Author: UnitedHR

Beyond the Rivalry

Collaboration Image

 

Setting up goals– long term and short term- is an important activity that fuels growth. Sometimes, the standards are set according to what the supposed rival is doing. We have to be better than them, is the call of duty one answers to.

Healthy competition is good if it helps one come up with new ideas and reach targets.

What happens when the competition doesn’t really lead to anything? What if it just becomes an activity that drains your energy? What if it just turns into an unproductive, loss-making enterprise?

Not just in recruiting, but in many other industries, getting a client is important. Or more like winning a client is important. However in Recruiting Industry, sometimes, this “win” determines how much you would get paid, or to notch it up one level, whether you would get paid at all!

Retaining a loyal client is another aspect about this “winning”. That you would no longer be able to hang on to the regular because of various reasons on your part could be a stressful and often anxiety-inflicting event.

Joshua Skult in his article talks about how he just couldn’t find someone who was good with a particular software. His regular client had been making repetitive calls. Ultimately, he collaborated with his “rival” recruiter and found a placement for this client. What Skult did was, as he put it, take 50% while he could, rather than lose the 100%.

He feared what many do: he would lose the competition.

But he chose to collaborate with a fellow recruiter. Our NPA works on the same line, and that’s how splits work for everybody.

Another example, given by Stephen O’Donnell talks about his experience with collaboration. According to him, “A few years ago, The Recruitment Agency Network (RANJobs) in Scotland was a network of firms which initially built a website to contend with S1Jobs price rates. Before long those agency owners, who would normally never speak, were pursuing a joint tender for a huge government contract in order to compete with major national agencies.”

It is important to not make the rival an enemy.

And although, it might be so that collaborations, and their frequency and requirement is increasing now owing to the employment rates and trends, they are not that new an endeavor. They aren’t that uncommon too.

Collaborations are seen in areas which seem to be not even connected remotely to the corporate space. For example, in academia: interdisciplinary studies are on the rise in humanities.

We see confluences of engineering and biology in many recent scientific advances and studies.

The most common collaboration which we seem to be completely desensitised to is seen in fields of advertising, media and films.

We all remember ads which claim so and so product is “free” with their product. This is a daily example of collaboration, where both the companies profit in one way or another.

Skult very aptly puts it, “…with the interconnectivity that the world now offers it only makes sense to take full advantage of the ability to share information, ideas and business with those around us. What once was seen as naive or risky is now actually a smart play that will increase productivity, create valuable alliances and improve client relationships. It will take a willingness to shed long held fears, but, having done it, I know it works.”

Alliances, collaborations, calculated risks, trust, are some of the keywords we need to remember to think beyond competitions, enmities  and rivalries.

 

References:

https://blog.firefishsoftware.com/bid/102716/can-recruitment-agencies-collaborate-to-succeed

https://www.recruitingblogs.com/profiles/blogs/collaboration-vs-competition-the-rise-of-the-split-network

What is your Learning Style?

Learning Styles image

 

Cause for Friction:

There are times when no matter how close attention you pay, the information just doesn’t get registered.

Sometimes, it tires you to no limit as you try to explain something to a colleague or friend but they just don’t seem to be getting what you are saying. How much more simply could I sum up this, you wonder.

Meetings end in confusion, presentations are deemed having no impact.

You wonder, at times why people can’t even grasp some basic concepts.

It could be that there is a difference of learning styles.

Learning is not limited to school days. Training for a particular job, learning about the inside workings of an industry, learning about some new model of work that is going to be integrated in what you did until now: there are countless examples in our professional lives where you either need to learn or need to impart some knowledge to others.

It is important to have an understanding of the various learning styles:

  • To increase efficiency.
  • To save time and energy.
  • To learn better.
  • To teach or train better.

 

The Learning Styles:

The model of learning styles first devised by Dr. Richard Felder, Linda Silverman and Barbara Soloman during the late 1980s is one of the most widely used and comprehensive classifications out there. It was updated in 2002.

According to this, there are four dimensions to learning styles. Each dimension has two poles with a continuum in the space in between.

Sensory: Sensory learners look at everything concrete. They are concerned about hard facts and things which could be substantiated.

Intuitive: Intuitive learners look for meaning. Their eyes are open to theory. They process in terms of concepts.

Visual: Visual learners, as the name suggests, process in terms of visual representations. Graphs, diagrams, charts, pictures grab their attention.

Verbal: They explain/need explanation through words. Hearing, listening to, reading information is how they process it.

Active: Active learners like to manipulate objects, experiment, go for trial and error to figure things out. They work well with groups.

Reflective: They think, contemplate, evaluate, analyse. They figure out things by themselves.

Sequential: Sequential learns look for the building blocks to a big picture. They prefer to have information in a linear, orderly manner.

Global: They look at the big picture and then fill in the details. Their approach is much more holistic.

 

Being Aware Where You Lie on the Spectrum:   

It is important to be aware about one’s learning style so that one knows what they might be missing.

For example, a sequential learner might miss out on the big picture at times, and on the other extreme, a global learner might miss out on the smaller details.

Or, it might take an intuitive learner more time to understand the importance of facts which are needed to substantiate any theory. A sensory learner might underestimate the importance of conceptual clarity.

Visual learners might have trouble “reading” data that has not been presented in graphs and diagrams. Verbal learners might have a tough time handling audio visual learning where they can’t “read” anything.

Reflective learners could take a cue from active learners and focus on decision making rather than just poring over the available details. Active learners could learn some patience and learn to look (closely) before leaping.

Thus, as obvious as it sounds, it is important to strike a balance in terms of the aforementioned dimensions.

Whether you are the learner or the one imparting, it is necessary to identify your learning style, whether it’s a combination of many styles, where you lie in the continuum, what could be missing from your approach and what is the best thing about your approach, and try to understand the same about the person/group you are to learn from/ explain/train.

 

The Ladder of Inference: Is Your Decision Quick or Rash?

Ladder of inference main image

There is a meeting going on. Someone is giving a presentation, let us call him person A. He expects everyone to pay attention to what he is saying. He spots person B “fidgeting” with his phone. He assumes B is not interested and thus has a problem with him, and at the end of the meeting when B tries to appreciate the presentation, A gives him a cold response.

Turns out, B was on his phone, but contrary to A’s assumption, for a completely different reason: he had forgotten to put his phone on silent, and had just remembered this. So he was just changing the phone settings quickly so that he can pay attention properly to what A had to say. And since it was a new phone B had just recently bought, he was taking more than usual to navigate the settings, he was still getting used to it. B was in fact,  not “fidgeting” with his phone.

Jumping to conclusions is something we are all guilty of. Most of the times it happens unconsciously. We are always in a hurry these days, and any lag in the mechanism is not acceptable. But it is important to be aware about the thin line between a quick decision and a rash decision.

 The Ladder of Inference, also known as the “Process of Abstraction”, is a phenomenon pioneered by organisational psychologist Chris Argyris, and applied by Pete Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation.

 

Ladder of Inference mid article image - Copy

 

 

In an era of making snap decisions and quick judgements, it is necessary to remember and when possible, apply this conceptual understanding in our corporate interactions. This is a tool that would take us a step closer to objectivity, accuracy and balance.

Now, the Ladder of Inference gives an analogy of our thought processes, as the name suggests, through rungs of a ladder.

  • The first rung is that of Reality and Facts.
  • We then take in and process the reality and facts selectively according to our past experiences and associations. This is the rung of Selected Reality.
  • According to our experiences and associations, we interpret those facts and the reality. This is the rung of Interpreted Reality.
  • We then apply the assumptions that the Interpreted Reality gives us.
  • We draw conclusions based on those assumptions.
  • We form beliefs because we “climbed” to the conclusions.
  • Our actions then are based on those beliefs.

So if we look at the example given, in the reality of the presentation and the meeting:

  • Person A took in and processed the reality of B using his phone according to the former’s existing associations and experience set. There was a process of selection.
  • Person A thus interpreted that B was fidgeting with his phone.
  • He thus assumed that B was not paying attention.
  • So, Person A formed the belief that B must have a problem with him.
  • So, according to this belief, A begins to give a cold shoulder to B. The former’s actions are now governed by the Ladder of Inference he climbed.

One only needs to imagine what would happen if the “conflict” kept on brewing and if it never got addressed.

Let us take another example. Miss Y went for an interview in a crumpled shirt. The interviewer Miss Z  made an assumption in her head that Miss Y is untidy and not so nicely groomed and hence unprofessional. But she decided to not jump to conclusions, and hence decided to simply ask Miss Y the reason for her untidiness. Miss Y then replied that she lives very far away, and she had actually ironed her clothes well, but the three hour crowded local train journey in the heat took away all the crispness.

Miss Z simply paused and asked herself in a quick mental process:

  • Had she dug up enough data?
  • Was the assumption well-founded?
  • Would the assumption lead to a valid conclusion?
  • Had she considered all facts, and are there any other facts she should be looking at?
  • What belief is her action based on, and is there any other better way to act based on a different belief?

These seemingly simple questions go a long way.

All it takes is asking questions at each rung to ensure dialogue, co-operation and better decision making.

The Ladder of Inference thus proves to be useful, in order to not fall off. The rung allows us to be mindful about our thought process and the steps we take while making decisions. Taking conscious pauses while climbing the rung could eventually turn into an unconscious habit, leading us a step closer to making well-informed, well-balanced just decisions.

Life at UHR: Same Old, Same Old? Not at all!

Life@UHR jpeg

It is important to acknowledge that life could get monotonous.

And monotony could lead to various phenomena like falling motivation levels, lack of productivity and a general lack of willingness to learn new things.

W asked our employees at UHR their take on working here and they have a different story to tell.

As one employee has said, it is the “best consultancy to work with”. Our employees have admitted to honing up many of their supposedly ‘other’ skills as well, in addition to their job descriptions.

“I have improved my multitasking skills, and also I have learned to deal with different type of people” says one employee.

The employee further says, “I have gained self-confidence, and learned to work under pressure.”

“There is always a lot to learn not only through failures, mistakes but also through successful placements” says another employee.

One employee further says, “I have gained knowledge of many different industries and profiles.”

The above point could actually be considered a perk of working in the recruitment industry!

To add more to the list of perks, one employee says, “there are new things to learn every day.”

As obvious as sounds, the best way to break monotony is variety. As one employee very aptly puts about life at United HR, ” The work is same but each time there is a different story. There is variety in terms of positions the clients are looking for, the clients themselves. Each client has a different set of priorities.”

The work thus, is never the ‘same’.

“It’s really a fusion of confusion, conflict, confidence, uncertainty. At the end of the day, it is about enjoying all circumstances.” A healthy amount of tension, anxiety, stress is necessary to excel and learn better methods of coping with work pressure.

“We all work under the same roof but everyone has a different style of working, and everyone is different from each other.” Variety and an even division of tasks for everyone is something commonly found at United HR.

This variety not only in the distribution of tasks but of the very nature of the work ensures that there is never a dull moment.

Life at United HR, and the variety it provides is the opposite of the repetitive, the monotonous and the dead-end. It is the perfect antidote to monotony.

 

Are you an Intrapreneur?

intrapre

“Entrepreneurship” is a familiar word to most of us. An entrepreneur is someone who has set up a business of his or her own. They are deemed to be industrious individuals who had the courage to start something from the scratch.

 Who is an intrapreneur?

An intrapreneur is someone within (hence the prefix “intra”) the organisation who has qualities similar to an entrepreneur. They might not have set up their own business (yet) but their way of working, their ability to take risks, problem-solving  skills, creativity, all reflect the spirit of an entrepreneur.

 Why does an organisation need intrapreneurs? Why is such a culture being promoted?

   It often happens that people do have ideas, smart solutions and strategies. But they don’t always speak up thinking:

  • They won’t get any credit.
  • This is not their role.

Companies are now realising what all gets missed out at times because of a lack of encouragement for intrapreneurship.

 A culture of intrapreneurship intends to provide equal opportunities and space to voice ideas to everyone, irrespective of designation.

 An environment that scores high on intrapreneurship would:

  • Keep lines of communication open. Right from security guards, receptionists, would be given opportunities to voice their ideas, even if their ideas might not always fit their “roles”.
  • Allow people from ,say, marketing departments to voice their ideas about administration, the tech department to voice ideas about management, etc.  and vice versa.
  • Foster a sense of collaboration, empowerment, credit and rewards where deserved.

 It is not about using all the ideas at once and creating a mishmash. It is about giving that space to voice, to grow and to innovate and think independently. An intrapreneur needs to be identified and nurtured, and companies are beginning to realise this.

 So, are you an intrapreneur? Vijay Govindrajan and Jatin Desai list out some of the noticeable characteristics in the Harvard Business Review:

 Money is not the Measurement: Intrapreneurs wish to influence and be heard, money is not their primary motivation.

Strategic Scanning: They think one step ahead. They are learners and problem-solvers, and not ones who wait for things to just happen.

Greenhousing: When the seed of an idea gets planted in their minds, intrapreneurs let it grow. They read, research more about it and let it nurture fully before articulating.

Visual Thinking: Intrapreneurs brainstorm, brain-map and visualise ideas, multiple ideas. They are good at divergent thinking.

Pivoting: This is the ability to change strategies and shape ideas according to the changing needs. Intrapreneurs are thus flexible.

Authenticity and Integrity: Intrapeneurs are confident but also self-aware and with a keen sense of purpose.

 A spirit of collaboration, not competition needs to be fostered within organisations where intrapreneurs get nurtured, who one day might become entrepreneurs. Companies are often afraid that such individuals would eventually set up competitive ventures, but in these fears, the benefits that these enterprising people bring to the organisation are often overlooked.

So, are you an intrapreneur? Do you know one? Be one!