Category: Recruitment Consultancy

What is your Learning Style?

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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?

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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.

 

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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!

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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.

 

Build Your Brand the Storytelling Way

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Many of us would remember huddling in groups as someone would tell fascinating fables about clever crows, overconfident rabbits, conniving monkeys.

Folk-tales, myths about Gods, ghost-stories are embedded in our cultural memories.

Some would also remember the stories (smart solutions actually) about Akbar and Birbal, Krishnadev  Rai and Tenali Rama.

We learn by listening to stories. Storytelling is a great way to grab attention and engage: we are hardwired to listen this way.

Unfortunately,  fiction, imagination, even lying are associated with storytelling, not facts, information, statistics.

Without realising we utilize the art of storytelling in a more or less degree in various ways.

Yes, yes, even in professional settings!

Storytelling is essentially an act of narrating. We are all narrators. We look back at past events (even something that unfolded five minutes ago), and tell what happened, pretty much as if we are telling a story.

Imagine you are in a meeting. You think a strategy might work. But how do you substantiate? “Facts” and statistics could be incomplete. You remember reading about how this one company did which was something similar to your idea. So you tell that company’s story to support your claims.

Aristotle, the Greek philosopher considered a well-structured Beginning, Middle and End essential to drama (story basically.)

This sounds almost comically obvious, but imagine this in professional terms.

In the notoriously short attention-span everyone has, wouldn’t it be necessary to make the Beginning of your CV as engaging as possible?

While narrating, it is necessary to know what and what not to include. Isn’t that what we do while constructing our CVs every time we apply somewhere?

Just like a good story, your “CV-tory” could change minds, simplify, communicate. It is the story of your (professional) life. The poster of the brand “you.”

In fact the recently used video and audio resumes further show the potential of the CV as a storytelling device.

You are the main character here, with well-practiced and perfectly delivered lines. And you must have the maximum impact on your “audience”: your recruiters/employers.

Interviews are storytelling sessions of sorts we engage in.

We choose particular details about our professional lives to tell the interviewer,  to make the “story” convey our eligibility. This story brands you.

Again, you must include everything in proper order for maximum impact. Relevance is important, isn’t it? Imagine talking about a great achievement of yours, at the Beginning of your interview. Wouldn’t that create a better level of engagement, rather than saying it towards the End when the interviewer has already made an impression about you in mind?

Good books, movies, plays have the power to move, so do good CVs, interviews and presentations.

Anecdotes are another form of storytelling we engage in our communications. They often counter biases and prejudices.

“I have been to that country, and it’s definitely not the way everyone thinks it is…”

“I heard it’s a great place to work at..”

Companies are making it a point to make their and their employees’ success-stories public. Storytelling has become a way to brand organisations.

Stories about successful people, stories we read about in daily newspapers, our lessons from our pasts: there are countless instances where stories motivate, teach, market and brand.

A “good story” crystallises thoughts, articulates them well. Stories give strategising a sense of direction, they tell us about the good and the bad ideas.

Stories are everywhere and so is storytelling if we keep our eyes, ears and minds open.

 

 

Balancing Technology for Convenience

It is all about how you balance out what all is personal with the digital.
It is all about how you balance out what all is personal with the digital.

While talking about Technology, the keywords are deceptively varied. We think about the AI (Artificial Intelligence). We think about automation, digitisation. We think about the numerous movies showing dystopias of technological revolutions gone overboard. We think about bots, Siri, Cortana, that voice on Google Maps.

We think about the ease, accessibility. We marvel at the rapid evolution. And we think about the inconveniences faced by the older “non-technological” generation. One cannot engage enough in debates about the jobs humans lose to AI.

Why is this deceptively varied?

The thought processes, when it comes to Technology, fall in two extremes: it’s either the saviour, making everything super-easy or it’s the monster we created which is on the path to overthrowing us.

 But we need to look beyond these two polarised narratives.

 Technology, AI included, are here. And they are here to stay.

And it is up to us now to not antagonise it but use it to bring out the best in people.

Forget about fancy and somewhat intimidating words like Big Data, Virtual Reality (VR), automation, etc. Let us leave those to the experts.

 Let us look at Technology in its contextualised, old dictionary meaning: application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.

 Using Technology to complement your work is the thing to do now. It is all about how you balance out what all is personal with the digital.

Imagine you have a presentation for an important meeting.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you used PowerPoint, with slides that showcase the data and your statistical research neatly contained in graphs and pie-charts?

The same PowerPoint could bore everyone if you started to simply read out what the slides contain.

It is up to us how we learn and how we make use of Technology.

Learning to use Excel sheets (or similar software) for statistical analysis could help in reduce the accounting errors that might happen on a human level owing to overwork or fatigue. Or they could simply be used to tally and double check.

 Let us take another example.

Imagine you are on a road-trip with your family, and now it’s your turn to take the wheel.

Highway driving needs a higher degree of awareness, and the occasional rule-breaks we all resort to while steering our way through busy streets of the city should not be the case here.

But the phone is not going to stop ringing, is it?

What if an important client feels neglected, we fear.

What could be done here is adjust your phone settings in such a way that it “automatically” sends a text message to the person whose call you just missed. There are numerous options available, right from a straightforward: “I am driving, call you later”, to “Sorry, will get back to you ASAP” to custom-made responses.

 Automation, when used well could save important business, and lives too.

Technology has made it easier to connect, network, communicate, research, authenticate, set criteria and filter. Spreading information and awareness to a large number of people at the same time is not a dream anymore.

Although, one should not deny the possibilities of its overuse and thus loss of human jobs, but then again, it depends on how we figure out a way, when to use, when not to use.

 Technology is all about a yes or no, if and then, 0 or 1, patterns and figuring out more patterns. Humans have the liberty to explore the spaces in-between these binaries, and create new patterns.