TalentEquity http://talentequity.in/blog Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:22:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Become the favorite colleague http://talentequity.in/blog/become-the-favorite-colleague/ http://talentequity.in/blog/become-the-favorite-colleague/#comments Mon, 27 Jun 2011 11:07:36 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=248 In my last post I discussed how to capitalize on some career enhancing moments and shine at workplace. These moments are rare to get at workplace and you just can’t afford to let them go. So be confident, energetic and comfortable while dealing with such situations.

Follow certain rules so that you not only become confident and comfortable at workplace but you go one step ahead and become the favourite among your colleagues. They are:

Be friendly – Saying a hello to your fellow colleagues in the morning is a good idea. Also, enter office with a smile on your face, meet people cheerfully. Always try to be friendly and approachable. Show little interest in your colleague’s personal and professional life. ‘How is your son doing?’, ‘Heard that you have met that deadline’ etc. kind of questions can be asked.

Be polite – At workplace, you may have to encounter different kind of situations, pleasant as well as unpleasant. People may respect you, love you or even shout at you. Don’t lose your composure or get angry in such situations. They may badmouth about you, try to pull you down but don’t express your strong emotions in public. Because people may perceive you as rude and angry. This could be the roadblock in your goal of becoming favourite.

Be a conversation starter – Don’t wait for other person to come to you and say hello. Take initiative to interact with them. It’s not an ego issue you go to their desk to hello. Engage in little conversations to gain their trust and affection.

Be empathetic – To really understand your colleagues, try to see the things from their point of view as well. Be with them in their happiness, success or even sadness.

No gossiping/complaining/backstabbing – As I have discussed in my earlier blog, ‘Backstabbing at Workplace‘, the one thing you would not do in your race to become favourite is back-stab. You will not confront your opposition by unlawful ways.

Give appreciations – Congratulating colleagues for their work or meeting a deadline is a good idea. Don’t forget to appreciate people for their skills and hard work. It will get you closer to them. Even if you have to criticize someone then don’t get personal. You can read my earlier post, ‘Never get personal at workplace‘.

Be a helping hand - If you help people in their crisis moment, they will genuinely appreciate you. So whenever someone needs work related help, go for it. If you help them it will come back to you.

I hope this will make you more acceptable among your colleagues. What else rules do you follow to do the same? Share with us.

Keep your feedback coming.

]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/become-the-favorite-colleague/feed/ 0 Some career enhancing moments – Capitalize on it! http://talentequity.in/blog/some-career-enhancing-moments-capitalize-on-it/ http://talentequity.in/blog/some-career-enhancing-moments-capitalize-on-it/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 12:55:10 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=243 career enhancing momentsYou must have noticed that every now and then we get a chance to highlight our skills, abilities and earn some browney points at workplace. But most of the time we end up regretting that we could not utilize the opportunity as we could have been. May be because we did not identify the opportunity, may be because we were not ready to rock, etc. However these moments of intense activity or public limelight are our moments to enhave our career.

Let’s share and freeze on some of the moments where you can leave your good impression and utlizie that in your career growth. It will help to do a little preparation beforehand. They can be:

  • First day at workplace
  • Giving a presentation
  • Giving an exhibition
  • Participating in an important meeting
  • While handling a crisis/ working on deadline
  • Dealing with clients/vendors/media
  • Organizing a function at workplace
  • Taking responsibilities/initiatives apart from assigned work
  • Working on company newsletter
  • Supervising some out of the schedule office work like organizing party/relocation etc.

A lot of people, when presented with such an option, will be filled nervousness, dismay and tension. People may not like to take initiatives for presentation, exhibition, out of scheduled work or taking some additional responsibility. The general response is, “Why me?”. Well, its very simple if you want to get extra you have to work extra. You need to understand that these are some career enhancing moments and you better take the opportunity to shine and grow. After all there are no bad jobs, only bad attitude to jobs.

So, always look for ways of making such jobs better, more interesting, quicker and understand that they are providing you with the opportunity to shine.

Share your views on how you seize opportunities to shine in your work routine. In my next post I shall discuss about some ways to generate these career enhancing moments and become the favourite at workplace.

Keep your feedback coming!

]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/some-career-enhancing-moments-capitalize-on-it/feed/ 1 Are you in search of a better boss? http://talentequity.in/blog/are-you-in-search-of-a-better-boss/ http://talentequity.in/blog/are-you-in-search-of-a-better-boss/#comments Fri, 27 May 2011 12:34:53 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=237 Most people believe that there is no such thing in the universe as, ‘Good boss’. A good boss acts as a coach/mentor and is the kind of person who help you to learn valuable new things, help you in getting more increments, promotions, guide you through your career and helps you to improve yourself personally and professionally? — In short, a boss who’s a real a guide, mentor, friend and partner?

I personally believe that an answer to all the above questions is ‘yes’. We generally hear more complaints about bosses than praise from people. We also assume that key to relationship between boss and subordinate lies with boss only. It’s boss’s role to make relationship smoother and easy rather than subordinate. However this is not the truth. Both boss and his subordinate are equally responsible for shaping their relationship. After all, it’s a relationship of mutual dependence. One can not succeed if other fails. So, take this mutual dependency as stepping stone to make relationship more comfortable and easy going.

You can start working towards making a good relationship with your boss by answering some of the following questions to yourself:

Are you meeting work expectation?
Every work demands a certain outcome. Same way every boss has certain expectation from their subordinates. Expectation in terms of work efficiency, taking initiatives and responsibility, meeting work deadlines, level of seriousness and professionalism. Do you think that you meet these kinds of expectations of your boss?

Does your boss criticize you?
A good mentor or coach should be a good judge al well. So that he can point out the areas of improvements, mistakes made by you thus giving you right career directions and correct you whenever you go wrong. So, do not always take it in a negative way whenever your boss correcting you, pointing your mistakes or giving you suggestions. Be feedback oriented person and appreciate it.

Does your boss trust you?
Trust is the key to any relationship and competence & character is the key to earn a trust. Does he/she trust you with your competencies, potential and ability to take up and accomplish a task? If not then there are less chances that you will get challenging work and ultimately recognition & acceptance in return.

Are you considered as a ‘difficult employee’?
Your boss might perceive you as a ‘difficult employee’ based on your approach, attitude, performance, productivity and feedback from co-workers and other managers. Why did he do that? The answer could be among the following three points:

  • Work/additional responsibility is your foe.
  • Your personal problems are public knowledge at workplace
  • You and your work profile/company are not on the same page.

(You can read my complete blog on ‘difficult employee’ here)

In essence, you need to take responsibility of this relationship and probe what is right and wrong. Yes, I accept, there are bad bosses also with whom you only have little window of maintaining the smooth relationship, but most bosses are just people like you. With likes and dislikes, strength and weakness, interests etc. So try to build a mutually supportive and a mutually rewarding relationship with your boss. It helps! For sure.

]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/are-you-in-search-of-a-better-boss/feed/ 0 Set your objectives and grow http://talentequity.in/blog/set-your-objectives-and-grow/ http://talentequity.in/blog/set-your-objectives-and-grow/#comments Fri, 20 May 2011 12:42:37 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=233 It is almost impossible to be successful, or to learn, or to get promoted if you don’t set objectives in life. An objective is a simple one sentence mission statement that can be reasonably achieved within an expected timeframe and with available resources.

Like we define objectives for our personal life the same should be defined for our work life as well. Specific objectives should be defined like, “I want to learn this new technology in next 3 months”, “I want to learn making ppt in next one week” etc. These time-framed objectives will set your thoughts, actions, energy towards achieving it. Which will help you to learn and grow in your professional life. If you have an objective of becoming the vice president your company then work towards it. How much knowledge, experience, communication, relations you have to build up to achieve your objective. Go through introspection as what qualities do you posses, where you lack and what all skills, learning you need to acquire.

In another context, suppose you have to give a presentation on marketing intelligence for a new product development. There may be many deviation during the presentation like, people may try to pull you down, try to disturb your focus by asking irrelevant questions or some other way. You just need to focus on your objective of giving a certain message across and forget the rest. Apart from this there would be many situations at workplace where you need to set objectives and goal of your work and achieve them despite getting lots of unfavorable circumstances.

So, set your objective, conquer and grow in your personal as well as professional life.

]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/set-your-objectives-and-grow/feed/ 0 How to like your gossiping colleagues http://talentequity.in/blog/how-to-like-your-gossiping-colleagues/ http://talentequity.in/blog/how-to-like-your-gossiping-colleagues/#comments Fri, 13 May 2011 12:27:51 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=225 So your colleagues are going out for gossips again this lunchtime. You don’t like that. You hate smoke, gossips, the noise, discussion about serials or analysis on yesterday’s IPL cricket match.

But do you need to tell them this? Well, I believe you do not. You just try to be one of them, be the one from crowd and blend in. You need to make your colleagues think you are there with them. May not be present mentally but physically. In between you can get out of the group by making an excuse, like a phone call, you forgot to send that PPT to boss, you have to do some shopping etc.

Don’t disapprove of the way they spend their lunch break or after working hours. Otherwise, your colleagues might start to perceive you as an outsider. Also don’t tell them you are going to stay late in the office to catch up some work, they might think you as weirdo or unsocial.

Don’t tell your colleagues that you don’t like gossiping, discussion on serials or you don’t like IPL cricket and it is unproductive. Instead take at least little  part in the discussion, who scored most runs in yesterday’s match, who was man of the match etc etc. This way your colleagues will accept you as ‘one of them’ without you ever having to be one. You will be accepted if you don’t disapprove.

I agree that its not your concern as how others spend their leisure time, their money or their lives. However you should be part of the activities which all or most of colleagues Involved in, at workplace, so what if you don’t like it. Pretend to be part of their activities and choose the minimum amount of time you want to spend on it. The smart employee concentrates on his own goal and ignores the route others choose to take.

You also must have been involved in certain activity at your workplace which you might not have liked. Share your experience.
]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/how-to-like-your-gossiping-colleagues/feed/ 0 4 ways to get noticed at the workplace http://talentequity.in/blog/4-ways-to-get-noticed-at-the-workplace/ http://talentequity.in/blog/4-ways-to-get-noticed-at-the-workplace/#comments Fri, 06 May 2011 09:19:18 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=221 There is a popular saying – “what gets measured, gets reviewed and what gets reviewed, gets improved and rewarded”. Applied at the workplace, it means that to get rewarded, your work should get measured first and noticed too. At the end of the day we all want recognition of our hard work. Recognition comes when you are able to promote your skills and worth to other co-workers. There is a need to show to your colleagues and seniors about your skills and the reason why you exist in the company – whether it’s a large organization or small. You need to enhance your visibility to get more responsibility and recognition.
There could be many ways to get noticed at workplace. A few ideas are:

1. Take time out to stroll: Do you know who make your cheques? Who advises your boss about your leaves/appraisal and other issues. There are many other departments in your organization apart from your own. It’s good to know people from your department but it’s always useful to gel with other people also. So don’t hesitate in exchanging ‘hellos’ with members of different teams and processes.

2. Spread the word: While I agree that ‘actions speak louder than words’ but nowadays this statement seems less applicable. These days actions and words seem to be speaking with the same force. So spread your words. Participate constructively in meetings. Write regularly in company newsletter. Appreciate colleagues for good work done. Reply with qualitative suggestions/solutions in group emails.

3. Extend a helping hand: There are always a few employees in an organisation, who are always ready to help. This not only sharpens the employee’s skill but also makes him popular among the people. There is usually an impression that this person can be counted upon, whenever required. So interesting things like mentoring new joinees, sharing some business tricks with colleagues/reportees. Helping people preparing presentation or using a new software/tool etc. will surely go a long way.

4. Step up: Its all about taking initiative as people always remember who did the things first; no one remembers the second one. Be the first to raise your hand high when you think that you can work on a particular task. Genuine effort always gets noticed and helps build a positive reputation at the workplace.

I fully agree that there is no replacement to hard work. However if you remember not to shy away from self promoting activity and PR at workplace it will surely help to create a positive image and help  you to get ahead at your workplace.”

Keep your feedback coming.!!!

]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/4-ways-to-get-noticed-at-the-workplace/feed/ 0 Do you speak the corporate language? http://talentequity.in/blog/do-you-speak-the-corporate-language/ http://talentequity.in/blog/do-you-speak-the-corporate-language/#comments Fri, 29 Apr 2011 11:23:50 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=216 This post is in continuation of my earlier post, ‘Know your corporate culture and grow‘, where we discussed how understanding and establishing the right corporate culture can be the key to success and satisfaction for both organization and their people. Employees should adapt and fit in the corporate culture to survive and grow. Fitting in means being able to follow the corporate culture and speaking the language is a big part of this. Using the right jargon, management terms, computer/technical term at right time and with the right people is the key. If your boss/team speaks geeky language then you also have to use it, too.

If the boss talks about ROI, Subjective evaluation, KRAs, KPIs, deliverables etc then you should also talk of it. Adopt the way your boss/team/Industry speak to clients and if they follow a certain script/terminologies etc. The corporate language is what you must speak. I know there could be times when it will make you want to scream but speaking it is a must.

Like corporate culture, every orgnisation have a unique corporate language. It could be the perfect Oxford dictionary English or a curious local variation. I am not talking about the accents here, but the certain terminologies that every office somehow manages to pick up. Like in one of my earlier office we use to call our Monday morning meeting as ‘Kick off meeting, where we would debate on performance indicators, daily achievables  and many other  terminologies were used.

So it’s only in your benefit to quickly get used to the corporate culture along with corporate language to fit in, survive and grow within the organisation/ industry.

]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/do-you-speak-the-corporate-language/feed/ 0 Backstabbing at Workplace http://talentequity.in/blog/backstabbing-at-workplace/ http://talentequity.in/blog/backstabbing-at-workplace/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2011 08:11:59 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=211 backstabbing at workplaceAppraisals are recently over. We all strive to excel in our work life along with new roles and responsibilities. We all put many efforts, do whole lot of activity, make different strategy not only to justify our present work position but also to score good in appraisal next year. Sometimes, in the race to score more over your colleague/competitors you may take away the whole credit or misrepresent facts. Because you want to establish yourself as more superior and efficient, than you actually are.
You can do anything to get noticed and get recognition for your hard work. The one thing you would not do in your race to the top is back-stab. You will not confront your opposition by unlawful ways. It is acceptable to showcase your skills, talent and cleverly influence your boss about your own expertise. You can openly discuss with your boss about your abilities, your interest and scope in contributing more, donning more responsibilities etc. What you can not do is state openly and honestly why do you think your colleagues/competition are useless.
You always can draw the attention by getting the boss to focus on how good you are, not by pointing out how bad they are.
The things you should not do are:
  • Bad mouth the colleague
  • Back stab the competition
  • Speak badly for anyone
  • Misrepresent facts about other people
  • Reveal secret information about colleagues which could affect their growth chances.
  • Steal information or due credit.
  • Be nosey, spy or peek.
Instead you can do the following things:
  • Find out the potential, caliber of your competition and learn them.
  • Enhance your own attributes, skills based on what the boss is looking for.
  • Talk about your own good points, highlight your special skill or expertise you have and they are lacking.
  • Take initiatives for newer work/responsibilities.
  • Helping boss in his work.
You must also have faced some incidences at workplace where your opposition might have tried to pull you down. Did you feel good about it? Then imagine what would have happened when you  would have followed some practices to bring yourself up.
Share your experiences.
]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/backstabbing-at-workplace/feed/ 1 A late night chat http://talentequity.in/blog/a-late-night-chat/ http://talentequity.in/blog/a-late-night-chat/#comments Tue, 12 Apr 2011 07:42:28 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=207 a late night chat I got this as a forward in my email, today morning. I couldnot resist sharing. Though it is very funny, but at the same time reflects on the work culture specially in the IT industry. If you think you are overworked, read the following anecdote for a perspective:

tringggggggg…………….tringgggggggggggg

“Hello,
plss.. talk to me… y  r u not picking up the call?????”

“everything is alright?”

“wat alright.. nothing is alright.. see the time.. its 11PM..n m cmng now frm office..
no food for me.. now i will cook… frm past 3 days..m eating only maggie… n my pm eating only me..
see the price hikes, everything is 2/- more frm yesterday.. except my salary… i think the begger in frnt of my office.. earns more thn me.. wat shud I do?…”

“wat happened?.. wat r u talking about man?”

“wat m I talking about???? no, i m not talking.. manager doesnt allow anyone to talk except the client.. who of course has something to say.. from past 3 months i didnt take any leave..now from 3 weeks.. i m just begging for one damn leave.. n wat response did I get?….’why do u want to waste an important day of ur life??’
Final   I m gonna quit this project… but, i cant. no, i can.. but i wont..
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…” :x

“ok.. now Relax…”

“How can i relax… for relaxation ppl do yoga, but its night so I can’t, else they watch movies… but see, in every channel all bogus movies r repeating, same.. ‘Welcome’, ‘Suryavansham’, Govinda’s movies… it really irritates the f@# outta me… everyone is faking in TV, fake news, fake stories, fake swaynwars, fake reality… ahhhhh see the movies u will get to know…

in Rockon’s last scene… Arjun Rampal’s wife says to taxi driver, tht “hurry up, we r gtng late for Airport…” Airport…??? I thought he found a job in Cruze.. not Airlines..
in 3 Idiots… starting scene… Madhvan does the drama to leave his flight, then what happened to his luggage??
same movie… Kareena is a doctor.. that too a surgeon.. to become a surgeon it requires at   least 5[MBBS]+3[MS] years..
so she shud b 28… n Aamir as a student.. only 18 or 20 ?? then after 10 years they decide to marry.. means she is 38??
i dont understand, how can spiderman reach the church-bell in part-3, when he lost his powers??
I still dont understand how could Rajnikanth fly without wings? i just…..”

“hey stop it now..”

“Am I a train who will just stop, by pulling chain???… ohh train.. i didnt see for last 3 months… how will i see, all the time monitor is in frnt of me.. in night also wen i open my eyes, i find username and password window..
i need to cool down..

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

but someone tell me howwwwwwwww.. :x everytime powercut is here..
except wen i m not in home.. home wat rubbish, its a damn single room.. where i m leaving alone with my pillow..

i also want girlfriend yaar, like my rivals have..
smita, rashmi, sujata, priti, komal.. anyone frm my odc is ok, but they all r engaged, u know y?? bcoz their boyfriends did not work in IT, outside girls do have chat wid me only on my salary day.. i got rejected 31 times.. u know y, each time i ask them out, they ask where do u live..  i say in my Cubicle.. bcoz thats the only place u can find my soul all the time..”

“hey man, u better take rest, we will talk in Morning”

“Morning.. are u talking about the same morning when sun rises, bird flies, omlette fries, employee cries… damn, I didn’t see the Sun from 3 years.. how it looks like… morning I catch shuttle, reach my birthplace ‘cubicle’, work n leave when Sun uncle is not there… I don’t understand how can I be so nice to my colleagues..   each time they want leave, they repeat the same dialogue… “my sister’s marriage”.. my colleagues 9 sisters got married,
3 times grandpa expired,
5 times frnd’s went in ICU.. but my colleague is fine..
and favourite dialogue “   I need to drop a frnd to hospital, as he is not feeling wel” later i find movie tickets in his purse… then my pm’s motivational speech.. ‘u will work.. u will grow’.. means if i wont work.. i will shrink or what???… when i need hike, i m junior.. still need to grow.. when i do mistakes.. cmon man u r senior, u cant do mistakes.. ahhh God gimme some power to understand the greatness of a super natural person known as PM in this world..”

“ok enough now, i m disconnecting”

“wait.. i called you.. n u r disconnecting.. u know previously i was normal, when i was in college, i used to talk continuosly about watever i want, now i m talking only this much… ‘yaa its done’, ‘e-cube is filled’, ”Please..’, ‘good morning’, ‘lunch’,’tea’,’snaks’..
I don’t know wat i m talking abt, i shud b happy.. I have Saturday & Sunday .. saturday to recover from the disaster been made from monday to friday.. sunday to think about upcoming disaster from monday to friday.. cool naa..

u heared that 2012 earth will end.. then also my ODc and my cubicle will remain as it is.. u know why??   because that’s not part of earth.. n we are employees not human beings… we are aliens…

so better before u start getting headache… go have a nice dream.. I will again start my day tomorrow like i m starting everyday..
good night…” :(

beeeeeeeeep…beeeeeeeeeep…beeeeeeeeeep

****************************************************************

Next Day, in office:

“Saurabh, Please come here”

“Yes Surya!!”

“I approved your leaves.. i think you should go and have some fun”

I happily came out, and checked my phone’s Dialled call log.. :D

“Ohhh my God, yesterday I called my PM only… shit” :lolz:

]]> http://talentequity.in/blog/a-late-night-chat/feed/ 0 Do you like to advice your boss/colleague? http://talentequity.in/blog/do-you-like-to-advice-your-bosscolleague/ http://talentequity.in/blog/do-you-like-to-advice-your-bosscolleague/#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:58:13 +0000 admin http://talentequity.in/blog/?p=201 unsolicited adviceOne of my ex colleagues always thought of himself as a good adviser. He always liked to give unsolicited advices to everyone around. However arguably no one liked his advice and looked at him as a talkative person. In fact people stopped sharing anything with him whether its official or personal by fearing that he will start giving his ‘expert comments’. Sometime later people even stopped interacting with him, frightened with his advice/opinion.
It’s very easy to have opinions. We all have them based on our experience, perception, qualification and knowledge. But the decisive factor is knowing when to keep them to yourself and when to express them. Most of people just don’t keep quiet and keep on giving unsolicited advises or expressing their opinion  because they think their advice/opinion:
  • count for something.
  • has an audience.
  • is important and valuable
  • will be helpful and make a difference
  • will make them look intelligent/knowledgeable/clever/effective
  • will command attention/recognition
  • will get respect/love
  • will be regarded as a communicator/leader
All the above mentioned points are wrong reasons for giving/expressing their advice/opinion. The real reason should be whenever you are asked for one. If you are asked, then say what you think. If you have not been asked then its good to be keep quiet. This is as simple as that.
You have your own ideology, perspective and problem solving skills. What you have to say is important and you just dont waste your opinions arbitrarily. At the same time you can not demand from the people to listen to you and follow your opinions in any convoluted situation. What you should do is to:
  • have an opinion ready for when you are asked.
  • express that opinion clearly, precisely and accurately.
  • take your opinion one step forward which should seem like the actual solution that will be implemented.
Just to extend the last point, your opinion should not seem mere like an opinion. It should be more like a fact and hence should be expressed as a fact. Avoid saying, ‘I think we should’, instead say, ‘We should’.
So avoid saying following terms:
  • I think
  • In my opinion
  • I guess
  • I feel
So, don’t give advice unless it’s asked for. And your advice/opinion will have more importance and value.
Keep your feedback coming.
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