This is the beginning of a new year and is a right time to take stock of your work life. We take many resolutions to make our personal and professional life better and more disciplined. Well, I am not going to discuss on resolutions and their follow ups.

However one thing which is very important at work is to be cheerful and happy. This not only set positive vibration around you but also establishes you as being someone who is  in control, smooth, relaxed, confident and mature.

So be cheerful all the time. What if a project has failed, boss has given not-so-good feedback. What if you have not got on-site opportunity this year.  Salary increment and promotion is still pending. It’s still no reason to loose your smile. Whatever your situation is things will get better for sure.

Actually maintaining a cheerful and happy outlook is quite easy. Wear smile always. Initially you don’t have to believe it-just do it or at least pretend it. After a time you will see that smiling has become part of your act and you don’t have to pretend anymore but you are genuinely cheerful. All it takes is the first few days of smiling when you don’t feel like it and then feeling good will become part of your life.

You tend to be more focus at work. Colleagues, boss, clients will see you as positive person and give you recognition. That will boost your confidence. Your confidence will lead to task accomplishment, which ultimately leads to more confidence and success.

So if someone brings more work then you will find you have lots of time and energy to do that also. You will have an image of a happy worker. Which definitely help you to grow professionally at workplace.

Every minute spend griping and grumbling is a minute taken off your life. Every minute spent being cheerful and happy is a minute added on. Choice is yours!

Keep your feedback coming!!

 I am sure most of us are not so efficient in time management at work. We might think that we have a to-do-list, time sheet, drafts etc. ready for the day to accomplish all the scheduled tasks. But at the end of the day time sneaks away from us at work leaving unmet deadlines and unchecked to-do-list (sounds familiar?)

This indicates that we have not managed our time effectively. This may be because of workplace interruptions which may not be in our control and can disturb our schedule and productivity.Things like a colleague stopping by to have a chit chat or seeking help, email/chat pop ups, unscheduled meeting with boss/colleague, phone calls,
unsolicited enquiries/consultancy etc.

All these interruptions can disturb the focus or thought processes and ultimately the work schedule.

It could be that you are a people person and very popular in office. May be you are technically sound of the work process etc. and people come to you to get help/suggestion or simply to have a chit chat and rewind (sounds familiar again?) Its good to be available and responsive but not at the cost of impacting your own productivity and schedule. I believe you can not avert these kind of interruptions fully but you can control it.

Following are some tips which can be used:

1. Prioritize – There may be 10 tasks to accomplish for the day. Divide them in the category of important and urgent and accordingly assign time. Try to finish the important tasks in the morning hours where the chances of interruptions are comparatively less. There may be many tasks which you may hate to do, finish them first to  keep the rest of work interesting. Also don’t forget the principle of 80:20 while prioritizing.

2. Create and Share you schedule – While creating timesheet for the day keep buffer time to accommodate unscheduled urgent business requirements or unplanned meeting/work assigned by boss. You also can keep 3 or 4 slots of 10 minutes each in your timesheet for the same. You can use google calendar or Microsoft outlook to share this schedule of yours so that your co-worker/boss knows when you are free.

3. Learn to say NO – What if you have to deliver that report in an hour’s time and someone walks to you for a casual chat or some favour and you know this may be something unimportant. To meet the deadlines and keep schedule in line sometimes you have to say ‘No’ to people or postpone a little bit. However you can choose a delicate way to say that.

4.Keep a check on Email and phone calls – Instead of keeping outlook/personal mail open and check/respond to every email instantaneously, keep a fix timing to check and respond to emails like twice or thrice a day. Same goes with calls also. You can avoid unknown calls on mobile to keep the momentum of work going on and respond to them during lunch hour, coffee break etc.

5. Wear headphones – This may sound irrelevant initially but people generally dont disturb someone wearing headphones. You dont have to listen to music, just wear it. You will also avoid the noise around and I have personally observed that it helps in focusing on work also.

6.I am in the middle of something – Don’t hesitate to say this whenever you get any interruption and you are working on something important. There is no problem in doing that. You also can add that I shall get back to you after this work or time. This way they wont come and disturb you instead you can go to them whenever you have leisure time.

7. Rescheduling – However after managing the interruptions efficiently by above points, still your schedule may get affected little bit. So you always can have a look to your schedule to ensure to meet the goal of the day.

Kindly share your tips as well as how you handle interruptions at work.

Keep your feedback coming.

The Workforce Profile defined about 60 “soft skills”, which employers seek. They are applicable to any field of work, according to the study, and are the “personal traits and skills that employers state are the most important when selecting employees for jobs of any type.”

 1. Math.

2. Safety.

3. Courtesy.

4. Honesty.

5. Grammar.

6. Reliability.

7. Flexibility.

8. Team skills.

9. Eye contact.

10. Cooperation.

11. Adaptability.

12. Follow rules.

13. Self-directed.

14 Good attitude.

15. Writing skills.

16. Driver’s license.

17. Dependability.

18. Advanced math.

19. Self-supervising.

20. Good references.

21. Being drug free.

22. Good attendance.

23. Personal energy.

24. Work experience.

25. Ability to measure.

26. Personal integrity.

27. Good work history.

28. Positive work ethic.

29. Interpersonal skills.

30. Motivational skills.

31. Valuing education.

32. Personal chemistry.

33. Willingness to learn.

34. Common sense.

35. Critical thinking skills.

36. Knowledge of fractions.

37. Reporting to work on time.

38. Use of rulers and calculators.

39. Good personal appearance.

40. Wanting to do a good job.

41. Basic spelling and grammar.

42. Reading and comprehension.

43. Ability to follow regulations.

44. Willingness to be accountable.

45. Ability to fill out a job application.

46. Ability to make production quotas.

47. Basic manufacturing skills training.

48. Awareness of how business works.

49. Staying on the job until it is finished.

50. Ability to read and follow instructions.

51. Willingness to work second and third shifts.

52. Caring about seeing the company succeed.

53. Understanding what the world is all about.

54. Ability to listen and document what you have heard.

55. Commitment to continued training and learning.

56. Willingness to take instruction and responsibility.

57. Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment.

58. Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months.

59. Willingness to be a good worker and go beyond the traditional eight-hour day.

60. Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and customers.

 How many soft skills do you possess?

The last day of the year is a good time to put things in perspective. Most often we end up making promises to ourselves about:

1. loosing weight
2. focusing on a better health
3. quitting smoking
4. leading a better lifestyle
5. doing something about our surroundings
6. being happy

and what about our job? the stress we take at our workplace leads to smoking another cigarette, being indifferent/rude to our loved ones, eat some more junk food, extra coffee and so on that it leads us to make our new year resolutions avoiding the same things listed above.

It is important to realise that a job is a job at the end of the day and life has more to it. Get a hobby, get involved with your family, travel, meet new people, build networks and associations that will keep giving you benefits throughout your life which you will not get by doing a great presentation after your office hours.

After you are gone, no one will remember you for the great presentations you have created but the great person that you were. Soon the new year starts, so now’s a great time to:

1. Wipe the slate clean.
2. Focus upon what you really want.
3. Chart your course.

So here we are signing of for the year and wishing you loads of success and good life for the New Year.

Most of us have a ‘to do list’ for work but seldom we focus on activities that we should “not” be doing at workplace. I have put down some of them which will help you identify a few time wasters at your workplace.

Abusing office resources:
Using the office printer, phone for personal use, taking office stationary like notebook, pen, stapler etc. home is not the right things to do. Using office time to do your work like searching on latest mobile phones, writing personal blog, downloading movie, songs etc is a strict no-no.
It may not seem a big deal but imagine being reprimanded by your boss or the super boss for the same.

Active on social networks:
Browsing Orkut, updating Facebook, tweeting, chatting on gtalk for personal reasons can be viewed by one and all. It is important to keep a watch on what you are surfing and where you are posting your comments during offcie time. Self regulation is the key and being a regular social mediaholic has its disadvantages.
It wouldn’t be nice if your boss comments on your activities (during office hours) on a social networking site, for all your friends and acquaintances to see.

Pointing fingers:
As important it is to take credit for the work done by you, it is also necessary to take ownership of the work which was not completed by you. If you have made a mistake, own up to it. Not accepting your mistakes and pointing at others for that is cheap, dishonest and childish. Also do remember that it is a team that works together is successful. So pointing fingers will alienate you from the role of a team player.
Admitting your mistake can be embarrassing initially but it is less embarrassing when people discover that you lied or tried to cover up the things.

Gossiping:
It sounds good to spend ‘quality time’ around watercooler/coffee machine gossiping about your boss, colleague, company policy etc . Not being part of these sessions is in your best interest. Gossiping nurtures negative environment at workplace and certainly reduces trust if branded as a gossip monger.
It will not go down well with you, if you become the topic of gossip around the watercooler.

Well, that was my ‘not to do list’. Please add on some valuable points from your side also.

Keep your feedback coming.

Some of my coworkers always find it entertaining to forward funny or agitating emails to the entire team. One day unknowingly one colleague included name of one very senior person on the email. And then he did not get the salary increment in his next appraisal.

It is common to commit mistakes in workplace. We work in highly competitive environment with high pressure to perform well. There are diversified tasks to accomplish, boss/colleague/clients to deal with, processes to follow, strict deadlines/targets to meet and competition to conquer, there is a high probability of making mistakes.

No matter how small or big a mistake is or whether it has been made intentionally or inadvertently, doing something stupid at may hamper the career prospects and growth. Whenever a mistake is committed there is need to be stay calm and recognize that mistake and address it properly. Following points can be considered:

1. Acknowledge your mistake – When a mistake is committed, is committed. Now there is no point blaming it on external circumstances like colleague, client, boss, processes or other resources. Playing the blame game can make you look smaller in the eyes of your superior and your colleagues will find you less loyal. So the best way to deal with mistakes at work is to admit the mistake, apologize to the affected people and own up responsibility.

2. Pinpoint the reasons – In order to make sure that the mistakes are not repeated, there is a need to explore the reasons which led to that mistake. What went wrong, what other better ways could have been adopted. When the reasons are known only then the mistakes can be corrected, resolved and averted.

3. Learning experience – The key to a successful professional career and growth is to learn from every mistake. One should realize that mistakes are essential part of self improvement. The important thing is to take mistakes as a stepping stone to knowledge and experience. Because today’s mistake, tomorrow will be refereed as experience.

4. Don’t dwell on mistakes- If one go through life afraid to make a mistake, the most of life will be ended by absolutely doing nothing. Mistakes may have its own repercussions. Face it. However one should not be overwhelmed with guilt and regret. Instead acknowledge it, resolve it, learn from it
and forget it.

So do not be afraid before making mistake or regret after making mistake.

Share your experience on how you learn from mistakes at workplace.

Keep your feedback coming.

Thanks

I did not feel comfortable for many days, when I joined the operations team for a BPO. The timings were different (mostly late evenings/ nights), they had the access card policy so couldn’t arrive late or leave early. They were strict in terms of leave policy, deadlines and even the break timings and casual when it cames to office attire. I always ended up comparing with my previous company, where I would be formally dressed five days a week and much for comfortable work timings and environment. However I still liked the work at the BPO and the way they did their work. They had good clarity of roles and responsibilities. They were good in employee communication and good paymasters. It was much later that I began liking their working style. It was then I realized it was the corporate culture which drive the success of both people and organization. The ealier we understand this, the sooner we prosper.

However small, every company, industry have their own unique identifying corporate culture. Understanding and establishing the right culture is the key to success and satisfaction for both organization and their people.

The corporate culture is sometime established and led by organization but mostly generated by their people. It is a shared set of attitudes, beliefs and standards that reflects the approach of organization and people. Its the culture that dictates the behaviour and response of their people and it is the culture which sets the mutual expectation straight for both organization and people.

Whenever you join any organization it becomes your duty to adapt and fit into their organization culture. You can not think of surviving and growing without accepting their organization culture. It is also important to absorb the culture because the culture reflects when you meet people in professional capacity. The work culture reflects in your communication, presentation, attire etc. Other things like working hours, leave system, option like flexi timings, work from home, communication channel at work place, dress code, benefits, training and professional development opportunities, package and incentives, recognition and growth, mission and vision of company are important to take note of and adapt.

Research shows that culture plays a very crucial role in retention of employees. So the organization plays an important role to create an employee friendly and growth oriented culture. Their policy, vision, values, goals, approach help in establishing the right culture. It should involve, evolve and revolve around their people only.

Signs like lack of trust, blame game among the teams, no shared values, problem centric approach and diversity not appreciated, poor communication system, lack of employee satisfaction and motivation indicate towards the ill organization culture. These are hygiene issues that one needs to check and iron out immediately to create a positive, healthy working atmosphere.

So it is important to make your culture employee friendly and growth friendly.

Please share your views on this and also share what part of your organization culture that you like most and what you can do away with.

A recent KPMG study indicated that, 83% of mergers were unsuccessful in producing any business benefit as regards shareholder value. The prime reason being, employees who are at the core of an organization are apprehensive of a proposed merger because they fear layoffs, loss of identity, lack of increment, unfamiliar management work practices etc. This leads to a loss of employee productivity, morale, motivation and eventually results in instability amongst the work force. However these can be ironed out and a successful company can be built, if there is effective employee coaching, hand-holding and communication, that employee welfare will always be in the forefront. This was a valuable lesson I learnt over coffee with K S Vijay Kumar, Executive Vice President, HR, RFCL.

RFCL is one of those organizations which has gone through a bumpy ride. There was a time when the organisation was part of the large Ranbaxy family and then there was a leveraged buyout by none other than ICICI Venture Fund Management Company. Many employees saw it as a threat because everything said and done, ICICI was not in the leagues of Ranbaxy and certainly not in the Pharma sector.
I was very keen to understand about the approach adopted by Vijay and his team. Below are four key points from our free wheeling conversation that has helped RFCL build a great and respected workplace.

Employee communication: In order to build trust, develop enthusiasm and motivate employees, an open and two ways communication has been practiced and encouraged. At a time, when the grapevine was at its best with rumours floating around, the organization thought it was best to address the communication from the root level. For this it was encouraged to keep all employees informed about everything that was happening around them. Townhalls and Newsletters became a regular feature to address any issue, however small it may have been.
The organisation’s open door policy helped them to align the employees with the larger business objective and also made them partners.
Appreciation and Inspiration culture: The senior management used instant recognition to boost the confidence of the employees. Small things like a pat on the shoulder, a certificate, an appreciation card, group celebrations, rewarding the performers created a sense of belonging to the organization.
Employees became more forthcoming in suggesting ideas about how to make the organization a better workplace and it needs to be highlighted that most of these suggestions were implemented.

Buddy program: New employees in the organisation have to be nurtured so they are not lost in the maze of information and people. The management team started the practice of assigning a “Buddy” to make them comfortable with the organisation and integrate with the culture of the organisation culture.
The program helped in not only straightening the initial confusion and operational queries that a new joinee usually has, but also familiarizing with the work ethics.

Entrepreneurial culture: The management team must be given credit for encouraging employees to come forward and take the ownership and initiative of the project, they are involved in. Vijay recommends that if an employee is given authority and responsibility to do a work, it is likely that the person will outperform the expectations.

During the transition phase, the core team used this as a platform for the management and employees for achieving the common vision of growth.
It has been 5 years since RFCL was acquired, since then the company has addressed many challenges and headed towards the path of growth. Vijay attributes this success to the employees who have shown trust and faith in the company. It is with a great pride Vijay concludes that because of the work put in by the employees that today RFCL has been ranked No.2 in the Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals industry segment and finds a place in the Top 100 Great Places to Work in India.
It only goes to show how a a tuning between the management, employees and the organisation can work wonders in creating a great workplace

Abhishek is always ready to share new stories about his boss and how they don’t get along well. He claims that he is not able to focus on his work because his boss is not cooperative at all and does not add value to his work. He feels, all this is making him unproductive at work.

It is a fact that you share a mutually dependent relationship with your boss. If you dont achieve your goals at work, it will affect the overall performance of your boss and the organisation. At the same time you will not progess or grow without the experience, knowledge and support of your boss.

That is why there is great need to have a smooth and productive relationship with your boss.

Here are some tips to nurture your relationship with your boss:

Be a solution person:

All jobs are about finding solutions to problems. Whether you are working as software engineer and trying to fix a bug or selling solutions to clients, you will have difficulties. Be eager to discuss relevant problem/issues only with your boss. While doing so, do remember to offer a solution that you think will address the problem.

Always remember there is fine line between being eager and being annoying. I still remember the saying of my ex boss who always used to say – “Dont always bring problems to me otherwise you will become a problem for me.”

Be attentive and proactive:

“Boss deserves your attention and likewise you deserve the attention of your boss” You should be aware of the expectation he has from you about that assigned work. Todays web offers us freely a lot of smart widgets and other applications, which helps organising and delivering our work effectively. You should be able to choose which tools, when.

It is good way to keep your boss enthused by demonstrating use of smart technology for regular work.

Match interest:

One of my friend always has a good relationship with his boss. The reason being they often bond beyond work. They have found common interests like swimming, reading, working with underpriviledged children. After work, or during weekends, they would meet and some part of their conversations would be focussed on workplace.

It is vert important for your boss to know you beyond work, and likewise. It helps bridge the gap.

Take the pain of your boss:

This is a fact that you dont forget a person who helps you in your trouble times. So apart from doing your job efficiently try to figure out what is the pain area of your boss like some annoying, uninteresting work that your boss doesnt have the time to do. Take them in your hand occassionaly and finish them, that is if you havethe time and inclination.

Your boss will love you for this and you will get to learn something new for sure.

Be trustworthy:

A boss likes colleagues who are dependent, trustworthy and value committments.

It is a good practice to keep your boss informed about the progress of the allocated work and share timelines. If you are able to match your performance accordingly, you will be able to avoid last minute surprises, if there are any.

Above are some time tested methods to strike up a rapport with your boss at work. Do share your experiences with us