Work Life Balance ?

In this era of social media revolution, information and communications management has become pretty easy. Companies are finding easier and faster ways of keeping in touch employees. With plethora of devices - lead to an ‘always on’ culture where location is irrelevant and connectivity is given. The advent of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is making life easier for both the employees and employers to keep pace with the work loads, by constantly updating the present status.

Gone are the days of nine to five and the thin line between work and life beyond work is becoming more and more irrelevant. Increased work load is having a telling effect both on the high and average performers, while for the employees rated as below average it really has no significance. In organizations where the balance is missing, we could see visible effect in high performers leaving the company putting more and more pressure on existing team members to share the work load and finish the tasks.

Expectations from employers have gone up steeply and they feel that Employees need to be available at all times - beyond office hours and on weekends too. This has resulted in frustration among the people who wish to have more privacy and free time to pursue their hobbies. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep away from mundane and routine tasks and employees are always on the toes to complete the tasks assigned to them and often run on stringent dead lines.

The discussions around Work Life basically revolves around female employees and is all about how women were able to strike a perfect balance between the two. Indeed they are playing multiple roles at the same with finesse.

HR Policies on W / L

A well defined HR Policy on Work Life is required to keep employees aware of the processes and best practices in Strategic HRM. Many companies suffer on this count as they give very little importance to this aspect. Workers in the knowledge industries are more prone to extreme work pressures trying to finish the work before the project dead lines. It becomes all the more relevant to have a well researched and thoughtful policy which captures essence of striking a perfect balance between work and life.

What employees feel : Lets look at both the extremes to guage public opinion on this critical aspect of employment

Positive :

In large companies - MNCs there are many testimonials where the employees are highly motivated by a pro-active HR policies trying to strike a balance between Work and Life. For instance at GE Capital, there is a recognition that employees are real people, not humanresources. They know that real people have families and may well have significant commitments such as caring for an elderly relative or looking after two or three children.

Negative :

It is a Jinxed Idea - in most cases employees feel that it is work and more work and no life beyond work! Many employees are of the opinion that working on balancing Work Life is a flawed one, since all these are heavily loaded in favor of the employers, leaving little room for the employees. Vast majority of junior level engineers feel that it is a utter "non-sense" and should be scrapped since they have not experienced any difference. For them it is Work and Work and there is no life beyond work !!

A tool to attract & retain Top Talent :

A thoughtful Policy on W / L helps both in attracting and retaining top talent. The awareness amongst employees is so high that candidates are asking about how company is oriented towards balancing work and it is fast becoming a top priority. Any company which aims to become an employer of choice must build this into their culture. The existing high performers too have high expectations in this regard, any neglect will eventually lead to separation.

Solution

While Business managers are more inclined to push for less resources for projects, keeping in view billing rates of the software engineers per project, the work load is increasing at all levels. Companies do resort to temporary staffing for shorter duration to seek external teams to work on projects. A scientifically researched on the number of people needed for the project work deserves a closer look.

A way out will be to customize the policies to suit the industry / environment, HR plays a key role in "right sizing" of teams and a well defined roles / responsibilities metrics goes a long way in proper distribution of work, leaving un-necessary excess loading on high performers. The whole perception of 'resources' has to change with reduced focus on 'ROI' and sensitize other line functions on urgent need to have a highly motivated work force will go a long way in the success and future of a balanced Work Life.

HR Wheel

HR Wheel

Q : What is HR Wheel and its importance.

Raghav :

HR Wheel depicts the entire HR function and hence is a diagram which represent the core HR activities.

The diagram on the left shows all facets of HR and is shown in the wheel format.

'Software sector to generate 30 million jobs by 2020' - Som Mittal

The Indian IT industry that had taken a quantum leap, post liberalisation two decades ago, has matured over the years. Besides technology and domain expertise, cost has been a major factor in making India a software services powerhouse. But, for how long would India be able to sustain its competitive advantage when China and other markets are already making large strides to challenge its dominance in the sector? Changing dynamics of the macro-economic environment and the anti-outsourcing wave in the US continue to haunt the Indian IT sector. Nasscom president Som Mittal discusses the issues challenging the industry and lots more in an exclusive interview with FE's Ayushman Baruah. Excerpts:

Given that India faces stiff competition from China and other Asian markets like Philippines and Vietnam, for how long will it have an edge over these? What competitive advantage should India have to sustain its growth?

India has an advantage in terms of maturity, scale, robust process and customer confidence. However, we cannot afford to be complacent. India must focus on offering more value added services, build deep customer relationships and leverage innovation. We have to remain cost competitive as several companies already have outcome-based pricing. In several cases, these new emerging countries also serve as sites for business continuity programme. India needs to keep customers assured that it is a destination worth trusting. When work gets disrupted due to 'bandh' calls etc, it raises concerns.

Is Nasscom seeing any new shoots that keep India ahead? What potential does the domestic market hold?

Of late, our discussions with customers have been beyond outsourcing and offshoring. We have now shifted our focus to transform their business models and get countrywide increased efficiencies. There are new verticals like utilities and healthcare. Markets like West Asia and Latin America are still under penetrated. With regards to the domestic market, there are three broad segments: corporations, individuals/ small businesses and the government. The corporate spending in IT by corporations is increasing as they become more global. The scope to penetrate the other two segments is much higher. We estimate the government spend to be a big driver that is expected to reach $5 billion by 2011.

With changing dynamics in macro economic environment, do you see the number of applications for H-1B visas rising this fiscal?

This is a fairly complex issue. In the US or anywhere, jobs can be classified into two categories: temporary work that includes short-term assignments, and permanent jobs like account managers, system architects, etc. A lot of Indians work in the US on a temporary basis, mainly on application development and testing. Owing to talent availability issues in the US, maximum number of H-1 B visas applied for constituted applicants for temporary jobs. Now, the ability of Indian companies to hire locals is increasing. Hence, the need for H1-B visas may be lower. However, if the US economy turns robust, hiring by companies would go up, thus increasing the demand for visas.

Nasscom visited the US to meet members of the Obama administration in response to the anti-outsourcing wave in the US last year. What was the outcome of those meetings?

Given the sheer size of the market, the US is evidently where our focus lies. However, we continue to visit all markets to share our perspective. We spend a lot of time with law makers, executives, industry leaders and various think tanks in the US to prove how we can add value to them. With regards to the anti-outsourcing wave in the US last year, Nasscom believes that India adds to the competitiveness of the US market. Global sourcing —be it in manufacturing or services—has added to the US ability to grow as an economy. For example, the cost of a Barbie doll today is actually lower than what it was 50 years ago (accounting for inflation). This could not have been possible if talent and material was not procured from the most competitive locations. Many more such examples can be found in global markets.

How do you see the Indian software industry growing in the coming years?

Last year, revenue from exports of software and BPO services has grown 5.5% to $50 billion. Engineering services crossed the $10-billion mark. For FY 2010-11, export revenue is expected to grow 13-15% and the domestic revenue by 17-18%. Total revenue from the sector has the potential to touch $225 billion by 2020 and 50% of the total would come from currently untapped verticals like the public sector, healthcare, media and utilities and places such as the West Asia, China and Japan. This would have the potential to create 30 million jobs of which 10 million would be direct jobs. Nasscom has also projected that by 2020, 50% of the new entrants in workforce would be women.

What percentage of graduating software engineers are actually industry ready? How can this number increase?

Fresh graduates today are bright and trainable. However, in most of the cases they are not industry ready. This pressurises the industry to provide enormous training and re-skilling facilities. As an industry which is people-dependent and global, we need to equip our students with the relevant subject matter expertise and soft skills. Students are expected to have some basic knowledge but in most of the cases this is not happening. In our education system, neither the content nor the delivery is adequate. Education must be made relevant at the outset. The government is trying to make several changes, the impact of which would be felt in some time. Till then, we need the ecosystem of training institutes, schools and additional intervention (besides the in-house training) to keep things rolling.

Ayushman Baruah

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Do you think Role Definition Helps in creating better managers ?

Friends,

You will ind this paradox in the Indian context. It is strange that everyone our here wishes to become a Manager. This is whether or not they have the abilities to 'manage' their teams.

Question :

Does role definition helps in creating better managers ?
Do you think there should be an impartial 'assessment' prior to promoting as Managers ?
Can the company afford to loose good performers when they are told that they are not fit to be 'managers'
Do you think working for 6 years as per below article 'qualifies' to become a Project Manager ?

My personal view on this is - unless an employee has certain abilities he would not succeed as a Manager !

Raghav
Founder HRinIndia
Indias Biggest HR Network

Bought to you by

HRI Foundation
303 Motherland Building
3rd Main 3rd Cross
Kamanahalli
BANGALORE 560084

www.twitter.com/Raghav_HRGuru
raghav@hrinindia.in
# 91.98800.80321

---------

Article :

Infosys Technologies has decided that its staffers must have at least six years of having worked on technology responsibilities before being asked to head a project.

This is the latest move in a process that began 18 months earlier, after clients had complained that its project heads didn't seem to have enough of technological skills. That, in turn, was because of the industry's high growth and also the pace of attrition (employees quitting) in the sector.

So, many employees were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years of joining. However, from last month, all freshers joining the company will have to compulsorily stay focused on technology for the first six years of their career.

After this, they will have to choose to either grow vertically as a techie or take up managerial responsibilities.

Infosys [ Get Quote ] says this new strategy, termed 'iRace', aims to re-map the technology skills of its software professionals and offer them roles based on their current level of experience and technological know-how.

It appears to have already had some adverse effect, for a section of employees in the junior and middle levels are understood to have resigned.

"Because of the high growth in the industry, people were being given managerial responsibilities within three to four years, making clients return to us and complain about the lack of their technology skills. We have now re-mapped the efficiency of our employees, as a result of which some high performers have been mapped upwards, while others have stayed in their previous positions," says Nandita Gurjar, Group Head for Human Resources.

By doing so, we will be able to meet the clients' requirements in a much better manner, she adds.

To make the task smoother, Infosys has created 25 career streams. An employee who does not wish to take up managerial roles but stay focused on technology has to identify positions like technical architect and technical lead till he goes up the ladder to become the unit technology manager, a position the company has created now. Henceforth, all 13 business units of the company will have UTOs, who will directly report to the chief technology officer of the company.

Infosys started the exercise almost 18 months earlier, following an internal assessment by consulting agency, Mercer. Based on the results, the company decided to implement what Gurjar terms a 'role structuring'.

Industry insiders concur that when the IT sector was booming and demand was high, people with very little experience were being given roles of project managers or technical leads, as it was difficult for the company to get experienced people.

However, with the greater supply of trained resources, especially in the wake of the economic recession, most Indian IT companies are busy redefining the roles.

"We have seen people becoming project managers with less than six years of experience, whereas in most global companies, especially product companies, project manager is a big role. A person who manages projects in those companies should have at least 14-15 years of experience, which helps him handle multiple projects and customers at a time.

Besides, when a person becomes a project manager in six years, this ends his chance to learn on technology platforms," says a person who works as a project manager in an Indian IT services company.

At the end of the second quarter in the present financial year, Infosys' headcount was 105,453, including 97,594 software professionals.

Praveen Bose and Bibhu Ranjan Mishra in Bangalore
Source : Business Standard

No.6 Intuit Technology

INTUIT TECHNOLOGY

Industry: IT
Employees: 224
Workplace locations: 1
Business units: 1
Unique roles: 16

A WORK culture that answers to customers is Intuit’s “secret sauce”, says Managing Director Vijay Anand. “Engineers, typically, never get to connect directly with customers. They sit in their cubicles and come up with cool products they think people will want. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way,” he says.

So, Intuit teaches its engineers to follow their customers—that is, meet prospective users of their products, at their workplace (small enterprises like a tailor shop, a local kirana store, a beauty salon, a welding shop, a farming field). The objective is to see their pain points first-hand, and then design products that provide a soothing effect.

Typically, 10-15% of the work time of engineers is left free for them to follow the customer home, connect with the outside world and solve real-time problems that have the potential to become the next big Intuit product. Unstructured time, it’s termed. “This free time is not monitored—you are free to do as you please,” says an employee.

Engineers don’t have to wait endlessly to see their ideas take shape—it can take just six weeks for an idea to move into the prototype stage. UVG Sekar, Head, Human Resources, says Intuit helps engineers hone their entrepreneurial skills, be it the ability to take risks, the passion for an idea, taking an idea to fruition or customer orientation. Products like TurboTax, the number one tax preparation software in the US, and QuickBooks, the number one business accounting software for small enterprises,are outcomes of such support systems.

This open culture requires active participation by senior management. The company is proud of this culture—senior managers are often found lounging around with employees, discussing ideas and strategies. Access to senior management is actively encouraged—Founder & Chairman Scott Cook himself conducts a few training sessions for employees every year. All this makes it a satisfying experience for employees, who vote with their mouths—30-40% of lateral hiring in the company is through employee referrals.

Source : outlook business

Smile More

There is no substitute for hardwork and passion - Azim premji

There is no substitute for passion and hardwork; just follow your instinct, stop theorising and grab all opportunities that come your way. Chairman of Wipro Azim Premji had all the right advice for entrepreneurs in his inaugural address at the TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2008, which kicked off on Tuesday.

"Failures are a wakeup call and true entrepreneurs learn life's true lessons from their failures. Learn to listen and learn to learn from youngsters who have fresh ideas and older people who have years of experience and wisdom. Don’t succumb to bribing and other malpractices; practicing unflinching integrity at all times will not only reduce your transaction costs drastically but will also win you the confidence and respect of all your stakeholders," he said.

He cited the example of the time when Wipro had to forgo 40 per cent of its profits, when they refused to bribe the Chief Minister of a State for power allocation. Although the company had to use generators for one and a half years, for as long as the Chief Minister was in tenure, they were never asked for a bribe again.

Premji said he learnt his first lesson when he took over the family business —Western India Vegetable Products Ltd. — after his father’s death in 1966. At the company’s AGM, a shareholder said Premji was not the appropriate person to head the company, as he was only 21 years old, with no qualifications or experience to back him up. "That single incident got my spirits up and I was determined to take on the challenge thrown at me. It was a passionate turbo-charge, on which my subsequent successes were built. Another lesson I learnt as a young man is that it is important to reach out to people and learn from their collective wisdom and experience. I sought advice from my mother and other wise people."

Emphasising the importance of going against the grain and thinking differently in entrepreneurship, he cited the example of his company diversifying into a relatively obscure field of manufacturing high pressure hydraulic components in 1976. "We decided not to import and build the technology from scratch. Today we are the largest independent hydraulic cylinder company with 65 per cent market share in India and have factories in Finland, Sweden and India," he said.

Entrepreneurs, he advised, should drop ideas that are too big, expensive and impractical to execute. "It is important to cut your coat according to the cloth. For instance, we wanted to manufacture scooters as the market for two wheelers was booming in the early eighties. But, we dropped the idea as it was not practical for a small company like ours."

But Wipro had a backup strategy and decided to get into Information Technology instead. "We put together an outstanding team of 300 R&D engineers and worked with IISc to come out with a great product — a mini computer. Our R&D team was five times the size of our sales and marketing team and when we decided to scale it down to 50 people, we didn’t fire the rest of the engineers but spun off another division, offering global R&D services. Today, we are the largest third party R&D services company with 19,000 engineers; it contributes 30 per cent to our total business."

Closing comments: Nothing upsets a customer more than over-committing and under-delivering. The suggestion to budding entrepreneurs is to ensure consistent value delivery. "These are interesting times when successful companies will come out much stronger while the not-so-strong will cry out to the government for help," Premji said.

The Key

* Continual leadership assessment
* Talent review, training and strategic planning processes
* Build ‘intrapreneurs’ who run separate Profit &Loss accounts in the company
* Offered ownership of the company to key individuals
* Willingness to try new things and take failure in its stride
* Explored growth in FMCG, Infrastructure and IT
* Institutionalised the process of innovation
* Embrace diversity in the workplace

More working hours for IT Companies ...

IT professionals working with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will now spend more time at their workplaces, possibly as a fallout of the global economic crisis. The country’s largest software exporter has increased its work hours by 30 minutes — from the existing nine hours a day, to nine-and-a-half hours a day — two persons familiar with the development told Business Line.

In doing so, TCS has become the second IT major to stretch its work hours, starting next year. Earlier, Accenture, in an internal communication, told its employees that they would have to work for an extra hour starting January 1.

A spokesperson for TCS who was approached for a response said the company is “constantly looking at ways to improve productivity and efficiency”. On the increase in working hours, no policy has been finalised or communicated yet to the employees, he said.
Productivity score

Though every employee at TCS may not have received an official communication on the new working hours, Business Line has learnt that a formal communication has already been despatched to the heads of the various business units within TCS. Employees down the line could be briefed in a few days, sources said.

An increase in working hours could help the company improve overall productivity, as there will be an increase in the average revenue that each employee generates, according to Mr Harit Shah, IT Analyst, Angel Broking. “Since TCS has over one lakh employees, the productivity improvement for the company could be very significant,” he said.

Indian IT companies have been going slow on their hiring plans and are hence trying to extract the most out of their existing employees, said another IT analyst who did not wish to be identified. In most cases, increase in work hours is not compensated by salary revisions or extra days of leave, the analyst added.

Source TheHinduBusinessLine

Many Fear losing jobs / Salary cuts in India Inc

Friends

With the US economy slowing down it is tough times ahead for India Inc.

A recent survey depicts that many Many Fear losing jobs / Salary cuts in India Inc

Do you also share these feelings ? What are your views ??


Raghav
Founder HRinIndia
Indias Biggest HR Network
www.hrinindia.in
raghav@hrinindia.in
#
HR Guru & Strategist
Bangalore, India
9880080321



The finding of an exclusive CNN-IBN poll on the economy reveals that one out of two Indians is scared of losing the job. The poll, conducted across seven metros, also shows that Mumbaikars are one of the most worried about their job prospects. Close to 50 per cent respondents are worried about losing their jobs. The fear of a possible job loss is the highest in Mumbai followed by Ahmedabad and Hyderabad.

Eight out of 10 Indians feel that due to the current financial crisis, the Indian economy has slowed down. The feeling of an economic slowdown was strongest in Delhi and Mumbai with upto 81 per cent women feeling the pressure on the Indian economy.

Nearly half the respondents also claim to have been affected by the stock market crash. Interestingly 50 per cent of the women claimed to be affected by the stock market crash as against 45 per cent men.

Fifty-four per cent feel that nationalised banks are more reliable with more and more willing to open an account or shift to a public sector bank. And only four out of 10 claims to have cut down on spending with women and middle aged respondents being the most cautious.

Majority of the respondents in Mumbai have put their plans to buy a house on hold and one out of three will cut down on purchase of durables and reduce the frequency of eating out. People's confidence in private banks, too, has taken a beating.

Fifty-four per cent feel that nationalised banks are more reliable with more and more willing to open an account or shift to a public sector bank. Now bank deposits and real estate are the most preferred investment options. One out of three are satisfied with Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The findings have not come as a surprise to the economy experts.

"I am not surprised at all with the findings that you are providing. There are two or three things coming out. One is everyone believes that the crisis in the world economy is hitting home. India cannot be insulated from the rest. I think people are a little panicky about job losses. May be in India there won't be the kind of job losses that the USA will see but people are indeed worried about the economic conditions. When your economy has grown by nine percent for four years and then suddenly one year the growth rate drops even though the government is still talking about 7.5-8 per cent, people would consider themselves fortunate enough if Indian economy grew at seven per cent in the current financial year. That slowdown is certain to hurt the underprivileged sections than the relatively well-off," Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, economist, says.




"Second point is even though a very small proportion of our population has put money in stocks and shares, and this section has seen its wealth come down by more than half between January and now. The last point is that after the whole collapse in the financial system the world over, people are far more sanguine in keeping their money in a public sector bank or in a nationalised bank. Recently ICICI banks shares collapsed and the same day State Bank of India shares went up, Punjab National Bank's shares went up," says Thakurta.

Thakurta agrees that the polls reflect the mood of urban India.

Even though the Union Government and the Reserve Bank of India have been assuring that the global financial crisis will not affect India and the fundamentals of economy remain strong, Thakurta says the government cannot do much in the present situation.

"I am not at all sure that the government could do very much at this juncture. What the government can at best do and what the government has tried to do is cushion the fall a bit. Therefore last week on Monday and Tuesday the markets actually picked up and this was thanks to all the infusion of money by the Reserve Bank of India. But on Friday people were expecting further infusion of funds and when that didn't happen, markets collapsed. So what the government can at best do is cushion the fall and not prevent it all together," Thakurta says.

"If markets the world over are collapsing and the up downs of our stock markets have been completely determined by the net inflows of Foreign Institutional Investors. There are nearly 2000 FIIs and many of them are based in the USA. In 2007 these the FIIs pumped $18 billion into the Indian stock markets. We had a problem of plenty. We had so much money; we didn't knew what to do with it. But the same FIIs when the recession in the US hit them, started withdrawing. So in this year between January and October the same FIIs have withdrawn 3/4th of the amount of money that they pumped in last year. This is the main reason why you find that the dollar has become so strong, which might be paradoxical to some because the US economy is getting weaker and the International Monetary Fund says it is not going to grown in 2009, yet the dollar has become so strong. In June 2007 one US dollar could be bought for Rs 39. Today it is Rs 50 for the same dollar and that's because the FIIs when they withdraw money want it in dollars so the surge in demand for the dollar explains the exchange rate having gone so much weak," he says.

"It is bound to affect the sales all goods. I think the sectors likely to be affected more would be consumer durables sector. People would postpone purchases that they can. People won't stop purchasing food as that's something they need. Purchase of a flat, a car, a television set, a fridge etc could be postponed," he adds.

The poll took the opinion of 1,431 men and women spread across different age groups and sections of the society.

Source : ibnlive.com

Ban on Smoking - HR Policy and Guidelines

Friends,

As you are aware that the Government of India has prohibited smoking
in public places. This will also apply to the office premises. Part A is about
the guidelines. and Part B is about the legislation which comes into effect from
tomorrow.

How is your company coping with this ? Have you created smoking zones ?

Share your best practices with others.

Raghav
Founder HRinIndia
Indias Biggest HR Network
www.hrinindia.in
#
HR Guru & Strategist
Bangalore, India
9880080321


Part A
Highlights:

Implementation from 2nd October, 2008, pan India.
No Smoking in Public places in all private/ public establishments.
HR Manager/ Admn. Head is authorized to impose fine or take action on
offenders.
If the HR Manager/ Admn Manager fails to implement or fails to act on
complaints, he will be fined as no. of individual offences.
Notice to be displayed showing the authorized person to take action on any
contravention in the Act.
Posters with pictures & footer showing “NO SMOKING AREA” “SMOKING HERE IS AN
OFFENCE” to be displayed in each floors or entrance or places where public
assemble or public place

Smoking room or area or space defined:-
- physically separated and surrounded by full height walls on all four sides;
- as an entrance with an automatically closing door normally kept in dose
position;
- has an air flow system, with non re-circulating exhaust ventilation system
- has negative air pressure in comparison with the remainder of the building.

Part B

In the interest of public health, the Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare had issued a detailed Notification dated 30th May, 2008 making
Rules under the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of
Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply
and Distribution) Act, 2003 for the prohibition of smoking of
cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Attached is the regulation

The following are some of the salient aspects of the revised Rules:

(a) Restrictions with regard to smoking apply clearly to hotels,
restaurants, refreshment rooms, public places etc. which would also
include workplaces among other places as defined in each category.
Section 4 of the Act envisages a separately ventilated smoking room
that is termed as "Smoking Area".
(b) The Rules provide that the owner, proprietor or the manager of all
public places shall ensure that no person smokes in the prohibited
areas under his jurisdiction. It also calls for a sign board to be
displayed at the entrance of the premises on each floor including the
staircases and entrance to the lift.
(c) Detailed provisions have been incorporated for strict
implementation of the prohibitory orders.
(d) The manager of the establishment is liable to be fined for any
violation by any person of the above prohibition.
(e) The head of the Institution / H.R.Manager / head of administration
has to be designated / authorised to prohibit smoking at offices and
workplaces.
(f) Ashtray, match boxes, lighters or other things designed to
facilitate smoking should not be provided at the workplace.
(g) It will be necessary for the manager to display in the
establishment prominently, the name of the person to whom complaints
can be made by any person for violating the provisions of these Rules.

Leadership Is Everyone's Business

James M. Kouzes
The true heroes of leadership are the ordinary people who get extraordinary things done. They are the men and women from all over the globe, from all walks of life and of all ages, and from a variety of organizations, public and private, government and NGOs, high-tech and low-tech, small and large, schools and professional services, who daily struggle to lead us to greatness. They're not the public figures, the famous people, or the mega-stars. They're the people who might live next door or work in the next cubicle over.

We've focused our 25 years research and writing on everyday leaders because leadership is not about position or title. Leadership is not about organizational power or authority. It's not about celebrity or wealth. It's not about the family you are born into. It's not about being a CEO, president, general, or prime minister. Leadership is about relationships, about credibility, and about what you do.

Barry Z. Posner

You Are the Most Important Leader in Your Organization

If you're a manager in an organization, to your direct reports you are the most important leader in your organization. You are more likely than any other leader to influence their desire to stay or leave, the trajectory of their careers, their ethical behavior, their ability to perform at their best, their drive to wow customers, their satisfaction with their jobs, and their motivation to share the organization's vision and values.

If you're a parent, teacher, coach, or community leader, you are the person who's setting the leadership example for young people. It's not hip-hop artists, movie stars, or professional athletes they seek guidance from. You are the one they are most likely going to look to for the example of how a leader responds to competitive situations, handles crises, deals with loss, or resolves ethical dilemmas. It's not someone else. It's you.

The leaders who have the most influence on us are those who are the closest to us. We have to challenge the myth that leadership is about position and power. And, once challenged, people can come to see leadership in a whole new light. Yukari Huguenard, an everyday leader we interviewed, told us how much he had changed his view of leadership after he had examined his assumptions:

I used to think leaders had to be at the top level of a large organization. With that view of leadership, the chasm between where I am and being a leader was uncrossable. Now, I see leaders leading a group of people of any size and leading at any level. You are a leader if you employ these five leadership practices because people around you want to follow. In that sense, I feel that I'm already a leader.

There's no escape. Leadership is everyone's business. No matter what your position is, you have to take responsibility for the quality of leadership your constituents get. You—and that means all of us—are accountable for the leadership you demonstrate. And, because you are the most important leader to those closest to you, the only choice you really have is whether or not to be the best leader you can be.

Leadership Is Learned

The notion that leadership is reserved for only a very few of us is reinforced every time someone asks, "Are leaders born or made?" Whenever we're asked this question—which is almost every time we give a speech or conduct a class or workshop—our answer, always offered with a smile, is this: "Yes, of course, all leaders are born. We've never met a leader who wasn't. So are all accountants, artists, athletes, parents, zoologists, you name it." We're all born. What we do with what we have before we die is up to us.

It's just pure myth that only a lucky few can ever understand the intricacies of leadership. Leadership is not a gene, and it's not a secret code that can't be deciphered by ordinary people. The truth is that leadership is an observable set of skills and abilities that are useful whether one is in the executive suite or on the front line, on Wall Street, Beijing Financial Street, or Main Street, in any campus, community, or corporation. And any skill can be strengthened, honed, and enhanced, given the motivation and desire, along with practice and feedback, role models, and coaching.

We've been fortunate to have heard and read the stories of thousands of ordinary people who've led others to get extraordinary things done. And there are millions more. It's not the absence of leadership potential that inhibits the development of more leaders; it's the persistence of the myth that leadership can't be learned. This haunting myth is a far more powerful deterrent to leadership development than is the nature of the person or the basics of the leadership process.

The experience of Juan Gonzalez is typical of the leaders we've worked with around the world. Juan told us that taking the view that leadership was a set of practices was a good start for understanding that leadership was everyone's business, and this approach offered him a new perspective on the world of human interaction by demystifying the notion of natural born leaders and, if anything. The fact that leaders can learn to be leaders though self-awareness and effort opens the possibility that individuals have a choice about pursuing or ignoring the calling of leadership. Not everyone will be a leader of historical proportions; however, we all can and should assume leadership roles in our regular activities more often than not.

Certainly, we shouldn't mislead people into believing that they can attain unrealistic goals. However, neither should we assume that only a few would ever attain excellence in leadership (or in any other human endeavor). We do know that those who are most successful at bringing out the best in others are those who set achievable "stretch" goals and believe that they have the ability to develop the talents of others. We know that effective leaders are constantly learning. They see all experiences as learning experiences, not just those sessions in a formal classroom or workshop. They're constantly looking for ways to improve themselves and their organizations. Even if some people think that they're not able to learn to lead, you must believe that you and they can. That's where it all starts—with your own belief in yourself and in others.

Two Indian amonst top 15 US

Two Indian American executives - publishing software giant Adobe's Shantanu Narayen and global outsourcing major Cognizant's Francisco D'Souza - figure among Forbes list of America's top-paid young CEOs topped by another South Asian.

Narayen with $12 million is ranked fifth while D'Souza rounds out the list of 15 young CEOs with a compensation of $3.7 million. At 39, D'Souza is the youngest of the wunderkinds. Gareeb is 43 and Narayen a year older, according to the list published in Forbes.com.

Topping the list of under-45 chief executives is Nabeel Gareeb of Pakistani origin, CEO of chipmaker MEMC Electronic Materials since April 2002 with a total pay package of $79.5 million in 2007.Gareeb was also the sixth highest-paid CEO overall, earning a total $79.5 million in 2007, the vast majority in company stock. His $1.8 million in salary and bonus was shy of the $2.2 million median payout for chiefs in the semiconductor business.

Next up: Jen-Hsun Huang, the 45-year-old founder of graphics chip maker Nvidia. He's been running his company for 15 years and pulled in $46 million in total compensation in 2007 - most of it, like Gareeb, in company stock he cashed in.

Coming in third is Marc Holliday, chief of SL Green Realty. The only one of the young bunch in the real estate industry, Holliday claimed total compensation of $15.7 million last year.

Rounding out the double-digit earners, in order, are Jonathan Schwartz, head of Sun Microsystems, with $13.5 million; Shantanu Narayen (Adobe Systems, $12 million); and Michael T. Fries (Liberty Global, $11 million).

Noting that 'young chief executives are becoming an endangered species', the report said since the height of the tech boom in 2000, the number of CEOs aged 45 or younger at the helm of the 500 largest publicly traded US companies has dropped by more than half, to 28 from 60, and just three haven't yet reached their 40th birthdays.

Unsurprisingly, the remaining crop of wunderkinds preside mainly over technology firms, though retail and financial services empires are in the mix, too, the report said.

And though this group is handsomely paid within their industries, their $9.2 million average annual compensation trails the average for the 500 as a whole, which came in at $12.8 million.

But that gap may be closing. After swelling 38 percent in 2006, overall CEO compensation for the top 500 retreated 15 percent last year, thanks to performance-based compensation packages tied to flagging earnings and share prices, Forbes said.

Meanwhile, the 28 youngsters under 45 collectively enjoyed a 5.9 percent increase in overall compensation.

Where do these guys come from? Many rise from within - though it takes a lot of time to learn a business inside and out, earn the respect of the board, and perhaps hardest of all, win the hearts of employees, Forbes said.

Excluding four founding entrepreneurs, including 39-year-old Yahoo! chief Jerry Yang and Nvidia's Huang, the 45-and-under set spent an average of nine years climbing the ranks before moving into their corner offices, it noted.

Source : IANS

HR in India is a role model for rest of the world !!

Gary Steel, the head of human resources (HR) at ABB Switzerland, feels the term HR has an impersonal ring to it and prefers 'people' instead. Speaking to ET, he says people are the lifeline of any business and employees of the power and automation technology company in India are a role model for the company worldwide.

What are your views on the HR market in India?
With the Indian economy growing at a rapid pace, HR has become attractive to people and is the heart of businesses in India. The market here has a vast talent pool with competence levels that are probably one of the best in the world. The increasing presence of Indians in global teams at ABB shows how crucial the Indian HR market has become for us. I can safely call HR in India as a role model for ABB worldwide as they excel in values, leadership and performance, the key elements of our people strategy.

Traditional HR was limited to administration, but today the focus has shifted to talent. What are the initiatives taken by ABB to ensure operational success in HR?
ABB has started the 'One Simple ABB' programme which aims for a balanced approach between HR service centres and HR business practices. The HR service centres automate transactional HR practices, improving service delivery while HR business partners act as consultants to the businesses by keeping locally relevant knowledge and strong HR skills close to operations where they can add bottomline value.

Speaking of recruitment, what are the skills you look for in HR professionals?
Today, in HR, being good is not enough. One must be good and global, with a global outlook and adaptability. In other words, managerial skills and business acumen fall flat without a global view. One needs to respect local practices, understand the regulatory setup and adapt to the local environment to fit into global roles. Further, they must be curious to learn, eager to develop and desperate to succeed.
Often one hears people debating whether non-HR people are suitable candidates for HR roles. What is your view?
HR is an area of expertise and I believe HR roles should be handled by people with a background in HR as the training they receive polishes their skills. However, that alone isn't enough as an understanding of the business is a must.
Will the ongoing economic slowdown impact opportunities for Indian talent?
Recruitment at ABB for global roles isn't driven by passport, but competence to do the job. We see tremendous potential in the Indian market. ABB had said earlier that we would require 45,000 engineers in the next five years of which we have already hired about 7,000 people. This shows the economic blip won't harm opportunities. Last year in India, we hired around 1,500 people and may need another 4,000 people in the next 3 years.
Attrition is a problem everywhere.
Employees complain about work getting monotonous. What are the steps taken by ABB to prevent stagnation?
For ABB attrition is not a problem. Our attrition rates are below the industry rates. However, meeting our recruitment targets is also a challenge. For professionals complaining about monotony in work, I would say boring people get bored.
At ABB, we allow the employee to choose their career path. Our performance assessment, leadership development and mentoring tools help the employees decide on how to evolve their careers. We plan to start a global mentoring tool too.

Waning Interest to become US citizen !

Washington, July 11 (IANS) Fewer Indians are seeking American citizenship though they are still the second biggest ethnic group to get the right to live in the US permanently. There were as many as 46,871 or 7 percent Indians among 660,477 people from around the world who became naturalised US citizens in 2007, according to the Annual Flow Report of the US Office of Immigration Statistics.

Mexico with 19 percent topped the list of leading countries of origins of new citizens with the Philippines (6 percent) taking the third place after India. China (5 percent) and Vietnam (4 percent) were next in fourth and fifth places respectively.

In 2005, the number of Indians who took citizenship was 35,962 or 6 percent of the total; in 2006, the number rose to 47,542 or 6.8 percent; and in 2007 it was 46,871 or 7.1 percent.

When combined, the 10 countries with the largest number of naturalizations accounted for 53 percent of all new citizens in 2007. The largest number of persons naturalising lived in California (181,684) followed by New York (73,676) and Florida (54,563).

The report noted that until the 1970s, a majority of people naturalising were from European countries. But with increased immigration from Asia, the arrival of Indo-Chinese refugees in the 1970s, and the historically higher naturalisation rate of Asian immigrants, the regional origin of new citizens shifted from Europe to Asia.

Asia was the leading region of origin of new citizens in every year from 1976 to 2006, except 1996-2000. A large number of illegal immigrants, 90 percent of who were from North American countries, were naturalised under the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in this period.

In 2007, however, the number of naturalisations of immigrants from North American countries slightly exceeded those of Asian immigrants, the report says. Statistics show that North America and Asia were each the regions of origin of 36 percent of people naturalising in 2007, followed by Europe with 13 percent.

Next Big HR Challenge - Where do you get Civil Engineers ?

As the country builds or upgrades over 68,000 km of national highways, more than 35 airports, two dozen of the biggest railway stations, countrywide freight corridors, a whole new hospitality and housing industry, it's faced with a critical roadblock: an alarming dearth of civil engineers, the skilled professionals who are needed to put each building block in its precise place.
Industry experts estimate that India faces a shortage of over 70,000 civil engineers each year. Not surprising, when you have just one in ten IIT students opting for the civil engineering discipline and only 200 of the 1700 engineering colleges approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) offer the course.


All IITs taken together graduate barely 500-600 civil engineering students and estimates are that not more than a total of 10,000 civil engineers are created in India per year. In fact, between a third and a half of all civil engineering undergraduates either drop off that stream soon after college and take up the more lucrative IT sector. That explains why private engineering colleges have either been reducing civil engineering seats or just shutting down this department over the last few years.
How civil engineering lost the battle over the last two decades is a story of how bricks and mortar lost their glamour to clicks - the IT boom, fuelled by a growing army of footsoldiers in computer science and electronics reduced civil engineering to an "old economy" discipline.
With heftier pay packets and global opportunities offered by the IT industry, an entire generation of engineering students/aspirants switched over from traditional engineering disciplines to the newer ones. In this churning, civil engineering finally ended at the bottom of the student's wishlist while computer science, biotechnology and electronics engineering raced up. Even those who would get civil engineering in an IIT, for example - based on their rank in the joint entrance examination - were dropping out if they got computers at a lesser-reputed college.
"So the demand steadily dropped and colleges started to shut down the civil engineering departments. Most of them replaced it with IT/electronics or communication courses that offer higher salaries. Of the total 1700 engineering colleges, just some 200 would probably be offering civil engineering as a discipline," says Prof Harish C Rai , Advisor, Engineering & Technology Bureau, AICTE.
K A N Prasad, Director General, National Construction Academy points out how in Hyderabad itself, of a total 50 colleges barely seven offer Civil Engineering. "Students are attracted to the IT industry instead as the salaries they pay is so much higher than one can expect in civil engineering. While this has been the scenario for a really long time, it changed only recently after the national highway development programme and JNUURM schemes came in along with a huge demand for civil engineers in the Middle East. So now while there are hiked pay packets, it will be some time before there are new civil engineers to take these up", says Prasad.
The effect of the shortage is being felt across the infrastructure sector and is affecting both the progress and quality of construction. Consultants and contractors alike are complaining about the lack of engineers and more importantly, the lack of "good engineers."
"Skills imparted to a civil engineer are unique and critical. Basically the skills related to structure and design are common between civil, mechanical and aerospace engineers. However, construction on land involves a good understanding of concrete, building material, reinforcement rods and so on and only civil engineers are equipped with this skill," says Ravi Sinha, professor at IIT Mumbai's Civil Engineering department. "Various construction technologies are also something only a civil engineer knows...While a civil engineer can easily move into the mechanical and other engineering disciplines, the latter cannot walk in so easily into his professional domain."
Result: a windfall for retired civil engineers, especially those from the government, including defence services and PWDs. In fact, several top construction firms have re-employed ex-servicemen to head important projects or supervise construction. A private firm recently filled up its entire board with ex-CPWD/PWD engineers paying them six times more than their last pay package. The result was a turnover that rose 15 times over in a year.
"The value of experienced civil engineers is high at present. While there are few newcomers, the ex-CPWD/PWD or army engineering corps officials are quickly being absorbed by the construction industry. With their volume of work experience, ability to understand and function with the government bidding process and an enabling private sector environment in place, these officials perform spectacularly well and can easily head and handle big projects", says Sanjeev Ralhan, Co-ordinator, Builders Association of India (BAI).
Many government sector civil engineers have also taken voluntary retirement to move over to the private sector of late. So it falls in place when Indian Roads Congress (IRC) officials say that 30-40% of civil engineering posts across the government sector are lying vacant including at the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) that is at the forefront of the massive highway upgradation exercise.
For the 35 civil engineering vacancies at the Army's Chennai-based Officers Training Academy (OTA) in Chennai this year, not a single candidate was found good enough to make it to the merit list.
Few students means few faculty and few resources - the vicious circle, experts say, shows up in the quality of the civil engineering course too. Industry experts say that there is also a wide gap between what is being taught at most private engineering colleges in the country and what contractor/employers are looking for.
With all new infrastructure projects now follow the Public Private partnership (PPP) models on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis and many with international funding, civil engineers today need to come equipped with a new set of skills.
Says R P Arora, General Secretary, Builders Association of India: "We do not find soundly trained people, especially newly trained people. At engineering colleges, the syllabus is yet to reflect the new trends and technology being used. Colleges are not equipped with faculty good enough to teach these."
Jagpal Singh, Consultant, Punj Llyod Ltd, and a board member of the Construction Industry Development Company (CIDC) agrees with Arora. "We are facing a shortage of good engineers. Those being churned out are either not up-to-date or not committed."
Engineering teachers say this has a lot to do with AICTE-approved engineering colleges. "Most of the private colleges are governed by the very rigid AICTE curriculum in which updating is a very tedious process. So while it is difficult to get changes through in the first place, the faculty in these colleges is also opposed to changes in curriculum because many are not suited to teaching upgraded versions," says an IIT civil engineering professor.
Experts say that the only way to break the vicious circle is when campuses realise the shortage and industry brings in higher salaries comparable to other engineering disciplines. This is already happening, say engineering professors. "Given that civil engineering today is so dependent on new technology of materials and computer-aided design," says an IIT civil engineering professor, "students don't feel that they are somehow cut off from what's the latest in engineering. The current shortage has to be addressed through a variety of ways but the most positive news is that today, there is a market and we know there will be one tomorrow as well."
Source : Yahoo.com

SHRM India - Recruiting the Best and Brightest

The Strategic Human Resource Management India, Private Limited (SHRM
India) invites you to attend an exclusive Business Education program
for senior HR professionals: Recruiting the Best and the Brightest
with Dr. Sridhar Balasubramanian of the University of North Carolina ,
Chapel Hill , North Carolina , USA .

This workshop will address marketing and business concepts that HR
professionals can use to become more market-, customer- and
service-oriented.

TWO-DAY PROGRAM FEE
Early Bird Rate (Until 5/1/08): INR 19,000
Standard Rate (After 5/2/08): INR 22,000
Corporate Discount Rate (Send 3+ Attendees): INR 17,000

Program fee includes program workbook, networking lunch, coffee breaks
and Certificate of Achievement.


ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Dr. Sridhar Balasubramanian
Associate Professor of Marketing, Kenan-Flagler Business School ,
University of North Carolina

Sridhar Balasubramanian is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business
School . His teaching and research interests are in the areas of
marketing strategy, customer-focus, innovation and growth strategy,
services design and marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship
management, game theory, and the management of competition. His
research has won prestigious awards from organizations such as INFORMS
and the National Science Foundation. More>>

Select here for program details, locations and to download the
registration form.

PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Recruiting the Best and the Brightest: How to Develop a Market- and
Customer-Focused Mindset
Workplace Application: This workshop will address marketing and
business concepts that HR professionals can use to become more
market-, customer- and service-oriented.

This two-day program will analyze the employment marketplace and how
an applicant makes the decision to join or not join your organization.
Participants will also gain insight on how to build HR as a
world-class service provider and how to more effectively market the HR
function in their organizations.

The following perspectives will be covered:
Macro-marketing: Analyzing the broad market of potential employees and
enhancing their image of the company.
Micro-marketing: Understanding and influencing potential employees at
an individual level.
Internal marketing: Building up the image and influence of HR within
the company.

Who Should Attend?
Senior HR professionals responsible for the strategies behind their
organizations' recruitment and retention of talent.

Instructor Spotlight
Dr. Sridhar Balasubramanian
Associate Professor of Marketing, Kenan-Flagler Business School,
University of North Carolina

Sridhar Balasubramanian is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business
School. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of
marketing strategy, customer-focus, innovation and growth strategy,
services design and marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship
management, game theory, and the management of competition. His
research has won prestigious awards from organizations such as INFORMS
and the National Science Foundation.

Sridhar has been frequently recognized for outstanding teaching. He
was designated an MBA Master Teacher at UNC, and has also taught
executive education programs in Mexico, Portugal and India. He has
conducted executive education programs for and/or consulted with
numerous organizations, including BASF, Boeing, Caterpillar, John
Deere, SHRM, the State Bank of Hyderabad, Union Bank, the U.S. Navy,
and Xerox.

His work appears in journals such as Marketing Science, Management
Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Retailing, Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, Decision Support Systems, and Sloan
Management Review. Before beginning his academic career, Sridhar was
an area sales manager for India's leading food manufacturing and
marketing company.

Sridhar received MA and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University, an MBA
from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM Bangalore-India), and a
B. Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT
Kharagpur-India).

Program Fee
Two Day Program Price

Early Bird Rate (Until 05/01/08): INR 19,000
Standard Rate (After 05/02/08): INR 22,000
Corporate Discount Rate: Send 3+ Attendees: INR 17,000/person

The program fee includes a program workbook, speaker book, networking
lunch, coffee breaks and a Certificate of Achievement.

New! 2008 Corporate Subscription Business Education programs will be
available in September and December. If you are interested in
reserving a seat for future events for one flat rate please contact a
SHRM India representative at shrmindia@shrm.org.

Program Locations and Hotel Accommodations

Please contact the hotels directly to make your room reservations.

Mumbai: May 22–23
Taj President
90 Cuffe Parade
Mumbai, 400 005
Maharashtra, India
(91)(22) 6665 0303

Bangalore May 26–27
Taj West End
Race Course Road
Bangalore, 560 001
Karnataka, India
(91)(80) 6660 5660

Hyderabad: May 29–30
Taj Banjara
Road 1, Banjara Hills
Hyderabad, 500 034
Andhra Pradesh, India
(91)(40) 6666 9999


Registration

Mail registration form with Demand Draft/Cheque (allow 1 to 2 weeks
for processing), payable to Wizcraft,
International Entertainment Pvt.
Ltd.: #25, 12 B Main HAL 2nd Stage
Indiranagar, Bangalore
560 038 India

Fax registration form with Demand Draft information to: +91 80 2527 2760

E-mail registration form with Demand Draft information to:
SHRM@wizcraftworld.com

QUESTIONS?
Please contact a SHRM India representative at +91 22 6707-8765 or
shrmindia@shrm.org.

Does Forced ranking help ??

It is the waste we rue. 38 years ago, the Harvard Business Review published Harry Levinson’s classic Management by Whose Objectives? Levinson argued that objectives seem to be forced on hapless employees who then had to achieve targets for which they really had no say. He argued for a strong alignment between company and personal goals and for a deeper, more empathetic understanding of employee motivation. Decades later, we have found something more ironical at work. While performance management systems continue to be viewed as unresponsive to individual sources of motivation, they do not seem to be explicitly aligned to achieving organisational goals either. It is this sad, unnecessary misalignment that we want to address.

In an economy where nothing really seems broken, alignment still matters for two reasons. First, because it is possible to build performance management systems that are responsive to both business goals and to personal aspirations . Second, this nurturing of harmony opens up great possibility for individual and company potential to get realised . Currently, many companies feel forced to set limits on achievable, sustainable growth because they do not see any other way out.

We suggest that neither companies nor employees need operate under such unnecessary and painful constraints. We will demonstrate how one of our clients, Wanbury Limited, has reshaped its Performance Management System (PMS). By focusing on alignment and on eliminating slippage, the company and its employees have seen significant improvement in results.
Conserving time: Performance planning and evaluation

Slack stealthily creeps into performance management systems. Take for example the timing of performance related discussions. In India, there is a tendency to conduct performance planning — for the year ahead — and performance evaluation, for the year gone by, in the same meeting.

Though it may sound counterintuitive, companies need to have two separate sessions. This saves time because both processes- of setting strategic goals and of evaluating employees- then receive the attention they independently merit.

Organisations should synchronise their performance planning with their business planning and budgeting processes, usually held in March. This will ensure that goals are set and communicated before the start of the fiscal year. Performance evaluations should take place in the first quarter of the fiscal year, usually May-July , when all necessary data is available. Wanbury Limited, implemented these changes, and found that they not only saved time but also had a better aligned process.

Conserving energies: Focus & alignment

Squandering organisational energy due to lack of focus and misalignment is the second example. This happens when a company focuses on a number of goals rather than a crucial few. Too many KRAs spread across a diverse number of themes and roles usually indicate poor focus. Says Wanbury Limited’s Deputy MD, K.R.N Moorthy, “Before our PMS re-design , we were targeting a laundry list of objectives .

Consequently, we were losing focus on what we really needed to do to achieve more growth and better performance . Focusing on the vital few goals that were aligned with our organisation’s short and long term objectives has shown actual results in improved performance.”
Next, the company conserved energy by building synergies across units. As Moorthy elaborates, “Earlier, each department would define and cascade its KRAs in isolation. We have since understood the importance of integrating KRAs across businesses and functions.

We now see inspired teamwork between teams that are now focusing on a larger goal for the unit rather than the earlier , narrow spectrum of objectives” . One thumb rule for alignment: look at the KRAs for any role and check if similar priorities are reflected in the KRAs for other roles that are expected to collaborate with it. A couple of critical nuances here.

Not all roles during a particular year are likely to have KRAs. Those divisions that are contributing to the company’s strategic goals should have KRAs. Others should focus on what we refer to as function-centric local initiatives and on daily priorities. One of our clients is a leading player in the knowledge outsourcing space. In one year, the organisation’s energies were focused on new product development , hence only the sales and research functions had KRAs.
In another year, the finance function had the most KRAs due to financial restructuring. Second, a company benefits most from having a formal process linking interdepartmental KRAs. At Wanbury Limited, informality, caused slippage. When the PMS honed its focus on a few vital KRAs, and then on systematically cascading functional and individual goals, alignment improved dramatically.

Unlocking energies and talent

We have noted that mutuality should be a central component of goal setting. Unfortunately, goal setting often does become a top-down unilateral process, with little scope for individual inspiration. We believe however that inspiration can be tapped if employees understand what is mandated and what isn’t .

I n d e e d , most employees do not have a say regarding strategic organisational goals, which are reflected in the KRAs. For example, the board may mandate that the company will “launch a new product in the last quarter of the year” . It is in the two other sets of goals mentioned earlier, local initiatives and daily priorities (rather uninspiring terms, we admit) that we see the most scope for personal inspiration.

‘Local initiatives’ refers to the improvements that a department or business unit needs to make to its performance.

‘Daily priorities’ refer to an employee’s job description, the rock solid ‘business-asusual’ activities that need to be done superbly. Organisations can now gain greater control over what gets done while leveraging a bottom-up process to channel individual talent.
The folly of fixed, forced fits

Many companies follow the Bell curve for their performance rating distributions. Usually, companies follow a 4 point scale for employee ratings : 10% get a 1, 40% get a rating of 2 or 3, and 10% get a 4. These percentages are rarely subject to change.

We suggest however that organisations remain open to three kinds of distributions instead. The standard distribution holds good only if the company is on target. When targets are exceeded either by the company or a particular unit, then the company should skew the performance curve. For example, it can follow a 1-4 distribution on the lines of 5-30-45-20 . If one unit merits a 3 rating and another a 4, then support functions like finance and HR can be given a weightage of 3.5, and their staff rated accordingly . If the company does not do well, it can shift its distribution downward to 15-50-30-05 , from 1-4 respectively.

Even the most rigorous systems however cannot replace leadership, wisdom and prudence. The company’s board has to take ownership of the performance management process by asking questions like: Are the goals fair? Can we also reward work on a ’best efforts’ basis rather than only on outcomes, so that initiative and motivation do not get squashed?
This approach worked well in Wanbury Limited. According to Surina Iyer, GM-HR ,

“Normalisation of individual and organisational performance was always a struggle for us, like it is for many companies . We have debated the merits of differentiated recognition so that we could establish a stronger link between organisational and individual performance. When we gave ourselves the flexibility to look at different Bell curves, we found that we were able to truly focus on performance for results and on individual contribution.”

Additional benefits have accrued . As Iyer explained, “When we began focusing on a vital few goals, and on better inter-unit alignment, we saw results immediately. Later, when we began to work with different normal curves and had fully implemented the new system, we were able to gather solid data that helped us in our employee development initiatives.”

None of this is particularly difficult to do. Maps already exist. One does not need to look for new terrain, one only needs to draw the roads afresh. Or, as an old philosopher who doubtless, doubled up as a bossy scold would have said: do not look for fresh vistas, look with new eyes.
(Padmaja Alaganandan leads Human Capital at Mercer Consulting India) (Gopal Nagpal is a principal in the Mumbai office)

Source ET