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How to: Stay Afloat This Festive Season – 5 Tips for Boosting Productivity

How to: Stay Afloat This Festive Season – 5 Tips for Boosting Productivity

The festive season is upon us and these are the times when we truly stretch ourselves, a lot being required of us both on the personal as well as the professional front. It is as though we are doing a limbo between work and home. To be able to make the most of the little time we have on our hands, in which we are expected to tackle a humongous work load, being a little mindful towards boosting productivity will help a great deal. Here are 5 things that we practice at Oorja Biz Ops to boost our productivity and we would love to share them with you. Read on:

Productivity Tip #1 – Do not be over ambitious, be realistic – Of course it is a great thing to try and exceed one’s own expectations, especially in the “World of Work”. However, when time is less and there is much to do, be pragmatic and create a to-do list of priority tasks. Categorize everything into ‘important’, ‘not important but essential’, ‘urgent’ and ‘important and urgent’. Then set about accomplishing the tasks which need your attention first. Be realistic when you set goals for yourself, it will save you a lot of stress and disappointment.

Productivity Tip #2 – No shame in seeking help – When you are not able to handle something, and know there are people willing to help you out, reach out. Don’t let your ego stop you from asking for help. You learn something new and learn how to solve the problem in a quicker and more efficient way. That way you won’t be stuck at a particular point forever, neglecting the other tasks which need your attention.

Productivity Tip #3 – Delegate wherever possible – If you have resources and a team at your disposal, learn how to delegate tasks. It will help both you as well as them. Being a control freak always has adverse effects on your productivity levels. It is impossible to micro manage everything. Also, do acknowledge and trust the talent of other people who have been hired because of their skills to handle the particular tasks. It helps you work in a team efficiently, while making your work progress seamlessly, faster and as productive as ever.

Productivity Tip #4 – Take breaks – Ever heard of a productive zombie? No, right? That is exactly why we wouldn’t recommend you having a death wish of working tirelessly until you finally turn into a zombie. There are ample researches and studies which have proven how crucial breaks are to boost productivity and help in retaining attention and focus. Take regular but small breaks in between your work, but be careful to not let the breaks stretch or spill over into time-consuming distractions. Which brings us to the next point.

Productivity Tip #5 – Have a Zero Distractions Policy – Understand that you are on a really tight schedule, and any time spent on unnecessary emails or browsing the internet is going to cost you. Shut out all distractions when you sit down to work and focus single-mindedly on what is in front of you. There are several productivity tools that can help you do this. Go by setting a time limit for each task and push yourself to do it within the time you have set for yourself. After, reward yourself with a cookie 🙂

Tell us what your favorite method of boosting productivity is, and we would be happy to write a whole new article on your inputs! After all, the World of Work is all about giving and receiving knowledge and experience.

Knock, Knock! Who’s There? Inspiration – Top 5 Inspirational Short Movies

Knock, Knock! Who’s There? Inspiration – Top 5 Inspirational Short Movies

At Oorja Biz Ops, we understand that some days you just can’t get out of bed. All you want to do is stay under the sheets and feed the “I am feeling existential” monster, literally and metaphorically. We have those days too. But as a team, we have our ways of dealing with them and love to share them with you. We have a secret treasure chest where we store all the inspiration we come across, and if you were wondering, our posts on the movies, books and Ted talks are from that secret store. If you don’t have a long time to obsess about life’s worries and get ready to face the world again, and need a quick fix, here is a list of five Inspirational Short Movies which will leave you feeling motivated and up and ready even before you’ve finished watching them.

1. Glory Days (11 minutes) –

You feel like a hurricane has wrecked your life? Well, watch this movie and find out what it is like to really have a hurricane wreck everything you hold dear to your heart. But you never give up on what is dear to you, and no matter how tough the going gets, you get up and start building again. A truly inspiring movie on the football team of the Warren Easton High School of Louisiana and how they rebuilt their football program post the catastrophe of hurricane Katrina.

2.Rosa – These Storms (11 minutes)–

All about living, and living your dreams. Nothing is impossible when you put your mind to it and Rosa proves that to you. The movie is about a young Mayan woman, Rosa, and how she overcomes her past to live her dreams – what she thought was impossible being a woman in rural Guatemala.

3. Never Give Up (8 minutes) –

An award winning short film, it features a man with a partial disability with his legs, his struggle to overcome the disadvantage and his victory. A truly classic example of “where there is a will, there is definitely a way.” You can move mountains if your will power is strong enough, and here is an example of a man conquering a disability that medicine gave up on, through his sheer will power. Time to kick away the blanket then?

4. Vincent (6 minutes) –

This classic animation short film made by Tim Burton back in 1982, is still one of the best in this genre. Psychedelic, funny, yet thought provoking. This wonderful creation will leave you confused between what’s real and what’s imagined, and if we complicate our lives simply by imagining problems that don’t even exist!

5. The Gift (5 minutes) –

Portrayed against the backdrop of a futuristic Moscow, this movie also bagged an award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. What is “the gift”, is it the redemption that humanity desperately needs? Watch to find out!

We hope you feel all better after watching some of these and are back to believing that there is no problem which is insurmountable. After all, as we keep reminding ourselves and you, all you need to do is be #HappyInTheNow! Onward!

 

Five Outdated Human Resource Policies That Need To Go, Now!

Five Outdated Human Resource Policies That Need To Go, Now!

We spend between 8 to 12 hours of our waking time at a place we call “work”. Some of us have chosen our career options, some of us didn’t really have any choice. Whichever category you may fall into, the one thing common between employees from both categories is that both are “governed” by the Human Resource policies your company subscribes to. The HR policies your company believes in and enforces speaks volumes about how they treat or intend to treat their employees. As an employee, you would ideally want to work in an environment which is respectful and put quite curtly, treats you like a responsible adult. Unfortunately, many of the HR policies which are in practice are extremely unnecessary and outdated. The World of Work has made progress by leaps and bounds, however, it is policies like these that hinder the pace of this progress. If only every organization, every company followed two things J.W. Marriott said, like their bible, and shaped all their HR Policies around them, the World of Work would be such a happier place.  We continue our post on outdated HR Policies that need to be scrapped, in the spirit of these words, by one of the greatest entrepreneurs ever:

“Take care of your people and they will take care of your customers”

“Treat your employees the way you would like to be treated – provide them every avenue to success. Get their confidence and respect. Have them like and be interested in their job.”

These Five Outdated Human Resource Policies need to go and need to go now:

1. The Tedious No Reference Policy: For those of you who have been at the receiving end of this extremely frustrating policy, and have no idea why most companies across the globe follow this as a rule, the story goes like this: “Not very long ago, in the United States, an anesthesiologist was dismissed after he was caught using narcotics at work. After firing him, the company gave him a positive reference, but later, at his next job, he came to work doped, which almost cost a patient’s life. The patient’s family, who sued the new employer, was awarded $8-million USD. That company then turned around and sued the anesthesiologist’s former company, which provided the reference, and won”.

Hence, in order to avoid complications arising from references which can later be used against the company, and also to avoid defamation lawsuits (in case the company gives the employee a brutally honest reference the employee disagrees with), companies prefer giving no references at all. This HR policy is not only outdated in today’s world where networking is crucial, it also means that there is absolutely no trust in the employee-employer relationship. While it is only fair for an employee to get a reference from his/her former employer stating his/her potential, it is equally beneficial for the future employer to have knowledge of the same.

2. The Insensitive Bereavement Pay Policy: This particular policy is outright insensitive. Losing someone close to you is difficult enough, without having to fill in bereavement applications categorizing whether the deceased was an immediate family member or a non-family member, based upon which the companies issue paid leaves. It is these occasions that you as an employer, or the person responsible for the well-being of the employees at the organization, have to be extremely sensitive about. And it is precisely these occasions that characterize employee-employer relationships, which have a direct impact on productivity. However, when your employee loses someone dear, put yourself in his/her shoes and think how you would feel if the place you go to work at objectifies it, in a manner so insensitive. Being human will take you a much longer way than being a capitalist in these situations. Life, after all, is not a balance sheet. Take care of your employees and they will take care of your business.

3. The School-like Attendance Policy: We thought we left school eons ago, however, we were so wrong. Old school attendance policies haunt us to this day, even at work, where we thought we would be treated as responsible adults. Not allowing work from remote location as a rule and clocking arrival and departure time (which then goes on to affect the pay) stringently indicate a deep-rooted lack of trust and  only result in demotivating the employees. How about moving from time-based management to goal-based management ?

4. The Draconian Bell Curve Performance Reviews Policy: One wonders if this is a particularly Indian phenomenon. As Indian kids, we were constantly compared to the metaphorical (and sometimes literal) “Sharmaji ka beta” (the neighbour’s son for our international readers). So we get a job and are finally ready to taste freedom, only to realize, “Sharmaji ka beta” has followed us to our workplace too! Bell curve performance reviews segregate employees according to their performances (high, average and low) by a comparison between the employees, and are completely based on the discretion of the manager. The ones ending up at the bottom of the curve end up being fired to accommodate fresh recruits to make up for the lost performance. This may not only result in unfair evaluation but also in high attrition rates thus having a direct negative impact on the goodwill of the company. Moreover, this format of a performance review makes for an extremely competitive and pressured environment, which any good manager knows, are huge road blocks for productivity. It is imperative to avoid such a divide and conquer strategy in the workplace. On the brighter side, Infosys having made a change, hopefully more Indian companies will follow in scrapping this draconian policy!

5. The Regressive Dress Code Policy: Once again, let’s just try not to keep reinforcing what we all went through at school. Yes, of course there should be some kind of dress code or at least some definition of clothing which may be considered offensive by others, hence to be avoided. However, micromanaging what your employees can and cannot wear is twisting and bending their identities out of shape in a lot of ways. For example, the still ongoing debate on Muslim women wearing head scarfs in France. Let your employees be, let them breathe easy. How one dresses is how one feels, how one feels is how one creates, and every individual has the right to decide that for oneself.

It is indeed sad that in a world as globalized as the one we currently inhabit, we still need to negotiate, on a daily basis, these outdated policies which regulate and control our every day at work. In the longer run, a business which is sustainable and scalable is one which provides an environment to nurture and respect its employees. Like we said earlier, all you need to do is, take care of your employees and they will take care of your business! It has been so long since we have been ‘profit’ oriented, let’s strive for a change to be more ‘people’ oriented. Trust us (and some of the world’s best business leaders) – the profits will soon follow.

To Do or Not To Do – Quitting Your Full Time Job to Work from Home: CONS

To Do or Not To Do – Quitting Your Full Time Job to Work from Home: CONS

In our earlier post, we wrote about the advantages of working from home. However, working from home is surely not as easy as it may seem to be and it is not recommended for everybody. In this post we point out a few scenarios where work from home may not be the best option for you. By no means do we intend to confuse you. In fact, we hope these two posts together will bring some clarity to help you make an informed decision. Here are some reasons as to why it may be wiser for you to not quit your full time job to work from home.

1. Not for ‘procrastinators’ – If thinking of getting down to work reminds you of the tap that needs to be fixed, the room that needs to be cleaned and the cake that needs to be baked, admit that you are a ‘procrastinator’. Working from home will only make you procrastinate even more. To be able to work from home, you need to constantly motivate yourself, you won’t have other colleagues or your boss to do that for you, and need to be extremely self-disciplined. This is perhaps one of the greatest flip sides, that you may descend into the land of slackers and never recover!

2. Not for workaholics – If you are the opposite of what a procrastinator is, a go-getter and a workaholic, this may not be quite the right option for you either since you will have no office hours to limit your work to and will end up working crazy hours because you know your home is your work place. As a result, you will neglect your family, and/or have no social life at all.

3. You miss out on networking and office fun – One of the greatest disadvantages of working from home is that there will be far lesser or no opportunities at all for networking. In the process you end up losing out on knowing a lot of resourceful and interesting people. Also, there will be no scope for water cooler conversations and the office camaraderie, unless you plan on talking to your water cooler back home, which we explicitly forbid, since it would creep your dog out. You wouldn’t want that to happen since he might be the only company you’ve got!

4. There will be no office to ‘escape’ to – You chose work from home to be closer to your family, and to be a more responsible person who takes care of both family as well as work. However, what you probably don’t realize is staying at home 24*7 might get very depressing either because of isolation or because of having to give constant attention to people/things. In that case, office would at least give you a few hours away from home to help you recharge. Once you choose on working from home, you would no longer have that option.

5. Distractions – Yelling kids, needy pets, the constantly ringing door bell. Telephone ringing off the hook. Neighbour’s television. Your own temptations to take afternoon naps or swims, or simply to finish that “un-put-downable” book! There will be distractions galore if you work from home and it takes a very strong mind to ignore these, keep calm and continue working.

Besides, there is also the all-important “money” factor.  In some cases, opting for a work-from-home option may mean taking a substantial cut in the compensation. Most companies have not yet realized the full potential of offering remote or flexible working options and see this option as a soft or unnecessary perk (there are some companies too who reward their employees for opting for this option as it leads to considerable capex and opex savings for them).

If you feel the cons are nothing you have to worry about and the pros far outweigh them, we wish you all the very best. If you feel that the pros are not worth it, and having a full time job is much better for you, we wish you all the very best too! However, if you are still confused, we urge you to write to us and we will do our best to walk you through your confusions. Here is wishing you happy confusions! 🙂

P.S:

The Top Five Ted Talks on Leadership

The Top Five Ted Talks on Leadership

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy

The Ted-Talks series which turned 30 in 2014, began as a one-time event and has evolved into a platform of sharing and receiving for professional and personal development, indeed a “star making factory”, by those who have been there, done that. Motivation and inspiration cannot get more real-time than this. With technology at our fingertips, we are now able to view these tremendously powerful talks, sitting miles away from the real venue and without any cost. We have written about must-read books on leadership, must-watch inspirational movies and now it is time for TED – a fantastic source for life-long learning, something that we at Oorja Biz Ops deeply believe in. To be a great leader, you have to be ready to evolve continuously, to learn and grow every day. We have picked our favourites here for the top five Ted talks on leadership. Read on and make sure you watch them, because they are all ‘real’ leaders, in the ‘real’ ‘world of work’, therefore trust what is coming straight from the horse’s mouth!

  1. Rosalinde Torres: What it takes to be a great leader – http://www.ted.com/talks/roselinde_torres_what_it_takes_to_be_a_great_leader

Leadership expert, Rosalinde Torres summarizes 25 years of her work experience of leading people, and seeing great leaders at work in 3 succinct questions for aspiring company chiefs, which are potentially questions they might as well lives their professional lives by. Indeed, “The world is full of leadership programs, but the best way to learn how to lead might be right under your nose”! [1]

  1. Simon Sinek: Why good leaders make you feel safe – https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_why_good_leaders_make_you_feel_safe

“I try to find, celebrate and teach leaders how to build platforms that will inspire others.” — Simon Sinek. Which is exactly what he does in this brilliant talk. Sinek speaks about the qualities that make a good leader, the most essential quality being the ability to create trust in employees, or as he says, “being able to draw staffers into a circle of trust, especially in an uneven economy”. He talks about the importance of making your employees feel secure, and how it is directly proportional to their personal and professional productivity.

  1. Stefan Sagmeister: The power of time off – http://www.ted.com/talks/stefan_sagmeister_the_power_of_time_off

The great poet William Henry Davies couldn’t have summed it up better – “What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.” Designer Stefan Sagmeister speaks exactly of this, only connecting it to our professional productivity and how “time off” affects our leadership skills. He speaks about how it is important to step back every now and then, take stalk, re-assess and re-plan. He talks about how every seven years he closes his New York studio for a year-long sabbatical and how this break re-ignites his creativity and helps motivate those working with him. 

  1. Derek Sivers: How to start a movement – http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement

And entrepreneur Derek Sivers shows you how to do that in just 3 minutes and 9 seconds with the help of the video of a funny man dancing in a park. He speaks about how important it is for a leader to be uninhibited, which is possible only if he believes wholeheartedly in his own idea and is ready to face ridicule and sarcasm. More than that, it also teaches us about the importance of the “first follower” and the importance of treating the follower more as an equal, and the idea then becoming about “them” rather than “his”, or “hers”. A brilliant talk to start your day with!

  1. Kare Anderson – Be an opportunity maker – http://www.ted.com/talks/kare_anderson_be_an_opportunity_maker

For someone who was diagnosed as “phobically shy” in her childhood, Kare Anderson has sure come a long, long way. In this incredibly powerful talk, Anderson talks about how she helped herself develop by helping other people. How she discovered her talents and passions by helping other people discover theirs. A truly noble and symbiotic insight into how more people should understand the concept of “leadership”.

Have your own favorite talks to share which we’ve missed? Do let us know what they are so that we can listen to them too! Happy Leading!

Five Career Strategies to Maximize your Potential and Performance on your Job

Five Career Strategies to Maximize your Potential and Performance on your Job

Do you believe that the Performance Appraisal systems in your workplace actually work for you? Chances are that you don’t and you are in “good” company here. A study done by Sibson’s Consulting found that Only 30 percent of the study respondents (750 individuals, primarily senior-level human resources (HR) professionals) reported that their employees trust the performance-management system. Given that formal performance appraisals don’t seem to be working as well as they should to give employees their due, one needs to take charge of his/her career and have a self performance management system in place to ensure career growth and commensurate rewards.  Just being good at your work, efficient and cooperative is not enough – it takes more than that to grow and be successful at the workplace today no matter what your job role or level is.

So how does one take charge of their own performance management and hence the rewards arising out of it? What practical steps and behaviors are needed at the work place to ensure a positive outcome at the job? Here are five career strategies drawn out from my experience and analysis with my team and peers of what works:

Career Strategy #1: Work Hard AND Smart – Yup, there is no escaping working hard if you want to be successful. People on the outer edges of the performance bell curve are usually workaholics. But you also need to be smart here – learn to say no to work or assignments that do not fit into your goals early on. Else you are sucked into the vortex of work alcoholism with no real benefit to yourself – doing work that you do not enjoy doing helps no one in the long run. If your heart is not in it, you will not be performing at your best levels. So choose wisely and then be 100 % dedicated to your work.

Career Strategy #2: Promote yourself – This was a hard-earned lesson for me. I had always believed that my work will speak for itself and rewards may be delayed but will never be denied. But then, who has time to wait? You cannot afford to be shy if you want your work to be recognized.  Be aware of your worth and don’t settle for less. You have to be your own marketing manager and actively market the value that you bring in to your manager, department and organization. Make sure people know who you are and what you do. Make your achievements and contributions visible as and when they happen and not just list them at appraisal time. A good way to keeps track of your achievements is also to make your resume a work in progress document that you keep updated as when you achieve a milestone.

Career Strategy #3: Get a mentor or two or three – The advantage of having a mentor at your work (or outside) is multifold. A mentor can help you see a situation differently, identify your key skills and where you need to develop yourself and be someone in your corner when you need some additional support. Look around you to find people who you admire and are role models for where you want to be. Don’t limit yourself to one mentor. You might look to one for  domain expertise, to another for industry expertise, and yet another for personal scenarios when you need practical and helpful advice or brainstorming. And if you are lucky to find a great mentor, invest in that relationship and make sure that you too provide support when your mentor needs it.

Career Strategy #4: Build a network early on – “No man/woman is an island” as they say and in the work scenario, this is amplified. Build a strong and trusted support system of peers at your work place. Draw upon each other’s strengths to get ahead and for back up when you need it. Stay close and vent, strategize and have plain and simple fun within your group. I have also found this to be a good antidote to fight against any negativity (read office politics) in the environment. As you move up in your company or switch jobs or roles, be proactive in building your contact base and staying in touch. You never know who may be of help in boosting your career (and this works both ways) and serendipity often strikes when you are prepared for it. Social media makes this easy nowadays and LinkedIn is a great place to achieve this. There is rich content on the web on maximizing your returns from LinkedIn and here is one from an expert to get you started (http://dngraham.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/five-points-to-consider-before-participating-on-linkedin/).

Career Strategy #5: Keep Learning and Stay Positive – Being a lifelong learner is essential for your career success when skills, technologies and market requirements are changing so rapidly. Not only do you need to be open to new experiences and keep learning to convert your weaknesses to strengths but also to be current and relevant in today’s job market. Set your own training goals for the year and make sure that you keeping adding new skills and knowledge to your repertoire. Limit your exposure to negative environments and people – these are energy suckers and if you are not careful, you would soon be working on fulfilling someone else’s agenda instead of your own. Remain positive and true to your own performance plan and keep moving forward on the goals that you have set for yourself – so much more productive than being distracted by negative office politics or complaint-sessions.

Maximizing your performance and potential on your job needs you to take control of your own career plan – be the CEO of YOU Inc. Be fiercely intentional about where you want to be, know your worth and be BODACIOUS (one of my favourite words – meaning a combination of Remarkable, Courageous, Audacious, Spirited) at work.

I leave you with these words from Abraham Lincoln: Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing.

What would you add to the list above as necessary strategies to Thrive and not just Survive at work? What has worked or not worked for you? I would love to hear back and learn from you.