Great Places To Work

I happened to attend a one day conference yesterday hosted by Great Places to Work Institute. It was an interesting experience for me being a line manager. Most of the participants are from HR function and I am probably representing a minority population from ‘business function’. I would like to mention few key takeaways from that conference for me.

1. This one hit me instantly. Most of the time we (leaders or managers) assess people (read it as our direct reports) based on their actions, but we assess ourselves based on our intentions. I feel its true to large extent. When I reflected my behavior and observed few at work, I realized then how important it is for managers to be very explicit about their intentions to their people.

2. The importance of branding can not be undermined at all. I observed many initiatives that Google has are already present in our company in some form or the other. However the way Google presented and the pride that carries in saying that a “Googler does it in Google way” is what is creating the “Wow” factor. Its so important to brand the initiatives so that the perception formed in the minds of internal and external audience remains high and positive.

3. Putting people first. Vineet Nayyar said it, Vijay Thadani did not say it but has been practicing it ever since he founded NIIT. When he started NIIT with his friend Rajendra Pawar, they decided to create an organization where people are respected, treated fair and committed to their success. NIITians say “our [organization’s] growth is a derivative of growth of each one of us”. That’s a powerful collaborative statement.

Can change be good or bad or neutral?

My friend said any "Change" is good until it gets boring.

I started to wonder then, why do ppl 'resist' change!

And then I remembered that 'Change' can be good or bad or neutral. People dont really resist the change if its good, they resist if its bad and they tend to make the change happen if there is neutral effect. For more information, one can look at the concept of Psychological Contracts in organizations.

How to be a good manager.

Or atleast I try to write how to be a manager or on the second thought i think it is just enough to write how to be a human being. Let me write some of my observations that would tell budding managers on how not to behave.

1. Privileged Person: Being a manager does not mean that you belong to a privileged lot of human beings. Only from 8 to 5 at work somebody is a Manager. After that he/she is just 'somebody'. You cant take extra luggage on plane without paying extra, you cant upgrade to business class without being a frequent flyer, you cant just do things which you are not allowed to or can not do!!

2. I am GOD: PLEASE for GOD's sake, leave the notion that a manager is God. A manager is after all a human being (atleast should try to live like a human being, if the manager is appointed from the Homosapien species). A manager does not necessarily have to have the knowledge of everything in the world. Other people in the society know about it. One does have to say that Operas come from France and Italians make Champagne. One does not have to say, I do not work for money. One does not have to break all speed limits (one does not get lucky always). One does not start to speak a foreign language without learning it.

3. Manager Attitude: First of all by virtue of your name and location where you sit, everybody around you at workplace knows that you are a manager. This is enough to kill opponent's energy by 50%. You still do not have to kill the rest by wearing 'Manager Attitude' hat and moving around. Stop doing that. Stop telling people that your laptop was used by somebody next to Board member and now it is possessed with super powers. Stop compelling people that they need to invent super duper figures and presentations in two shakes of a lamb tail because somebody next to board member asked. Stop telling people that you are flying on a work day and you can send emails while flying. Stop telling people in meetings that you are attending the meeting not to understand the contents but to tell at the end that you are a manager and you just want to grace the meeting with your presence.

4. Accept Ground Realities: Everybody who is employed at work place are productive in their own way. Infact a manager is the one who is not as productive as the employee. There are ways how a manager could be productive. you could contact me to find that out. But a manager should never become a hindrance to productivity. One must not carry the tag that says I am the manager, I work the most, I produce the most!! This is a wrong notion. As I said earlier a manager by himself does not produce anything. Its like Government. A government organization can not survive if there are no people paying taxes or no people at all. Without a team a team manager is nothing. One has to realize that. A manager has to respect the team members and also people outside his team. Who knows, may be one day the manager has to work for the team member.

5. Move with Makeup: This is one thing I always suggest wannabe managers to be aware of. If you think you are moving with a make up, remove that make up. Everybody around you knows how a damn fool you are with the make up. Everybody around you knows everything. you are the one who is ignorant.

6. Managers make mistakes: Its alright. Nobody is perfect. If you are a manager, if you commit a mistake there is no problem in admitting it. nobody takes you off your position. You dont get dis-respected suddenly. So, dare to commit mistakes and dare to admit them.

Standard Disclaimer: All characters & information posted are purely my personal opinions and any resemblance to dead or alive is purely coincidental.