. Without them, there would be savages and philistines running the company. 2. Lnd people are therapists, counsellors, coaches, psychologists and conscience keepers rolled into one. It is a pity they are paid the salary of one person only. 3. LnD people believe they know everything. Including and not limited to the "Theory of everything". Just that nobody asked them. Else, the Nobels would have been ours people - seemed to be a collective feeling. 4. Any more navel gazing, and they would be Buddhas with the luminosity of their high salaries as the halo around their head...

And here are my achievements (slightly tongue in cheek, so...) Caveat: Work is happening. I have always seen that WFH is way more productive since the person has work within reach. So the person manages work in a way that it suits them. I often start earlier in the day, for example. And without the commute, it is possible to be way more productive. Meetings are also scheduled in general - unlike at work. Downside is quick 5 minute catch ups dont happen. Leaders opinions cant be sought like at work. So, keeping this aside... Pros: I learnt to make Chapatis the shape of Africa. World, here I come. Games that were bought long ago, but never managed to be played have been opened (weekend). Very little clothes to wash (rest assured, we are taking personal hygiene seriously) A long walk each day because the fitness class has also closed down A 20 minute power nap on some days My office bag got washed (I washed it) Cons: Walk to the kitchen and eat guilt free because no one is w...

Every market is driven by supply and demand. In general the supply is there to satisfy the demand. For most mature markets, demand drives supply. Greater the demand, greater is the supply. So, in general if you find a supply side gap, the gap can be mapped to a demand side gap. The exception is when a new industry/service/product is being created - where the demand is created towards something new. This is a tough path to go forward on because creating new demand means educating customers, showing them something new/different/valuable/insightful and so on - and enabling them to see the value out of this new product. The LnD role is generally a risk averse role - rather the people who run it go after client needs and if the needs are not met - there is a ripple effect. Either they are perceived as incapable or out of touch with business needs or something to that effect. So, LnD typically toes the line of what business wants. And usually businesses are clear on what they want and...

One of the laments I heard in a gathering of LnD folks is that consultants are no good. I disagree. I have worked with consultants and been a consultant myself. Think of it. A consultant comes into to work on your problem. (I stick to an LnD context here). Who defines it? Who validates what the consultant brings to the table? Who has the chance to modify that consultants approach? If after all this your work comes a cropper, who is to blame? It is you, because either you chose the wrong consultant or did not define the problem or validate the solution clearly or you messed it up in the execution. Or when you realised the consultant wasnt working out - you decided not to cut the cord. So, if you see here the only real issue is getting the right consultant (and the right price). Therefore my view is that it is a supply demand issue. If you define the problem better, you will get people who will solve the problem better. I will enunciate the supply demand problem better in a l...

A lot of times, as Human Resources, we end up questioning the intent of people we work with or we hired. Whether this is intentional or inadvertent, I cant say for sure, but many a time this is what I have observed. And I strongly feel that the moment we do that, we question ourselves and our hiring judgement. Apart from sounding sanctimonious and arrogant - we are at that point, doubting a peer. And a lot of our assumptions stem from here - stated or unstated. Most of the times the argument is unstated - but it points in the direction of questioning intent. Intent can be questioned - no doubt - with the right evidence, but without the right evidence, questioning intent is just superciliousness. Recently, in the unconscious bias class - everything was about bias. The intent of the entire organization was questioned - without any credible data. During performance appraisal calibration - there is a question of intent. Why is someone being promoted? Why is someone not? Here is a...

Ever so often one gets to be on a panel or see a panel as part of a conference. Here are my tongue in cheek observations. 1. See the topic. Again. And again. Underline it. 2. Now, stick to it.  With Fevicol. 3. Do not go here and there like a jumpy cat. Stay on point. The topic. 4. If you have never seen, held or spoken into a mike in your life, please see one and then come on the panel. Don't behave as if its the first time someone gave you the mike and hold on it for dear life. It is not a straw though you are drowning. 5. If people don't listen to you anyhow, the place to try and validate it is not on a panel. 6. There are other people in a panel as well - if you had to be given a voice to speak by yourself, they would have invited for the damn keynote. 7. Moderator, your job is to moderate. And that includes stealing mikes, ensuring panelists don't share their life story or meaningless information or ramble along. Thou shall herd the cats into the fence known a...